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Samford

Katydids, a tiger and criminals

James Lileks always likes to say you never hear the last one. Well, we’re still a good way from this year’s last katydid, and they didn’t mind pointing that out tonight.

If you click on those little play buttons you can hear how the microphone of an iPhone is not very good at capturing this sort of sound. Which is where we are with technology now. It does this thing, and allows me to use this particular tool to create and ship something to another place. And we don’t think it does it especially well.

Two cool cycling stories: UCI Women Get Upgraded to WorldTour Status for 2016:

Starting in 2016, there will be no more UCI Women’s World Cup. Instead, the women will be one step closer to parity with the men after introduction of the UCI Women’s WorldTour.

The idea began to take shape after a summit in December 2014, and the final product will launch at the beginning of the 2016 season.

Women were previously only granted 10 days of racing in the World Cup series, in which their events often lacked the media attention and social media buzz seen during the men’s events. Now, racers will have potentially 30 days of racing available in the WorldTour, which will include stage races instead of simply one-day events.

About time. Let’s get them on TV so I can watch them go, too.

My favorite pro cyclist is Taylor Phinney. He’s been recouping from a horrible leg injury, now back in just his second race in more than a year. And today he did this:

Ridiculous headline: An actual tiger gets loose in Packard Plant in Detroit. A photographer was permitted to use the old facility, but didn’t mention the tiger. And then the animal got loose. Because that’s the sort of thing that one can expect in Detroit, I guess. Though, to be sure, this seems more like a piece of a southern conversation:

“I got a call from a friend who asked me to help them get this tiger out of a staircase,” said Andy Didorosi, 28, of Detroit. “He asked me if I had a leafblower, and I said I had a weedwhacker, so he told me to bring that. … I stopped what I was doing, grabbed my tools and hopped in my truck, because, you know, tiger.

A story to restore your faith in the human spirit: ‘I was asleep but I heard you’: Newlyweds get second chance after traumatic brain injury:

Anna blinked back tears now and gripped Jeremy’s hand as she recalled one of the lowest points of her life.

“I’d always heard about people who were on their deathbeds and holding on, waiting for someone to tell them it’s OK to go. I thought maybe that’s what he was doing,” said Anna.

“I went in to his room and told him, ‘Jeremy I love you so much and I’m so proud of you and you’ve worked so hard. I know you’re tired and it’s OK if you want to let go and want to go home. I’ll be so jealous of you because you’ll be walking the streets of gold with Jesus, but I will be OK here because I have friends and family to look after me.'”

She kissed his forehead and left, expecting that to be their last conversation.

The next day, he began to improve.

His recovery is a modern medical miracle. A friend of mine knows that couple and had a lot to say about them both. It is a charming story.

A story that requires justice: Police recover Tuskegee Airman’s stolen car in St. Louis:

St. Louis police officers found a 93-year-old Tuskegee Airman’s stolen car Tuesday afternoon behind a vacant home a few blocks from where it was taken, according to police sources.

[…]

The man lost his money, then the car, in separate crimes involving at least three men Sunday morning, police said.

The victim appeared to be in good health Tuesday but told a reporter he didn’t want publicity because it would only cause more harm. He said he just wanted to get his car back.

Victimizing an elderly individual is particularly egregious. Let alone a man who was a war hero, a man who had to fight his country to fight for his country. There should be a specialized investigation unit that takes on such cases, a TV-style

Time to build up the distances. So I had a 2,000 yard swim and a four mile run this evening. It all felt nice and slow and easy. So, really, I was moving as fast as I could.

Monday / photo / Samford — Comments Off
17
Aug 15

Back to school

Back to campus for the first day of another fall term. It rained a lot and there was no parking. There is a video circulating among the campus set of the president ferrying people to their buildings in a golf cart. Did that happen at your university? The president of the institution was out this morning in a slicker and a baseball cap, driving people to and fro.

It took me 34 minutes to park this morning, and it seemed like most everyone had a similar tale, but at least the good folks in the administration building know what is going on on their campus.

First class today, I’m teaching a social media practices class this fall. I’m excited to see what becomes of it.

After class the rain had moved off and the sun appeared. I saw this on one of the bike racks:

I moved my car closer, because, according to the collection of emails, that’s going to be the game of the first week back in classes. This is the largest student body Samford has ever had, some construction is wrapping up here and there and heavy equipment is using some parking. They’re going to invent a new parking lot from thin air soon.

I think that’s because the folks with the truly impressive titles were out shuttling students and faculty this morning. They know. They know, they understand and they’re eager to make this work.

Great place to be.

Went to the big blue box store tonight. I got excited when I saw this:

And then you tilt it over, pick it up, read the label and look inside. There’s no Play-Doh inside. A terrific con. Buy this bucket and the few bits of plastic inside. Play-Doh not included.

photo / Samford / Wednesday — Comments Off
17
Jun 15

Back on campus

Had a meeting and a few things to take care of on campus today.

The landscaping is still lovely as ever:

And those banners will probably fly for a long time, too. Deservedly so. Top-ranked school in the state is no small thing. Go Bulldogs.

Pretty campus we have there, no?

Auburn / baseball / Friday / friends / photo / Samford — Comments Off
8
May 15

Last day of class

Last two classes of the term today. I gave a quiz consisting of when their finals were due and so on, the traditional end-of-term easy few points. I gave my not-at-all famous end-of-term speech. The brain is like any other muscle, I say, and you must use it. In our case, write. Write for publication. Write for yourself. Just write. Writers write.

There are a few other points in that speech. Thank you for your patience, I hope you’ve learned as much as I have. (I always learn a lot, even as the person leading the room.) Deadlines matter, I remind them. And I remind them again that it is OK to be passionate about where their interests are taking them, and so on.

In the second class a student pulled up Boys II Men and I tried to hit the back post of the song with the speech.

I forgot about the last chorus and missed the post.

But the speech is good.

Afterward, as I was wrapping up still more grading and various on-campus errands I ran into one of our students who is leaving us at the end of this term. He was there with his father. The student gave me a hug and introduced me to his dad. That’s not a bad way to wrap up classes.

And I got home just in time to shoot this from the car, hustling as I was to the ballgame. There’s nothing quite so nice as a good sunset on the plain. This blurry, out of the car window, cell phone shot isn’t representative of that, but the feeling of being home can’t be described in words or pictures anyway:

At baseball, it was time for rally sunglasses. Almost everyone in our section participated:

Shame the rally sunglasses didn’t work. Ah well. Get ’em tomorrow.

photo / Samford / Thursday — Comments Off
7
May 15

This will be quick

You know the end of the year is coming upon us when the mundane things are odd. Or is it that the odd things are mundane? Not sure. I was walking up a flight of stairs on campus and noticed that someone just left their class notes on the handrail.

I hope they were through studying them.

I thought about that for a while and then ran into one of our JMC students doing a standup in the cafeteria. I don’t think she was discussing classic liberalism. She was very animated.

Turns out someone was getting reaction to something about the cafeteria. I moseyed away.