I saw this great article posted over at Kottke. Here’s a snippet:
Caption from the article: "Me and My Pets," a self-portrait drawn by Brandon in kindergarten (Courtesy of the family)
For the transgender community, born in the wrong body is the catchphrase that best captures this moment. It implies that the anatomy deceives where the brain tells the truth; that gender destiny is set before a baby takes its first breath. But the empirical evidence does not fit this argument so neatly. Milton Diamond says his study of identical transgender twins shows the same genetic predisposition that has been found for homosexuality: if one twin has switched to the opposite sex, there is a 50 percent chance that the other will as well. But his survey has not yet been published, and no one else has found nearly that degree of correlation. Eric Vilain, a geneticist at UCLA who specializes in sexual development and sex differences in the brain, says the studies on twins are mixed and that, on the whole, “there is no evidence of a biological influence on transsexualism yet.”
The Pee-wee Herman revival is extending all the way to the multiplex.
Judd Apatow is developing an untitled Pee-wee Herman feature for Universal that Paul Reubens is writing with thesp-scribe Paul Rust (“Inglourious Basterds,” “I Love You, Beth Cooper”). Apatow will produce through his Apatow Prods. banner, though he will not helm the project. Pic is described as featuring the iconic geek — known for his love of toys and nerdy catchphrases like “I know you are, but what am I?” — in a road pic built around “a gigantic adventure.”
ScienceDaily (June 30, 2010) — The discovery in Gabon of more than 250 fossils in an excellent state of conservation has provided proof, for the first time, of the existence of multicellular organisms 2.1 billion years ago. This finding represents a major breakthrough: until now, the first complex life forms (made up of several cells) dated from around 600 million years ago.
Le Café Wittypoots 