podcast


17
Sep 15

Jogging achievement unlocked

I ran 10 miles today, he said nonchalantly.

And, in both of those phrases, I do not know what is happening.

I also swam 3,000 yards. So I’m tired, sure. But it feels great, too. That’s all unexpected, but then I took a rest day, no exercise, earlier this week and at one point I didn’t think one day would do the trick, but by the end of the evening I was ready to get back to it. I wonder how long I can keep all this up. Not long enough.

I found this on campus during my run today:

MIllerWire

Miller Wire Works …

was founded on April 1, 1949 by Charles E. Miller and is now into its third generation of family ownership. Originally employing three men, it now operates with 55 highly skilled workers. Present facilities include offices, two manufacturing plants and a machine shop consisting of 78,000 square feet.

They’re still in wire, and they’ve been working in polyurethane since the 1980s. I believe that campus building was built in the late 1960s, but I couldn’t say when the door went in.

Miller is far too common a name to ask Google to scare up anything definitive.

Here’s something to know for sure: I want to be this guy when I grow up. Peaking at ninety:

Richard Dreselly first hiked to the top of Mt. Washington in New Hampshire in 1941. He has since hiked the 6288 foot summit seventeen times. Now at 90, he climbed for what he says will be his last time. Globe photographer John Tlumacki captured his three day arduous journey amid the stunning mountain views.

Here’s the full story that goes with that photo gallery.

And a podcast with my old friend Chadd. He’s talking about what it takes to be an athletic director in college sports.


16
Sep 15

Things I’ve found and things I’d forgotten I’d found

Today I was eating one of those fruit bowls, the sort you get pre-cut and ready to eat from the produce section. Munching away in the office and I come across this:

cycling

That’s one big grape.

Things I’ve also come across recently include the announcement that Esquire has gone completist with their Classic site. Eight decades of content are now online. Here’s some heart-rending media, the boyfriend of murdered TV reporter makes emotional return to anchor chair. Here’s something I wrote earlier this week. It is a review of a documentary. It was not good.

And a podcastI recorded with the editor of The Anniston Star:

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4
Sep 15

Very quickly

Because this is the Friday before a three-day weekend. We’re not going to bog down such a thing like a three-day weekend with needless detail. So two quick things, and then off you go.

First, Samford opened their 2015 football season last night and debuted the Chris Hatcher era. The new coach had a big success. Here’s a video package the athletics department put together.

Not a bad start to their campaign.

My colleague Clay Carey and I recorded this podcast this morning. It is a good one, where Carey talks about two related stories from The Washington Post featuring small towns, data journalism and the importance of the in-person experience of journalism.

I’m going to make him a regular guest, I think.

Now, let’s all go have a great weekend.


3
Sep 15

Two podcasts and a breakthrough two years coming

Here’s a podcast I did with my old friend Chadd Scott earlier this week. He’s launching GridironNow.com tonight, a site that will cover SEC football like crazy, and he’s asked me to take part. I’m honored. So I’ll be writing occasionally and podcasting regularly, I hope. Here’s our first one, where Chadd previews the Auburn football season:

He’s pretty sold on them. I have some reservations.

If football isn’t your thing, then this podcast that I recorded today with journalist Andre Natta might be more your style. He tells us about a proposal in Denver that will help ease college debts:

Don’t play both of those at once. The awesome noise might be too much for your computer’s sound card.

I created both of the songs in the podcasts, by the way. That leaves me only 48 steps removed from being a true renaissance man.

Also, tonight, I swam 2,700 yards and then got in a nice, easy four-mile run. My last mile was in 8:05. That’s not fast, but fairly respectable for me, I suppose. But, again, I did it after my biggest swim ever and a four mile run. Plus I took 21 seconds off of my last mile yesterday, making this my favorite new game.

Most importantly, in my last few swims it feels like that’s just starting to click, finally. Finally.


2
Sep 15

All of our meanwhiles

Here is a podcast I recorded today with Trussville Tribune publisher Scott Buttram. He tells us about a sparsely attended secession rally in Montgomery. We wind up touching on whether things like this should be covered and the art of providing your audience with an even-handed report. It is a good conversation, check it out:

Meanwhile, I saw this video over lunch, and immediately identified with the kid:

Meanwhile, here’s your “educators” story of the day. New York School Wants to Block Student With Down Syndrome on 1st Day:

The president of the Westhampton Beach Board of Education did not responded to ABC News’ request for comment. But in a letter sent to The Southampton Press by school board member Suzanne M. Mensch and obtained by ABC News, Mensch wrote she was “extremely disheartened by the Killoran family’s repeated public efforts to bully the Westhampton Beach School District into developing an educational program for their son” and that “Westhampton Beach has not been a party to this discussion” regarding Aiden’s placement.

I think that stands all by itself. Mean ol’ family bullies.

Meanwhile, these stories about cutting-edge technology solving archeological problems keep cropping up. If it didn’t have some extremely expensive laboratory equipment involved you’d think they were just making things up as they go. Mostly because they are. And why not? Silver scans solve mystery of Jamestown graves:

The coffins were long gone, victims of decay, but the coffin nails remained. The scientists knew of the tradition of burying important people in the chancel—and two important clues clarified the mystery further.

One was a small, sealed silver box that had been placed on top of one of the coffins, as evidenced by wood fibers preserved on the bottom of the box. The other was silver thread found in one of the graves.

But the team from the Jamestown Rediscovery archaeological project was left with a conundrum: how to use these valuable clues to reveal the identities of the people in the graves without destroying the artifacts?

Meanwhile, from the Department of Things Change, Obviously: Millennial Travel Habits Force Tourism Bureaus to Shift Strategy:

Millennials at destination marketing organizations are pushing senior leadership to develop more innovative digital communications and more experiential sales efforts targeting both the leisure travel and meetings sectors.

Especially on the digital side, many of these younger professionals feel that their youth and social media expertise can be better leveraged to create more compelling social media and content marketing outreach for their organizations.

[…]

“I think it’s important for Millennials to point out to their senior leadership that the intent behind these campaigns is not just to do something fun,” says Spencer. “Of course, it was fun, but there was a strategy behind it and a lot of ROI. We wanted to get folks excited about Cleveland as a great place to visit, and we achieved that with a great outcome.”

Stack dimes.

After I’d had all the fun I could with class and podcasts and emails and reading and directing the typical traffic of a Wednesday I went for a run. I had a nice seven-mile jog, and I clocked my final mile at 8:26. That’s not fast, not even for me, but I’d like to stress, again, that it was mile seven.

I do not know what is happening.