It's a rabbit, showing a border collie how to herd sheep. The blogpost is in Swedish, but you don't really need any more explanation: Gardsbacken: Champis, den vallande kaninen :)). Strangely enough, I found this link on an Alaskan quilting blog I follow: For My Rabbit Loving Friends | Crazy Shortcut Quilts. And to think I wasted all that time with LOLcats.

Since 2006, I've participated in a "silent poetry reading" for the Feast Day of St. Brigid (or in honor of some more pagan Brigid--at your preference). I'm not aware of any cross-blog activity this year, but it's a good day for a poem.

Here is Sherry Chandler reading Looking Over into the Promised Land from her 2011 book, Weaving a New Eden. I just love this book of poems. I've tried several times to write an explanation about why it's so wonderful, but I'm reduced to gushing fandom.

Weaving a New Eden is a women's history of Kentucky, moving from Rebecca Boone and the other frontierswomen through Sherry's ancestors ("The Grandmother Acrostics") to the present day and back again. These stories strike some chord in me that rings and resonates in a way that I can't describe. Few poets leave me wordless like this.

I've enjoyed reading Sherry's blog for as long as I've been reading blogs--she writes about poetry and poetics, cats and dogwood trees, and the many and varied books she reads. You can also sample a few of her poems online through her blog.

Some people who live on remote mountain ridges worry about the government tracking their movements and infringing their rights. I assume that's why Newt Gingrich called me on behalf of the NRA a few days ago, to warn me that "Obama's gonna take your guns." (His elocution was a little more sophisticated, but he was just echoing the same old theme I've been hearing since 2008.) Of course, I asked Newt why Obama hasn't gotten it done yet, but, being a robo-call, Newt didn't answer.

I'm more concerned about giant corporations than intrusive government. When I found this link to Google's ad targeting data based on my searches, I expected them to know things about me I feared to admit even to myself. I imagined an ominous combination of Santa Claus and Orwell's Big Brother. Instead, it seems, Big Brother doesn't get me at all. Here's how Google sees me:

Your categories: Business & Industrial Computers & Electronics - Software Computers & Electronics - Software - Operating Systems - Linux & Unix Shopping - Apparel Localities - North America-USA-South(USA)-West Virginia Your demographics: We infer your age and gender based on the websites you've visited. You can remove or edit these at any time. Age: 35-44 Gender: Male

I expected all those searches for antique crochet patterns and sewing supplies would have given a different demographic profile. But perhaps midlife male computer nerds are exploring their softer side with vintage-styled handmade lace. And, from an advertiser's viewpoint, Wal-Mart is the only place in our area where you can buy steel crochet hooks and computer hardware.

To see how Google identifies you as an advertising target, you can visit Google's Ads on the Web.

I'm caught up with posting about 2011 fiber activities. These patchwork pieces are my current project--a double four-patch wool coverlet. So far, I have 72 eight-inch blocks, sewn together into two four-by-nine block chunks.

I'm holding back on sewing the two big chunks together until I'm ready to finish the thing, as it's easier to handle this way. After auditioning the coverlet on the bed, I've decided that it needs more blocks: two additional rows and two columns more should do it. That's why I'm making 34 more double four-patch blocks. I have several polar fleece remnants that I'm planning to sew together to back this patchwork project, so it will be totally made of scraps, leftovers, and old clothing. I believe it will empty at least two large storage tubs of fabric scraps. It's a tightwad bonanza--hours of sewing pleasure without shopping, and decluttering/reorganizing to boot.

I took these photos last week, and yes, I was also drying clothes on the clothes line. I did so again today--we haven't had to use the dryer yet this winter. Very strange.

I was excited to read this last week: Udacity and the future of online universities by Felix Salmon. Speaking of Sebastian Thrun, Salmon writes:

... It started as a way of putting his Stanford course online--he was going to teach the whole thing, for free, to anybody in the world who wanted it. With quizzes and grades and a final certificate, in parallel with the in-person course he was giving his Stanford undergrad students. He sent out one email to announce the class, and from that one email there was ultimately an enrollment of 160,000 students....

Thrun was eloquent on the subject of how he realized that he had been running "weeder" classes, designed to be tough and make students fail and make himself, the professor, look good. Going forwards, he said, he wanted to learn from Khan Academy and build courses designed to make as many students as possible succeed--by revisiting classes and tests as many times as necessary until they really master the material.

.... he concluded that "I can't teach at Stanford again." He's given up his tenure at Stanford, and he's started a new online university called Udacity. He wants to enroll 500,000 students for his first course, on how to build a search engine--and of course it's all going to be free.

Here's the Website for the Introduction to Artificial Intelligence class that started it all, and here's the Udacity site, which is preparing to offer two more computer classes free on the Web. They say:

We believe university-level education can be both high quality and low cost. Using the economics of the Internet, we've connected some of the greatest teachers to hundreds of thousands of students all over the world.

I've signed up for "CS 101: Building a Search Engine" to learn Python. Aside from my FORTRAN course in 1976, everything I've ever learned about computers has been self-taught and ad hoc. I'd love to try it in a structured environment. (I enjoyed my FORTRAN course, but the Computer Science department at my alma mater made it really clear they didn't want a bunch of ladies running around their nice clean building.) Classes start February 20!

2011 was a sadly inauspicious year for trees on our ridge. The stag-horn sumac trees did not fare well in the summer, and this happened in the spring. This poor peach tree has been struggling for years, but every once in a while it would produce a small crop of flavorful (gnarly-looking) fruit. This spring, the wind took it down. I'm saving the last freezer-bag of peach pie filling for a special occasion.

Here's my most recent knitting--socks from my crock-pot-dyed, hand-spun Rambouillet fleece. Several years ago, I decided that this neppy, lumpy wool was not a failure, but an interesting exercise in color and texture: It's Not a Nep, It's a Feature. I tried out a few interesting rib and cable patterns, but they lost all definition in this "highly-textured" yarn, so in the end, it was plain old "Knit 2, Purl 2" ribbing. It was a fun, mindless knit, and these soft, soft socks are a treat to wear.

This week the USDA Agricultural Research Service released its new Plant Hardiness Zone Map. Strangely, I discovered this, not through the agriculture and gardening sites I follow, but through Mother Jones magazine's Blue Marble Blog. Julia Whitty points out:

The new map is interactive, which is cool, and based on a much finer data scale than the old one, which is great. And guess what. It shows that things are getting warmer. The USDA managed to pretty much bury that fact in Bureaucratese in their press release...Compared to the 1990 version, zone boundaries in this edition of the map have shifted in many areas. The new map is generally one 5-degree Fahrenheit half-zone warmer than the previous map throughout much of the United States. This is mostly a result of using temperature data from a longer and more recent time period; the new map uses data measured at weather stations during the 30-year period 1976-2005. In contrast, the 1990 map was based on temperature data from only a 13-year period of 1974-1986.

The interactive USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map lets you select a state and "zoom in" to see surprisingly fine-grained detail. I've already zoomed in on every place I've ever tried to garden.

Given the mysterious boot failures of the last few weeks, I need regular and reliable access to my laptop. Yet since the Mac Mini failed last summer, the laptop has been commandeered for streaming video in the living room. It seems the time had come for (the cheapest possible) Mac Mini replacement. I found a refurbished desktop without an OS at Geeks.com, and while it had an Ethernet adapter, I thought I'd like to have wireless capability. (There's just no convenient way to run Ethernet cables between the "office" and the living room.)

Now, I knew installing wireless drivers in Linux has a painful history, so I the first thing I did was check out what wireless devices are Linux-compatible.

• Quick HOWTO: Chapter 13: Linux Wireless Networking--Linux Home Networking
• List: Linux Compatible USB Wireless Adapter (WUSB) June, 2010
• Linux Wireless FAQ's

I looked up all sorts of wireless adapter cards and USB adapters, and got very confused. However, Geeks.com provides information I haven't seen anywhere else: For each Wireless adapter, it lists what operating systems the device will work with. I picked out a Linux-compatible one and made my order.

I was able to install Debian testing using a netinstall CD and the Ethernet connection, and when that was finished, I modified the /etc/apt/sources.list to include the contrib and non-free sources. (I always do that anyway.) Then, of course, at the command line, I typed aptitude update

From there Debian Wiki had everything I needed to know to go wireless. The wireless USB adapter had the RT3070 chip, so that meant I needed the rt2800usb driver. The driver is installed by aptitude install firmware-ralink Because I'd already installed the KDE desktop environment, there was a WiFi interface waiting for me. It detected the wireless device and set things up without a hitch. (I had to give it my password, that's all.) If it had not been that simple, the Debian Wiki had WiFi--How To Use. (I read it anyway, and found it informative.)

It was quite a treat to have something work easily and as expected.

Here's another pair of socks from 2011, using oddities from my vintage yarn collection. This yarn is the same stuff I used for Heraldic Socks-- a "baby weight," pastel called "Peter Pan by Wendy." The fiber content is 55% nylon, 45% acrylic. To my surprise, the white Heraldic Socks are quite comfortable (so many acrylics make one's feet sweat miserably), and they are refreshingly easy to wash.

I used Barbara Walker's Pier Glass Pattern from A Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns, p. 148. The pattern looks complicated, but it's just a nice, fancy ribbing that's interesting to knit, but not so "interesting" that you get totally confused. (At least, I didn't get confused, and I'm sometimes rather...inattentive.)

jstor opens limited free access option non-subscribing scholars | Inside Higher Ed: "The depletion of the traditional professoriate has produced a new demographic of unmoored scholars who might not have “the consistency of access that they want,” says Heidi McGregor, a spokeswoman for JSTOR. The goal of Register & Read would be to better serve that population — as well as others that the organization might not have even known about."

Good news for us "unmoored scholars." The institutions that employ me as an adjunct faculty member don't subscribe to JSTOR.

'via Blog this'

As part of the "adjunct army" that teaches a great chunk of the post-secondary academic courses, I'm painfully conscious of the high costs of textbooks and tuition, without being able to do much about it beyond observe the news. Here's a recent bid to "revolutionize" textbook publishing:

Apple to announce tools, platform to "digitally destroy" textbook publishing: "MacInnis sees Apple as possibly up-ending the traditional print publishing model for the low-end, where basic information has for many years remained locked behind high textbook prices. Apple can "kick up dust with the education market," which could then create visibility for platforms like Inkling. This could then serve as a sort of professional Logic-type tool for interactive textbook creation complement to Apple's "GarageBand for e-books." "There will be a spectrum of tools and consumers, and we will continue to fit on that spectrum," MacInnis opined. "I don't know if the publishing industry will react to it with fear or enthusiasm.""

Here's more about it from Open Culture: The best free cultural & educational media on the web. They've incorporated Apple's offerings into their aggregation of free online courses: Apple Releases Free iTunesU App & Enhanced University Courses (Plus Textbooks).

And this article suggests that college curricula and diplomas themselves may be on the way out:

College 2.0: Badges Earned Online Pose Challenge to Traditional College Diplomas | The Chronicle of Higher Education: "The spread of a seemingly playful alternative to traditional diplomas, inspired by Boy Scout achievement patches and video-game power-ups, suggests that the standard certification system no longer works in today's fast-changing job market. Educational upstarts across the Web are adopting systems of "badges" to certify skills and abilities. If scouting focuses on outdoorsy skills like tying knots, these badges denote areas employers might look for, like mentorship or digital video editing. Many of the new digital badges are easy to attain--intentionally so--to keep students motivated, while others signal mastery of fine-grained skills that are not formally recognized in a traditional classroom."

Apropos of the SOPA/PIPA controversy last week, I've revised my short paper on digital copyright issues written for a local history project a few years ago. The website where it was posted has since been shut down, so I'm re-posting it here for my own reference. Even without SOPA/PIPA, modern copyright law has a stifling effect on preserving genealogy and local history, while profiting no one. "Orphan works" still under copyright, are being lost because they cannot legally be curated or shared on the Internet.

Pocahontas County Historic Preservation Project: A First Draft of Digitization PoliciesGoals of the Digitization Project

• To facilitate preservation of historic materials through digitization.
• To make freely available as much material as possible, over the web and through local libraries, museums, and historic sites.
• To behave in a scholarly, courteous, and responsible manner to those who create or donate historic materials and to those who wish to access such material for noncommercial purposes. This must include acting in accordance with copyright, property, and privacy laws.

Digitization has tremendous potential to enhance preservation of historic materials, and to make all types of information available to interested parties around the world at little cost. However, it also presents novel problems in intellectual property rights. Who owns the rights to reproduce materials, and what may be done with the digital copies? There have been many changes in intellectual property rights law in the last 20 years, and there are few simple, straightforward answers to these questions.

I believe there are some cases in which we can use materials without fear of infringing anyone's rights.

• Text and photographs published prior to January 1, 1923 are considered in the public domain. At least one item of interest to our project, William T. Price's Historical Sketches of Pocahontas County, has been scanned by the Google Books Project, and is freely available at their website in pdf and ascii text files.
• Works of the United States Government, and other government-generated writings, as described by the West Virginia Division of Culture and History.
• Any work that was neither published nor registered as of Jan. 1, 1978, and whose author died before 1933 entered the public domain on Jan. 1, 2003, unless it was published on or before Dec. 31, 2002. (U.S. Copyright Office, see passage in Appendix.)
• Unpublished works that have been donated, along with their copyrights, to the Historical Society, the Genealogy group, or the Library system. (See the "Deed of Gift" references in the Appendix.) For example, if a diary and some family snapshots are donated by the creator's heir, along with explicit permission to share and reproduce, we may legally digitize and post these on the Web site.
• Our own photographs of three-dimensional artifacts, with the permission of the artifact owner.
• Descriptions of the materials in our local collections, using the Archon archive content management system to list our holdings on the Web, even where we cannot find the copyright owner or obtain permission. We can display excerpts of text or images as long as we comply with the Fair Use Doctrine. (Described by the Copyright Office, see Appendix.)
• Digital copies of unpublished works under copyright protection can be made (up to three copies) by a library for preservation purposes, but they cannot be posted on the Internet, or otherwise displayed or distributed. (Section 108 of the U.S. Copyright Code, see Appendix for a link.)

Items that may not be available for digitization or publication on a Web site include:

• Studio and professional photographs where the photographer was still living as of January 1, 1933. The person who commissioned the photo did not get copyrights at purchase. These remained with the photographer, unless explicitly surrendered.
• Photographs and papers found and donated to the Historical Society. Although these organizations have legal ownership of the physical objects, copyright does not automatically convey with the object.
• Published materials under copyright protection where the copyright holder is unidentifiable, unavailable, or unwilling to give permission for digitization.

To proceed with the digitization project, we need to identify which materials we have legal right to digitize, obtain permission to use materials where necessary, and determine how we want to share our own materials.

• We need to identify copyright holders for materials already in possession of the Historical Society, the Pearl Buck Birthplace, and the libraries. Where this is known, we can request permission to digitize and share materials.
• As we gain access to new materials, we need to get permission in writing to digitize and share the materials. There are several "Deed of Gift" templates available for us to use in developing our own permission form. (See "Deed of Gift" in Appendix.) It will be important to make sure this form does not sound ominous, intimidating, or excessively technical, lest it have a "wet blanket" effect on offers of information.

• We need to spell out our copyright for the Web site. I suggest a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial license, but this will only apply to materials where we own the copyright (for example, things the Historic Preservation Officer writes while "on the clock;" new photographs of historic locations and objects taken specifically for the digitization project, etc.) Where we use materials by permission with attribution, we have no authority to grant permission to another party.

• The possibility of print publications such as books, calendars, and recordings has been discussed, especially as a form of fund raising for the support of the various institutions involved. Copyright issues must be considered especially carefully for such projects, as they are more carefully examined in for-profit situations.

Appendix: Quotations From Pertinent SourcesCopyright Office On Protection of Digital Rights

Pertinent information from the United States Copyright Office Frequently Asked Questions:

It is illegal for anyone to violate any of the rights provided by the copyright law to the owner of copyright. These rights, however, are not unlimited in scope. Sections 107 through 121 of the 1976 Copyright Act establish limitations on these rights....One major limitation is the doctrine of "fair use," which is given a statutory basis in section 107 of the 1976 Copyright Act....

A party may seek to protect his or her copyrights against unauthorized use by filing a civil lawsuit in federal district court. If you believe that your copyright has been infringed, consult an attorney. In cases of willful infringement for profit, the U.S. Attorney may initiate a criminal investigation....

If you use a copyrighted work without authorization, the owner may be entitled to bring an infringement action against you. There are circumstances under the fair use doctrine where a quote or a sample may be used without permission. However, in cases of doubt, the Copyright Office recommends that permission be obtained....

....Uploading or downloading works protected by copyright without the authority of the copyright owner is an infringement of the copyright owner's exclusive rights of reproduction and/or distribution. Anyone found to have infringed a copyrighted work may be liable for statutory damages up to $30,000 for each work infringed and, if willful infringement is proven by the copyright owner, that amount may be increased up to $150,000 for each work infringed. In addition, an infringer of a work may also be liable for the attorney's fees incurred by the copyright owner to enforce his or her rights.....

....Photocopying shops, photography stores and other photo developing stores are often reluctant to make reproductions of old photographs for fear of violating the copyright law and being sued. These fears are not unreasonable, because copy shops have been sued for reproducing copyrighted works and have been required to pay substantial damages for infringing copyrighted works. The policy established by a shop is a business decision and risk assessment that the business is entitled to make, because the business may face liability if they reproduce a work even if they did not know the work was copyrighted....

....In the case of photographs, it is sometimes difficult to determine who owns the copyright and there may be little or no information about the owner on individual copies. Ownership of a "copy" of a photograph the tangible embodiment of the "work" is distinct from the "work" itself the intangible intellectual property. The owner of the "work" is generally the photographer or, in certain situations, the employer of the photographer. Even if a person hires a photographer to take pictures of a wedding, for example, the photographer will own the copyright in the photographs unless the copyright in the photographs is transferred, in writing and signed by the copyright owner, to another person. The subject of the photograph generally has nothing to do with the ownership of the copyright in the photograph. If the photographer is no longer living, the rights in the photograph are determined by the photographer's will or passed as personal property by the applicable laws of intestate succession.....

Materials In the Public Domain

When U.S. Works Pass Into the Public Domain provides a chart to clarify the rules. The simplest entry indicates that works published prior to January 1, 1923 are in the public domain. Complexity increases from there.

The Copyright Office explains how unpublished works may enter public domain: Certain Unpublished, Unregistered Works Enter Public Domain.

Certain works that were neither published nor registered for copyright as of Jan. 1, 1978, entered the public domain on Jan. 1, 2003, unless the works were published on or before Dec. 31, 2002.

Under the 1909 Copyright Act, works that were neither published nor registered did not enjoy statutory protection, although they were protected under common law in perpetuity as long as they remained unpublished and unregistered. But under section 303 of the 1976 Copyright Act, works that were created but neither published nor registered in the Copyright Office before Jan. 1, 1978, lost their common law protection and acquired a statutory term of protection that was the life of the author plus 50 years, amended in 1998 to life plus 70 years.

As a result of the 1976 Copyright Act, any of the works in question whose author had died over 50 years prior to 1978 would have entered the public domain after Dec. 31, 1977. To provide a reasonable term of copyright protection for these works, and in light of the fact that these works had enjoyed perpetual protection under common law, Congress extended their term by at least 25 more years. Congress also encouraged publication by providing an additional 25 more years, extended in 1998 to 45 more years, of protection if the work was published on or before Dec. 31, 2002.

That first 25-year period expired on Dec. 31, 2002. Any work that was neither published nor registered as of Jan. 1, 1978, and whose author died before 1933 entered the public domain on Jan. 1, 2003, unless it was published on or before Dec. 31, 2002. If the author died in 1933 or later, the work will be protected for 70 years after the author's death, due to the passage of the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act in 1998.

Fair Use Doctrine

A discussion of the Fair Use Doctrine, by the U.S. Copyright Office

Section 107 contains a list of the various purposes for which the reproduction of a particular work may be considered “fair,” such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Section 107 also sets out four factors to be considered in determining whether or not a particular use is fair:

1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of
   commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
2. the nature of the copyrighted work;
3. amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

The distinction between "fair use" and infringement may be unclear
and not easily defined. There is no specific number of words, lines, or notes that may safely be taken without permission. Acknowledging the source of the copyrighted material does not substitute for obtaining permission.

The 1961 Report of the Register of Copyrights on the General Revision of the U.S. Copyright Law cites examples of activities that courts have regarded as fair use: quotation of excerpts in a review or criticism for purposes of illustration or comment; quotation of short passages in a scholarly or technical work, for illustration or clarification of the author's observations; use in a parody of some of the content of the work parodied; summary of an address or article, with brief quotations, in a news report; reproduction by a library of a portion of a work to replace part of a damaged copy; reproduction by a teacher or student of a small part of a work to illustrate a lesson; reproduction of a work in legislative or judicial proceedings or reports; incidental and fortuitous reproduction, in a newsreel or broadcast, of a work located in the scene of an event being reported.

Privacy and Publicity Issues

Library of Congress Privacy and Publicity Issues:

While copyright protects the copyright holder's property rights in the work or intellectual creation, privacy and publicity rights protect the interests of the person(s) who may be the subject(s) of the work or intellectual creation. Issues pertaining to privacy and publicity may arise when a researcher contemplates the use of letters, diary entries, photographs or reportage in visual, audio, and print formats found in library collections. Because two or more people are often involved in the work (e.g., photographer and subject, interviewer and interviewee) and because of the ease with which various media in digital format can be reused, photographs, audio files, and motion pictures represent materials in which issues of privacy and publicity emerge with some frequency....

While copyright is a federally protected right under the United States Copyright Act, with statutorily described fair use defenses against charges of copyright infringement, neither privacy nor publicity rights are the subject of federal law. Note also that while fair use is a defense to copyright infringement, fair use is not a defense to claims of violation of privacy or publicity rights. Privacy and publicity rights are the subject of state laws. What may be permitted in one state may not be permitted in another. Note also that related causes of action may be pursued under the federal Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. P 1125 (a), for example, for unauthorized uses of a person's identity in order to create a false endorsement.

While an individual's right to privacy generally ends when the individual dies, publicity rights associated with the commercial value connected with an individual's name, image or voice may continue. For example, many estates or representatives of famous authors, musicians, actors, photographers, politicians, sports figures, celebrities, and other public figures continue to control and license the uses of those figures' names, likenesses, etc.

How Libraries Manage Copyright Issues Pertaining to Their Digital CollectionsLibrary of Congress

How the Library of Congress handles copyright issues on its Web site, as explained by the United States Copyright Office FAQ's:

I saw an image on the Library of Congress website that I would like to use. Do I need to obtain permission?

With few exceptions, the Library of Congress does not own copyright in the materials in its collections and does not grant or deny permission to use the content mounted on its website. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item from the Library's collections and for securing any necessary permissions rests with persons desiring to use the item. To the greatest extent possible, the Library attempts to provide any known rights information about its collections. Such information can be found in the "Copyright and Other Restrictions" statements on each American Memory online collection homepage. If the image is not part of the American Memory collections, contact the Library custodial division to which the image is credited. Bibliographic records and finding aids available in each custodial division include information that may assist in assessing the copyright status. Search our catalogs through the Library's Online Catalog. To access information from the Library's reading rooms, go to Research Centers.

Library of Congress "Legal" Page

Whenever possible, the Library of Congress provides factual information about copyright owners and related matters in the catalog records, finding aids and other texts that accompany collections. As a publicly supported institution, the Library generally does not own rights in its collections. Therefore, it does not charge permission fees for use of such material and generally does not grant or deny permission to publish or otherwise distribute material in its collections. Permission and possible fees may be required from the copyright owner independently of the Library. It is the researcher's obligation to determine and satisfy copyright or other use restrictions when publishing or otherwise distributing materials found in the Library's collections. Transmission or reproduction of protected items beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Researchers must make their own assessments of rights in light of their intended use.

If you have any more information about an item you've seen on our website or if you are the copyright owner and believe our website has not properly attributed your work to you or has used it without permission, we want to hear from you. Please contact OGC@loc.gov with your contact information and a link to the relevant content.

West Virginia University Libraries

How West Virginia University University Library regulates use of its archives, physical archives: Rules for the Use of Library Materials in the West Virginia and Regional History Collection

Some materials in the WVRHC are protected by copyright laws and other restrictions. The researcher assumes all responsibility for possible infringement of copyright and/or other literary, artistic, property or privacy rights in the act of copying or in the subsequent use of the materials copied....The reproduction of any collection in its entirety is prohibited.

Any publication, exhibition, or other public use of materials reproduced must properly credit the source from which a copy is made. The basic credit line is "West Virginia and Regional History Collection, West Virginia University Libraries"....Researchers are not permitted to photograph any materials in the WVRHC. To order photographs, users may inquire at the reference desk about policies, forms and fees.

West Virginia History Online Digital Collections has rules that offer us a model on proper usage: Notes on Rights and Reproductions. Their West Virginia History OnView: Photographs From the West Virginia & Regional History Collection is the sort of online archive we hope to produce.

West Virginia History OnLine digital resources are available for use in research, teaching, and private study only. These materials may NOT be used for publication or exhibition, downloaded and placed on another server where they can be publicly accessed, or utilized in any other public manner without the express written permission of the West Virginia and Regional History Collection. Such permission may be granted only by a curator of the WV&RHC or by the Dean of WVU Libraries. Any reproduction of materials from this site must properly credit the source of the materials. For archives and manuscripts, the proper credit line includes the full name of the collection, plus "West Virginia and Regional History Collection, West Virginia University Libraries." For works of art, the proper credit line includes the names of the artist and artwork, plus "West Virginia and Regional History Collection, West Virginia University Libraries."

Some Materials in the WV&RHC and on this web site are protected by copyright laws and other restrictions. The researcher assumes all responsibility for possible infringement of copyright and/or other literary, artistic, property or privacy rights in the act of copying or in the subsequent use of the materials copied.

Deed of Gift Forms

Local history research organizations such as libraries, museums, and historical associations, can protect themselves against inadvertent copyright violations by obtaining permission to display and use material at the time it is donated. If your organization accepts gifts (items), then it needs a Deed of gift form.

Here are two other sources for Deed of Gift formats:

• Wisconsin Historical Records Advisory Board Best Practices Project, 1997-98
• A Guide to Deeds of Gift

Copyright Concerns For Libraries

There are special rules for libraries and digital copying. Section 108 of the U.S. Copyright Code is a graphic presentation of these rules, provided by Copyright advisory network, a site about the latest developments in digital collections and archives.

Modes of Managing Copyright Issues

• Creative Commons
• The Public Domain: Enclosing the Commons of the Mind by James Boyle
• DigitalKoans--What Is the Sound of One E-Print Downloading?

Online Resources for Further Reading

• United States Copyright Office
• Fair Use, explained by the U.S. Copyright Office
• Rules for the Use of Library Materials in the West Virginia and Regional History Collection
• West Virginia History Online Digital Collections
• West Virginia History OnView: Photographs From the West Virginia & Regional History Collection
• Notes on Rights and Reproductions
• A Guide to Deeds of Gift
• Copyright advisory network
• Section 108 of the U.S. Copyright Code--rules especially for libraries
• Creative Commons
• The Public Domain: Enclosing the Commons of the Mind by James Boyle
• The Public Domain--explained by the Copyright Office
• DigitalKoans--What Is the Sound of One E-Print Downloading?
• WHEN U.S. WORKS PASS INTO THE PUBLIC DOMAIN
• Library of Congress Homepage legal issues, including copyright, privacy, and publicity
• Intellectual Property Rights Server--Copyright page--provides information about intellectual property law including patent, trademark and copyright. Resources include comprehensive links, general information, space for professionals to publish articles and forums for discussing related issues.
• A Look Back at Canarsie, Clouded by Copyright Woes --a case study from the New York Times, describing how Brooklyn Historical Society was unable to give permission to a local historian who wanted to include two photographs from their collection in his forthcoming book.
• COPYRIGHTS AND OTHER RIGHTS IN PHOTOGRAPHIC IMAGES
  A detailed discussion of 20th century photographs, copyright law, and licensing

A New Stalked Filter-Feeder from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale, British Columbia, Canada. 2012. L. J. O'Brien and J.-B. Caron. PLoS ONE 7(1): e29233.

This is a new member of the "Problematica," those strange Cambrian animals not assigned to any known phylum. And because it's published in PLoS ONE, the entire article (including many beautiful photos of fossils and some ecological notes) is freely-available on line. What a treat! Via Paleoblog.

Popular media coverage made this sound hair-raising: Cosmic Log - Solar blast heading our way, and the video is very cool, is it not? It led me to the video's home, Spaceweather.com's January 19 archive page. The "solar blast" might cause some impressive auroras this weekend.

Mostly, I was excited to find Spaceweather, which directed me to NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center. It's there to check daily, the way I check NOAA National Weather Service forecast.

Lately, this blog has been heavy computer troubles and sewing project catch-up posts. There's more of both to come. This morning glory from last August is offered for a change of pace. I love the dusty pollen in the corolla.

I'm no expert on legislation and the Internet, which is why I'm passing along Ask Slashdot: What Can You Do About SOPA and PIPA?: "The intent of both pieces of legislation is to combat online piracy, giving the Attorney General and the Department of Justice power to block domain name services and demand that links be stripped from sites not involved in piracy. The problem is that the legislation, as written, is vague and overly-broad."

My Linux reboot problems continue. If I restart shutdown -r now, I get a variety of boot failures. I've determined there's nothing wrong with my grub2 and config files, the whole /boot directory and everything in it is fine. If I leave the computer alone for at least half an hour, I can turn it on, and boot successfully from /dev/sda1. Any less time, and every version of grub, SuperGrub, rescue disk, live Linux CD, whatever I try reports it cannot read any files. Hardware problem, or software, or a combination of the two? I really don't know. For the moment, I'm just leaving it turned on all the time, because sleep modes give other problems. If I need to turn it off, I'll try to leave it off overnight.

This is really unsatisfactory. Here's some unsatisfying but perhaps informative information I've found about similar Linux troubles.

• The Analysis of Drive Issues: This page has been designed to help with the analysis of drive problems, and often to recommend what steps to take.
• SATA disks resets in a md setup:
  Setup: ------ The system is amd64bit running Debian unstable stock with kernel 2.6.29 (Debian package). full dmesg is attached I have 2 250GB disks (/dev/sda, /dev/sdb) that I used to assemble a md array (/dev/md0) Homework: --------- Please note that the two disk are tested via smart long selftest and via $dd bs=256M if=/dev/sd? of=/dev/null without any problem. I researched in web and followed advice: I have checked / exchanged cables I disabled smartd. The actual Problem: ------------------- Then I start the following stress test. From the other disks of the machine /dev/hda, /dev/hdb, /dev/sdc I start copying (via rsync) to /dev/md0 to a newly formatted ext3 filesystem. Everything goes fine for a while and then the system freezes [Error messages deleted--they look much like my errors] and my filesystem is dead. /dev/sdb is deleted from /dev. I have to reboot and even then Linux can't find the ata2 /dev/sdb. I have to remove power for 1-2 min for the disk to become accessible again. Do you think the disk is bad or something?

  The answer he eventually gets is that it's a kernel bug, which has since been fixed.

• SATA functionality and performance with OMAPL-138: In this case the writer is working with a board that seems to have problems accessing SATA drives. The answers he gets suggest looking at different kernels and checking SATA cables.

• ata3: COMRESET failed (errno=-16):
  At bootup I end up in busybox and I see the following message on the top of the screen "Gave up waiting for root device"
  Actually I think that my hard drive "falls asleep" just after leaving grub. When I'm in the busybox I need to unplug my hard drive (serial ata) and to plug it again so that I can hear that it's restarting. After doing that I type exit in the busybox and the boot process restarts normally.

  This turns out to be a kernel bug which has been fixed.

• Fails to find boot device in Intel D945Gnt: These boot failures resemble mine; also a kernel bug which has been fixed.
• Can someone explain how to perform this workaround? I've tried this fix with no success:
  sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst you will see some lines like : title Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.26-1-686 root (hd0,0) kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.26-1-686 root=/dev/sda1 ro quiet initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.26-1-686 add rootdelay=90 after quiet

  This person had success with the rootdelay=90 solution: Cold boots fine, but get 'Gave up waiting for root device' on reboot.

• Debian Bug report logs - #649563 linux-image-3.1.0-1-amd64 can't load initial ramdisk anymore:
  after upgrading wheezy to linux-image-3.1.0-1-amd64, grub complains: Loading initial ramdisk ... error: couldn't read file. Later the kernel panics.

  This one is also solved by a kernel upgrade.

Here are some more rescue disks I've burned and tried.

• About SystemRescueCd
• GrubRecover
• Maximum PC | How To: Diagnose Faulty RAM

The last 10 years or so, I've tried all sorts of alterations on this (out-of-print) pattern, Kwik-Sew K2953, alterations that almost worked, but not quite. Last year, I started over, and made the full bust adjustment, then rotating the resulting side dart to the shoulder, where I gathered (or pleated) the extra fullness at the yoke seam.

I found that the two rayon shirts (the red one and the white and gray print) fit and looked very nice. The black and green plaid cotton shirt and this white and navy window pane check below are less satisfactory. I think the difference lies in the drape and "hand" of the fabrics. The crisper cotton pulls and puffs, and doesn't look flattering or feel comfortable.

Because these garments were testers, and made of ravel-y fabric remnants, I used a serger shortcut on the collars and cuffs. I believe they may last longer than conventionally-applied shirt collars.

After a little practice, I'm able to manage the collar stand without obvious unevenness. I probably will keep making menswear collar and cuff details on firmer woven shirt fabric, but this quick and dirty finish has its benefits.

What will we do about coal’s ‘crisis in the making’? « Coal Tattoo: "As a society, we do not plan well for economic transitions; nor do we tend to plan for the long term. Our elected officials have a vested interest in helping businesses and industries that are here now, not imagining future businesses and industries. Coal companies focus only on this year’s profits. Unions protect current members’ jobs. Planning the future of Boone County is too important to leave up to the president of the West Virginia Coal Association, the CEO of Alpha Natural Resources, the president of the United Mine Workers, or even government officials like Sen. Manchin and Gov. Tomblin."

'via Blog this'