some of the geekier of my readers may recognize this keyboard as the tried and true, indestructible ibm model m keyboard. it used to be the only keyboard i’d use. in recent years however, i thought they were gone for good, an icon of a bygone age.

i was happy to hear a piece on npr called an ode to clicky keys where i learned that pckeyboards.com still makes the model m as the customizer 101 and even upgraded the electronics with a usb connector. it’s a little pricey at $69.00, and i don’t know how my imac will react if hooked up to one of these babies. i will say that i know what’s on my birthday list.

the coolest sportster yet. the iron 883. see it here. i want one.

apparently, if you’re born in illinois, and you get your gender reassignment surgery outside the united states, you can’t change your gender marker on your birth certificate. via the aclu:

For more than four decades, Illinois has permitted individuals who have gender confirmation surgery to change the gender “marker” on an original birth certificate; the Department of Vital Records, however, recently started interpreting the law to provide this option only if an individual has the surgery by a United States-licensed physician. This creates an unnecessary and unfair burden for the growing number of persons who select a surgeon from Europe, South America or Asia.

the aclu lawsuit states:

The complaint notes that “(c)hanging the name and gender on a person’s identity documents is another important aspect of sex reassignment, since those documents are crucial to that person’s ability to function successfully in the new gender.” An accurate birth certificate is important not only in those situations where an employer may require a birth certificate to start a new job, but also – especially under REAL ID proposals approved by Congress – may be necessary in the future to secure identification to drive a car, enter a federal building or board an airplane.

and to think, that illinois is “the land of lincoln”. i think he’d roll over in his grave.

lifetime is playing “a girl like me: the gwen araujo story” tonight. i’d never seen it before, so i sat down to watch it. i had to turn it off a few minutes later.

looking at even the movie poster, or the photo preview on lifetime, shows the stereotypical transwoman applying lipstick. um, haven’t we seen enough transsexuals putting on lipstick? and don’t bother reading the comments on the lifetime site.

anyway, it’s just too depressing. i’ll have to save this movie for a different time.

according to this ny blade article, christianist matt barber “called the Obama administration’s addition of a gay-rights section to the White House web site an ominous sign of things to come.”

“I suspect the immediate, stark and ‘in your face’ changes made to the White House web site are a metaphor for what we can expect, in terms of policy, from his administration,” Barber said in a statement. “The gravity of this situation cannot be overstated. Right out of the shoot, Obama has told the world that he is signing off, without exception, on every demand of the extremist homosexual and transsexual lobbies.”

“every demand” of the extremist transsexual lobbies - you know, like equal opportunity to jobs, medical care, housing, marriage - the “extremist” things that every american has equal opportunity for.

note, he says “shoot”, not “chute”. can you say “closeted”?

i came across a copy of hbo’s middle sexes dvd at a big lots yesterday for a whopping $3.00. needless to say, we bought it and watched it (again) last night. having seen it before a couple of years ago, it reminded me that this piece of work is one of the best overviews of all things trans available. i highly recommend it.

“biology loves variation. society hates it.”

the dvd includes interviews of trans people of note such as calpernia addams and andrea james as well as other trans people from various cultures, thailand and india as two examples. there are additional interviews with intersex and bi people, as well as medical, scientific, and academic representatives.

big lots also had a copy of normal, also for $3.00, which i did not buy. i had trouble sitting through it when i watched it, and didn’t wish to revisit that discomfort. that scene in the barn, shotgun in mouth, finger on trigger, hit way too close to home. and no, i have never been in a barn.

create your own here. h/t joe.my.god

i watched the battlestar galactica season 4.5 premiere last night. is it friday yet?

via the sentinal:

TRANSGENDER university students have been given their own set of toilets at their union’s nightclub.

Staffordshire University Students’ Union nightclub, LRV, is believed to be one of the first in the country, and the first venue in Stoke-on-Trent, to have gender-neutral toilets.

They were introduced for the first student night of the new semester last Wednesday.

A decision was made by the student council in December to trial the toilets.

isn’t that nice of them, that us trans people can pee outside of our homes. at the very least, the “real” people won’t have to share their toilets with the likes of us.