Dude doing U.K. accents
transgender in conservative America
The story of the transition of a young man to a young woman in a conservative American town.
In Loveland, Colorado — population 61,000, 92 percent white and heavily evangelical Christian — Michelle didn’t know what to expect when she began to work with the school to facilitate her daughter’s transition from a boy to a girl. At first, it was difficult. The school “freaked out when I told them,” Michelle says. “When we started with M.J.’s transition, I was envisioning riots.” And so Michelle became an advocate for transgender people — those who identify as a gender different from the one assigned at birth. Michelle organized trainings for the faculty and staff and prepared “cheat sheets” in case any of their students asked prying questions.
But on the first day of school, nothing happened. No flood of calls, no angry protests, and no bullying. Michelle was “happy and shocked” that M.J.’s classmates seemed to get it. When one student made a mocking comment to another using M.J.’s former name, one eighth-grade boy dismissed him with a simple insight. “That person doesn’t even exist anymore,” he said. “You’re talking about somebody who’s imaginary.”
Neighborhood Walk: The Territory | The Village
India documented her Neighborhood Walk yesterday, and I copied. Except that I combined walking and driving. I don’t really live in a neighborhood. I live in the Galena Territory, a place where I occasionally feel like Patrick McGoohan.
I’ve posted a few souvenirs of yesterday’s walking/driving tour of my neighborhood. “The Territory”. “The Village”.
Galena Territory. Jo Daviess County, Illinois. USA. November 11, 2008.
Happiness, Dallas County
color-your-own electoral college map
As a kid, I remember watching election returns (Nixon v. McGovern…) with crayons and a map, planning to tally the states as the results were announced. Hoping for a better outcome this go round, I’ve mashed together a new map, based on the electoral votes per state. You can download a printable copy and color along with the returns tomorrow night.
I am but mad north by northwest
Not a flux transfer event, but brief, bursty and very dynamic nonetheless.
Reverse Geotagging
Flickr has been playing with geotagging data (via jimray):
We have a lot of geotagged photos.
Almost ninety million, as I write this, and the numbers keep growing especially as nearly every new smart phone released to market has not only a camera but also the ability to capture location information with it.
For every geotagged photo we store up to six Where On Earth (WOE) IDs. These are unique numeric identifiers that correspond to the hierarchy of places where a photo was taken: the neighbourhood, the town, the county, and so on up to the continent. This process is usually referred to as reverse-geocoding.
Over time this got us wondering: If we plotted all the geotagged photos associated with a particular WOE ID, would we have enough data to generate a mostly accurate contour of that place? Not a perfect representation, perhaps, but something more fine-grained than a bounding box. It turns out we can.
Texas Our Texas
23 percent of Texans are convinced that Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama is a Muslim.
From Russia, With Love
“Misses Palin”
Ponder that title for a bit. James Joyce would have applauded.
(link)
refugees
The refugee situation this summer seems to have escalated.
Mapping Children’s Fear
In Sunderland, youth centres now lay on minibuses for kids who dread walking through certain streets. In Bradford, getting to school has become a strategic exercise for children who have to avoid particular areas and get escorted through others. In Tower Hamlets, east London, which borders the Thames, one youth worker taking a group of local teenagers on a boat ride discovered that they had never seen the river.
These children live with a stifling awareness of territory. Until now, this psychological geography has been unchartered, but the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) today publishes a national investigation into its harmful effects. Over the past two years, researchers have talked to young people in Bradford, Peterborough, London, Glasgow, Sunderland and Bristol to find out where they feel safe, where they feel at risk and why.
I bought a dude a sandwich
Turns out we went to school together. I recognized him before I knew it. It was something very dream-like. He ran in different circles. Named a list of them. He was homeless now. His sister, yes. His father, no. His wife outside with cat because the car had been impounded. He had a crotch rocket. He palled around with _______. Jesus would provide, obviously. Neither of our lists matched. He had a beard. I kind of liked him. I bet I never talked with him once in my whole life. He was the definition of where we lived. The same age. On the street. Asking for some food.
Sounds from the Loop
In which Mr. Simone comments on his recordings of sounds and happenings on the Delmar Loop. Here is the first in a when-I-have-interesting-sounds series (there is, thankfully, no dearth of material).
It’s true. Sarah Palin is in a corn maze.
Sarah Palin is in a corn maze. This does not mean that Sarah Palin is actually in a corn maze, but that there is a corn maze made to look like Sarah Palin. You have to be looking down on the maze and not in it in order to see the likeness.
Courtesy of Jamie Rhein at Gadling.
Bruno: Delicious Journeys Through America for the Purpose of Making Heterosexual Male
Sasha Baron Cohen was escorted from a fashion show in Milan on Friday.
After a few minutes of darkness while Baron Cohen, or Bruno, was escorted off the catwalk, the show started again. Models had kept their cool but the designer was visibly upset when she appeared at the end of the show.
We grow good people
2004 election results by county, adjusted for population
in other Alabama news
Up to $50,000 is being offered to attract Jewish families to an Alabama town.
Launched in June, the Blumberg program has put advertisements in Jewish newspapers in Boston, Miami, Providence, R.I., and Washington, and it plans to expand the campaign.
“I think it’s important that we try to find young people that we could use in our religious school, our Sunday school and help in the way of trying to create more of a family-type atmosphere in our temple,” Blumberg said.
Groups offered financial aid for Jews to return to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and Jewish organizations around the country offer moving assistance for relocating families. A congregation has loans and other benefits for Jewish families moving into an area near Boston.
“Our program is distinctive because it’s Dothan, but it’s also distinctive because of the type of financial assistance,” said Rob Goldsmith, executive director of Blumberg Family Jewish Community Services, which will screen applicants and administer the grant program.
Trying to lure Jewish families to a quiet Southern town in a state with a reputation for hard-right politics and racial intolerance might be difficult. About 20 Jewish families have sought information about Dothan, though none has made the move.
Dear Clusterflock
Why do you live where you do?
What brought you there? What holds you?
What’s driving you away, or calling from afar?
Why here, and not there?
Not all who wander are lost.
A fantastic map that allows you to follow historically important travels. (via The Weekly Review)
Hey, hey! Is this thing on?
You see, there are these two tourists walking along the beach in Hawaii. And they are discussing the proper pronunciation of the word ‘Hawaii’. One of them is like, “The authentic pronunciation is Havai’i. I’m certain of it.” And the other is like, “That’s ridiculous. How come I haven’t heard of this?” So the other is like, “Well, let’s ask a local.” And the other is all, “Ok, then.”
So they see a guy walking toward them and he has the beachy je-ne-sais-quoi that says to the tourists… this is the guy to ask. Ok, the one guy says, “Excuse me. We’re having a little disagreement about the pronunciation of the name of this state. Is it Hawaii or Havai’i ?” And the guy says, “It’s pronounced Havai’i.” And the one who feels all vindicated and whatnot is like, “See! I told you! Thank you, sir. Thanks a lot!” And the local guy says, ”You’re velcome.”
Lake Baikal
A Russian mini-sub set the world record for the deepest dive in a lake. Lake Baikal, at 5, 512 feet, is the deepest lake in the world.
While Lake Baikal was known as the “North Sea” in historical Chinese texts, it was situated in the then Xionu territory and very little was known about Lake Baikal until the Trans-Siberian railway was built between 1896 and 1902. The scenic loop encircling Lake Baikal needed 200 bridges and 33 tunnels. As this railway was being built, a large hydrogeographical expedition headed by F.K. Drizhenko produced the first detailed atlas of the contours of Baikal’s depths. The atlas demonstrated that Lake Baikal has more water than all of North America’s Great Lakes combined — 23,600 cubic kilometers (5,662.4 cu mi), about one fifth of the total fresh water on the earth. However, in surface area, it is exceeded by the much shallower Great Lakes Superior, Huron and Michigan in North America, as well as by the relatively shallow Lake Victoria in East Africa. Known as the “Galápagos of Russia”, its age and isolation have produced some of the world’s richest and most unusual freshwater fauna, which is of exceptional value to evolutionary science.
Sliding Rocks of Racetrack Playa
One of the most interesting mysteries of Death Valley National Park is the sliding rocks at Racetrack Playa (a playa is a dry lake bed). These rocks can be found on the floor of the playa with long trails behind them. Somehow these rocks slide across the playa, cutting a furrow in the sediment as they move. Some of these rocks weigh several hundred pounds. That makes the question: “How do they move?” a very challenging one. The truth: No one knows for sure exactly how these rocks move - although a few people have come up with some pretty good explanations. The reason why their movement remains a mystery: No one has ever seen them in motion!
Last Exit to Fairyland
Highway 61 (southbound) exit. North of Davenport, Iowa. Just below the official highway exit sign, a placard bearing this legend, professional though not official in appearance, large red sans-serif (bold) type on white background:
FAIRYLAND
That is all.
54 Miles from Cedar Rapids
46 miles from Clinton
45 miles from Davenport
46 miles from Dubuque
60 miles from Iowa City
Source: Official Website for the City of Lost Nation, Iowa
Evocative Place Names
All too frequently I am let down by the reality corresponding to an evocative geographical name.
Two singular instances: Searchlight, Nevada, and Lost Nation, Iowa.