Monday « Kenny Smith | A remarkable thing happens …

Monday

The boats may be sentient by the end of this post

These are Chaparral Boats. They must be coming out of Florida or beyond. There’s no dealer in Alabama between here and there. I think, after some surfing, they are something from the Sunesta class.

If it is a Sunesta, there’s a seat facing aft, with only two handrails to keep you on the vessel. There’s a ladder that slips into the hull. And there’s room for 14, the site says. The specs boast 320 horsepower, but don’t tell us a speed. You spend time in the next portion of your drive wondering what those cost. The low end of that model will only set you back about $75,000. If you spring for all of the high end accessories you’re looking at least $105,000. That’s before you get into the trailer, rigging, registration, shipping fees and so on.

Truck drivers routinely haul a great deal of valuable merchandise, but that guy might have a payload of something close to $250,000 on board and it is shiny and obvious.

Things to read … because it is obvious (to me) that I’ve got nothing else for the day.

Happy news! Referenced this in class today. The resolution was much more boring than the owners had originally feared, Service dog reunited with Cullman County owner after 5 days without food or water.

I mentioned that in class to point out that they have a Pulitzer Prize winner writing that stuff.

This does not say which schools, but you can be assured the comments get quickly political, Apple to give $100 million to schools, five in Alabama, CEO Tim Cook says:

Apple is awarding $100 million to schools in poor communities including five Alabama schools, Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook said Monday in Montgomery.

On the same day Cook was being inducted to the Alabama Academy of Honor alongside his co-inductees Nick Saban, Judy Bonner, John Croyle, James Hudson Jr., Margaret Porter, Jeff Sessions and Edgar Welden.

A fine honor for a real gentleman and his lovely wife. Auburn legend, Samford coach Pat Sullivan to have field house renamed in his honor:

Samford University will rename its football field house the Sullivan-Cooney Family Field House to honor current Samford head coach Pat Sullivan and his wife, Jean, the school announced Friday.

The field house was originally named for Birmingham business executive and 1974 Samford graduate Gary Cooney and his family. Cooney, a long-time friend of Sullivan, gave the lead gift that made the building possible.

“I have always felt through athletics it is the relationships that will last for a lifetime,” Sullivan said. “My friendship with Gary Cooney began when we were teammates at John Carroll High School. Gary’s generosity and the generosity of others enabled us to build this beautiful football facility.

And some good news down at the Gulf Coast, Museum dedicated to forestry and agriculture to open at the fairgrounds:

A new Agriculture and Forestry Museum will open at the Greater Gulf State Fairgrounds Saturday, displaying exhibits on a number of plants and animals key to the state’s farm economy.

[…]

Lucas said the museum will be open to the public when there are major events at the fairgrounds.

And here’s some dumb news, but even the resolution to the overreaction has a happy ending, LAX flight delayed after WiFi hotspot name prompts concerns.

We just might have to start a “Good News Monday” feature.

When Jay Rosen is aggravated, it is always a good read, Facebook’s phony claim that “you’re in charge”:

It’s not us exercising judgment, it’s you. We’re not the editors, you are. If this is what Facebook is saying — and I think it’s a fair summary of Marra’s comments to the New York Times — the statement is a lie.

I say a lie, not just an untruth, because anyone who works day-to-day on the code for News Feed knows how much judgment goes into it. It simply isn’t true that an algorithmic filter can be designed to remove the designers from the equation. It’s an assertion that melts on contact. No one smart enough to work at Facebook could believe it. And I’m not sure why it’s sitting there unchallenged in a New York Times story. For that doesn’t even rise to the level of “he said, she said.” It’s just: he said, poof!

Now, if Greg Marra and his team want to make the point that in perfecting their algorithm they’re not trying to pick the day’s most important stories and feature them in the News Feed, the way an old fashioned front page or home page editor would, and so in that sense they are not really “editors” and don’t think in journalistic terms, fine, okay, that’s a defensible point. But don’t try to suggest that the power has thereby shifted to the users, and the designers are just channeling your choices. (If I’m the editor of my News Feed, where are my controls?)

Programmers refer to the phenomenon as GIGO. You could change the noun, it doesn’t have to be Garbage, but you’re still getting the high dose of Facebook’s choice. Because you don’t have control.

But, then, we knew that. We’ve long since known that. We’re ceding control, aren’t we? Only now we’re starting to realize what that means when the control isn’t to our liking. But that’s beside the point, Professor Rosen is discussing the journalism involved rather than just Facebook.

Also, “Friend, Like, Comment, Unfollow, Hide” aren’t controls. They’re feeders. They’re sensitivity meters to the algorithm, feeders. But that’s all they are. Someone else has the control point: Facebook, specifically the programmers.

The algorithm dictates what you see, which changes what it is to be a tech company, which is now a publisher. And what becomes of a publisher? Perhaps they turn into a speech engine?

Which is as good a point as any to bring this piece in, How Smart, Connected Products Are Transforming Competition:

Information technology is revolutionizing products. Once composed solely of mechanical and electrical parts, products have become complex systems that combine hardware, sensors, data storage, microprocessors, software, and connectivity in myriad ways. These “smart, connected products”—made possible by vast improvements in processing power and device miniaturization and by the network benefits of ubiquitous wireless connectivity—have unleashed a new era of competition.

Smart, connected products offer exponentially expanding opportunities for new functionality, far greater reliability, much higher product utilization, and capabilities that cut across and transcend traditional product boundaries. The changing nature of products is also disrupting value chains, forcing companies to rethink and retool nearly everything they do internally.

These new types of products alter industry structure and the nature of competition, exposing companies to new competitive opportunities and threats. They are reshaping industry boundaries and creating entirely new industries. In many companies, smart, connected products will force the fundamental question, “What business am I in?”

Multiple businesses, of course.

(Oh, you thought this was random?)

As my friend, Professor Chris Arnold, suggested with that link, you’ll see systems of systems built on interdependent and emergent behaviors. And, I think, re-dedicated and repurposed systems and behaviors as well.

You see this all the time. That’s not just a ski boat up there. That’s a 14-person party platform. And now you can custom-select the dash.

So it won’t be much longer, then, before that boat can select your provisions based on your previous activities, or the new dash in its replacement craft. When your pleasure boat has you figured out … well, that’s going to be a pretty good Monday. Especially if the boat can also call in sick for you. Why would you go to work if you had a vessel like that?

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20
Oct 14

Monday’s deep diving

Here are a few video clips from the day at the races. I didn’t shoot much of anything worthwhile and certainly not enough to tell an actual story, he said, again. But I have the video and it doesn’t have to live on my phone forever. So I threw a few of them together and called it “Things with engines moving very fast.”

And so another week begins, with the strings that drew the last week to a close pulling loose and then taut against the tendrils that start this week. In a conversation with a student on Friday evening barbecue kept coming up as a story example, which I interpreted as a clue that I needed barbecue. So I had some kind or another on Friday night, Saturday and last night. After dinner last night there was laundry and the blur of one week turns into the whirr of the next. Here we are.

Today we discussed feature stories. It was great, we sat out under an oak tree and batted around ideas that students are working on. It was a beautiful afternoon under a shade tree.

And then back to the newsroom, where I fixed something I’d broken Friday night. That took about an hour, wrapping up the ends of something I’d begun at the end of last week. And then office work, trying to wrap up the ends of a department project that goes on and on.

Also, there is a ceiling tile to replace. We had a saggy slab of high density mineral fiber pulp that finally gave way. And now all of the cold or warmth from outside is falling in through the attic. So a call to the nice people in the facilities department, who gave me a promise that they would come, sometime soon, to fix the problem.

There are, of course, also the tedious and silly routines and errands that really fill our day. Most of this particular day’s chores won’t even mean anything in the long run. It is a Monday, after all.

Things to read … because it is a Monday.

And now we’ve localized the American Ebola story, Alabama teacher on leave after traveling aboard same plane, but on a different day, as Ebola patient:

The Phenix City Board of Education placed a high school teacher on paid leave after learning the employee traveled on the same airplane that carried a person with the Ebola virus the previous day.

The school board placed the Central High School teacher on 21 days of paid leave despite the Centers for Disease Control and the Alabama Department of Public Health insisting there is no risk of the teacher being exposed to Ebola.

Superintendent William Wilkes wrote in a letter to parents dated Oct. 19 that the teacher was being placed on leave for the incubation period of the Ebola virus “out of an abundance of caution.”

The comments are almost all with tongue planted firmly in cheek.

I usually don’t enjoy Q&As, but this one is entertaining on a variety of subjects, In Conversation Marc Andreeseen:

You could probably bring in the whole online-education movement. But for me, the question is, who does the best with online schooling? And it’s mostly autodidacts, people who are self-starters. They’ve found that people from low-income communities actually get the least out of it.

It’s way too early to judge, because we’re at the very beginning of the development of the technology. It’s like critiquing dos 1.0 and saying that this will never turn into the Windows PC. We’re still in the prototype experimental phase. We can’t use the old approach to teach the world. We can’t build that many campuses. We don’t have the space. We don’t have money. We don’t have the professors. If you can go to Harvard, go to Harvard. But that’s not the question. The question is for the 14-year-old in Indonesia staring at a life of either, like, subsistence farming or being able to get a Stanford-quality education and being able to go into a profession.

The one other thing that people are really underestimating is the impact of entertainment-industry economics applied to education. Right now, with MOOCS,11 the production values are pretty low: You’ll film the professor in the classroom. But let’s just project forward. In ten years, what if we had Math 101 online, and what if it was well regarded and you got fully accredited and certified? What if we knew that we were going to have a million students per semester? And what if we knew that they were going to be paying $100 per student, right? What if we knew that we’d have $100 million of revenue from that course per semester? What production budget would we be willing to field in order to have that course?

You could hire James Cameron to do it.

You could literally hire James Cameron to make Math 101. Or how about, let’s study the wars of the Roman Empire by actually having a VR [virtual reality] experience walking around the battlefield, and then like flying above the battlefield. And actually the whole course is looking and saying, “Here’s all the maneuvering that took place.” Or how about re-creating original Shakespeare plays in the Globe Theatre?

Sorta makes you want to invest in VR, doesn’t it?

And, finally, speaking of James Cameron, here’s some deep diving that should be filmed. It would be a 12-minute long film. New World Record for Deepest Scuba Dive:

Due to the requirements of decompression and the need to expel nitrogen, the ascent to the surface required a staggering 14 hours.

Sorta makes breaking the surface anticlimactic, no?

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13
Oct 14

Home light

The early evening light as it falls into our living room:

I do think that’s my favorite hour of the day in the house. It is full of hope and wonder, but it also has some melancholy, too. It is fleeting. And, soon, the light points out, it will be dark. So I’m always torn about it, but I do love that hour of golden light.

In the bedroom in comes in through a large laurel oak and if there is even a gentle breeze you get beautiful shadows dancing on the walls and the floor and the bed. As far as anyone can tell, that is one of the few redeemable qualities of a laurel oak.

Fall break at school, so I’m working from home. Two class preps. Emails to read and deliver. Work to dream up for student projects.

I also had to write a document on student achievements. We have impressive students. We have a lot of impressive students. And then we have some who just earn and win everything. I don’t know how they do it.

The most difficult thing, though, was trying to provide context. What’s the best way to distinguish this honor society from that one? And how do I explain this scholarship compared to another? Context is important, and it isn’t enough to say “Trust us on this, she’s an awesome person.”

Also, there was copy editing. There is always copy editing. Make your peace with it early, try to get useful at it. There is always something to read and mark up.

Things to read … because there is always something to read.

Let me guess! Because Alabama doesn’t have a rule on the books? Because Alabama doesn’t have a rule on the books, Why you may not know if your data has been hacked

What Buzzfeed, Medium and Adafruit Know About Engagement:

“When we have something that’s a hit, usually our response is not, let’s do more of those. Our response is, let’s figure why this is a hit and make variations of this. This was successful because it was tied to someone’s identity, it was successful because it had cats in it, or it was successful because it had humor, or it was successful because it tapped into nostalgia. If you’re making entertainment content, which is a big part of what we do, you look at that hit and you say, ‘Why was that successful? Can I do it again? Can I make something else that people really love and want to share?’ And you try to vary it, even though you know doing something derivative would work. Long term, you want to have a deeper understanding of how to make great things. That’s really the focus. That comes from people in a room talking and saying, ‘Oh, let’s try this, let’s try that.’ And valuing people doing new things, not just valuing people doing big things.”

Uh huh, NBC News’ Nancy Snyderman Apologizes for Violating Ebola Quarantine Guidelines

This is a great read on how the previous story came to pass, How local news site nailed NBC News top doc

Louisiana Attorney General halts Ebola waste disposal:

It was reported that six truckloads of potential Ebola contaminated material collected from the apartment where the Dallas Ebola victim became ill were brought to Port Arthur, Texas late last week to be processed at the Veolia Environmental Services incinerator.

From there the incinerated material was slated to be transported to the Chemical Waste Management hazardous material landfill in Calcasieu Parish for final disposal.

The temporary restraining order, signed by Judge Bob Downing Monday in Louisiana’s 19th Judicial District Court, requires Veolia to cease and desist any transport of the incinerator ash from the treated Ebola contaminated waste in Texas to the State of Louisiana.

This could be a big deal. Or it could be another Mobro 4000. Do you remember the 1987 garbage barge story? Last year’s 25th anniversary meant the New York Times revisited the Mobro 4000 story and concluded “little of what we thought we knew was true.”

One last game:

Yeah, that’s just the promo — the full package doesn’t seem to be on YouTube — but it is a great story.

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6
Oct 14

The first sign of the fall

The maples always give up first. They are always noticeable. This is the first one of the year, and this is how it will go from here on in. Leaves and things falling onto the car, into the yard and showing the thinning trees and the sticks. It is demoralizing, even without the symbolism. But this is how it goes, a bright red, a shocking yellow and then browns and grays and the long, deep holding of one’s breath until the first buds of spring.

I think it will be harder this year.

Slept a lot of yesterday afternoon away. I was just so tired all weekend. Of course by the time I’d recouped enough to feel close to normal evening had arrived. By the time my third wind arrived I was wide awake for the witching hour. So I got a few things off the DVR, at least.

Up early this morning, and then subsequently at ’em. If they ever figure out we’re at ’em things are going to change. No one ever discusses that, but it is a distinct possibility we have to consider.

Class today and then office stuff and helping with a few story ideas. I had dinner at a place where the menu said one price and my ticket indicated another, higher one. I pointed this out to the server, a cheerful woman who has seen me enough to offer a really solid — but incorrect — guess about what I was having for dinner. She laughed it off. I’ll remember that when I don’t go back anytime soon.

After dinner, this was my view:

Which wasn’t bad, really. The maple leaves are getting drunk and falling down, but the temperatures are still nice and comforting and warm.

Things to read … because reading is comforting, and can keep you warm — if you’re someplace warm.

A tragedy, an eventuality, and I agree with Dr. Joyner, this was poorly handled. US Marine First Casualty in Fight Against ISIS.

There’s a great sadness, and surely a great number of people who cared, who now wish they’d had a way to help. A terrible loss, Hazel Green community mourns death of football standout Julian Jones.

He might not be presidential timber, but he’s an interesting man. This is another little insight into the man from Massachusetts, Mitt Isn’t Ready to Call It Quits.

So one team’s quarterback gets hurt. No one else on the team can play the part. So a guy from the other team comes over to take a few snaps, High school quarterback helps opposing team during their time of need.

Are you interested in media law stemming from the Boston Marathon bombing? Well, New York Post’s Shoddy Reporting Leaves Legal, Ethical Lessons.

This is another great piece from last week that should have been written in the last decade, How journalists are embracing the innovation of Twitter.

The Cluetrain, happily, is still making plenty of stops.

I parked under a tree today. Now all of the crevices are filled with tiny leaves. The elms are taking cues from the maples. Quitters.

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29
Sep 14

So what did you do on your weekend?

Army Ranger, Sgt. 1st Class Cedric King ran a half Ironman. He swam 1.2 miles. He cycled 56 miles. He finished his day with a half marathon, 13.1 miles of running. King stepped on an IED in Afghanistan in 2012. Earlier this year he finished the Boston Marathon. He is a hard man.

Rangers lead the way.

He passed on his second loop just after I’d seen a woman, of whom I wrote: “Just gave a high five to perhaps the last contestant on the course, looking beat, looking haggard. Looking determined, looking awesome.”

She was awesome, but I’d already seen King once as well. Before Cedric King came back by the locals started pulling up the cones. Cedric King just kept motoring along, having run, twice, past signs with head shots placed in honor of his brothers in arms who gave their lives in the Middle East.

I slapped him on the back as he came by the first time, and I wanted to go run through a wall after that. Demonstrations of will are always an impressive site.

(All of those Cedric King links are to different things. You could do worse, today, than spending a few minutes to click and read and listen to those.)

I feel good today. I am tired. I feel like I rode a bike for about three hours and then drove for about four. Mostly because I did. Today, then, is just kind of a get-through-it day. Here are some pictures of trains that have been tagged.

Hey, graffiti has always been popular on this site.

I wonder how Sgt. 1st Class Cedric King is feeling today. Awesome, I hope.