Me: Oh god, please don't do anything silly.
SSgt James: *does something silly*
Me: ... D: D: D: *curls in on self a little more*

A new place for fic and art
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gk_fanworks

generation_kill

alhazred

Brad knew that if Nate had his way, they would go down the whole fucking mall straight to Whiskey Hotel, no rest, no stops, no matter what. He wouldn't object. From the mall, the fight almost looked like it was over; gunfire could still be heard from what may as well have been all directions, but it didn't seem like the Russians were all that interested in the place, or at least they'd pulled back since the EMP had knocked out their armor. He assumed most of the fighting was focused at Pennsylvania Avenue at this point, both sides going for the grand prize while a few stragglers tried to hold other positions.

It felt like the road to Baghdad all over again.

From episode 2x10, 'The Attic':
DOWNLOAD: Anna Ternheim - No, I Don't Remember, 5mb 3:56min

WTAF.

[FULL SIZE]

JUDE Law claims he is "€œin love" with Robert Downey Jr. The actor brushed off reports he has reconciled with ex-girlfriend Sienna Miller by insisting he only has eyes for his Sherlock Holmes co-star.

Speaking at the film's premiere in London'€™s Leicester Square, Jude pointed at Robert and said: "The only person I'™m in love with is sitting on my left. I am here on a night out with the boys.

"œThe flirting started the minute we met. It was based on mutual respect and admiration."€ - <BANG Showbiz / Getty Images>

(Sauce.)

synecdochic

* Gender will be a mandatory field at account creation, and it will be able to appear public on one's profile. (I can't tell if people with existing gender specification will be defaulted to "nobody can see it" or "everybody can see it".) (Subsequent changelog reading indicates that the public specificity has since been removed. It is unknown whether this is to require public specificity in the future or if it will remain private.)

* LiveJournal is removing the Unspecified option for the gender field. That's right: you get to be male or female. Period. That's it. (Source.)

If this pisses you off as much as it pisses me off, go to Edit Profile and select Unspecified for your gender option. Then, go to http://www.livejournal.com/contact/?dept=feedback and politely register your displeasure. (The people who read and process Feedback are not the people who make the decisions. They are often the people who are yelling internally about the decisions.)

(This will likely take place at the next code push, which given LJ's history will be either this Thursday or next, so spread the word fast, especially to the genderqueer community. After that point, you will no longer be able to pick "Unspecified" as your gender.)

Here is what I wrote; copy and paste as much as you'd like:

Hi there,

I read http://community.livejournal.com/changelog/7932846.html and subsequent commits with dismay, particularly the part where gender is now a) a required field and b) a binary option. Gender is not a binary; there are many people who do not identify as either male or female.

LiveJournal always received high marks from the transgender and genderqueer community because it didn't require people to specify, and didn't require people to choose either/or, when it came to the gender field. LJ also received heavy pressure to offer an "Other" option in addition to the "Unspecified"; you can read the early history of the "gender_petition" community for details. (http://community.livejournal.com/gender_petition/38651.html and earlier entries)

I am particularly dismayed by this change, because LiveJournal under both Danga and Six Apart said, repeatedly, that a). the Gender field would never be a mandatory field to fill out, and b). if it became so, the options would be expanded to include "Other". (http://community.livejournal.com/feedback/9967.html)

A simple interest search on "transgender" or "genderqueer" will illustrate how many people are aware of this issue, and you can review suggestions going back to 2001 (http://community.livejournal.com/suggestions/36453.html) about it.

Transgender and genderqueer individuals experience discrimination every day when they are forced to identify themselves with the gender binary when it doesn't apply to them. Please do not contribute to this oppression.

Please keep the "Unspecified" option for gender, and add an "Other" option, if you are making the gender field mandatory. Please do not contribute to the oppression of others. While I recognize that having a user's gender makes advertisers happier, collecting revenue at the expense of human suffering is not the action of a company I want to do business with.

Best,
[Your Name Here]

To also reach someone who's higher up the food chain than the poor staff members who have to read and reply to Feedback, also email anjelika@livejournalinc.com who is Anjelika, GM of US operations.

fleurdeliser

hi Julie,

thank you for your feedback.
However, the code update that you refer to is not live and did not have any chance to go live. That was a beta release, we always push code to beta to see if everything works correctly. In many cases it does not and we either fix bugs or pull the code from the final release plan.
We were going to add a gender field to the sign up user flow, which is fine, but by mistake it became a mandatory "female/male" field for everyone. This is why this is not going live. And this is what beta releases are for, to see problems and solve them before any user faces a problem.

I would appreciate if you share this information with your friends that are also concerned. I am sorry that you were misinformed.

TAC Christmas Campaign 2009 (20 Year Retrospective)

On December 10th 1989 the first TAC commercial went to air. In that year the road toll was 776; by last year it had fallen to 303.

A five minute retrospective of the campaigns produced by the TAC over the last 20 years has been compiled. The montage features iconic scenes and images from commercials that have helped change they way we drive, all edited to the moving song Everybody Hurts by REM.

This campaign is a chance to revisit some of the images that have been engraved on our memories, remember the many thousands of people who have been affected by road trauma and remind us all that for everyones sake; please, drive safely.