I do not know what is happening. « Kenny Smith | A remarkable thing happens …

I do not know what is happening.

I do not know what is happening. / journalism / links / Samford / swimming / things to read / Tuesday / video — Comments Off
17
Sep 13

I’ve never done 36 laps of anything before

I am not a good swimmer. I have been in and around the water my entire life. I started SCUBA diving two decades ago. I’m perfectly capable of staying afloat, getting from A-to-B and all that. It might not be fast or especially efficient, though. And, most tellingly, I am not a lap swimmer.

That’s something to work on. I hit the pool this evening and swam a mile. I’m pretty sure that’s the most I’ve ever swam at one time. And if it isn’t, it is close.

A mile in the campus pool is 72 lengths, 36 laps. While I was there in lane two there was a youth swim team practice going on in most of the pool. Lane one was occupied by two ladies enjoying the opportunity to chat and gossip. On the deck there was a lifeguard. One of those three people had to be. How you could tell which from behind their phones and iPads and laptops, I’m not sure. There was also the sonorously loud swim coach who was emphatic about detail and all of the small things and had no problem singling the kids out for the wrong kick or whatever. When he was talking to them individually he seemed like a thoroughly decent man.

In my lane there was a teenager. And, later, his friend joined him. So, lap swimmers, how many people are you sharing a lane with? Because three people in one space seemed to much to me.

Especially when one of the kids kept moving swapping sides. And then he would swim under and across and it was hard to keep track of him and I found the entire thing annoying. It was my Get Off Of My Lawn moment of the day, something which is beginning to happen a little more frequently. Perhaps I should keep track of them.

But the swimming was nice. I did about 500 yards in a side crawl and the rest in a modified breaststroke, because I can only do so much freestyle right now — about 100, it seems.

The first 18 laps were kind of slow. Somewhere between 24 and 34 things really took off. By then I was almost the last person in the pool. I didn’t time anything, but I swam a mile.

I do not know what is happening.

I had burritos for dinner, vegetables for lunch and I wasn’t nearly as hungry as I expected I would be. I could go stand in the shallow end of a pool for an hour and be starving, ordinarily. Today, not so much.

Things to read which I found interesting: How fast are the entertainment and media industries changing? Pretty darn fast. In a year, Netflix’s competition shifted from Hulu to HBO to everything:

Netflix is simply acknowledging that it doesn’t just compete with other TV networks (although, in another change to the document, Netflix calls itself a “movie and TV series network” for the first time). It also competes for attention with nearly any kind of leisure activity.

That may not seem revelatory, but it’s rare for media companies to think of their competition as extending beyond discrete industries like news or music or television.

I discussed this more than two years ago, but Netflix is a fine platform — we enjoy it — doomed to fail. I said it better this spring: Netflix becomes just another layer in the stratification. The problem is that Netflix, as a pioneer, is inherently reproducible. If you have a smart TV or a streaming Blue Ray or similar opponent, you can see all of the On Demand stations, the branded streaming platforms and even the high end magazines are getting into the act. Everything is a competitor, everything is another vector to take on. Netflix’s purchase, production and streaming of original programming is a strategy to combat that. Will it be enough?

That would be a great story for a writer, right? Here’s a stab at how to, and how not to, pitch that idea over social media:

Social media is a blessing and a curse when it comes to pitching journalists. While Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Foursquare and Instagram — yes, Foursquare and Instagram pitches happen — present many new opportunities to forge connections, it’s very easy to step onto inappropriate turf.

Because the dos and don’ts of reaching out via social media can be messy, we compiled some solid rules for when it’s cool and when it’s creepy to contact a journalist. Here are 10 tips on how to pitch a journalist on social media, largely based on the experiences of Mashable’s editorial team.

Most of those ideas are common sensical, which is precisely why someone needed to write about it.

Speaking of Facebook, people are learning a new way to think of it in a new way:

Here’s the only substantial difference between the information Facebook gave the National Security Agency’s PRISM program and the information Facebook sells to its customers—the NSA didn’t pay for it. In fact, it turns out what Facebook sells could be even more personal than what the NSA requires. And a study that came out yesterday shows Americans are waking up to that possibility.

… the information Facebook and the other eight companies associated with PRISM are sharing with the NSA includes “the content of the communications and not just the metadata.”

Facebook is not our friend.

There are almost 1,000,000 Alabamians on food stamps:

In Alabama, about 914,000 people received SNAP benefits in June, a 61-percent increase from the 567,000 state residents who received them five years ago. That’s similar to increases around the country during the economic downturn.

But the 19 percent of Alabama residents who use SNAP benefits puts the state ahead of the national average of 15.4 percent, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

In 2008, before the recession, Alabamians received $663 million in SNAP benefits. By 2012, it was $1.4 billion.

Also, Uh oh: 8 of 12 Alabama metros saw recession in 2012, GDP data show and The typical American family makes less than it did in 1989.

These next two are both great stories, despite basic headlines, which are worth your time. Perhaps the two best things I read today:

DNA double take

Apple’s Fingerprint ID May Mean You Can’t ‘Take the Fifth’

You remember the Costa Concordia. The big cruise ship that had the misfortune of having the wrong guy at the helm and then sank off of Italy. They raised it, a historical feat of engineering that took 19 hours. You can see a time lapse here.

One of our students produced this, in part, with his new aerial drone. It was one of his first projects with the thing and, for a first try it looks pretty great:

I want one.

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2
Sep 13

Gameday sunsets

Labor Day. What’d you do? I ran. Had a pretty good run, for me.

I do not know what is happening.

I rode my bike. It was not a very good ride in most senses. But, in the most important way it was perfect: I was riding my bike.

So it was a lovely day. Hope yours has been great, too.

Here are a few shots from Saturday’s sunset. We get beautiful sunsets.

Some people saw an eagle here. Hard to disagree:

Click to see a larger version of this panorama.

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17
Aug 13

Thoughts on the Peachtree City Tri

I don’t want to use the word with any seriousness as it applies to me — we’ve had a lot of fun chats with people this summer about what allows you to use the word — but we woke up at 3 a.m. for a triathlon, so, today, I’m going to call myself a triathlete.

Said that before the race. Before the signing in, the body markings, the struggling to make sense of a narrow transition area, the restless, nervous and giddy waiting for the time trial swim start.

I stopped thinking that in the water, where I started thinking about I should get serious about swimming. Which means figuring my shoulder out, etc and ad nauseam. In the water I’m just hanging on, trying to finish and save some energy.

And, this morning, I helped save a woman. I came up alongside her just as she stopped swimming out and started swimming up. I asked her if she was OK, but she didn’t say anything. When I pulled just a bit in front of her I noticed her eyes were glassy and she looked like she was climbing a ladder. Went back, touched her elbow, talked to her and she didn’t even know I was there.

In these open water swims they have canoes and jet skis and kayaks to help people. I held her up while someone summoned over a nearby kayak and she grabbed on. I saw her later, I think it was her, on the bike. She was going out as I was coming back. And she looked good. But scary nonetheless.

I pedaled hard on the bike, looked down at the computer and realized I wasn’t halfway done with the ride, but rather just a few miles into it. And then a mile later I threw my chain. So a lot of people that shouldn’t have passed me. Later I’d pass a lot of them back. Without that chain problem I would have had a great ride.

This race runs through a planned neighborhood and all the nice people came out to cheer the racers on, which was pretty cool. They had bleachers up near the finish line. More people were braving the rain and unseasonably cool — I’ve never shivered in August, before today — to urge you into the run and congratulate you when you return.

The run weaved down a golf cart path through the woods, alongside the lake we just swam through and back again. Too many people passed me on the run, but that was to be expected.

My time was more than expected, which was disappointing. But I finished with a smile and I didn’t finish last. So at least those two goals were met.

Great day for it. Good race. Poor triathlete.

(The Yankee, of course, had a great race.)

I do not know what is happening. / iPhone / movies / photo / Thursday / video — Comments Off
15
Aug 13

Of men who are spiders, lizards and opened doors

Watched Spider-Man last night, the new one. Peter is raised by President Bartlet and Mary Todd Lincoln. He doesn’t ride a champion horse in a previous life, but there’s still a lot to live up too, movie-wise. Dennis Leary is miscast, the logical conclusion of every joke from the 1980s. Aunt Mae is really Forrest Gump’s mother, after she faked her death in Greenbow. The timelines may match up.

There’s as much wrong with the movie as there is right. Peter Parker is too self-assured. Spider-Man has to be whiny and thoughtful. Imagine what he should be thinking in this scene:

That’s the best Stan Lee cameo so far, I think.

Finally, Emma Stone has always been too soulful to be a high school student, and she’s too old for the part, but cast her wherever you can. And, Gwen gets rid of Mary Jane for this movie, so that’s a victory. But she’s dating a spider, working for a lizard and the daughter of a man with a Cindy Crawford obsession. Poor Skeeter.

Also, Uncle President Ben Bartlet’s voicemail was a moving moment:

But when I watched that scene the second time I realized that the guy having a Rear Window poster in his room was easily the most interesting thing about the character. And that might not be the best endorsement ever.

Now for something kind-hearted: A local non-profit lost almost their entire line of product in the UPS crash in Birmingham yesterday. They employ women in India to keep them out of the sex slave trade. But now they have no product. Freeset is the organization’s name, and by virtue of some of our students’ work I know the excellent reputation they have.

So this nonprofit that just lost their entire inventory, that is worried about what that means for their on-the-precipice employees, is pledging to raise money for the pilots of that UPS flight. All of the proceeds of this Freeset shirt are going to the families.

Some people will amaze you. Some people will never stop doing it.

Ran a 5K tonight, if you count all of the walking. Something was hurting, so I shut it down. Aside from needing the conditioning and having a the benefit of a bit more conditioning and my general lousy form there was no need to press on while a bunch of things hurt.

So I walked a bit.

Saw this sign at the edge of someone’s yard:

A few years ago a local developer wanted to take all this beautiful wooded land that abuts a state park and the running/biking trail and a quiet little wooded neighborhood and put up Just Another Strip Mall. The neighbors fought it. The proposal was yanked. And they haven’t been heard from for several years.

But the sign is ready, and you have to appreciate that sort of vigilance.

You might not go in for poetry slams, but there’s something about this guy that is worth seeing.

There are two nice little moments in there in the second half, but right before the end there’s a big “Whoa” moment. You’re just not really prepared for that. Life surprises you like that sometimes. You have to be ready.

Two new things on Tumblr. A lot more on Twitter.

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13
Aug 13

The kind of day

Had lunch at the vegetable place, which is easier than typing Crepe Myrtle Cafe, because I often misspell it.

I order the The Markets Roasted Veggie with Bulger Creek Farm Goat Cheese, because goat cheese makes everything better. You can’t even taste the balsamic, and you forget your eating grilled veggies out of a defective pancake.

And then I realized that I inherited my grandmother’s taste buds. This blueberry was bitterly sour. That blueberry was terribly sweet. As soon as I make this story more interesting I’ll have to call and tell her about it.

While we were eating we received a call. There was something we could do right then, if we could arrive at the place right now. Well. We’re just a bit away and can be there in 10 minutes. And so we were. Walked right in and took care of the appointment. It was that kind of day.

Visited the giant box store and picked up cards and box store things. The only problem was the woman who was about 55 and 4-foot-5 with six children with her. They blocked the aisle I really needed, but only for a moment. And then they disappeared in that way that means you won’t see them on the next aisle over — whatever that means. It was that kind of day, too.

Self check out, then, with no one in front of me, which meant I couldn’t make the joke about how people should be certified by the state to use those things. And the machine worked perfectly for a change. The disinterested self checkout herder could stay that way. Beep, beep, beep and we were done. Such a lovely day.

Forgot to buy a brake light for the car, but that was pretty much the extent of the day’s difficulties.

Back home and read and wrote and should have done more. We went out just before dark to run. I got in 5K and finished just at the point of darkness where I could see a silhouette without knowing who I was seeing. My run was not great, but none of them are. This one had its moments, though, where I stopped counting footfalls and exhausted breaths and just kept moving. My splits are still very poor.

Got home, cleaned up, had leftovers — a vegetarian pasta dish which makes six meals in a row with no meat. That can’t last forever.

Watched Men in Black 3, and became convinced that Josh Brolin can become anyone if you give him enough screen time. I was relieved when the kid, at the end, turned out not to be Jaden Smith. You just knew it would be. And IMDb says it almost was. The database says there is a MiB 4 in the works.

Here are all the problems with the third one. They were plentiful:

Kind of makes you not want to see a fourth one made, but then you can say that of most any series, now can’t you?

And, now, cuddling with the cat, who doesn’t even seem to mind so much that she went to the vet today. She doesn’t know she has to go back next week, though. And everyone is impressed by how young she behaves. We’re just fortunate all the way around, then. It was that kind of day.