http://www.cartoonlabs.com/comics/index.php?date=2009-12-05&show=sinfest

Sinfest
Tatsuya Ishida

• Artists illustrate their favourite writers
  I rather like the Michael Chabon one.
  (tags: illustration art literature comics authors)
• What roleplaying combat can be like.
  (tags: games roleplaying funny)
• People believe that God believes whatever they do.
  The team asked another group of volunteers to undertake tasks designed to soften their existing views, such as preparing speeches on the death penalty in which they had to take the opposite view to their own. They found that this led to shifts in the beliefs attributed to God, but not in those attributed to other people. Finally, the team used fMRI to scan the brains of volunteers while they contemplated the beliefs of themselves, God or "average Americans". In all the experiments the volunteers professed beliefs in an Abrahamic God. The majority were Christian. In the first two cases, similar parts of the brain were active. When asked to contemplate other Americans' beliefs, however, an area of the brain used for inferring other people's mental states was active. This implies that people map God's beliefs onto their own.
  (tags: religion psychology science god morality research)
• Ask Carole, our Evolutionary Agony Aunt
  I laughed a _lot_.
  (tags: funny evolution genetics relationships)

I''l be along at Dalmeny Street in Leith with my range of jewellery if anyone wants to drop by.

http://muttscomics.com/art/dailyarchive.asp?month=11&date=21&year=2009

Some googling and testing revealed the following undocumented XML-RPC methods, which expose a number of nice functions from the client side.

All are in the LJ.XMLRPC namespace of course:

getfriendspage
sendmessage
setmessageread
getinbox
addcomments

These were gleaned from: code.livejournal.org/trac/livejournal/browser/trunk/cgi-bin/ljprotocol.pl

It seems only paid users can call addcomments.
This codebase is over a year old, it looks like they aren't using that repository. I believe there may be other methods. The iPhone app developercosysoftware_en some upcoming functionalities in his app that don't seem available from these methods. He claims to have gotten LJ to extend the XML-RPC interface, but won't disclose what these new functions might be.

The LJ support is useless. Is there another way to contact LJ devs? Anyone with XML-RPC client should implore LJ to update their documentation.

New site up and running and I'm to the point of editing the main index page. On the page it says to reference this


You'll want to customize this page. Read the instructions at http://www.livejournal.com/doc/server/lj.customize.index.html for help.


to update the page. The only thing I see that might relate in there is the section about updating a language file.

Should I update it the normal way by creating it in my CVS local directory and syncing it over, or is there a different method for site pages like the main index?

Current Mood: cheerful

Yesterday appears to be a hormonal day, also the reason I burst into tears about missing Frog this morning over a freaking music file.

Joy.

So I'm sitting here wondering what I've done to myself to still be awake at quarter past one in the morning.

We both went to bed at 10:00, and were asleep by 10:30.  Sadly, I then mysteriously awoke at 10:45 and found myself lying in bed unable to sleep.  As my main problem for the last few days has been being awake too early, and I was yawning my head off through half the day this is inconvenient to say the least.

My brain, which was resolutely refusing to make itself useful computer-wise during the day is now buzzing with ideas for how to solve programming problems.  It's turning itself in circles like I'd had three cups of tea this evening, rather than a couple of glasses of water.  The only thing I can think of is the chinese meal we had - I know that the sauces tend to be sugary, which is why I mostly dishes that are low on sauce.  The chicken with spring onion and ginger may have been a mistake. 

A tasty, tasty mistake.

A quick google shows that blood sugar levels can cause insomnia, which will do as an explanation for now.  Although I could do with a swarm of monitoring nanobots linked to an EMH to confirm my suspicions.

Anyway, I got up from 11 - 12:45, then went back to bed, and then got back up again at 1:15.

I think I'll give it until 2:00 and try again.

*sigh*

http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/12/in-which-i-test-posterous.html

I'm testing http://posterous.com out, as a way of posting to Blogger from my phone, using email. So this is a test posting...

I'm attaching the "mass market" paperback cover for Fragile Things, which will be released in the US in February. It shows someone who looks like me with jam, or dreams, or ideas, squidging out of a book and all over him.

I finished a short story - technically, I suppose, a novelette, as it's 10,000 words - that I've been working on for much of the year. For most of that time, even through to the end of the first draft, a couple of weeks ago, I was convinced it was never going to work, would be a stunted, crippled little thing that was doomed to disappoint me. I knew it was missing something. What that something was occurred to me last week, exhausted after a yoga session in Boston, as my mind blanked, and later I wrote two short paragraphs in my notebook. Those paragraphs percolated and began to breathe, and I put them in and the story shifted, subtly, around them. The second draft took wing, and I found I was clear enough in my mind about what the story was that taking out things that weren't part of the story and putting in things that were was now easy, and the more I did it the better the story got, and now I'm happier with it than I've been with anything I've written for well over a year. It's called "The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains..." and it is not exactly a happy story.

Right...

Dear Neil,

Patrick Rothfuss is making the world a better place in a very tangible way with his charity run Worldbuilders 2009. (http://www.patrickrothfuss.com/blog/2009/12/worldbuilders-2009.html) My sphere of influence in this world is rather small, but you could, just by mentioning it in your blog, raise a lot of awareness and thus help a Very Good Cause. It would mean a lot to me, and no doubt a helluva lot more to Pat and the people that receive Heifer's help. Many thanks and much love,

a fan of Wonderful People,
Gaetan Verhegge

Consider it plugged enthusiastically. I sent Patrick a signed copy of the incredibly beautiful STARDUST Advanced Reader's Copy when he did this last year, and it got to him a little late, so he has that along with many other amazing and beautiful books to give to people who donate. Check it out.

Hi Neil,

Hmm. Okay. I'll email this in, now. Not sure how I can do the blogger labels, though. Let's see if it works.

Posted via email from Neil's posterous

This coming Wednesday you are invited to attend a mainly blues-themed evening featuring:

MP AND THE EXPENSES

THE BLACK DIAMOND EXPRESS

MIKE PARKER (solo and duo)

STRETCH DAWRSON

at the Voodoo bar on Wednesday 9th December, from 8pm. A fantastic lineup for only £5. Tickets available on the door.

N.B. PLEASE NOTE IT'S THE VOODOO BAR ON TORPHICHEN PLACE, NOT THE VOODOO ROOMS!

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=111786824955&ref=mf

http://www.myspace.com/theblackdiamondexpress

http://www.myspace.com/stretchdawrsonandthemendingheartsswingband

• pompeii, italy ruins - Google Maps
  Pompeii is now on googlemaps
  (tags: pompeii google)
• Wolves of the High Arctic â“ Research on the Arctic Wolves of Ellesmere Island
  Follow tagged Arctic Wolves in the High Arctic
  (tags: wolves nature science blog)
• Boom in bird tables has changed evolution of blackcaps - Times Online
  A sub species of blackcaps appears to be evolving who prefer to fly not south to the Med for winter, but north-west to the UK for easy pickings at bird tables
  (tags: birds science)

http://www.dorktower.com/2009/12/04/dork-tower-friday-december-4-2009-mayadamus/

http://www.dorktower.com/?p=4181

this is the final call for all passengers wishing to travel with gigantor airlines.

tonight's flight will depart at 9pm prompt and will land at 3am, local time. late boarding will be permitted until 1:30am.

our destination is 'all danced out' in the province 'happy but tired'. our route will take us via chicago, london, germany, new york, australia, seattle, and san francisco amongst other musically influential locations.

all passengers are reminded that a £2 door tax is required, should you wish to use the door. if you can figure out a way to enter the craft without using the door, then this fee can be waived. the inevitable prosecution however, can not.

passengers are also reminded that photographic ID will be required to board, regardless of how ancient and wrinkled you may be.

please remember to stow all your luggage securely before take-off, should you require any particular tunage during your flight, our cabin staff will be only too happy to help...

we thank you for choosing to fly with us, and wish you a safe and pleasant onward journey. you never know, you might even find a cab with a yellow light on at 3am :)

We need a cheap, old comfy armchair. Any idea which charity shops/second hand shops are likely to have one?

As the title says, I'm selling a pair of size 6 Doc Marten's ankle boots. They're in nearly new condition; they're not remotely broken in yet, they've only been worn about 5 or 6 times, and always with gel insoles. There are a few light scuff marks, but application of shoe polish would take care of those.
(I have not done so because the last time I so much as looked at my shoe polish it exploded - literally - all over my white carpet.)

I bought them for £65, so I'm looking for around £50-£45 for them. I'm selling them because I really want to be able to eat more than toast and ramen for the next few weeks!

I also have some jewellery making supplies - miscellaneous charms, and some glass/wood/plastic beads. If you might be interested I can get you photos.

( I've put lots of pictures of the boots under here. )

I'm based in the Tollcross/Royal Mile/George Square area, and can also get to Princes Street.

http://www.cartoonlabs.com/comics/index.php?date=2009-12-04&show=sinfest

Sinfest
Tatsuya Ishida

• Can "Nice Girls" Negotiate?
  (tags: women work society sexism)
• Peru's 'human fat killers' were invented to cover up deaths
  And they managed to get away with it for nearly a fortnight. Huzzah for a free press.
  (tags: news peru police murder)
• An animated journey through the Earth's climate history
  (tags: climate science co2 environment)
• Man beats World of Warcraft
  (tags: WorldOfWarcraft mmorpg geekery)
• All men watch porn, scientists find
  Researchers were conducting a study comparing the views of men in their 20s who had never been exposed to pornography with regular users. But their project stumbled at the first hurdle when they failed to find a single man who had not been seen it.
  (tags: science porn sexuality sex)
• Bank bonuses - the rational behaviour of the RBS directors
  This pretty much sums up my opinions on the matter
  (tags: banking scotland economics uk)
• A lok at the new mind-controlled interface for PCs
  150ms lag at the moment, but getting better...
  (tags: technology interface TheFuture)
• FarmVille is bigger than Twitter
  Julie's an addict...
  (tags: facebook twitter statistics)

http://feeds.penny-arcade.com/~r/pa-mainsite/~3/_iNLzG-St1Q/

http://muttscomics.com/art/dailyarchive.asp?month=11&date=20&year=2009