LiveJournal: The First Decade

Just in time for holiday shopping, we're thrilled to announce the release of our ten-year anniversary anthology. Published by Blurb.com, the book showcases a decade of extraordinary talent drawn from LiveJournal users around the world. This must-read compilation features stories, memes, photos, comics, editorials, graphic content, and more, including:

1. Excerpts from Oh No They Didn't (a/k/a ohnotheydidnt), the largest community on LiveJournal, covering celebrity gossip, entertainment news, and pop culture
2. A look at post-Katrina New Orleans from the journal of Poppy Z. Brite
3. Gripping narratives, including a poignant reverie on a blind date
4. Photography that spans the globe, ranging from old-fashioned Polaroids to underwater photography
5. Mouthwatering dishes from food_porn

What began as a late-night inspiration back in Brad Fitzpatrick's college dorm in 1999 has grown to encompass nearly 25 million users worldwide, with journals and communities covering every conceivable hobby, passion, and topic. To get your copy, please visit the Blurb Bookstore. For updates and entries from book contributors, please join lj_turns10.

Tweaks and enhancements

• You can now ban a user from all of your communities and journals at once. To access this feature, hover over the person's userpic and choose Ban user everywhere from the drop-down menu.
• Follow LiveJournal on Twitter!

Give a little to help a lot!

In honor of National AIDS Awareness month, we've added a new charitable vgift. For each red ribbon you purchase for $2.99, we'll donate 100 percent of gross proceeds to IAVI.org (the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative) to support the development and global distribution of an affordable HIV vaccine (we'll cover credit card fees). You can read more about IAVI at lj_cares. While we're on the subject, we raised $740 from our November fundraiser for Love Without Boundaries, which supports emergency healthcare and adoption of Chinese orphans. We thank you for helping us help others.

Photos of the week

We're back with more incredible pictures from our super-talented LiveJournal photographers. Congratulations to ilya_gorokhov, who is the winner of our very first lj_photophile poll.

We hope you'll continue to post, vote, and comment! A gentle request: Please post only one photo at a time and limit size to 350x350 (so images display properly on friends pages). And now, without further ado, get ready to cast your ballot and view more awesome user content after the jump!

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Curtains

Thanks, again, for joining us. Stay safe and snug out there!

Tags: aids vgift red ribbon fundraiser, blurb, livejournal: the first decade, lj_photophile poll

I have just been reading the latest information on the Luxembourg Christmas market that me and my parents are going to: a lot of the advertisements, webpages and reports are in a mixture of French, German, English and Letzeburgish, by which I mean each might contain two or three of the above in combination! All I can say is, I'm glad I have a good grasp of German and an OK grasp of French. My Letzeburgish is pretty poor ;P

Sahha ohrain!

Tags: christmas, holiday, languages
Current Location: Dunkirk, Nottingham
I'm feeling...: confused

Dear PI,

I understand that you have clinical duties and that they keep you busy. However, please please please for the love of all that is holy and good in this world keep me informed on any decisions that you make when it comes to sharing stuff with other labs. It will keep me sane, prevent you from having to answer countless emails, and keep lab spending in line because we won't be ordering redundant sh*t.

Also: pretty please let me order the BioRad Criterion blotter. I luv that system so hard, and plus there'll be not doubt about the validity of the blots. Well worth the [GODFORSAKEN SUM] it costs.

Love,
Chicken Little



In other news: I kind of wish things could be as simple as "I'll make you a figure, you buy me a beer" all the time :-) Much better way to resolve things than having weekly meetings bickering about who gets to use what. (The beer in question is a Belgian beer, which makes it special in two ways--one, it's Belgian; and two, it's beer)

So, what's happened in the World of Dawn since last I wrote properly? Well, quite a bit actually! This is in no particular order...

I taxed my car: I drove it back down to Essex and therefore spent £45 on the MOT and about £30 on the petrol, but also got food and stuff while I was there off the family. Was good to see my parents and Nan again, and I got to see my cousin Diane for the first time in ages. New tax disc kicks in tomorrow and I need to remember to change the disc in the window before I help Dave move house.

I've been to see lil_gothic_me_2 in Leicester quite a bit: nothing much has really happened but I feel it worh mentioning that I've not just been sat on my arse or even in Nottingham half the time. Has been a welcome break from jobsearching etc. and a welcome girlie chat time!

Other girlie chats have occured with Emilie, with whom I'm off to a Christmasy concert on Friday.

Uni's not been too bad, but 9-7 with an hour for lunch at 1 and a voluntary drop-in at 5 is killing me. Not to say I'm missing a test on the last week thanks to a prebooked holiday, which will likely give me 0% for a third of the module. Other than that, I'm actually doing rather well, I think! Coursework varies between enjoyable and brain-numbing. Friends seem to be in much the same boat except for the missing of aforementioned test.

Waiting for my goddamn plants to die! Remember those geraniums I mentioned? Well, they're doing too damn fine as well, but these buggers are the petunias and bizzy lizzies in the pots by the door: very susceptible to frost but the little bastards are still flowering! The bulbs should have been in a month: they're just lucky I've not yanked them put because it's been too wet when I've had time/inclination... Hopefully the damn things will die in tonight's frost.

Had a great birthday: Hazel and Alistair came up from Essex to see me, as did my parents a few days before, and I went out lots of times! I got lots of nice presents including a Valkyrie model from Matt because he was going to buy me something useful but it was my birthday, apparently :) I also discovered the joy of Elderflower and Lime Kopparberg: my two favourite juice flavours in one!

This also means I've been making lots of cakes and have been buying more butter than I care to believe. I noticed tonight, too, that Sainsbury's Basics chocolate has gone down in price by more than 5p :D Castle Marina still have loads of Wispa Gold left too, and on 2 for 80p.

Been playing a lot of Mordheim recently: started a Beastmen Raiders warband and it's been a good laugh so far...

Right, I think I'm going to give up trying to update and go to bed. Enjoy!

Sahha ohrain.

Tags: baking, birthday, essex, garden, mates, tabletop, uni, weather
Current Location: Dunkirk, Nottingham
I'm feeling...: sleepy

The weather this weekend has been a bizarre mix of pretty foul with moments of brilliant sunshine. This has put me in a strange place mentally. Other factors have contributed.

I saw Harry Brown. I wasn't sure what to expect, but this film is moving and disturbing in equal measure. It's not a film to see if you are feeling down.

I fought a MS Vista/AOL tag team and won. I may have said it before, but I'll repeat it for the record: I hate AOL.

Dad and I watched the first couple disks of Battlestar Galactica season four. Is it wrong of me to be rooting for the cylons?

I missed a party at nuala's yesterday. I got home late, it was dark, piss persistently raining and I couldn't face an hour plus train journey... so I went to bed. This level of apathy is a worry. I need to snap out of it or get a swift kick up the arse... one of the two.

The topic of Sarah Palin's book made it to Have I Got News For You on Friday where she and her supporters were mocked mercilessly.

I was looking for "a gadget" (Christmas gift) on Friday when I spotted a link to a telescope. I love the night sky and have always wanted a good telescope so I did a little hunting on google and found these guys. They do some serious kit... starting with the LX90 and going all the way to the LX200. The only problem being... where the hell do I get $15k!

This is most probably another fad and I'll get over it.

Tags: film, gadgets, introspection
Current Location: RM12 5JH
I'm feeling...: whimsical
My tunes: Call Me - Blondie

Happy birthday inquisitorbob! I hope you like your cakes as much as we did, eating the 'spare parts' last night (I made sponges which domed somewhat so I cut the tops off to make them flat and stuck the tops together with leftover butter icing to make a kind of 'dome sandwich' which went with me to 1st. Co. Vets.).

Also, I have finally uploaded my SFFS Hallowe'en photos to Facebook here. Should be visible to everyone whether a Facebooker or not (so Facebook assures me), but if you are a Facebooker, feel free to add me (just don't expect me to return the favour within a week, as I often forget to check it!).

There are also my Spanish ones, all 868 of them:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Enjoy! I'll do a whole holiday write-up one day ;P

Sahha ohrian.

Tags: birthday, halloween, holiday
Current Location: Dunkirk, Nottingham
I'm feeling...: impressed

A tutorial on how to handle reviewers comments

Updating from work via email is not quite as simple as I thought. Getting the settings right is not straight forward and last time I managed to include my "sig" graphic which is attached to each email and details such things as my work email, address, direct line, fax, company name - the whole nine yards. Luckily seattleforge was quick to email me to let me know and I deleted the offending image before it got me into much trouble... Thank you again SF!

I worked out that I need to send a plain text mail so the graphic is not included. When doing this I also need to remember to add a couple of dashes at the end of my mail so LJ ignores the standard company legal disclaimer added to all my mails. It's all to complicated... but it beats trying to key this all in to a mobile phone - even if is does have a "full keyboard".

Talking of which... my new phone has arrived. Mobile phones are not mobile phones any more ... they are mobile computing devices. If you are lucky they also make phone calls! I think I have just about worked out how to use it now... and I'm quite happy with it so far.

I spent a good part of Tuesday night sending Lena links to crazy videos on YouTube. I'm not entirely sure how it started - but the early links were to such gems as Haddaway's "What Is Love?" and Dr Alban's "It's My Life" and then managed to deteriorate into links such as The Badger song and finally Bananaphone (Cellular, modular, interactivodular!)

I have had the bananaphone song stuck in my head for two days now... let that be a warning to you!

Last night, whilst trying to steer clear of earworms I stumbled upon some discussions about Sarah Palins new book "Going Rogue." A couple of thoughts instantly sprung to mind: "Didn't she have the eloquence of G.W. Bush without the smarts?" and "Who could possibly be interested in the woman who didn't become the VP?"

It seems she still has quite a following. It is also apparent that there are a lot of people who dislike her intensely. This makes for some "good drama!" Links to YouTube clips of her interviews (the one by Katie Couric is cringe worthy) were countered by accusations of misogyny and sexism (because no one has ever mocked G.W. for being dim). Spelling and grammar were not considered important by either side, and if anyone did mention it they were labelled "Elitist." (Nothing says Elite like proper grammar.) The only winner in all this is Sarah who is getting a lot of free advertising for her book which has been labelled lies by both the Left and Right!

Another drama fest of late has been the ejection of John and Edward (Jedwood) from Xfactor to cries of "it's a fix" and "at bloody last" and Katie "Jordan" Price quitting the Jungle because the public picked on her. I would hate for anyone reading this to think I actually watch these shows - but given the second by second updates appearing on Facebook (courtesy of my friends and family - thanks guys!) and front page banner headlines in the "news"paper calling itself the Metro I would have to be dead not to be aware of this.

The common factor between these reality shows is the peoples vote. In large groups people are bastards. Stupid, vindictive bastards at that. The anonymity of the mob allows this. I am surprised that this isn't common knowledge. That's why reality shows are still popular - no one can honestly think the "talent" is what keeps the viewers watching can they?

This is another argument (if there needs another) for scrapping democracy and replacing it with a better system... if only I could think of a better system. Government should not be about giving you what you want, but giving you what you need.

This random collection of half thoughts and rants has been brought to you by "too much coffee ™"


--

Current Location: 51.520574,-0.088706
I'm feeling...: happy
My tunes: Ring ring ring ring ring ring ring Bananaphone!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm feeling...: busy

Tweaks and enhancements

1. In order to improve site security, we've temporarily suspended the ability to change passwords for old email addresses that haven't been used for over six months. For further information and support, please visit our customer care page.
2. We've launched a new mobile site with an enhanced UI at m.livejournal.com. View spotlights, post to your journal, read and post to friends pages, and more, no matter where you roam! Please let us know what you think, since this will eventually replace our existing mobile interface. You can update your mobile preferences on your account page.
3. We've upgraded from Beacon to Facebook Connect to improve dual posting. If you've already signed up for Facebook Beacon, you're good to go. If you wish to update your Facebook Connect setting, visit Account Privacy settings and scroll down to the option labeled: "Send information about my updates to Facebook." You can choose Always or Ask each time. Remember to save (on the bottom left corner of the page). To learn more, check out FAQ 249. While we're on the subject, if you happen to be visiting that side of town, please join our Facebook fan page for a touch of home away from home.
4. You'll now receive the Writer's Block Question of the Day in the body of email notifications. To sign up for Writer's Block notifications, visit writersblock and choose the Watch Community option. Next, update your Writer's Block notification settings by checking the box to the right of "Someone posts a new entry to writersblock."
5. Paid and permanent users can now view, add, and edit Notes of commenters. Notes will appear beside the username of comment posters (instead of stars) on S1-themed comment pages.

Send some lovin' thanks to your friends with our holiday vgifts!

Photos of the week

We're so delighted with the immense talent of our growing, global lj_photophile community that we've decided to introduce a poll. Each week, we'll choose a half-dozen photos (based on user comments and staff feedback) and ask you to select a photo of the week. The winning photo will be announced in the next newsletter. If possible, please limit photo size to 350x350 to ensure that images display properly on friends pages. We want to thank you again (and again!) for sharing your passion.

Check out this week's photo poll and more fantastic user content after the jump!

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Curtains

Thanks for joining us. To our American friends, have a fantastic Thanksgiving. To all of our international neighbors, we'll eat a little extra for you!

Tags: facebook connect, lj_photophile, m.livejournal, mobile, notes, security patch, writer's block

The BBC have published some press reviews of the National Theatre's production of Nation Sadly, they aren't too encouraging.

Whose thinking of going?

But not as bad as Eddy. I at least don't mind SO much because I know I CAN'T go out 'cause i'm ill. Eddy has nothing wrong with him and is horrendously bored, he just has no friends her really. He had Taylor but now he's in Toronto for 3 months. Which is crazy because Toronto is basically London, but take out all the culture and history, then shrink it down, and shit on it. I strongly dislike Toronto.

So yeah, just saying, we has boreds.

I'm feeling...: bored