I just wanted to let you all know that we are going to be performing some mogilefs maintenance over the next few days. We will be upgrading our current version to latest stable as well as changing some db config information to better handle the amount of files we are currently hosting. This shouldn't cause a big impact on site stability, but you may see some minor delays with userpic / scrapbook images appearing or other requests associated with our mogilefs. We would love to not have that happen, but unfortunately with some of the steps we need to take we have to cause a delay with images. I figured this was a better solution than taking down all of LiveJournal because well lets face it, we all need our daily LJ fix ;)
Thanks,
- Location:Jumping out of a perfectly good plane
- Mood:
dirty - Music:Bad Religion - Stranger Than Fiction
* Intel is sponsoring some Writer's Block questions, so their ads now display to the appropriate people
* Many updates for the Cyrillic game thingy coming next year
* Cyrillic ads: SUP office IP addresses are Russian now
* GeoLocation: Display Russian cities' names in Cyrillic
Sea of PoppiesBy Amitav Ghosh
Completed November 28, 2009
Sea of Poppies was the first book of a new trilogy written by Amitav Ghosh. Set during the Opium Wars between the British Empire and China, it’s the story of a group of international characters who are flung together on a large ship, Ibis, who must cross the Indian Ocean at the beginning of the war.
Ghosh took many pages to set up the back stories of each character who will eventually end up sailing on the Ibis. There’s Zachary, an American freedsman, and Paulette, a French orphan. And Neel, a broke and disgraced raja and Deeti, a widowed Indian villagewoman – all of their stories showed how their personal struggles landed them on a dangerous journey across the sea.
The back of my edition contained a robust glossary, which was extraordinarily helpful as I tried to understand much of the dialogue in this book. Many passages drifted by me like a foreign language, and I had a hard time following the conversations, which proved to be a distraction for me.
Many reviewers have compared Ghosh’s writing style to Dickens, and that’s probably the best description I can muster too. Ghosh introduced a multitude of characters, all centered on some type of struggle. My biggest complaint about Sea of Poppies was the long time it took Ghosh to get his characters on the ship, which was the crux of the story. Considering this is the first book of a trilogy, it’s understandable that Ghosh needed to set up the story. For an impatient reader like me, though, it was hard for me to get into the book. Add in the foreign jargon, and the whole experience felt more like homework than reading. (
)- Location:home
- Mood: sore
Tweaks and enhancements
- In order to improve site security, we've temporarily suspended the ability to change passwords for old email addresses that haven't been used for over six months. For further information and support, please visit our customer care page.
- We've launched a new mobile site with an enhanced UI at m.livejournal.com. View spotlights, post to your journal, read and post to friends pages, and more, no matter where you roam! Please let us know what you think, since this will eventually replace our existing mobile interface. You can update your mobile preferences on your account page.
- We've upgraded from Beacon to Facebook Connect to improve dual posting. If you've already signed up for Facebook Beacon, you're good to go. If you wish to update your Facebook Connect setting, visit Account Privacy settings and scroll down to the option labeled: "Send information about my updates to Facebook." You can choose Always or Ask each time. Remember to save (on the bottom left corner of the page). To learn more, check out FAQ 249. While we're on the subject, if you happen to be visiting that side of town, please join our Facebook fan page for a touch of home away from home.
- You'll now receive the Writer's Block Question of the Day in the body of email notifications. To sign up for Writer's Block notifications, visit
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif)
writersblock and choose the Watch Community option. Next, update your Writer's Block notification settings by checking the box to the right of "Someone posts a new entry to writersblock." - Paid and permanent users can now view, add, and edit Notes of commenters. Notes will appear beside the username of comment posters (instead of stars) on S1-themed comment pages.
Send some lovin' thanks to your friends with our holiday vgifts!
Photos of the week
We're so delighted with the immense talent of our growing, global lj_photophile community that we've decided to introduce a poll. Each week, we'll choose a half-dozen photos (based on user comments and staff feedback) and ask you to select a photo of the week. The winning photo will be announced in the next newsletter. If possible, please limit photo size to 350x350 to ensure that images display properly on friends pages. We want to thank you again (and again!) for sharing your passion.
Check out this week's photo poll and more fantastic user content after the jump!
( Read more... )
Curtains
Thanks for joining us. To our American friends, have a fantastic Thanksgiving. To all of our international neighbors, we'll eat a little extra for you!
Bugfix:
* Fixed a problem with managing your friends list via friends/edit.bml
Updates You Probably Won't Notice:
* Bugfix for people who use changelog
* Update to yesterday's gift shop backend work
* Ad-related backend changes
* Another update to prep for the new Cyrillic thing coming soon
Volunteers:
* Not really release-related, but the PAF has been summoned. Sorry about the delay.
Meta:
* Minsecurity of
lj_releases has been changed to Public, so you can get notifications if you want 'em.lj_releases! (Those of us on the US side of the pond will be thankful for a few days' rest if nothing in this release is seriously broken.) ;-)Features & Upgrades:
- It is not possible to reset your password unless you have control of the current validated email address. This may or may not be a temporary change; please stay tuned as internal discussion continues.
- Brand new build with many improvements for http://m.livejournal.com/ -- please test with your mobile device and let us know what you think! This will replace /mobile/ in the near future, so please speak up in comments here.
- Facebook Beacon has been replaced by Facebook Connect
- You can now add a subscription to receive new questions by writersblock
- Support staff/admins can now mass-close requests with credit.
- You can now edit your "Notes" while viewing comments (if you're using the site scheme/old comment page layout)
- Removed the BUY100 and BUY250 commands for TxtLJ, and the web interface equivalent
- Creating a new account now allows for autodetection of your location
- Various improvements to our geolocation feature
- Updated the databases we were using for countries and ZIP codes
- Backend improvements for the gift shop
- Preparations for a new feature/game for Cyrillic-language users
Bugfixes:
- Non-validated accounts are now properly blocked from leaving comments to Independent Minds articles. (Good riddance, spammers!)
- When making a bulleted/numbered list in the RTE, <lj user> tags won't break the list.
FAQ-related changes go here.
A Long Long WayBy Sebastian Barry
Completed November 22, 2009
Booker finalist A Long Long Way was my first attempt to read a book by esteemed author, Sebastian Barry. The novel was the story of 18-year-old Willie Dunne, a Dubliner who joined the British Army to fight in World War I. Willie was a lively young man who quickly acclimated to trench warfare, watching firsthand the devastations of mustard gas, machine gun fire and bombs.
While Willie fought in Flanders, life in Ireland was becoming tumultuous. Many Irishmen were banding together against the British rule over their country. The rebellion complicated matters for the Irish men fighting in the British Army. Whose country were they actually fighting for – Ireland or England? After serving their time in this horrible war, what could they expect to find when they get home?
I was not knowledgeable about the history between England and Ireland, so this part of the story was fascinating to me. Additionally, I believe Barry did a good job putting the reader into the trenches with the men. War is ugly, and Barry did not protect his readers from its atrocities.
However, there was something about this novel that didn’t click with me, and I can’t put my finger on it. The allusions to Irish language and towns did leave me a bit lost, especially when Barry’s characters were engaged in a dialogue. I googled several times during this novel, which isn’t a bad thing though a little distracting. But that’s not the writer’s fault. Perhaps after more reflection I will get more comfortable with Willie’s story. Until then, I can only recommend this book to people more familiar than me with the strife between Ireland and England. (
)- Location:home
- Mood:busy
The Madonnas of Leningrad
By Debra Dean
Completed November 19, 2009
The Madonnas of Leningrad told the story of Marina as a young woman in Russia and as an old woman living in the United States. The young Marina worked at The Hermitage, a large art museum in Leningrad during World War II. The elder Marina suffered from Alzheimer’s, struggling with her memory. Both versions of Marina showed a woman deeply passionate about her contribution to preserving some of the greatest pieces of art in Europe.
The story fluctuated between Leningrad and Marina’s home in Washington. The Leningrad parts of the story were fascinating – Marina and her co-workers hurriedly packed up the artwork throughout the Hermitage, saving it from German bombs. Not only did Marina pack away this valuable art, she made a “memory palace” so she would remember where to place the art once the war was over. The Hermitage was a large museum, so memorizing each placement was no small task.
Once the Germans reached the city border, Marina and her family moved into the cellar of the Hermitage (along with 2,000 other Russians). Through this part of the story, you learned about the sparse conditions, scarcity of food and bitter cold that the Russians endured during the siege.
When the story slipped to the elder Marina, you saw the ravaging effects of Alzheimer’s. Marina could not remember her children’s faces, how to dress or when to use the restroom. But her memory of her time at The Hermitage was perfect.
Fans of historical fiction, especially about World War II, can learn a lot from The Madonnas of Leningrad. It’s also a clear look into the darkening mind of an Alzheimer’s patient. My only wish was that Debra Dean devoted more pages to Marina’s life in Leningrad. Her depictions of the siege and the museum’s art left me wishing for more. Nevertheless, this book was a beautiful tribute to the brave people who risked their lives to save something beautiful during the ugliness of war. ( 
)
- Location:home
- Mood:
grumpy
Postcard winners!
We wish to extend our heartfelt gratitude for sending so much joy our way. Frank is still blushing with excitement over the love notes, proposals, propositions, and occasional intimate photos sent from his admirers around the world (China, Norway, Japan, and Poland just this week)! At his request, we blindfolded Justin, one of Frank's BFFs, spun him around in five dozen counterclockwise circles, and asked him to point to ten random postcards/envelopes pasted to the wall. After a brief trip to the bathroom, he chose the following lucky winners, to whom we will give a six-month paid account token (for paid, basic, and plus users) or, for our permanent account holders, a $15 voucher for the LiveJournal gift shop.
So, without further ado, the winners are:
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
seraphene- fotog
- boykitten
- seshat_6
- anti_aol
- lisalees
- katrinkacat
- mistyboston
- _woody_lein
- another_slender
Bugs, Tweaks, and Enhancements
- We fixed a bug from the last release that was causing screened comments to become unscreened if they were edited
- If you happen to be gaming around the corner, check us out on Facebook and be sure to spread the word!
- We've added new vgifts to celebrate Thanksgiving! Check out our feathered friend, below!
Give more with charitable vgifts
In honor of national adoption month, we're offering a charitable vgift (priced at $2.99) to support Love Without Boundaries, an organization that provides healthcare and adoption to orphans suffering from life-threatening diseases. LiveJournal will donate 100% of gross proceeds from the sale (we'll cover the cost of credit card transaction fees). To learn more about Love Without Boundaries, please visit lj_cares. You can purchase your Love Without Boundaries vgifts in the Virtual Gift shop. We'll keep you posted on how much we raise!
Photos of the week
We're delighted to showcase yet more incredible photos from some of our brilliant LiveJournal photographers around the world. Keep posting (and tagging). And be sure to show some love by commenting on the awesome view at lj_photophile.
Check out this week's photos and more amazing user content after the jump!
( Read more... )Curtains
Thanks, again, for joining us. See you next week!
Page Summary
- lj_maintenance :: mhwest : MogileFS Maintenance [+73]
- lj_releases :: coffeechica : Release #58.2 [+6]
- mrstreme : Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh [+2]
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/newsinfo.gif)
news :: theljstaff : LiveJournal Major Notes: Security, Mobile, Facebook, Writer's Block, and Notes [+152] - lj_releases :: coffeechica : Patch Release #58.1 [+7]
- lj_releases :: coffeechica : Release #58 [+75]
- mrstreme : A Long Long Way by Sebastian Barry [+1]
- mrstreme : The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean [+1]
- news :: theljstaff : LiveJournal Major Notes: Postcard winners, Tweaks, LJ_Cares [+142]