J and I went to Oatland Island, a kind of animal sanctuary/zoo thing (they have a pretty hot website, straight out of 1994). I hate zoos, and seeing animals in jail, but this was a bit different; most of these animals are endangered or injured, so I didn't feel so guilty. It was too hot for Bears, but we saw a panther and got fairly intimate with a fox.

I'm still muddling through permissions for the book, but I'm starting to get a bit of a response. Some responses have been great - for example, O'Reilly responded with a signed permissions form via email within two days. Some responses are not great; University of California Press wants $48 to use eleven words. I'm finding out copyright can be a big business. Copyright.com allows companies to register their text online and then automatically charge people to use excerpts; this strikes me like a case of making money "because we can", not because it makes any sense at all. The repercussions are soundly un-academic, as I will most likely choose to remove the quote rather than foot fifty bucks to add structure to my argument.

There is, of course, humor even in Copyright. I asked Philips if I could use an excerpt from one of their products; they wrote back:

Thank you for your email to Philips Customer Care. We understand that you need to have the hard copy of the owner's manual of your unit.

Let's hear it for automation.