andrew_jorgensen

I miss

jonnynexus, the rules for Troll: The Provoking (warning: roleplaying game related humor). I think I awarded a whole bunch of people twenty points on Wednesday.

Current Mood: 10:32

From, in rough order of appearence on my friends list,

gehayi,

scrollgirl and

londonkds: ( do I believe . . . )

Current Mood: 5:19

I have had little to say about

fandom_scruples, largely because under Niemöllerian principles, you can wake me up when they come for the Communists. I don't leave links to NC-17 fanfic lying around where children can get them, so I don't meet their standards of anathema. This despite the fact that I haven't used my "adult" filter since I decided that the battle to ensure the purity of

graffitiswall had already been lost. Frankly, I'm feeling a little left out. It's a shame that no one seems to feel that they need to impose a blacklist to prevent people from reading my journal; market forces have so far been quite sufficient.

I have decided to rectify this situation. I don't really understand the concept of rating prose, though -- there's a reason graphic sex and violence is "graphic," and a picture is worth a thousand words. Therefore, I will link those who are interested to pictures of graphic, unsimulated sex! Aerial sex! Giant engorged penises! Exotic, difficult positions you shouldn't try at home! Enjoy!!

Perverts.

(Link via Amity Wilczek via Crooked Timber.)

Current Mood: 4:38! Did you hear me? 4:38!!!

bonibaru points out this exciting tidbit from

news:

Invite codes
We've always wanted to remove invite codes but it's a big, scary change, so we've been slow about it. Since we initially added them, though, we've added: screened comments, moderated communities, anti-spam-bot protection, community invites, and a few other anti-abuse measures. The final one we've been working on (if you follow lj_dev) is human tests: making users recognize a blurry word or distorted audio file before they can create a new account. This ensures accounts are made by humans and not spambots (which can't read blurry stuff or understand muddled audio). Anyway, we're rushing to finish that, and then the plan is to remove invite codes tomorrow or Friday morning. (the commercials gave us good motivation to finish by then)

But... we know people are divided on this issue, some wanting LiveJournal all open, and some wanting to keep it exclusive. Also, some people value their invite code collection, and would be offended if we devalued it by making them obsolete.

So, we have a plan. Users will be able to join LiveJournal without an invite code and have a "trial account" for 30 days. Trial accounts are identical to free accounts, except that after 30 days they won't be able to make new posts or comments unless they're either invited to stay by an existing user (with an invite code) or pay for a paid account. Paid accounts expire to free accounts (not trial accounts), so we're not forcing anybody to keep paying if they don't want the paid bonus stuff. Hopefully this is a fair compromise.

I am all for the prospect of LJ being a less exclusive district (though with more than a million and a half LJs out there, I'm not sure what exclusivity it can really claim); however, I am already a little nostalgic for the soon-to-be-bygone era of the invite code. I fondly recall the fawning letter I sent to

masqthephlsphr begging for my code. I have always taken pride in being having secured such an illustrious forebear (and I appreciate that she forbears from publicly expressing her disappointment in my paucity of updates); I am similarly prideful when I regard my own spawnling, though I wish his user name were as mellifluous as his writing (

atpo_tch would be a little less easily rhymed). I will miss this self-selected genealogy (so much more rewarding and dare I say revealing than my real genealogy, which shows me to be the descendant of cultists and confederates), this tracing of intellectual bloodlines, this record of the ties and bonds of friendship. Plus, I've been hoarding up the 6 invite codes I have left for a special occasion, when I could have been trading them for cigarettes.

But there is still some time left! I can still have the spawnage of my dreams! And, seeing one of my favorite posters, after much too long an absence, drop by the board, I can't help but reflect that

matching_mole would be a pretty sight indeed. Not to mention

mundusmundi,

padawan_dedalus,

brooklyn_cjl, or even

darby_with_an_epee_and_a_phd_in_biology. Not to mention that with the success I've had with finding some of my college friends here on LJ, I hope to see

benjamin_christopher_strong before too long.

So the window of opportunity to become my spawn stands still slightly ajar; whether it will admit a balmy breeze or a chill wind I cannot say. If anyone is interested, drop me a note.

***

One more thing about this new policy. I foresee a small problem with the new regime: since users with trial accounts will be blocked from posting new entries and new comments after 30 days, they effectively have one month to kowtow to and curry favor with users with spare invite codes. I envision LJ becoming a place of great obsequiousness around the middle of January. Indeed, should there be a flood of new users, we might soon have a drought of invite codes. And once you're blocked from making new comments, how can you beg for a code?

It's a sensation that's sweeping the nations:Or it's a complicated scheme by the Justice Department to build a database of participants in potentially criminal online information sharing.

Completely pointless, addictive Flash game of the day.

I don't know whether there's any particular use for new, non-intuitive ways of presenting internet search results, but this one is just so pretty. KartOO is a Flash system which presents its findings as a map. For example, I ran my standard egotism-googlism, "d'Herblay buffy," and came up with ( this honkin' big graphic. )

It's like a little continent populated by my ATPo writings! In the center, we have the major city of Voy, bounded by the twin mountains of atpobtvs and vampire. Down to the south, we have another metropolis, ATPoBtVS itself (nowhere near the mountain of the same name, confusing me much in the same way that Vancouver's separation from Vancouver Island is befuddling). My inclusion in Derik Badman's bibliography of buffyology accounts for the presence of a largish city at madkinbeard.com and the (to reflect how laughable my inclusion among the academics really is) much smaller town of slayage.tv.

buffyannotater and

fresne have founded cities as well, and JBone's tournaments populate small towns at Geocities and Angelfire. And off to the west, perhaps not even on the continent -- like a ghost town, abandoned by its citizens, left to decay among the tumbleweeds -- is my livejournal.

Of course, there are invaders. Hermit.org and Knightwriter.org have nothing to do with me, but record the existence of a zine written by "Kira d'Herblay," no relation. Also, www.litob.com (connected by railroad to lifeamgood) is all about some French priest or something.

Burning with something like a need for eminent domain, I attempted to repel these interlopers. My efforts ( were not totally successful. )

While I did manage to get rid of Kira, this inscrutable Jesuit remains poised off the north coast. Who knows what www.bebesitting.com is; it surely is alien to my realm. And we have our first appearance of religious cultism, a whole outpost of the Rosicrucians. Unfortunately I have no more excuse than Rhode Island: I invited them in.

I also, on this map, have highlighted the paths joining various populations in my realm running through atpobtvs. (That you can get here from there should be no indication that you'd want to: these paths go mostly through archives anyway.)

So, anyway, useless but neat. Kind of like me!

In other Flash news, Pac-Man!! And, just for

rahael, I know you wanted this earlier, but here it is, better late than never.

I've been begatten, or begot, or something. Thanks, Masq! It only took a little grovelling . . . I grovel so well.

I'm not quite sure what this will turn out to be: it may turn out that LiveJournal is not the place for someone who deals with as much writer's block as I do. This may turn out more bloggish than LJ; most of my online reading is in the blogosphere rather than in LiveJournals. Someone once commented that blogs tend to be a male domain while LJ tends to be dominated by women. Of course, someone else tried to make a sociobiological point about this: men "hunt" links, while women "gather" together into communities. Of course, there are plenty of female bloggers (though I only have one bookmarked; my favorites folder is as disturbingly sexually segregated as my CD collection). There are probably lots of male LJers too -- I just don't know any. (In any case, I reject simplistic notions of sociobiology, such as the straw man [my straw is pretty sexually segregated too] I set up a few sentences above. Yes, I strongly oppose the caricatures of arguments I draw myself!)

I should talk about "Touched," being somewhat known as someone who talks about Buffy (the Rosicrucians cited me! take that Ded!), but I have yet to figure out the cut-tag, so no spoilers yet. All in all though, I was pretty underwhelmed. "Underwhelmed" has been my Buffy-theme since "Smashed." Over on ATPo there's a kerfluffle over whether Angel or Spike is Buffy's true love. (I'm considering reviving my saga of the Sha'i-Pir Wars.) At this point, the only relationship I really want to see Buffy indulge in is with a large bottle of Prozac.

After reading about it in The Major Lift, The Minor Fall, I had to go out and get the Oxford American Annual Southern Music Issue. I already have the Swamp Dogg (but you don't, and you should), but I didn't have Little Milton's version of "Grits Ain't Groceries," which rocks righteous! Plus, the Blind Boys of Alabama! Esther Phillips! R.L. Burnside! A bunch of people I've never heard of! A whole bunch of great blues, rockabilly, soul, gospel and hillbilly at that point where they all come together and genre (color?) doesn't mean a damn. The Marilyn Monroe/Jane Russell track from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes seems a bit out of place, but what do you want to bet

rahael loves it?

In other music news, cjl demands that we all go buy the new reissue of Live At Leeds. I (for once in my life) am showing sales resistance. I've already bought the damn thing twice: first, in its original six-track configuration (which the AMG claims runs for 19:14 -- if they're correct it may be the shortest major album ever released); second, in its 1995 18-track configuration. I just don't see much reason to buy it a third time; I don't even like The Who that much anymore, and I think endlessly mutating permutations of Live at Leeds may be part of the reason.

Anyway, welcome to my nightmare. Hope you enjoy it!

Current Mood: Suddenly very shy
Current Music: Oxford American Sixth Annual Southern Music Issue CD

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April 2009

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