news [theljstaff]

feedback

We've updated the global navigation menu:

• Scrapbook can now be found under Profile (thanks for your feedback, btw), along with Settings, Stats, and Edit Profile.
• You'll find all the tools you need to post and update entries under Journal, which includes posting and editing entries, managing comments and tags, and customizing your journal's style.
• Friends contains all of your friend settings, from filtering your Friends page to adding, removing, and finding new and existing friends on LiveJournal.
• Under Communities, you'll find links to manage your communities, accept community invites, and create new communities.
• Explore includes search features, RSS feeds, Question of the Day, and FRNK radio.
• Under Shop, you'll find links to upgrade or give a paid account, buy virtual gifts, purchase LiveJournal merchandise (like T-shirts), and view your payment history.

LiveJournal Mobile update:

Other important changes:

• You can lock comments to prevent further commenting on a post, while leaving existing comments visible.
• We replaced the "Tell a friend" link with a new "Share This" widget that lets you share LiveJournal posts on other social media sites, including Facebook, Digg, Twitter, etc.
• We changed some of the icons on entries (you can hover over the icons to view descriptions).
• You'll see a Tag count on your Tag management page.
• You'll now see the 10 most recent vgifts on your profile page. To remove vgifts, left-click on the vgift and choose whether you want to remove the vgift from your profile or delete it entirely.
• We've added options to help you control receipt of vgifts, which you'll find in My Stuff under Edit Profile. You can now enable vgifts from friends or everyone and disable anonymous vgifts.

We've got your fix:

• UPDATE: Rolling several updates into one listing here -- 1) Scrapbook should be back and working again. 2) The problem with the Update Journal page in IE6 and IE7 should be fixed now. 3) The problem with the userpic add-on package pricing has been fixed and refunds issued to anyone who was overcharged while the erroneous prices were in place.
• Non-conforming images will now be automatically resized for custom mood themes.
• Line breaks no longer count as two characters against your entry's character limit.
• We fixed a bug on the Manage Tags page so you can clear all tags and add new tags.
• We corrected the UI for the update.bml page so it displays properly in IE8.

wonderrrgirl

Nothing new from FASS talk, basically what I already know; the divisions, the modules, the double degree, double major stuff. Really, except new insights that people who do Sociology often end up doing things that are completely not related (not very) to Sociology. 

& there's no mention of Psychology among all the Students-Who-Succeed-In-Their-Life-After-Uni.

& I supposed this is because when you do Psychology, that's basically it. You'll be off doing something related to Psychology. It's kind of hard to do something else, not when you spent a ton of money on it. So far I've only known one person who did Psychology and did something else abit different. He went to start up a company. But even so that company is psychology-related; it has to do with educational psychology, where there are specific programmes to help determine a child's learning abilities and preferences. 

I used to find Psychology attractive because of Neuropsychology, because I know this person who worked in the hospital with those patients and how much job satisfaction she has gotten from it. If I'm ever doing Psychology, this is the only area I am interested in. 

But after hearing their journey towards getting there, it kind of turned me off. It's too much studying and studying. And even I, who actually liked studying and could concentrate long hours on it, finds it disturbing. 

Maybe it's also because the psychologist who came to our school back then to determine our learning styles, he told us of a typical journey for a psychologist-to-be student and it sounds like something only really determined people could achieve. I don't think I am, honestly. 

& the fact that you must get really good grades to do it, otherwise if you graduate with just a degree, that's as good as not doing anything at all. It's a field of study that, for many reasons, reminds me of A'levels. 

Unless, you're happy with being a normal social worker, that is, then the GPA score wouldn't really matter. But I know I wouldn't be...  That's why, while I'm not very sure yet what to take in FASS, I know Psychology is pretty much out. Not even going to take the starting modules, because I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want to do it. Plus I know I like other stuff better. 

_________________________________

The FASS person who spoke to us, she is a Sociology lecturer I supposed. She did say some really true stuff; like how you should choose something that you will look forward to during your time here, something that you love, so that you can really shine. & don't just do it for the sake of the future or something like that. (Easy to say too, but I think there must be some thought given to our future) 

I think it's also important to find out what exactly you will be doing under the given major. Because very often, we just love the idea of something. Not so much of Geography for me, since I know quite well what to expect. 

But for things like, Sociology and Psychology, they have always been majors that sound very ideal to me. But I have to admit to myself that I know NOTHING about what to expect from there. (Because I didn't really bother to read on much about it, except the very basic) 

So I'm quite cautious about the fact that we have alot of choices. I don't want to decide on something just because the idea of it seems ideal, awesome, professional or interesting. I think finding out more exactly about what we're going to do is really important. Otherwise it's like loving the IDEA of having a boyfriend, but not really considering both the good and bad sides. 

 So for those who already know and decided, you guys are really lucky, I'll say...



I am deciding between the few options: Geography, History, Sociology. 

I cut down alot since the previous time I was thinking about it. I cut out the rest after today's talk, because I really want to do something that I have a high amount of confidence that I'll enjoy and like. 

& while I can't decide now, I am actually pretty sure of what it is I really enjoy and like. I like studying people on a broader scale. That means, I cannot be bothered with studying how a person reacts or think. But I know I've always been interested in studying ALOT of people, not individuals. 

This is one of the biggest reasons why I like Geography; Human Geography to be exact. I like reading on things like culture, demographics, social trends, gender issues, globalisation, geopolitics, social phenomenons, religion; all things related to people and why masses behave in a certain manner. 

That's why I'm considering Sociology as well as Geography. Sociology will be entirely new, while Geography is pretty much not as alien as the former. So I don't know... we shall see. 

As for History, it's one of my choices because this is one of the things I do in my free time. Reading about them through books and online. & if you notice, History is also very related to how people behave. & how it can lead to major events, changes, a lot of things. 

So I know very well the specific area that interest me the most. 


Having said that, this reduces alot of options, thankfully. I'm still deciding. Long way to go, so this is not a big worry now. 


_________________



There's also quite alot on the different halls and stuff to join. I'm considering stay in a hall because of the activities. But on the other hand I fear distractions and being unable to concentrate. To me, the CAP score is quite important, because I really wanted to go for the overseas exchange programme. & CAP score of 4.0 and above is really crucial. CAP score also determines the honours degree. So I don't know, how much of those little numbers should I trade in for the sake of a more balanced university life? 

It's alot of think about, if you think of it this way. 


I am also considering taking the Language Preparation Programme. If yes I'll be taking up Korean, because one of the places I want to go for overseas exchange is Seoul National University. I have checked with the professor, and he says that 40% of the modules in SNU is in English. So unlike in Japan, where you have to do it in Japanese, and that'll suck because I know I'll just die. 

SNU is one consideration, otherwise the UK ones look really awesome and I've always wanted to go... King's College London esp. I've always known they have a good Geography programme there.

But to do all these, alot of work is required. hmm. 


Again, all these, can worry when we're in. But I'm just the sort, who, you know, wants to think more about it before it happens. 

_____________________

Next week I'll be going for official Korean lessons at Cambridge. My parents agreed to pay. A miracle that I appreciated, because that means I have alot more extra cash now. I'm going with Dawn because she wants to learn too. Yep. This is going to be a heavy investment because from Basic all the way to advanced is a rather big amount for poor kids like me right now. 

But I'm pretty sure of it because I know I'm not studying this just for some lame I LOVE KOREAN POP reasons.

Though it's true that Korean popculture was a trigger. But the bigger reason why I'm doing is after studying it on my own and finding out that I truly enjoyed every single moment I had the time to sit down to study the language. 

That has never happened to me for English and Chinese before. English alright, since it's the main language I use in writing, but there isn't any wows and fascination in English. It just sort of come very naturally to me. 

But learning about Korean grammar and all that fascinates me. I think this is the advantage of learning a new language when you're older. You appreciate it better, I guess. 

That's why, I am pretty much certain I will study this language all the way to as high as i could, until I'm proficient at it. 

Sucks really, to reach age 19 and find out that I somehow possess some love for language after all. I was always under the impression I am only a social science/humanities kind of person. 
 

news [theljstaff]

We're finishing up a few odds and ends before our next major release. Our mighty Ops guys continue to slay spambots and balance load times on a highwire without a safety net (which is kind of tough dressed in full ninja gear). Down on solid ground, we're celebrating this week's virtual birthday party with a warm toast to pants. If you can rearrange the letters of your favorite city, state, and/or country (feel free to combine these elements) to spell one of Frank's favorite treats (e.g., pants, wire, paper, etc.), he'll send you over a can of whipped cream to top it all off (provided you return the empty can for his midnight snack)! And, with that, let the word scrambling commence!

Stuff you should know:

To our paid users, we send squirrels in love!

If you have a paid or permanent account, you can send five free Squirrels in love vgifts through Monday, March 15th at 4pm, PST! You'll see both the free and the $0.99 squirrels displayed until they've scurried off to their new homes. Please send only one vgift at a time. In other words, you'll need to complete check-out and start a new order for each vgift you send. If you're not receiving vgifts (from friends and/or Frank), you may have disabled them. To enable vgifts, visit Edit profile (under Profile), scroll down to the bottom of the page, and select 'Do not disable' from the drop-down menu. Have fun!

Help is on the way!

We're pleased to announce the winner of our first charitable vgift poll, Doctors without Borders / Médecins Sans Frontières, which provides critical medical care to under-served populations around the world. Priced at $2.99, we'll donate 100 percent of the proceeds we raise from the sale of this vgift (we'll cover credit card fees). We invite you to start recommending nonprofits for our next fundraising drive at ljnewscontests. We'll take suggestions through the month and post a poll in the news during the first week of April to let you choose the recipient. We thank you, again, for your passion and generosity.

We've crowned a header

Congratulations to ohterlus for submitting the winning header, which will go live next week and keep us leafy through mid-April! You can submit designs for our next header contest at ljnewscontests now until March 31st. We'll post a poll in the news to let you decide which header will sit at the top of LiveJournal from mid-April to mid-May. All artistic interpretations are welcome. The winner will get a $25 LiveJournal gift certificate. All other contributors will receive $5 gift certificates. Our heartfelt appreciation for sharing your talent and creativity!

For this week's winning photo and more adventures with Frank & Meme, we'll catch you under the cut!

( Read more... )