There's a good but sad article by Mike Cassidy in today's Mercury News, about Tyler's great grandmother's first cousin, Grace Nola, who passed away just after Christmas — "A way of life passes in valley." Her generation knew a San Jose that has all but passed into history:

In 1958, just as Robert Noyce and company were figuring out how to mass-produce the computer chip, there were nearly 3,300 acres of cherry orchards in the Santa Clara Valley.

In 2002, it was 853 acres.

Hanan Levin sent me the link to this great video clip.

In March, keep an eye out for:

• From Yale's Information Society Project, Digital Cops in Virtual Environment – CyberCrime and Digital Law Enforcement Conference. Interesting panels and keynotes, great speakers, including some darn fine blawgers. (Yale Law School, March 26-28)
• The Open Source Business Conference 2004. Tim O'Reilly, Clay Christensen, Pamela Samuelson, and more. (The Westin St. Francis, San Francisco, March 16-17)
• The ABA Tech Show. Another blawg rich environment! (Sheraton Chicago, March 25-27)

Stephan A. Ott writes Links & Law, with "the latest news on linking disputes." Stephan is credited ("Is a URL the same as a hyperlink in law?") with first reporting on whether .kids.us sites that include URLs (but not active links) run afoul of the US Dot Kids Implementation and Efficiency Act of 2002.

Happy Birthdays and congratulations to Lucy and Marc Canter! Also, though the thought of being movie director and editor in addition Tyler's version of the Waffle House has been just too much, Mr. Willem's First Christmas, an iMovie by Larry Lessig, just made me charge the videocam batteries. As Professor Lessig notes, the Mac is amazing. Though my purchasing of late has been somewhat single minded, Mommy might need a few toys too. Like:

• The AirPort Photo Frame. If this thing weren't so horrendously priced (MacAddict says $699-$799), it'd be great for a baby's room. Works via WiFi, capable of playing slide shows, short movies and MP3s.
• Wireless keyboard and mouse.
• The mouse that roars looks cool too.
• And every iPod needs a car charger.

Can someone please explain to me how the Today Show can do a segment about weblogs (toward the end of the show, teased throughout) that focuses almost exclusively on teen diaries and parental paranoia, and fails to mention Harvard, Stanford (Stanford again), Dean, or for goodness' sake Al Roker? To her credit, writer Emily Nussbaum, whose piece in last Sunday's New York Times Magazine was the springboard for the Today story, recognizes there's more going on here than the coverage might suggest: "[E]ven diaries that seem at first predictable can have the power to startle."

You've dumped 6 full ounces of meticulously gathered breast milk onto the kitchen floor—and considered for more than a fleeting moment soaking it up with a clean sponge and squeezing it back into the bottle.

You've watched your 6 week old retrieve his wayward pacifier and reinsert it. (Cue theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey.)

Your baby gives you his first smile. And 5 more for good measure.