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Auburn / baseball / Friday / links / things to read — Comments Off
16
May 14

Where I recall my economics coursework

We made it to 70 degrees today, late in the afternoon. The weather is perfectly pleasant, the spring we somehow missed this year. Soon it’ll be inexplicably hot and no one will be prepared. Acclimation is an important and understated feature, I’m sure of it. This summer we’re going to prove the point.

More baseball this evening. Another unfortunate defeat, 11-3, for the good guys. “A pair of five-run LSU innings were too much for Auburn’s baseball team to overcome” reads the story. That stings, especially since Auburn was only able to put together nine hits on the night. And yet, somehow, Auburn’s very slim post-season hopes remain alive until tomorrow. LSU, meanwhile, has now scored 48 runs in their last 23 innings of ball. They’re just good everywhere.

Things to read … because reading makes you good everywhere, too.

I talked about this in a panel last month. Consumers losing doctors with new insurance plans:

Some consumers who bought insurance under President Barack Obama’s health care law are experiencing buyer’s remorse after realizing that their longtime doctors aren’t accepting the new plans.

Before the law took effect, experts warned that narrow networks could impact patients’ access to care, especially in cheaper plans. But with insurance cards now in hand, consumers are finding their access limited across all price ranges — sometimes even after they were told their plan would include their current doctor.

There will be a significant amount of second-tier disappointment and backlash as it relates to the ACA. People just don’t think about these sorts of things until they have too. And you only discover what your doctor is carrying when you need to see your doctor. That’s how more people are discovering what this legislation is doing. There’s a difference between “coverage” and care. People are just starting to figure that out. Next the premiums will surge. After that there’ll be some period of government “blaming” insurance companies and companies “blaming” the government. And then the bailouts begin. And people will still be looking for a new doctor. (Period.)

FIFA is easily one of the worst organizations in the world operating in daylight. And I like soccer. But what’s going on in Qatar should change that for a lot of people. ‘Untouchable’ FIFA, president Sepp Blatter need to answer for atrocities in Qatar:

Workers’ rights groups and Amnesty International have been shouting about this for a couple years, but Qatar often dismissed the claims, saying things weren’t that bad and advocacy groups were overplaying things. Still under international media pressure, led by the relentless Guardian newspaper in London, the government hired a law firm to conduct its own investigation.

It concluded this week that there have been 964 deaths of migrant workers from Nepal, India and Bangladesh in 2012 and 2013 alone.

How we can look upon a sport that callous escapes me.

Here’s a unique analysis on the far east. Ties with Russia moving in China’s favor:

The highlight of the two-day state visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin to China on Tuesday is probably going to be the signing of the long-awaited 30-year mega gas deal. The Russian media have been speculating such a strong possibility.

[…]

Essentially, an unbalanced relationship is moving progressively in China’s favor by the day. For Russia, it is going to be an entirely new experience, historically speaking, to settle for the role of a junior partner in relations with China. Putin’s visit will be closely watched for signs of new thinking in Moscow.

Do you buy things? You’ve noticed this. Wholesale prices rise by most in more than a year:

Wholesale prices in the U.S. rose in April by the most in more than a year, reflecting broad-based gains that signal the threat of deflation is ebbing as the economy improves.

The 0.6% increase in the producer price index was the biggest since September 2012 and exceeded all estimates in a Bloomberg survey of 69 economists, figures from the Labor Department showed today. Over the past 12 months, costs climbed 2.1%. Food costs jumped by the most in three years.

When was the last time higher food costs was pitched to you as a good thing? Western droughts figure into that, they aren’t good. Putting more and more corn into ethanol figures into that. Your mileage varies on whether that’s good. It takes fuel to get those foodstuffs from the farm to your house. Have you noticed those prices lately? Up next is cost-push inflation.

Meanwhile, here’s a term you’ll want to learn: velocity of money – the speed at which a dollar moves from one transaction to another, the greater its velocity, and the quicker the economy grows. It has been on the decline for five years. Where will it go next? That’ll be a big indicator in the near and medium future.

Our immediate future holds an early morning and a sprint triathlon. So, until next time, happy racing.

adventures / Auburn / baseball / cycling / journalism / links / things to read / Thursday — Comments Off
15
May 14

My new spring wardrobe: My winter wardrobe

Of course we received a temporary fix to our air conditioner problems as the temperatures dropped 20 degrees. But today’s overcast skies didn’t include any rain, so I was able to get in a little bike ride. I took a simple 15 mile spin around the neighborhood as I try to save my legs — the legs I haven’t built up whatsoever recently — for the weekend.

I had two disparate thoughts on the bike.

On the flat stuff, which was much of the route I chose: I’ll have a great race this weekend!

On the hills, which are somewhat unavoidable: I’ll have a lousy race this weekend …

And so it goes.

So we bundled up in sweatshirts for tonight’s baseball game. An outdoor event which took place in May in Alabama:

In the sixth inning I was chosen to take part in a promotion. And I won! They walk you down to the dugout and they present two Yeti coolers. You open one and there’s a gift inside. Then you play Let’s Make A Deal. Do I want what I found in the white cooler? Or should I try my luck with the blue cooler?

The white cooler held a broken fungo bat and a few baseballs they haven’t been able to give away all season. They’ve sweetened the offer with a t-shirt that features the new baseball coach. It is a line art likeness of his face, but the mustache is creepy. So I opened the other cooler and won a gift card to Kinnucans. That’s great timing, I need new outdoors shoes, so I’ll be there tomorrow.

Oh, and Auburn lost 10-0 to LSU. LSU, which is a very good team, has scored 37 runs in their last 15 innings of play. Auburn is still looking to find itself, and this loss all but sealed their fate of being shut out of the postseason. The dream isn’t over yet, but drubbings like that aren’t a good way to start the last series of the season.

Things to read … because reading is always a good start.

This is gobsmackingly foolish. Newspaper nabs website’s article, claims most of it is ‘public domain’ — The Georgia Press Association’s non-action is disappointing as well.

This isn’t the sign of a healthy democracy. Where are the candidates? No contests in 20 of 35 Alabama Senate districts on June 3:

All 35 seats in the Alabama Senate are up for grabs this election year.

But candidates are sparse.

There are no contested races in 20 of the 35 districts in the June 3 primary, now less than three weeks away.

In fact, 14 senators – eight Republicans and six Democrats – will coast to new four-year terms with no opposition in either party.

Job growth! 2013 New & Expanding Industries Report highlights solid year of economic development in Alabama:

Companies launching operations in Alabama or expanding existing facilities in the state announced nearly 17,000 new jobs and more than $4.4 billion in capital investment during 2013, according to a report released today by Governor Robert Bentley and the Alabama Department of Commerce.

There are plenty of details at the link.

Are you building for mobile? Quantcast: Social drives 34 percent of mobile Web traffic, 17 percent of desktop traffic

In Kansas, Professors Must Now Watch What They Tweet

One of these is a former student of mine. He’s a sharp young man. I knew him when: Three From Samford Earn Fulbright Grants

errands / links / things to read / video / Wednesday — Comments Off
14
May 14

“Why did they do that?”

The air conditioning guy was scheduled to come today, precisely between the hours of 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. He did not come early, when he could have worked in pleasant outdoor conditions. No, he arrived just before 3 p.m., in the rain, the poor guy. And so I did not get to ride today because I waited on him and it rained after he left. }

But!

I did get to hear a repairman say “What the?”

I think this nice gentleman’s company has been to the house a few times before for various repairs. It is one of those companies that is a series of initials, which is hard to keep straight over time, but they are affiliated with the home warranty people and we use our home warranty quite a bit. This time because the air doesn’t cool anything.

We have a nice house, everyone that visits is kind enough to compliment the layout. It is in a nice neighborhood. And it was built upon a haunted burial ground. Also, the previous owner hired people that had some curious ideas about home maintenance.

When he looked at the air handler unit, nothing made sense. Our guy today, after going through the full series of “I don’t even know why it was done that way,” and all of the many variants, said he hadn’t seen anyone do this in 15 years on the job. Someone made a previous repair and used a different manufacturer’s parts, basically whatever was at hand. It was like, he said “Someone took the engine out of a Toyota and put it in a Cadillac.”

So we got freon, and the anticipation of a larger bill, and this mystery of why people have done things in this house that professionals have never seen before. (This wasn’t the first time.)

But the air works, at least in the short term, again. That puts you in a pretty zen place, in the short term.

Of course the rain cooled everything off, meaning we didn’t need the air tonight, so we’re right back to where we started on the “Come on, house!” meter.

Things to read … because she can’t stare at that app forever.

The Internet and the compassion of people never ceases to amaze. Brown family supporters raise more than $50,000 for medical, travel expenses

And then along comes someone doing a series of other things, without consequence, that just infuriates. Fire Official Who Hit Children in New Jersey Crosswalk Has 19 Car Accidents on Record

This is the best sports story you’ll read today:

They played the oddest game in high school football history last month down in Grapevine, Texas.

It was Grapevine Faith vs. Gainesville State School and everything about it was upside down. For instance, when Gainesville came out to take the field, the Faith fans made a 40-yard spirit line for them to run through.

Did you hear that? The other team’s fans?

They even made a banner for players to crash through at the end. It said, “Go Tornadoes!” Which is also weird, because Faith is the Lions. “I WOULDN’T EXPECT ANOTHER PARENT TO TELL SOMEBODY TO HIT THEIR KIDS. BUT THEY WANTED US TO!”

And a 15-year-old introduces his stethoscope iPhone invention to the world:

Auburn / baseball / journalism / links / things to read / Tuesday / video — Comments Off
13
May 14

‘You’re going to need a bigger sack’

Auburn hosted UAB in baseball tonight. The Blazers had a 10-game winning streak (the sixth longest in the nation) on the line. Auburn had beaten UAB 15 games in a row in the series. So naturally it came down to a bases loaded walkoff walk:

Auburn won, 6-5, and they did the traditional baseball “We won the pennant!” dogpile after that.

Just before the game several of the electricity transformers just behind the baseball stadium exploded. We were treated to green smoke and acrid smells for a while. Eventually the scoreboard and the lights were restored, and that became just one more story in the baseball season. Dude. Green smoke.

Speaking of things you never want to hear about: our air conditioner is definitely broken. Two days in a row I’ve worked in the yard and now I’m sweating as much inside as I do outside. (Though half the yard looks much nicer now, thanks.) So the A/C guy will be by tomorrow.

Here’s something that could happen at a lot more local television stations:

She got a lot of pats on the back for that around the office, I promise.

Things to read … because I put the words here.

This is the first story that the new staff for the Crimson has published. They did a nice job, especially considering it is an under-deadline, semester’s-end, big story assignment: Memorial service remembers Foreman as a ‘blessing’

The Do’s and Don’ts of Online Reputation Management

I only have a minor in economics, but if you’re counting on a late Easter to give the national engine a nudge … you’re living on the margins: Retail sales flatline, disappoint in April despite warmer weather

There is an impressive picture with this story, just so you know. Woman gets slithery surprise when she finds a 12-foot snake in her bathroom:

“When the officer showed up, he came with a brown paper sack,” she recalled. “I told him, ‘you’re going to need a bigger sack than that.'”

Gonzales, who’s been with the police department about five years, said he’d previously responded to three snake calls, but nothing like that.

“When I opened her bathroom door, there was a 12-foot python,” Gonzales recalled. “I didn’t know what I was going to do with a snake that large.”

He asked dispatchers to send animal control officers. Shortly afterward, another College Station officer arrived, also armed with a paper bag, and soon the animal control officer showed up with a 10-gallon bucket.

And then they had to fight to get the thing into a large garbage can. Close your doors.

journalism / links / Monday / things to read / video — Comments Off
12
May 14

A little something for everyone

It was a fine, clear day. We’re transitioning from the spring we skipped into the summer that will be with us through September. It only reached the 80s today, but the humidity in the early morning apparently reached 100 percent. I don’t think I was aware you could do that without rain. As if to prove the point, this evening the humidity ticked up to 94 percent. It is warm in the house.

It is so humid that I prepared, hid and drank two bottles of water on my run this evening. It is a shame I only ran the 3.1 miles. For two bottles you should get more distance, you’d think. But not here. Not now.

Did I mention it is warm in the house? Someone will come out later this week to figure that out.

Here’s one of the neater and sweeter stories you’ll see today:

Things to read … because they can’t all be videos.

Child killed in wreck in front of Hampton Cove Elementary One child killed, three others injured. Also hurt was their mother, who was driving. I know the mom, we worked together some time back. She’s a lady with a big family because she has a big heart. Yours can’t help but break for them.

The old faithful pyramid returns, with more action-packed segments, of course. The Pyramid of Journalism Competence: what journalists need to know Poynter’s trusty pyramid remains a great think piece. The problem here, amidst the pyramid’s sub-sections and supporting essays is the suggested “courses that would enrich.” They list 81 courses, ranging from Jazz to Gender Studies to Quantum Physics to actual approaches to journalism. That is a lot of classes, all with merit, I’m sure, but some offering more meaningful insight to journalists than others. It is unclear if they mean college courses or Poynter courses, which are different things. But still, 81.

We are witnessing the birth of the social media press corps:

That’s not a social meet-up. It’s a press corps. And some government departments, incidentally, have gotten pretty explicit about the difference. While DOI billed today’s event as a more or less social meet-up, NASA will issue straight-up “social media credentials” for its Antares rocket launch in June, designed to give popular bloggers, tweeters and Instagrammers the “same access as journalists.”

The NASA application process, which closed Friday, demanded that applicants prove they had a large, respected and unique audience, distinct from traditional media’s. Applicants also had to agree to share images “in real time,” preferably with the #NASASocial hashtag, and make those photos available to NASA to reshare on its own platforms.

[…]

… but all this comes at a time when the traditional press corps — read, the ones who don’t have to “like” a government department on social media or pass some screening of their tweets to score credentials — gets less access to the government than ever.

Some media have become subordinate and co-conspirators in their own demise and you hate that for them.

“Instameet” is a terrible fake word, however.

Nielsen’s Plan to Count TV Viewers Across Screens Faces Obstacles As telecoms and cable providers get closer and closer, this should actually become easier.

TV Ad Dollars Slowly Shifting to Web Video. Now we only have to make all those online ads effective.

Driver assaults bicyclist, police ticket bicyclist:

Cyclist and photojournalist Evan Wilder encountered a road raging driver on R Street. He says the driver tried to force him off the road, caused a collision, then threw his bike into the truck. A police officer later wrote Wilder a ticket while he was in the hospital.

The officer sides with the driver, no big surprise, and gives the cyclist a citation for following too closely. But there is video. Curiously, this isn’t the first tangle Evan Wilder has had with drivers.

What a great move for Kodi: Kodi Burns Hired As Assistant Football Coach. And terrific for Samford, as well. He’s a good guy and success always seems to follow him.