October « 2010 « Kenny Smith | A remarkable thing happens …

October, 2010

journalism / links / Samford / Tuesday — Comments Off
5
Oct 10

A teaching Tuesday

Quotes

View more presentations from Kenny Smith.

That was my class today, a big handful of slides on quotations and attribution. Nothing mysterious or earth-shattering, but since I uploaded it I thought I’d share it.

It was such a nice day we held our afternoon sales meeting on a park bench in the sunshine.

And then I went back to my office and shivered a while. It gets chilly in the evening and it is a late night since the student-journalists are putting their paper to bed next door in the newsroom.

In keeping the theme, then …

Journalism links: here’s a discussion on the future of journalism. The most important part thing to note about this panel discussion are the participants.

Here, meanwhile, is an open letter from the Dallas Morning News’ publisher:

* The newspaper companies that will survive will not consider themselves to be newspaper companies. They recognize that they are local media companies. They will distribute content on paper, through the internet, via the mobile web, through applications and any other way technology lets consumers access news and information. They will make themselves an indispensable resource of local news and information for citizens of the communities they serve.

* To be indispensable, these local media companies must provide relevant local content that is differentiated by the consumer’s inability to get it from any other source.

* This means that who, what, when and where are table stakes. They don’t provide a winning hand. Everyone has them. They are commodities. The differentiation will come from using the scale of the newspaper’s newsroom to give the consumer perspective, interpretation, context and analysis. It’s the columnists, the beat reporters, the subject matter experts that will drive value. It’s enterprise and investigative journalism that will be distinguishing.

It is, he says, about the newsroom’s scale, large customer base and monetizing that audience. And, also, getting mobile right. You have to be careful that you aren’t fighting the last war on some of that. But, he’s at least saying things you wouldn’t hear from a publisher a few years ago.

But, but, the iPad was going to save everything! Not really:

(Television show My Generation) — which followed the personal stories of nine friends through the camera of a documentary film crew — was shelved despite ABC’s My Generation Sync iPad App, which the network developed with Nielsen based on the ratings company’s Media-Sync Platform.

That’s just poorly worded. There was a show. The numbers were bad. The network canceled the show, despite the show having an app.

Just so long as ABC doesn’t blame all this on Apple. Steve Jobs would not like that.

Randomly, here are the final choices for the new Ole Miss mascot. Those aren’t good.

I hope I don’t have nightmares of walking sharks.

Black and whites in a bit.

fair / history / hobby / Monday / photo / site — Comments Off
4
Oct 10

Just pictures today

I worked. I read papers for an upcoming conference. I visited the grocery store. I did laundry. I did work. And none of those things seem especially interesting — I discovered a new flavor of Triscuit! None of those things seem especially worth sharing — I found a typo in an abstract! Everything else seems even more prosaic than usual — the weather has turned mild!

Instead of all that, how about some birds?

That isn’t a Yellowlegs, they aren’t purely white as far as I know, but I don’t know what you call this guy. Let’s say he’s a shore bird, for that’s where I found him: sitting on big rocks, a bit upset that I disturbed him.

Behold the mighty pelican.

And, now, the mighty pelican gets dinner:

Even the history segment is brief today. You know the 1939 World’s Fair section will return tomorrow, but did you know I know someone that attended? Henry did. When I picked up that fair guide in Georgia this summer I thought of him.

I gave that book to him this weekend.

You can hear his reaction on the front page of the fair section, too. Also updated links elsewhere on the site. I’ll spare you the 600 word treatise on that particular chore, too.

You’re welcome.

Tomorrow: class, the paper, the World’s Fair and a bunch more.

iPhone / photo / weekend — Comments Off
3
Oct 10

Catching up

Elevator

The most basic of elevator controls. But, then, this elevator might be half-a-century old.

Sunset

Sunset behind me, over Montgomery, Ala.

Sunset

Sunset over western Florida.

Sign

The bathroom was less than clean.

I downloaded Diptic since it showed up in the iTunes top 50 (free, of course). You can take pictures, new or old, and throw them in one of 19 templates to get a multi-shot effect. I just pulled these pictures off my phone to see how well it worked. I suspect this could be useful, and saves you a bit on Photoshop. You can also alter the border properties with ease. It is just another app aiming to help you tell a story with pictures. Almost like they are important or something … This could be a useful app. For inspiration, check out their Flickr group.

adventures / photo / weekend — Comments Off
2
Oct 10

Henry and Dee

We’re visiting with The Yankee’s grandparents, Henry and Dee. They retired to Florida and the visits aren’t nearly frequent enough because they are the sweetest people.

We had pizza for lunch, they took us to this park in the afternoon. We visited a pier and watched the boats and the birds. We had dinner at a new local restaurant Henry wanted to try. It was noisy and crowded, but good.

We had pie back around their table and gave them presents. They told us stories all day. I took pictures and recorded a few of the conversations.

I’ll share one or two of those in the next few days.

adventures / Friday / photo / recipes — Comments Off
1
Oct 10

Travel day

When we look back on today, we’ll remember it as a travel evening. By the time we made it to Florida we were ready to be out of the car. That worked out well since, after that, there’s just the water.

On the way, do you know where this is?

No? Need another hint?

Fine, one more.

It is a small southern town, so there’s no shame if you don’t know it. I sent those pictures to my friend Elizabeth. She’s from that town and she didn’t know, either. (I like my geographic quizzes to be challenging.)

Anyway.

We’re at a Residence Inn, somewhere in Florida, which has the most pretentious lobby I’ve ever seen in a hotel I can afford. The sink in the bathroom off the lobby:

It has the H and C, the universal symbols for “Ouch!” and “Brrr!” The knob rotates. But that doesn’t turn on the water. Twist, pull, tug, push and you get no water. You can control the temperature of this mythical H20, but you have to — oh.

It is a hands-free faucet. There’s a sensor under the spout. But you still had to touch it. And that’s Florida.

The Yankee and I had dinner at a place called Crabby Bill’s. There was a dour faced man in the classic grimace pose on the logo, how could you go wrong? Also, there was seafood.

I discovered corn and crab chowder. Got the recipe:

4 tablespoons butter or bacon fat
2 medium onions, finely chopped
1 small green pepper, finely chopped
2 tablespoons parsley, finely chopped
2 large potatoes, peeled and diced
3 cups corn, cut off cob
2 cups milk or more
1 cup cream
1/2 pound crabmeat

Melt butter or bacon fat in pan.
When hot, add onions and green pepper.
Saute 5 minutes.
Add potatoes and cover vegetables with water.
Cook 10 minutes.
Add corn and continue to cook until potatoes are tender.
Add 2 cups milk and the cream.
Stir and bring to a boil.
Add crabmeat and just heat through.
Thin with milk if necessary.
Season with salt and pepper.
Stir in parsley.

I might eat that all fall.

The place was full of signs, both manufactured and handmade, like this one:

We picked up The Yankee’s mother. She flew down for a quick weekend visit a bit further down the coast. We’ll do that tomorrow.