Have you heard about this?

Caster Semenya is an 18 year old South African female who came in first place at the IAAF games in Berlin. She ran an unbelievable 800M race with an incredible time.

Normally, a victor receives respect and admiration for having accomplished an amazing feat. But that is not what is happening. Rather we are hearing cries of She's a Man, Baby!



Here she is. Critics say she has a deep voice, a little facial hair, and pronounced musculature. Something they are not saying about the winner of the bronze, Jenny Meadows



There have been unconfirmed reports that she has undergone sex-verification. More than just checking out her lady bits, some blood work has also been done which, again unofficially, she has 3x the normal levels of testosterone than a normal female. This is well and good, but it is common for athletes with such low body fat to have elevated testosterone levels. Further testing is required to see if this is related to drug use, though those tests have been performed already.

What this comes down to, is gender policing. IAAF rules create a male and a female category and their rule book does not define either. Our culture believes there is a sex binary, one or the other. When in fact there is a wide variety of perfectly natural variations.

Being clinically intersexed encompass over 10,000 conditions, hermaphroditism being one of the more rare. One of the more common is in males, where the urethra is two separate tubes, one for semen, the other for urine. This is a step towards females who have a separate urethra and a vaginal canal (apologies for anything wrong with my terminology). The functional difference is cosmetic. The man does not produce less or more of a hormone. Yet, in this framework can we say this person is entirely male?

The other big news maker of the event Usain Bolt of Jamaica. He broke a world record twice, once in the 100m and again in the 200m. He isn't as tall as other sprinters. But he does have abnormally long legs, giving him a much longer stride. The Gold Medal wining Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps may have a genetic ability to flush out lactic acid faster than most of the population. Both of these are perfectly natural variations, and yet they are not considered unfair advantages.

Here, what may be a perfectly natural variation on female, is being considered disqualifying, despite no rule against it. This seems to be more about our culture's need to reinforce its unnatural views on gender and less about fairness in the sport.

As a result, an 18 year old who was greeted as a champion at home, is being forced to undergo international scrutiny and embarrassment. Well played IAAF.

So,

a new take out place opened on Elmwood right near the ghetto liquor store and We Never Close. Captain Jack's Fish and Chips.
First, I am super excited they did all that work on those two store fronts. One now has this restaurant, the other will have the Elmwood Village Association in it. Both are awesome neighbors.
Second, I love fish and I am bit disappointed by my fish options around here. Oh, Friday fish try? Thanks. Hey, wanna watch 2girls1cup the Musical? It is about that appetizing.
On their menu they have:
Sea Dogs
Fish tacos
Lunker
Crabcakes
Seafood Ravioli
and other treats including non-fishies.

I treated myself to a sea dog and a fish taco.

The sea dog is basically a foot long fried fish stick on a hot dog bun with tarter sauce, which was yellow, odd. It was good for what it was and totally worth the $3.99

The fish taco was.... the same thing. A jumbo fish stick with mango salsa, tarter sauce, and in a tortilla.... making it a burrito and not a taco, god damn it.

Both were meh. The service needed work, but everyone was friendly and apologetic when they made a mistake. They just opened so that is bound to get better. But the food... I need something more than just a fancy-pants way of dolling up a fish stick.

I will try some of their other offerings, but if I see another fish stick I am calling it quits.

Oh come on!

This is an ad I saw on the web



And here is what it says

"Hey you, ya you overweight white guy in his early 20's. How is unemployment treating you? And gosh, that sure was a shame when your girlfriend dumped you at Gencon because you wanted to watch her have sex with the Sailor Moon cosplayer. We can make it all better.

Yes, we will pay you up to an obscene amount of money to be a Twitter Spambot. Money, unobtainable women who don't mind the scent of Poractiv, and the respect your parents and friends can't give you.

Come on. Join us."

I love these ads so much. They make me chortle.

I just read about this most delicious sounding dish: Russian Hairy Sausage.

They look like this uncooked



But boil them for a little bit and they look like this





Just stick pasta through sausage, boil, and enjoy a sensation akin to eating foot long bacteria.

And all I can think about is this

Yesterday a story was posted to the Buffalo News about the Great American News porn shop on Niagara Street. They do not have the proper permits to run part of their business.

"We're going to address everything," said Michael Deal of the Lipsitz Green Scime Cambria law firm. "We intend on working in cooperation with the permitting people."

The major concerns involve a section of the building that includes two theaters, said Sole. One room can seat about 45 people, while the other can accommodate about 25. It also has an arcade area where people can view films by feeding tokens into machines.

"They basically turned a storage area into a place for public assembly," said Sole. "They've changed the parameters of their business activity."

So, let us play a fun little game. Who would you rather be? A city inspector who has to walk through both theaters and movie booths, or the lawyer representing them from a law firm with the name Green Scime in it?

Ugh,

So, Jim Heaney of the Buffalo News ran a story about how Councilmember David and the Brown administration are under investigation from the DA and the FBI. Hurrah!

This is just part of an endless stream of scandals. $30,000 of anti-poverty money used to purchase blackberries. Over a million in anti-poverty money being used to run a restaurant. Sending emails to city employees telling them they had to work on his campaign.

Property taxes are lower, but assessments raise the price of homes and the total amount taxed. Violent crime is up 6.5% this year. What economic development has taken place? A new court house is not long term development. Tearing down the aud is not long term development.

Charges of ethics violations, election law crimes, endless corruption, and failure to meet most campaign promises would topple the mayor of a better city. But we are not a better city. We are a good city run by bad people.

A few days later, the Mayor handed in 21,000 signatures on his petitions for reelection. He needed only 2,000 to qualify.

But, he has a challenger! South district councilmember Mickey Kearns is gunning for the Mayor's office. Rumor has it that scandals and corruption in the Brown administration are going to send people flocking to support Kearns. Rumor has it that he should be handing in over 3,500 signatures!

Wait, 3,500? That is it?

We do not have a mayor with a vision for a sustainable future for our city. But he will be mayor for four more years as he does not have a serious challenger. With a number like 3.5K it isn't even certain that he will be on the ballot.

Really? There has to be someone around here who wont flop around the political stage like a fish.

Folks,

Who wants to rub elbows with the local political elite tomorrow, eat a whole mess of clams, and drink beer for free? If you can volunteer some time to help out at Sam Hoyt's Clambake at the West Side Rowing Club and be there between 4:30-5:00 and stay until dark you will have a full belly and be quite tipsy.
Work is mostly directing traffic at the beginning, and then picking up trash at the end. With considerable time in between to ear drink and be merry.

Come on, who wants in?

-James