Found this as the status message of my friend :) [11 Nov 2009|07:02pm] suddenlynita [ mood | focussed ] ലൈഫ് ഈസ്‌ എ ഹെല്‍ .. ഹെല്‍ എന്ന് പറഞ്ഞാല്‍ ഒരു ഒന്നൊന്നര ഹെല്‍... LOL! post comment

Oozing liquids [11 Nov 2009|05:57pm] mike_higher If you were in India or subscribed to the news of the weird from India, you wouldn't have (couldn't have) missed this: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Mumbaikars-throng-church- as-water-oozes-from-cross/articleshow/5210984.cms This is Mumbai. Last year they had Haji Ali turn the sea water sweet for days on end and random people came to the beach to fill up used mineral water bottles with the precious miracle water - dirt, untreated sewage and all. They probably drunk it, sprinkled it on ill people, washed open wounds, washed babies (washing bums in that as some routinely did in that part of the beach would now be sacrilege) and did other things one does with blessed material of all sorts. The true miracle is nobody fell seriously sick from that filthy water. Even before that, there was Ganesha drinking milk all across the country. Funny that - the Hindu god *drank* milk, the Catholic god *oozed* water and the Muslim saint just made the sea water sweet. Buddha did something somewhere too. Sai pictures routinely spew ash and other material at random. Tamil magazines have also reported how pictures of the new age Kalki bhagwan ( & his wife and now Amma bhagwan) spouted honey which in turn was found to have curative properties. This time around, the priest at the church of the oozing cross said he doesn't know what the liquid was or why it happened but 'welcomes whatever it takes to get people closer to god' Is that really how god would want people to get closer to god - through sea water changing mausoleums? Pictures of lips/ finger tips that drip honey? Oozing statues? Why not - I don't know - get us a breakthrough in nuclear fusion energy and solve the climate crisis once and for all. Or suddenly have everyone wake up fitter. Or having the same ideas on sexuality, gender, race, religion, ethnicity and the lot. Makes one disbelieve omnipotence & omnipresence of gods. Omniscient could still be - but that only makes it morally reprehensible on such an authority's part to know and not do anything - going by the general 'no innocent bystander' ethical principle. Should one consider Darwinist thinking and atheism as the alternative, one also sees: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/biology_evolution/article6 905259.ece Apparently the miracle of Darwinist thinking was a common factor among many, many high school shooters. Natural selection they seem to believe needs a shot in the arm - or heads. Being religious and irreligious both seem to be fraught with moral danger. Maybe the only safe path for humanity is constant doubt and insecurity. post comment

Maya [10 Nov 2009|12:13pm] mike_higher Illusory allusions In each mote of dust Infinite multiverses post comment

Money for citizenship [10 Nov 2009|11:59am] mike_higher Some years back, the UK orchestrated a much publicized cash-for-citizenship scheme wherein foreigners looking to move to the UK by investing a million pounds or so, or as entrepreneurs just about 200,000 pounds. The investment could even be in mutual funds in the UK stock markets. I am not clear if buying property under a shared scheme, where units of a limited company are purchased and confer residency rights, are eligible for this scheme. The US too used to offer its coveted Green Cards in return for investment. In both these places, after 9/11 and UK's own experiences, the schemes are losing their sheen. There are other countries with such schemes. Austria for one - and some islands in the Caribbean. The St.Kitts scheme is of particular interest. This small island nation in the Caribbean has a cash-for-citizenship scheme which requires much lesser commitment - of 300,000 US$ or so. It actively promotes the scheme, highlighting advantages of its citizenship with its especially benevolent taxation schemes, the visa-on-entry arrangement with more than 100 countries, the lovely local climate and the warm, fuzzy culture. To make it further attractive, they even say one doesn't even have to go to St.Kitts - like, ever. Just plonk the money for a place there, and get a spanking new St.Kitts passport through authorized agents. It even adds that for citizens of such countries as Afghanistan, Iraq, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia etc this is an especially good scheme as in *other* places they may need to actually go through stringent processes. Wow. Cut to 2009, and you have Denmark: http://www.cphpost.dk/news/politics/90-politics/47432-foreigners-to-get- 100000-kroner-incentive-to-leave-denmark.html The Danish are actually willing to pay its recent immigrants some 100,000 Kroners to leave the country and never return. 1 comment|post comment

LiveJournal Major Notes: Spam counter-attack, RSS feeds again, CSI Deadly Intent contest [05 Nov 2009|01:15pm] news [theljstaff] 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! ( Read more... ) 218 comments|post comment

Moving targets [05 Nov 2009|04:28pm] mike_higher Dhanush told me he is moving back to Bombay. I didn't quite take it seriously. 'Honey! You couldn't move back to Bombay if you tried - there is no such thing as Bombay any more, remember?' I joked. 'It is Mumbai now. Not the Bombay you left.' 'Oh, come on. It is Bombay, and will remain Bombay for me.' 'What - just because you are a South Bombay boy, you think you are immune to it?' I snorted. 'Actually - I suppose now I should say you are a SoMu - a South Mumbai launda!' He rolled his eyes. 'Even you couldn't think that is funny.' I was still laughing. 'It is so! I am cracking up! Imagine a whole bunch of you SoMus! All of you dressed in designer jeans and oversized glasses wandering around Bandra like it was SoHo! Hohoho!' My sense of humour is weird. 'Yaar! Ab bus!' He shushed me. 'I am serious. I am moving back. I have accepted a job with IBM there.' I sobered up. 'Like, really? I mean - for real?' 'Yeah. I am going to resign tomorrow - and am hoping they will accept a shorter notice period. Anyway, there is not much work here now, and I think they will be happy to let me go ASAP.' 'But Dhanush - have you really thought this through? You came to Bangalore saying life elsewhere was too hectic, remember?' 'Haan, yaar!' he sighed. 'But Bangalore is not any better now, is it? Traffic is horrible, buses and autos are unreliable. And to top it all, it is now benga-luru-ooooo' He swished his hands around and made ghost-like noises. 'It is not official yet, you know. The renaming proposal is still to be officially accepted by the central government.' I said, defensively. 'Well - you can hang on to Bangalore for a while more, but you know it is happening.' We talked about increasing regionalism, berated early Indian governments for language-based states and tut-tutted over the state of affairs. I was all for overthrowing colonial legacy and reclaiming original names - for pride if nothing else. He maintained it was a waste of money, and anyway - who really knows what the original name for a place was? Did Chennai really exist? Weren't each of the Madras suburbs quite distinct and possibly warring towns in the not so distant past? Why should Mylaporeans accept the hegemony of the Chennai-ites? Surely Shriperumbudur or Pammal never was Chennai? It is difficult to stop once we get started on those lines. Soon, we were arguing if India as a nation could have even existed if not for the shared British colonial legacy. I maintained the Bharata-varsha as the true heritage, and he disdainfully commented on how Trichy and Madurai were different kingdoms, let alone the rest of the places. English and the opposition to the English, he said, was what gave India any identity. We argued over linguistic and cultural identities, the North-South divide, the Aryan conspiracy and other tangential matters for a while, and then Dhanush said - 'Bottom-line - I am moving back to Bombay. My Bombay.' - as if the whole argument over nationhood and heritage was actually relevant to his decision to move. 'Mm. What about Sanjay then? Is he moving with you?' I asked. Sanjay was the reason Dhanush moved to Bangalore in the first place. They had met in Delhi in a recruitment fair -well, not exactly 'met' as much as scratched each other's eyeballs out. Both of them were recruiting for their respective employers and happened to be at the same campus on the same day. Neither company had made it to Day 0 status, and at the height of the IT/Tech boom it was imperative for each to get as many of the best and brightest as they could. Placement season turned college halls into a madhouse. It was an employee's market - too many companies chasing too few people, and competition was cutthroat. When Dhanush learnt from the chap he was doing the initial screening that he was going immediately after their conversation to the second round with Sanjay's employer, Dhanush made a spot offer skipping the rest of the protocol. Sanjay was livid at being locked out like this, and they rained spot offers just on the basis of basic academic criteria to the great joy of the graduating class, and consternation of everybody else. They both took it up with the recruitment office and lodged Strongly Worded Protests, and went off in a huff. Later that evening, Dhanush was at a party at a farmhouse in Saket and over a cold beer was laughing about it with a friend. 'Funny that.' His friend remarked dryly. 'I just heard the same story from another chap some 10 minutes ago.', and took him across to the terrace garden - and there was Sanjay, regaling a new audience with the same story though the villainy was squarely on Dhanush in his version. He was just in time to hear Sanjay say, 'You should have seen him! He had his tie loosened, and a button off showing off his chest hair, and oh my god, how he was smiling and flirting with their recruitment officer! Shameless!' 'Maybe I should have flirted with you instead.' Dhanush interrupted dryly. Sanjay's ears went red. He turned around, saw the sexy smile he had just described directed at him now and blushed. 'This is embarrassing! I am so sorry!' he said. Dhanush laughed. 'Really - if I had known you would be into me, I'd have flirted with you and got that Dave chap to join us.' 'You missed your chance. I am keeping him!' Sanjay smiled. 'He'd enjoy that - being kept by you.' Dhanush smiled back. They hit it off, and left the party together that night. Within a month Sanjay & Dhanush were quite the couple. They both left their employers and joined a large retail company's captive IT unit in Bangalore. It made perfect sense to them - they did not have to compete with each other anymore, and a captive was far less likely to be aggressive in their growth plans - it meant less travel and more time to themselves. I met them first at a friend's place when they had just moved to Bangalore and have since become fast friends with both. They were a well-loved couple in Bangalore and I had thought they would be here forever, I suppose. I did not like to hear he was leaving. 'Bangalore is so boring!' Dhanush sighed. 'I mean, I love the weather and all that - but I am just sick of this place. There is nothing to do, and we can't keep taking turns to throw a party at home. I am sick of people's homes! I really, really want to go out and have a party. What city shuts at 11? Come on now.' I would have taken an opposing position on most topics just for the fun of debating with Dhanush, but I really had nothing to say in defence of Bangalore's lack of night life. 'There is hardly any theatre, limited art, mostly franchises of restaurants - or worse: copies!' 'O come on, it is not all that bad.' I said feebly. 'Don't even bother trying to defend it, ok? You know what I say is true. I am BORED! I am tired of weekend trips to Pondicherry and Hampi and what not. I want to live my life where I am! Not keep running out of the city..' 'Hey - if Bangalore has a more relaxed pace, that is good too, right? It gives you much more quality time to spend with your Mister.' 'Yeah, right!' He snorted. 'We end up stuck in traffic jams for the most part. I tell you, this city has gone to pot.' 'Forget trashing the city for a minute - and tell me, is Sanjay moving too?' 'No.' He sighed. 'He LOVES this place. Says it is lovely to be able to walk down to a park and sit and read. Says it is lovely to meet up with friends in familiar, comfortable places and talk. He loves it.' I smiled. I could totally see why Sanjay would say that. 'He doesn't want to move. We are going to try long-distance for now. We will meet each other every other weekend. I am going back to recruitment, and will be travelling a lot again.' 'Long-distance, huh? That's going to be quite a change.' 'Yes.' He sighed. 'Do you think I am doing the right thing?' I shrugged. 'Hey - if you think this is the right thing for you, then it probably is. You won't know till it happens, right? For all I know, you will reach Mumbai and find you can't stand its muggy nights and crowded streets, and rush back crying for the cool Bangalore evenings, us boring people and your loving Mister!' 'I am afraid of that too.' he confessed. 'What if I have changed and cannot fit into Bombay anymore? I feel like I have become middle-aged here in Bangalore, and like all the boys there are still on their second-third crushes.' 'Well - you have been in a steady, committed relationship for over 3 years now..' 'Oh my god! Do you have to say it like that? It makes me sound like some sort of boring Sindhi Aunty!' 'Honey, you are a Dadlani! You are a Sindhi Aunty!' I laughed. 'Just be happy you haven't bloated up like your sister.' 'Stop it already - it is a cliché that Sindhi people get fat when they are married! You should know better than to indulge in stereotypes. It is very hurtful, you know.' 'Especially when you have actually put on weight!' I chortled. 'You are mean! Must be all that sambhar you Tamil people eat everyday.' Like puppies nipping playfully, we exchanged familiar insults about madrasis and sindhis, dragging in everything from stinginess to food and language. It is a comforting, pleasant exercise and after five-six minutes, we came back around to his impending move. 'How is Sanjay taking it?' I asked. Dhanush sobered up. 'He seems OK. He says he would rather meet me for weekends now and then and be with a happy, cheerful me, than spend every night with a mopey, miserable me.' 'That was sweet.' 'You know, It sounds sweet I am sure...' 'What do you mean?' 'Like, you know - what does he mean weekend now and then? I thought we will meet every other weekend, and he is already saying now and then. That means, what - once in a quarter? Work permitting?' 'It will work itself out. Surely you cannot expect a timetable already...' 'Yeah, but - what does he mean mopey and miserable? I have been quite normal, really.' 'Well - you did say you were miserable here...' 'yeah, but - you should have heard him say it - as if I was just moaning and groaning every waking hour, and never smiling or being happy, and making his life miserable just by association. I mean it is not like I am complaining every day - and if I can't share what I feel, then what is the point, right?' 'Hm.' I hate to seem to agree when I disagree, but did not want to interrupt him. 'Like if I tell him, I am tired of the traffic, he will start saying - "Ooo, you are always complaining! Make the most of it! Read a book or listen to music. It is not like you are driving" - and looking at me smugly from behind the cover of whatever Patricia Cornwell he is into that day. Always on my case about that - "Look on the bright side!" "Greener grass!" Blah! Blah! Blah!' He was mocking Sanjay now, imitating him tossing his hair and his peculiar hand gestures - with one hand clasping the other at the wrist, and the fingers twitching like snakes desperate to escape their handler. 'OK, I get it!' He continued, throwing up his hands in mock surrender. 'So he is perfectly happy here in this dead-end job with no real challenges and relaxing with friends, chatting over coffees. That's fine - but do you know he wants us to go to bed by 10:30 most days? That is the time I want to be headed out for god's sake! We are in our 30s - not 70s!' I just listened. 'I am tired of it.' 'Are you ok?' I asked him. The outburst was not like him, and the way he had mocked Sanjay - it really was vicious. 'Me? Sure. Fine, just fine.' 'I mean - it sounded there like you and Sanjay were really having trouble - like this moving to Bombay is not just about wanting the change in lifestyle...' He sighed. 'I am beginning to think so.' 'O boy.' I was shocked. He said slowly, 'You know, when IBM first approached me, I just went along for the ride - wasn't serious about it. I thought I was OK here. I wasn't really looking to shift. I was just bored, and thought why not check out what the market is like - and they made me an offer.' 'Oh.' 'Then I told Sanjay I have this offer in Mumbai, and all he said was "Oh, Good for you! When do you have to join?" ' He fell silent for a bit. 'What was I to make of it?' he despaired. 'I had thought he would treat it like a joke, or say to negotiate for a Bangalore posting. Anything. But this? It really set me thinking. I don't think he wants me anymore, that he is just happy to see me go - it makes it convenient for him to end things, you know - let the relationship die naturally. Once I go, I can see him stretching the gaps between our weekends together - like the ragged breath of a dying man, till it just - you know, ends.' If he had not been deadly serious, I would have laughed. 'I don't think I really want to go to Bombay, Ramesh - but now, it feels like I have no choice!' His voice was beginning to falter. I didn't really know what to say. I could have twisted his words back at him with 'You always have a choice!' and urge him to go right then and talk it through with Sanjay - open his heart out, say that he didn't really want to move, that Bangalore was great and Sanjay the greatest. It had just been idle thought. I could have painted a picture where Sanjay hugs him and cries and apologies for his mean, off-hand attitude and confessing it was only his hurt and shock at Dhanush even thinking of going away that made him behave that way. I wanted to tell him maybe moving to Mumbai will help; that it will all work out, and maybe a little distance will actually help. I could have said that in weeks they will be pining for each other - and talked about their long distance calls with one walking down a sticky Mumbai beach and the other on a park bench at Lalbagh, talking about little things, saying how they missed each other. All I did was hug him, hold him and let him cry. 2 comments|post comment

Religion, feminism, sexuality [04 Nov 2009|05:23pm] mike_higher I struggle every so often with trying to get a grip on ideas of religion, gender and sexuality. I cannot bring myself to accept institutionalized religion, especially if it starts to set down rules and laws in the name of the religion - which is why I have a problem with 'Islamic states', and wonder how come when the general trend is to move away and separate religion from state (the last Hindu state became secular -if not atheistic - with Nepal, and even the USA finds that it is not a nation under a specific Christian God...) the Muslim majority places seem to gyrate towards a religion based state. This in the context of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind's supposedly making it clear that women are 'secondary and subdued' and that reservation for women is 'unnecessary & unacceptable', and that women are to study in secular schools only till age 10 - and after that to be schooled under strict shariat laws. (As reported in http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/69021/India/Veiled+burqa+threat+ from+Jamiat+faction.html) It made me ask if Muslim women really buy into all that? I can understand it if they really grew up with such strict discrimination and indoctrination, but with all the information available so easily - where are the questioning Muslim women? Even if one says that shariat protects women and promotes rights to property, divorce etc., questions still remain on why it is not equal for everybody - why the distinction... I am not an expert on religion (and do not want to be!) and it befuddles me why anyone would want religion to drive law - surely it is self-evident that principles of equality, liberty and justice can be beyond gender, sexuality, race, region or anything else? For me, the number of pages a Google search returns is quite indicative. For 'Indian Islamic feminists' or variations thereof (Indian Muslim feminism, Hindi/Tamil Islamic feminism etc.) give a measly 10-15 pages, and even those are of little direct relevance. Searching for Islamic feminism got me to: http://www.ummid.com/news/October/17.10.2009/zainah_anwer_on_islam.htm A rational and passionate statement. I wonder why there is not so much more of that in India. It does seem very limited On the other hand 'Hindu feminist' Google search throws up little too, but then there is no real push for a 'Hindu' state, or a body that is asking for oppressive Manu laws to be the nation's laws or any of that. In the meantime, I am also reading Dawkins' God Delusion, and seriously believe that religion (delusion or otherwise) should be a private matter, and that if any religion is taught to kids anywhere - then so must atheistic thinking. One set of persons' delusions cannot be law. On a related note, a sarcastic FB status update of mine on the catholic pope's overtures to the Anglican church to amalgamate them, married pastors and all, stating 'the pope gathers married sheep to his flock' or something to that effect made some people quite upset with me. 2 comments|post comment

Why one must have atleast one douchebag on their FB Friends List... [03 Nov 2009|04:50pm] purely_narcotic First email: "I'm sorry I took you off my Facebook Friends list. I thought you were suiing me. Please don't be angry, I'll add you back to my friends list." Immediately followed by: "How do I add you back to my Facebook Friends list?" I don't know where to start with the two copy-pasted emails. The person was deleted, he didn't delete. The person is NOT someone I dated. Just so you know 'cause should we date in the future, I don't want you to think I'll sue you. 37 comments|post comment

Air Meera [02 Nov 2009|09:02pm] arunshanbhag Meera just loves to be tossed in the air (of course, never leaving my hands). She is all giggles and never wants me to stop. One more of Meera! 13 comments|post comment

Dump [02 Nov 2009|04:25pm] mike_higher Knowing I am feeling low doesn't help in shaking myself out of it. If anything, it is depressing to think one may be depressed. And it doesn't help to be told to just snap out if it. Or asked what the matter was. Or that I ought to look on the bright side. Or count my blessings. Makes me want to snap at them. Or 'I would see the bright side but your fat ass is blocking me'. Hm. Can't wait to wake up on the other side. 7 comments|post comment

Federico Garcia Lorca [02 Nov 2009|12:13am] suddenlynita Weeping Weeping, I go down the street Grotesque, without solution With the sadness of Cyrano And Quixote.  Redeeming  Infinite Impossibilities With the rhythm of the clock.   ( Read more... ) </div> post comment

Video: Making Ganna Ras – Sugarcane Juice [31 Oct 2009|11:51pm] arunshanbhag Each evening when we take Meera for a walk, we stop by the Poornima Juice Center on Colaba Causeway, for their freshly squeezed ganna ras (sugarcane juice) - see video. At 8 rupees (16 cents, US) a glass, it is a steal! Meera greedily gulps the ganna ras too! As a baby, this was the first juice we gave her. Enjoy the Video! 4 comments|post comment

Talk at IDCA's conference on 1st Nov. [30 Oct 2009|11:51am] dilip Will be speaking at India Development Coalition of America's conference at Illinois Institute of Technology, Wheaton, IL this Sunday morning.. http://idcoa.cloverpad.org/Default.aspx?pageId=180659 post comment

Peeved. [29 Oct 2009|08:30pm] purely_narcotic [ mood | angry ] There are times when my temper flares and I want to knock the person hard on the head and scream, "Use your fucking brain, you dolt!" It happens rarely because I don't like myself that time- no, those three minutes of absolute annoyance and anger if left untamed can make me a monster. 1. People who are already waiting at the bus stop for the bus but do not have their bus-passes or change ready: They get onto the bus and then stand like statues or do the Macarena searching for the same. Really, what were these doofuses doing standing there at the bus stop looking in the direction of the bus, watching the bus stop and freezing their asses off? It doesn't help that the entrances to the bus are so narrow that people who have their bus passes ready can't sidestep them, tap it and go on. What is worse? These very doofuses will then run to grab the first seat they see, scampering around like mice, stepping on feet and bags. Sometimes mice and kittens and stupid lil things like that just get under my feet and are squashed. And I don't even know it. 2. People who are waiting with a cart/trolley full of groceries at the cashier in a supermarket, do their good deed for the year by placing their items on the belt and then...Holy of Holies, leave the fucking cart there. The cart isn't even something that can be pushed under the counter or just nudged out of the way; there it stands pushing back the queue by a mile, causing even more inconvenience to the people who are closest to the counter because now everyone has to deal with this elephant of a trolley while the genius walks away with his groceries and a song on his lips. Doggies have leashes for a reason, strongly advocated for humans untrained in courtesies too. 3. Women who pee on the toilet seat. Acceptable if that's how you roll but for the love of god, clean up after yourself. Or wear a pamper. Or use adult diapers. Or carry your own little potty. 17 comments|post comment

New computing toy - Lenovo X200 [30 Oct 2009|01:24am] appaji [ mood | awake ] The 5 year old IBM Thinkpad T43 that I have been using at work was showing its age: overheating, poor response on disk operations (saving a small file in vi seems to be taking increasingly long times), it doesn't boot sometimes and I have to power cycle it. However, I was putting up with it because the newer T series laptops from Lenovo don't come anywhere close to the quality of the T43. But the final nail in the coffin was a crack in the LCD. So I got myself a Lenovo X200 about a week ago and I am liking it so far. The weight, battery life, performance and the form factor are a big win. What I don't like about it is: The laptop is not evenly thick (it is fat near the batteries and somehow feels bulky to hold it there). The lock for the lid is in the base and not in the lid itself (which is a bit awkward when I try to open it). The docking station has a rather cheap piece of plastic near the 2nd battery charger (I won't be using it, so that isn't a problem). There is no DVI out in the X200 UltraBase docking station (my biggest pain point so far). The edge of the lid around the LCD panel is fairly thick and looks a bit ugly (but it is good to hold the laptop by). I would've liked it if the screen was a wee bit bigger with better resolution (the T43 was 14.0" @ 1400x1050 and this X200 is 12.1" @ 1280x800). I guess these complaints are just a hangover from my T43 years and and I am nit-picking. The machine has been running Debian testing since the day it fell into my hands. Installation and configuration have been a breeze. I hope it will serve me as well as the T43 did. 13 comments|post comment

LiveJournal Major Notes: Search super-tweak, postcards, and amazing user content! [29 Oct 2009|10:53am] news [theljstaff] 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? 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. 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. This happens all of the time. I confront some relatives, but I refuse to if they are drunk or watch Fox News. 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 ... Confront! confront! confront! Politely, but without equivocation. 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. 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. I punch them in the balls. With my mind. 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... 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. 698 comments|post comment

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