Because I'm kinda sleepy and my brain doesn't want to make another chapter, this got typed: my efforts at explaining the Phalaenopsis Paradox.

http://vongola101.wordpress.com/advanced/phalaenopsis-paradox/

Believe you me, I sweatdropped when chapters 252 and 253 came out. A core principle of Jumper Cable is a variation on this. Marceau's futuretell skills are rather anchored on the parallel-timelines principle, and I've been thinking for Marceau for months before those chapters showed.

I had this stupid idea of attempting to sell Jumper Cable and Always at Mangaholix's M3, but I found out the exact dates for the M3 this year WAY too late. Also, by various circumstances I've never even BEEN to a Mangaholix event, and I can't go be in the Sunday half of M3, so I'm just being crazy. Unless you guys have ideas? ^^;;

Goodnight.

EK 8 )

The Hunger Games, to put it kindly, is a weird mix of Battle Royale, Survivor, Big Brother, Project Runway, LOST, a generic food show, a post-apocalyptic North America, and probably some Twilighty mush (evidently at one point the guy lead Peeta - sparkled -). I kid not, and to the book's credit it pretty much works.

It is okay reading, the writing is quite solid, the imagination required for this story is outstanding, the characters are relatable and sympathetic, the descriptions are really good, the medical stuff was correctly given out, the camping and survival stuff is also most likely researched well, and the pacing is great, but it is not worth the hardbound and a little bit overhyped.

My biggest complaints are the info-dumps. They felt rightly in place, but they also felt imposing. I also have this sinking feeling that this book was originally a Nanowrimo project (meaning, if you read my Activated drivel so far, I info-dump exactly the same way, I ramble on with events exactly the same way), and should have gotten a better second reader and editor. This may also mean my preferences in writing style and my personal writing style is slowly reaching publication level, but that's probably just my wishful thinking.

I don't know. I liked it, but liking it is not loving it. It just got a very powerful marketing arm. If my book were not from someone else, I would not regret holding out and waiting for a paperback. I'll wait for the paperback of Catching Fire. I will watch the movie when it eventually comes. It's a good book, go read it sometime, but there are probably other better-written scifi YA books out there that deserve the media blitz this book got.

Off to listen to the Talecraft lady!

EK 8 )

I effectively have the Activated kids mad at or suspicious of each other, so I want to step away from them for a while, they're getting to me. So yeah, no Activated today. Oh, my poor wordcount.

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Thanks. Probably one more installment of this day after a while. If only I could add that to the Nano wordcount, aye? ^^;;

I still need suggestions for things the Activated kids could do on a trip, btw, please and thank you?

EK 8 )

The empire strikes back

In recent weeks, we've taken huge steps towards blocking spam accounts on LiveJournal. In fact, we've suspended as many as 30,000 accounts in a single day! We've implemented several pre-emptive measures to prevent the creation of spam accounts, and we've honed our detection of suspicious content. Spam bots are a crafty lot, so we'll continue to refine our tactics and keep up the good fight to keep you safe from spam attacks on LiveJournal.

RSS feeds again

If you're addicted to xkcd_rss, icanhaschzbrgr, or other syndicated feeds, we're pleased to report that we've resolved the update error that was mucking up your RSS feeds. While content was being pulled correctly, it wasn't being posted to the feeds themselves. Late last week, we finally nailed down what we hope was the root problem, so content should post properly. We thank you for your patience.

Wii have killer CSI Deadly Intent contests!

c_s_i

If you're a gamer who loves CSI, have Wii got news for you! c_s_i is sponsoring killer contests. Simply post a question to a member of the CSI crew. The winner will get a free copy of CSI: Deadly Intent for Nintendo Wii (with a retail value of $39.99) and get their question answered by a member of the CSI writing team! There's also a fantastic monthly contest. To enter, join c_s_i, play the online version of CSI: Deadly Intent, and respond to a two-part query for a chance to win a Wii! Entries will be judged on composition and originality. Sorry, but you must be a U.S. resident and over 18 years old to participate. Check out the rules here.

Enveloped in postcards

Last week, we asked you to send in postcards to help us decorate our drab concrete walls. Here's a photo of the results so far! Thank you so much and please keep them coming! You can mail them to Frank the Goat, Esq., c/o LiveJournal, Inc., 539 Bryant Street, Suite 210, San Francisco, CA 94107. Be sure to include your username, since we'll be giving ten random users paid account credits.

Photos of the week

If you haven't visited our new LiveJournal photo community, you're in for an amazing visual trip. LiveJournal users from around the world will take you on a scenic journey to everywhere. Post your own pictures or kick back and enjoy at lj_photophile. You can view some of this week's awesome photos after the jump. Please start tagging with geographic location, since we'd like to track all the places around the world represented in this community. Keep on commenting too!
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From keio, evidently there is a SERIOUS cult in India for NERV. Yes. Evangelion, NERV. Using the logo.





The end of the world is SO nigh. (shake head, shake head)

EK 8 )

aiyatheydidnt
The Chinese version of ONTD, AIYA is a dynamic international community that welcomes users who share a love of contemporary Chinese pop culture. Dedicated to celebrity gossip and entertainment news, you'll enjoy gorgeous photos and breaking stories featuring the glitterati of mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

wendylady2
Designed to rescue fashion victims everywhere, this Brit-based community reads like a rag-ezine. Published once or twice weekly, you'll view bizarre highlights of the global fashion scene through captivating photos and delightfully snarky editorial. Sit tight for a virtual fashion tour from the runways of New York to Milan to Paris and back home again to London in homage to the adage: you can't buy good taste.

soldiers_heart
A passionate community for veterans of all ages (mostly American), plus families, friends, and supporters. View poignant snapshots detailing life in combat and back on civilian soil in the form of original artwork, personal narratives, poetry, and photos. Be forewarned that members don't shy away from describing their disappointments, disabilities, and struggles.

Already liking The Name of the Rose, and I haven't even gotten far. I like Adso, and I haven't even seen him do anything yet.

The book is like a Father Sherlock Holmes (with a nice semi-snarky sidekick Benedictine seminarian narrator in Adso) dealing with something like The Da Vinci Code, but done earlier than Dan Brown and done loads better. It has been recommended to me forever, so when I found a new international release that was reasonably priced I jumped on it.

I completely envy Eco's skill in making long paragraphs that get somewhere, I totally do.

My cousin's best friend who is my new fangirl, she gave away her The Hunger Games book. Hardbound. I'm happy to get a hardbound book for FREE, of course, but since she's quite the bookworm too, her giving away a book makes me doubt just how great the book is (Battle Royale ripoff, she says).

Finally, I know I'm years late, but I actually liking that Keroro Gunsou has an actual mini-STORY ARC going, and it's actually quite good. A very done-before but well-executed story arc that I actually care about. Or I'm very easy to please sometimes.

See ya around.

EK 8 )

It got typed yesterday but the broadband died on me while I watched Ed and Roy being torpe to their individual girls. Then this morning the electricity got cut as a typhoon precaution. So it's posted just now.

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Tonight, if all goes well, I'll probably have the first chapter to the Activated story up for you to read. November 1 is tonight. Eeeep!

Hibarin sounds like Fon cosplaying as Hibari, if that's actually possible. It's a good effect, lol.

Thanks for reading. I hope everyone stays safe.

EK 8 )

EDIT: If you're reading this, our maintenance is OVER! The problem was not found on our equipment, which means we'll have to work with our ISP to fix this small problem -- which also means another maintenance window in the future -- but at least we have eliminated our side.

Thank you everyone, and a special shout out to rekoil for giving me a great suggestion AND also the opportunity to feel like I've just called in to a local radio station.

Have a great day, night or afternoon wherever you may be.

---

Hi everyone, sorry for the late notice but I'm going to have to do some testing on 1 of our 4 internet circuits TONIGHT; Friday night or Saturday morning depending on which time zone you're in.

Most of us shouldn't notice any impact, though there may be some slowness or lag when I switch traffic on to our other ISP circuits and then another hit when I stop the tests. If a page won't load or times out, try hitting refresh 1 or 2 times and it should load then. If it doesn't work at all... trust me, I'll be typing really really really fast to try to undo whatever I just did. Hopefully you'll have some Halloween candy (if you're in the USA and celebrate that kind of thing) nearby to take away the bitterness of a small site outage. :(

Here's the handy-dandy Website That I Always Use to get a feel for when the maintenance will start in your area. Our site traffic historically dips on Friday afternoons until Saturday morning which is why we tend to pick this time for maintenance work.

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status.livejournal.org will, of course be updated before and after the maintenance window. Or else marta will get mad at me. :D

bt

In response to user comments from last week, we want to let you know that we'll remain LJ cut-free for the next month in order to get more eyeballs on our evolving newsletter. As for product coverage, that continues to be our top priority. For more granular detail, however, we recommend you join lj_releases.

Super-tweak for Yandex search

Some of our beta testers expressed privacy concerns using the Yandex search engine. Here's why: Last week, when you ran a search, you could see the usernames (and only the usernames) of everyone who commented on an entry, even if that entry was switched to Private or Friends Only after it was originally indexed. You could NOT see the actual comments from Friends Only or Private posts. In response to your input, we've implemented a fix to keep all user activity currently marked Friends Only or Private completely hidden. If you'd prefer your public content not to be indexed by Yandex, click here and use the settings labeled Search Inclusion (this covers your entire journal) and/or Comment Search Inclusion (which covers comments only). To test drive Yandex search now, click here.

Postcards from the edge

Several years ago, we asked LiveJournal users to send postcards to help us decorate our dull, white-washed offices. Since a good idea warrants repetition, we're at it again (same issue, new address). We hope you'll surround us with LiveJournal love by sending your postcards to Frank the Goat, Esq., c/o LiveJournal, Inc., 539 Bryant Street, Suite 210, San Francisco, CA 94107. We'll post snapshots right here. Be sure to include your username, since we'll randomly pick 10 lucky recipients to win free paid account time.

Conquer Writer's Block

Here are some excerpts from this week's most popular question of the day:

If a friend or relative makes a racist or homophobic remark, do you tend to confront them or let it slide? Are you more likely to confront them if it offends you directly or someone else who seems reluctant to speak up?

1. I find it easier to stand up for other people, and i wouldn't let it slide if they made a rude or hurtful comment.
2. Usually if a friend makes a racist or homophobic remark, I tend to let it slide. I think that while i would not say such things myself, I have no right to censor those around me.
3. This happens all of the time. I confront some relatives, but I refuse to if they are drunk or watch Fox News.
4. I'd let it slide if it was just a private remark... As much as I despise bigotry and intolerance, I know that you can't change people-they have to change themselves ...
5. Confront! confront! confront! Politely, but without equivocation.
6. SPEAK UP. Always, always, always speak up. Letting something slide lets ignorance win. No matter if it offends me directly, or someone else, I will confront the speaker and let them know that's not ok.
7. I don't get offended personally. As an immigrant, woman, gay and person of color if I took every single potentially offensive remark seriously I wouldn't get anything done.
8. I punch them in the balls. With my mind.
9. I do speak up, but often very timidly because I feel that I'm white and therefore I don't really have any authority to lecture someone on what's racist and what isn't...
10. Generally speaking, I do not let this shit fly, because it reduces me as a person, to this non-person and it replicates the destructive discourse that makes sure that sexual minorities, racial minorities, women, people with disabilities, trans people and every intersection thereof into something other than human... And sometimes... I'm just too tired to deal with it, so I roll my eyes, make a sarcastic remark and hope the conversation moves on quickly.

For more daily questions and user comments, join writersblock. FYI, we don't want to invade your privacy, so we haven't credited individual users for their responses. We'd appreciate your feedback on this!

Spotlight community of the week

We can't resist making one last midnight trip to the ol' pumpkin patch. If you adore crazy costumes, fiendish festivities, and bottomless candy consumption as much as we do, this community has just what it takes to light up your jack-o-lantern.


halloween_fan

Photos of the week

We received so many incredible photos, we had to close our eyes and point. We uploaded a selection of awesome images at our new lj_photophile community. Please join and start posting (try to keep the width at around 625 for the sake of consistency)! We'd love for you to tell us more about your photos! You can help us select spotlight photos by commenting on your favorites. Once again, we thank you for making our online world more beautiful!

shutter	pancetta	ilya_gorokhov

Curtains

Thanks, again, for tuning in. We look forward to seeing you next week.

Igor was cute. I'm glad I just saw it on TV for free, but it was cute. Or it was just me looking for an outlet for all the OMG FRAN YOU ROCK!-ness I've been having. Because this movie is really snarky. Also, a part of me was really happy for Myleen Klaas (CNN The Screening Room host) for getting a bit role.

I repeat btw: FRAN! YOU ROCK! YOU TOTALLY ROCK! Your master taught you well, young Padawan!

Chapter. yup.

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Fran rocks my socks! I haven't said that enough, have I? ^^;

Thanks for reading.

EK 8 )

Of course writers dream up stuff from thin air without thinking it through. So if Amano-san does it, I can't blame her.

So, hey! New chapter! Yay. ^^;

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Thanks for reading.

EK 8 )

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5471963/1/Sakura_Spring

All posts have been compiled there as chapters.

I took off the hiatus notice, since it looks like there won't be new info for a while. Even if there were stuff about Kawahira, I don't think it will change the narrative much.

But I still have to think a bit, so don't expect new chapters soon. Also, Nanowrimo, it is upon us, and those are the posts you will get soon. I'll probably post for I-pin, though, especially when the Activated kids give me more grief than they should.

Maximum Ride is okay, but it's pulpy pageturner the author is known for, the way Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code is pulpy pageturner. I don't regret reading it, but I don't think I'll read more.

See ya.

EK 8 )

Well important and previously unimportant people are coming back to KHR, so here's my bit:

All futile requests for Longchamp aside...Lancia! Where is he, Amano-san? And Dr. Shamal (who CLEARLY saw through the Hariyama twins, which means he has illusion-unmasking skills), and Iemitsu!

I apologize again to leriko for not ranting like she wants me to rant. Oh, I'm excited about chapter 264, so excited. But all my life I've had to rant and jump up and down in my head, it's hard to stop being like that.

That is all.

EK 8 )

halloween_fan
Here at LiveJournal, we never balk at an opportunity for high drama, wicked costumes, and gluttonous sugar consumption. But this community takes it one step further: Here, everyday is Halloween. Of course, the hallowed eve is particularly sacred to this spirited crowd. If you're looking for last-minute costume ideas for your black cat, faux eyeball candy, or stand-out haunted houses, dive in for a splash of pagan merriment.

picturing_food
Designing gourmet? Feast your eyes on these pixel perfect dishes with an accent on presentation. A visual smorgasbord of eclectic cuisine, ranging from fusion to down-home comfort foods. If the way to your heart is through your stomach and the way to your stomach is through your eyes, you're sure to leave with a good taste in your mouth.

bookish
Passionate readers share well-penned reviews on a broad sweep of genres, including fiction, YA, sci-fi, paranormal, fantasy, and good ol' pot-boiling suspense. Those of a lit crit persuasion are invited to introduce themselves before posting. And for the silent majority who prefer to bask in our neighbors' labors, there are thoughtful reviews, book list suggestions, and even great gift ideas to keep your library card and dowtime filled.