On Saturday the 14th at 4AM UTC/GMT we will be upgrading the operating system of our network load balancers to a newer version, one that will allow us to use both CPUs! Nifty, because multiprocessing is nice.

Since we have 2 load balancers, the plan is to upgrade 1 at a time, and there really should be very little impact to our website. Hopefully you won't notice a thing and I'll get to go back to the hotel and watch some wonderful late night infomercials.

We've got a lot of exciting projects coming up for 2010 and we're hoping that we'll be able to deliver them all to you, that you will find it useful/cool/lovely and then you will use the site even more. Behind-the-scenes work like this will give us the capacity to handle the anticipated traffic, so expect a few more maintenance windows especially in the beginning of next year as we've got some neat ideas to improve performance around here! We had the recent 30-45 minute outage yesterday due to one of our logging databases filling up disk space -- not so great design coupled with my human error in handling the initial problem -- and it looks like we're going to finally have some resources to eliminate stuff like that. I can't wait!

As usual, I will be updating status.livejournal.org before and after, just in case you are not able to reach our main website during the work.

 Yesterday's sermon was a little quote-heavy, but I think a fundamentally sound call for seeing humanity equally in all people, no matter their ability.  I know it resonated with a number of people in the congregation--many told me stories of their own hidden disabilities (or those of people in their family) and the difficulties they've had living with them.  

So, I share this not because I think it was so brilliant...but because I hope others can find some hope in here as well.

in peace,
Michael

Heroes and Superheroes

Rev. Dr. Michael Tino

Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Northern Westchester – November 8, 2009

© 2009 Michael James Tino

For those of us who are temporarily able-bodied, it is sometimes hard to know how to respond to those whose bodies don’t work like ours do.  Well-meaning, we try to avoid the typical response of pity, a response that helps no one.

Unfortunately, too often we slip into what the Rev. Bonnie Vegiard calls the “amazing person” reaction.  She describes it like this, in a sermon entitled From Pathos to Partnership:

“I had an Economics teacher when I was a freshman or sophomore in college, and I remember sitting in her office and discussing with her the fact that I had just gotten an A on her test. I remember her looking across her desk at me with this admiring look on her face and saying ‘You are amazing.’ The problem with this response is, what do you say to that? Doesn’t everyone like to be told they are amazing every now and then? I remember the scene quite clearly, her desk, the look on her face, her exact words, ‘you are amazing.’ And I remember the ambivalence of my feelings at that moment. The fact was, all she knew about me was that I had a visual disability, and that I got an A on her test. She didn’t know the first amazing thing about me.”
(http://www.uua.org/spirituallife/worshipweb/sermons/submissions/26933.shtml)

In holding up the story of Christopher Reeve, a story featured in the curriculum our children are using in their Religious Education program, I hope I did not fall into that same trap.  Oh, look, a quadriplegic who can still do things!  It’s not what I meant, and I hope it didn’t come off that way.

What I do believe that story highlights, though, is that everybody—no matter their physical or mental ability—has the ability to contribute something to our society.  Reeve was not heroic merely because he was paralyzed.  He was not heroic even because in the face of that paralysis he didn’t just give up.  He was heroic because he managed to accomplish amazing things—partially in spite of his disability, and partially because of it.

In the last years of his life, Christopher Reeve used his fame—fame ironically garnered from a film career whose highlight was the Superman movies—to focus attention and resources on the ways in which our society treats people with disabilities, and on medical interventions to help people with severe spinal cord injuries.  For the nine years between his accident and his death, he became a tireless advocate for accessibility, better health care, educational and employment opportunities for the disabled, and the full participation of all people—no matter their ability—in our society.

Reeve himself defined heroism this way: “A hero,” he said, “is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.”  Christopher Reeve was amazing—not because he was paralyzed, but because of the strength he showed in dedicating his life to making our world more inclusive.

Christopher Reeve is not the only person who has done this.  People of all sorts of abilities—physical and mental—have persevered through great difficulty to help make our world better.  And many of the others who face physical and mental disabilities with courage, strength and determination are veterans of our military services, which is why I chose to reflect upon this topic this Veterans Day weekend.

The Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation did an extensive survey of those living with paralysis as a result of spinal cord injury and found that seven percent of people with such injuries sustained them as a result of military service.  Given their estimate of approximately six million people in this country with such injuries—that would mean an astonishing 420,000 people have sustained paralyzing spinal cord injuries while serving our country. (www.christopherreeve.org)

And that doesn’t count the people who have lost limbs, senses and brain functions from wounds sustained in service to our nation.  It doesn’t count people so paralyzed by post-traumatic stress disorder that they cannot lead normal lives. 

According to a report by Jennifer Kerr of the Associated Press, as of last year there were some 2.9 million physically-disabled American veterans—more than ten percent of the twenty-four million veterans in our country. (http://sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=7da07113-91cd-418a-a7a5-59995bdf420e)

And many of them are heroes as well.

In 2005, Iraq veteran Tammy Duckworth, now an Assistant Secretary in the US Department of Veterans Affairs, told the New York Times this: “I'm not going to get my legs back, and that's fine,” she said, “but if that gives me a platform to talk about the things that are important to me, like education and jobs, that's great.”  (http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B03E4DD1039F931A35751C1A96E9C8B63)

Major Duckworth, who continues to serve in the Illinois National Guard, lost the lower parts of both of her legs when the Black Hawk helicopter she was co-piloting was hit by rocket-propelled grenades fired by Iraqi insurgents.  She came home and dedicated her life to making sure that wounded veterans would be cared for.  While she lost a race for Congress, Duckworth began a career in veterans’ affairs, first helping Illinois to expand services for disabled veterans and now serving all of our nation’s veterans.

Among other things, Duckworth now coordinates the national observation of Veterans Day.  It is fitting that her service, then, be noted today.

On this weekend before Veterans Day, it is fitting that we understand that millions of men and women have put themselves in harm’s way to serve our nation, and that many—far too many—of them are now dealing with disabilities as a result of that service.

In a 2005 interview with MSNBC, Christopher Young, who was paralyzed from the waist down 20 years ago when the Coast Guard aircraft he was in crashed, described his own struggle to reclaim his life—and the lesson he learned from a special program that teaches disabled veterans to ski.  Young, who became a Giant Slalom ski champion, said that learning to ski taught him to focus on what he was able to do and not what he wasn’t, to reclaim power in his life “I control the wheel chair,” he said, “The wheel chair doesn’t control me anymore.” (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7489052/ns/msnbc_tv-msnbc_special/page/2/)

Sergeant Connie Spinks enlisted in the Army Reserve after graduating from high school in 2000, and deployed to Iraq as a Civil Affairs specialist in 2004 after intensive training in Arabic and Kurdish.  According to a Library of Congress Oral History project, “riding in the middle of a convoy one day, she saw a vehicle pull up next to hers, and an explosion ejected her from her vehicle, severely injuring her and burning her face. She spent four months in a wheelchair before she could walk on her own.” She faced many challenges in her recovery—both from the burns and the injuries to her legs, and she will never be in the same physical condition she once was, yet she remains dedicated to serving our country.  (http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/vhp-stories/loc.natlib.afc2001001.46666/)

Pamela Kay Walker, though not a veteran, is also a hero.  Artist, writer, activist and polio survivor, she tells her story alongside those of other disabled artists in her book Moving Over the Edge: Artists With Disabilities Take the Leap.  She tells the stories of people called to bless this world with their creative talent—visual artists, writers, filmmakers and more—whose creative vision was shaped in large part by their experience of being disabled in the world, and who managed to express that vision in a world largely set up to make it impossible for them to do that.

As Paul K. Longmore reflects in a “post script” to one of Walker’s chapters:

“Pamela Walker explores the complementary functions of disabled artists and disability rights political activists.  I would,” he continues, “elaborate on one thought.  Whatever their primary work, whether artistic creation or public policy change, the artists and activists all speak from and for the disability experience from the inside.  By ‘disability’ they do not mean defect and deficiency…. Instead, they view that experience as humanly valid, an authentic if non-standard way of being in the world.” (Pamela Kay Walker, Moving Over The Edge, p.210)

Bonnie Vegiard, in her sermon, summarizes what she, as someone ministering from within that same framework of experience, wants us all to understand:

“We all live from our abilities,” she writes. “We all live with what is given to us, our own talents, and our own barriers. You accomplish what is important to you because of your talents and in spite of your barriers. It may take more time than you would like. I may take more help than you want to accept. It may take more frustration than you think you can possibly bear. But if it is really important, you do it. This is life. This is the life we all share together.”

I love this way of looking at the world: that each of us is called to live as fully as we can with whatever ability we have.  That ability is likely to change over time, and so will the way we will have to live.

And the religious community that we come together to form needs to make room for all sorts of participation.  We must strive to be a community where all of us can be whole, where all of us can be fully human, where all of us can be loved and accepted.

This brings us rightly back to the first principle that Unitarian Universalist congregations covenant to affirm and promote: the inherent worth and dignity of every person.

Linking our first principle with our attitudes towards disabled people, the Rev. Dr. Devorah Greenstein, our Associational staff person for accessibility concerns, writes that congregational communities must live up to a higher standard for inclusion—a standard in which all people can be who they are without shame or fear.  She writes:

“Society teaches us to be embarrassed and ashamed of disability, but disability is just part of life. Even though only 15 percent of people with disabilities are born disabled—even though many of us acquire all kinds of physical, emotional, and cognitive disabilities—many of us believe that we shouldn’t share or explain our situation—should, in fact, just be quiet or drop out—stop coming if we can’t hear the sermon—stop coming if we can’t drive at night—stop attending if our child needs extra assistance in Religious Education class.”

She continues, “Isn’t this foolish? Isn’t our church community the one place where we should be able to feel safe enough to speak about our needs?”

“Accessibility,” she concludes, “is about the inherent worth and dignity of every one of us. Our Unitarian Universalist values demand, in fact, that our congregation allow full participation for people with disabilities. Ours is a theology of wholeness and justice. Accessibility is about social justice—civil rights. You would not tolerate the exclusion of people of color. Why then, would you tolerate the exclusion of people because of physical or emotional disabilities.”
(http://www.uua.org/leaders/leaderslibrary/leaderslibrary/drivetime/57761.shtml)

Here, in this community of love and acceptance, we must make room for all people to be heroes.  We must make room for all people to be artists, and for all people to be seekers on spiritual journeys.

We must find a way for all people to be whole.

We must widen our understanding of what it is to be fully human—so that it doesn’t depend on having all of the same parts in the same working order that we who are temporarily able-bodied happen to have.

And then, we might open ourselves up to some amazing people—of all ability levels—and learn exactly what it is that makes them so wonderful.

sixwordstories
Whether you're in the mood for a creative challenge or you're short on time or attention span, this semi-addictive community is perfect for those who find flash fiction way long. Once you get the hang of it, you won't be able to stop. The prince turned into a frog. The girl ran home to mother. Tough to write. Easy to read. It's a double threesome of fun.

dailyfoodie
Delicious, ambitious, and occasionally nutritious dishes make for an eclectic, all-you-can-eat feast. Whether you're searching for recipes for your next dinner party or you're jonesing for a late-night brownie fix, your cravings are sure to be well sated. A warm and inclusive community that welcomes all orientations, from carnivores to vegans, from gourmands to junk-food junkies. Guaranteed bias-free, food-positive, and pan-epicurian.

The empire strikes back

In recent weeks, we've taken huge steps towards blocking spam accounts on LiveJournal. In fact, we've suspended as many as 30,000 accounts in a single day! We've implemented several pre-emptive measures to prevent the creation of spam accounts, and we've honed our detection of suspicious content. Spam bots are a crafty lot, so we'll continue to refine our tactics and keep up the good fight to keep you safe from spam attacks on LiveJournal.

RSS feeds again

If you're addicted to xkcd_rss, icanhaschzbrgr, or other syndicated feeds, we're pleased to report that we've resolved the update error that was mucking up your RSS feeds. While content was being pulled correctly, it wasn't being posted to the feeds themselves. Late last week, we finally nailed down what we hope was the root problem, so content should post properly. We thank you for your patience.

Wii have killer CSI Deadly Intent contests!

c_s_i

If you're a gamer who loves CSI, have Wii got news for you! c_s_i is sponsoring killer contests. Simply post a question to a member of the CSI crew. The winner will get a free copy of CSI: Deadly Intent for Nintendo Wii (with a retail value of $39.99) and get their question answered by a member of the CSI writing team! There's also a fantastic monthly contest. To enter, join c_s_i, play the online version of CSI: Deadly Intent, and respond to a two-part query for a chance to win a Wii! Entries will be judged on composition and originality. Sorry, but you must be a U.S. resident and over 18 years old to participate. Check out the rules here.

Enveloped in postcards

Last week, we asked you to send in postcards to help us decorate our drab concrete walls. Here's a photo of the results so far! Thank you so much and please keep them coming! You can mail them to Frank the Goat, Esq., c/o LiveJournal, Inc., 539 Bryant Street, Suite 210, San Francisco, CA 94107. Be sure to include your username, since we'll be giving ten random users paid account credits.

Photos of the week

If you haven't visited our new LiveJournal photo community, you're in for an amazing visual trip. LiveJournal users from around the world will take you on a scenic journey to everywhere. Post your own pictures or kick back and enjoy at lj_photophile. You can view some of this week's awesome photos after the jump. Please start tagging with geographic location, since we'd like to track all the places around the world represented in this community. Keep on commenting too!
( Read more... )

About a month ago, the New York Times published a fascinating article entitled "The High Price of Being a Gay Couple."  Of course, being half of such a couple, none of it was news to me.

And yet, the most recent election news regarding marriage equality, along with the Governor Patterson's (D-NY) announced intention to put marriage equality legislation on the agenda for a special session of the State Senate and Governor Corzine's (D-NJ) announced intention to push the legislature there to pass marriage equality before his term is up, has me revisiting this analysis.  

It is, to be frank, entirely too painful to once again realize that voters somewhere in this nation are only too willing to deny my civil rights.  It is made more painful, not less, by the fact that Washington voters were willing to give same-sex couples there second-class citizenship (like the kind already available in New Jersey)...but they probably wouldn't have passed marriage equality.

So, being a former scientist and a man (and thus socialized to bury painful emotions with logic), I have decided to send straight people a bill.

This year, y’all owe me and my partner (at least) $7500.

Here’s how I figure that, based on the things that pop into my head most obviously (I'm not willing to spend all day on this--there's a sermon to be written, after all).

• When we applied for a mortgage, because we were not married, we had to qualify using only my income at the time.  We thus had to pay a higher interest rate.  Let’s call that $200 a month, or $2400 a year.  When we're allowed to marry, I'll gladly send another bill for our closing costs when we refinance.
• I earn a significantly lower taxable salary than does my partner.  Were we to file a joint return as married people, we would pay approximately $3500 less in Federal income taxes than we have to as single people just based on our income (there’s more to come).  (I’m going to ignore the extra we pay in New York State income taxes, since NYS would actually recognize our marriage even if we can’t have it performed here.)
• We pay approximately $300 a year in extra Federal income taxes for my dental and vision insurance because the amount paid by my partner’s employer counts as taxable income for him.  It would not if the Federal government recognized us as married.
• We pay approximately $1000 extra each year in extra Federal income taxes because our mortgage deduction and charitable contributions are split between us and my tax rate is lower than his.  Assuming we had qualified for that lower interest rate I started with, this would be more like $800, so I’ll go with that for the sake of consistency.
• Because we're not married, we each have to have separate auto insurance policies.  Because we live together, we each have to be listed on each others' policy (since we occasionally drive each others' cars).  While a joint policy for our two cars would be more expensive than either of our single policies, it would be significantly cheaper than the two single policies.  Let's call that $500.

If I wasn't lucky enough to get health insurance 100% paid by my employer, there'd be an extra charge for the extra money I'd have to pay for that.  And if we were financially-smart enough to have IRA accounts, there'd be an extra charge for the difference a spousal IRA would save us.  And, heaven forbid one of us dies before marriage equality is enacted--the survivor would be liable for estate taxes on half the value of our jointly-owned house.  Let's not even think about Social Security benefits (I'm not counting on it existing when we retire).

If New York State passes marriage equality next week, none of the Federal implications would change, thanks to the Defense of Marriage Act of 1996 (DOMA).  Of course, we'd have to spend more money on tax preparation, since we'd file married with NYS and single with the Feds.  Sigh.

So, I'll expect my check for this year's discrimination allowance.  I'm guessing there'll be another bill next year, too.  I won't hold my breath.

with love,
m

aiyatheydidnt
The Chinese version of ONTD, AIYA is a dynamic international community that welcomes users who share a love of contemporary Chinese pop culture. Dedicated to celebrity gossip and entertainment news, you'll enjoy gorgeous photos and breaking stories featuring the glitterati of mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

wendylady2
Designed to rescue fashion victims everywhere, this Brit-based community reads like a rag-ezine. Published once or twice weekly, you'll view bizarre highlights of the global fashion scene through captivating photos and delightfully snarky editorial. Sit tight for a virtual fashion tour from the runways of New York to Milan to Paris and back home again to London in homage to the adage: you can't buy good taste.

soldiers_heart
A passionate community for veterans of all ages (mostly American), plus families, friends, and supporters. View poignant snapshots detailing life in combat and back on civilian soil in the form of original artwork, personal narratives, poetry, and photos. Be forewarned that members don't shy away from describing their disappointments, disabilities, and struggles.

updated

When writing software, *please* don't give error messages that are only meaningful to developers of the software. Microsoft used to be awful for this: "System fault at DEAD:BEEF, please contact your system administrator". Which would've been cool, except that I *was* the system administrator.

My most recent encounter with this was this morning with bzr (On my work laptop, so it's Windows):

C:\Users\jeffbailey\workspaces\webhack\Webhack>bzr push lp:~jbailey/webhack/trunk
Connected (version 2.0, client Twisted)
SSH C:\Users\jeffbailey/.ssh/id_rsa password:
Authentication (publickey) successful!
Secsh channel 1 opened.
bzr: ERROR: RemoteRepository(bzr+ssh://bazaar.launchpad.net/~jbailey/webhack/trunk/.bzr/)
is not compatible with
CHKInventoryRepository('file:///C:/Users/jeffbailey/workspaces/webhack/Webhack/.bzr/repository/')
different rich-root support

Umm. What? Okay. I work for a search engine. So I fired up Yahoo!^WGoogle to figure out what the message could possibly mean. The top result is Bug 172360 in Launchpad:
"branching from rich-root to non-rich-root gives confusing errors"

Sounds perfect, until you see that the bug is marked as invalid.

Something got missed here. If your user says "I don't understand" - they are NEVER wrong. It doesn't matter if you think they should've understood. It doesn't matter that you think you explained it well enough. The user doesn't understand, so you lose. Actually, it's worse. *they* lose.

There are lots of other bugs leading up to how I got to where I was seeing this in the first place. But none of those are as important as the fact that the developers thought a user saying "I don't get it" wasn't worth the 30 seconds of adding the text "The best way to fix this is to run: bzr upgrade --default " + branch.url;

Update: Jelmer pointed out to me in a comment that it wasn't the devs who marked it as invalid, it was the submitter. He's reopened it. This just further supports the notion that users are insane and need hand-holding. =)

EDIT: If you're reading this, our maintenance is OVER! The problem was not found on our equipment, which means we'll have to work with our ISP to fix this small problem -- which also means another maintenance window in the future -- but at least we have eliminated our side.

Thank you everyone, and a special shout out to rekoil for giving me a great suggestion AND also the opportunity to feel like I've just called in to a local radio station.

Have a great day, night or afternoon wherever you may be.

---

Hi everyone, sorry for the late notice but I'm going to have to do some testing on 1 of our 4 internet circuits TONIGHT; Friday night or Saturday morning depending on which time zone you're in.

Most of us shouldn't notice any impact, though there may be some slowness or lag when I switch traffic on to our other ISP circuits and then another hit when I stop the tests. If a page won't load or times out, try hitting refresh 1 or 2 times and it should load then. If it doesn't work at all... trust me, I'll be typing really really really fast to try to undo whatever I just did. Hopefully you'll have some Halloween candy (if you're in the USA and celebrate that kind of thing) nearby to take away the bitterness of a small site outage. :(

Here's the handy-dandy Website That I Always Use to get a feel for when the maintenance will start in your area. Our site traffic historically dips on Friday afternoons until Saturday morning which is why we tend to pick this time for maintenance work.

( tech details )

status.livejournal.org will, of course be updated before and after the maintenance window. Or else marta will get mad at me. :D

bt

In response to user comments from last week, we want to let you know that we'll remain LJ cut-free for the next month in order to get more eyeballs on our evolving newsletter. As for product coverage, that continues to be our top priority. For more granular detail, however, we recommend you join lj_releases.

Super-tweak for Yandex search

Some of our beta testers expressed privacy concerns using the Yandex search engine. Here's why: Last week, when you ran a search, you could see the usernames (and only the usernames) of everyone who commented on an entry, even if that entry was switched to Private or Friends Only after it was originally indexed. You could NOT see the actual comments from Friends Only or Private posts. In response to your input, we've implemented a fix to keep all user activity currently marked Friends Only or Private completely hidden. If you'd prefer your public content not to be indexed by Yandex, click here and use the settings labeled Search Inclusion (this covers your entire journal) and/or Comment Search Inclusion (which covers comments only). To test drive Yandex search now, click here.

Postcards from the edge

Several years ago, we asked LiveJournal users to send postcards to help us decorate our dull, white-washed offices. Since a good idea warrants repetition, we're at it again (same issue, new address). We hope you'll surround us with LiveJournal love by sending your postcards to Frank the Goat, Esq., c/o LiveJournal, Inc., 539 Bryant Street, Suite 210, San Francisco, CA 94107. We'll post snapshots right here. Be sure to include your username, since we'll randomly pick 10 lucky recipients to win free paid account time.

Conquer Writer's Block

Here are some excerpts from this week's most popular question of the day:

If a friend or relative makes a racist or homophobic remark, do you tend to confront them or let it slide? Are you more likely to confront them if it offends you directly or someone else who seems reluctant to speak up?

1. I find it easier to stand up for other people, and i wouldn't let it slide if they made a rude or hurtful comment.
2. Usually if a friend makes a racist or homophobic remark, I tend to let it slide. I think that while i would not say such things myself, I have no right to censor those around me.
3. This happens all of the time. I confront some relatives, but I refuse to if they are drunk or watch Fox News.
4. I'd let it slide if it was just a private remark... As much as I despise bigotry and intolerance, I know that you can't change people-they have to change themselves ...
5. Confront! confront! confront! Politely, but without equivocation.
6. SPEAK UP. Always, always, always speak up. Letting something slide lets ignorance win. No matter if it offends me directly, or someone else, I will confront the speaker and let them know that's not ok.
7. I don't get offended personally. As an immigrant, woman, gay and person of color if I took every single potentially offensive remark seriously I wouldn't get anything done.
8. I punch them in the balls. With my mind.
9. I do speak up, but often very timidly because I feel that I'm white and therefore I don't really have any authority to lecture someone on what's racist and what isn't...
10. Generally speaking, I do not let this shit fly, because it reduces me as a person, to this non-person and it replicates the destructive discourse that makes sure that sexual minorities, racial minorities, women, people with disabilities, trans people and every intersection thereof into something other than human... And sometimes... I'm just too tired to deal with it, so I roll my eyes, make a sarcastic remark and hope the conversation moves on quickly.

For more daily questions and user comments, join writersblock. FYI, we don't want to invade your privacy, so we haven't credited individual users for their responses. We'd appreciate your feedback on this!

Spotlight community of the week

We can't resist making one last midnight trip to the ol' pumpkin patch. If you adore crazy costumes, fiendish festivities, and bottomless candy consumption as much as we do, this community has just what it takes to light up your jack-o-lantern.


halloween_fan

Photos of the week

We received so many incredible photos, we had to close our eyes and point. We uploaded a selection of awesome images at our new lj_photophile community. Please join and start posting (try to keep the width at around 625 for the sake of consistency)! We'd love for you to tell us more about your photos! You can help us select spotlight photos by commenting on your favorites. Once again, we thank you for making our online world more beautiful!

shutter	pancetta	ilya_gorokhov

Curtains

Thanks, again, for tuning in. We look forward to seeing you next week.