(no subject)

Well, liz_marcs made a post detailing the potential LJ alternatives and some of the things she said about Insane Journal caught my eye --

Pros:

• Smooth running site
• Clean LJ interface
• Easily customizable (S2 is supported)
• Ability to PM someone
• It's not "communities," it's "asylums," damn it!
• We're all patients now
• Exhaustive FAQ that's easy to find
  
• Ability to upgrade via a paid account ($10 per year)
  
• Permanent accounts are always available for purchase for $30 (yes, $30)
• Active ownership
• Syndication feeds

Cons:

• Critical mass? What critical mass?
• Freeaccounts are very limited: only 100 friends and 100 user pics allowed,tweaking of some basic designs allowed, ads (Firefox kills the ads, btw)
  
• Paidaccounts are significantly enhanced: 800 friends, 250 user pics, fullycustomizable, no ads, text messaging to journal allowed, polls

That said, I'm not totally switching as of this moment or anything. But I did stake out my username - jebbypal. I think I like this better than GJ mostly because it looks like journal customization is a tad easier.....plus, umm, not slow as molasses.

Dear CNN - Science shouldn't make your brain hurt.

Female cheetahs are big fat adulterers according to cnn

Whoever wrote the article needs to be reminded that anthropomorphism is BAD journalism.

For female cheetahs in the Serengeti, the call of the wild is just too hard to resist as new research shows nearly half of their litters are made up of cubs with different fathers.

And while the serial infidelities of the females does ensure a broader genetic mix to help the survival of the endangered species, it comes at a cost, the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) said on Wednesday.

Ditto for Sarah Durant, leader of the Serengeti Cheetah Project...except in that case BAD SCIENCE.

"This is good news for conservation as the genetic diversity of future generations of cheetah will be preserved by their duplicitous behavior."

Emphasis mine.

( mona pretty much sums up my visceral response to this article when I couldn't get on here to complain and sent her the article )

Because after the wank, fandom just lets it hang out.

The Rodney McKay Backhanded Compliments Meme

This is how it works

1) Comment with your username to this post.

2) Go back to your own LJ and post the link your comment because otherwise, no one will know if you don't tell them about it!

3) Your friends will leave comments to your comment about how you're not always completely wrong, and you're only a little bit stupid, and how that thing you did last week, while clearly the sign of an inferior and degraded intellect, did not result in the deaths of 5,000 people and so was probably okay, or about how that theory you came up with might have been more brilliant if they'd written it themselves, but really, they don't have the time, so it's good that someone did. And basically, everyone ends up expressing how much they love each other despite and perhaps even because of their flaws!

4) Don't be anonymous unless you really think it's absolutely necessary. The thing about backhanded compliments is that sometimes context is the only thing that differentiates them from insults. Besides, McKay is loud and makes sure everyone knows that his brilliant insights are his.

5) There will be no niceness. Dr. McKay is not nice. There will be no "I love you," and "You're such a great writer," and "Seriously, you're the only person I know who can pull off those hot-pants you wear." Remember Rodney's date with Katie Brown? He may have had Cadman in his head at the time, but things would probably have gone awry in spite of that. He just isn't that great at talking about his feelings.

6) Outpourings of appreciation Rodney McKay style are what we're looking for. Hand-waving and flailing are perfectly acceptable provided they're couched in sufficient invective that it's not immediately obvious that they're a compliment. You might want to cite a few experts. If you're not naturally a tyrant in the lab, a little research wouldn't go astray.

I'll be over here working on my thesis, which is going to redefine the discipline. You write your insignificant, badly written treatises below and if they're not completely pathetic, your friends just might read them and feel okay about themselves.

The Great Farscape Rewatch

Umm, i can't believe that no one on my flist knew about this, but apparently so.

TWoP is doing a Farscape Rewatch. It started this week w/ the Premiere on May 28. The link has the details.

Man, I'm in. Anyone else??