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things to read

Seriously, it is supposed to be winter here again tomorrow

It has come to this. For the second week in a row we are under the specter of winter weather. For the second week in a row there could be snow or ice or both or neither. For the second week in a row schools and businesses are making the early or late decisions about whether they will be open tomorrow as meteorologists study their models and refine and predict mild to moderate to severe weather.

For the second week in a row I stopped at Walmart to study the crowds. For entertainment.

Clearly this is the sign of something wrong. And I don’t mean that last week this same Walmart had four cash registers open and each had lines of people midway back through the store. I don’t mean that tonight there are four lines open and no one is in this place. That this has become a mild manner of amusement is troubling.

Also troubling is the lack of shoppers. This is consumer forecasting at its worst. Last week it was packed and, thankfully, nothing of seriousness happened for the surrounding community. Tonight, with no one here, it is easy to reach the conclusion that we’re sure to get ensconced in ice tomorrow.

But back to why I find this amusing.

It is a strange night. To be outside at any point today you’d wonder how we could have temperatures in the 60s and low 70s and winter weather tomorrow. But, it does have an “anything is possible” feel outdoors as the evening turns into night.

Normally that’s a springtime feeling: This could become anything.

I think, then, that we are in a great seasonal change, even now. Winter is beginning to give up the fight. One last little lashing out, and then we can talk about the glories of springtime.

Things to read … because this stuff is great in all seasons.

When the news imitates satire, and vice versa. Hillary Clinton Hints At Presidential Ambitions By Concealing Information From American People:

Fueling further speculation this week that she has her sights set on the Oval Office, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is said to have hinted at her presidential ambitions by concealing a vast trove of information from the American people. “By using a personal email account to keep records out of the hands of investigators and the U.S. populace, Clinton is making it resoundingly clear that she has presidential aspirations,” said political analyst Stuart Rothenberg, adding that Clinton’s efforts to obfuscate basic facts and hide thousands of documents from taxpayers for years on end demonstrate her capacity to successfully perform the duties of the commander-in-chief.

The Onion is genius at blurring the lines.

Hard men and women right here, ‘We aren’t disabled, we’re inconvenienced,’ veteran says as Ride 2 Recovery group cycles 470 miles:

Wednesday afternoon about 200 injured veterans made a rest stop at Battleship Memorial Park as they embarked on a 470 mile cycling trip which started in Atlanta and is set to end in New Orleans.

The 2015 Ride 2 Recovery Gulf Coast Challenge, sponsored by United Healthcare, supports physical and psychological rehabilitation programs for injured veterans, featuring cycling as a core activity. There are six Ride 2 Recovery cycling challenges this year across the United State and in Germany.

Participants rode hand cycles, recumbents, tandems and traditional road bikes, depending on their needs, as they made their way into Battleship Memorial Park, stopping in front of the USS Alabama battleship. This was one of the many stops the group makes on their six-day endeavor.

Well OK then. Actually this makes senses, and someone had to do it. But I like that there’s a marketing approach ere. There’s a reason why at The Economist we don’t chase the millennial generation:

he starting point for publishers to carve out space in this hyper-competitive environment has to be uniqueness of voice. Without a real sense of mission and purpose, the risk is that your voice will be lost in the noise. Critical as this is in itself, it’s just not enough; media companies must possess a real and deep understanding of just who is interested in hearing that voice.

A prevailing notion in marketing (across many sectors, not just media) is that millennials are the most valuable demographic to reach. They are perceived to be at the forefront of changing media patterns, so the concern is that if you fail to win them now, you lose them forever. But a focus on millennials at the expense of truly understanding a target audience is a dangerous thing.

A sound marketing strategy for a news organization would be a very nice thing to have in place. The other thing to consider here is that if we all go off chasing after the Millennial set, we have a clearly defined group of underserved, known as Everyone Else — and the Millennials who don’t care about what you’re selling.

Which brings us into the journalism section:

How a veteran reporter joined the digital age

The value of digital data

Instagram Will Top 100 Million US Users by 2018

Copyediting for reporters: How to get the basics right

This one just serves to shock by how long ago it was, and how young these guys were: Federal traffic safety board considering fresh look at Buddy Holly crash.

Here at home, 16 percent of Alabama households – double the amount of 2000 – now rely on food stamps:

In 2000, 145,368 Alabama households – or about 8.4 percent – relied on government assistance for food. By 2014, that number had increased to 283,047 households, or almost 16 percent.

The percentage of Alabama households receiving food stamps is higher than the national average of almost 14 percent but noticeably lower than the states with the highest averages. In Oregon, 19.8 percent of all households are on food stamps, with Mississippi (19.4 percent) and Maine (18 percent) following.

Nationally, the explosive growth among those receiving aid through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program has grown from 6.2 percent in 2000 to 13.5 percent in 2013.

Now let’s talk about how effective we are at lowering those numbers.

Officials reveal smart home for wounded Jacksonville veteran:

The custom built 2,800 square-foot house will allow Tomlinson, who lost the use of his legs from a combat injury, to live on his own for the first time since he received a paralyzing gunshot to the neck in 2010.

Holding an iPad on Monday, Tomlinson touched the screen and the front door on the rock-faced porch swung open to applause.

Tomlinson can also raise and lower the stove and countertops to the home by tapping on the tablet computer.

The home comes to Tomlinson free of charge from the Tunnel to Towers and Gary Sinise foundations, which build custom homes for wounded veterans.

And we’ll close with this note, from here on the frontier:

Tiredness is intending to blink and immediately beginning to dream again. But the @SamfordCrimson is worth it. #JournalismNeverSleeps

— Sydney Cromwell (@syd_cromwell) March 4, 2015

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3
Mar 15

Remembering to breathe

Here’s a fine feature I found will skimming through some archives in an office filing cabinet. Unfortunately the web isn’t so helpful in finding Shorty Harrison or his wife.

The reporter works in academia. The photographer is with a modeling agency in Florida. People doing the real work on campus, I always tell young writers, always offer the best, and usually overlooked, stories on campus.

Got a swim in this evening, the first in far too long. So I guess it is back to training then, which is where I’ve been having the problem of late: starting.

I got in 1,350 yards, which is little more than a trifle, but it was my first swim in a while. About 1,200 in my shoulders complained, “Enough.” Also, I figured out that I don’t actually breathe in the breathing part of my freestyle stroke. There’s a swimming coach that works at the pool, but he’s teaching kids to be competitive swimmers, not me. We talk now and then and I’ve complained about my arms filling up with lactic acid. He has told me a few times I’m not breathing right. Either that’s an observation or just the obvious conclusion. He hasn’t told me how to fix it. Maybe because he’s not my coach. Or maybe because it should be obvious. It makes sense though, I tend to hold my breath when I concentrate or in exercise.

If I can get that fixed, I chuckled to myself, I could progress from being a sadly incompetent swimmer to a merely bad one.

Things to read … because reading always makes us better.

This would be huge on the farm, With Google Glass app developed at UCLA, scientists can analyze plants’ health in seconds:

Scientists from UCLA’s California NanoSystems Institute have developed a Google Glass app that, when paired with a handheld device, enables the wearer to quickly analyze the health of a plant without damaging it.

The app analyzes the concentration of chlorophyll — the substance in plants responsible for converting sunlight into energy. Reduced chlorophyll production in plants can indicate degradation of water, soil or air quality.

Social media use of student athletes: 2015 survey results:

Over the last few weeks we’ve been compiling data on our third annual survey looking at the social media use of collegiate student-athletes (can see the results from our 2013 survey here and 2014 here). This isn’t a perfect science but it does allow us a good look into how college athletes use social media. This helps us be more effective in our social media education and training sessions, and also provides valuable insight as we help athletics departments craft social media strategies.

This year we had nearly 1000 student-athletes participate.

An unfortunate tale out of Oregon, Raped on Campus? Don’t Trust Your College to Do the Right Thing.

This doesn’t apply to me, yet. Training for Triathlons at an Older Age.

I’m going to say “No,” while waiting for the courts to say “Of course.” You’ll notice in the story this isn’t about you, the client, but rather the proprietor. Should Hotel Owners Be Forced To Hand Over Guest Records To Police?:

At issue was a Los Angeles ordinance that requires hotel and motel owners to record various pieces of information about their guests — drivers license, credit card and automobile tags, for instance. The hotel owners don’t dispute they have to do that; what they do dispute is the part of the law that requires proprietors to make this information available to any member of the Los Angeles Police Department upon demand.

The city contends the law is a necessary and important tool for fighting prostitution, drug trafficking and other crimes. The hotel and motel owners, some of them mom and pop operations, contend they are harassed by police, who sometimes show up for inspections of their records in the middle of the night. They contend that police should at least have a subpoena in hand, allowing the proprietors to challenge the inspection in court if they think they are being harassed.

You could make tea party jokes, but I suppose you’d have to deal with various interest groups and obtain an EPA release. There’s no limit to the jokes, really, but this is serious. Obama “Very Interested” In Raising Taxes Through Executive Action:

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest confirmed Monday that President Obama is “very interested” in the idea of raising taxes through unilateral executive action.

“The president certainly has not indicated any reticence in using his executive authority to try and advance an agenda that benefits middle class Americans,” Earnest said in response to a question about Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) calling on Obama to raise more than $100 billion in taxes through IRS executive action.

“Now I don’t want to leave you with the impression that there is some imminent announcement, there is not, at least that I know of,” Earnest continued. “But the president has asked his team to examine the array of executive authorities that are available to him to try to make progress on his goals. So I am not in a position to talk in any detail at this point, but the president is very interested in this avenue generally,” Earnest finished.

Here at home, some things never change.

Alabama Supreme Court orders halt to same-sex marriages

Gov. Robert Bentley on state budget problems: ‘We cannot cut our way out of this’

This is a really neat, unsurprising and seldom told type of sports story. Beauty of sport: Texas A&M’s compassionate act in Auburn’s time of need:

On Saturday morning, former NBA forward Anthony Mason, father of Auburn guard Antoine Mason, died in Manhattan following complications from an earlier heart attack. Antoine already was with his loved ones, but Auburn rightfully felt compelled to somehow honor the Mason family in a game nationally televised on the SEC Network (or even if it wasn’t).

Problem was, Auburn already was in College Station, and the Tigers’ jerseys were laid out in the Reed Arena visitors locker room, hours before a 7:30 p.m. tip against the Aggies. That’s when Auburn head equipment manager Dana Marquez reached out from Auburn to his friend and counterpart at A&M, Matt Watson.

Watson has served as A&M’s head equipment manager since 2000, but is only 43 – a testament to how diligent and good he is at his gig. This is one more example. Watson received the call from Marquez at 3:30 p.m. Saturday, only four hours prior to tip.

Marquez asked if the Aggies could do anything at all to help the Tigers honor Mason. The result was an example of the oft-untold good in sports.

“It was the right thing to do,” Watson said. “Life happens, and it doesn’t always happen in a timely manner.”

And time was of the essence.

From the depths of history, and the deep of the Pacific, Microsoft co-founder says he’s discovered long-lost Japanese battleship:

Paul Allen says he has found the wreck of a long-lost World War II Japanese battleship near the Philippines.

The philanthropist posted images on Twitter that appeared to show the Musashi, once one of the two largest warships in the world. The discovery was made aboard his superyacht, the MY Octopus, as part of an expedition that Allen launched.

The search has taken Allen and his team of researchers more than eight years.

The images and video were taken by an unmanned submersible deployed from the vessel.

It is simultaneously amazing that we are capable of making discoveries like this and surprising that it often takes so long to make discoveries like this.

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2
Mar 15

If you’re going to steal, go big

Back to it today. This, I tell myself every year, is the work week that demonstrates I’m not as young as I used to be. Because I’m young enough — and obtuse enough, I suppose — that it takes a particular week to get the point across. After getting home on Saturday night and doing laundry and a frozen pizza in time to be asleep by 9 p.m. and then Sunday of doing only what is required of a Sunday, it was time to return to the action this morning.

At least, this year, we only had to go to Atlanta. Last year I did this week after a trip to Lafayette, Louisiana. Next year we can look forward to going to Austin Peay, which means almost four hours back to campus on a Saturday before the most abbreviated of weekends and … I feel tired already.

In class today we discussed story ideas, and that is always magical. You ask a group “What makes you happy? What makes you angry?” and you get a half-dozen story ideas right away. What are people talking about? What part of that do they have wrong? What do they need to know? There are all kind of little tricks to help you create story ideas. I always tell classes that there are two kinds of people: those who can spout off a handful of ideas like they were reciting their address and those that can’t. If you can’t, you can learn. And I was in that latter category. But anyone can do it, and here are some ways how.

I sent them off with an assignment sheet, a come up with ideas based on these things, arrangement. Turn in a copy for a grade, keep a copy to start that new idea book you’re about to create. Story ideas are fun. I used to dread them, until I learned how to dream up four or five angles off of one simple idea. And if I can, anyone can.

I had vegetables for dinner. Comfort food of the healthiest order. Now this.

Entre Nous is Samford’s yearbook and this is the 1979 pageant. The winner received the Hypalia Cup. I’m not sure of the origins of that. One of these ladies is a homemaker, I think. Another is an educator. No idea about the third. Also, this, from the accompanying story:

Things to read … because we need something from this century to wrap this up.

You would think this would be a conspicuous choice … and that people wouldn’t do it. Travis Kvapil’s NASCAR racecar stolen from outside hotel, won’t race at Atlanta this weekend:

Getting your car stolen in a major American city is not that unusual an occurrence.

However, getting a professional racecar inside a trailer and attached to a heavy-duty hauling truck stolen is a new one. But that’s exactly what happened to NASCAR veteran Travis Kvapil and his No. 44 Chevrolet Sprint Cup car overnight Friday.

NASCAR comfirmed Friday afternoon that Kvapil had withdrawn from Sunday’s QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Oh. They were caught on tape. And the car has been found, sans trailer or truck, which was discovered later in the day. If LoJack isn’t sponsoring that guy by the end of the month there’s something wrong with America.

Following up on the earlier Bentley-Holtzclaw story, Gov. Robert Bentley says Holtzclaw billboard ‘irresponsible,’ projects will be resumed at some point:

The governor was asked this morning if Cooper’s move should serve as a warning to legislators as they consider whether to support the governor’s $541 million tax increase proposal announced today.

“I wouldn’t say a warning,” Bentley said. “I would say that it is irresponsible to act irresponsibly.”

Bentley said he did not know Cooper had stopped the projects until Cooper informed him, but that he had given Cooper “the green light” to do so.

Asked if there were other “green lights” coming, Bentley said, “It’s on yellow.”

So be careful what you say at the capitol, I guess.

I read this a few days ago and found myself full of wonder and awe and I want to share it with you now, a newspaper editor I know wrote this about a guy he knew once upon a time. It defies excerpting, but it is worth reading: The legacy we leave behind.

And, finally, I don’t always link to all of the stuff the Crimson produces, because that would be a lot of links, but there are some good things in this week’s issue, including this look back to the 1930s, specifically, how the students felt about FDR in 1939:

Down with Roosevelt! Roosevelt for King! FDR should be shot! I love Roosevelt!

These are typical reactions to the question: are you in favor of Roosevelt for a third term as president of the United States. Delving further into complicated statistics and graphs collected by the Crimson staff, we find more than a dozen highly exciting opinions on the most exciting question of the day. (The war in Europe and the Cincinnati-St. Louis baseball feud are of course a great deal more interesting and important, but if a feature writer can’t claim exciting interest for his subject, he might as well not write the article.)

It is a fine read.

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26
Feb 15

To Atlanta! Travel on a non-snow day

We got snow. It started around me around 6 or 7 p.m. last night. It looked like this:

It didn’t snow very much on us, but to the north they had an actual snowfall event. The roads were dry by mid-morning. Campus opened at 11 a.m. today. The expectation was that the cold temps and melting snow could make for some dangerous roads for winter-weary travelers.

So almost as soon as campus opened I had to get ready to leave. Things must be printed and copies must be made. Department credit cards must be picked up, returned and then finding another one. The rental car people have to show up. I have to promise not to transport minors to Canada. (Seriously, there’s an Enterprise form for that.) Waivers from students must be signed. And then we get to the van. It is a giant white brick. The Enterprise people couldn’t find the gas tank. We walked around it three times before we accidentally stumbled upon it. We labored with loading the thing with luggage, which was more difficult than it needed to be.

And then we were on the road, bound for Atlanta and the Southeast Journalism Conference, hosted by Georgia State University. The trip was no problem, the roads were perfect. We checked into the hotel right on time. We checked into the conference with no problem. The Yankee came over and we all went out for dinner at Tin Lizzy’s Cantina. Some of the students brought us milkshakes. I got to see a student that was in my class a few years ago, but transferred to GSU, which made us all sad. It was a nice treat to see her and learn that she was doing very well. Also, milkshakes.

Things to read … because reading goes with your dessert.

Lessons from a 73-Year-Old World Champion:

Train and race hard. Treat your training like a job and always approach it with great focus.

Never quit. Don’t shortchange any of your workouts. Always finish what you set out to do because if you can’t accomplish goals on the micro-level, you won’t be able to shoot for those on the macro-level.

Always stay in the moment. Banish all negative thoughts from your mind and focus on the task at hand.

Here are a few local stories of note.

Undocumented immigrants: A boom or bust opportunity for Alabama economy?:

While charting the population totals for each state may be inconsistent, the amount already paid in tax dollars is not. Data from The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy , or ITEP, highlights that undocumented workers contributed $10.6 billion in state and local taxes in 2010, but this money could slowly be leaving some states who continue to fight the inclusion of undocumented immigrants.

This population is also reportedly getting smaller for Alabama — a state faced with closing a $700 million budget gap and on the verge of a tax increase.

This story is going to be huge. ALDOT director says lawmaker’s billboard went too far, kills road projects:

Alabama Department of Transportation Director John Cooper today said he has called off planned road projects in state Sen. Bill Holtzclaw’s district, which includes portions of Limestone and Madison County.

Holtzclaw, a Republican, this week put up a billboard in his district that read “Governor Bentley wants to raise your taxes. I will not let that happen.”

“I just thought the billboard was a step too far,” Cooper said today. “If Sen. Holtzclaw feels that strongly about taxes, he probably wouldn’t be comfortable with a significant amount of tax dollars being spent in his district as we had planned.”

Let’s continue with that story, where an appointee is trying to silence a representative of the governor’s own party. Alabama DOT director stops road projects because of senator’s billboard critical of Gov. Robert Bentley:

“If Sen. Holtzclaw is that concerned with taxes I think he probably would be uncomfortable with us spending tax money in his district, so I pulled the projects,” Cooper said.

Bentley announced last week that he would propose a $700 million tax increase to close a shortfall in the General Fund budget.

Bentley also said at that time, in response to questions about whether he would try to strong-arm legislators into supporting his plan by threatening to withhold project funds: “We will look more favorably on areas of the state that really do want to support our budget.”

Cooper said today that Bentley did not instruct him to stop the projects. He said he informed Bentley about his decision in a phone call but declined to say how the governor reacted.

We’re going to hear a lot about this story, I hope, in the near future.

I’ve written about this man here before. Medal of Honor recipient Bennie Adkins shares his story with Opelika High students:

According to Army records, Adkins is estimated to have killed between 135 and 175 enemy soldiers and was wounded 18 times during the incident.

“What makes it so humbling is the fact that in that time period, 30 million men and women served in our military, and there are only 79 living Medal of Honor recipients,” Adkins said. “I wear this medal today for the other 16 American soldiers with me on those days. All 17 of us were wounded, most of us suffered multiple wounds, and five paid the ultimate price for this great country. The 18 wounds I suffered are very minor compared to that.”

I wrote about his truly unbelievable Medal of Honor notice, here.

Journalism links:

Six questions journalists should ask when evaluating a rumor
SPLC project strives to empower women in student media
Firing Joey Kennedy

Tomorrow the conference begins.

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24
Feb 15

The first weather day

Campus opened late today because of concern about the roads. The forecast called for ice, but I never did hear of anyone having any problems. So, perhaps, opening at 10 a.m. was the right thing. Or perhaps we all benefitted from an over-abundance of caution. Either way, that was a big part of the morning.

In the afternoon, in my never-ending effort to get more things out of my office, I ran across this old clip Crimson from 1988:

McClure coached seven academic All-Americans and won a conference title at Samford. Throughout his career he coached a remarkable 145 All-Americans. He produced three Olympians. His athletes held world records in eight events. He was an assistant coach in the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. You can’t find a track and field or regional sports hall of fame that hasn’t inducted him. Previously, I’d discovered this photo of the “reserved gentleman,” Bill McClure among the hundreds of files I’ve inherited over the years:

He retired in 1996 after a 46-year sports career, the last 10 years at Samford. Before he picked up a whistle he was a Marine in World War II. He’d worked at Abilene Christian (63 All-American), South Carolina. LSU (34 All-Americans) and was the associate athletic director at Samford. He died in 2008 and was survived by five children.

Maybe they should name something after him.

Paper tonight, classes canceled tomorrow. So they’re reworking the front page and dreaming up contingencies for weather coverage. It has made for a long day, despite the late start.

Things to read … because the clock never stops.

We found the real Ron Swanson, and he’s just like the one on TV:

(T)rue fans know the loss that will hurt the most: Ron Swanson.

Ron Swanson, our freedom-loving, meat-eating, mustache-rocking man’s man. He’s our instructor of how to live on your own terms while remaining fiercely loyal to your people — characteristics we’d want in any man, especially our fathers and bosses. We’ll be lost without his rants, his wisdom, his giggle. Is there anyone who can replace him?

Well, there is a real Ron Swanson who lives in Indiana.

The guy doesn’t even watch the show. Also, remember how Ron Swanson was initially supposed to be a joke? Funny how that works out.

Twitter’s Dilemma:

At times (quite a bit) the way that Twitter has chosen to roll out features and products has felt schizophrenic. And that’s no wonder, really, as the company now serves two masters. Its users and its shareholders. And while those interests may sometimes align, there is no question which is the more important to please for a public company.

This has led to rocky times when it comes to external, and even internal, perceptions of Twitter’s directional confidence.

[…]

Recent product decisions appear to be displaying more thoughtfulness about how to balance Twitter’s Dilemma. It remains to be seen whether the market will bear that, or if there is a way to truly find an equilibrium there. But there are some pleasant signs. We’ll see if the messaging products really do get the attention that Weil says they are, and whether video and onboarding continue to get polished.

There is a great deal of thought and insight in that piece. The big takeaway is that there are a lot of moving parts in play. The second takeaway is that Twitter might try to become all things to all people. And you know what happens when you do that.

From Internet to Obamanet:

Critics of President Obama’s “net neutrality” plan call it ObamaCare for the Internet.

That’s unfair to ObamaCare.

Both ObamaCare and “Obamanet” submit huge industries to complex regulations. Their supporters say the new rules had to be passed before anyone could read them. But at least ObamaCare claimed it would solve long-standing problems. Obamanet promises to fix an Internet that isn’t broken.

The permissionless Internet, which allows anyone to introduce a website, app or device without government review, ends this week.

And we’re going to miss it when it is gone.

Lawmaker with lavish decor billed private planes, concerts:

Illinois Rep. Aaron Schock, a rising Republican star already facing an ethics inquiry, has spent taxpayer and campaign funds on flights aboard private planes owned by some of his key donors, The Associated Press has found. There also have been other expensive travel and entertainment charges, including for a massage company and music concerts.

The expenses highlight the relationships that lawmakers sometimes have with donors who fund their political ambitions, an unwelcome message for a congressman billed as a fresh face of the GOP. The AP identified at least one dozen flights worth more than $40,000 on donors’ planes since mid-2011.

The AP tracked Schock’s reliance on the aircraft partly through the congressman’s penchant for uploading pictures and videos of himself to his Instagram account. The AP extracted location data associated with each image then correlated it with flight records showing airport stopovers and expenses later billed for air travel against Schock’s office and campaign records.

Reporters are watching politicians’ EXIF metadata. That’s brilliant.

Later in the story we learn that Schock is a 30something legislator that refers to people as “haters.”

Thank you, modern society.

Journalism links:

What can you do with a GoPro?
Snapchat stories: Here’s how 6 news orgs are thinking about the chat app
News Outlets Are Using This Site to Find Photos and Video on Social Media

Tomorrow: a snow day! But will we get snow?