Jeff Lawson

http://blog.ryjones.org/2008/05/09/toilet-video-recut/

http://ryjones.wordpress.com/?p=3000

anonymous time. post away. say whatever, doesn't matter. ;-) stole this from claudia, more or less. this will be locked down after a while, so come on people, do something!

For those of you who think English pronunciation is easy or logical, I present to you this poem "The Chaos" by Dutch writer, traveler and teacher Dr Gerard Nolst Trenité from 1920.

An excerpt:

Dearest creature in creation
Studying English pronunciation,
I will teach you in my verse
Sounds like corpse, corps, horse and worse.

Shoes, goes, does. Now first say: finger;
Then say: singer, ginger, linger.
Real, zeal, mauve, gauze and gauge,
Marriage, foliage, mirage, age

A review of the poem notes: Readers will notice that The Chaos is written from the viewpoint of the foreign learner of English: it is not so much the spelling as such that is lamented, as the fact that the poor learner can never tell how to pronounce words encountered in writing (the poem was, after all, appended to a book of pronunciation exercises). With English today the prime language of international communication, this unpredictability of symbol-sound correspond-ence constitutes no less of a problem than the unpredictability of sound-symbol correspondence which is so bewailed by native speakers of English. Nevertheless, many native English-speaking readers will find the poem a revelation: the juxtaposition of so many differently pronounced parallel spellings brings home the sheer illogicality of the writing system in countless instances that such readers may have never previously noticed.

So be sure to read the full poem and the review!

My big vacation plans for next year, which is now covered in ash. *sigh*

The Antiphonetic Alphabet is sort of like the Phonetic Alphabet, only more confusing. Perhaps this should be called anacrophonic (see Acrophony).

A Aegis B Bane C Czar D Djibouti E Eunuch F Feign G Gnome H Hour I Io J Juan K Knife L Lane M Mnemonic

N Nguyen O Oedipus P Pneumonia Q Qatar R Rwanda S Sixths T Tchaikovsky U Urn V Vein W Why X Xylophone Y Yttrium Z Zero

This month is Mental Health Awareness Month, so the LiveJournal team is offering users a chance to support the Depression and Bipolar Alliance, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping improve the lives of those suffering from mood disorders. Proceeds from purchases of the Emerging Sun v-gift during May will be donated to the DBSA, so feel free to buy one. Or, if you really want to rack up some good karma points, get a bunch!

And don't forget: Mother's Day is this Sunday. Be a dear and check out the v-gifts shop. Send something that'll make her smile.


L to R: Emerging Sun, #1 Mom, Gift Basket, Chocolates, A Dozen Red Roses


We know how you salivate over the prospect of new themes, especially when they're designed by users with a unique handle on both form and function.


L to R: Shiny, River at Night, Live and Learn, Vector Drips.

( Winners of the HP 'What Do You Have to Say?' Theme Design Contest )


We'd like to remind you that the nomination process for LiveJournal Advisory Board user-representatives has begun. If you think you're fit for the job, now's the time to nominate yourself! After all, you're the only who can do it. In two weeks, on the 22nd, the voting process will begin; we'll remind you about it again here.

If you're interested in keeping up with the nominations, watch lj_election_en. We'll post the results and announce the winner by the end of the day on May 30th. The new user-representatives will be seated on June 1st. Further details can also be found in lj_2008.

Yes... and he refused to explain to boot.

So, those "more details" about the autocross...

I drove up to Fort Worth Friday. I managed to arrive in time to get the car tech inspected and get a few "test and tune" runs in. I didn't really properly tune the car on the test and tune runs - that's still an area where I have a great deal to learn - but I still appreciated the chance to drive on the surface and get at least a bit of a feel for the lot. By the time I was heading off for the tech inspection, my codriver (greengalnblack) had arrived. She introduced me to some of her friends, we checked in with registration, etc., etc. Friday evening was Friday evening, hanging out with the Spokes group. As the sun set, greengalnblack and I realized we were going to have to head out if we expected to go to bed at a decent hour, and since we ran first heat, we wanted to go to bed at a decent hour. She brought me to my grandmother's and headed off to her place to stay.

In the morning, greengalnblack was running late. Me being me, however, I had planned in some extra time for "just in case," so this wasn't a huge negative. We made it to the site and found everything pretty much as we left it, which left us plenty of time. We walked the course one final time, checked grid spots, and brought the car around to grid. I actually managed to put the car in the wrong place, but the grid workers preferred where I put the car, so we left it there. It was cold - the temps weren't all that low, but the constant strong breeze meant any heat was blown away. greengalnblack made her first run and came back with tires only barely warm. It wasn't long before I was out for my first run. Though things were slick, the car was well behaved, and I instantly vaulted myself into the lead. I had a second over Iain Peebles in Chris's MX-5. But, as far as I knew, that was Iain's first drive in that car, ever, so there was potential for him to gain a lot of time through the three runs. Iain essentially matched the time of my first run in his second, but I knocked .8 off for my second run, putting myself back into the lead. On Iain's third run, a cone got in the way, so I found myself going into my third run already in the lead. With the pressure off and my third run just a "widen the gap for tomorrow" run, I knocked another .8 seconds off, and gave myself a 1.67 second lead going into day two.

Through all of this, greengalnblack, Iain, and I traded teasing and good-natured insults. We gathered for lunch with a few of their friends, and then made our way back to the site to work third heat. I spent third heat in the sun, having forgotten to apply sunblock, and got myself a bit of a burn on my face. The rest of the day went well enough, with event-provided BBQ for dinner, and chances to walk the course after.

greengalnblack had me drive her S2000 on the way to my grandmother's this evening. That car is a blast. It definitely needs to rev to find its power, but once you reach around 6500rpm, it's a kick in the pants. As an S2000, it revs up to 9000rpm, so there's still plenty of room to play. It handled well, and it was easy to control that power through corners, even on the bumpy streets leading up to my grandmother's. That car definitely needs to find its way into an autocross, even if it'll be stuck in a class where it's not competitive.

Sunday morning, remembering the chills of Saturday morning, I put on every clean shirt I had left. That meant three fairly small shirts and a sweatshirt. The breeze, however, was gone, so it didn't feel nearly as cold. I ended up shedding layers quickly and early, shedding one or two before any cars even started running! My performance this morning was... Less than stellar. On my first run, my brain just hadn't engaged yet and I wasn't looking ahead. I got lost on course TWICE! I didn't hit any cones or DNF, but I did end up with some rather boneheaded slam-on-the-brakes moments. Iain's raw time on his first run this morning was faster than mine by a second, but he hit a cone. My second run would have made up just over two seconds (not getting lost is GOOD!), but I had hit an early cone, adding two seconds to the run! Iain had hit a cone on his second run, as well, though so I was still in the lead. But on Iain's third run, he ran clean. That time left him with a 107.mumble over the two days, which matched the 107.mumble that I'd had. Neither of us were sure what our .mumbles were, so I went into my third run not sure if I was winning or not. I knew "a clean run" would win it for me, though, even if it was fairly slow, so I took a nice little Sunday drive around the course. "Don't hit anything and don't get lost" were my goals, and I managed that. The raw time was about a third of a second slower than my coned run, but since a cone adds two seconds, it was a great improvement in my standing. I ended up winning my class by over 1.9 seconds.

After everyone else got to run that day, awards were presented. Spokes had done rather well, so many of us ended up walking up to get trophies. I tore out of there quickly after the presentation was over, eager to get home, unload the trailer, and find a few minutes to relax.

Overall, it was a great weekend spent with fun people, driving a wonderful car. I'm eager for the H2R autocross this weekend, and I need to get my tires and contingency money!

I'm looking for a list of, for lack of a better word, "boutique" job posting boards. I've already got jobs.joelonsoftware.com and jobs.thedailywtf.com (which seems a bit weak, as it appears to just syndicate job listings from hiddennetwork.com). There are also larger networks like Linkedin, which end up with a more targeted audience. What others do you know of?

Did 'em 2 weeks ago and just not feeling up to it. Come back next month! :)

http://capecodboudreaux.com/Gallery/May2008Missions

http://blog.ryjones.org/2008/05/05/tal-live-show-feedback/

http://ryjones.wordpress.com/?p=2998

Was lots of this:


Concluded by this.

http://blog.ryjones.org/2008/05/05/washington-state-patrol-suggests-you-break-the-law/

http://ryjones.wordpress.com/?p=2997

http://blog.ryjones.org/2008/05/05/teachers-union-works-to-keep-math-science-grant-from-ap-students/

http://ryjones.wordpress.com/?p=2996

Advisory Board Nominations Begin

This morning we are opening the nomination process for the user-representative positions on the LiveJournal Advisory Board. A full description of the process can be found here.

To get you started, here are the basic things you should know:

- You may only nominate yourself
- Each nominee will need 100 motions of support in order to be eligible to be a candidate
- We ask that you keep your comments on the nomination posts to "I support this nomination" or something to that effect; be kind to those who will need to count the "supports", please.
- Although the nominations and election poll will take place in lj_election_en, you do not need to watch the community in order to keep up with the election; we'll announce everything here as well.

Everyone here at LiveJournal is looking forward to this first-ever User-Representative election! We'd like to thank everyone who is participating. Some words from our current Advisory Board members:

danah boyd: “LiveJournal is filled with very passionate users. These users have helped shaped LJ's various communities over the last decade and it gives me great joy that LJ is recognizing and incorporating users' voices into the decision-making processes. Having user representatives from different parts of LJ on the Advisory Board will help make sure that the company is meeting the needs of its diverse constituents.”

Esther Dyson: "I'm sure we'll learn a lot from the process, and later on from the two users selected as well. Especially, I hope that the discussions before the voting will be more meaningful and more focused on policy than those in some offline campaigns."

Brad Fitzpatrick: "It's cool that SUP is getting users involved with the LiveJournal decision-making process. I look forward to seeing who the community elects and the results of our efforts working together."

Professor Lawrence Lessig: “The user elections will provide a critical check on LJ's process of maintaining a valuable and trustworthy environment for the LJ community. The mandate of the elections will give the user representatives pride of place among the members of the Advisory Board. Each of us will look to them to guide us in our judgment about how best to make LJ the community we all aspire that it will be. I look forward to welcoming the user representatives, and learning a great deal from them.”


chasethestars has also made some banners for you to use, if you'd like to show your support for the candidate of your choice!

( Banners + code for you to use! )

http://blog.ryjones.org/2008/05/04/birthday-coming-up-2/

http://ryjones.wordpress.com/?p=2995

Through a bizarre combination of happenstance and serendipity dished out by The Great Magnet, my beverage selection for the day has been most unusual.

1) hot tea (p.g. tips)
2) glass of tap water
3) can of Budweiser (drank in the street with my neighbor)
4) can of Redbull
5) glass of tropical-infused iced tea
6) strong $8 white russian
7) grande starbucks mocha
8) glass of pinot grigio

As per usual, there was no rhyme or reason for alternating between alcohol and caffeine other than instant gratification.

Ouch. Next time, don't forget the sunblock.

It was an absolutely wonderful experience. I'm glad to have "done that" now. I had a wonderful time hanging out with the Spokes group. I won CSP.

More details to come later. Probably.

http://blog.ryjones.org/2008/05/04/fessing-up/

http://ryjones.wordpress.com/?p=2994