RSS syndication on livejournal seems to be broken
I don't know why, but for some reason, getting the RSS feed for this blog to update on LiveJournal Syndication has always been annoyingly difficult. I have to go into the PHP code and modify the GMT off-set by hand (something that should already be set by the GMT off-set in the configuration but apparently wasn't good enough for LiveJournal.)
Of course, every time I update this WordPress install I have to go and re-edit the PHP files for RSS feeds.
Further complicating matters was that I seemed to have /no problem/ whatsoever having RSS updates from cetan.org show up rather quickly on LiveJournal. I don't know why, but It Just Worked (tm).
However, ever since the big LiveJournal server move nothing seems to be updating for hours and hours. I updated cetan.org this morning at about 6 am CST but it just now (~3 pm CST) it showed up on LiveJournal.
All the more reason, I guess, to use something like Google Reader for feeds rather than LiveJournal syndication.
Edit/update (2008/09/12) - Well, it seems like I'm not only one annoyed by this. Enter 
jwz:
http://www.livejournal.com/support/see_request.bml?id=937843
The luxury of heat
I wrote this last week and never posted it...
Standing on a train platform when it's 3 deg F out and the windchill is somewhere around -7 deg F, makes for a chilly morning.
Stepping onto a heated train car and feeling the comfort of warm air surround me, reminded me of a photo essay by photographer Cosmin Bumbuţ in an issue of LensWork Magazine a few years back. The photographer had traveled Romania by rail, and photographed some of his fellow travelers. The cars are not heated and people bundle themselves as much as possible. Some warm themselves with fur, pelts, and that staple: vodka.
The photo essay is here: http://www.bumbutz.com/portfolio/transit/
And when I say it reminded me, I mean: I am extremely thankful for, and grateful to have, heated rail cars. It's a luxury not enjoyed by some when traveling.