These are Chaparral Boats. They must be coming out of Florida or beyond. There’s no dealer in Alabama between here and there. I think, after some surfing, they are something from the Sunesta class.

If it is a Sunesta, there’s a seat facing aft, with only two handrails to keep you on the vessel. There’s a ladder that slips into the hull. And there’s room for 14, the site says. The specs boast 320 horsepower, but don’t tell us a speed. You spend time in the next portion of your drive wondering what those cost. The low end of that model will only set you back about $75,000. If you spring for all of the high end accessories you’re looking at least $105,000. That’s before you get into the trailer, rigging, registration, shipping fees and so on.

Truck drivers routinely haul a great deal of valuable merchandise, but that guy might have a payload of something close to $250,000 on board and it is shiny and obvious.

Things to read … because it is obvious (to me) that I’ve got nothing else for the day.

Happy news! Referenced this in class today. The resolution was much more boring than the owners had originally feared, Service dog reunited with Cullman County owner after 5 days without food or water.

I mentioned that in class to point out that they have a Pulitzer Prize winner writing that stuff.

This does not say which schools, but you can be assured the comments get quickly political, Apple to give $100 million to schools, five in Alabama, CEO Tim Cook says:

Apple is awarding $100 million to schools in poor communities including five Alabama schools, Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook said Monday in Montgomery.

On the same day Cook was being inducted to the Alabama Academy of Honor alongside his co-inductees Nick Saban, Judy Bonner, John Croyle, James Hudson Jr., Margaret Porter, Jeff Sessions and Edgar Welden.

A fine honor for a real gentleman and his lovely wife. Auburn legend, Samford coach Pat Sullivan to have field house renamed in his honor:

Samford University will rename its football field house the Sullivan-Cooney Family Field House to honor current Samford head coach Pat Sullivan and his wife, Jean, the school announced Friday.

The field house was originally named for Birmingham business executive and 1974 Samford graduate Gary Cooney and his family. Cooney, a long-time friend of Sullivan, gave the lead gift that made the building possible.

“I have always felt through athletics it is the relationships that will last for a lifetime,” Sullivan said. “My friendship with Gary Cooney began when we were teammates at John Carroll High School. Gary’s generosity and the generosity of others enabled us to build this beautiful football facility.

And some good news down at the Gulf Coast, Museum dedicated to forestry and agriculture to open at the fairgrounds:

A new Agriculture and Forestry Museum will open at the Greater Gulf State Fairgrounds Saturday, displaying exhibits on a number of plants and animals key to the state’s farm economy.

[…]

Lucas said the museum will be open to the public when there are major events at the fairgrounds.

And here’s some dumb news, but even the resolution to the overreaction has a happy ending, LAX flight delayed after WiFi hotspot name prompts concerns.

We just might have to start a “Good News Monday” feature.

When Jay Rosen is aggravated, it is always a good read, Facebook’s phony claim that “you’re in charge”:

It’s not us exercising judgment, it’s you. We’re not the editors, you are. If this is what Facebook is saying — and I think it’s a fair summary of Marra’s comments to the New York Times — the statement is a lie.

I say a lie, not just an untruth, because anyone who works day-to-day on the code for News Feed knows how much judgment goes into it. It simply isn’t true that an algorithmic filter can be designed to remove the designers from the equation. It’s an assertion that melts on contact. No one smart enough to work at Facebook could believe it. And I’m not sure why it’s sitting there unchallenged in a New York Times story. For that doesn’t even rise to the level of “he said, she said.” It’s just: he said, poof!

Now, if Greg Marra and his team want to make the point that in perfecting their algorithm they’re not trying to pick the day’s most important stories and feature them in the News Feed, the way an old fashioned front page or home page editor would, and so in that sense they are not really “editors” and don’t think in journalistic terms, fine, okay, that’s a defensible point. But don’t try to suggest that the power has thereby shifted to the users, and the designers are just channeling your choices. (If I’m the editor of my News Feed, where are my controls?)

Programmers refer to the phenomenon as GIGO. You could change the noun, it doesn’t have to be Garbage, but you’re still getting the high dose of Facebook’s choice. Because you don’t have control.

But, then, we knew that. We’ve long since known that. We’re ceding control, aren’t we? Only now we’re starting to realize what that means when the control isn’t to our liking. But that’s beside the point, Professor Rosen is discussing the journalism involved rather than just Facebook.

Also, “Friend, Like, Comment, Unfollow, Hide” aren’t controls. They’re feeders. They’re sensitivity meters to the algorithm, feeders. But that’s all they are. Someone else has the control point: Facebook, specifically the programmers.

The algorithm dictates what you see, which changes what it is to be a tech company, which is now a publisher. And what becomes of a publisher? Perhaps they turn into a speech engine?

Which is as good a point as any to bring this piece in, How Smart, Connected Products Are Transforming Competition:

Information technology is revolutionizing products. Once composed solely of mechanical and electrical parts, products have become complex systems that combine hardware, sensors, data storage, microprocessors, software, and connectivity in myriad ways. These “smart, connected products”—made possible by vast improvements in processing power and device miniaturization and by the network benefits of ubiquitous wireless connectivity—have unleashed a new era of competition.

Smart, connected products offer exponentially expanding opportunities for new functionality, far greater reliability, much higher product utilization, and capabilities that cut across and transcend traditional product boundaries. The changing nature of products is also disrupting value chains, forcing companies to rethink and retool nearly everything they do internally.

These new types of products alter industry structure and the nature of competition, exposing companies to new competitive opportunities and threats. They are reshaping industry boundaries and creating entirely new industries. In many companies, smart, connected products will force the fundamental question, “What business am I in?”

Multiple businesses, of course.

(Oh, you thought this was random?)

As my friend, Professor Chris Arnold, suggested with that link, you’ll see systems of systems built on interdependent and emergent behaviors. And, I think, re-dedicated and repurposed systems and behaviors as well.

You see this all the time. That’s not just a ski boat up there. That’s a 14-person party platform. And now you can custom-select the dash.

So it won’t be much longer, then, before that boat can select your provisions based on your previous activities, or the new dash in its replacement craft. When your pleasure boat has you figured out … well, that’s going to be a pretty good Monday. Especially if the boat can also call in sick for you. Why would you go to work if you had a vessel like that?

This entry was posted on Monday, October 27th, 2014 at 11:31 pm and is filed under journalism, links, Monday, photo, things to read. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.