Tom's OSU: Year 2013 in review - 8 years of blogging

PHOTO: perhaps only as a parody, Thomas Kraemer takes a fuzzy selfie at the end of 2013 in order to keep up with the latest internet fad. Now if only the focus and lighting were better -- but hey, it simulates my current legally blind vision condition, which I forgive you, if you don't understand, because I couldn't understand it either just from just hearing other peoples' descriptions until after I had suffered from it myself. I may be blinder and weaker than last year, but I am still grateful to still be alive! Merry Christmas and Hallelujah to all! (See my previous post My low vision blindness is like seeing a captcha all the time (1/1/12))

After writing this blog for 8 years, I hope to be able to keep blogging through at least next year, even though my ability to post has declined from posting an average of once a day to only a few times per month during this last year. The reason I have continued to blog is it works very good as a Google searchable memory aid to help me form new memories, which has become harder for me to do with the type of stroke I had (Fortunately, I haven't lost any memories). I am also writing this blog as a gift to the few friends and family members who might read my blog in the future and enjoy our shared memories. I am clearly not blogging for any money or ego satisfaction, which I suspect is what drives many people to blog and to participate in online forum boards or other social networking sites, such as Facebook. (See previous posts Year 2012 in review - 7 years of blogging (12/23/12), Oregon POLST for Thomas Kraemer (12/4/13) for my physician's orders for life sustaining treatment (I hope to die naturally with minimum drama) and for my friends and family I wrote my previous post Obituary for Thomas Kraemer (1/4/12) for them on the event of my death.)

For my previous year in reviews and lists of favorite posts, see previous posts Year 2012 in review - 7 years of blogging (12/23/12) along with the 1,554 blog posts I wrote for my former blog: Year 2006-2011 in review - 6 years of blogging (12/1/11). The reason I moved to a new blog address is described in my previous post This may be my last post - customer feedback to Google (12/1/11)

Here are some key posts I wrote during the last year:

New queer studies professor, OSU Magnus Hirschfeld Fund and OutHistory mentioned in student paper (6/7/13) - Oregon State University Queer studies Associate Professor Qwo-Li Driskill and
OSU Professor of German, Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Corvallis Queer Film Festival (11/11/13) - Bradley Boovy Assistant Professor of German andWomen, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Oregon State University Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies are two of the new OSU professors doing rearch that could qualify for my OSU Foundation Magnus Hirschfeld Fund for research concerning humans or animals with a minority sexual orientation or gender identity
OSU Foundation Magnus Hirschfeld Fund Agreement (1/4/12)
Alienist and Neurologist on gays in 1904(2/9/13) - a medical journal article that in 1904 published extended quotes from a letter from by a gay man who described his futile attempts to be cured of homosexuality and his decision to be castrated before he got into more trouble (He was fired from his job for being gay). He describes how doctors told him that his problem is all in his head.
Supreme Court on Jack Baker's gay marriage case 42 years later (3/26/13)
Customer feedback on Google Reader shutdown - is Blogger next? (3/16/13)
Google Reader gone, low-vision alternatives still needed (7/9/ 13)
Oregon Obama-Care health insurance rates are designed-by-committee Dilbert cartoon (5/22/13)
OSU students discuss ethics of blackface, drag and definition of trans-asterisk (5/24/13)
OSU student newspaper on queer course development (7/13/13)
Fixed amortization option for IRA distribution versus required minimum distributions (8/6/13)
PQ letter on Jack Baker gay marriage activism vs. Steve Endean political goals (8/2/13)
Oprah impressed by Jack Baker's gay marriage activism in 1970s (10/18/13)
OSU Scholars Archive has PDF of OSU gay history from OutHistory dot org (11/2/13)

Here is a list of my selected previous blog posts and year end summaries:

In my previous post Year 2006-2011 in review - 6 years of blogging (12/1/11) I listed the following favorite links to posts and other things that I had written:

Hewlett-Packard Journal historical favorites (7/16/11)
Jack Nichols Gay Today Archive (9/12/09)
OSU first gay student group (5/14/08)
Oregon State University 2006 in review (12/27/06)
U.S. Patent number 5,883,639 dated Mar. 16, 1999 (9/24/11) - U.S. Patent by Thomas Kraemer -- when I first started work, getting a U.S. Patent was rare because of the legal expenses and time required to get one issued and the belief by many corporate managers that it was easier to keep inventions as a trade secret instead of making them known to the public. In the 1980's it various changes in patent law and the practice of it made many corporations to seek out more patents to create a war chest to fight patent challenges from other corporations -- prior invention was always a defense and easily proved by a patent application -- however, I recently read that seeking patents has once again gone out of favor with corporate bosses. Certainly, the time needed to get a patent and the quick pace of invention today can make it virtually worthless to a corporation or inventor, other than to have bragging rights.
Edina High School 40th Reunion (11/12/11)
Bitchy Butch World's Angriest Dyke by Roberta Gregory (7/2/11)
Openly gay Facebook founder in old HP building 17 Palo Alto (1/8/11)
Face recognition vs. sexual orientation, handedness, and sex (1/15/11)

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Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Year 2013 in review - 8 years of blogging