I'm really impressed with Google

Why can't more companies and people be like this:
Transgender Remembrance Day
11/20/2008 10:01:00 AM We believe great ideas can come from anywhere and everyone. And we aspire to be an organization that reflects global diversity, because we know that a world's worth of perspectives, ideas and cultures leads to the creation of better products and services. We have more than a dozen employee-driven resource groups, from Gayglers to GWE (Google Women Engineers), that actively participate around the world in building community and driving policy at Google. The post below kicks off an occasional series, entitled Interface, about valuing people's similarities and differences in the workplace. For more information on how Google fosters an inclusive work environment, visit Life at Google on our Jobs site. – Ed.

November 20th marks Transgender Remembrance Day, which takes on a special significance in a world awakening to the need for unity among all people. In observing this day, the Gayglers — the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) group within Google — extend their wholehearted support to the LGBT community at large, as we reflect on the senseless violence perpetrated against transgender people around the world.People who identify or express their gender differently than the one assigned to them at birth usually call themselves transgender or transsexual. All too often, they are subjected to a range of not-so-subtle prejudices and transphobia, from verbal abuse to physical violence. Imagine walking into a public restroom in a state of dread over a confrontation about your appearance. Imagine visiting a doctor and worrying about how far to "out" yourself to receive appropriate care. Studies suggest that transgender people are 16 times more likely to be killed than the general population -- earlier this month, in fact, a transgender woman in Tennessee was murdered -- and this is just the most recent of many such cases.We're fortunate here at Google, where there are LGB and T people at all levels of the company, thanks to enlightened hiring and promotion practices that set aside sexual orientation or gender presentation. Ultimately, Google fosters a workplace where everyone has the ability to be themselves at work. For transgender employees in particular, that means everything.On this Transgender Remembrance Day, take just a few moments to remember the trans siblings, parents, friends and lovers who lost their lives to gender-based intolerance and hatred. Let's all share in a future where tolerance and understanding transforms the world. And let's work to create a better place for everyone to live peaceably in an all-inclusive world community that merits our deepest pride.

Posted by Kai Johnson, Software Engineer

Told you girls had cooties

Women's hands 'harbour more bugs'

Human skin harbours many bacteria

Women have a greater range of different types of bacteria on the palms of their hands than men, US research suggests.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7705608.stm

Memories

So I find myself in Kolkata for a few days for work. It has been over a year and a half since I was last here and my first time back in India since I left last year.

It has a vaguely surreal feel to it. My friends are still here and the city looks the same, but there is definitely a sense of time having passed.

Besides the constant comments on my weight gain (which I attribute to domestic bliss) the other questions are on way I am such a slacker on my blog.

I have so many intentions to be a better blogger. I actually have a list of things I want to blog about. It's the execution that gets me. I want to be able to capture the fleeting moments of my existence and immortalised them in some small way. Considering the unlikely hood of producing off-spring, this public diary of mine is the only way I can make my presence publicly felt.

As I sit here reminiscing of times past and musing on things to come I wonder how long it will take for me to be forgotten. But at least this little blog of mine serves to collect in some manner the randomness of my existence.