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Below are the most recent 25 friends' journal entries.
- 11:29 Highs in the 80s/90s for the next week! But it's my post-race rest week. I will not run in the heat. I will Saunter! #
- 11:31 Bay to Breakers forecast: 58F at starting gun, 63 at 10 AM, peaking at 68. Perfect! #
- 12:27 @nullalux--eep! So sorry! (About the rough appt, I mean, not about the optograms). Tonight I will rub your tired feet and soothe you. #
- 12:56 @heatherlyn Whassuuup? #
- 00:14 Happy cuddly fun evening with @nullalux! There were also smoothies. Alas, Netflix Failed Us. We made do. #
| Saturday, May 17th, 2008 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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cat_macros [ david_777 ] |
2:46p | from decicatedtoyous blanks Sorry if I mangled your user name!  | ||||||||||||||||||||
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mactavish |
12:40p | *sigh* ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} deyo can't fix my car. We're going to have it towed to Lim's. If he can't, I think it might be done for. It's got such a nice CD player, too. :(I was hoping we could keep it going until we could afford a used Prius or Subaru Forester. I'm thinking we might have to buy an interim cheap used car. *grumble* | ||||||||||||||||||||
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cat_macros [ 27lorinda ] |
12:35p | ya think? | ||||||||||||||||||||
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cat_macros [ mrmikeyman ] |
12:06p | by request of xxteenagnstxx p.s. you might wanna be putting that blank behind a cut before kittydoom makes with the bahleetion | ||||||||||||||||||||
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cat_macros [ kelgirl ] |
3:05p |  | ||||||||||||||||||||
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joedecker |
11:05a | Don't Panic!!: An analysis of the CA marriage decision on the 2008 Presidential Election On several mailing lists I'm on (darbnet, babn-chat, ...), on LJ, and in person, I've had several allegedly pro-same-sex-marriage folks express significant concern, sometimes even mild panic, at the ruling and/or the timing of the ruling. After some time to think about it, I've concluded that it's going to be a negligible influence. Below, I'll outline the lines of argument I've used to come to this conclusion. (Before I do, one note. The analysis below is moot. The die is cast, the decision is made. Moreover, claims that "this was bad strategy" on the part of (whom?) are ludicrous, the timing of this decision is very unlikely to have been planned, by ANYONE to coincide with the 2008 presidential elections, the justice system spent unpredictable numbers of years getting this case tried. What's done is done in any case, so chill out, okay? Good.) Okay, here're the arguments: First, and more generally, the same-sex marriage issue is just less new, and less news, than it was four years ago. Part of this is the success the pro-same-sex marriage camp has had already in Massachusetts, as well as civil unions in VT, CT, NJ and NH. The addition of California is less of a trigger, I think, that the Massachusetts was. If you don't doubt that this is just "not as big a deal" in the news, go ahead and check your favorite big news sources, the issue is already out of the headlines. I think the "this isn't as big a change emotionally" sense would likely be particularly true outside of California. Now, within California, one might imagine that the influence of the law would be greater, and yes, I might, just might, concede (although you should read the rest of this argument) that this raises GOP voter turnout for the November 2008 election (when an anti-same-sex-marriage constitutional amendment will likely be on the ballot). However, even if that's true, California is unlikely to go McCain, I don't think the Dems will have to work hard to hold California in the election (barring any big mistakes they might make going forward), and so, within California, CA's delegates will almost certainly vote Blue in the electoral college. I'll add, in addition to this not being "new", the timing is not perfect for influencing the presidential election. It's still six months until the presidential election, I think that distance will leave other issues looking old and boring compared to whatever new stuff the parties dig up in the months to come. I've seen the backlash arguments, and have often found them, in the fullness of time, to be overly played. Salon took this on recently, but that's not the only case, the 2004 "Valentine's Day Marriage Revolution in SF" was the cause of panic for some local Dems on my f'list, concerned that the backlash of that would spill onto the then-fragile progress of marriage in Massachusetts. That worked out okay, too. Finally, we turn to our good friend, the data. The smart money was unmoved by the California decision. The leading for-money presidential betting line in the country is the Iowa Electronic Markets. Below I include data I've consolidated from their web site. (I'd provide a direct link to the data, but a direct link isn't possible with their site design.)
 These are the "last trades" for the day in each case, so the 5/15 data represents the first day of trading with the decision. Note the increase in volume, but also notice that the fluctuations in the predicted probabilities a Democratic victory are, right now, *higher* than they were two days before the decision, and that any effect of the decision on price is hidden within the entirely normal day-to-day fluctuations of that market. In short, people betting their own money on the 2008 presidential race are, as a whole, entirely unconcerned about the impact of the California decision on the US Presidential race. I conclude, for all these reasons, that you should be unconcerned as well. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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shoutingboy |
11:31a | |||||||||||||||||||||
| hascheezburger | 6:00p | Yewd be sad 2,
Yewd be sad 2, ifs yew hadz a Bownty on UR hed. iz betteh den havin a kitteh on ur hed. picture: Ann. lol caption: bunnied816         | ||||||||||||||||||||
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cat_macros [ shy_love_77 ] |
11:17a | |||||||||||||||||||||
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hopeforyou |
10:54a | Seen elsewhere... "Polyfuckery is like serial monogamy on steroids." | ||||||||||||||||||||
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cat_macros [ xxteenagnstxx ] |
10:43a | Use dis blank! Someone use this: It's gold.  | ||||||||||||||||||||
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publius_ovidius |
6:34p | Not Bringing the Laptop I don't have anything to hide, but I think I'm not bringing my laptop into the US. I don't think people have the right to go snooping through my personal effects just because they want to. Current Mood:  irritated | ||||||||||||||||||||
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learn_russian [ anglo_don_juan ] |
11:34a | Birthday Song? Good morning! I was curious if anyone would be able help me track down a song. I am looking for an audio version of " Пусть бегут неуклюже" the 'Russian happy birthday song' from "Krokodil Gena i Cheburashka". I am making a birthday CD for the boyfriend and he only remembers snippets from the song from his childhood and I think putting the song on the CD would be a nice surprise. I have found several versions on YouTube (including a Soviet-era one which was very amusing to watch!) but no mp3 versions. =/ If anyone has any ideas they would be much appreciated. Thanks! ETA: Hmm, the more I search for the song the more I am convinced that maybe I have the title wrong? I hope someone knows what I meant. Sorry about that, my Russian is only basic at the moment. Cross-posted to ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small} learn_russian and linguaphiles Sorry for any spamming. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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cat_macros [ dedicatetoyou ] |
12:24p | I have a few for macro'ing... Here are some of the babes at my mom's house... ( cats!!!!! ) Current Mood:  amused | ||||||||||||||||||||
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joedecker |
9:00a | This Saturday and Sunday I’ll be participating in Silicon Valley Open Studios at 1733 Hudson Drive, San Jose, CA. 11am-5pm each day. Drop by if you get a chance! | ||||||||||||||||||||
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deyo |
8:12a | Action Cinema Towing Last night, Mary's car slipped a belt. We called AAA and zpdiduda, and I remained to wait for the tow, which was estimated at 90 minutes away. It was apparently a rough night.30 minutes later, a truck pulls up. I said, "Wow, you got here fast!" The driver replied, "Yeah, don't blink." I text-messaged Mary to say, "Truck's here." He tilted up the ramp, and asked if the car was drivable. I pointed out that it drove just fine, but didn't steer so hot. He hopped in, backed the car out of the driveway where we had hastily parked, and drove it straight up onto the tow truck. He hopped out of the car, and tossed the keys back to me as I was reading Mary's text reply, "wow". Luckily, I had studied Action Cinema, and was able to catch them in my left hand without looking up. Tilting the ramp back down and strapping the car in took another minute and a half, and we were rolling. Outside our driveway, he unstrapped the car and tilted up the ramp, and as I had demonstrated my AC credentials, he let me drive the car off the truck. The truck rolled away. Elapsed time: seven minutes. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| hascheezburger | 2:30p | |||||||||||||||||||||
| hascheezburger | 10:01a | Iz still happycat
Iz still happycat this just mi poker face happycat cant awlwayz b happy. picture: dunno source, via our lolcat builder. lol caption: ChshreCat         | ||||||||||||||||||||
| hascheezburger | 1:30a | Iz never dun dis befor | ||||||||||||||||||||
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learn_russian [ netter ] |
5:07p | Skype me! Hi! I learn english, and need some practice. If you want to speak Russian - call me via Skype, we can speak in russian and in english. Skype nick: ytilin, online after 19 p.m. (GMT). | ||||||||||||||||||||
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cat_macros [ zfiledh ] |
8:38p | |||||||||||||||||||||
| getfuzzy_comic2 | 12:01a | Comic for 17 May 2008  | ||||||||||||||||||||
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cat_macros [ kittyofthearies ] |
3:19a |  | ||||||||||||||||||||
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shoutingboy |
1:09a | Shoutingboy's Daily Twitters | ||||||||||||||||||||
| worldwidewords | 9:00a | 588-1: Feedback, notes and comments Break in publication An early warning: my wife and I are away at the end of May, drifting down the (hopefully) blue Danube, so the World Wide Words newsletter will not be published on Saturday 31 May. Normal service should be restored the following week, 7 June. Struth! Roger Cooper pointed out that I’d missed an etymological trick in the piece about struthonian last week. As he noted, the word ostrich has the same source, since it derives from the low Latin avis struthio, in which the v was said as a vowel, and was further mangled in its passage through Old French (the same thing happened with French oiseau, bird, also from avis via the late Latin aucellus). The German word for ostrich, Strauß, is from the same Greek ancestor of all these words, strouthos, sparrow or other small bird. Andrew Dostine tells me that the ancient Greeks may have been a bit shaky on their nature notes, but they weren’t stupid. “The first record of the ancient Greeks encountering ostriches may have been the one in Xenophon’s Anabasis, describing the Greek expedition to seize the Persian throne for the pretender Cyrus, written around 380BC. When they first saw an ostrich they referred to it as ‘ho megas strouthos’ — the great sparrow. Without a word to describe it they did the best with the words they had.” Cock and bull story Many readers asked if the shift from coq-à-l’âne into Scots as cockalane might also have been responsible for “cockamamie”, for something ridiculous, incredible or implausible. It wasn’t — see my piece on the word. Others queried if there’s a connection with cockaigne, the land of great luxury and ease. That’s also from French, but there’s no other link — again see my piece on that word. | ||||||||||||||||||||
bored
