Below are the most recent 25 friends' journal entries.

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Monday, October 13th, 2008
james_nicoll	1:57p	Another startling revelation Word's default dictionary knows how to spell Felix Dzerzhinsky. (10 Comments |Comment on this)
james_nicoll	1:21p	Today's epiphany The second half of an omnibus is pretty much always published in the same month as the first half. (Comment on this)
james_nicoll	11:04a	The facts are wrong Gene Ward Smith asks what looks like a reasonable question on rec.arts.sf.written The mass-luminosity relationship for main-sequence stars was known [during] all of the Golden Age, and hence it was [known] that all of those sfnal Rigellians and Denebians were nonsensical, Was this simply being ignored as so much was ignored, or had the news not reached most sci-fi authors? The actual answer is probably "a bit of both". Even today it is easy to find an SF author who apparently has no idea about the lifespans of high mass stars - Eric Brown comes to mind - but as someone points out, at least one TV show recommended using named stars in episodes and named stars are almost always high mass/short life stars. One subthread rapidly turns into "Well, maybe the mass-luminousity relationship is wrong!" argument, which nicely encapsulates something in SF that I will call the SFnal Lysenkoist Tendency: when actual, tested science contradicts some detail in an SF story, attack the science. (27 Comments |Comment on this)
james_nicoll	10:57a	Paul Krugman wins Economics Nobel Paul Krugman has been awarded the 2008 Nobel prize for economics [...]. One of Paul Krugman's older papers.a> (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, October 12th, 2008
james_nicoll	3:28p	I blame Buzz Aldrin Last night I kept dreaming about Lunar orbit rendezvous procedures, specifically the bit where the command module detaches from the LEM before returning to Earth. It's odd: I can visualize the two guys in the LEM as it docks with the CM after returning to Lunar orbit from the surface and the actual separation itself (during which I was very concerned that the two craft not collide for some reason) but I don't remember the bit where the LEM astronauts transferred back into the CM before the LEM is jettisoned. I'm sure that step would have been on the checklist, though. (4 Comments |Comment on this)
james_nicoll	1:12a	Good Old Oktoberfest Someone just broke an outer pane on the french doors at my place. I'm guessing there's no "compensating people for the problems caused by importing thousand of drunken tourists" fund, too. (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, October 11th, 2008
james_nicoll	2:20p	I should have gone looking for this a week ago Hannu Rajaniemi has a blog. Here are some of his stories. (Comment on this)
james_nicoll	1:52p	Also in time for an election A typographical error on a New York county absentee ballot gives voters there the option of electing "Barack Osama" as president in the upcoming U.S. election, instead of Barack Obama. (10 Comments |Comment on this)
james_nicoll	1:42p	The latest HEROES Implied spoilers ( Read more... ) (19 Comments |Comment on this)
james_nicoll	11:01a	Just in time for the election A tape recording at the centre of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's $3.5-million defamation suit against the Liberal party was not altered as the prime minister has claimed, a court-ordered analysis of the tape by Harper's own audio expert has found. (10 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, October 10th, 2008
james_nicoll	11:42p	Request for review Has anyone on my flist read this? Any good? (7 Comments |Comment on this)
james_nicoll	11:29p	Unsurprising news Bipartisan committee finds Palin qualified successor to Dick Cheney. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
james_nicoll	4:04p	Am I reading this correctly? A press anxious to present this as a thrilling contest reveals that the ReformaTories have gained in the polls by two thirds of the uncertainty in those polls, while the Liberals are down by about a third of the uncertainty in the polls and the NDP are down by two thirds of the uncertainty in the polls. If I am reading that right, Harper may have dropped by less than a percent while the Liberals may have gained by almost two percent. Disclaimers: The poll numbers are on a scale that has no direct applicability to the actual election results. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
james_nicoll	4:00p	Does it strike anyone else as mildly amusing that Harper scheduled the election for the day after Thanksgiving? Surely he should expect the results of an election are something people would want to give thanks for? (10 Comments |Comment on this)
james_nicoll	3:52p	Come for diatribe, stay for the comments Michelle Malkin denounces McCain The commenters on that site do not seem entirely pleased with the current state of affairs. (15 Comments |Comment on this)
james_nicoll	3:38p	Close encounter with a small but active moon Cassini passed within 25 kilometers of Enceladus. Here are some raw images. (Comment on this)
james_nicoll	1:23p	Meet the candidates in my riding Kitchener Centre's candidates This is a pretty safe Liberal riding and if Redman loses, it'll be part of some apocalyptic collapse of the Liberal party. I can't imagine what could do it in less than a week. With all due respect to Ms. Lamka, she really needs to set up a web-site or at least unlock her facebook account (and I note the Record didn't mention her at all). Good show on getting involved, though. I'm struck by how many of these people have a close connection to one Christian community or another. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
james_nicoll	1:21p	In light of Danielle Moreau's announcement Green candidate withdraws to help Liberals Poll #1276224 Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All Are the current Federal Liberals View Answers A left-wing party? 2 (5.1%) A centrist party? 28 (71.8%) A right-wing party? 9 (23.1%) (11 Comments |Comment on this)
james_nicoll	11:56a	This will soon become relevent to my interests How many F&SF authors named "Scott Baker" or some variation on that name are there, anyway? (3 Comments |Comment on this)
james_nicoll	11:04a	Fundraising drive for Soren de Selby A message from Making Light regular Marilee J. Layman: Our friend, Soren “Scraps” de Selby, has had a stroke and is in the ICU. We’ve sent hope, love, prayers, music, family, and friends. That’s wonderful! However, Soren doesn’t have health insurance and ICUs tend to be expensive. We have the approval of Scraps’s significant-other, Velma, and I’ll be collecting the donations to my PayPal account and sending them on to her in larger amounts. I’ll also be accepting checks, depositing them, and also sending larger amounts to Velma. Michael Weholt will be auditing my accounts regularly. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
james_nicoll	10:45a	Heather Mallik and FOX Mallik offended Fox with this column on the "proudly unlettered" Sarah Palin. A month later, she wrote about the interesting experiences that followed Fox's discovery of the column. You know, there's an option I overlooked on that "who is slashing brakes" poll: an angry Fox viewer on holidays from the US. Nicked from auriaephiala (22 Comments |Comment on this)
james_nicoll	10:41a	I love a poll that assumes only two role-playing games exist Your result for Which Vampire the Masquerade Clan Are You?... The Warlocks {Tremere} 3 Assamite, 9 Brujah, 8 Gangrel, 6 Malkavian, 6 Nosferatu, 0 Toreador, 16 Tremere, 9 Ventrue, 9 Lasombra, 3 Tzimisce, 2 Setites, 7 Giovanni and 3 Ravnos! The Tremere are a clan that thrives on arcane knowledge. As humans, they used this knowledge to become vampires. Now that they are vampires, they use their new found powers to create greater spells and to slowly turn the other clans to their mindset. The Tremere believe that the other clans are outdated and unequiped to handle the modern nights. The other clans think the Tremere are uninformed and idealistic. However, the Tremere know that they have to step carefully around the older vampires, as the old ones are more powerful and the fact that clan Tremere chose to steal vamprism does not make them many friends. For you to be a Tremere means that you are an innovator. You look at the status quo and see what could be. Science and similar arts are your bread and butter. You wish to create the great De Lorean {time machine} or to pen the most powerful enchantment. You don't care much for artsy socialism or deep empathic relationships. You are a realist who doesn't have time for those who live in fantasy land. However, imagination is one of your greatest tools. Tremere, visionaries or thieves? You decide. Take Which Vampire the Masquerade Clan Are You? at HelloQuizzy (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, October 9th, 2008
news [ theljstaff ]	4:00p	last.fm, Increased Limits, Feedback Request, and India Travels Last.fm in Journal Entries Are you a last.fm user? The updated Music field on the Post an Entry page can now automatically fill in what you're listening to when you write the post. To enable this feature, fill in your last.fm username in the field under Contact Info on the Edit Profile page. This also adds a link to your last.fm profile on your LiveJournal Profile page. Then download the scrobbler client from last.fm. When it's installed, just click the Detect button by the Music field on the Post an Entry page and the scrobbler automatically pulls through the track information of what you're listening to on your music player or music program. You can also use the feature without downloading the scrobbler client. If you're logged in and listening to last.fm over the Internet, click Detect to pull through the artist and title of the track playing. If the song changes while you're writing your entry, just click Detect again to update the Music field. And for more musical accompaniment, last.fm also has a widget you can embed in your profile or a journal entry that displays what you're listening to in real time. Increased Limits for Poll Results and Comments Back in August we promised an increase in limits for poll results and comments. And now they're here. You can now view more than 2000 votes in the detailed view of poll results, and the limit for comments allowed for a post has been raised to 10,000, up from 5000. After the first 5000 comments, every comment will require a CAPTCHA. Feedback Request on New Find Your Friends Feature We're working on an optional feature that will make it easier for you to find out if existing friends in your web-based email contacts are LJ users. Once you find them, you'll be able to quickly add their journals to your Friends page. We know your privacy is very important to you, so we're interested in getting your feedback about this new feature. A full description, including the proposed privacy settings, is available in feedback. Let us know what you think. India Travels Community Have you explored the subcontinent? From the heights of the Himalayas to the beaches of Kerala, India is so vast and varied that you'll discover something new wherever you go, no matter how many people have been there before. We've partnered with travel writer Ajay Jain of Kunzum to create a community where you can share your stories, anecdotes, and tips about traveling in India. What was the most amazing thing you saw? Where did you go that can't be found with a Google search? Where do you want to go next? Selected entries will be considered for publication (with full credit, and only if you give permission) in travel books about India. So whether you've been to India, want to go to India, or aspire to write about India, you should take a trip over to india_travels. And More There's lots of other stuff going on, too. See lj_releases to get all the details. (295 Comments |Comment on this)
james_nicoll	1:25p	Yes, this is an end run around not getting permission to mention an interesting bit of news Which currently unpublished authors' upcoming debut novels should I be keeping an eye out for? [Authors who qualify, feel free to pimp your own work] (27 Comments |Comment on this)
james_nicoll	12:18a	Nostrodamus time Poll #1275248 Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All Will the American version of Life on Mars be View Answers A stench in the nostrils of God? 55 (45.5%) Very flawed but not without points of interest 35 (28.9%) Tolerable. 11 (9.1%) Surprisingly competent for a US remake of a British show 17 (14.0%) Better than the original! 3 (2.5%) (22 Comments |Comment on this)

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