(Photo credits: sfweeklycom)

Imagine living in a homeless shelter that is so bad that it's called "The Vice Hotel" or "hotel poverty", a place where hope goes to die.

Tucked beneath the shadows of San Francisco's financial district, the Tenderloin is home to most of the city's 518 single room occupancy hotels. Their eight by ten foot rooms are filled with all types; mostly society's marginalized: African American men, the mentally ill, HIV patients, transsexuals and drug addicts.

In the third richest city in the country, single room occupancy (SRO) hotels house 30,000 people in third-world conditions. SRO residents complain of their squalid conditions, but will defend them relentlessly when developers threaten to tear them down. Without the hotels, they would have nowhere else to go.

While the prices hardly beat other rental situations - new arrivals pay $600 to $1000 a month for a room with no toilet or shower - they are the last option for people who can't find work or regular housing because of widespread employment discrimination and high move-in housing costs.

Can you imagine someone saying that they live there by choice?

It is from here, the Mission Hotel, a shelter run by the Tenderloin Housing Clinic, that Jennifer Usher attacks transsexual women.

bedbug bites ...

In Charles Dickens story "A Christmas Carol", Ebeneezer Scrooge, a miserly, churlish, empty man, was confronted with his past and present, and saw what fate had in store for him and those around him.

While Scrooge changed, we don't have the ability to show toxic people what the future holds for them. There's no "Ghost of Christmas Future" outside of a storybook. What we can do is evoke the other two ghosts, in a manner of speaking, as a way to warn others about an Internet Troll who currently goes under the name "Jennifer Usher".

For well over a decade, Jennifer Usher has trolled the Internet, harassing transsexuals, transgenders, and their supporters. Articles in the archive are devoted to exposing Usher's threats, lies, and deceptions, as well as the net-kook behind the Internet persona, in an effort to minimize further harm. It is offered as a public service to T-people everywhere. Contributions, first-person stories, etc., welcome.

A quick synopsis

BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, has announced that the public has voted Alan Turing, the Ultimate Information Pioneer of all time. The man behind the machine that cracked the Enigma code that according to historians shortened World War II by two years thus saving many lives received 39.2% of the public vote to win. The title has been bestowed on Turing as part of the Institute’s Information Pioneers campaign http://pioneers.bcs.org, the aim of which is to celebrate the often forgotten and unacknowledged information heroes.

Five short films were made for Information Pioneers, fronted by celebrities to highlight the contribution of individuals to the information society that we live in today. The public was asked to vote on the films, as well as a list of 150 ‘IT Greats’, to find the Ultimate Pioneer and IT Great.

The list of 150 ‘IT Greats’, originally voted for by BCS members, can be viewed at the Top 150.

Elizabeth Sparrow, President, BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, said:

“We’re delighted with the response and level of interaction from the public. We’ve had over 9,500 votes during the campaign and the videos are now visible on over 200 different sites, from leading publications to personal blogs. The films have been viewed in over 160 countries, with the US, UK and Germany leading the way, to places as far away as India, Brazil and New Zealand.”

Kate Russell, who fronts the Alan Turing film, said:

“I was thrilled that Alan Turing took such an early lead, even managing to fight off a sudden dash from Hedy Lamarr in week two of the voting! The fact that the votes for Turing have remained steady over the course of a month, securing him a solid victory, goes to show that his appeal and importance to the world of technology is as universal as his early machines were!”

Anthony Loder, son of Hedy Lamarr said of the film highlighting the star’s achievements:

“No matter how hard I tried, I could not come up with even one, slight suggestion to improve this short film about my Mother. I thoroughly enjoyed every second of it. You succeeded in making Hedy's idea easy to grasp. Bravo!”

I had a small 'incident'

My blood sugar went way too low while I was walking the dogs. Normally, I have about half an hour when I first notice the symptoms, and since I was literally 3 houses away - just around the corner, and heading back home anyways, I wasn't alarmed. A minute later, I was having difficulty seeing - everything was blotchy. it's never struck this fast.

I was in the driveway, and instead of turning right to go up my stairs, I went left. I don't know why. Probably confusion brought on by severe hypoglycemia, and the dogs pulled me there instead (though they never did that before).

I tried to open the door, but it wouldn't open. I looked around in confusion, but by now I was pretty much blind - the last I remember is going to try the door handle again.

Next thing I know, there's police cars and a fire engine (the city sends out a crew of 6).

The end result is that when I collapsed, I broke a couple of ribs where they attach to the spinal column when I landed on a flower pot, and the concrete patio beat up my left elbow pretty good. The rest are minor cuts and scrapes. But it hurts to breathe, sleeping is almost impossible, and it takes 10 minutes to get in or out of bed. Getting dressed or undressed is torture.

It could have been a lot worse. If I had turned right instead of left, I would have been inside and partly up the staircase. It could have taken a while for people to notice I wasn't answering my phone, and I could have been lying there with a broken neck or back, blocking my door. My dogs probably saved my neck ...

So right now it's too painful to do a lot of things, including updating the site. I have some dilaudid left over form surgery, but broken ribs are funny - it doesn't really cut the pain enough. A hot shower, though, works temporary wonders; I'll settle for that.

Sorry, and I'll be back ASAP. Thank you for understanding.

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One of the great things about having a home office is that my schedule is a bit more flexible than when I did the 9 to 5 routine

If I need a break, or just some away from the computer to think, I can take the dogs for a walk, or go to the store, or take pen and paper and just sit on the couch and think, without worrying that someone will see this is "unproductive time".

I keep an eye on the weather, and on nice days, I'll squeeze in a load or two of laundry. I like the smell and feel of sheets that have been hung outside in the sun to dry. Dryer sheets and fabric softeners don't give quite the same smell or feel, and 10 minutes to hang it out to dry when I break for lunch works for me.

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TS/TV/CD/LGBT News around the world for today

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TS/TV/CD/LGBT News around the world for today

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Video: Gay Days at Disney world

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