renay | additional sources

1) So Imageshack is now forcing longtime users to move to a premium account. I do host photos regularly but not so frequently that I find their prices appealing. What are other people using? ( Read more... )

2) For now, I thought I'd just stick stuff on Picassa rather than have it disappear completely. I know that some people have enjoyed all the bird, plant, and scenery photos so I've taken them and stuck them all in a single album. Unfortunately, it seems like Picassa doesn't automatically show them with the file name which is a complete pain but if you ever want to browse them they're here.

3) So Amazon may be opening book retailing spaces soon. Apparently they're serious about driving B&N out of business.

4) Stephen Colbert would be on vacation when this surprising news comes out. Given this group's previous effort to boycott Ben&Jerry's I doubt he'd have much sympathy.

5) This discussion of how Pinterest is being represented in the media hits on the point when it suggests that this excessive focus on its largely female users makes it sound like the Internet is for men, so anything that appeals to women is by definition bizarre and difficult to understand.

Crossposts: http://yourlibrarian.livejournal.com/304610.html

concinnity

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cobweb_diamond

1. Doctor Who question: Does anyone have any recs for The Doctor's Wife? Like, fanworks about The Doctor and Sexy/the TARDIS?

2. My friend the forest-dwelling ecologist/lumberjack is in town, and today we went to the opening of the Glasgow Film Festival. In case you've ever wondered just how grim a program of Icelandic short films can be, the answer is: at least as grim as you're imagining. It opened with underage rape, and closed with a man living with the corpse of his wife before burying himself alive. The Scottish short film program was mercifully cheerier, but there was still another corpse-wife movie in there. Anyhow, if you ever feel like some moderately non-depressing lesbian-themed Icelandic film, then I rec Family Reunion.

3. Movie Costumes I Have Loved: Hanna. Along with Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Hanna is my ultimate movie rec for 2011. It's visually stunning and a great thriller, plus the soundtrack is 100% Chemical Brothers and the two main characters are women. In an action movie. And it's even less male gaze-y than Haywire. So, now on Hello, Tailor: an in-depth write-up of the costumes and main characters of Hanna:

4. Inception fanart rec: I found out about this artist the other day and was basically like, "Why are there no comments on this person's LJ??" Maybe they posted to comms or something and I'm just an idiot, but seriously, CHECK THIS SHIT OUT. Ugh, Inception fanart = the best. Also, let's not front: any fanwork that involves Arthur rescuing Eames (or vice versa) while wearing wingtips and a sharp suit ---> I am there.

5. Suits vid rec: This vid pretty much slayed me with its perfect song choice. UPTOWN GIRL BY BILLY JOEL?? Harvey and Mike were made for this.

Crossposts: http://cobweb-diamond.livejournal.com/424843.html

getrichslowly_feed

Posted by J.D. Roth

http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2012/02/09/spare-change-preparing-for-patagonia-edition/

http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/?p=121852

This morning, Kris and I signed our divorce papers. (They won’t be filed until I’ve been approved for health insurance, however.) Tomorrow, she and I fly to Buenos Aires to begin three weeks exploring South America together.

We’re both looking forward to this as a chance to test whether our friendship can be strong even after marriage. Many folks think we’re making a huge mistake, but we think things will be fine. Still, I have a back-up plan. If at any point Kris decides she’d rather I were elsewhere, I’ll jet to Lima, the city from which our final flight departs in a few weeks.

Because we’re traveling, my presence here may be a little light. But when I return in March, as promised, I intend to be more active on the blog than I have in months — or years. We’ll kick that off with the third annual GRS video contest!

Note: Get Rich Slowly has been nominated for the Shorty Awards. This prize is awarded to the best Twitter feeds in a variety of categories. If you’re a fan of the GRS Twitter feed (at @GRSblog), you should vote for GRS here. Andrew and the other social media elves thank you for the support!

Now it’s time to look at some other personal finance stories from around the web.

First up, resident GRS economist (and forums supervisor) Stephen wrote to tell me that he has three Turbotax Premier Online prepaid codes we can give away. If you’d like a code, comment below. I’ll contact the first three people who respond (provided your e-mail address is real and I can reach you) to set you up with your codes. Please don’t respond if you don’t plan to use the software. (And I have no idea if it’s any good. I’ve never used it before.) Update: All codes are gone. Thanks!

Next, Beth from Smart Green Media pointed me to an interview with philosopher Jacob Needleman. For those who complained that my post on Monday was “philosophy lite”, you may enjoy Needleman’s take on the relationship between money and meaning.

Staying philosophical, Nelson and Canadian Finance Blog wonders how many of your Needs are actually Needs? I’d argue that the things Nelson picks on are obviously wants (travel, cell phones, Netflix), but his larger point still stands: If you’re struggling to make ends meet, it’s time to cut things from your budget, even if they’re things you use and love every day.

Over at Pocketmint, Karawynn — the woman who inspired me to start blogging over a decade ago — has spent the past few weeks exploring what she calls the conflict-free family budget. In the first part of this series, Karawynn explains why a new system was needed. In part two, she describes the plan as she and her partner implemented it. Next, she reveals how the plan worked for her family. And in the final part, published yesterday, she discusses how to customize the plan to your situation.

Finally, my friend Amy writes a wine blog. She recently partnered with Erin Chase from $5 Dinners to produce a free e-book entitled Dinner and Wine for $20 or Less. Sounds like a winning (and tasty) combination to me!

http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2012/02/09/spare-change-preparing-for-patagonia-edition/

http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/?p=121852

rionaleonhart

A couple of people on my flist have been doing this meme recently, and it's reminded me of what tremendous fun it is. Here we go!

1) Make a list of fifteen characters first, and keep it to yourself for the moment. (That way you're not leading the questions asked to fit the characters.)

2) Ask your flist to post questions in the comments.

For example:

'One, Nine and Fifteen move in together. Is this a really bad idea?'
'Under what circumstances might Five and Seven fall in love?'
'What would Two experience in Silent Hill?'
'What Pokémon would Eight have?'
'Write a drabble in which Three and Eleven FIGHT CRIME.' (...possibly not technically a question.)

3) After your flist has asked enough questions, round them up and answer them using the fifteen characters you selected beforehand, then post them.

Ask as many questions as you'd like!

(Oh noooo I took ages composing a list I was happy with and just now I've thought of someone else I want on there. I knew this would happen! All right, I suppose I'll reshuffle it a little. There we go.)

(Unrelatedly, this ficmeme - devoted entirely to pairing characters up with themselves or with other characters played by the same actor - may be of interest to some of you.)

Crossposts: http://rionaleonhart.livejournal.com/330067.html

ailelie

The new Google privacy policy does not bother me. I've read it. I've read some opinions on it. But I've yet to be convinced that it is evil incarnate. The latest opinion column on CNN is no different. Italics are from the column.

I, too, clicked "Dismiss." That's because the very idea of considering what Google knows about me can give me heartburn. And if that happens, I may want to Google "heartburn," and then I'll wonder if my insurance company will find out that I was searching "heartburn," or, worse, that one day I will apply for a new insurance company and the side effects of having considered what Google knows will result in a denial of coverage. But I digress.

Google only know what you search for. It does not know why. How many of you have googled something for a friend or family member? A class? A random guy on the street? For work? *raises hand for all four* You cannot assume anything based off a single query or even set of queries. A pattern is more suggestive, certainly, but still not conclusive. A person who looks up where the gay areas of town are in each city they visit may be gay or may be looking for areas to avoid so that they don't accidentally support or run into LGBT people.

Google has every e-mail you ever sent or received on Gmail. It has every search you ever made, the contents of every chat you ever had over Google Talk. It holds a record of every telephone conversation you had using Google Voice, it knows every Google Alert you've set up. It has your Google Calendar with all content going back as far as you've used it, including everything you've done every day since then. It knows your contact list with all the information you may have included about yourself and the people you know. It has your Picasa pictures, your news page configuration, indicating what topics you're most interested in. And so on.

If you ever used Google while logged in to your account to search for a person, a symptom, a medical side effect, a political idea; if you ever gossiped using one of Google's services, all of this is on Google's servers. And thanks to the magic of Google's algorithms, it is easy to sift through the information because Google search works like a charm. Google can even track searches on your computer when you're not logged in for up to six months.

Yes. Google has everything you've told it. My first reaction to these paragraphs was a simple "well.... yeah." None of this should be news.

This reminds me of a former friend who got very upset when we learned that I copy/pasted all of our IM conversations into a document. She found this extremely disturbing, while I just thought it practical.

I need Google to keep my emails because that's where I keep emails with important information or even trivial ideas I've sent to myself when other self-sharing options weren't available. I need Google to retain my search history because that way I can retrace my steps more quickly and do my work more efficiently without bookmarking every site I visit. I need my Calendar to retain all of its information, because if I didn't, I wouldn't have put it there to begin with. I like being able to go back and check when things happened. If I ever don't want Google to know something, I use an incognito window and do my searches through Duck Duck Go.

I use Google because it keeps a record. Because I'm disorganized and using Google is a very no-thought-required organization system.

You've done it, said it, clicked it, searched it, Googled it. You can never undo it or unclick it. It stays there forever. Unless the people demand that government order a stop to it.
Do we really need the government to step in to save people from their own irresponsibility with their data? Things put online are online. Available. Accessible. Isn't this the first rule of the internet? Of life, even? You can't take back the things you do or say. The internet just has a better, longer memory.

I followed the instructions and with some difficulty eventually downloaded pages upon pages of personal material about myself from Google. What I was looking for was a simple, shall we say beautiful, button telling Google not to save anything I don't explicitly want it to save. But there was no such button.

http://support.google.com/accounts/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=54067
http://support.google.com/accounts/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=54048
http://support.google.com/accounts/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1228138&ctx=cb&src=cb&cbid=1sln4rh92anf7&cbrank=0

The information is there.

My real fear is that computer technology has turned into an arms race between good guys and bad guys. Google may see itself as a jaunty white hat wearer, valiantly protecting all our information. And it may be doing it to the best of its ability. But hackers are hard at work all the time.

So you encrypt. Use https:// (Google does offer that option). Don't put sensitive information online.

Also, don't mock Google. They could have been a lot less open about this, rather than having a banner show up on every service you use each time you use it for weeks ahead of the change. And if it bugs you still, delete your profile. Delete your gmail account. Stop using Chrome. Google is not the only option online, nor does it have the sort of community surrounding it (like Facebook; unless you're deeply involved in Plus) that makes moving to another option a necessary downgrade.

squeemu

I finished Starfish by Peter Watts today! And by the way, that link takes you to a free online copy if you want to read it yourself, which I highly encourage you to do, especially if you enjoy reading about fucked up characters presented in a more or less sympathetic light. (Sympathetic in this case means non-judgmental and relatable, not apologetic.)

Interestingly, I don't have as many thoughts about Starfish as I did about Blindsight; I think what that really means is just that I don't have as many complaints.

( Nonetheless, my thoughts! Spoilers. )

eustacia_vye28 posting in

inception

Title: The Meier Job
Author:

eustacia_vye28
Artist:

exhaledtroop
Type: GEN HEISTFIC
Word Count: 24,965
Rating: R
Characters: Eames, Nash, Yusuf, original characters and a brief cameo by Cobb and Arthur. Bianca belongs to

fae_boleyn.
Warnings: Pre-movie. Violence here, though it's nothing you didn't see in the movie. This story dovetails with The Stein Job by

croik. Both stories are written for

inception_bang
Summary: Within the dream share community, it is generally held to be nearly impossible to hold multiple stable levels of a dream and that inception is a myth. Markneuheiten and Columbia Industries are rivals in pharmaceutical and instrumentation research. Eames is hired by Markneuheiten to make sure they come out ahead of Columbia in that race, and he plans to attempt the impossible.

The entire story at AO3

Individual chapter links (and the story is internally linked as well):
One – Setting The Stage | LJ | DW
Two – Finding The Angles | LJ | DW
Three – Starting The Dream | LJ | DW
Four – Upping The Ante | LJ | DW
Five – Closing The Deal | LJ | DW

Art is posted separately here. Go give some love for the beautiful artwork. :)

nan

( You're about to view content which the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

cypher

So I wrote that Dirk/Equius story for porn battle [nsfw, first time, no-toys D/s].

And then I dropped a note to the tumblr artist who had gotten me interested in the pairing, just pretty much saying hey, your awesome kinky art of this pairing made me want to write them.

And the artist, Manisoke, illustrated my fic [nsfw! explicit sex, come shot, mild powerplay, size difference, ALL THE HOTNESS] -- the tumblr layout squishes the image a lot, so right-click to view separately.

I WILL BE OVER HERE PURRING MYSELF FUZZY

getrichslowly_feed

Posted by April Dykman

http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2012/02/09/how-one-decision-can-help-you-retire-faster/

http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/?p=121642

This is a guest post by Dee Bauer from SmallHouseLife.com, where she shares information about abundant living in small spaces.

Do you sometimes wonder if you’ll ever be financially stable enough to retire? Or maybe it’s not so much about retirement as it is about financial independence. Personally, I don’t want to wait until I’m in my 60s to enjoy financial freedom and extended leisure time!

As a result of one decision, my husband and I took a giant leap toward our “independence day,” as we like to call it. In sharing our story, maybe you, too, will feel inclined to take this unconventional step toward a brighter financial future.

What did we do? We downsized our home. What’s really amazing is that we had just completed building our gorgeous dream home when we made the decision to downsize. Talk about bad timing! And it took us two years to sell because the real estate market had gone south.

Note: It’s usually a good idea to live in a home at least two years anyway, so you don’t have to pay taxes on the profit. Consult your CPA about this.

Could downsizing be for you? In a world where most people tend to live beyond their means, it’s not exactly a popular choice. Here is how my husband and I came to the decision.

1. We discussed what we wanted most in our lives.
The first step is to clearly define what is most important to you. My husband tends to think in terms of how much things cost. I’ll bring up an idea, and he’ll say, “but that will cost such and such.” To which I inevitably reply, “but, if money was no object, what would we want?”

I believe you can’t get to the heart of what’s most important in life unless you first remove the barriers. Unfortunately money can be a roadblock if we let it, so I like to remove it while brainstorming. If we had allowed money to be an obstacle, we never would have achieved our goal because we would have said, “We can’t afford it.”

So take the time to find out what you want, then try and figure out how to get it.

We put our heads together for several months, trying not to get caught up in the”what ifs” or the “we cant’s.” After many heart-to-heart talks, the desire that resonated the loudest for both of us was financial independence.

Oh, great! But how to get there?

2. Once we were clear on our heart’s desire, we started planning.
Without a plan, a goal is only a dream or a wish. Here’s what we noticed almost immediately: if financial independence had just become our number one priority, then what were we doing with a big, shiny new mortgage? I said, “Sell the house!” But my husband resisted at first. We build houses for a living and he thought it looked better for our business if we lived in an amazing house. There’s probably some truth to that, but we had made our decision, so now the focus was how to bring it to fruition.

We talked about it for weeks, mulling over different ideas to achieve our goal. There was always the option to generate extra income, but since extended free time was a close second to our desire for financial independence, neither of us wanted to do that.

Hmmm…now what? We kept circling back to the fact that if we sold our new home and downsized to a more modest house, we could greatly improve our finances and be on a fast track toward early retirement.

3. Implementing the plan and taking action.
Most of our family, neighbors, and friends thought we were crazy. Or at the least, a little weird. I mean who gives up a beautiful new home like that? Especially right after it was built.

But we were ready. We were clear about what we wanted, as well as the course of action to achieve it.

If you think downsizing might be a possibility for you, be sure to also consider all the financial perks it can bring. A smaller mortgage payment (or possibly no mortgage at all) is only one of the many financial benefits. Typically you’ll pay less in taxes and insurance, along with less cost for upkeep and maintenance. It can really add up and make quite a difference in your bottom line.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. Is downsizing something you’d consider? If so, what would keep you from doing it?

http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2012/02/09/how-one-decision-can-help-you-retire-faster/

http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/?p=121642

sarahsaurus

Lucky Cat Figurine, ~~$67.00~~ $30.45 from Swarovski.

Disney Stitch Limited Edition 2012 Figurine, ~~$560.00~~ $254.55 from Swarovski.

Night-Time Pierced Earrings, ~~$275.00~~ $107.50 from Swarovski.

Structured Extra Small Crossbody in Teal, $29.95 from Colette Accessories.

Today total: $461.70
February total: $825.29
Year to date total: $2109.99

inkstone

So a few weeks ago I entered a giveaway to celebrate the launch of Coliloquy, a new publisher that specializes in interactive fiction (think "Choose Your Own Adventure") and serialized storytelling. (They just bought a project from a friend of mine so I'm excited for her!)

Anyway, I won! And so I now find myself the owner of the latest gen of the Kindle reader. It is as tiny and thin as I remember from playing with it in the store. I'm torn between thinking it's so cute and feeling horrified because OMG I'm gonna break this thing!

I haven't had a chance to play with it yet -- hopefully this weekend! It came pre-loaded with Coliloquy's four launch titles so I want to take a look at them and what they're about. I want to do that anyway since those titles are linked to Coliloquy's developer email so if I register the Kindle to my Amazon account, I'm going to lose access to them.

But! The reason I bring this up is I now find myself buried in ebook readers! (Well, not really but more than I need!) So once I finish checking out the launch titles, deregister it from Coliloquy's developer account, and register it to my account, I'm probably going to sell my 2nd gen Kindle. And my old Sony PRS-505, for that matter. (It's a pretty sangria red!)

It'll be a month or so from now, most like, and I'll definitely post about it here but would anyone on my readlist be interested? The 2nd gen Kindle would only work in the U.S., I'm afraid since it's the first version that uses Sprint's whispernet (no wi-fi, only the 3G). I'd probably ask for $40 + shipping. For the Sony, probably $75 + shipping? (I looked at the Sony's prices on ebay and am really confused as to why they're over $100, seeing as they're several generations behind and not wireless to boot.) Both of them work and have been treated well. I think I even have the original packaging! (I'll have to look for the Sony's USB cord though.)

I just want to pass them on to people who'll use them and I know some people on my readlist have been looking to get an e-reader so I wanted to offer this up to y'all first.

lab

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marina

Soooo the uni has also offered me a job (SHOCKER).

The pay is a bit higher than I expected. There's like 27 days of paid vacation a year, 30 paid sick days, pension and benefits and stuff, travel expenses. I get free parking inside the university (which I know is hard for outsiders to appreciate but for someone who spent 4 years at that uni parking at the expensive and farther-away student parking, it's like ~the holy grail~) and other benefits including reduced membership fee at the uni's fitness center (which has pools, courts, classes *______* doing sports again omg).

UGH THIS JOB >_< this job is SO PERFECT in terms of its conditions. It even has flexible work hours, so I can come in whenever and leave whenever, and only have to work 8 hours a day because it's a government institution and they can't make you do overtime (unlike in the private sector where people habitually work 9+ hours). I can take breaks to attend various lectures/movie screenings/events at the uni (god knows we have a ton of them) or attend them after work.

I mean the job itself isn't the most interesting thing in the world. Like, it's nice? But it's mostly translation, writing marketing material, doing some graphics and content editing. I don't know the full details yet, and it's nice that it's a job that means working with many different parts of the university, but. At least at this point it's not exactly work that takes my breath away.

And then there's the other job, that has the potential to be much more interesting (news editor! working on live, breaking news, all the time! With different people in the press, reporters, etc!) but would mean basically burying myself alive in terms of conditions >_< Shitty pay, 24/7 shifts (like, 5 shifts a week, but morning, evening and night, which will fuck up my sleep schedule and general well being), working weekends and holidays, no benefits.

:( universe why. Why do you do this to me. IDEK.

Crossposts: http://sabrina-il.livejournal.com/1253788.html

rionaleonhart

More thoughts on Final Fantasy XIII-2! I've finished the Bresha Ruins and moved on to the Yaschas Massif.

( Final Fantasy XIII-2 notes: Bresha and part of the Yaschas Massif. )

This game is actually really addictive.

owlmoose

The Dragon Age Kiss Battle is rolling merrily along. :) Many new prompts and stories posted today! Something for everyone, I hope, and there's always room for more!

Come take a look.

Current Mood: happy
Crossposts: http://owlmoose.livejournal.com/579751.html

moragmacpherson posting in

inception

callowyn is a bad influence and I wanted Arthur/Tom (500 Days of Summer), hence I am hosting a Self-cest comment meme. It's totally multi-fandom, including RPF, but half of the examples in the rules come from Inception characters and/or actors, so we'd really love to see members of the Inception fandom (and any others) come to play. For now anon commenting is ON and IP logging is OFF, so feel free to participate anonymous or otherwise. Hope to see you there!

Self-Cest Comment Fic Meme

apod_feed

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap120208.html

This moon is shining by the light of its planet.

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap120208.html

ainsley

I don't feel like I accomplished anything this weekend, but I feel like it was a success anyway? I suppose it's that I started getting more good things in progress, so even though I didn't finish, what I did mattered more. Or something.

Anyway. Sleep. Since it's a goal and all. *g*

(Glee 3x07 "Michael", Noah Puckerman)

Current Mood: sleepy
Crossposts: http://ainsley.livejournal.com/256270.html

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textual analysis

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Goodbye to all the photos

Dr. Who OMG

Doctor Who question; depressing Icelandic cinema; Hanna costumes = AWESOME; Inception & Suits recs.

Spare Change: Preparing for Patagonia Edition

Where Did You Come From? Yes Or No?

Evil Google?

Starfish

The Meier Job (Master Post)

The River?!

THIS JUST IN: FANDOM IS BEAUTIFUL

How One Decision Can Help You Retire Faster

February 9th, 2012

These things get smaller all the time!

Mac Apps: Rec

I am now a person with two job offers

Crumpet The Destroyer.

Kiss Battle Madness!

Self-cest Comment-Fic Meme (or should that be self-ception?)

Enceladus Backlit by Saturn

[like a modern-day eggs benedict]

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