Gay, Lesbian, Bi-Sexual, Transgender ....Hyperandrogenism??

GLBT may need to add another discriminated group. These are women who have been barred from world-class track and field competition because of high natural levels of testosterone.

The International Association of Athletics Federations (I.A.A.F.) has two years to prove that women with testosterone levels over 10 nanomoles per liter are not qualified to participate in female competitions.

On Monday, July 27, 2015 the Court of Arbitration for Sport made the above ruling on this issue for Dutee Chand.

I am going to post the article at the end of this posting, but I wanted to quote a couple of snippets from the Court of Arbitration for Sport:

• ... sex is part of a spectrum, not a this-or-that definition easily divided for matters such as sport
• ... sex in humans is not simply binary
• Nature is not neat. There is no single determinant of sex.

I would give up one of my Social Security checks to hear our Supreme Court Justices comment on this. 

Hey, this could be the next great talking point for the presidential candidates.

SOURCE: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/29/sports/win-for-dutee-chand-but-line-between-male-and-female-athletes-remains-blurred.html?ref=sports

WHEN YOU GOT NOTHING TO LOSE AND THEN YOU DO

 Nick Denton, founder and chief executive of Gawker and Steve Huffman, chief executive of  Reddit have run smack up against what New York Times (All The News That's Fit To Print) reporter, Jonathan Mahler describes as a 'difficult transition'.

The transition is all about money. What else if you are in a maturing business? As reporter Mahler notes, Ellen Pao a former chief executive of Reddit, faced a kind of Hobson's Choice.

“A large portion of the Internet audience enjoys edgy content and the behavior of the more extreme users; it wants to see the bad with the good, so it becomes harder to get rid of the ugly,” she wrote. “But to attract more mainstream audiences and bring in the big-budget advertisers, you must hide or remove the ugly.”

"Why Is My Poop Green?"

Seth Stephens-Davidwitz did an admittedly unscientific study of topics search on Google during different times of the day.

Here are a few of his findings:

8:04 am to about 1:30 pm: Unblocked Games

5:30 am: Is the peak time for searches for weather, prayer and news

12:30 am: Is a peak time for suicide information.

2:00 am to 4:00 am: This is the time for big questions, i.e. What is the meaning of consciousness? Does free will exist? Is there life on other planets? (Mr. Stephens-Davidwitz opines "The popularity of these questions late at night may be a result, in part, of cannabis use (See Below)

1:00 am to 2:00 am: Are peak times for the search question: How to roll a joint.

Late night is also the highest rate for "symptoms" (i.e. heart attacks, colon cancer, H.I.V., A.L.S., strokes, brain tumors, etc.).

12:00 am to 2:00 am: Porn for men, for women 'Literotica' is searched between 3:00 am to 5:00 am. Vibrators are big around 4:00 am and 'how to put on a condom' about 10:30 pm.

'Why is my poop green'? Seems have two peak times.  The first one between 5:00 am and 6:00 am with the second peak occurring between 6:00 pm and 7:00 pm.

Seth Stephens-Davidwitz, Days of Our Digital Lives, New York Times, Sunday Review, Page 4, July 5, 2015, 

Original Intent

"Original Intent" is a term used to describe legal scholars and judges who subscribe to "The theory of interpretation by which judges attempt to ascertain the meaning of a particular provision of a state or federal constitution by determining how the provision was understood at the time it was drafted and ratified."

Both Justice Scalia and Justice Thomas are originalists. I think it to be a simple-minded way to deal with changing times and so does Thomas Jefferson, one of The Quartet, in Joseph J. Ellis new book.

Quoting from this book and attributed by Mr. Ellis to Thomas Jefferson:

"Some men look at constitutions with sanctimonious reverence, and deem them like the ark of the covenant, too sacred to be touched. They ascribe to the preceding age a wisdom more than human, and suppose what they did to be beyond amendment, I know that age well; I belonged to it and labored with it. It deserved well of its country...
 But, I know also, that laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind".


http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Original+Intent

"Segregation Now Segregation Forever"

The quote above is from Alabama's Governor George Wallace's inaugural speech in 1963.

As a battle flag, the 'stars & bars' was just a visual aid, if you will, to orient yourself and identify your line in battle during the Civil War. But, in 1963 it became a symbol of subjugation.  

One Nation Under God?

We will be hearing many opinions regarding Pope Francis's recent Encyclical, "Praise Be To You: On Care for Our Common Home".

Underlying remarks addressing this Encyclical is also our nation's principal of the separation of church and state. Yet I remember when our Pledge of Allegiance was change to include 'one nation under God'. Prior to 1954 the pledge was this: ""I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands; one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." In 1954 the 'under God' was added by Congress and signed by President Eisenhower.

Even prior to that Thomas Jefferson included in the Declaration of Independence this well known statement: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Some of our laws and current cases before the Supreme Court have a religious bases. Abortion and same sex marriage come to mind. So the bottom line is that the First Amendment, in my opinion,  just states that the government must stay out of legislating a state religion not that persons holding elected and appointed offices cannot express their religious beliefs. 

Back to the Pope. Can he address the nations of the world or does the Creator's blessing of unalienable rights just cover United States citizens? 

Claude Monet

"I have painted the Seine throughout my life, at every hour, at every season. I have never tired of it: for me the Seine is always new." Claude Monet

The Museum of Fine Arts Houston (MFAH) has 50 paintings by Monet entitled "Monet and the Seine: Impressions of a River". And like Monet said above he never tired of it. To me Monet's paintings, usually of water lillies, were associated with places of pain. They were prolific on the walls in dentists and lawyers offices.

Before he became obsessed with water lillies he was enthalled with the river Seine and except for a brief period when he lived in London he lived the majority of his life on or close by this river. The exhibit at the MFAH emphasized his skill with light and weather. This I had never noticed in the 'places of pain'. So that's why I have changed my mind regarding his talent. He even goes back and forth between various styles. The most obvious are abstract to impression back to abstact.

Here is a similar style to one of Turner's paintings:

One of Monet early mentors, I forget who, tutored him on the skill of clould painting:

So here is mine:

Well, one can always change one's opinion and Monet's "Impression of a River" changed mine. I will keep this in mind the next time I see Monet's water lillies in 'places of pain".