Truthnauts

Well, truthnauts, you're on your own! Good luck! 

Transgender & OCD

Hypothesis (just a hypothesis!): being transgender is a kind of obsessive compulsive disorder.

This must be distinguished from a form of OCD in which the sufferer is caught up in repetitive suspicions that he or she is actually transgender. 

Under this hypothesis, the people who seek amputations "to feel whole" and transsexuals could both be explained.

This might also explain the obsessive characteristics of transsexualism. 

Posted so I can remember the link:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/13857379_Four-year_remission_of_transsexualism_after_comorbid_obsessive-compulsive_disorder_improved_with_self-exposure_therapy_-_Case_report

Worth Restating

I'm writing this instead of posting the totally unrelated tearjerker Travelin' Soldier video on YouTube that shows clips from the movie Pearl Harbor with Josh Hartnett and Kate Beckinsale. 

The smartest thing I ever read on clothes and religion--that is, lots of clothes as a symbol of "sexual purity" or not-much-clothes or no-clothes-at-all as a symbol of "liberation"--was on a pagan blog. 

It was this: That both of those are the opposite sides of the same coin. The escape from one isn't the adoption of the other and vice versa. The way out is to stop being so obsessed with your clothes.

Just wear them to stay warm, to protect your skin from the elements, to protect yourself from other people(!), or to look nice. Be sociable, practical, and sensible. 

At this point, that much is obvious, but it's worth restating. 

Now I'll go back to my very insensible alienation from the twenty-first century. 

Marcus Aurelius's Mom

[Things I learned] from my mother: piety, generosity, the avoidance of wrongdoing and even the thought of it; also, simplicity of living, well clear of the habits of the rich.

 That's a good mom. 

Old Beijing

My friend from England and I ate at a vegan restaurant for lunch, and as it was warm and the sky was a clear blue, walked around old Beijing. 

Old Beijing is the central area of the city where there is a lot of traditional architecture, many traditional restaurants, etc. 

My friend from England tells the most hilarious stories. 

Long Time Gone

And me, I been a long time gone. 

100 Wishes Mountain

I went hiking today in the northwest of Beijing with a lovely new acquaintance. He speaks Chinese, and he told me the place we hiked is known as 100 Wishes Mountain. Looking east from one of the small peaks, you could see across to Olympic Forest Park, all the way south towards Beijing West Station, and looking northwest, a range of mountains that rise up dramatically from the intervening flat plain. Here's what it looked like. The wind was furious at the top, as in literally hurricane-force. 

I don't know the story behind the name--100 Wishes Mountain--or if it means that you are entitled to make 100 wishes if you go there.