Samford

Friday / friends / journalism / photo / Samford / Twitter — Comments Off on No helicopters were shot down during this presentation
13
Feb 15

No helicopters were shot down during this presentation

No kidding:

After about three hours of sleep last night — working and reworking slides takes time — I made it over to the Alabama Press Association’s convention in plenty of time to get set up for my opening morning session. We got through the technical difficulties, the APA folks were great, and then a few people strolled in. I knew one or two. I met two or three others. I figured that it would be a light crowd. Early morning, a topic like “Vetting User Generated Content” and other options meant I might not be the biggest draw.

My friend Bob Davis, who is the editor of the Anniston Star, came up to talk for a few moments. When he sat down a nice APA member was ready to introduce me and the room was full. Just look at Bob’s photo above.

So I spoke and talked and then spoke and talked. I told a few jokes. I live-tweeted my own speech — actually I scheduled some topical tweets last night and guessed on the times and it all worked out to the amazement of a few people. I only made one Brian Williams joke (and one David Carr reference). It all seemed well-received. I got some nice questions. I was hoping for a bit more back-and-forth, I thought it might be nice to hear from others about what their outlets are doing with UGC, but that didn’t happen. But there were nods and compliments.

My slides:

I stayed after my session to hear some of our students who were leading a panel session on their journalism. Here’s managing editor Halley Smith, editor-in-chief Sydney Cromwell and news editor Emily Featherston (l-r):

Crimson

I took notes:

Then I hustled back to campus and grabbed a bit of lunch. I had some class prep. I had a class. After class I helped a student worked through some story ideas. And then I hoped in the car and put the sun behind me:

Mirror

East it was, then, to Atlanta. Almost made it there before dark, but for the ubiquitous traffic and an unfortunate accident I passed along the way. Made it there in time, though. There was a concert. A terrific show.

And I’ll put stuff here about that tomorrow.

links / Samford / things to read / video / Wednesday — Comments Off on The plan, the mystery and the secret
11
Feb 15

The plan, the mystery and the secret

First paper of the new semester is out today. We have a weird schedule such that we are now three weeks into the term by the time the paper comes out. I wish I had a way to remedy that, but at the moment I do not. This morning, we got this:

Crimson

So it was a long night last night as they got back into the swing of things. That was followed by class today, two critiques today and various other work-related fun. It was enough to keep me busy in the office. The phone does not ring, but the email does constantly ding.

There are big plans in the first 45 seconds of this video have been pretty influential the last few days:

I showed it to a class. It is going into a big presentation on Friday. It figures pretty highly into conversations like this, as well: How to Advertise to the Millennial Who Hates Advertising. Everybody wants millennials, he said. And you found yourself shaking your head, knowing he was right.

Not the last, but surely the definitive word on this less-than-mysterious subject: Here’s why NBC didn’t fire Brian Williams.

Things to read … because there’s rarely a definitive word. The science is never, really, settled. The U.S. government is poised to withdraw longstanding warnings about cholesterol:

The nation’s top nutrition advisory panel has decided to drop its caution about eating cholesterol-laden food, a move that could undo almost 40 years of government warnings about its consumption.

The group’s finding that cholesterol in the diet need no longer be considered a “nutrient of concern” stands in contrast to the committee’s findings five years ago, the last time it convened. During those proceedings, as in previous years, the panel deemed the issue of excess cholesterol in the American diet a public health concern.

The finding follows an evolution of thinking among many nutritionists who now believe that, for healthy adults, eating foods high in cholesterol may not significantly affect the level of cholesterol in the blood or increase the risk of heart disease.

I wonder how many people are celebrating with breakfast for dinner tonight.

The UK has lost her way. There’s just no other way to say it:Charlie Hebdo’s UK distributor gave police list of stockists ‘in case of community tensions’ … then officers went to newsagents to demand names of customers who bought it

Two more police forces have been caught asking British newsagents which sold copies of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo for details of the customers who bought it.

Officers from Wales and Cheshire police have approached shopkeepers and demanded personal information on readers of the magazine, according to reports.

It comes after police in Wiltshire caused outrage by demanding similar details be handed over in the wake of the Paris attacks.

A video from campus. You should check out the Christenberry Planetarium, which is awesome and too often overlooked:

We always ask their secret: 109-Year-Old Man Spends His Time Knitting Sweaters for Tiny Penguins. Australian Alfred Date says the secret to his longevity is just “waking up every morning.”

So, on those days when you wake up in the afternoon …

journalism / links / Samford / things to read / Tuesday / video — Comments Off on Things to read
10
Feb 15

Things to read

Seems we’re behind on interesting links lately. Let’s just smear a bunch of them all over the place now.

First, a great handful of journalism items:

AP’s ‘robot journalists’ are writing their own stories now
Why Journalism Professors Should Teach Accuracy Checklists
Meet the first two African American women in White House press corps
NBC’s Brian Williams recants Iraq story after soldiers protest
Controversy grows over Brian Williams’ Iraq apology

Brian Williams has to go. Hey, most of us without head trauma would probably remember the simple act of being in a helicopter knocked out of the sky.

Also, the last two ‘graphs in the Stars and Stripes story linked above:

O’Keeffe said the incident has bothered him since he and others first saw the original report after returning to Kuwait.

“Over the years it faded,” he said, “and then to see it last week it was — I can’t believe he is still telling this false narrative.”

That word “still.” Also there were reportedly years of warnings, or pleadings.

One more journalism tidbit: Wait, You Want Me to Fit a Drone into My Journalism Toolkit!?

Yes. And bring me one as well. You can even have the Millennium Falcon one for yourself:

Here’s some nice news about our program: Journalism program earns honors in national ranking:

Samford University’s Department of Journalism and Mass Communication (JMC) has earned impressive honors in a new ranking of national journalism education programs. Samford debuted at number 43 out of the 187 programs ranked by the College Factual website.

The site, which provides rankings and other customized information to help students find the college most likely to lead to their future success, also revealed that Samford’s journalism program is:

• A top-25 “major value” in journalism education nationally.
• The top journalism program in Alabama.
• One of the top journalism programs among U.S. private universities.
• One of the top journalism programs in the South

Great students, great alumni, hardworking faculty, big rankings.

Other local news:

Baptist minister explains why she will be performing the first same-sex marriage ceremony in Huntsville
Unitarian, pagan and other ministers officiate gay weddings; one Methodist pastor dances
Grandfather visiting Alabama from India stopped by police while taking walk, left partly paralyzed
Enterprise student submits winning design to NASA
Alabama Psychiatric Services close across state

And a few tech links to call it a day:

Millennials Spend More Time With Mobile, Impacts TV Time
The homepage is alive — here are 64 ideas for what it could become
The long-lost Apollo 11 artifacts discovered in Neil Armstrong’s closet

That last one is interesting, but read your Hansen and it will make perfect sense.

I do not know what is happening. / maps / photo / running / Samford / Wednesday — Comments Off on Don’t trust the map
4
Feb 15

Don’t trust the map

Here is a map my phone recorded:

map

That’s off of a fitness app. A company has a run app and a walk app and a walk-your-dog app (no kidding) and a cycling app. Naturally, that’s the one I got first. Why they don’t simply integrate these into one utility escapes me, but we do know that dog lobby is a powerful one. Anyway, I share that map with you because, on Monday, I tried out one of the gyms on campus I’d never been in before. It was built in the 1960s and has a track running around the outer ring.

Something about the building, though, interferes with the signal getting to the phone and the app. That’s two laps around a circular track floating above a standard gymnasium. The website tells you the distance, but the app was very much in disagreement. So I just turned it off and thought about downloading the walk-your-dog app.

Which probably would have been better than the run, or the way I’ve felt for the past two days. I still have grapefruits in my calves from the exertion, an easy five-mile run. (I knew the lap count and my general time.) Apparently I didn’t stretch enough and I’m reminded of this every time I walk down stairs right now.

Also, we have interesting little maintenance vehicles on campus. They are probably nicer than the older golf carts with plastic screens. And they have racing stripes:

stripes

I just thought you’d like to know that.

history / Samford / Tuesday — Comments Off on A Samford sign
3
Feb 15

A Samford sign

longfellow

That’s a heck of a quote to put on a sign dedicating your building to your father. Sloan Y. Bashinsky Sr. had that on the plaque dedication for Leo in the Bashinsky Fieldhouse at Samford.

Both men had served on the board of trustees at Samford. Leo died in 1974, but in his lifetime he was a solid, steady, no nonsense businessman. He was president of this and that, had worked in cotton, asphalt and food. He was on the board for a church and a hospital and was president of his country club and on the board of Liberty National Life Insurance. He has two buildings named in his honor on campus, both for his roles and because of the love of his son, Sloan Sr., who was one of the university’s most dedicated donors.

Sloan flew out of Guam in World War II and then returned home and was established by his dad. He took over Magic City Foods in 1956. Leo had bought it for $1 million and would sell it to his son. Sloan converted that into the Golden Flake powerhouse which is today traded on the NASDAQ and has revenues around $135 million these days. He served on boards left and right, often taking on the same or similar roles his father had before him, and was never one to blow his own trumpet about the good works he did throughout the region. When he died in 2005 many of his friends happily picked up the slack and pointed out his donations here and service there.

Life sublime, indeed.

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