Did you know that the City of San Francisco has been offering benefits to transgendered employees to assist them with their treatment since 2001? Because I didn’t, and I think that’s pretty neat.

This article in the Chronicle talks about the impact that offering these types of benefits has had on the corporate and insurance worlds. Apparently a number of corporations including IBM, Kodak, General Motors, and Hallmark are also offering to assist transgendered employees with the transitioning process, as well as the University of California and the University of Michigan: 67 companies all in all offer benefits specifically for trans employees. That’s awesome, and it also paves the way to seeing benefits being offered on a wider scale, especially as the article suggests that it is actually highly cost effective. Initially, a surcharge was being added on to monthly insurance costs to cover for the anticipated expense of paying for sex changes, but the charge was later dropped, because so few claims were made on the insurance. This stands to reason: far more people get cancer than change genders, or break arms in workplace accidents.

The article shows that several major changes are going on in our society. The first is a more widespread acceptance of people who are trans, and of the idea that their issue is a medical and psychological condition which requires care. The fact that insurance companies are also starting to offer coverage suggests that being transgendered is deemed to be a serious enough issue that it should be covered in a conventional insurance policy, and insurance companies are differentiating treatment for it from cosmetic and elective surgeries. It also shows a growing desire on the part of workplaces to support and retain their employees. None of these companies have been hit with a massive influx of transpeople trying to take advantage of their benefits, but I’ll bet they have a more loyal GLBTQ client and employee base.

Being transgendered is expensive. You’re looking at treatment which will cost a minimum of $30,000, but will more likely stretch into the range of $50,000. Treatment includes visits to a psychologist, medications, and, yes, ultimately surgery to treat the physical parts of your body which are at odds with your gender. It also takes time…most transpeople follow the Benjamin Standards of Care, which can take years to follow all the way through. It’s a major commitment: not like getting liposuction or teeth whitening, and I am glad to see it taken seriously.

San Francisco seems like a natural choice for a place to provide benefits to transpeople: this is the City where City Hall flies the leather flag during Leather Pride week, the Castro MUNI station is decorated in rainbows, people earn a living wage, and measures are constantly being undertaken to make sure that no one is marginalized or overlooked. But it might come as a surprise to some to learn that many gay rights groups are not offering these types of benefits, although most identify as trans allies. Apparently the allegiance does not cross into the realm of health benfits, which is unfortunate: hopefully this will change in the near future.

I feel, for once, excited to be alive right now, because I see a time in which transgendered individuals are being welcomed and treated with respect in more and more places. Although it may take another fifty years to recognize people who are genderqueer, this is a positive step in the right direction: the idea that gender is fluid at all is still new to a lot of people.

[transgender]

For the cheapskates who happen to live in San Francisco, a handy list of free admission to various places in San Francisco…most of these are coming up in the first week of the month. See you at the Asian!

Shhhh, it’s ok, Barack Obama is not secretly running for President so that he can throw us to the Muslim lions. Even CNN admits it, complete with a story synopsis if you’re too lazy to actually read the damn article. Contrary to the article’s reporting, it was not a “right-wing hit job,” but an attack from the inside, via good old Hillary Clinton. Manners, Hillary!

To spank or not to spank, is the burning question at the Chronicle today. Sounds like Hillary needs one, but much as it may surprise my readers, I do not think spanking is appropriate for children. More on this later. Maybe.

I need a pair of these glasses. Actually, I need new glasses period. But these would be like a neat side bonus.

Redoing the Transbay is a good idea…but I have a few questions, starting with what’s going to happen on the site once the old one is demolished and before the new one is rebuilt, and if it is really necessary to spend $983 million building a transit terminal which is just going to get covered in urine and cigarette butts.

Tickets for the Pollan vrs Mackey smackdown are going on sale on Thursday…it’s worth going to, but if you can’t bear going to Berkeley (I hear ya!), the live webcast will be broadcast as well. Thanks to DairyQueen of The Ethicurean for info about this!

Why the hell aren’t we storming Congress?

Puff and I were eating scones and talking about macaroni and cheese earlier, discussing the foul flavor of commercial mac and cheese out of the box, and how we should make a big batch of Joy style baked macaroni and cheese one of these days. Lo and behold, when I went upstairs to go back to work, I discovered this Salon story all about the evils of “Annie’s Homegrown.”

Clearly, it was a sign from the Gods, so I cracked open the Joy and got cooking.

There were a few small obstacles: to start with, I was lacking macaroni, but I did have rotini, a robust noodle that holds up well in baked dishes. I also didn’t have Cheddar cheese, but I did have Emmentaler, so I thought that might suffice. I also modified the Joy recipe a bit…I didn’t add onion or bayleaf, because I didn’t have either ingredient. But that wouldn’t stop me from making excellence happen at home. Oh, no.

So here’s how to make *real* macaroni and cheese, in the oven, which will come out so delicious that you will question why you ever ate Annie’s at all.

Step one: boil pasta. I made an entire box of Barilla rotini. Drain the pasta when it is just al dente.
Step two: melt two tablespoons of butter in a saucepan and add two tablespoons of flour, whisking constantly until it clumps up. Slowly add two cups of milk to this mixture, whisking to keep it evenly textured. Add 1 1/2 cups grated Emmentaler (or cheese of choice) to this mixture. Add salt, pepper, paprika, and nutmeg to taste. Remember…it’s a big dish, so spice it a little more strongly than you like.
Step three: combine the two above ingredients and stir thoroughly. Pour half of this mixture into a greased baking pan…I favor a nice pyrex, because the glass will help you develop a delicious crust. Sprinkle a heaping 1/4 cup of grated cheese on top. Add the rest of the pasta/cheese mixture. Sprinkle another heaping 1/4 cup of cheese over this.
Step four: melt one tablespoon of butter in a heavy pan, and toss with 1/2 cup breadcrumbs to coat. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the noodles and cheese, put a few pats of butter on, and slide it, uncovered, into a 350 degree oven, preheated (that’s 176 degrees Celsius to all of my Metric pals). Bake until the breadcrumbs are golden, about 30 minutes.

Allow to sit for five minutes, if you can bear it, before serving/devouring.

My thoughts on this culinary adventure, having never actually made real macaroni and cheese before:

Duh. Why haven’t I been doing this the whole time? I will never be able to go back to the dessicated, acidic, powdery, foul taste of boxed macaroni and cheese, and you shouldn’t either. This process is really pretty easy to follow and yields a delicious and reasonably healthy dish, without too many unwanted additives. If you were hard core, you could get pretty locavore with it too…although if you’re vegan…uh, sorry. I know I try to provide vegan options when I post recipes on here, but today, it ain’t happening.

Yes, oh yes. This might just become comfort foods week, where I tackle such classics as tuna noodle casserole, noodle kaboodle, and noodle kugel. Mmm…delicious.

Note to parents: hey guys, please don’t make your children perform in humiliating videos. It makes me embarassed for them. Otherwise articulate, intelligent children should of course demonstrate the simplicity of making white sauce, so that adults can understand that it is easy to do…but you don’t need to write scripts for them which basically belittle their intelligence. Nice kitchen, by the way.

[macaroni and cheese]
[The Bunny vs. The Blue Box]

While cruising Amazon tonight, I noticed this:

Amazon usually puts known release dates inside the parentheses…last time I checked, it just said “(Hardcover - 2007),” which seemed to reflect the fact that the book was expected sometime this year, but no one really knew when.

Could this mean what I think it does? I find it hard to believe that:

• A. A major retailer would put a release date up for a book like that unless they knew it was the release date, because of the, ahem, rampant speculation that would ensue. I checked Amazon UK and Barnes and Noble, both of which are sans release date. Rowling’s site is also sans announcement or Easter egg.
• B. This news would not be all over the intertubes.
• C. J.K. Rowling would agree to a 7 July release date. It’s the anniversary of the London bombings, which seems a bit awkward.
• D. Warner Brothers would go for a 7 July date with Order of the Phoenix coming out in theatres on the 13th.

But…7 July is a Saturday…and it would be 7/7/2007, which would be pretty neato…

I think that Amazon is probably just messing up…but I’m going to go ahead and get a little bit excited anyway.

[Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows]

The digest for the day:

A new(ish) mission from Improv Everywhere brings poker to the pool. Watch the video, and be sure to watch for the cocktail waitress who is, yes, wearing heels in the pool. By the way, the report from No Pants 2K7 is up as well.

If you’re having trouble getting ahold of some delicious delicious dim sum, you might want to start with this Char Siu Bao recipe. For the vegans—try veganizing the dough and using sauteed vegetables for yummy veggie bao!

This YouTube video details an act of video piracy from the 1980s. While the video and sound quality are poor…it does give you some ideas, doesn’t it?

Humane foie gras? Hell yeah! Hat tip to The Ethicurean.

In Russia, the gay pride parade is banned…while Britain refuses to offer anti-discrimination exemptions to Catholic adoption charities. Boo Kremlin! Yay Downing Street!

How come stuff this cool never washes up on our shores?!

Babetarianism: not just for uppity radicals anymore.

According to this article on an Australian news site, many British companies are starting to develop progressive compassionate leave policies for people with pets. Essentially, pet owners are granted time off to care for sick pets, and in some cases are even being permitted bereavement leave. The article did not specify whether the leave could be considered part of an employee’s paid sick days or not, but I imagine in some cases it might be. While the idea of “peternity leave” sounds cutesy, there are some sound reasons to support it and consider it for a business.

I think that this is an excellent position to take as a business. Compassionate leave policies which include pets mark you as a progressive, caring company, and also encourage people to take care of their animals. If you allow a certain number of paid sick days, why not include pet care days in this allotment: it will make your employees happier, and lead to more company loyalty.

Company loyalty has a number of bonuses. Employees who love their jobs are, of course, going to work harder, be more committed to the company, and stay longer. In addition, they will be more likely to encourage friends outside of work to buy the company’s products or take advantage of the company’s services. Having pet friendly employee policies such as compassionate leave or allowing your employees to bring pets to work will build brand loyalty.

Many consumers who try to be conscious about animal friendly causes seek out animal friendly businesses, as well. In addition to trying to obtain cruelty free body care, for example, I try to purchase products from companies that have progressive pet policies. I might even pay more, especially if it’s the choice between two identical products. Advertising your pet friendly policy will probably win you more loyal employees and customers.

Compassionate leave which includes pets also encourages people to care for their pets as they would care for themselves, and changes the way people think about animals. People would not hesitate to take time off to care for a sick child: why not take time off to care for a sick pet, as well? Being encouraged to take personal days when you need them is healthy, and builds a healthier employee base, not least because animals have been shown to have positive health benefits for their guardians!

Adding a balanced pet leave policy to other employee policies about time off is a great step for animal rights. Hooray for Britain.

[peternity leave]

The Chronicle has a great article today about big organic, and what kind of ramifications it might have for the foods we eat. If you want a longer article about the foods we eat with even more information, I would recommend Unhappy Meals, Michael Pollan’s article in today’s Sunday Times Magazine. Login is required, alas: use Bug Me Not if you aren’t registered for the Times and don’t want to.

The article got me thinking about the whole idea of big organic vrs small farms, and about sustainable local agriculture. I’ve been feeling guilty lately reading The Ethicurean, which strongly encourages its readers to buy more Sustainable/Local/Organic/&or/Ethical (SOLE) food. I know they’re not trying to make me feel like an asshole, really, but the fact of the matter is that I cannot afford SOLE food, and I would rather provide myself with good nutrition than purchase a minimal amount of produce which will not sustain me. When I can, I buy organic and locally produced, because I know that it’s better. But sometimes our choices need to based on other factors, like the fact that buying SOLE food would cause me to starve, because I cannot afford the price difference today, although I realize it has higher long term costs. I do my best, which is all we can do. It is a pity, because SOLE foods aren’t just better for the environment, the economy, myself, and the animals…they are also just plain better tasting.

That aside, I thought the article raised some interesting points, especially when talking about Marin Sun Farms, which meets the idealized version of an organic farm, but isn’t actually certified organic. The farm produces free range animal products. The pasture land is organic, but the animals are not, due to small technicalities. Will Marin Sun pursue organic certification? Well, the article says, maybe not, because the label is extremely expensive, and relaxations on organic labeling have cheapened the meaning.

It reminds me of a story a friend of mine who lives out in Comptche once told me. He has a fair amount of mixed use land and an assortment of farm animals. He composts, doesn’t use chemicals, powers his house with a windmill and solar panels. He also sells his food at farmers’ markets and to local restaurants. One day, a friend of his who works for the USDA was visiting, and the two were discussing organic certification. The farmer was asking his friend for advice.

“So,” my friend says, “do you think I could certify my farm, as is?”

The USDA employee looked out the kitchen window across the rolling pastures.

“Nope,” she said.

My friend looked at, flabbergasted.

“Treated fenceposts,” she said.

The rise of corporate organic concerns me on a number of levels. Small farms are being edged out by big business, just as happened with conventional agriculture. Small, organically run local farms cannot afford certification, and people who do not understand food politics will buy the Chilean “organic” tomatoes rather than the locally grown ones, because they think “organic” means better. Most supermarkets, where the majority of consumers shop, do not make locally produced produce available, which is a major bummer. The companies that dominate organic agriculture today started out as small farms, to be sure, and have made an impact…I would love to see all American food produced under organic standards, personally, although I would also like to see those standards toughened again.

Organic is a slippery label, these days, and doesn’t take into account the multiple issues that go into producing food. For example, the miles that most foods travel…I think pursuing a 100 mile diet is more important in some ways than producing on organic one, in terms of the cost to the environment. An “organic” avocado isn’t very organic if it’s been flown to California from Chile.

Perhaps we need a new food label, like “ethical,” or something, as well. For most consumers, organic implies additional values: the use of fairly paid labour, for example. In reality, corporate organic food is produced with underpaid illegal immigrants, just like big agriculture is.”Organic” meats can still live miserable lives as living animals before they are finally slaughtered. Organic farms can monocrop. And “organic” food can contain things that most people don’t think belongs in their food. So is it really organic, anymore? Sure, it’s carbon based, chemists might quibble.

Here in the land of plenty, we’re facing a food crisis of conscience. In other parts of the world, it’s a food crisis, period. The growing global population is putting extreme pressure on available food sources, and if the third world ever even begins to approach the level of development we’re at, we are going to be in for hard times, as a planet. Oddly enough, the rural areas of third world nations may be doing better than we are in terms of SOLE foods, because expensive imports aren’t an option. Urban areas may be different: but I know in the farmland of many developing nations, people eat SOLE because the alternative is starving. They harvest local wild-growing crops, they practice intensive farming with crop rotation on their minimal land, and they produce food without expensive pesticides, herbicides, and hormones…not out of middle class guilt, but because this is how food is made.

With the world’s population turning to the cities, who knows what will happen in twenty years, though.

California was a free state, right?

Actually, wrong.

I knew that slaves had existed in California before it joined the Union…if one were to forget about the African Americans who were enslaved, the Native Americans were enslaved by the missions, who used to them build things, garden, gather wild sources of food, cook, clean, and do essentially everything. Records clearly indicate that California citizens held slaves both before and after the state joined the Union, and that there was a serious debate over whether California should be admitted as a free state or not.

Granted, California did not have slavery on the same scale that the Southern states did. But slaves were used to cook, clean, and collect gold in the mines.

When California became a state, it joined as a free state, but complied with the Fugitive Slave Act. Like many other free states. According to California: An Interpretive History (which might not be a reliable source, because to me, “interpretive” says “we made shit up,” and it’s a pretty good trick to get that book distributed as a major college textbook, if that’s the case), the Fugitive Slave Act was only enforced once. Even then, it ultimately failed, because a Judge in San Francisco rescinded the decision. Yay justice!

After California’s statehood, though, slaves still existed. Perhaps not in large numbers…but they were there.

That’s essentially what that whole Chronicle article I linked to is about. Many people, including Californians, are not aware of California’s slaving history. Californians especially like to think of themselves as above the curve, even back in the 1800s. Alas, no, the lowest common denominator holds true for California, as well.

The article also made me think about the use of cheap Latino labour on our farms, in our homes, and at our businesses. This may not always be the case, but I would not be surprised to learn that some of these men and women essentially are slaves, unable to escape poor working conditions and seeing no clear end to their servitude. What a depressing thought.

[slaves]

Search Engine Land reports that the infamous “miserable failure” Googlebomb has been, er, defused. Apparently Google has finally decided to do something about the plethora of Googlebombs used to put forward biting political commentary on issues such as French military victories and santorum.

Nerve.com has an interesting article about criminal transmission this week. Criminal transmission laws, as the article points out, are sometimes harsher than those for murder and drunk driving…which is a little bit disturbing to think about, in my opinion.

An old article on Poz which I recently stumbled across talks about barebacking and the gay community. Although the article was written almost eight years ago, much of the information is still current, and it’s an interesting conversation piece.

According to the Chronicle, Kink.com is encountering some problems with the new neighbors. The firm recently bought the decaying San Francisco Armory, with the intention of turning it into a dungeon for filming. Now the neighbors are getting all riled up at the thought of pornographers in the neighborhood. I don’t know what the fucking problem is, personally. Pornographers make the best neighbors. Quiet, respectful, restoring historic places…it’s not as though they’re going to be shooting exterior scenes in the street. Indeed, the neighbors wouldn’t have even known about it if the media hadn’t made such a fuss of the armory being purchased by kink.com. The company has been operating in San Francisco for years with no fuss, making hot, consensual, sane, safe, high quality bondage porn. I’d love to have them as my neighbors, personally.

I remember going to Fig’s with my dad as a child, when they were still on main street. We used to wander the dusty aisles of videotapes and pick out an assortment of movies, taking advantage of the x movies for x days for x dollars deal. Little did I know then that I would find myself briefly working for Figs, during one of the stranger periods of my life.

At any rate, my father at one point picked up The Pink Panther, because he remembered it being rather entertaining. I was instantly hooked on the series, and found myself watching the Pink Panther movies all the time with my father. The one and only time I have peed my pants outside of diapers is as a result of a scene in one of the Pink Panther movies.

For people who don’t know about the Pink Panther movies, or are thinking of the travesty of cinema released with Steve Martin, let me briefly acquaint you with them.

Although 10 films have been released with the Pink Panther branding, only five can be truly called Pink Panther movies. They feature Peter Sellers as the bumbling Inspector Clouseau, and are directed by Blake Edwards. They also have a distinctive score, written by Harry Mancini. My father used to play the theme from the Pink Panther on his alto sax as a warmup. At any rate, all of the movies involve Clouseau wreaking havoc while managing to solve a crime. He is, of course, surrounded by devastatingly attactive women the whole time, including his wife, who later turns out to be a jewel thief.

Numerous attempts to capitalize on the Pink Panther name have led to a motley assortment of terrible films without Sellers…don’t bother with them.

Recently I felt a nostalgia for the Pink Panther movies, and decided to see if I could track them down. It proved to be not much of a challenge, since I’m not the only one who apparently has fond memories of them. The only trouble I really had was finding all of the official Pink Panther movies and their proper order…after figuring that out, I could order them.

As I write, I am watching The Pink Panther, the first film in the series. It introduces the Pink Panther diamond, which plays an integral role in the series, and has a brief animated short with the Pink Panther character. Apparently he appeared in a bunch of animated shorts which have been collected somewhere…I’d love to track them down.

A Shot in the Dark is the second Pink Panther movie, and it introduces Inspector Dreyfus, who becomes Clouseau’s nemesis. It’s the only Pink Panther without the Pink Panther in the title or the panther character in the credits. Some people think it’s the finest Pink Panther film…I wouldn’t try to make such a distinction, myself. Cato also appears for the first time in this movie.

The third is Return of the Pink Panther, another romp through jewel thievery and slapstick comedy taking place on an international scale. The Phantom returns, and Dreyfus goes insane.

The Pink Panther Strikes Again documents Dreyfus’ slip into total insanity. He kidnaps a mad scientist and threatens to blow up the world unless Clouseau is killed. Naturally, Clouseau survives numerous attempts on his life and manages to take a girl home to boot.

The final Pink Panther is Revenge of the Pink Panther, includes the French Connection, a trip to Hong Kong, and an attempt by Cato to turn Clouseau’s house into a Chinese bordello. Good times for all, and it may be my favourite.

I’m quite excited about getting to watch all the Pink Panthers again. So far, they’ve been every bit as fabulous as I remember…too few things from childhood are like that. And I still want a pet Pink Panther. Maybe I’ll dye Mr. Bell pink.

[Pink Panther]