friends


30
Jun 14

Monday titles always suffer

In the middle or late part of the evening yesterday we decided we’d run a brick, which is a workout where you combine two of the three elements of a triathlon. We decided to ride for an hour and then run for an hour.

So we we rode out of town as far as we could for a half hour. I went 32 minutes, which is nothing, but that got me to an intersection, a gas station and a turnaround. I thought I would race myself back, beat my time and all of that. Which is about the time my knee ligaments started hurting, so I slowed it down and still almost beat myself back home.

After which we started to run. Sometimes when you run, or when I run, at least, you just don’t feel it. You have to figure out when your body is telling you something and when your body is lying to you. Today I decided that it was not a day to run. Didn’t feel it, didn’t want it, didn’t press it.

And so that was that.

We had barbecue for dinner with a friend last night, that made it all a bit better. Tonight we dined with other friends who made jerk chicken, which was even better.

Things to read … because reading makes everything better.

If you don’t pay for it, you are the product. Or the research subject. Everything We Know About Facebook’s Secret Mood Manipulation Experiment:

And on Sunday afternoon, Adam D.I. Kramer, one of the study’s authors and a Facebook employee, commented on the experiment in a public Facebook post. “And at the end of the day, the actual impact on people in the experiment was the minimal amount to statistically detect it,” he writes. “Having written and designed this experiment myself, I can tell you that our goal was never to upset anyone. […] In hindsight, the research benefits of the paper may not have justified all of this anxiety.”

Kramer adds that Facebook’s internal review practices have “come a long way” since 2012, when the experiment was run.

There is a possibility that the sorry state of scientific research funding contributes to all of this. There’s also the possibility that, at some future date, some future lawsuits over this situation are landmark things we teach in research.

There’s more on IRB, the APA ethics and the notion of informed consent at the link.

Since we are at the 100-year anniversary of the beginning of World War I, here’s a good historical read with an Alabama hook. ‘There was never a braver lad:’ Alabama’s Osmond Kelly Ingram was first US sailor killed in WWI:

Ingram, 30, was aboard the Cassin off the Irish coast on Oct. 15, 1917 when the ship was attacked by a German submarine U-61. Ingram was cleaning the muzzle of a gun after morning target practice when he spotted a torpedo on a direct course for the ship. The Cassin began evasive maneuvers which seemed to have worked until the torpedo “porpoised,” or jumped out of the water, and turned towards the Cassin, Navy historians report.

Ingram, realizing the torpedo would hit near the depth charges at the ship’s stern, ran to release them in an effort to minimize the explosion and save the vessel.

Sadly, one of the first Americans killed at sea in World War II was from Alabama. The first American killed in Afghanistan was from Alabama too. One of the first Americans killed in Iraq was from here, too.

What will change Twitter? Twitter Rolls Out App Install And Engagement Ads, And New Click Pricing, Globally:

Twitter says that in the last quarter it made about 72 percent of all its revenues (equivalent to $181 million out of total revenues of $250 million) from mobile advertising.

On top of the app install ads, Twitter will also be expanding the kinds of reporting and analytics that app publishers will get around them.

The company says that keyword targeting in the ads will follow that of its other mobile units, with publishers able to set placement based on interest, keyword, gender, geographic location, language and mobile device, among other things.

This is all very logical. This will be very useful for those advertising in Twitter, and will refine things somewhat for consumers.

There is another plan that could come to fruition, which would be less useful. I remind you of, or introduce you to, what my friend @IkePigott said earlier this year:

In their last quarter Twitter reported $250 million in revenue — and $181 million in mobile advertising. This is all very big business.


23
Jun 14

Golfing with Fin

My old friend Fin and I went out for a round of golf under the bright summer sun this morning and afternoon. We rode 18 and my clothes still changed colors. I hadn’t realized how much I sweat until I got home. Fortunately the course, which is very nice and super long, is just down the street from our home.

Anyway, here’s Fin pulling off some improbable shot or another:

Fin

I had two decent shots today. See that line going toward the pin? That’s my chip from beyond the back side of the green. They’d just sanded them, giving us some excellent lines to read:

Fin

We couldn’t play best ball, because we often wind up like this. At least once a hole we are within 10 feet of one another, to the good or bad. I would have thought he’d be much better at this than I am by now. I’m not very good at all. I think he was sand-bagging.

Fin

Oh, I played the last four holes or so in my sock-feet because I did this to my old, cheap shoes:

Shoes

Both shoes, within about a hole of each other. Oddly, I might have played better after I took them off. Something to keep in mind for next time.

Despite the heat I felt much better riding my bike this evening, which was abbreviated to only 14 miles because I got caught out in the rain. Usually I enjoy this, it is funny to me somehow, but today I decided I’d wait it out.

We were in a downpour, though, and I’m standing under the protective awning of a church building, staring at radar and marveling at how this system isn’t moving, it is just content to exist and drip. Then I got a text reminding me of dinner plans with our lovely neighbors. So I had to ride home in the rain.

Raindrops start to sting at around 29 miles per hour, just so you know.

Things to read … because reading never stings.

Just two things today, first your regular drone feature. CNN to study drone use for reporting:

The announcement comes amid widespread interest in newsrooms across the country in what’s been dubbed “drone journalism,” and equally widespread uncertainty about the legality of it. The FAA has severely limited the use of drones for commercial purposes, including newsgathering. It is due to develop new drone rules by September 2015.

“Our hope is that by working cooperatively to share knowledge, we can accelerate the process for CNN and other media organizations to safely integrate this new technology into their coverage plans,” David Vigilante, CNN’s senior vice president for legal, said in a statement. “It’s a natural opportunity to work with our neighbors at Georgia Tech, who have experience and insights into this area.”

The headline to this story is great — Police: 4-Year-Old Girl Foils Babysitter’s Burglary Plot — but the quote from the sheriff is even better.


20
Jun 14

An anniversary

Wedding

“We’ll make our own history,” he said, a good long while before asking her “Would you like to have more adventures with me?”

“Yes, of course!” she said.

So their families and closest friends gathered on the hottest day of the year.

Five years. Time flies. Hearts deepen. Affections widen. Romance grows. Respect multiplies. Blessings. Challenges. Successes, triumphs, joy. Laughter. Beautiful smiles. Favorite phrases and lilting voices.

Five years. Adventures. History.


6
Jun 14

Dinner on the road, while on the road, from the road

We took a drive this evening …

tunnel

And we went through this tunnel …

tunnel

Which isn’t dramatic at all, but I enjoyed the pictures and wanted to share them.

At one point during our trip I counted four Dunkin Donuts within eight miles. I don’t really have a point for that either, other than to point out that Waffle House has some catching up to do. Wikipedia tells me there are about 1,700 Waffle Houses. A story from boston.com says there are 7,200 Dunkins. They have a lot of catching up to do.

Anyway, the purpose of our trip this evening was to eat dinner with our friends Paige and Kevin. Paige took our engagement photos in the middle of a nor’easter. She laughed about that tonight. She took our wedding pictures on the hottest day of the summer. I laughed about that tonight, too. Everyone laughs! And you can do that when the weather is mild enough to dine on the back deck of a Victorian house that has been turned into a restaurant. That place is formal about casual dining.

Here’s Paige and The Yankee:

Paige

Things to read … because reading always makes for casual dining.

If it is World Cup time it must be time for more stories about oppressed people who work under a multi-multi-billion dollar international entity: Pakistan workers fire ‘Brazuca’ ball to Brazil

Veterans bid farewell to D-Day beaches after emotional tributes

So this gentleman slipped out of his nursing home and traveled to France. Well, the Royal Navy, for whom he sailed, says “Life without limits,” so this makes sense: Hove veteran disappears for Normandy trip.

I’m a bit surprised this is still the case, Web TV soon to beat terrestrial reception in the US:

The percentage of US households with a television that relies exclusively on an antenna for television programming reception (6%) is about to be eclipsed for the first time ever by the percentage of households relying only on the Internet for TV programming (5%).

It seems it won’t be the case for long.

New head honcho on the Bulldogs’ hardwood … Samford Names Padgett Head Basketball Coach


1
Jun 14

So long Denali and see ya Anchorage; leaving Alaska

I forgot this panorama yesterday. It is almost like I felt you might have, perhaps, seen enough of this beautiful scenery and didn’t want to burden you with any more of Denali. Who could get tired of this, though?

Alaska

As always with panoramas, click to embiggen.

We left Denali today, drove back to Anchorage, cleaned most of our clothes and repacked, this time for the airport. Our Alaskan adventure has, sadly, come to an end.

Cheers to our good friends and wonderful hosts:

Alaska

They are sweet people and have been wonderful to us as always. And they are terrible enablers. We would have done none of this adventure without them. They’ve only been in Alaska for about five months and they already come off as experts, at least to us. Adam’s work keeps his attention far more than a 40-hour work week, but I hope they get to go and do and see more and more of the area; it is surely beautiful.

Today, Adam is already in France and now Jessica is joining him there. He’ll be jumping as a part of the D-Day anniversary festivities next week, which is some incredible news for him. To catch up, Jessica will be flying with us to Seattle. We are due back in New York at around 1:30 tomorrow. Her trip will, really, be just getting underway. Leaving from Anchorage after midnight to fly to Paris and take two trains to the English Channel is just about the worst red eye flight you could imagine.

If my math was correct she’ll be traveling for almost 31 hours. Of course, she’ll make it halfway around the world, but still.

Her layover in Seattle is ridiculously long, so we bought her way into the Delta club. I insisted. Better chairs, more plugs, no crowds, free snacks, private restrooms. The one in Seattle has showers, apparently. For all of the driving around and putting up with us she did, she deserves to not spend almost eight hours as an airport refugee.

As we’re sitting in the airport, waiting on the plane, listening to these guys talk about their work schedules on the north slope — the real frontier — I realized something: This is the first time that I have seen darkness since Tuesday of last week in Wilton. Every waking moment it has been daylight or something vaguely resembling twilight. It wasn’t creepy until just this moment …

Anyway, here are the last of the scenic Alaskan pictures — I have some random shots that’ll land on the Tumblr site eventually — but these are the last mountain shots. It has been a wonderful trip, and they tell us we have to come back to see the other Alaska, the winter Alaska. Wouldn’t that be neat? I bet all of these mountains would look different then!

Alaska

Alaska

Alaska

Alaska

Alaska

Alaska

Alaska

Alaska

Alaska

Alaska

Alaska

The only two bears we saw:

Alaska

Alaska

But this guy was the best animal in the entire 49th state:

Alaska