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A LazyWeb Christmas Wish
What I really want for Christmas is a recommendation for a workshop or intensive class where I can immerse myself in making art, especially painting-type activity.

A few years ago, I took a "vision painting" workshop at Esalen -- I suppose I could go back there -- but I wonder if there's anything closer to San Jose, maybe not quite so earthy-crunchy.

14:44 mibbit.com can read Twitter and treat it like an IRC channel. This is amusing and terrifying. #

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LiveJournal Major Notes: Get your holiday fix!

Holiday debuggery

We know there were a few kinks with the holiday promotion. We've been working very hard to get them ironed out. If you have a paid/permanent account, keep on sending those coupons. Here's an update:

If you were unable to send out multiple coupons at a time, please perform a hard refresh, and you should be good to go.
If you redeemed a coupon to upgrade your account and the balance at checkout was $0 instead of $9.95 or $15, this means your upgrade did not go through (nor were you charged). We've straightened this out, so you can now apply your holiday coupon toward the purchase of an annual paid account.
If you tried to redeem a holiday coupon and had trouble using a gift certificate to cover the balance of an annual paid account, we identified the root problem. If this happened to you, you can now use your holiday coupon together with your gift certificate.
If the number of holiday coupons you have available suddenly goes up (instead of down), this might be due to recipients declining the coupons, at which point your pool of available coupons will be replenished and, therefore, increase.
If you need assistance with holiday coupons or pretty much anything else (well, LiveJournal related), please open a support request and we'll be more than happy to help!

Tweaks

There were some initial glitches displaying results on My Guests, but we've worked them out. We hope you'll check out who's been checking you out!
Some of you reported formatting issues using the Rich Text Editor (i.e., line breaks were being removed incorrectly). We've implemented a fix! Thanks so much for your patience.

Give a little extra!

We're pleased to report that we've already sold over 100 virtual red ribbons in honor of National AIDS Awareness month. Remember, for each charitable vgift you purchase for $2.99, we'll donate 100 percent of gross proceeds to IAVI.org (the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative) to fund the development of an HIV vaccine. Once again, we thank you for your generosity.

Celebrate with holiday vGifts!

Stop by the Virtual Gift Shop and share some holiday magic with your LiveJournal friends.

Photos of the week

We're back with more dazzling pictures from around the world. Congrats to marlenemcc, who has been awarded a virtual blue ribbon as the winner of our fourth photo contest. We hope you'll click over to LJ_Photophile poll and tell us your picks in pics!

For more fantastic user content, we'll meet you under the cut. ( Read more... )

Curtains

Thanks, again, for reading. Here's wishing you the very merriest of holidays. We'll see you next year!

13:16 Out of my face: I know Steven Segal. I have viewed the films of Steven Segal. And you, sir, are no Steven Segal. #
13:17 @plynke We walked over and waved flags at George, the bringer of ticket # 10,000,000. That's sufficient. #
14:55 ... it's quiet. Too quiet. #

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Been a long time, so here's an XO update
EDIT: Gizmodo, and especially their commenters, have really hit it: http://gizmodo.com/5432351/olpc-xo+3-an-impossible-75-fantasy-tablet-i-want-to-believe-in

Earlier this year, there were pictures shown of a new OLPC model, "XO-2," which would have two multi-touch screens. Unfortunately, that got cancelled: http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/11/03/company.changing.focus.following.layoffs/

Now they are talking about a model "XO-3": http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/12/22/olpc.xo.3.may.get.camera.wireless.power/

http://www.forbes.com/2009/12/22/tablet-computer-negroponte-technology-cio-network-olpc.html

In the mean time, they are currently making small batches of "XO-1.5" models, which are cost-reduced versions of the XO-1, and planning an "XO-1.75" model, which will use ARM processors.

I still have my OLPC XO-1. Maybe you have one, too? If so, you should be helping test the newest release of their software, because it's WAY better than the previous releases. It's a pretty widely-supported "Remix" of Fedora's "F11" version.

Because more of the OLPC's OS is standard:
1) the OLPC company has less work to do, and might just survive even though they have fewer programmers on staff, and
2) It's getting easier and better to run OLPC simulators on "regular" laptop computers -- which typically have full-size keyboards. (I'll admit, I can't type on that little keyboard.)

(Also, maybe Fedora can use some of OLPC's power-saving code.)

You can find out more, here: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/F11_for_XO-1

My Holiday Wish For All, Damnit
Hi there.

As snowflakes fall on happy little upturned faces and the wassail bowl is flung down decked halls, our minds turn inevitably to how everything is going to hell on hot greased rails. Therefore, here's my holiday wish for the world:

1. Spend less time raging at the extremes, trolls, and obviously manufactured non-issues you see on the television. Shun Sarah Palins, ACORNs, that crazy thing about the President dad sent in email, and Michael Moore. Almost none of it matters, and the people repeating it have no love for you.

2. Instead, look around where you live. Find out what's right and wrong with your town and your neighborhood. Look up who runs things and get to know those people better. Find the local charities and political action groups and see what can be fixed or encouraged locally. It's way harder to be BS'd when you can see what's happening, and way more rewarding to see change.

3. Pay more attention to your local political representatives and their opponents. Encourage what's good and discourage what's bad to them, early and often. It's the best way to deal with the pain of #1.

4. Lose an argument now and then. No, really.

Ho ho ho,

substitute

Current Mood: bored

Clarion West Writer's Workshop.
I am delighted to announce that in 2010 I will become vice chair on the board of the Clarion West Writers Workshop, taking on the role of chair in 2011. I attended this six-week workshop for writers of speculative fiction in 1987 and it changed my writing and my life in wonderful ways, as it has changed -- and will change -- the work and lives of hundreds of others. It is a great honor to be allowed to contribute to the workshop's future in this fashion.

I still have my work for the Center for the Study of Science Fiction and the novel classes I will teach there this summer, so I will be busy!--But so happy to contribute to the field I love so much.

A very low key whiskymas will happen
I don't have the resources to do a big event, but am still opening the house to people who don't have other plans that day. We may taste a couple of single malts to observe tradition, if there is interest.

BUNRAISER
Continuing with the Content of Others: The 30 Second Bunnies Present HELLRAISER

Current Mood: sleepy

Writer's Block: New lease on life
( You are about to view content that may only be appropriate for adults. )

Current Mood: cheerful
Current Music: Jimmy Rushing : Good Morning Blues

14:14 ... Gooood lunch at the Paragon in the Pearl. myloc.me/2bi5Z #

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Writer's Block: Simply wonderful
( You are about to view content that may only be appropriate for adults. )

Current Mood: cheerful
Current Music: Jimmy Rushing : Good Morning Blues

elephant talk

See more funny videos and Music Videos at Today's Big Thing.

Italian rock musician sings in "English" that works about as well as the real thing. via

33mhz

Current Mood: sleepy

11:04 Interesting new book: 'Levitation: Physics And Psychology In The Service Of Decep...' by Jim Ottaviani (Paperback ) bit.ly/5upKce #
11:04 ... and yes, that was a test of the Amazon Associates thingy. feel free to DM me with "OH GOD DON'T DO THAT AGAIN" comments, encouragements #
11:16 @Nycteris well if you want it, go ahead an buy it - You'd be the first person I'd make some Amazon $ off of! #

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07:53 ... Getting the hang of the moustache wax... tweetphoto.com/6534381 #
14:19 ... this morning I pulled off a RL Horatio Caine moment. Spilled Yogurt. "Seems that this assailant..." *sunglasses* "Was a cultured one." #
14:40 ... definitely getting the hang of the mustache wax. using a special "Seasons Greeting" Blend from mansfacestuff.com - recommended! #

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LiveJournal Major Notes: My Stats, My Guests, Holiday promotion, Yandex search, Whitelisting!

Get to know My Guests. Want to know who's checking you out? You can now view the 100 most recent, logged-in users who visited your journal during the past 30-day period with My Guests. For those who prefer to fly under the radar, you can update your My Guests privacy setting here.

Introducing My Stats. If you have a Paid or Permanent account, you can now see detailed reports on how many people are visiting your journal, friends pages, and entries (wherever they're posted on LiveJournal). You can also view data on comments and RSS requests. My Stats is only available to Paid and Permanent account holders, but you can upgrade anytime. (FYI, an annual subscription costs less than a large pizza with everything on it, PLUS it's rumored to make you lose weight in your sleep!) For additional details on this feature, read this article in paidmembers.

Get ready to check your vital statistics!. To begin, mouse over Journal in the upper nav bar and select My Stats from the dropdown menu (Horizon) or select My Stats under Journal in the side bar (Vertigo). If you're using another design scheme, you can visit My Stats directly. You'll find My Guests on the My Stats tool bar.

Happy holiday promotion!

We're delighted to tell you about our holiday coupons, which will help you share the love with your LiveJournal friends! If you have a Paid or Permanent account, you can send up to 10 LiveJournal Basic/Plus users a $10 coupon for an annual paid subscription now through January 15th, 2010. Recipients can upgrade for $9.95 (instead of $19.95) for one year by enrolling in our automatic payment plan or make a manual payment of $15 (instead of $25). Please note that these coupons are not transferable and cannot be used to renew existing paid accounts. If you're a Paid/Permanent user, you can send out your holiday coupons now!

Tweaks and Enhancements

The search is on: We've replaced our default search tool with one from Yandex, a leader in search engine technology. This means you'll get smarter, more granular results! To get started, enter your search terms and click the Go button to the left of the Find box on the upper right of the LiveJournal header. This will take you to the search landing page where you can further refine by Entries, Comments, People & communities, and FAQs. You can also access the search page directly.
Whitelisting: We've released a new option to help you moderate your busy communities more efficiently. If an entry contains a link to a whitelisted (i.e., trusted) site, it will be posted automatically without need for moderator approval. If a post contains a link that is not on the whitelist, you'll be prompted to approve. To access this option, please visit settings for any community you maintain and select the third option in the Community Moderation box (located in the lower left-hand corner). Click the enable link to custom-edit your community's whitelist, which has been prepopulated with trusted domains. You can manually add or delete URLs in the text box. Please note: If you're the maintainer of an unmoderated community, you may see the radio button for this setting checked, even though it's not active. This is a known issue. Please select whichever option you prefer and click Save Changes at the bottom of the page. If you're happy with your current settings, then no need to do anything!
TMI, dude: We've added some fun FREE sponsored vgifts! You can send up to 50 TMI vgifts to mutual friends (btw, you cannot send free vgifts to communities). If you're a Paid/Permanent user and you want to view sponsored gifts, click Show sponsored gifts on your homepage or visit the sponsored gift page. These vgifts will only be available through Wednesday, December 23rd.

You can view more awesome user content after the jump!

( Read more... )

Curtains

Thanks, again, for joining us. Until next time, stay snug!

Food Of My People: a quickie.

SALAD OF RAW VEGETABLES III

1 cauliflower, snowwhite
1 cup raisins
1/2 cup mayonnaise

Clean and chop the cauliflower. Blend with raisins and mayonnaise. Serves 4.

Not that there's anything wrong with cauliflower or raisins or mayo. But still, this isn't right.

10:03 ... the drum part of Rock Band / Band Hero can actually help you learn how to PLAY the drums. The Guitar part - autoharp. #

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Photo outing Dec 27th
Photo trip pre-planning:
A friend is visiting between boxing day and new years eve. She wants to do some group photo outings. The first one planned will be Sunday 27 December, we'll meet at my house and head out from there. I'm not sure of all of the details, like what time we'll start or where, specifically we'll go, but there is a lot to photograph in the area:
Bonny Doon Beach
Panther beach
various vinyards (which also do wine tasting)
Roaring camp rail road (especially the service yard)
covered bridge
Fall creek lime kilns
There are various roads with lots of cool little photo opportunities
Boomer's castle
Let me know if you're interested. I can easily set up my van to carry 8, and with a bit more work, 12.