All these things that I have done

Good lord! An article about feminism by Zoe Williams in the Guardian online which I actually agree with! Wonders will never cease.

In other news, I've managed something I always rather hoped I would when I started this OU course - I've submitted an essay which fits exactly to the word count :) Obviously I've never done much towards this but when my final draft came up as 2001 I just had to comb through until I found a sentance I could reword to make it 2000.

Despite my worries when I came back from Glastonbury tired and sick, I've managed to get this essay in with 2 days to spare and without having to ask for an extension so I'm feeling quite proud of myself. I did 2 weeks of reading over the weekend (letting myself off from writing out proper exercise responses but otherwise fitting it all in), outlined the essay on Monday and wrote it up last night with a final polish just now before submission.

This is a bit of an experimental essay - it's not as tightly focused on the question as I usually like to write because the feedback from my previous TMAs and the notes for this one suggest that my interpretation of sticking to the question is a lot more rigorous than theirs in general. Which is fair enough, but hard to get used to.

1. My username is _____ because ____.
2. My journal is titled ____ because ____.
3. My subtitle is ____ because ____.
4. My friends page is called ____ because ____.
5. My default userpic is ____ because ____.
6. My displayed name is ____ because ____.

I've been picking quotes for these lately so I figured I'd go for this meme as it's doing the rounds again:

1. My username is tinyjo because my name is Jo and I'm tiny :) Actually, I'm 5'3 (according to my recent doctor's visit) but I am by far the shortest person in my family - my brother is 6'4, I think, and so I'm used to thinking of myself as tiny.

2. My journal is titled "Steal my sunshine" because that's currently my favourite song (by Lem) and I wanted to reference it. It doesn't actually fit very well though so I'm trying to think of something else.

3. My subtitle is "I know it's up for me..." which is from the same song - "I know it's up for me if you steal my sunshine". Again, this needs to change really, but I haven't come up with the right quote.

4. My friends page is called "No-one ever thinks they're cured" because it seemed to me to reflect how often people are unhappy with some aspect of themselves and how LJ provides a space for people to talk about it and get support. It's a quote from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, from a song called Midnight. By the way, I missed commenting yesterday on people's affirmations posts but I'm planning to go back and do that at some point.

5. My default userpic is a sunflower currently because I am a big sun addict. I really noticably blossom in mood and energy when I'm getting plenty of rays plus I really like the picture :)

6. My displayed name is "The truth is boredom, it's excess" because it seems to sum up LJ for me. I kind of like having it there on the support board (which is where my displayed name is mostly seen) as a little comment on the whole thing :) It's a quote from Walking Zero by the Sneakerpimps. The whole verse goes:

To the madness I do confess,
forever see myself as blessed
Immune, obsessed,
like a saviour I do caress
The truth is boredom, its excess
Take more, give less

A bleak view of human nature, I guess, but there you are.

Well, while Google is described as having "entrenched hostility to privacy", LJ is "generally privacy aware", the second best category. No sites at all were described as "privacy-friendly and privacy enhancing", which was the best, so not a bad result, all told.

From A Race to the Bottom: Privacy Ranking of Internet Service Companies

A map of a possible Fro Gymraeg (area of special preservation of the Welsh language, I think) can be found here

Hey, check out http://www.motorwaymap.co.uk/index.htm - UK motorway network in the style of the tube map. Pretty neat.

I'm pretty sure that there are some people on my friends list who write professional quality work and publish it online for free but don't yet know that they are pixel-stained technopeasant wretches. I encourage them to go read this and then celebrate International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day!

Good lord. Twitter feeds for the three party leaders. Sadly, not (a) satire or (b) actual twittering from said politicians but (c) their official site RSS feeds converted into twitter posts.

Come on, coalescent, we know it was you!

Apparently hugs help my heart in more ways that one</soppy>, via jinty

Also, Strange maps, via coalescent