Firstly, let me just give this a resounding WTF?

In other news, this person wants information about traditional Thanksgiving foods. We're all MORE than happy to help... and I managed to get into a flame war about the definition of the word yam.

Well, I tried not to. I said sorry, I pointed out it's my own personal pet peeve (yams! They're African! You can't (easily) get them over here! THEY ARE NOT THE SAME AS SWEET POTATOES!), and I posted a few explanatory links...

but when the person I'm talking to goes "In America we, as Americans, call them yams" I have to point out that I, in fact, have been an American all my life, have lived here all my life, and only see them (mis)labeled "yams" in the supermarket (the same place that sells "wanuts", "peers", and "apels", so I don't take this very seriously) sometimes (probably due to dialectical variation). Most of the time they're labeled "small" and "large" sweet potatoes. And I certainly do not call them yams.

The yam issue is kinda like the robin issue. Settlers from England saw these birds kinda like their robins, didn't see their robins, and so decided to call these new birds "robins" just for the heck of it. Now we distinguish them by calling them "American" robins and "English" robins. Similarly, slaves from Africa saw these tubers kinda like their yams, didn't see their yams, and decided to call these new tubers "yams" for lack of a better term. Which is all well and good until a new wave of immigrants from Africa (and apparently the West Indies) hits and they bring real yams with them! I'd be happy to call them "American" yams and "African" yams (it's not like sweet potatoes are really just "sweet" potatoes either!) but to just use the term "yam" bugs me.

Firstly, if anybody is interested in creating a journal at DW, I've culled a lot of codes from old posts. I feel bad for the poor, unused codes! They're not getting any love. *sniff*

And now, three links I got from The Post of Doom, before it, uh, broke.

Facebook won't shut down stalker
LiveJournal integrates Facebook into its website
After Facebook and LiveJournal, Russia buys Twitter

Edit: A last minute link on an alternative to Facebook launching on the 15th.

Just had it stolen out of the washing machine. (Well, I suppose she could be lying, I certainly don't know, but it harms me not to assume it's the truth.)

Well, I commented offering to send her a pad when I got paid (and I got FIRST POST too, which is always nifty), and then umpetyumpteen people commented after saying the same thing - and she never replied to any of us, which was just great. I mean, here I am with the karma and gold stars of having offered, and I didn't even have to do anything! That just rocked!

Of course, just when I started feeling great about that, she did reply to everybody with her address in a locked post. She got more than enough pads (at least one person sent her a dozen or so!), but I *had* offered, so I went over to daybreaksadness's etsy shop and bought a "pay it forward" pad for $.20.

So I still got to do an actual good deed, instead of wallowing in intentions, and it didn't cost me much. That's good :)

LIVEJOURNAL IS NOT PEOPLED WITH DOCTORS.

Oh, I'm sure there are doctors here, but none of them can really prove it anyway.

If you or your loved one or your KID is acting funny, and you have the opportunity to post on LJ asking "Gee, should I take him to the doctor?" - stop and think. If the odds are that everybody is going to say yes, get off the computer and head out now.

Repeat the mantra with me now, everybody: WHEN IN DOUBT, CHECK IT OUT.

I'm not saying you should rush to the emergency room on a Friday night just because your precious stubbed her pinky toe - but when you suspect a serious injury or illness just get up and go already. Don't waste valuable time posting on LJ, because your uninsured ass is just going to end up in the hospital anyway, might as well be sooner than later, right?

GOD, people.

O NOES! ITS STUPID! SHE SAVED LIVES!

Here's the thing. Unless her school has a rule that states "discipline for breaking school rules shall be suspended (no pun) if, while breaking the rules, the student does something moderately heroic" the fact is they really have no choice but to punish her for skipping school.

Because she was, in fact, skipping school.

Unless her school is set up very oddly, I imagine that the only way to go home before the end of the day is to go to the office and tell them you're sick, and then wait for a parent to either pick you up or tell them to send you home. And she didn't do that. Which means she was skipping school and, yeah, breaking the rules.

And she says she was sick, but I said that all the time. And half the time I just either came home anyway or else never left home to begin with. I didn't "skip school to come home", I did it so I wouldn't have to go to school. I had no real desire to do anything, so I defaulted to going home and watching TV, or reading, or playing video games. (This all assumes she really did intend to go home, of course - she may have meant to just stop at home and pick something up before going out again, or to take the bus near to home and then do something else. Or maybe she was really sick, I don't know.)

"But she did something heroic!"

Yeah, through coincidence. And despite what everybody over there is claiming, she didn't really "choose" to be a hero. She kinda had that choice thrust upon her, as the other choice was "sit here and get seriously injured or killed, along with the driver and all the little kids". Not much of a choice.

"But don't they cancel out????"

No, they don't. They're two unrelated things. "Sure, he robbed a bank - but he gave some of the money to charity!" It doesn't really work that way, or at least, it shouldn't.

Okay, if she'd skipped school for the specific purpose of committing the heroic deed... maybe. "Yeah, he robbed a bank - but he only did it because it was the only way he'd be able to ransom his wife from the nefarious evildoers, and all the rest of the money went to the poor!"

Or if you said the policy was wrong, that the punishment was too much for the crime, okay. But I really fail to see how a day of Saturday detention is really that arduous. I mean, it might be, but... really? It's probably not.

Am I the only person who thinks that 3 am is an unreasonable hour for a baby/toddler (young toddler? Older baby? Whatever) to be awake and playing with people? Is it perfectly sensible to find quiet games to play with the kid at that hour instead of putting her back to sleep? And when asked for quiet games, is it wrong to suggest that maybe, just maybe, the kid needs to sleep more than she needs to have fun? (Not to mention it can't be good for the parents to be up at all hours when they presumably do not have odd sleeping habits by nature.)

Because, frankly, I think the advice (politely stated at first... the person in question doesn't like me, and I feel no need to keep up the pretense) "PUT THE KID BACK TO BED" is eminently better than whatever That Twit was fishing for.

On What Just Happened.

(However, all her comments are here, even though the rant is less complete.)

Is any of this true? I don't know, and would really appreciate more information. But it sure is interesting.

Also, if the fandom counting comm struck you as a good idea, you may also be interested in fandompays.

Edit again: Now there's people talking about buying up lots and lots of SA/LJ stock themselves. I wish them luck, though, again, not sure this is really going to work. It certainly won't work until somebody organizes this shit.

Yar. Here be updates.

I'm maybe-not-literally waiting with bated breath to see which journals are or are not restored.

Here's the first bit.
And here's an explanation.

I'd just advise everybody to take whatever precautions, from nothing to full-on-paranoia, that they think is necessary to protect their own journals.

...that does not mean you can discount the advice as though it was worthless. Nor does it mean you should delete the comments in a snit because it's not the advice you wanted.

(Oddly enough, it wasn't me. I did do some backseat modding though. That wasn't appropriate. Oh well.)

(And it's almost my birthday! Tomorrow! *hugs people who gave b-day messages* Yay! 24! YAY!!!!)