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Eliza at Easter



IMG_5274, originally uploaded by griffey.

So happy, she was thrilled with the whole day. Egg hunt, hanging out in a beautiful day with her Nana and Pop, Aunt and Uncle and Cousins and…she just loved it.

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Eliza is 4




IMG_6006

Originally uploaded by griffey

Here it is, the 4-year-old post. What is Eliza like these days? Some things haven’t changed a bit. Others have changed a lot.

Likes: dressing up, singing, dancing (loves her ballet class), coloring/”making art”, playing princess, listening to books, making up stories, watching all kinds of movies, going to the movies and eating popcorn, the beach, Disney World, vacations of any kind, hotels, swimming, cooking.

Dislikes: blueberries, beef in any form, itchy clothes, putting anything in her hair (which makes this picture really rare), getting up early

Milestones/development: Can write her name! And recognize and write many other letters. Can put on her own clothes, shoes, and socks. Takes showers instead of baths. Can draw representational things now, like stick people, faces, several shapes, flowers. Can brush her own teeth. Does chores every night.

Favorite things: Phineas and Ferb, Disney stuff (especially Disney World), princes and princesses, Wow Wow Wubzy, stuffed animals (especially kitties), candy.

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It’s been a good year




IMG_5377

Originally uploaded by griffey

So many nice things happened in 2011. Another wonderful trip to Disney World, Eliza’s 4th birthday, Eliza learning to write her name and other letters, fun visits with family and friends near and far, Jason having successes at work, and decent health for all of us, among them. We’re lucky people. Here’s hoping 2012 is even more wonderful.

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Perpetual Beta, Signing Off

On December 28th I received notice from George M. Eberhart, the Editor for American Libraries Direct, that my contract with American Libraries for Perpetual Beta is not being renewed. As of December 31st, my involvement with this experiment in blogging will end.

Perpetual Beta was, to my knowledge, the first American Libraries blog written by a non-staff member. It was originally conceived of by myself and Sean Fitzpatrick as a way of highlighting edgy, interesting tech that pushed the boundaries of what might be considered “library technology.” I tried very hard to curate the content that it linked to in such a way that it might help illustrate where libraries have opportunities in technology that might not be completely obvious. I hope that some of you out there in libraryland found it useful, and got some measure of value out of the two years that I’ve been writing and curating Perpetual Beta.

The content that exists here on Perpetual Beta will continue to live here, so don’t worry about links breaking just yet. And while American Libraries may use this site or the Perpetual Beta name for other projects, if you’re looking for my stuff…well, here’s a short list of where you can still find my writing:

Pattern Recognition: http://www.jasongriffey.net/wp
ALA TechSource: http://www.alatechsource.org/blogger/16
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/griffey
Google+: https://plus.google.com/110359014984825004385/posts

I’m still deciding what I will do with the sort of content that I curated for Perpetual Beta. I may create a new site for it, or I may continue to use my Tumblr blog (http://perpetualbeta.tumblr.com/) to collect this sort of thing. Whatever I choose to do, if you’re interested in what I’ve done here at Perpetual Beta over the last two years, keep an eye on the above and I’ll announce it as soon as possible.

Thank you to everyone for reading, and thanks to American Libraries for keeping it going this long. If you can, drop a note here in the comments…I’d love to know if this has been valuable to you.

“I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past…” – Thomas Jefferson

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We’ve certainly come a long, long way in 55 years. 

5MB Hard Disk Drive, 1956

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Really smart writing about 3D printing …

3D Printing, Teleporters and Wishes

Really smart writing about 3D printing from one of the sharpest guys on the ‘net, Anil Dash. I agree with all but one of these suggestions: the one about bundling consumables into the cost of the device. A far better solution (and more likely one, long term) is self-recycling of raw materials. A house in the near future will have in it a machine that will mechanically disassemble your waste into useful blocks that can be then re-used for the creation of new things.

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I was very disappointed to find out after reading the entire article that this app isn’t available in the App Store. It’s one of the most inventive things I’ve seen in some time, though. I imagine a similar interaction mechanism could be used for a lot of interesting things, human-to-human instead of human-to-swine. 

New App Lets iPad Users Play With Real Live Pigs

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Really amazing rundown of 3D printing, from services to hardware, by MAKE magazine. This is a perfect intro to the current state of the technology.

Holiday Gift Guide 2011: Santa Claus Machines

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Eliza loves Santa



_MG_4125, originally uploaded by griffey.

Here’s Eliza’s third Santa photo…she always loves it, and she’s always got a smile for the Jolly Elf.

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Amazon dives deep into being a publishing engine. It’s effectively a way for Amazon to incentivize authors to provide their works exclusively to Amazon for a period of timeInteresting pieces from the article: “KDP Select is a new option that features a $6 million annual fund dedicated to independent authors and publishers. If you choose to make a book exclusive to the Kindle Store for at least 90 days, the book is eligible to be included in the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library and you can earn a share of the fund based on how frequently the book is borrowed (click here to see how payments are calculated). In addition, by choosing KDP Select, you will have access to a new set of promotional tools, starting with the option to offer enrolled books free to readers for up to 5 days every 90 days. Authors and publishers can enroll a single title, their whole catalog or anything in between within KDP Select. ”

Kindle Direct Publishing: KDP Select