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Friends Only
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Dec. 31st, 2008 @ 04:48 pm
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This Journal is Friends Only. Comment if you want to be added.
Banner made by me, using artwork created for me by Trinity Cross and Say Aye.
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Breast Cancer Awareness Month
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Oct. 3rd, 2008 @ 09:31 pm
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I have icons and graphics HERE
Help yourself, just credit where credit is due.
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This Week in Larian-land
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Sep. 29th, 2008 @ 10:21 am
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And last week too...
TV premieres. CBS premiered a pile of their shows last week, the remaining will happen this week. Heroes! What a start! I was ready to give up on it after last season. I mean, *YAWN* The first two eps of Season 3 have made a believer out of me again. Welcome back Heroes!
CSI Miami, CSI NY, Criminal Minds, and NCIS were about what I expected (meaning they didn't have a ton of surprises, but were the usual good tv). NCIS should get interesting though. The spy got away! *eep* And Survivor....omg. Do NONE of these people watch the show before they apply??? WHY would you wear suits and/or heels? And Gillian. *erk* Was she TRYING to choose the worst team possible? And then they vote off an athletic person...okay, she had a bad attitude, but...I guess at this stage of the game, you might have to put up with bad attitude in order to win at least one challenge. Prediction: Fang will get slaughtered. It'll be like that one Survivor where Stephanie was by herself before the merge. Hopefully, between Jeff's sneaky snarkiness and the producers, the show will have a few twists and some good councils.
Still watching Fringe. It's almost at the point where I can't stop. I don't know what it is that draws me in, but I find myself watching it every week. Not sure what will happen when Pushing Daisies is back. I finally watched that first full season and liked it enough to want to see it too. Guess I'll have to obtain one of them to watch on the computer.
In other news: revamped the info page. I couldn't get all the blinkies to look nice, so I took them down. I'll make a blinkie page and just link to it, I think. Also added links to my facebook, myspace, twitter and plurk. And because I added them to the info page, I felt obligated to actually do something with them. (Especially facebook and myspace). I signed up for accounts under Larian and my rl name (KK) a long time ago and did nothing with them. I'm happy to announce that the larian accounts are now pretty well done, KK facebook is done, and KK myspace is 90% finished. However, I need friends on them all! So please, look me up and friend me.
My KK facebook page turned out to give me a little thrill. I had one friend on it and while searching for other friends, I ran across an old college buddy. I mean, JS and I actually rented pr0n movies together and we were partying so hard one night, we made a girl cry as she kicked us out of her house. Lost touch with him after school, but there he was, on facebook! He's in Thailand, married, has at least one kid...I'm still giggly about finding him.
Got a bunch of stuff done on my Mission 101 list. I read and reviewed some fics, movies, and a tvshow...got a few of the other to do's done as well. Have to tackle a big one next, I think. Refinish the dresser? Storage? hmmm...One smaller one that I'm working on is a fic. I have about 7 pages done, it's going to be *gasp* multi-chapter! I know the basic premise and ending, now I just have to decide how much angst/etc to put into it before I get to the ending.
Pippin has now gotten his splint off at least 3 times. He chews on the tape until it's loose, then he can just shake it off. The last three weeks of this should be fun. NOT.
And now, it's time to shower and head to the PO. And the animal shelter. And Office Depot. (Not going to buy markers!!! Going to drop off used toner cartridges for recycle!!!)Current Mood: productive Current Music: none |
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FIC: Win or Lose--Celeborn is Still Sleeping on the Floor, G, Celeborn/Galadriel
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Feb. 7th, 2008 @ 05:01 pm
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Title: Win or Lose, Celeborn is Still Sleeping on the Floor
Author: Larian Elensar
Type: Gen
Rating: G
Characters: Galadriel, Celeborn, Elrond, Rúmil, Haldir, Orophin, Celebrian
Fanfic 100 prompt: 086. Choices
50Passages Prompt: 30. This in brief is how I see things at the moment, if you wish to have a piece of my mind as plain as possible.
25 Fluffy Fics Prompt: 024. Writer’s Choice – Forgotten Ritual
Note: Originally written for the Little Balrog’s 2007 Stocking Stuffer Swap (at http://www.queencheetah.com/hetswap) Request was for Galadriel/Celeborn, any rating. ‘…sweetly humorous piece about the Lorien couple, something with humorous reference to perhaps Her Ring or her being a Noldor elf.’
More Notes: Special thanks to Luin and Niere for letting me brainstorm off of them while at Elf*Con!
Betas: Luin and Keiliss
Summary: What did Celeborn and Galadriel really think of Elrond as a son-in-law?
OOOoooOOO
My FF100 Table: http://larian.livejournal.com/151176.html
My 50Passages Table: http://larian.livejournal.com/148192.html
My 25 Fluffy Fics Table: http://larian.livejournal.com/174418.html
OOOoooOOO
“No! I tell you Galadriel; my daughter will not marry that Noldor elf! She’s going to marry a respectable Wood Elf. I’d prefer that she wed Thranduil—that pompous windbag—to Elrond!”
“Celeborn, darling. Thranduil has a wife. Elrond is definitely the more appropriate alliance anyway. Besides, he’s not wholly Noldor. He’s also related to your precious Elu Thingol.”
“You only think he’s more appropriate because he’s mostly Noldor though.”
“Granted. But the other reason is that he may be High King one day.”
“This in brief is how I see things at the moment, if you wish to have a piece of my mind as plain as possible. Celebrian doesn’t need to fulfill your power fantasies, my dear. She takes after my side of the family. She will be happy no matter what her husband does for a living. ”
“Exactly.” Galadriel looked at Celeborn as if he had just made her point for her. “Then why not marry a king instead of a soldier?”
Celeborn sighed. This was an old and well-rehearsed argument. It was never resolved and it left them both annoyed and growling at one another. The trouble was that this time, the object of the discussion—one ‘may be High King one day’ was due to arrive in Lórien within the next few days. Celeborn knew that Galadriel would do whatever was necessary in order to get Elrond and Celebrian together. He would have to work hard to waylay her plans.
It wasn’t that he exactly disliked Elrond, in fact, he found him to be quite pleasant and intelligent. He was a good warrior, a gifted healer, and even good friend. But since he and Galadriel had begun ruling in Lórien, Celeborn felt that they needed to show the citizens that they had not just come in and taken over. They needed to show that they did indeed, belong to the realm, and their own daughter marrying someone from Lórien would reinforce that idea. Otherwise, Celeborn was afraid that the Lórien elves would perceive that Galadriel and Celeborn thought they were too good to marry a wood elf.
Galadriel had grown up under a different ruling system where alliances were made for political or other reasons or where they weren’t important anyway because there were no politically-motivated reasons to marry into a family. But the main reason Celeborn didn’t want Celebrian to marry Elrond was that she’d have to move away. He had had enough of living apart from his family and didn’t want to have to say goodbye to his daughter again.
Their discussion continued going in circles for another day or two until Haldir rushed in with a pile of scrolls for Celeborn.
“My Lord, I found these in the archives. They contain information about a seldom-practiced test that potential mates had to pass before they could marry. It mainly helped fathers of brides approve of their daughters’ prospective mates. It hasn’t been used for several generations, but there’s no reason you couldn’t reinstate it now. I’m sure everyone would understand if you called on the old ways for your own daughter.”
Celeborn was rapidly reading the offered scrolls, nodding his head. “And the added advantage is that even if Celebrian ends up marrying Elrond, it will still help the people of Lórien to feel as if we were trying to fit in better, not set ourselves apart.” He finally thumped the top of his desk with his fist and grinned at Haldir.
“Excellent. These will be the perfect solution to the problem.” Celeborn knew Haldir well enough to know that the Guardian would want something in return. He narrowed his eyes. “What do you want for this information?”
Haldir looked insulted for nearly a whole beat of his heart before he cleared his throat. “I happen to know someone that should probably pass those tests.”
“Someone Celebrian would be happy with? And I’d approve of him?”
“Of course, I happen to know that Celebrian has been visiting his talan when she thinks she is unobserved.”
“By thunder! You’re talking about Rúmil! Yes! I would approve of that match—even without the testing. But if we test Elrond, then yes, including Rúmil and any other suitors will make it all the more believable.”
“Orophin and I shall stand up to be tested as well. I will recruit other wardens too. Perhaps Elrond’s guards will want to complete too.”
“Fine. As long as Glorfindel is banned. He’s too arrogant.” ***
{***For those of you who prefer, you may substitute the phrase ‘He’s a weenus’ for ‘He’s too arrogant.***}
Celeborn carefully hid the scrolls as he and Haldir left the room. The breeze lifted a corner of the curtain, revealing a pair of bare feet behind it. Galadriel waited a few moments more before revealing herself. It wasn’t her fault that Celeborn hadn’t noticed that she’d been behind the curtain, cleaning. Dusting. Straightening the curtain. Not her fault at all.
“A test, hmmmm?” We’ll just see who wins what.”
She snatched up the scrolls and had her personal scribe copy them quickly. “Neatness is not necessary, they need only be legible.” She was able to get them back to Celeborn’s office before he returned from his other duties. She would be ready for whatever Celeborn planned.
OOOoooOOO
Celeborn greeted Elrond and his party by giving a speech at the welcoming banquet. Everyone sat and listened politely, it was just the usual ‘welcome to the realm’ speech. As soon as he began to talk about this new-old-new tradition though, the guests sat up straighter, and the hall fell totally silent. Galadriel managed to look surprised and all-knowing at the same time, she didn’t want anyone to think that she hadn’t known about the tradition, but she wanted Celeborn to think she was surprised by it. Celebrian wasn’t sure if she should be outraged or flattered. She decided to be flattered, then if the tests didn’t result in her first choice winning, she’d ignore the whole situation and marry whom she pleased. She even managed to give her parents a sincere smile, though she knew they were both up to something. She’d learned long ago to let things develop as they would, and do what she wanted in the end, no matter how much her parents manipulated and planned and connived to achieve their own ends.
Celeborn put his plan into action the next morning. He started with something simple—a race through the forest. This test would show the competitors’ athletic abilities. Since they had to shoot at targets at different points in the race, it would also show some of their soldiering skills. In other words, the elf that married Celebrian had to be competent at several things, he couldn’t be one-dimensional.
The contestants started out running, then they shot arrows at a still target, more running and climbing trees, knife-throwing, then riding horses, shooting at moving targets, scouting hidden signs to find the finish line, and finally, throwing a spear at a still target in order for them to cross the finish line. Haldir and Orophin held back at first, hoping to give Rúmil an advantage, but they needn’t have bothered. Rúmil got to the first target shooting stop in first place and was never close to anyone else again. He meant to win the competition, he knew he and Celebrian looked good together and even if they didn’t love each other heart and soul, they could learn. Rúmil crossed the finish line and threw his hands up in victory. He was one step closer to his goal!
OOOoooOOO
Celeborn couldn’t stop smiling as they got ready for bed that night. “I expected Rúmil to win, but not by such a large margin. Even Elrond should have been able to hit some of those targets easier. It is very easy to tell that he relies on others to defend Imladris.” When Galadriel started to narrow her eyes to continue the argument at an increased level of sound, Celeborn decided to give her a small peace offering. “That’s not to say that he isn’t a perfectly capable warrior, he is just out of practice, I’m sure.”
He climbed into bed and rolled over to kiss his wife but was met with her stiff back and a snort. “If I were you, Celeborn the Wise, I would not touch anything other than the blankets, lest you lose an appendage or two and your name become Celeborn the one-handed.” He wasn’t called ‘the Wise’ for nothing. He turned over so his back was to Galadriel’s. He couldn’t help letting out a few satisfied snickers though. Fortunately, the rug beside the bed was thick so when she kicked him out, the thud he made on landing wasn’t all that loud.
OOOoooOOO
The second day of testing was less physical and more artistic and cerebral. First, each contestant was required to give an oral presentation. They could recite a famous speech from history, or even do a little dramatic presentation of a noted historical event. Elrond, of course, re-enacted the flight of Earendil, including his arrival with the Valar at the last battle of the Silmarils. Several of the elves got together and showed various battles with other enemies including dwarves, balrogs, orcs, and the occasional troll. Rúmil, for his part, had memorized some of the traditional history lessons that children in Lórien were taught. Sadly, Rúmil was rather terrible at memorizing, so he ended up cutting his presentation short when he forgot the ending. It was lucky that this was only half of the day’s score.
After a short rest and a light meal, everyone gathered again to continue. This time, each contestant had to perform alone, and they had to present an original piece. It could be a poem, a song, a dramatic reading, or they could paint, or create something like a piece of leather or woodcraft. Rúmil was confident he could make up for his dismal performance earlier by singing (loudly and nearly in tune) everyone’s favorite celebration song: ‘Yo Ho! Yo Ho! It’s a Corsair’s Life for Me!’ He really got the crowd’s support when he substituted ‘cheesy potatoes’ for the word ‘mead’. Cheesy potatoes is a favorite of the majority of the Lórien elves. Celeborn stood up, clapping and roaring with laughter while Galadriel just raised her eyebrow and politely clapped and cleared her throat.
Elrond had drawn the last spot in the order of presentations. He stepped into the center of the stage, and nodded just once to Glorfindel, who began to play a soft melody on his flute. Elrond announced his own piece and then he began. “Good evening. My presentation is titled ‘Dawn over the Bruinen—Where the Rainbows are Prettier until the Sun is at its Peak: An Interpretive Dance’ Elrond left many of the elves watching that night sitting there silently, jaws open and a decided inability to speak. Even Celeborn had to open and close his mouth several times before he was able to sputter a bit incoherently at the spectacle of Elrond in a flesh-tinted leotard, waving a rainbow-colored banner and flowers. There was really no question. Elrond won this test. It was Galadriel’s turn to crow and celebrate before bed tonight. Celeborn was confused though. He still had to sleep on the rug, except tonight, it wasn’t as soft and comfortable.
That gave him the idea for the last test. There was a variation of it in the scrolls, but having to spend two nights on the floor gave him an inspiration on how to make it almost impossible for Elrond to win.
OOOoooOOO
The next day Celeborn released all the contestants who hadn’t won so the competition was now between Elrond and Rúmil. The first part of the last test would be a banquet, where the contestants would be expected to dance with any of the ladies who wished, and they would have to take a bite of each dish of food, as well as drink a full glass of wine after every tenth song. Celeborn was going to arrange their sleeping quarters, and as a small boon to Galadriel, she could inspect the quarters, and change any two things in each room that she saw fit to change. Lastly, Celeborn chaperoned Elrond all evening to make sure he did as he was supposed to do and Galadriel was in charge of Rúmil. After all the physical activity, food, and liquor, Galadriel was sure that Rúmil and Elrond both would collapse into bed. Celeborn was sure Elrond would. He’d try to arrange things so that Rúmil wouldn’t.
The last and final prospective groom test measured the elf’s sensitivity and ‘royalness’. Celeborn knew Galadriel would be thrilled with that test. One small, uncooked bean would be placed under the contestant’s sleeping mat. If the contestant fell asleep, he was deemed ‘unroyal’ and failed. Of course, only a truly sensitive and royal elf would be unable to sleep, the bed would feel lumpy and uncomfortable. Just to make it a challenge (as Celeborn told Galadriel later), he would pile more than one sleeping mat on each bed, making it that much more difficult to feel the bean. He did much more than that though.
In addition to all the exercise, food, and wine, he added a double dose of a sleeping herb to Elrond’s before-bed tea. Then he piled several feather beds on top of the sleeping mats. Elrond would be out and snoring in no time. For Rúmil, he didn’t do anything extra like more featherbeds or a sleeping draught, instead, he added several large rocks under the bottom sleeping mat. Galadriel could change things a bit if she wanted. She waited until both elves were in their beds before she went into each room and spoke to them individually. She came out after speaking to Elrond smiling serenely.
OOOoooOOO
The night was too long for Celeborn’s taste. The doors to Elrond’s and Rúmil’s quarters were flung open at the same time. Celeborn snorted in disgust. Elrond stumbled out, obviously exhausted, and having not slept. Rúmil, on the other hand, sat up from his bedding, squinting at the sudden light, then he stood up and stretched, smiled and waved to the gathered crowd. He thought perhaps he’d triumphed because Lord Celeborn was rushing toward him, ready to slap him on the back. Instead, Lord Celeborn boxed his ears then sent him off toward his brothers. Rúmil finally figured out that he’d lost.
Celeborn had to admit defeat to his wife. He gave his blessing for Elrond to court, then marry Celebrian. He was unhappy at losing this contest, but he didn’t regret Celebrian and Elrond being married. He knew they loved each other, and made one another happy, very much like he and Galadriel did. He may have been initially reluctant to have Elrond as a son-in-law, but after the contest was over, he was genuinely happy to be related to the mostly-Noldor elf.
OOOoooOOO
Centuries Later
Celeborn had finally arrived in Valinor. After the excitement about his arrival had abated, Celeborn had to ask. Galadriel had said she’d finally tell Celeborn what she’d said to both elves the night of the last contest.
“Just how did Elrond pass that last test?”
Galadriel laughed.
“I only reminded them both that I would be their mother-in-law should they win. Elrond worried all night, which kept him up.”
“I can understand that, thoughts of prospective mothers-in-law can be intimidating. And Rúmil?”
“Rúmil fainted.”
******
The EndCurrent Mood:  accomplished |
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Semagic Question
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Jan. 7th, 2008 @ 12:44 pm
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I don't use Semagic a lot, but I've started to, so forgive me if this is a totally stupid question.
(I tried help but I'm getting an error saying it doesn't exist--that could be a Vista issue though)
Anyway, how do you delete an account from the account list? I deleted my greatestjournal (since they seem to be going down in flames--they're now at 5 icons instead of 10)...I want to get my gj account off of the login list on Semagic. Anyone know how to do that?
Thanks! |
| » Xmas Tree Meme |
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| You Should Have a Blue Christmas Tree | 
For you, the holidays represent a time of calm, understanding, and peace.
You avoid family fights, and you don't get too stressed out - even when things are crazy!
You like to make Christmas about making everyone's life a little bit better.
You don't get caught up in greed or commercialism. You're too sincere for that.
Your blue tree would look great with: Lots of silver tinsel
You should spend Christmas Eve watching: It's a Wonderful Life
What you should bake for Santa: Chocolate chip cookies |
Dec. 10th, 2007 @ 02:04 pm
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| » Common Sense? Who'd have guessed? |
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Got my senator's newsletter today. Read the one page part and scanned the summary, but it all actually made pretty good sense to me. What? A lawmaker that makes sense?
Now, if he can keep others from adding crap to the bottom line....(Which brings up another issue...LINE ITEM VETO. The President needs one.)
Anyway, Health care has been a long time issue. This bill looks like it might be the start of a sensible solution...
http://wapurl.co.uk/?KVPW84W
Believe I'll try to keep track of this....
Sep. 19th, 2007 @ 06:40 pm
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| » Take Action! |
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Tell theSenate: Support Our Troops and End the War by Voting YES onthe Webb-Hagel Amendment Our Troops Are Stretched to the BreakingPoint.
BRING THEM HOME! Support for the President's disastrous policyin Iraq is fading fast. Ask your Senators to support theWebb-Hagel amendment on troop readiness. |
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This week, Senators Jim Webb (D-VA) and ChuckHagel (R-NE) are introducing an amendment to the defense billthat -- if passed -- will finally provide relief to America'soverextended military by mandating adequate time betweendeployments. This legislation could be the important first stepin ending the war in Iraq because it will force PresidentBush to begin drawing down the number of troops deployed. Senators Webb & Hagel introduced thissame legislation back in July, but Republicans in the Senateblocked its passage because they knew that passing it would meanthat the president could not sustain elevated troop levels inIraq. In doing so, they showed that their "support the troops"rhetoric is nothing but empty words. The troop readinessamendment will come up again later this week in the Senate --and this time there's a strong chance that we can get enoughvotes to pass it -- so please take action rightaway. Click here tourge your senators to support our troops and vote yes on theWebb-Hagel troop readiness amendment. This bi-partisan amendment will be one of aseries of votes in upcoming weeks to compel senators to make achoice: do they continue to support the President's disastrouspolicies in Iraq? Or do they listen to the American people --and the voice of reason -- and vote for a change of course? It's plain for all to see that the occupationof Iraq is destroying our military readiness and has put ourtroops in a no-win situation without an exit strategy. Anyonewho says they "support the troops," yet votes against thisamendment, is a hypocrite, plain and simple. Tell your senators to give our troops fair deployment lengths and adequate breaks between tours of duty by supporting the Webb-Hagel amendment.
 Please share this message with everyone you know who cares about supporting the men and women who serve in the United States military and wants to end the war in Iraq.
Thank you for working to build a better world. Nicole Batdorf
Field Organizer
Working Assets |
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Sep. 19th, 2007 @ 10:01 am
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| » Mixtape for Aliens |
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Had to share this: I know some of you will find it especially interesting. (Yes, I'm thinking of you, ![[info]](http://www.lostjournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) spacebee)
Straight from liz-marcs at IJ: Mixtape for aliens!
made by elflover59 for me!
Sep. 7th, 2007 @ 06:20 pm
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| » Film Meme |
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alexcat gave me the Letter 'L'
List ten films starting with a single letter (see below for details).You can use films that start with 'The', which should make it easier. If listing one of a series or trilogy, you may only list one (unless you're simply out of ideas).
- Lord of the Rings Trilogy. - Of course! What else would I put here?
- Legally Blonde - I know, cheese. Did I mention I love cheese. Especially Velveeta.
- Last Holiday - Queen Latifah! Yay!
- Little Women (1994 version) - A movie that I really loved Winona in.
- Lady and the Tramp - one of the first Disney's I saw. I fangirled even back then. Got the coloring book next time we went to the store. I think I whined in order to get it.
- Lion King - Disney!
- Less than Zero - Dark Robert Downey, Jr.- Evil James Spader - Boy Scout Andrew McCarthy. I think that says it all.
- (the) Last Unicorn - never seen it, just came to me as an L movie!
- Legend
- Lord of War - Dark Nick Cage and Semi-naive Jared Leto! Yay!
Comment if you'd like a letter or just comment!
made by elflover59 for me!
Sep. 3rd, 2007 @ 07:38 pm
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| » Godspeed Lef |
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My thoughts and prayers to your family and friends,
Rest you gentle, Lef.
Aug. 26th, 2007 @ 09:38 pm
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| » Lost Journal Invite Codes |
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I have many many many many. http://www.lostjournal.com
It works on LJ code and is based in Canada. Leave me your email address in a response (Or email it to me at larian @ livejournal.com but be sure to put LoJo Invite Code in the subject). First come, first served.
EDIT: lilithilien has kindly informed me that Canada has stricter laws regarding free speech and the like, but filehosting is not as much of a problem there (yet).
"Canada has much stricter controls on speech and pornography than the U.S. There's not even any pretense of a First Amendment here.
On the other hand, for filehosting it's definitely the place to be. Uploading/downloading media files is still (so far) legal here."
In any case, I do have numerous codes for anyone who wants yet another backup journal.
(I got a paid account and for some reason, their code nutted out and sent me 312 invites instead of the 12 it was supposed to use. Support said I should keep/use them all!)
EDIT: I'm screening responses so you don't have to worry about your email addy showing.
Aug. 9th, 2007 @ 07:11 pm
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| » Air Force Idiocy & Wiretapping (again) |
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Please check out this link to svendra's LJ: I'm still sitting here with my jaw on the floor!
 svendra
Also...this next was in my email from the ONE.org:
Subject: Don't let Congress off the hook for letting Bush wiretap our phone calls
Hi,
The Democratic-controlled Congress did the unthinkable on Saturday night: They gave President Bush and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales more unchecked power to wiretap Americans without a warrant. Yes, that's the same Attorney General who is currently mired in scandal and probably committed perjury on this very issue.
Enough is enough. We have to send a strong message to Congress that there is no trade-off between fundamental liberties and security. Preserving our Constitution is essential to our security—we can't lead on freedom around the world when we're actively undermining the rule of law at home.
I signed onto this petition demanding that Congress reverse this capitulation to Bush and the politics of fear. Can you join me? Just click here:
http://pol.moveon.org/capitulation/?r_by=10919-8337737-Va0Ioh&rc=comment_paste
Thanks!
Aug. 8th, 2007 @ 06:27 pm
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| » Another Cause that might interest you. |
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Just a hit n' run post here, then back to my paper...
Check out this link:
Don't give Bush the power to wiretap Americans without a warrant
Thanks!
Aug. 3rd, 2007 @ 12:53 pm
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| » Nike Suspended Vick's contract! |
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Thanks to all of you who signed the petition!
Victory!
Last week you responded to our call to action and sent an email to Nike, asking the company to cancel Michael Vick's endorsement contract after he was indicted on dogfighting charges. Thanks to tens of thousands of messages from folks like you, Nike responded -- they suspended Vick's contract on Friday of last week.
If you want to participate in other 'acts for change' hit the www.actforchange.com website. (Though it seems to be down at this exact moment).
Aug. 1st, 2007 @ 06:03 pm
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| » Send a message to Nike - Dump Michael Vick |
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The Atlanta Falcons high dollar quarterback, Michael Vick trained and fought pit bulls, and TORTURED them. Nike has not seen fit to drop his contract even though the Falcons saw fit to suspend him.
Go Here to sign a petition urging Nike to drop him. Whether these athletes like it or not, they ARE role models, and Nike shouldn't be rewarding this type of cruelty to animals.
On the form, you can use the message that is already there in the provided box, or create your own. Please just make sure to give your name and address at the bottom of it, so that Nike can see that people from all over this country are coming together to agree on this point.
(Thanks from daeomae for sending this to me!)
Jul. 26th, 2007 @ 05:22 pm
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| » Lays Potato Chips and Make A Wish |
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Make A Wish foundation is one of my favorite charities...and Lays Potatoe Chips is donating to them for every bag of chips you buy and then 'redeem' online. It's not hard to do, you don't even have to leave your email address...
Go to http://www.lays.com
Click on Redeem a Bag
Enter the 10-digit UPC code (the 10 numbers under the bar code) and click on submit.
Thanks!
Jul. 2nd, 2007 @ 05:14 pm
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| » Thanks!! |
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Thanks for the cupcake sildil!!!
And thank you keiless for the purty balloons and stack of gifts!!
And think I got to the rest of you (so far), if I haven't replied yet to any wishes, I'm not skipping anyone on purpose!!
*munches on all the yummy candies and cakes and cookies* *hee*
Jun. 21st, 2007 @ 01:03 pm
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| » AT |
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They're doing it wrong.
Here's the text of the article from salon.com (I gakked this from another comm I'm in).
AT&T to target pirated content
It joins Hollywood in trying to keep bootleg material off its network.
By James S. Granelli, Times Staff Writer
June 13, 2007
AT&T Inc. has joined Hollywood studios and recording companies in trying to keep pirated films, music and other content off its network — the first major carrier of Internet traffic to do so.
The San Antonio-based company started working last week with studios and record companies to develop anti-piracy technology that would target the most frequent offenders, said James W. Cicconi, an AT&T senior vice president.
The nation's largest telephone and Internet service provider also operates the biggest cross-country system for handling Internet traffic for its customers and those of other providers.
As AT&T has begun selling pay-television services, the company has realized that its interests are more closely aligned with Hollywood, Cicconi said in an interview Tuesday. The company's top leaders recently decided to help Hollywood protect the digital copyrights to that content.
"We do recognize that a lot of our future business depends on exciting and interesting content," he said.
But critics say the company is going to be fighting a losing battle and angering its own customers, and it should focus instead on developing incentives for users to pay for all the content they want.
Few doubt that piracy is a significant problem. The major U.S. studios lost $2.3 billion last year to online piracy and an additional $3.8 billion to bootleg DVDs, according to industry statistics. AT&T can help only with the online losses, which the industry said were growing faster than those from counterfeit DVDs.
Cicconi is in Los Angeles to talk at the Digital Hollywood Summit conference in Santa Monica this morning and hopes to discuss the initiative there.
Last week, about 20 technology executives from Viacom Inc., its Paramount movie studio and other Hollywood companies met at AT&T headquarters to start devising a technology that would stem piracy but not violate privacy laws or Internet freedoms espoused by the Federal Communications Commission.
Cicconi said that once a technology was chosen, the company would look at privacy and other legal issues.
"We are pleased that AT&T has decided to take such a strong, proactive position in protecting copyrights," Viacom said in a prepared statement. "AT&T's support of strong anti-piracy efforts will be instrumental in developing a growing and vibrant digital marketplace and will help ensure that they have a steady stream of great creative content to deliver to their consumers."
But public interest groups are wary.
"The risk AT&T faces is fighting the last war by spending money and energy plugging an old hole in the wall when new ones are breaking out," said Fred von Lohmann, a senior staff attorney at the Electronic Freedom Foundation. The San Francisco digital-rights organization has sued AT&T, alleging it illegally released customers' phone data to the federal government.
Technology is putting unlimited copying power in the hands of consumers, Von Lohmann said, so the answer to piracy can't be trying to stop them from making copies.
"The answer should be to figure out how to turn them into paying customers," he said.
AT&T's decision surprised Gigi B. Sohn, president of Public Knowledge, a digital rights advocacy group.
"AT&T is going to act like the copyright police, and that is going to make customers angry," she said. "The good news for AT&T is that there's so little competition that where else are the customers going to go?"
Verizon Communications Inc., which has fiercely guarded the privacy of its customers, has refused so far to offer a network anti-piracy tool. It defeated in court the recording industry's demands to reveal names of those allegedly involved in downloading pirated songs.
In mid-March, executives at Viacom and the Motion Picture Assn. of America separately approached Cicconi with the idea of a partnership. Content providers have long looked for a network solution to piracy, but no operator had been willing to join with them.
Efforts to date have focused on filtering and other technologies at the end of uploads and downloads of pirated material, but those have largely failed.
The Recording Industry Assn. of America has engendered a barrage of criticism for its efforts at suing people who download copyrighted songs illegally and who trade in bootleg music CDs.
"They've tried the whack-a-mole approach, and I don't think they're winning," Cicconi said.
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Technology is putting unlimited copying power in the hands of consumers, Von Lohmann said, so the answer to piracy can't be trying to stop them from making copies.
"The answer should be to figure out how to turn them into paying customers," he said.
THAT's the right answer. I share files, but I am also more willing to buy electronic media too. I know it's safe, it's good quality, and it's not expensive. $20 DVDs are not long for my collection. I'd rather pay 10-15 bucks for the ability to download it and keep it on my computer/ipod/etc. I may be naive about this, but I do think people would be willing to pay for things instead of pirating them---but to go around prosecuting everyone who has ever pirated something...they're just driving it further underground. It won't go away until it's less attractive to do. Meaning...make it easy to get movies and music from a pay site, make it quality merchandise, and you won't have nearly as many people copying.
Jun. 16th, 2007 @ 07:53 pm
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