May 2006

Dr. Jillian Todd Weiss blogs at Transgender Workplace Diversity. Her site is targeted at HR and Diversity Professionals, but I find it to be a great read for the common trans-person just looking for information, ideas and developments in this subject area. All of the posts are well worth your time reading and thinking about over a nice cup of ice coffee, but one in particular really caught my attention and it may you as well.

The post is “Issue: Draft Transition Plan” and it covers how a company might make itself prepared for an employee that decides to transition on the job. It’s part of a series Dr. Weiss is doing regarding possible issues that organizational policy on transgender employess in the workplace should address. The specific post I am referring to covers how an organisation and the transgender employee might draft a memo of understanding, in a sense, that allows for clear guidelines on what is to be expected on both sides regarding the employees transition.

You can reach this excellent post and Dr. Weiss’s suggested guidlines by clicking to her blog at this link HERE and scrolling down to the Friday May 26th, 2006 post, “Issue: Draft Transition Plan”. You may also click to the plan itself at this link HERE (05/24/07 link no longer works).
(question mark used under Creative Commons license and courtesy of Mac(3) photos)

  Monday is Memorial Day here in the United States. For most people, it’s the start of Summer and not really considered as more than that. But in reality, Memorial Day, which was orignally known as Decoration Day, it is a very important day as it’s the day that is set aside in the USA to remember those who have died in our nations service. For a very interesting history of Memorial Day, you can click over to the Memorial Day.org site at this link HERE. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has a nice bit of information as well HERE.

So to all our veterans reading this page - THANK YOU for serving our country and helping to keep it free.

Are you manly? Mr. Harvey Mansfield has some thoughts that will challenge you on this. Harvey Mansfield is a 73 year old government professor and conservative elder statesman of Harvard University. And, he’s manly. Indeed, he’s got a book out on the subject as well, entitled Manliness.

Actually, in his words,he’s most interested helping to “convince skeptical readers-above all,educated women” of his argument that:

“it should be recognized that men will be manly and sometimes a bit bossy…and that women will recognize manliness with a smile by checking it while giving it something to do, or, on occasion, by urging it on.”

To some, Mr. Mansfield is really driving a further misogynist view at Harvard and in academia in general (you can read that view at Media Girl’s blog at this link here). To others, Mr Mansfiled is simply bringing forward the view that men need not be afraid to be manly.

But if the definition of being manly is, “confidence in a risky situation”. Then where do you stand in this? Mr Mansfield has listed the following as those whom he would consider manly (remember our defintion above):

• Arnold Schwarzenegger
• Humphrey Bogart
• Donald Rumsfeld
• Margaret Thatcher
• Hillary Clinton

Surprised? I was. And it made me rethink my definition of manliness. Frankly, I didn’t think myself more manly, not by a long shot. Many FtM’s are far more manly than I’ll ever be. But Mr. Mansfields’s provative stance makes me rethink the kind of person I want to be and the kind of heart I want as I face life’s challenges.

Mr. Mansfield’s model of Manliness though is Achilles. In Mr. Mansfield’s view Achilles was a man of virtue and all men of virtue are fit to rule because they resolve to defend a cause larger than themselves - a manly action that is the best and truest of it’s kind. But regardless of gender, I would suggest such a character trait is something that all of us would want to aspire to. The alternative seems craven.

Jennifer Boylan mentions in her book, “She’s Not There“, that really we all need to have the courage to face our personal dragons and be courageous enough to face them down and slay them. That’s all she was trying to do. While that sounds pretty manly to me, isn’t that the essence of the kind of courage you want to have? Think about that scene from The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, where Eowyn slays the leader of the Ring Wraiths. Now that’s courage!

What we all need to do is consider what kind of people we need to be, not whether our gender allows us to be this way or that way. Surely, when a man opens the door for me, I find it nice and I like it. I think he’s being a gentleman, But to fight a cause I think we all want to consider how we can be manly - to be confident in risky situations not for gender gain, but so that the causes we fight for that are larger than ourselves can be slain and victory won for many.

(source material for this article from The Wall Street Jornal, 03/04/2006, page A8, mountain top photo courtesy of eWeaver )

What could be more fun and tasty than a bowl of warm chili on a chilly Spring day? Try this chili recipe that has a twist with health. I made this and originally thought “there’s no way my family will eat it this” I was wrong! They love it, and this from a group that is generally suspicious of my culinary experiments.

Ingredients (for 4 people):

1/2 cup of minced onions

4 minced garlic cloves

1/2 cup of chopped celery

1 cup of chopped red bell peppers (these would be the sweet ones not the hot ones

1 lb of lean ground turkey

2 potatoes cubed

One 28oz can crushed or diced tomotoes (diced tomatoes make the chili more chunky)

One 28oz bottle of tomatoe sauce

One 16oz can of pinto beans or kidney beans (this is optional, depending on if you have bean haters or lovers at your table)

Chili powder, cayenne pepper, salt and black pepper to taste

How to do it

In a large pot that has been coated with nonstick spary, brown the onions and garlic (about 5 minutes on medium heat). Toss in the celery and red peppers and cook till soft, stirring occassionally. Then add the turkey, stirring occassionally, cook till no longer pink.

When the turkey is no longer pink, add the potatoes, tomatoe sauce and canned tomatoes. Also add in chili powder, salt and pepper to taste. Simmer on medium to low heat for about 15 to 20 minutes until the potates are fork tender.

(Photo courtesy of ndrwfgg used under Creative Commons License)

We’ve had over 400 visitors from Canada here to Beck’s Cafe, and some very good friends of ours live there so we’d be remiss if we didn’t wish them all a very happy Victoria’s Day on Monday, May 22nd!

You can learn about Victoria’s Day at this link here.

Jonathan Chan, editor of Atomic Engine, payed a little visit to Beck’s Cafe, lured by my article on oil investment (as seen here). I was quite honored by his visit. And then I decided to take a little read through The Atomic Engine site. All I can is, “Wow”. Here are two of his many articles I found most interesting:

• “Atomic Workbench: ‘Micro-Pump’ Breakthrough at Purdue” May 2nd 2006 - A fascinating article around one possible solution to powering & cooling high performance CPU’s. As many of you may know, in general, as CPU performance increases, they tend to draw more power and get hotter. That’s not true for all (witness Freescale’s 8641D for example at this link here or Rapport’s Kilocore technology here). The big bugaboo is, “how do you power and cool the chips?” This is a classic struggle in development organizations between the EE and Power designers and the ME and Thermal team.

• “The Dipstick: Driving Our Economy to Guzzle” April 20, 2006 - This was a terrific article exposing the downsides of using bio-fuel to become energy independent, or as part of the answer to that independence. Mr. Chan points out how Brazil’s success in becoming energy independent through biofuel has meant millions of acres of Brazilian old growth rainforest have been cut and burned. He also calls for a U.S. National Energy policy that relies more on renewable sources rather then non-renewable ones. It sounds like “old news” but it’s said in a fresh way and backed up with lots of good reading resources.

There’s alot more interesting reading there too. So grab your favorite java and have a look at Atomic Engine

4/5/2007 Update: The Atomic Engine Alternative Energy Website appears to have been permanently taken down. You can learn more about alternative energy at The Alternative Energy Blog by visiting them at this link here.

You’ll notice a fun addition to Beck’s Cafe (I hope!). On the right left hand side bar you should see a new cartoon every day from none other than Andertoons! He makes it easy to add cartoons to your blog. You can get your own by clicking to his site at this link here.

Oh, and they are funny! So that makes it all the more worthwhile

Update for 8/28/06:
I removed Andertoons in the new design of Beck’s Cafe. When I went from using the full screen to a more narrow approach I did two things. First, I ended up making the column width for the main articles more readable. Second, I limited the space I had to play with. Andertoons are so fun, but for now I’ve got them off the site just from a space standpoint. The wonderful Andertoons might make a reappearance at some point maybe down the end of the right hand column, we’ll see. Till then I strongly suggest you visit his site, they are very funny.

So yesterday was my first electolysis appointment. My friend, Angela, had been badgering me for a year to go with her to The Elecrolysis Institute and I, in typical fashion, had been saying, “yeah well eventually”. Eventually is Becki-speak for “I’m interested, but have no clue as to why I’d even want to do that, how I’d do that even though I know I probably should do that”.

The Institute, located in Tewksbury, MA, is disarmilingly small. I half expected something like a building from Harvard, I mean afterall, with a name like Institute…well it wasn’t quite like that on the outisde. But it was more than that on the inside. First a bit though about my complete lack of directional ability. I don’t have an internal compass, or if I do, it needs it’s battery fixed or a major overhaul. I’ve gotten lost in the best places: my home town trying to find the grocery store, with explicit directions to locations right out on the street, to offices within the building I work in. You name it, I get lost in it. So it was no surprise I got lost coming here. Ah well, late as usual.

So the actual procedure wasn’t as painful as I thought it might be. We tried a bunch of places on my face: The less sensitive cheek area (that was actually more sensitive), the more sensitive upper lip area (that was actually less sensitive). We pretty much stuck with the Thermlysis approach, though at one point we tried FLASH Thermlysis. We tried different areas. It was okay. The reddness wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Though I worry about being ready for work and being ready to do what I need to do. I think I was more worried about the zealous joy the electrolygist had in zapping my face and plucking the dead hair follilcles from it. Truth be told, aside from the clear sadistic enjoyment they had working on me, they were about the nicest people I’d ever met. They were very welcoming, and as they put it, “we don’t care who ya are, as long as you’ve hair we can zap from your face”. I had fun (you read that right, fun at an electrolygist’s office).

To learn more about electrolysis, (and all hair removal methods) you can checkout the amazing Hair Facts consumer watchdog site by clicking here also, TransGender Care has a nice write up describing electrolygy at this link here.

(pic of person being electrocuted from I’m Fantastic Photos, used under Creative Commons License)

“At the end of their lives, people never wished they’d spent more time at the office”. Well, how many times have you heard that one? And how many times did it impact you, cause you to pause a second to think, to reconsider what you were doing with your time. What I’ve found though is that as much as your heart intent, at that moment, is very real, the next step action is often either terrifying “what if they reject me?” or unknown. The internet “age” is a great thing. Hey I can publish right here at Beck’s Cafe and you, tea or latte in hand, can relax and read. Hopefully it’s at least entertaining! But there’s a drawback to this age we are in. It’s called isolation. True, the internet brings new connections with people we would not otherwise be connected to (and my life has been immeasurable enriched by such people whom I’ve only met through my blog, through their blog, or from online groups). But I personally love it when I can call a girlfriend up and then 60 minutes later we are sipping on Vietnamese soup and sharing our lives.

So a piece on Oprah’s website that was short and to the point, in slide show version, was a welcome read. Short on preaching and guilt and long on short practical reminders of what we all know to be true to keep relationships connected. I loved some of these snippets:

“No time for a family vacation? You can start connecting with loved ones by expressing your feelings more often…whether it’s with a big bear hug or a simple “I love you.” Cherish the quality time you have with your family and try to avoid petty disagreements. “

“Do you know the story behind your great-aunt’s secret recipe? Holidays are the perfect time to find out! Many families come together to celebrate major holidays and share foods that have been passed down from generation to generation. Ask your elders to share the stories behind your favorite family traditions and foods with the children at the dinner table. This helps instill a sense of family pride.”

Many of the suggestions apply to families. What if you don’t have a family? Well make one! A glib statement I know, but what I’m referring to is a family of friends, perhaps those who are also disconnected from their families who need to be with people instead of isolated and alone. You can reach the article on Oprah’s site at this link here.

(Photo used courtesy of Rat Ranch Photos, used under Creative Commons License)

Doesn’t that headline hit you between the eyes like tennis ball? Mobile Oil is going to invest $100B in new oil exploration over the next 5 years. Mobile just reported $9B in profit. $9 BILLION.

I don’t’ even know how to process those numbers do you? Is there an economist in the house?

As I blogged about at this link here, the economics of a “scarce” resource drives the further searching for that resource. It’s a function of economics, though in this case it might seem crazy giving what we are doing to the environment. But even more troubling, in my opinion, is the effect on the poor.

With oil bouncing up and down from $70 - $75 per barrel, it’s clear there is money to be made for someone. It’s also clear that oil heat is expensive and will be getting more so. U.S. Home heating with oil currently accounts for 3% of the total oil used in the U.S. (according to the consumer fact sheet at FuelOil.com ). Oil itself is primarily used to heat homes in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic region and accounts for 40% of all homes heated in the Northeast. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) has determined that 6.6 million households heat with oil (see table CE1-9c at this link here)The poverty rate in the Northeast is 10.7% (See U.S. Census definition of Northeast here, see table 2, “Poverty in the United States: 2002” U.S. Census Bureau). So, it may be reasonable to assume that 10% of those 6.6 million households are in the poverty zone, that is approximately 660,000 people have have to figure out whether to eat or heat. That’s not a pretty picture.

One organization that is trying to help is Citizen’s Energy Corporation, headed up by former Democratic Massachusetts Congressman Joe Kennedy. Citizen’s Energy supplies oil discounted down about 40% off retail price. So at a retail price of around $2.70 a gallon in February 2006, 40% off is a HUGE savings for people living at the line of eating or heating.

One question for you though, while your sipping your latte and reading here at Beck’s Cafe: can you name which of the major oil companies, who are investing billions of dollars in exploration and who have oil reserves tied up, is donating oil to Citizen’s Energy or other similar groups to do their part to help? Frankly I know of only one - Citgo. Citgo is the century-old U.S. refining and retailing arm of Venezuela´s state oil company Petróleos de Venezuela - PDVSA. Venezuela is mostly hostile to the U.S.

This donation activity has actually come under a call for scrutiny by the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee. It was viewed as trying to undermine our politics and breed sentiment in favor of Venezuela.

So let me understand? 660,000 homes are at the poverty line and need help. Citgo comes in and donates oil to do just that. Mobile and Exxon sit back on their profit hoard and let the certain members of the U.S. Government try and put political pressure on the receivers of this oil (the ones helping the poor) to try and stop the donations.

HUH?

To the best of my knowledge, there is not headline screaming, “Mobile reports $9B in profit, donates free heating oil to poor families hardest hit by the climbing price of oil”. The silence is deafening. And, from what I read, the discounted heating oil going to the poor continues - from Citgo, Citizen’s Energy and a host of other agencies.

So dear reader what do you think? How do we help the poor? They now have to make choices on food, heating or cooling or lighting. Do we give the money or do we write our congressman or what??

Here are a couple of ideas I had to prime the thinking pumps:

• Higher tax credits (tied to cost of electricity and oil heating…something like that. Yes there are downside to this to)
• Lobby the U.S. Oil Companies to do their share (maybe they are - anyone out there know of some press releases saying so?)

It’s Spring and soon it will be Summer. Do we care about heating oil now? Nah, not really. But when September hits many will. And with oil continuing to rise in price now is the time to make plans so that when Winter comes even the poorest among us will feel as toasty inside in their homes as they did outside in the Summer sun.

(photo courtesy of Automatt, used under Creative Commons license)