bear

Me: If you're done with the rice bag, I'm gonna go warm it up again for bed.
hyounpark: Warm it up, Lynne!
Me: ... I'm about to!
hyounpark: Warm it up, Lynne!
Me: 'Cuz that's what I'm supposed to do?

*

So the first thing I did this year was clean out the fridge. Then we filled it up with ALL THE FOOD (kind of) and made it actually somewhat organized!

And then I stuck pictures on Flickr and added all sorts of notes because I am a food nerrrrrrrrrrrrrd. (I meant to do this ages ago when it looked like I had a jungle growing out of the fridge, but really it was just the entire middle shelf full of kale and spinach and fennel.)

( In my fridge )

Brought on by:

1. These pictures of Yosemite and the Golden Gate by Angela B. Pan, whose pic of the sunrise at the Vietnam Memorial you may have seen floating around recently.



(I am also apparently having a case of the forgetting to close div tags properly, mahbad.)

2. Links coming across my path today to open-space preserves and organized runs that hyounpark would love to go running in on a regular basis. Runs that he could do year-round, because his minimum running temperature is 40F and he doesn't seem to have much of an upper limit.

3. Berkeley Enough, the B-side to "Whole Foods Parking Lot":



4. A linked me to a pretty, pretty TIC duplex less than two blocks from the N-Judah and suddenly I'm having wild fantasies about H and I buying one half and H's brother and sister-in-law buying the other half because the housing prices aren't *that* much more than Boston for more actual *space*. (I know there are ever so many more factors to weigh than just this one-off happenstance set of links that crossed my path, and I love and adore Camberville and we have friends and family here. But we have friends and family in the Bay Area, too.)

5. I got to go home twice this year, and I'm pretty sure we'll be in the Bay Area next fall as well. Still:

( spoilers for HIMYM: Disaster Averted and Tick Tick Tick )

But it does make me want gen fic about Nora and Kevin. (Separately. They had lives before they got caught up with Barney and Robin, respectively. They have friends outside the MacLaren's booth. I know very little about Kevin besides him having been Robin's therapist at one point, but I feel like I know even less about Nora, despite her storyline having gone on for somewhat longer and her actually working with Robin. Tell me more, people.)

Since there's still a few of you over on LJ who have no ties to volunteering/working for LJ Support (former or current) and who may not have heard about this yet: there appear to be ongoing problems since the latest release with people finding themselves appearing to be logged in as other users, with the attendant ability to see [and possibly act on? this part is still unclear] data meant for that user, not themselves.

Long story short: regular LJ users *not* on your LJ friendslist may have been able to read your locked entries or access [though probably not modify] your other nonpublic LJ data at some point in the past few days, and this problem may still be going on.

LJ says:

"while updating the configuration of our internal caching system, Varnish, for a few minutes the system began to issue cached pages from the users who most recently visited the same page, as the system considered this the most relevant source of data. Thus, for 3 minutes, some users may have seen pages which appeared as though they were logged in as another random account, but it was actually just a snapshot of the page of the last visitor. It had no effect on security, as it was not possible to perform any actions on behalf of this other account. When attempting to load another page during these few minutes, another cached page was served in most cases."

Some users beg to differ, and report in comments to the lj_maintenance post and to the latest news post that they are still having this issue 72 hours later - still being able to see entries they have no business seeing; still being redirected to editing other users' profiles, comments, entries, settings.

The truth is probably somewhere in between, but it seems that for some people who'd still been hanging on, how this issue has been handled (piled upon how various past issues have been handled) is what completely broke their trust in LJ management. Given that LJ refers to this security issue as a "service issue" in the News post, and says that "it had no effect on security" in the lj_maintenance post when clearly, it did - I would not call being able to see data I have no business seeing "no effect on security," and on any other website, I would've expected a site-wide email explanation and apology to go out within hours, not days - I'm concerned enough that I'm thinking about no longer crossposting my entries from Dreamwidth to LJ.

So you're probably thinking, \what can I do to protect myself? Given that this is a caching problem, the most effective answer seems to be:

1. Go manually expire all of your LiveJournal login sessions. On that page, click on the X button next to each login session listed under "Currently Logged In Sessions." This will log you out from all login occurrences except the one you're using to do the expirations, and apparently will get the pages you've looked at during those login sessions out of the cache? (Which is the private data being exposed. Any friend-locked entry you've looked at while this has been going on is, by my understanding, at risk, which is why as soon as I'm done typing this entry, I'm going to go expire my sessions myself.)
2. Log out of LJ, and stay logged out until this issue is completely resolved. I'm not sure how to verify when this is the case if you don't trust what LJ's been saying in official communities, though. I guess ask other trusted security-minded and privacy-minded friends who still use LJ, through non-LJ channels?

*

Given that this is sending people who hadn't already fled LJ fleeing for the hills:

Here's where I am on a semi-regular basis:
- Dreamwidth for, these days, primarily travelogue and the occasional non-public entry.
- Flickr for photos
- Twitter for marginalia
- Pinboard for social bookmarking (after AVOS destroyed Delicious, they've been the best option: most functional, least interested in censoring your bookmarks (ohai DIIGO), most interested in listening to their users and potential users and balancing everyone's needs.
- Pinterest for the pretty (I know, it's confusing to have both Pinboard and Pinterest, but I've been finding it really useful for "bookmarking" more visual things that I want to see in a sort of collage form. I've primarily been using it to try to figure out what the heck my "style" is, but it's making me think about how I currently keep track of recipes I'd like to try, especially recipes that come with food-pornesque-pictures ...)
- My Flickr (and soon my Pinboard) crosspost to my Tumblr, but I haven't been particularly good about paying attention over there lately; it's just so chaotic to me.

I also do the Facebook and G+ things, though on a somewhat superficial and fragmented level. Given both Google and Facebook's own issues, privacy-related and otherwise, my presence there is on the infrequent and vaguely performative side. If you're interested in friending me there, let me know.

So. Between figuring out how many pages I'll need to design for the Dreamwidth Memories Overhaul/Bookmarking Integration and adjusting my bookmarking workflow as a temporary measure, I ended up logging into my Evernote account that I hadn't used for a couple of years.

Things I found:

- half a dozen grocery lists
- a spreadsheet of the apps I had on my phone then, and how I should organize them (this predated folders on the iPhone)
- the start of a Romeo and Juliet-inspired filk about one bus sideswiping another in Central Square
- the electrical control chart for Roxbury
- a note telling me that I should check out the feminism classes at Mayim Hayim
- a partial menu for my birthday dinner in 2009
- a limerick that I wrote to persuade somebody to give me a Google Wave invite:

There will be a tech revolution
Where Google Wave is the solution.
A GWave invite
Would fill me with delight
So please expedite its distribution.

I amuse me. Oh, hindsight.

I know I promised to talk about my NYC and Chapel Hill trips, but first: the new Delicious debuted this morning, and I am ... ambivalent both looking for a temporary replacement (though I'll probably default to freelish.us for awhile, though that appears to be down, and I hope it's temporary?), and furious at myself for not getting off my butt and making the damned mockups for Dreamwidth's bookmarking/memorification project when I knew this day was coming.

So!

1. Where are you currently sharing your bookmarks? How well does it work for social - letting me follow my friends' bookmarkings, letting me browse everybody's bookmarks on a specific topic, etc?

2. Given that I am currently highly motivated to make a design for it: What would you want in a Dreamwidth-based social bookmarking service?

Editing as I find things missing that were key to my usage of the old Delicious. For a Dreamwidth-integrated/based bookmarking service, what do you want to see? (Especially if it's not already listed here, where the Memories Overhaul project was originally filed. Edit: denise wrote up a spec awhile back when originally considering the Memories overhaul, though admittedly it does not word-wrap in my browser, so that makes it a bit hard to read. It's fairly encompassing, though! Is there anything you think is missing?)

Things I like about the new Delicious:
- multi-word, comma-separated tags. (AVOS' implementation, where they harrass you every single time you try to *make* one of these new multi-word, comma-separated tags? Not so much.)

Things I miss about the old Delicious (editing as we go):
- network pages. Dear AVOS, YOU FAIL AT SOCIAL. The cornerstone of social is "let me see what my friends/the people I follow are doing/sharing here." YOU'RE NOT LETTING ME DO THAT.
- RSS feeds.
- tag pages.
- the ability to see more than 10 links per page, or 10 links per *tag*.
- the ability to search "everyone's bookmarks," "my network's bookmarks," or "just my bookmarks."
- the ability to use / in tags without problems
- a working extension, though a working bookmarklet would do too. (implementation note beyond my ken: ajaxy bookmarking window would be lovely rather than a popup; does that limit what one can do with making a bookmark?)
- tag auto-complete when bookmarking.
- tag subscription! I can see where the idea of following a stack on AVOS-delicious came from that, but if I want to follow someone's links about Pottermore, for example, why should they have to create a stack just so I can follow that tag?

We have moved, despite Hurricane Irene's best efforts to thwart it. (Hunkering down in Cambridge meant that, if nothing else, our car was not parked in front of Roxbury when a tree came down and smashed the back windshield of the car parked in the place our car would usually be parked.)

I didn't think I was going to San Francisco last week after all because of moving and the hurricane and flights being sold out. But MAGIC HAPPENED, and thanks to the talents and persistence of the hyounpark travel agency, my flight got booked Tuesday night, and 24 hours later I was ON A PLANE.

First stop: Udupi Palace for pineapple uttapam with high school friend Karen, my brother, and his college friend Ian.



We're talking cafeteria-size trays here. Enough that we all walked out with leftovers, and then a homeless guy asked us for spare change; we asked him if he was hungry, and he walked away with at least a day's worth of food for himself.

( Thursday, Bay Area: wherein I eat like a hobbit; what the ocean tastes like; a wide-eyed baby who likes watermelon sorbet. Korean barbecue. Sweets up the wazoo. )

*

( Friday, San Francisco: the foodpocalypse continues. )

*

( Repacked Saturday, and then skipped down to DC Sunday morning. Rockets, cupcakes, the meaty meat platter, the best burger Hyoun has ever had, and Vermont sugar on snow. )

So yeah, that's how I spent four days in a row in airports. ;) Thanks, Bluepass! Now to figure out where we're going this weekend ... we'd originally thought Pittsburgh, but that may get pushed back to next weekend, and we may do Chicago instead. We'll see!

I totally missed the earthquake that just happened. Dunno how much of that is a product of a) bulldozers tearing up the street right outside, b) being 600 miles away from the epicenter, c) being a jaded Californian who sleeps through temblors unless they're a Richter 6 or higher. Hey, I come by it honestly; my dad drove through the Loma Prieta quake and didn't notice a thing, so was very puzzled when his wife and kids were so relieved to find out he was alive. "I just left the office half an hour ago! ... well, everything's fine here, so I'm going to keep my tennis date with the neighbor, see you later!" He'd driven over the Cypress Structure maybe five minutes before it collapsed.

That being said, I doubt East Coast building codes include much earthquake-readiness/earthquake-proofing, so I hope everybody's okay out there!

I've been feeling not-so-talkative lately, so here, have some pics instead:





(SrirachaBook liked this. ;) )

*

( FILIPINO FOOD, SO UNDENIABLE )

( Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face - okay, no actual haggis content within, but I did eat Scotch devilled eggs. )

( You can once again buy onigiri in Porter Square. )

( We've also eaten Southern food. )

Honestly, there's still a bunch more; I haven't even gotten to talk about the brand-new Singaporean bakery stand at the Central Square farmers' market, or the Hong Kong bakery I discovered when I biked up to Lexington a few weeks ago. But the rest will have to wait.

Bonus pic courtesy the Trader Joe's in Arlington Heights that sells these:



Of course I spotted this the morning of the premiere of the final Harry Potter movie. And spent the rest of the ride home trying not to think what Snape would put in "Snape Crisps." Hey, they *are* green for Slytherin ...

I have much to say about the Delicious acquisition, but I'll save that for later when I can finish the background research I want to. I've also got a huge backlog of food pictures to post, especially from Cupcake Camp, and Chocolate Madness, and I have a new favorite cookie (the chocolate macaroons from Lakota Bakery in Arlington). And I did mean to be better at blogging, especially during Three Weeks for Dreamwidth. But first things first.

Chocolate Madness is a fundraiser where several dozen local restaurants and bakeries make exquisitely divine little chocolate creations for donors to nosh. I came prepared, of course - dressed similarly to other attendees in a nice skirt and top, wielding a mostly-empty stomach and my camera. (I may have a long-established habit of taking pictures of food.)

So I've got my camera out, and I'm fiddling with the aperture trying to focus on a nearby chocolate bourbon caramel ganache confection, when a middle-aged white person, with a name badge approaches me.

Middle-aged white person: "Excuse me, do you speak English?"
Me: "... I'm sorry, what did you say?"
MAWP: *gets look of "oh, shit, I just totally fucked up" on their face* *starts profusely apologizing*

Me, in the moment: Utter silence, because I've just glanced at that person's name badge and realized that as a local foodie, I most certainly recognize their name. I've been to their restaurant and enjoyed myself multiple times over the last decade. I know exactly how involved they are in social justice causes. (Very.) And they've just introduced themselves to me by asking me if I spoke the official language of our country* the same language everybody else surrounding them is speaking?

Me, five minutes later: "Dammit, I'm a California girl, I should've responded with, 'Like, omigod, totally!'"

Me, three hours later: "OMIGOD I HAD THE PERFECT OPPORTUNITY TO USE 'CHING CHONG LING LONG TING TONG' AND I FAILED TO EXECUTE."

How do you even respond to that? Especially when you're anti-confrontational me? How am I still being blindsided by questions like these at a fundraiser for a liberal cause in a liberal city in 2011? How have I not developed the guts to call people on things like that when they happen? I recognize that they realized just how badly they screwed up and apologized immediately. But I'm still more than a little bewildered that it happened in the first place. I probably shouldn't be, given how Obama recently released his long-form birth certificate and that my first reaction was "Ugh, really, you gave into this absurdity?" I've since considered the words of people more versed in political strategy than myself, but even if it's meant to give Trump enough legitimacy to cause problems in the Republican party for the 2012 elections, it still feels wrong.

* I've been informed we don't actually have a legal 'official language' in the US! So I guess under the circumstances, English usage is more ... the lingua franca? De facto?