Tuesday, February 5th, 2008

Time	Event
12:14a	This spammer inspires me to new depths of creative insult. Hah! Suck on that, you vile son of a shit! Comment screened, you bastard spammer, and no one but me sees your pathetic forced corporate shill. Posting on my ficcage is just scum-sucking predictable, you massive waste of flesh, and you are total fail for spamming when anon comments are screened! Keep it up and I'll ban anon comments 'till your maggoty soul wriggles away on its own trail of slime. IP: 24.96.78.176. (1 Comment | Comment on this)
1:51p	Kiss From Angel in the Night Saves Baby Tiger in German Zoo Happily traipsing through the Halle Zoo with her 1-year-old son, Janine Bauer watched in horror as she saw a 4-month-old baby Malaysian tiger choking. "The tiger tried to eat a piece of meat that was too big and started choking and shaking and then fell over," Bauer, told MDR radio. "He shook a little more then there was no more movement. He seemed pretty much gone. But quickly realizing this was not the moment to teach her son about Darwin's rule of survival of the fittest, she rushed to get the animal's keeper. "There is this nice woman, who I'd call an angel of the night, who says she knows a little about medicine and asks if she can help," animal keeper Thorsten Westphal told MDR. The next thing anyone knows Westphal has locked the -- obviously irresponsible -- mother tiger in a separate cage, and Bauer is on her hands and knees above the unconscious tiger giving it the kiss of life. "We got the piece out but he wasn't breathing so I massaged his heart and then I did what I would do for humans -- mouth to mouth resuscitation," she said. "After about four he came to, thank God." (1 Comment | Comment on this)
8:02p	China may relax Internet curbs during the Olympics: official BEIJING (AFP) - China is debating whether to relax control of the Internet during the Olympics, allowing access to banned websites such as the BBC, a spokeswoman for the organising committee said Tuesday. Plans to tear down the so-called Great Firewall of China were being debated and a decision was expected soon, said Wang Hui, head of media relations for the organising committee. "We are studying this now based on suggestions of some journalists and a study of the experiences of other countries, so during the Olympics there may be some changes," she said. "This is one of the ways the Olympics may promote progress in China." China tightly polices cyberspace and Chinese web surfers see a stripped-down version of the Internet minus some news sites such as the BBC and those belonging to human rights groups or any other sites judged subversive by the country's communist rulers. It was unclear whether Chinese citizens would benefit from the plan to reduce Internet oversight but wider reporting freedoms introduced for foreign journalists here last year have not been extended to domestic reporters. From January 1, 2007, travel and interview restrictions were lifted on foreign journalists working in China in line with the country's undertaking to provide free access to the country for the media before and during the Games.</blockqutoe> (Comment on this)
8:41p	LOL Wikipedia Islam Entry Is Criticized An article about the Prophet Muhammad in the English-language Wikipedia has become the subject of an online protest in the last few weeks because of its representations of Muhammad, taken from medieval manuscripts. A Frequently Asked Questions page explains the site’s polite but firm refusal to remove the images: “Since Wikipedia is an encyclopedia with the goal of representing all topics from a neutral point of view, Wikipedia is not censored for the benefit of any particular group.” The idea of imposing a ban on all depictions of people, particularly Muhammad, dates to the 20th century, he said. With the Wikipedia entry, he added, “what you are dealing with is not medieval illustrations, you are dealing with modern media and getting a modern response.” ( full text ) Remove the Illustrations of Muhammad from Wikipedia In Islam picture of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and other Humans are not allowed. But Wikipedia editors are showing illustrations with face illustrated and face is veiled or white washed. But still they are offensive to Muslims. I request all brothers and sisters to sign this petitions so we can tell Wikipedia to respect the religion and remove the illustrations. Wikipedia tells them no. Important notice: Prior discussion has determined that pictures of Muhammad will not be removed from this article, and removal of pictures without discussion at Talk:Muhammad/images will be reverted. If you find these images offensive, it is possible to configure your browser not to display them; for instructions, see the FAQ. Discussion of images should be posted to the subpage Talk:Muhammad/images. (5 Comments | Comment on this)
9:51p	hat tip zanzou_chan Real Life Gundam Would Cost $725 Million The Japanese Science Portal has specced out and priced a giant mecha robot, the Gundam. It takes a certain mind to apply a mundane spreadsheet to something as out-and-out awesome as an 18 meter tall robot, but amongst the numbers are some great dream components. The brain, for instance, would be IBM's Blue Gene supercomputer (¥171 million or $1.6 million); 30 400KW motors would supply the movement (total cost $7.8 million), and the seven Apache helicopter engines needed to power them would be another $52 million each. Pink Tentacle provides a better translation that Google's machine ever could, and the table from the site appears below. One thing is missing, though. An Orange County Choppers paintjob. (2 Comments | Comment on this)
10:12p	If and only if your comp has a decent processor, go to a site that has several pics or banners (your flist page will do) and copy/paste this code into the url. And then oooh, ahhh. javascript:R=0; x1=.1; y1=.05; x2=.25; y2=.24; x3=1.6; y3=.24; x4=300; y4=200; x5=300; y5=200; DI=document.images; DIL=DI.length; function A(){for(i=0; i-DIL; i++){DIS=DI[ i ].style; DIS.position='absolute'; DIS.left=Math.sin(R*x1+i*x2+x3)*x4+x5; DIS.top=Math.cos(R*y1+i*y2+y3)*y4+y5}R++}setInterval('A()',5); void(0); (6 Comments | Comment on this)
10:32p	I just wanted to drop a note of extreme thanks to the folks who've translated my fics into other languages. I most of all want to thank elisa_fwg, also Quintessencia, for doing such a great job with Oath Breaker. Granted, I have no clue what most of it is translating into, but from the translator notes, I'm absolutely thrilled. I not only get to read the reviews of Portuguese readers (at freetranslation.com, of course), but I also get to read her translator notes. It's such a thrill to see how some things translate between cultures, how some parts are taken differently or similarly, and simply how one person puts their own personal touch and interpretation to the story. The moment the writer puts down the pen, the story is no longer theirs. It belongs to the reader. But how many writers get to see not just the individual take on their work from international readers, but also get to read one person's more specified notes on their work? Translators do so much with little recognition. Thank you very muchly. (Comment on this)
11:48p	I hate elections. Especially when the election process takes more than a year omgwtf?! * I think I did a really good job with the plotting and characterization on Harry and Draco in Oath Breaker. I've gotten reviews saying that Harry got the bad deal with the Malfoys and he was being forced to suffer abuse and be something he's not. I've gotten reviews that Draco got the bad deal with Harry and that he's been hurt and abused and Harry didn't suffer enough for it. No, that's not evidence of multiple character problems, it's my awesome talent, dammit. I base this on the numerous wonderful and glowing (and long! teh yayness) reviews I get on occasion. * Btw, revising the epilogue 'cause that one reviewer (I forget who just now) was right, darn it. Too rushed. Needs fleshing out. * Weekends don't last nearly long enough. The nights on weekends should last about two hours longer for more sleep. (4 Comments | Comment on this)

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