Take a look at the Fall 2008 UTC Library video that we’ll be pushing out to students and new faculty this Fall. Created by a grad student, now adjunct professor, at UTC, Justin Lewis, with direction from me (who basically just said things like “Make it cool. Slow that down”). The vision was all his. I think it came out remarkably cool.
I forgot a few things in the last post. While on her belly, she can also now rotate 360 degrees. It’s pretty funny to see her spinning like a top to get to what she wants (including me, when I’m sitting behind her).
She’s also using a sippy cup now, for water. She holds it by herself and can usually get a drink, although sometimes she gets confused and thinks shaking it helps the water come out.
Ok, so maybe it’s not a big deal, but she just learned something today. She can now lift the flaps on one of her books all by herself. It is called Peekaboo Zoo, and there are animals hiding behind different kinds of flaps. Some pull down, some sideways, some upwards. She can do almost all of them by herself, and she even knows the appropriate timing. I’m amazed by her sometimes.
She’s also trying to pull up in her crib any time you sit her up after a nap. We’ll probably have to lower the mattress soon. Ugh, my poor back.
She’s also reaching for people now, which is pretty recent (last couple of weeks). Mainly she reaches for me, but sometimes daddy. And she can also wave “hi.” Sometimes she gets confused and uses both hands, which is super cute.
We’re still waiting on the biggies, like crawling. But all these little developments are fascinating.
This is a test post from my iPhone, using the new wordpress app. So far very slick…have four blogs set up in it already!
Favorite foods: carrots, sweet potatoes, prunes (no joke)
Favorite books: still pretty much the same as before! Plus a book that has pictures of babies and animals comparing body parts (Two cheeks…two cheeks; two eyes…two eyes; two arms….two arms; etc.). She fusses until I read it again and again and again.
Favorite toys: dishes; balls; rubber ducks; magazines; empty boxes; the mirror (see photo); remote controls; phones (is currently into non-toys, as you can see)
Hobbies: standing any way possible; rolling all over the living room floor; trying to pull up in my crib while sitting; popping bubbles while mommy blows them; watching Indy play fetch; checking the mail with mom (still her favorite activity of the day)
How broken is copyright in the US? So broken that if you look at two different books, both published by the same publisher (Dodd, Mead & Co.), in the same year (1940), both with copyright notices, and neither with a copyright renewal…one is currently protected by copyright, and the other is in the public domain.
An amazing article by Peter B. Hirtle entitled Copyright Renewal, Copyright Restoration, and the Difficulty of Determining Copyright Status outlines this case, and others that are equally frustrating. Fascinating stuff, and shows how truly broken intellectual property laws are in the current market, with the necessity of international reciprocation and ever-increasing ridiculous time limits. Not to mention that the very model is now shattered with the digital revolution…even without the digital, copyright needs an overhaul. With it? It needs cleansed with fire.
Pick a random book in your library that was published between 1923 and 1964, and check this chart, and see if you can tell if it’s still protected. Now multiply that by a few ten million books, and see what kind of crazy legal situation our legislatures have gotten us into.
WordPress 2.6 was just released…if you’re interested in the details, here’s a video overview:
She’s becoming a little person with clear emotions and desires. When she’s happy, she laughs with her whole body and smiles so big it looks like it might hurt. She yells when she’s angry or frustrated at not getting what she wants. She even flirts now, and hugs, and waves “hi.” A little afraid of strangers, sometimes she cries when people get too close. But she knows her mommy and daddy and lights up when we come into view. She’s working really hard on language right now, and has mastered “ba ba ba ba” and “ma ma ma ma” and sometimes manages a “ga” here and there. Still no “da,” much to her dad’s dismay.
What new skills and changes will this month bring??
A really interesting spam hack popped onto my radar today. Here’s the post from the LITABlog, as seen in browser:
Here’s the bottom of the post. Nothing unusual, right?
Here’s the same post in Google Reader:
Spamolicious! Where the hell did all that come from? From this little piece of code in the post:
A hidden bit of code in the bottom of the post. I hadn’t seen this before, but Joshua M. Neff told me it happened to him as well. In the comments there was a link to the wordpress developer’s blog about a similar issue…but not an identical issue. I don’t think this is necessarily a SQL injection issue.
So: anyone have any thoughts? How did that code get put into an existing post? LITABlog is running the latest version of WordPress, so it’s not that. I don’t see any more of them, but I won’t unless I look through the code manually or whip up some SQL-fu that greps for the hidden css string. Which I will do if I must, but I thought maybe someone out there had a better idea. 🙂
I’ll be in the jungle if you need me. Going to find some elephants and giraffes. Be back for lunch. Ciao!
