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Becki
paireinlove
[x_factor_uk]
14 November 2009 @ 08:23 pm
Michael Jackson / You Are Not Alone  


Does anybody know when its being released?
I can't decide whether it will be good or not lol
We'll have to see!
Also, are they performing tonight or tomorrow?
Thanks :]


P.S. Omg how AWFUL was Jamie? He was so out of tune!
 
 
Current Mood: cranky
Current Music: Lloyd - Some Queen Song
 
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Pia
idyllictorture
[obama_2008]
14 November 2009 @ 03:04 am
A GQ Article about Obama as a writer.  
I'm guessing since we're all on Live Journal, a lot of us are passionate readers and writers. Here's an article I found very interesting in GQ (the issue with January Jones on the cover). It's an in depth look at President Obama as a writer, and compares him to Teddy Roosevelt.

Over the past few years, we’ve gotten to know our president as a lot of different things: campaigner, lawyer, father, basketballer. But what if Obama’s first and truest calling—his desire to write—explains more about him than anything else? Robert Draper recounts the untold story of the first man since Teddy Roosevelt to serve as author in chief.
 
 
Current Location: My bed
Current Mood: curious
Current Music: Borderline - Madonna
 
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フィネクスダオーン
phoenixdown7
[obama_2008]
12 November 2009 @ 09:37 pm
Guardian: Allegiancy worries as Obama heads to Japan on East Asia visit  
The message from the White House is upbeat: the US is a Pacific nation determined to strengthen its ties with Asia. But Barack Obama will face tough challenges over the economy, trade and Japan's alliance with Washington from the moment he arrives in Tokyo tomorrow at the start of his first presidential visit to the region.

Until recently, the US could depend on Japan – its closest Asian ally for 50 years – to smooth its path into trickier diplomatic territory nearby. But the recent election of a centre-left government in Tokyo intent on ending Japan's subservience to Washington is threatening to weaken what a former US ambassador to the country described as the most important bilateral partnership in the world.

South Korea, another old ally, will push hard for progress on a stalled trade agreement, though administration officials have played down hope of a breakthrough.

Relations between Washington and Beijing are at their most amicable for years. But some observers question whether closer ties will bring measurable results, and the friendship is not without its problems: today it emerged that Obama may ditch his sole meeting with the Chinese public unless Washington and Beijing can resolve disagreements over its format.

In an interview with Reuters this week, Obama described China as a "vital partner", but warned of "enormous strains" if economic imbalances between the country and the US were not corrected.

Trade tensions have already been felt, with China attacking US tariffs on its tyres and steel pipes. But Beijing hinted today that it might allow appreciation of the yuan. American manufacturers complain the Chinese currency is kept artificially low.

Obama's nine-day, four-country tour will also see him putting the case for the release of Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi to Burma's prime minister, Thein Sein, and other south-east Asian leaders in Singapore.

But Obama's priority will be addressing the rift with Tokyo – caused by a 2006 agreement to reduce the American presence on the southern island of Okinawa, home to more than half the 47,000 US troops in Japan.

rest
 
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フィネクスダオーン
phoenixdown7
[obama_2008]
12 November 2009 @ 09:28 pm
NYT:Obama Becomes Japan's English Teacher  
In anticipation of Obama's visit in Japan tomorrow, I thought this was an interesting read

TOKYO — When Utako Sakai was changing the background music in her beauty parlor recently, she did not opt for the classical piano pieces she usually chose.

Instead, she picked her favorite CD: “President Obama’s Inaugural Address,” released by Asahi Press, a Japanese publisher of language books. She says the speech lifts her spirits and helps her to learn English all at once.

“All our customers love it,” said Ms. Sakai, who is based in Ayase City, in Kanagawa Prefecture, outside Tokyo.

The speech CD and its accompanying book have been a resounding success, selling 200,000 copies since its release in January. A compilation of President Barack Obama’s speeches has done even better, selling half a million copies since November, solidifying his role as Japan’s English teacher.

Publishers have since flooded the market with over a dozen language-learning titles, including “Speech Training: Learning to Deliver English Speech, Obama Style”; “Learn English Grammar From Obama”; and “Yes, I Can With Obama: 40 Magical English Phrases From Presidential E-mails.”

Asahi Press followed up its inauguration book and CD with a recording of Mr. Obama’s “World Without Nuclear Weapons” speech, also in book and CD form, given in Prague in April.

The publishers are trying to tap into a foreign-language teaching industry that the Yano Search Institute said was valued at ¥767 billion, or $8.7 billion, in 2008. The figure includes the cost of books, CDs, dictionaries, e-learning programs, standardized English tests, and the cost of private language lessons. The institute, in Tokyo, says the majority of the spending is aimed at learning English.

Most Japanese people, including those studying English, would have difficulty comprehending a speech given by a native English speaker. But “Mr. Obama’s English is easy to understand because he pronounces words clearly and speaks at a relatively slow clip,” said Professor Tadaharu Nikaido, a communication specialist here. “Movies tend to be the most difficult for Japanese, especially when actors mumble their words.”

Mr. Obama sets his range of vocabulary wide enough to accommodate the highly educated and the less educated, Professor Nikaido added, and at the lower end, it sometimes comes within the range of non-native speakers’ comprehension.

rest
 
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inefuori
inefuori
[obama_2008]
12 November 2009 @ 06:03 pm
*ARTICLE* : My solemn meeting on Veterans Day with President Obama...in Arlington Cemetery  


ARLINGTON, Va. - He didn't introduce himself. He didn't have to.

President Obama simply stuck out his hand and asked for my name as he stepped toward me amid a bone-chilling drizzle in the Gardens of Stone.

This was Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery. I wasn't there as a reporter, but to visit some friends and family buried there when Obama made an unscheduled stop - a rare presidential walk among what Lincoln called America's "honored dead" - after laying a Veterans Day wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns.

What I got was an unexpected look into the eyes of a man who intertwined his roles as commander in chief and consoler in chief on a solemn day filled with remembrance and respect for sacrifices made - and sacrifices yet to be made.

I'm sure the cynics will assume this wasjust anotherObama photoop.

If they'd been standing in my boots looking him in the eye, they would have surely choked on their bile.

His presence in Section 60 convinced me that he now carries the heavy burden of command.

I had stopped at Arlington to see the resting place of Ken Taylor, Ed Lenard and Dave Sharrett. Ken and Ed survived their service, in World War II and Korea, and died as old men. Dave did not leave Iraq alive. He was 27.

Obama arrived just before noon at the serene Section 60, where many of the dead from Iraq and Afghanistan are buried together - and where many more heroes will undoubtedly be laid to rest before this President leaves office.

It's a section typically bustling with those visiting loved ones. Every time I go there, more and more graves have been dug into the earth.

The President and First Lady Michelle Obama emerged from their armored limousine hatless in the frigid downpour and took a slow stroll into the soggy rows of white marble headstones.

They stopped first at the grave of Medal of Honor recipient Ross McGinnis, an Army private who threw himself on a grenade in Iraq three years ago to save four buddies.

A sad-faced woman reached for Obama's hand and pointed him to a nearby plot.

The face of another woman - who had grimly sat in a folding chair for hours next to a headstone she'd arranged flowers around - suddenly broadened into a smile as she stood to embrace Obama and thank him for paying his respects.

She was so overcome with emotion that a soldier from the Army's Old Guard had to console her afterward.

The President patted backs of adozen other Gold Star relativesand troops visiting buddiesnow in the ground.

He gave hugs. He shook wet, chilly hands. He wanted to know something about each fallen warrior.

Continue reading...
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2009/11/12/2009-11-12_my_solemn_surprise_meeting_with_the_president_at_my_friends_resting_place.html?page=1
 
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theljstaff
theljstaff
[news]
12 November 2009 @ 01:53 pm
LiveJournal Major Notes: Notes, Tweaks, Bug Kills, LJ_Cares!  

Notes augmented

We've enhanced and de-bugged Notes. If you haven't tried it yet, now's the time! You can create a private note when you ban multiple users. You can also delete multiple notes at once. Lastly, paid users have the option to add a note (visible only to you) whenever you add or remove a friend (guaranteed to avoid embarrassing social mishaps). If you don't currently have a paid account, you can upgrade now! It only takes a few minutes and costs less than a bad shopping mall haircut (plus, it's way more fashionable)!

Product tweaks and bug kill

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  3. The issue causing random comments to vanish has been fixed!
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New FCK fixes rich text editor!

  1. We've updated our RTE (Rich Text Editor) to FCKeditor version 2.6.5
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LiveJournal Cares

We’re pleased to introduce you to [info]lj_cares, a new LiveJournal community dedicated to raising awareness and funds for U.S. charitable organizations that improve the health and well-being of people around the world. Each month, we’ll spotlight a nonprofit that is making a significant global impact through medical research, public outreach, and/or humanitarian social programs. Charities will be selected in accordance with the U.S. calendar of national health observances based on a high rating (of over 60%) on Charity Navigator and global scope of impact.

In this, our inaugural month of November, we will celebrate national adoption month by offering a charitable virtual gift (priced at $2.99) to support Love Without Boundaries, an organization that saves the lives of orphans with life-threatening diseases and places them in loving homes around the world. LiveJournal will donate 100% of the proceeds from the sale of charitable vgifts (we'll cover the cost of credit card transaction fees). To learn more about Love Without Boundaries, please visit [info]lj_cares and read about how they helped save Baby Kang and the Rainbow Twins from fatal illnesses, who are now thriving in nurturing families. You can purchase your Love Without Boundaries gifts in the Virtual Gift shop.

Papered in postcards

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Please keep the love coming for one more week by writing 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 drawing the names of ten random contributors next Thursday to win paid account credits!

Photos of the week

We have more dazzling images posted by talented LiveJournal photographers from around the world. We're hoping to span the entire globe, so please continue posting and tagging. Of course, you can also sit back and enjoy the view at [info]lj_photophile.

You can see a sample of this week's gorgeous photos and check out spotlight communities and awesome user content after the jump!

( Read more... )

Curtains

We thank you, once again, for joining us. See you next week!

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Mr. C
misterc
[obama_2008]
12 November 2009 @ 07:03 am
Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.  
The D.C. Catholic Archdiocese has threatened to stop helping thousands of the needy in the nation's capital if the District's City Council approves a pending bill which states that marriage between 2 people in the District of Columbia shall not be denied or limited on the basis of gender, and which also ensure[s] that no minister of any religious society who is authorized to celebrate marriages shall be required to celebrate any marriage...or solemnization of a same-sex marriage.

Though the Catholic Church in general is not usually known as a great supporter of GLBTQI equality, apparently this Archdiocese on this issue, has chosen to demonstrate their obvious displeasure with this bill by revealing a predilection toward being particularly punitive: castigating not just same-sex-loving people & our "enablers", but anyone & everyone in need under their religious purview.

( There goes the baby... )
 
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Hannah
faery_lights
12 November 2009 @ 09:56 am
Still living with retards  
Our shower broke this morning. I was the second person to use the shower and recognise that there was a problem. Who phoned George?Yes, me, AGAIN *sigh* This means I also regressed 15 years by washing my hair in the bath and freaking out when the Shampoo got in my eyes.

I'm also currently waging a passive agressive war over a radiator. God, I hate this house.
Tags: ,
 
 
Current Location: Leicester
Current Mood: aggravated
 
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basementkidd
basementkidd
[lolcreeps]
12 November 2009 @ 07:11 pm
Speechless.  
( NSFW )
 
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Mr. C
misterc
[obama_2008]
11 November 2009 @ 07:14 am
Michelle on Sesame Street  
Though I am nearly as old as our President, I have loved Sesame Street since I was a little kid (I don't think I know ANYONE who didn't watch Sesame Street growing up), and--of course--I think that Michelle Obama is the most impressive, awesome First Lady certainly in my lifetime.

So, if you put Michelle on Sesame Street talking about eating healthy & planting your own garden, you get very close to awesomeness overload...but it's well worth it!

As you'll see, Michelle not only loves vegetables, but they love her, too! :-)

The only thing I think that would have made this clip any better is if she & Big Bird did the fist bump! ;-)

 
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Hannu
200222222200200
[lolcreeps]
10 November 2009 @ 11:15 am
(no subject)  



(  Im 99% sure this is a chick. )
 
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CL
muzzy_olorea
[x_factor_uk]
08 November 2009 @ 08:56 pm
WTF?!  
Seriously, WHAT?????
 
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gogomoksori
gogomoksori
[x_factor_uk]
08 November 2009 @ 04:53 pm
(no subject)  
So predictions for tonight? Since I was right last week, har har, this week I'm thinking Lloyd; I thought he was actually pretty good yesterday but the rest of the acts are really strong (and then there's Jedward =d). I think Stacey might end up in the bottom two, even though I hope not because I still love her to death, but I think she lacks... IDK, stage presence, maybe?

Can I say that Cheryl and Louis both royally pissed me off yesterday. Cheryl's comment on Danyl's VT (he'll probably pull a high note at the end and I'm over it) was so ridiculous; her Joe pulls those high notes too and Lloyd would as well if he could actually do it. For some reason she's so personal when it comes to Danyl, what was that crap about his demeanour, what about his bloody singing? Her 'positive' comments were so grudgingly given, and yet she glares at Simon when he says anything negative about her acts. Pah. I used to quite like her but what the hell.
And then there's Louis. YOU DO NOT INSULT DERMOT. jdahgrhejkl; I generally like Louis despite how crap he is as a judge because his ridiculous, bland, unhelpful comments are funny but that was so out of order.


How weird is it that suddenly Simon had become the nice judge? Granted they're his acts but I agree with him, the rest of them are just not giving credit where credit's due with Danyl and Afro and it must be because they're such strong contenders and they're threatened and playing mind games because it's nonsensical. Especially the Danyl hate, I honestly don't understand it.
 
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Shana
uglybracelets
[obama_2008]
07 November 2009 @ 11:42 pm
HR 3962  

Just to share the great news. The house passed HR 3962 just after 11pm Est 220 - 215. I am so happy for this to move forward and hopefully we can see the same progress from the Senate.

And just for a little math 1.2 trillion is the cost over the next 10 years. Let's figure only 20 million are covered (I know this is an underestimate). That is just 6,000$ per year per person. I think we should be able to sacrifice that for the health and well being of our fellow Americans. Sorry, my initial math was incorrect.

Tags:
 
 
Current Location: US, Pennsylvania, Dauphin, I- 81
 
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dylan margaret
dylanmargaret
[lolcreeps]
07 November 2009 @ 02:36 pm
(no subject)  
 
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the world that has been pulled over your eyes
cieldumort
[obama_2008]
07 November 2009 @ 02:05 pm
Jon Stewart  
A little O/T, but a little weekend levity doesn't hurt in this nutty environment we have been witnessing. So please forgive the acornery, and just enjoy...


Link: http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-november-5-2009/the-11-3-project
Tags:
 
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lw
feralbirdgirl
[kissmyass_cosmo]
06 November 2009 @ 07:39 am
new Reebok ads  
...are horrific. One of my friends recently started a group on Facebook to spread the boycott: BOYCOTT REEBOK AND THEIR NEW ADS THAT OBJECTIFY WOMEN!!!!!!

A snippet from the info page:

Reebok recently created ads that claim that their shoes will "help make your legs and butt look great", "tone your butt up to 28% more than regular sneakers", make "88% of men speechless, 76% of women jealous, "and guarantee "better legs and a better butt with every step." In the ad "Dialogue", the following transcription is read by...what appears to be a woman's breasts, jealous of her butt.

"Stupid butt. Gets all the attention now. She's so tight now, so pretty, so--STUPID."

Then the male voiceover reads: "Make your boobs jealous, with the shoe proven to tone your butt more than regular sneakers."

***

So, yeah, KMA Cosmo - go forth and let Reebok know that shoes are not an excuse to objectify women!
 
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Sabrina... the teenage cat?
apeacefulsleep
[lolcreeps]
05 November 2009 @ 10:06 pm
god damn juggalettes  


( NSFW )

 
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theljstaff
theljstaff
[news]
05 November 2009 @ 01:15 pm
LiveJournal Major Notes: Spam counter-attack, RSS feeds again, CSI Deadly Intent contest  


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 [info]xkcd_rss, [info]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!



[info]c_s_i

If you're a gamer who loves CSI, have Wii got news for you! [info]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 [info]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 [info]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... )
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CL
muzzy_olorea
[x_factor_uk]
05 November 2009 @ 08:56 pm
X-Factor Twins No Good, Says Gordon Brown  
X-Factor Twins No Good, Says PM Gordon Brown

I'm not saying I don't happen to agree with him on this but honestly I would have thought he had bigger things to be worrying about .....

 
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