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25
Jun 14

Why didn’t anyone ever recognize Forrest Gump, anyway?

I ran five miles in 75 degrees with 79 percent humidity tonight. Think I just exercise for Shot Bloks, which is fuel that tastes like candy to me. But you’re not here about that. Right. Back to our regularly scheduled observations.

One of the joys of having a cat around is watching a cat sleep in the sun:

Allie

A lot of things have to happen to make that work out. Someone, years ago, had to decide to orient this neighborhood along an east-west axis. Development behind us had to thin out the western tree line to allow the sun through at that time of day. My brilliant wife had to be motivated to purchase that cat condo at some point in time. We had to put it in front of that window and I had to be sitting in an adjacent chair, which we also put in place almost four years ago, to capture the moment. To say nothing of the phone and camera and Internet technology.

All of that so I can say “One of the joys of having a cat around is watching a cat sleep in the sun,” and you know it to be one of the singular truths of pets.

Just file that away under things that the subdivision developer, Steve Jobs and Tim Berners-Lee didn’t think about when they did their heavy lifting. I bet the cat condo people knew what they were doing, though.

Turns out it was made in Tennessee. I’m not sure what bearing that has on this conversation.

Things to read … because reading always gives us answers.

Maybe Vox — which is trying to brand itself as the explainer of things, can tell us. You’ve been using paper towels wrong your whole life. Here’s how to completely dry your hands using only one.

Jeff Bezos is looking more brilliant by the moment, no?

The New York Times’ Lively Morgue featured a photo of speed boat queen Loretta Turnbull. For some reason I did a little more Googling and reading about her, and was rewarded with this quote: “The odds of a shark biting a 67-year-old are remote; I’m going in.”

Sounds like an awesome lady.

This one is worth bookmarking. Multimedia reporting with mobile devices

Normally you’d watch out for the word “complete” but this is a pretty thorough discussion on the topic. The Complete Guide to Getting Started With Podcasts

Another soccer video:

This video is titled “How video from drones can be useful during news events,” but it misses a big a point.

We, the audience, still need the context of a reporter’s collected efforts to tell us the story. Where was that subdivision damage? Was it from a storm? Why were all of those people gathered at night? What were they protesting? How many structures or lives had been lost in that fire?

It also demonstrates that not all drone videos are created equally.

Forrest Gump was released 20 years ago next month. Finally, there is an Honest Trailer about the film, and it makes a great point about the recognizability of the character:

“And Lieutenant Dan kept his word. The end.”

When I saw Apollo 13 — which was released 19 years ago next week, by the way — there was a woman behind us who was getting caught up and emotional in the drama. Her kid, her child, said “Don’t worry Mama, Forrest Gump is driving.”

The end.


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.


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


3
Jun 14

Not sure of my time zone

What day is it? What planet am I on?

Transnational travel in a day is a surrealistic thing. On the other hand, we traversed almost 7,000 miles in a day.

I ran one mile today, having not put on those shoes in a week, and my body feeling pretty terrible both because of that and the travel and the sleepiness and it all just hurt. So I sprinted, which still felt like a slog on my wife’s high school track.

Saw this truck while we were ordering sandwiches. I feel like they got the tint of the paint job just about perfect:

truck

These were our collective fortunes at dinner tonight. One of them makes no sense and, thus, all of the sense in the world:

fortunes

Things to read: because reading always makes sense.

What passes as sports journalism at home today: Alabama All-Americans on the same bench as AJ McCarron meets Forrest Gump. I’ll leave it to you to decide if I mean the subject matter or just writing things from social media accounts you follow.

Something more important, Exclusive: Sharyl Attkisson on Journalism’s Very Dangerous Trend:

Sharyl Attkisson, an award-winning investigative reporter who resigned from CBS News earlier this year, says the news media are heading down a dangerous path with attempts to “censor or block stories” that don’t align with their preferred agenda.

“There’s a tendency in the news media, on the part of some managers, to censor or block stories that don’t fall in line with the message they want sent to the viewers,” Attkisson said in an exclusive interview with The Daily Signal. “I think that’s really a very dangerous perspective to have.”

This makes sense, and you’ll see a lot more stories like it. Online, mobile consumption soars among sports fans means you should go where your audience is.

Internet Use Over Time is an excellent resource from Pew.

FAA Weighs Letting Film, TV Industry Use Drones reminds me: I still need a drone.

And, possibly, a good night’s sleep.


30
May 14

Visiting Denali, Day One

We are visiting here for the weekend, which requires a drive about four hours north of Anchorage.

Alaska

That means that just over … there … somewhere … is Mt. McKinley, the highest point in the country. Jessica drove us to Denali because Adam is on his way to France for work. Some kind of life, no?

The drive was, of course, beautiful. Lots of verdant scenes dotted by small towns and pure-Alaskan wide spots in the road. We saw some wildlife, but not the bigger animals we were seeking:

Alaska

Alaska

Alaska

Also, there are mountains.

Alaska

Alaska

Alaska

Alaska

Alaska

Alaska

Alaska

I’m taking a lot of pictures of mountains. I’ve noticed. But I’m not the only one:

Alaska

Today we took a hike alongside the Savage River, which we saw at an elevation of 2,780 feet. Here’s The Yankee:

Alaska

Perhaps she was taking pictures of a small thing:

Alaska

Alaska

Here’s what the hike looked like:

The water, snow melt that was probably 15 minutes old, was perfectly clear.

Alaska

Alaska

Alaska

The rock formations through this little valley are some of the oldest on the continent. The Outer Range of the Alaskan Range are thought to be somewhere between 600 million to more than a billion years old. That little river is believed to be even older than the mountains.

The rocks feature schists, blended ribbons, of quartzite, mica, slate, marble, greenstone and phyllite.

Alaska

OK, fine, one more mountain shot.

Alaska

Oh, last thing. We had an Auburn family reunion today. I put the picture on my War Eagle Moments blog. I also met a nice lady from Birmingham as well. She goes to church, she said, with some of my Samford colleagues.

It is a small world, even in big Alaska.