Tweaks and enhancements

1. In order to improve site security, we've temporarily suspended the ability to change passwords for old email addresses that haven't been used for over six months. For further information and support, please visit our customer care page.
2. We've launched a new mobile site with an enhanced UI at m.livejournal.com. View spotlights, post to your journal, read and post to friends pages, and more, no matter where you roam! Please let us know what you think, since this will eventually replace our existing mobile interface. You can update your mobile preferences on your account page.
3. We've upgraded from Beacon to Facebook Connect to improve dual posting. If you've already signed up for Facebook Beacon, you're good to go. If you wish to update your Facebook Connect setting, visit Account Privacy settings and scroll down to the option labeled: "Send information about my updates to Facebook." You can choose Always or Ask each time. Remember to save (on the bottom left corner of the page). To learn more, check out FAQ 249. While we're on the subject, if you happen to be visiting that side of town, please join our Facebook fan page for a touch of home away from home.
4. You'll now receive the Writer's Block Question of the Day in the body of email notifications. To sign up for Writer's Block notifications, visit writersblock and choose the Watch Community option. Next, update your Writer's Block notification settings by checking the box to the right of "Someone posts a new entry to writersblock."
5. Paid and permanent users can now view, add, and edit Notes of commenters. Notes will appear beside the username of comment posters (instead of stars) on S1-themed comment pages.

Send some lovin' thanks to your friends with our holiday vgifts!

Photos of the week

We're so delighted with the immense talent of our growing, global lj_photophile community that we've decided to introduce a poll. Each week, we'll choose a half-dozen photos (based on user comments and staff feedback) and ask you to select a photo of the week. The winning photo will be announced in the next newsletter. If possible, please limit photo size to 350x350 to ensure that images display properly on friends pages. We want to thank you again (and again!) for sharing your passion.

Check out this week's photo poll and more fantastic user content after the jump!

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Curtains

Thanks for joining us. To our American friends, have a fantastic Thanksgiving. To all of our international neighbors, we'll eat a little extra for you!

65redroses
Eva is a vibrant young woman with Cystic Fibrosis who survived a double lung transplant. Read about her difficult recovery and personal triumphs over pain, isolation, and fear. Back in school, Eva now works part-time in a children's center and enjoys running and cross-country skiing. A documentary on her story, entitled 65 Red Roses, won three awards at the Vancouver International Film Festival.

meet_other_moms
A warm and welcoming "Add me" community for moms of all ages and backgrounds from around the world. If you're a mom, just post a little about yourself and start connecting with other mothers based on similar hobbies, musical interests, book/TV/movie preferences, or taste in humor! A great way for busy moms to socialize online.

kitchenfaq
Want to share a fabulous home recipe for coconut bread? Suddenly run out of confectioner's sugar with company on the way and need to find out a quick in-house substitute? Searching for tips on what to charge for a custom-designed wedding cake? Whether you're a professional chef, an aspiring culinary wizard, or a happy home-baker, you'll get delicious guidance from fellow and sister foodies.

My beloved Umax S900 Mac clone gave up the ghost tonight.

The hard disk I had in there with the OS X partition started clickety-clacking to high heaven. In the process of trying to shoehorn in a replacement, I had unseated the processor card just enough to cause a fatal problem. The machine did not come up ever again. I'm still kicking myself... I didn't think Behemoth will die by my own hand.

It's probably the power supply that died, which was probably nearing its useful life anyways. I could spend time and money trying to fix the issue, as there are ways to jury-rig an ATX power supply into a Mac Clone. However, I decided that it's time to move on, as higher priorities have come into my life. I guess it's sort of an end of an era for me... this gives me an excuse to clear out the computer and a whole lot of associated hardware.

Upgrading that machine has been a hobby of mine ever since I got it, back when a 200MHz 604e kicked butt over any type of Pentium. The 2GB SCSI hard disk bit the dust pretty quickly, but since then, the machine has had all kinds of upgrades -- USB, Firewire, Hardware MPEG decoder (remember those?), 100 BaseT ethernet, 640MB of RAM (the machine supported over 1GB), DVD ROM drive, CD Burner, 4MB IMS Twin Turbo to 32MB ATI Radeon, 300 MHz G3 then up to 1GHz G4... I think the Clone era had some of the best machines in Mac history.

It was the first "high-end" computer that I splurged on after getting my first few paychecks at my first real job. It served me as my primary computer until I got my first PowerBook in 2000. After that, it also spent some time faithfully and reliably serving my sister. The machine never gave her any problems that I didn't cause myself.

The one regret I have is that I really wanted to keep a Powermac around to play all those Mac OS 8/9 era games once I retire. There are several titles that I never got around to finishing. SheepShaver and other emulation technologies seem to have mostly obviated the need to keep the hardware around, but it's still different to be able to fire up old hardware... to hear its cheerful "bong".

If at all possible, I want to get it into the hands of someone with the desire and the will to resurrect it and make some use of it... but it's looking pretty unlikely.... most of the parts will be auctioned off (stay tuned for my e-bay auctions)... and the empty corpse of Behemoth will go to the recycler.

On a related note, my little sister's Quadra 605 didn't survive 3 years in storage. That little guy served her and me since 1993 or so.

May they rest in peace.

naturesbeauty
Always on the lookout for compelling images, we were delighted to discover this flourishing community of artists who share a love of nature. Honoring the subject with photographs, paintings, sketches, prose, poetry, and
other creative works, you'll be simultaneously riveted to your monitor and inspired to run helter skelter towards the nearest wooded dale.

Postcard winners!

We wish to extend our heartfelt gratitude for sending so much joy our way. Frank is still blushing with excitement over the love notes, proposals, propositions, and occasional intimate photos sent from his admirers around the world (China, Norway, Japan, and Poland just this week)! At his request, we blindfolded Justin, one of Frank's BFFs, spun him around in five dozen counterclockwise circles, and asked him to point to ten random postcards/envelopes pasted to the wall. After a brief trip to the bathroom, he chose the following lucky winners, to whom we will give a six-month paid account token (for paid, basic, and plus users) or, for our permanent account holders, a $15 voucher for the LiveJournal gift shop.

So, without further ado, the winners are:

1. seraphene
2. fotog
3. boykitten
4. seshat_6
5. anti_aol
6. lisalees
7. katrinkacat
8. mistyboston
9. _woody_lein
10. another_slender

Bugs, Tweaks, and Enhancements

1. We fixed a bug from the last release that was causing screened comments to become unscreened if they were edited
2. If you happen to be gaming around the corner, check us out on Facebook and be sure to spread the word!
3. We've added new vgifts to celebrate Thanksgiving! Check out our feathered friend, below!

Give more with charitable vgifts

In honor of national adoption month, we're offering a charitable vgift (priced at $2.99) to support Love Without Boundaries, an organization that provides healthcare and adoption to orphans suffering from life-threatening diseases. LiveJournal will donate 100% of gross proceeds from the sale (we'll cover the cost of credit card transaction fees). To learn more about Love Without Boundaries, please visit lj_cares. You can purchase your Love Without Boundaries vgifts in the Virtual Gift shop. We'll keep you posted on how much we raise!

Photos of the week

We're delighted to showcase yet more incredible photos from some of our brilliant LiveJournal photographers around the world. Keep posting (and tagging). And be sure to show some love by commenting on the awesome view at lj_photophile.

Check out this week's photos and more amazing user content after the jump!

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Curtains

Thanks, again, for joining us. See you next week!

Isaac turned three yesterday. sonechkat and I took the day off so we could be with him. We spent the evening before his birthday decorating the living room with balloons and crepe paper and the like, laying out his new toys so that he wouldn't be frustrated with the unpacking and assembly. Sonia and I had some juvenile fun decorating some of his toys using Isaac's previous collections of DUPLO bricks. Given how many toys are ages 3+, the third birthday is a major milestone. He received an easel and art supplies, a wooden train on wooden tracks, several books, a plush Curious George, a toy roller, a PlasmaCar, a toy helicopter, and two nearly identical sets of tools. He's somewhat aware of the concept of birthdays, but I don't think he clearly understood in advance that he had a birthday coming up. We'd considered having a party, but considering his lack of anticipation and the baconic plague, and the relatively small number of friends he has at this point, we opted for a small family gathering, with one guest joining us for dinner. The cake was marginally more successful than last year; he still doesn't much care for cake, despite his assertions to the contrary, but he did like blowing out the candles... except for the fact that this made the room dark and scary. Sonia and I enjoy spending time with him; he's just a wonderful little boy. I'm so happy that we're a family again.

It's a dad's duty to extoll his daughter's absolute cuteness, regardless how true it is from an external observer.
This just makes daddy melt.

I just accepted a position at a network equipment manufacturer in Sunnyvale! Woo Hoo! I'll be employed again!
This lifts a significant psychological burden on me, and let me actually take a short vacation that feels like a vacation at last!

Thanks to all who supported me in my job hunt.

Now I can buy diapers for Leina, among other things. There's a list of purchases I've been holding back on, like a new video card so I can play Demigods. (It's amazing that my Radeon X850 makes that game a slide show, even though it handles stuff like Left4Dead just fine)

Woo hoo hoo!!!! Income!!!

sonechkat and I had been going for romantic walks in the evening for the last couple months, weather permitting, but weather is permitting less often lately. Early in the season, the trees were in color. There are a lot of maples in our part of Newton, and maples in the open typically turn brilliant red in the fall. The color was most evident during the daytime, and we sometimes had the opportunity to leaf-peep in our own neighborhood on weekends. At the very least, the nights afford opportunities to hold conversation and hands, and the veil of darkness is sometimes convenient during a romantic walk. When the skies are clear, stars were visible, planets, and some phases of the moon. Jupiter has been brilliant in the evenings recently, and with the aid of a pair of binoculars I showed Sonia the moons of Jupiter for the first time. I've also shown the planet to Isaac, who now asserts that Jupiter is his favorite planet.

Remnants of Ida swept through on Saturday, falling rather heavily, and keeping us all indoors. We managed a couple laps around the Brookline reservoir yesterday, which was an unusually warm day, but I don't expect we'll have many more such opportunities this year.

givesushope
It's that glorious time of year when we reunite with loved ones (we neglected all year), stuff our faces to excess, and pass out in front of the TV. Perhaps a recalibration of the thanksometer is in order. A spin-off of the popular GivesMeHope.com site, this community invites you to document moments of kindness, generosity, and pure human love.

veggieslackers
Despite its mainstream appeal, Thanksgiving is not for everyone. There are those struggling with food disorders, for whom this day causes endless conflict. There are the cash-challenged, who can't afford the gluttony we've grown to expect. There are the lonely, who don't have loved ones nearby. And let's not forget the vegetarians, who decry the animal cruelty. But there's one more group we often overlook: the terminally lazy! This community of lazy vegetarians offers easy recipes for an animal-friendly feast.

fashin
Just in time for holiday shopping season, this fashionista community brings you the world of haute couture in the form of sumptuous photos, video clips, and candid commentary. There's also a sugary sprinkle of mainstream movie discussions and debates on such pressing social issues as manicure styles and celebrity colonics. If you need a break from the daily grind to indulge your girlie side, this is twinkly pink on steroids.