The early evening light as it falls into our living room:
I do think that’s my favorite hour of the day in the house. It is full of hope and wonder, but it also has some melancholy, too. It is fleeting. And, soon, the light points out, it will be dark. So I’m always torn about it, but I do love that hour of golden light.
In the bedroom in comes in through a large laurel oak and if there is even a gentle breeze you get beautiful shadows dancing on the walls and the floor and the bed. As far as anyone can tell, that is one of the few redeemable qualities of a laurel oak.
Fall break at school, so I’m working from home. Two class preps. Emails to read and deliver. Work to dream up for student projects.
I also had to write a document on student achievements. We have impressive students. We have a lot of impressive students. And then we have some who just earn and win everything. I don’t know how they do it.
The most difficult thing, though, was trying to provide context. What’s the best way to distinguish this honor society from that one? And how do I explain this scholarship compared to another? Context is important, and it isn’t enough to say “Trust us on this, she’s an awesome person.”
Also, there was copy editing. There is always copy editing. Make your peace with it early, try to get useful at it. There is always something to read and mark up.
Things to read … because there is always something to read.
Let me guess! Because Alabama doesn’t have a rule on the books? Because Alabama doesn’t have a rule on the books, Why you may not know if your data has been hacked
What Buzzfeed, Medium and Adafruit Know About Engagement:
“When we have something that’s a hit, usually our response is not, let’s do more of those. Our response is, let’s figure why this is a hit and make variations of this. This was successful because it was tied to someone’s identity, it was successful because it had cats in it, or it was successful because it had humor, or it was successful because it tapped into nostalgia. If you’re making entertainment content, which is a big part of what we do, you look at that hit and you say, ‘Why was that successful? Can I do it again? Can I make something else that people really love and want to share?’ And you try to vary it, even though you know doing something derivative would work. Long term, you want to have a deeper understanding of how to make great things. That’s really the focus. That comes from people in a room talking and saying, ‘Oh, let’s try this, let’s try that.’ And valuing people doing new things, not just valuing people doing big things.”
Uh huh, NBC News’ Nancy Snyderman Apologizes for Violating Ebola Quarantine Guidelines
This is a great read on how the previous story came to pass, How local news site nailed NBC News top doc
Louisiana Attorney General halts Ebola waste disposal:
It was reported that six truckloads of potential Ebola contaminated material collected from the apartment where the Dallas Ebola victim became ill were brought to Port Arthur, Texas late last week to be processed at the Veolia Environmental Services incinerator.
From there the incinerated material was slated to be transported to the Chemical Waste Management hazardous material landfill in Calcasieu Parish for final disposal.
The temporary restraining order, signed by Judge Bob Downing Monday in Louisiana’s 19th Judicial District Court, requires Veolia to cease and desist any transport of the incinerator ash from the treated Ebola contaminated waste in Texas to the State of Louisiana.
This could be a big deal. Or it could be another Mobro 4000. Do you remember the 1987 garbage barge story? Last year’s 25th anniversary meant the New York Times revisited the Mobro 4000 story and concluded “little of what we thought we knew was true.”
Yeah, that’s just the promo — the full package doesn’t seem to be on YouTube — but it is a great story.
