verbal’s Neighborhood

Is there a term for the things that suddenly turn up on the internet that have likely been around for a while and you just weren't paying enough attention? There probably is. It's probably a term that people on the internet are using that has been for a while and I just wasn't paying enough attention.

I "found" this oldie on Last.fm. It's a live clip of Ash doing "Wild Surf," my favorite song from their second album Nu-Clear Sounds. There's an killer chord progression four bars before the chorus that makes it for me. Well, that and Charlotte Hatherley, whose backing vocals, on the studio version, always worked wonders.

Here, we see her freshly initiated into the band. She may have a touch too much heroin chic going on, but I still fall for her. And she nails a biting solo.

First, we're happy to announce that the team has identified and fixed the issue with the YouTube conduit; you can now find and add videos from YouTube to your library and posts. As always, thanks for your patience!

The other news we have today is about a new addition to the Six Apart family: TypePad Micro, a new free level of TypePad that is streamlined for microblogging. We see a new form of blogging emerging that lives between the quick status updates of Twitter and Facebook and the long-form posts of "classic" blogging; TypePad Micro is designed to meet that need. You can read more about TypePad Micro in Chris Alden's post on the Everything TypePad blog.

TypePad Micro

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A lot of the new capabilities we've added to TypePad this year were actually inspired by some of the best things about Vox: favoriting, member profiles, a dashboard to follow other bloggers, and easy ways to post content from other social media sites. But the things that make Vox different from TypePad are still there: Vox has always been -- and still is -- the best place for "friends and family" blogging, where you're in control over who sees what. TypePad, on the other hand, is built for the blogger who wants, no, craves, attention.

Do you have a passion or interest you want to share with people beyond your Vox neighborhood? If so, we'd love it if you tried out TypePad Micro. Maybe you've always wanted to start that obsessive blog that's just about waffle restaurants. Or want a place to share videos of your favorite band (Jonas Brothers, anyone? Anyone? ...). TypePad Micro's great for those topic-specific blogs. Take it for a spin and let us know what you think.

On the Vox front, our designers are working on some cool new themes (coming soon!). We'd also love to hear your thoughts about where we should take Vox in the coming year. What are the key things you'd like to see for Vox? If you've had a chance to use TypePad this year, what are the features there that we should bring over to Vox? And, if you're thinking big thoughts, how could we connect the Vox and TypePad communities in order to bring together bloggers and their shared passions? Your feedback is really important to us, so please leave a comment here, or shoot me a message.

And again, thanks for your patience as we found and fixed the YouTube bug!

~ daisy

As many of you have noticed, the YouTube Conduit is not working. I am so sorry about this; I know how frustrating it is.

The team is looking into how to get this fixed and I will update you as soon as I hear something. In the meantime, not all is lost... There is a work-around for posting videos.

When you're in the Compose Screen, just click on "embed." Ignore the fact that it says "Widget" before everything because you can definitely use this to embed videos as well. You'll just need to input the embed code from the video, enter a title (if you want) and hit OK.

It might not show up perfectly in your compose screen, but when you hit "Save," your video should appear just the way you wanted it to.

Hopefully this will allow you to keep posting videos while we figure out what's happening on our end.

As always, thanks for your patience.

~daisy

Go forth and fill your libraries with media.

Seriously, thanks to everyone for being so amazing and patient. You are the reason I love Vox.

~daisy

I was just told that the Amazon Conduit will be fixed by tomorrow. I will post here as soon as I get word that it's back up and running.

I know this has been frustrating and I am sorry there wasn't more I could do to make it less so. I really appreciate your patience though.

Cheers,

daisy

Last night, I was at the dinner table with Mitsuki, going over some math problems. There’s a focus on mathematics in the First Grade, we discovered. To support this, we’re been giving her extra math problems after she completes her homework. We make up these one-minute math tests (20 addition or subtraction problems), as well as some word problems (“James saw Star Wars three times. Then, he saw Up twice. Finally, he saw Madagascar 5 times. How many times did he go to the movies?”).

I gave her a visual-pattern question:

Complete the pattern.
 
square triangle square square triangle square triangle triangle square triangle square {blank} triangle square triangle {blank}
 
Hint: Break up the shapes into groups of four

Well, she didn’t get it at first. We looked at the hint together. Then I divided the shapes into groups of four:
 
square triangle square square
triangle square triangle triangle
square triangle square {blank}
triangle square triangle {blank}
 
As I said them aloud, she said, “Wait, I’ve heard this before.” She was remembering the bilateral move in aerobics wherein the exercise – such as a jab or tilt of the head – alternates sides, in the pattern of single single double (or, left right left left, right left right right).
 
Then, it clicked. “Oh!” she said and grabbed for the pencil and filled in the blanks.
 
square triangle square square
triangle square triangle triangle
square triangle square square
triangle square triangle triangle
 
It was quite gratifying to see that a) she could get her arms around this new type of problem, b) she recalled the musical/dance pattern and could related it to the math problem, and c) she (hopefully) walked away with a new technique for finding patterns.
 
Then, the kicker. What I was waiting for. Before she could move onto the next thing, I said, “Wait, I want to show you something” and I wrote R above the squares and L above the triangles. “This is also a drumming pattern,” and I played it for her.
 
RLRR LRLL RLRR LRLL
 
Half surprised, I watched her take it slow and tap it on the dinner table. It was easy for her.
 
“That,” I concluded, “is called a paradiddle.”
 
“A para-diddle?” she repeated and laughed.
 
I’d been waiting years to teach her that, and it took all but 5 minutes for her to get it.

Bad news. As many of you have probably noticed, the Amazon Conduit was not fixed in the last week's release. Unfortunately, there was an undetected bug that is preventing the conduit from working.

We are working on this bug fix and hope to have the Conduit back up and running this week.

I will keep you posted.

Thank you for being so patient.

~daisy

Blog Action Day

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Blog Action Day is every October 15th, when blogger are asked to post something about a single issue to show our strength and conviction as an online community. It's a great way to feel connected to the greater good, and the participation of so many bloggers to support the world's leading non-profit organizations is something you can do to help, right now. By blogging today, you're supporting some of the world's leading non-profits and sharing your voice for change.

This year's topic is climate change, and we'd love to read your thoughts on the topic. If you participate, leave us a link to your post in the comments, so we know to check out your post!

Go to www.blogactionday.org to learn more, get a badge for your blog showing your participation, and see some ideas for your post on climate change.

Can't wait to read your posts!

~ daisy

my anniversary gift

Originally uploaded by jencu.