Finding out that one of your posts appears as a “related video” linked to some media against abortion.
:-0 WTF?!?!
Google, seriously, the method used to suggest such “related” information needs to be reviewed… seriously. Seriously. I mean, it-s not even a video, for crying out loud!
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I was pretty surprised as, lately, my blog was getting an abnormally high number of visits, and “Early St. Valentine’s” appeared as a top post (check side bar! –>). Luckily, wordpress.com has a nice stats service that tells if the visits were referred by another webpage, and I found that a large percentage of the referrals came from this link.
that’s what we say in Argentina when many things go wrong at the same time… I’m sure you can think of one such situation from your own personal experience, so I leave this space blank for you to fill in… (use the comment section if you feel like it!)
Yeah, everyone was talking about it… some weeks ago. Just as I have a particular prejudice against best-sellers, it seems I also have a prejudice against “vogue” blogging topics.
So I’m writing about it now, when a huge load of the fuzz is already gone, even though new cases continue to be identified and the risk is probably as high as before… anyway, I personally believe the issue was badly exploited by the media and the pharma industry; the public was given incomplete and frightening information, creating an unrealistic fear of a global health crisis…
Anyway, I don’t want to get into a debate over this. I just wanted to confirm that yes, work during those days was crazy because anyone who sneezed had to be isolated in order to prevent all the other sick-but-not-with-swine-flu patients from freaking out. Masks were sold in massive quantities by pharmacies, even those that wouldn’t work against the virus… The worst was to see how some would abuse the little understanding that elder people had about the disease and their risk, and would just convince them to spend their whole pension on useless artifacts to prevent a deadly granny-eating virus… ayy…
Anyway, in the spirit of showing a big smile at the hard times, let me share with you this funny illustration:
The next video was a joint effort by http://gays.com and the Committee for the International Day Against Homophobia & Transphobia.
Following inspiration by Australian blogger Steeviebeebishop, French site gayclic.com launched a similar video project for IDAHO.
The community got together to do their video footage and gayclic.com edited this faulous video in just one week! Well done guys !
Now you have fun and click below!
Finally, please take some time to sign the following appeal here . Join 300 organizations in 75 countries, 3 Nobel Prize Laureates and many more in an International Appeal to reject transphobia.
Reject Transphobia, Respect Gender Identity:
An Appeal to the United Nations,
the World Health Organisation and the States of the World
Every day, people who live at variance to expected gender1 norms face violence, abuse, rape, torture
and hate crime all over the world, in their home as well as in the public arena. Though most cases of
violence never get documented, we know that in the first weeks of 2009 alone, Trans women have
been murdered in Honduras, Serbia and in the USA. Trans men are equally victims of hate crimes,
prejudice and discrimination despite their frequent social and cultural invisibility.
The basic human rights of Trans people are being ignored or denied in all nations – be it out of
ignorance, prejudice, fear or hate and Trans people overwhelmingly face daily discrimination, which
results in social exclusion, poverty, poor health care and little prospects of appropriate employment.
Far from protecting Trans citizens, States and International bodies reinforce social transphobia through
short sighted negligence or reactionary politics:
Because of the failure of national law and social justice, in far too many States Trans people are being
forced to live a gender which they experience as fundamentally wrong for them. In most countries,
any attempt to change one’s gender can lead to legal sanctions, brutal mistreatment and social stigma.
In other countries, legal recognition of gender change is subject to sterilization or other major surgical
intervention. Trans people who cannot or do not wish to submit to this, cannot obtain legal
recognition of their preferred gender, and are forced to ‘come out’ whenever they cross a border, run
into a police patrol, apply for a new job, move into a new home or simply want to buy a mobile phone.
Contributing factors include that current International health classifications still consider all Trans
people as mentally “disordered”. This outdated vision is insulting and incorrect and is used to justify
daily discrimination and stigmatization in all aspects of Trans people’s lives.
Recently though in some countries with very different social and cultural contexts significant legal
advances have been made. Following in the wake of bold judicial decisions, State action has led to
increased acceptance of Trans people within their society. This demonstrates that understanding and
progress is possible.
Currently Trans people everywhere in the world rise up to reclaim their human rights and freedom.
They carry an unanimous message that they will no longer accept to be labelled sick or treated as non
human beings on the basis of their gender identity and gender expression.
This is why we ask:
– The W.H.O. to stop considering Trans people as mentally disordered and to promote access
to adequate health care and psychological support, as desired by Trans people.
– The United NationsHuman Rights bodies to examine the human rights abuses that Trans
people face around the world and to take action to combat these abuses.
– The States of the World to adopt the international Yogyakarta Principles and ensure that all
Trans people benefit from appropriate health care, including gender reassignment if they so wish; be
allowed to adapt their civil status to their preferred gender; live their social, family or professional
lives without being exposed to transphobic discrimination, prejudice or hate crime and that they are
protected by the police and justice systems from physical and non-physical violence.
We call on the UN, the W.H.O. and the nations of the world, in adopting these measures,
to refuse transphobia and welcome the right of their citizens to live fully and freely in their
prefered gender, assumed as an expression of cultural freedom.
_____________
1(such as transvestite, transsexual, transgender and other cultural identities related to cross-gender dressing and living)
My dear friend had her birthday last monday, and in her honor I cooked a special dish last night. The recipe includes an Andean cereal, Quinoa, and a taste of ginger and lemon, which gives it an oriental touch.
Quinoa happens to be a “recovered” species and has won a sustainability prize (or something like that… I only found out from Chiara herself after I told her about the dish).
The recipe is not my own, it’s from a yoga cookbook but it has some adaptations…
This is what you’ll need
– 1/2 cup dry quinoa
– 1/2 cup water
– 1/4 cup lemon juice
– 2 tablespoons soy sauce
– 1 tablespoon grated gingerroot
– 1 medium sized eggplant
– 1 small sized red bell pepper, chopped in thin strips
– 1 small sized grated zucchini
– sesame seeds
– fresh parsley
– soy oil
Preparation:
Preheat oven at medium temperature. Cut the eggplant in thick slices and fry together with the sesame seeds until they get golden brown. Remove from the pan and place on a square oven pan. Prepare a sauce by mixing the water, soy sauce and grated gingerroot. Pour on top of the eggplant slices and put in the oven for 10 minutes. Then, turn the slices upside down and put in the oven for another 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, use the oil that’s left in the pan to stir fry the zucchini and the pepper. Put the quinoa and 1 cup of water on the stove, bring to boil and leave to simmer until all water is absorbed. Then mix in the frying pan with the zucchini and the pepper, and cook for some minutes.
After the eggplant is cooked (most of the sauce should have evaporated by now, spoon the mix of quinoa, zuchinni and pepper on top of the eggplant, and press until it’s compact. Put in the oven and wait until all of the sauce has evaporated.
Sprinkle fresh parsley on top and serve with a side dish of fresh salad.
This blog has reached the 100 posts! Which means, basically, that except for the few occasions in which a guest writer did me the favour, I managed to get around to writing regularly and keeping this blog alive. Yay!
Thanks to everyone who took the time to read what I had to say, especially to the regulars! And many thanks to the guest writers too!
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Here is something that many of you might have seen/read already, but it still feels like the best thing to post in this ocassion!
Really? Really! 
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