An Interview with Mara Keisling

The complete set of videos and resources is at http://conversations.psu.edu/episodes/mara_keisling_

Existence

Existence
 Text : David Brin
Art : Electric Sheep
Content : 100% Win

What a year on Earth really looks like.

Is the Moon Blue?

For only the second time I can remember, I find myself (much to my astonishment) in agreement with George Monbiot. The original and archetypical logic- and fact- free Moonbat, the man whose articles coined the word.

But even a stopped clock is right twice a day. I lampoon him not because of who or what he is, but because of his habitual careless disregard for fact and evidence.

When he has the facts on his side - not often - then it doesn't matter who expresses the idea, it only matters whether the idea is true or false. A genius can be wrong; an idiot can be right. Monbiot is neither genius nor idiot, just, um, a Moonbat.

Here he's right though. The facts are on his side.

Truth is the forgotten family value

Cultural conservatives' moral concerns about marriage are based on a view of history that is almost entirely false.

"Throughout history and in virtually all human societies marriage has always been the union of a man and a woman." So says the Coalition for Marriage, whose petition against same-sex unions in Britain has so far attracted 500,000 signatures. It's a familiar claim, and it is wrong. Dozens of societies, across many centuries, have recognised same-sex marriage. In a few cases, before the 14th century, it was even celebrated in church.

This is an example of a widespread phenomenon: myth-making by cultural conservatives about past relationships. Scarcely challenged, family values campaigners have been able to construct a history that is almost entirely false.

From The Early Church's View on Marriage:

The earliest form of Christian marriage was a simple blessing of the newly wedded pair, in facie ecclesiae - outside the church's closed doors - to keep the pollution of lust out of God's house.

Common-law marriages were often informal. Mere cohabitation could constitute a valid marriage. Temporary trial marriages were legal up to the early 17th century in England. The church displayed remarkable reluctance to deal with the matter of marriage at all. During the Middle Ages there was no ecclesiastical definition of a valid marriage nor of any contract to validate one. In 1753 Lord Harwidke's Act made clerical blessing a requirement for legal marriage in England but the Act didn't apply to Scotland nor the colonies (ie the USA to be). …

Origen declared: "Matrimony is impure and unholy, a means of sexual passion."

St. Jerome: "The primary purpose of a man of God was to "cut down with an ax of Virginity the wood of Marriage."

St. Ambrose: "Marriage was a crime against God, because it changed the state of virginity that God gave every man and woman at birth. Marriage was prostitution of the members of Christ."

Tertullian: "Marriage was a moral crime, more dreadful than any punishment or any death." It was "obscenity," or "filth."

St. Augustine: "Marriage is a sin." Augustine also expressed disgust at feminine sexual and maternal functions. He coined the saying that birth is demonstrably accursed because every child emerges "between feces and urine."

Church customs reflected many of the above views. There wasn't a Christian sacrament of marriage until the 16th century. Catholic scholars said the wedding ceremony was "imposed on" a reluctant church. …

The Council of Trent (1545-1563) decreed that a person who even hinted that the state matrimony might be more blessed than celibacy would be declared anathema - accursed and excommunicated.

From Wiki -

This view of marriage was reflected in the lack of any formal liturgy formulated for marriage in the early Church. No special ceremonial was devised to celebrate Christian marriage—despite the fact that the Church had produced liturgies to celebrate the Eucharist, Baptism and Confirmation. It was not important for a couple to have their nuptials blessed by a priest. People could marry by mutual agreement in the presence of witnesses.[36]

At first, the old Roman pagan rite was used by Christians, although modified superficially. The first detailed account of a Christian wedding in the West dates from the 9th century. This system, known as Spousals, persisted after the Reformation.[36]

[36] Armstrong, Karen. Gospel According to Women. Anchor Books, 1991. ISBN 978-0-385-24079-6

1000 Years of European History

From 1000 to 2005CE - about time I had an "interesting URL".

It happens (again)

Life After Dawn | A story of transition in pictures and words

We looked at the labs together, and my extensive file – which includes my previous attempts to “fix” my hormone imbalance, and the HRT journey we started in June 2011. Next month it will be one year, the first time since this all started that I remained on hormone therapy for a complete year without interruption. I tried HRT before, between 2010-2011, between 2008-2009, always with an interruption for some wacked out response by my body or a doctor’s discovery of some causality which turned out to be another red herring. No one’s ever figured out why my body changed, on its own, and I’m well past the point of wanting that question answered, honestly.
So, what were the numbers? That was my main concern on this day, in addition to getting the next hormone shot. In late March, my estrogen numbers were through the roof, dangerously high, in fact. There was both a physical as well as an emotional response to that overdose, which we corrected by eliminating one medication. And just for the record, I had questioned that from the beginning, so I was glad to be right and glad to live long enough to say, I was right. Fortunately, my estrogen numbers have returned to female normal level; Testosterone remains at near zero (for nearly a year now).

“So, what does all this mean, doctor?” He rolled his stool on wheels over toward me, facing me with a serious look in his eyes. “Bottom line,” he said quietly. “Yes?” I leaned in. That’s when he said it.
“You’re female. This isn’t us pumping you full of hormones, remember: we actually had to dial back the meds. All you need right now is maintenance. I don’t know if it makes sense to change anything, given your past.”
My past. Every testosterone gel patch was like pouring oil onto the fire of estrogen coursing through my body. It not only didn’t work, it backfired. It threatened my life.
No, I have not had surgery to alter my male anatomy, but those parts have atrophied and retracted to the point that there’s an “innie” where I used to have an “outie.” My wife is grossed out by this. No sexual partner would be satisfied, if I ever wanted to have one, and if this person wanted to be with me, even if that person was a man of, shall we say, smaller stature (a partner with girly fingers like mine might be different);  to truly transition I would still ultimately need surgery. Until then..peeing while standing is but a memory.
-- Dawn

It happens.

Ex-Satanist Exposes Illuminati Card Game and the NWO

I have a copy of the complete set, of course. One With Everything. Steve Jackson's INWO page. You can't make this stuff up.

Optimization of a Genetic Algorithm for the Functionalization of Fullerenes - Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation (ACS Publications)

Optimization of a Genetic Algorithm for the Functionalization of Fullerenes - Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation (ACS Publications) My last paper before I submit my thesis.

It happens

Boy turns to girl – without surgery - Yahoo!7

Ryan McKenna always felt like a girl trapped inside a boy's body, but unlike many who suffer from gender identity disorders, Ryan didn't need surgery to become the female he believed he truly was. As a child Ryan's mum Julie found small lumps on his chest, before a doctor said Ryan probably had high oestrogen levels, but would likely grow out of it over time. At school, Ryan preferred hanging out with girls, and described himself as 'dress mad'. Ryan is affected by a hormonal imbalance which can affect growth, fertility and behaviour. The imbalance can pose serious psychological problems for those affected, but with support from loved ones, these issues can be overcome.