bluntbitchqueen

Please grant my huge request for Yo-Yo Ma's recent albums, especially:


Songs of Joy & Peace
Appalachian Journey
Obrigado Brazil
and Inspired By Bach




It's my birthday week, pretty please! :)
Thank you so much! :D

Just clearing out some music I had on my hardrive & thought some folk may enjoy!




Ani DiFranco -- Not a pretty Girl




8mm -- Songs to love and die by




12 Rounds -- Jitter Juice




Ade Fenton -- Artificial Perfect




Joss Whedon's Firefly OST




Let the Right one in OST

Join us in oriental_albums ♥

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8400172.stm

Testosterone link to aggression 'all in the mind'

Giving women more of the male hormone testosterone can turn them into fairer and more amiable game players, according to tests.

A single dose of testosterone was enough to have this effect, European scientists found, but only if the woman was oblivious to the treatment.


Hormones may dictate only a small part of our attitude

If she realised she had received the hormone and not a dummy drug, she turned to greed and selfishness.

The work in Nature magazine suggests the mind can win over hormones.

Testosterone induces anti-social behaviour in humans, but only because of our own prejudices about its effect rather than its biological activity, suggest the authors.

They believe the same is true in men, although they only studied women.

Power of suggestion

For the study, they asked more than 120 women to pair up and play an "ultimatum" bargaining game with real money at stake.

In the game, one of the pair is the "proposer" and is tasked with suggesting to the other player - the responder - how to split the money between them.

The responder can then only accept or reject the offer.

This puts hormones in their place. Hormones provide a basic backdrop, but changes in levels will do little to behaviour compared to personality, culture and society
Endocrinologist Professor Ashley Grossman

If they reject it, neither of the pair gets any of the cash.

The researchers gave the proposers either a dummy pill or one containing testosterone, but did not tell the women which pill they had been given.

Once they had played the game, the proposers were asked to say which pill they thought they had taken.

Those who received testosterone behaved more fairly, had fewer bargaining conflicts and were better at social interactions.

However, women who thought that they had received testosterone, whether or not they actually did, behaved more unfairly than those who thought that they had received placebo, again whether or not they actually did.

The researchers, led by Ernst Fehr of the University of Zurich, Switzerland, said the results suggested a case of "mind over matter" with the brain overriding body chemistry.

"Whereas other animals may be predominantly under the influence of biological factors such as hormones, biology seems to exert less control over human behaviour," they said.

UK endocrinologist Professor Ashley Grossman said: "This puts hormones in their place.

"Hormones provide a basic backdrop, but changes in levels will do little to behaviour compared to personality, culture and society."

doorwindowwall
A stunning collection of images sure to delight anyone with a penchant for architectural elements, this talented community, largely from New York, is hoping to attract new members from around the world. Featuring an eclectic variety of photos depicting doors, windows, and walls, there's an interesting balance of interior and exterior shots, many from urban streets, some from ramshackle rural farmhouses. Wonderful!

I was wondering if someone has a copy of Chris Botti's "December" album (2002)... please share it over! Smooth happy jazz just in time for the holidays! Thanks as always :)

**FINAL EDIT Thu Dec 10 02:15:47 UTC 2009**

So there is the final update... Over the past day we have processed around 11 million jobs out of the 12 million that were in queue at that time. Please bear in mind that over this past day, more jobs for notifications are also created. So while the queue has been dropping, we are still not fully caught up at this point, due to backlog and new jobs. We have roughly 3 million jobs still pending that involve the notification system in some manner. We had hoped we could have fully cleared the queue in a day, but unfortunately we can't clear it too quickly, since we need the rest of the site to operate normally. From our current perspective on the amount of jobs that are left in queue, and how many it has processed thus far, we believe it will take around another 8 - 12 hours to process everything.

And finally some answers to some questions:

( Read More and Get Some Answers... )

freeskiers
While some of us long to escape the cold, dark stretch of winter for hot tropical beaches, for others, there's nothing quite like whoooooshing down those shimmering sugar alps. If you're fond of freestyle skiing, get ready to slide down the slippery slopes in good company. This passionate, international community shares travel/gear tips, anecdotes, photos, and videos for those who can't get enough of the sweet stuff.

seasonal_icons
Need some extra twinkle to decorate your place? Check out these dazzling holiday-themed icons. If you're an artist, you can post your own creations, provided you abide by the simple rules (which is to say, all cheer and no politicking). Be sure to comment and give credit if you wish to borrow a little spirit (no direct links, please). If you're feeling a touch of humbug this season, this is an instant shot of festivity.

handmade_gifts
High on creativity, but low on cash? You'll find tons of brilliant suggestions for do-it-yourself crafts sure to please everyone on your holiday gift list. Offering detailed instructions, photos, budgets, timelines, and active support, you'll soon turn spare remnants of fabric and time into cherished keepsakes. Be sure to search entries and read user guidelines before you post for help!

From CHAMP Network:

Pass ENDA Now - No More Delays!

Right now in this country, there is no federal legislation that protects lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender workers from job discrimination - and that puts people at higher risk of poverty, lack of health care, homelessness and other factors that can increase vulnerability to HIV or progession to AIDS.

But the bill that would end this discrimination - the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (H.R. 3017/S. 1584) - is being delayed in the House of Representatives!

22 national organizations just issued a joint release saying that this delay is unacceptable.

Tell Congress to end the delay! Tell Congress to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, now! Flood congressional offices with calls and emails!

Call the U.S. Capitol switchboard at: (202) 224-3121. Give the operator your zip code and ask to be connected to your Representative. Then, after leaving your message, hang up and call again to be connected to your two Senators.

Suggested voicemail message:
( Read more... )

Crawl - Chris Brown
Famous Girl - Chris Brown
So Yesterday - Toni Braxton Ft. Trey Songz
Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart - Alicia Keys
Hate - Jay-Z ft. Kanye West
For My Town - Birdman Ft. Drake & Lil Wayne
What We Talkin' Bout - Jay Z
Drop It Low - Ester Dean Ft. Chris Brown

**EDIT Thu Dec 3 23:24:15 UTC 2009 **

Hey Everyone, we are about to run the last alter job that we need to on our database servers. This will effect userpics / scrapbook / vgift images for the next few hours. Have no fear, your images aren't lost, there is just a really intensive process running on the servers which store the information for mogilefs. Thank you for your understanding and all the LJ love...

Hey LJers,

I just wanted to let you all know that we are going to be performing some mogilefs maintenance over the next few days. We will be upgrading our current version to latest stable as well as changing some db config information to better handle the amount of files we are currently hosting. This shouldn't cause a big impact on site stability, but you may see some minor delays with userpic / scrapbook images appearing or other requests associated with our mogilefs. We would love to not have that happen, but unfortunately with some of the steps we need to take we have to cause a delay with images. I figured this was a better solution than taking down all of LiveJournal because well lets face it, we all need our daily LJ fix ;)

Thanks,

http://actupphilly.blogspot.com/2009/12/what-are-you-doing-for-world-aids-day.html

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2009

What are you doing for World AIDS Day?

There are a lot of options. You could, for example, listen to Alicia Keyes' free YouTube concert. You could go to Starbucks and buy a Product(RED) gift card. You could volunteer with an AIDS Service Organization. You could get tested. You could talk to someone about AIDS.
( See below cut for petition and activism info. )

Pls. forward to your LGBT colleagues and friends!

Thanks!

Highlight from the article:

"Kind to [the LGBT community], the House bill is harsh on a key ally with whom our community shares a sacred and bedrock principal established in the landmark Supreme Court case of Griswold vs. Connecticut: the implicit constitutional right to privacy, without which Lawrence vs. Texas would have never had the legal foundation to strike down sodomy laws."

Reforming Health Care: Why We Must Stand With Choice
San Diego Gay and Lesbian News
Carlos Marquez | Mon, 11/23/2009 - 9:45am

Just days after the anniversary of a seminal presidential election that promised sweeping change with a mandate to repair the economy and reform our broken health care system, the U.S House of Representatives passed the Affordable Health Care for America Act (H.R. 3962), legislation Democrats argue will ameliorate both.
( Read more... )

backpacking
Want to embrace your wanderlust on the cheap? If you're high on adventurous spirit, but low on funds, this community can help you plan a trip to anywhere. Offering plentiful tips on how to travel light, you can post about inexpensive hotels and youth hostels if you're into urban exploration or discuss camping gear and mosquito netting for the great outdoors. Hitch your backpack, pitch your tent, and carpe diem!