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The weekly post that highlights pictures I haven’t placed anywhere else here yet. Let’s get to it, then.
We went out for Chinese recently. As is the custom — because this is what makes them come true — I took a picture of the fortunes:
Allie enjoying a lazy afternoon in her tunnel:
Here’s brunch, which was pretty good, fried chicken and johnny cakes. It featured Chilton County peaches, pecan smoked bacon (yeah, that was good), toasted pecans, arugula and maple syrup.
We saw this guy on the deck at the pool.
We spent about seven hours there tonight, no kidding. It was a very nice time. Brian also invented a new hamburger for us, which was the other highlight of a fine Saturday.
Here are a few links for you to enjoy, just in case you aren’t at the pool, too.
There are some good points here. Some pertinent realities. John A. MacArthur says the internet makes bad journalism. He has a point. There are also some realities that can’t be ignored. That doesn’t make them better, or worse, but they remain our realities.
Pop-up ad creator: ‘I’m sorry’ There’s a great line in “The Execution of Noa P. Singleton,” dealing with a much, much heftier theme than pop up ads, but let’s consider it anyway:
But you see, the problem is that apologies are really just little weeds that grow over monuments and headstones. They keep coming back, but never stop ruining what lies beneath. If an apology is truly authentic, the pain is supposed to stop. Right?
A Medicare scam that just kept rolling:
This summer, in a Los Angeles courtroom, Bonilla described the workings of a peculiar fraud scheme that — starting in the mid-1990s — became one of the great success stories in American crime.
The sucker in this scheme was the U.S. government. That wasn’t the peculiar part.
Somewhere between here and $8.2 billion dollars were tied into the scheme. No one knows how much, though.
My toes are raw. I’ve checked them several times tonight, just to see if they were bleeding. But the pool has been fun.
We went for a run in the middle of the day, because running takes less time, and we haven’t done it in a while. Here’s the more-sunny-than-you-realize path.
I discovered today that I’m big on the mind deals — slightly different than Ray Romano’s mind bets. Today’s was fairly straight forward: if you stop running, you’re going to run another mile.
I did not have to run the fourth mile. I had a fairly decent time on the 5K. But not fast enough.
I do not know what is happening.
As I finished the run, I was looking for some shade, stepped under a promising pine tree and found this guy:
That’s the Actias luna caterpillar. You might be more familiar with the luna moth version. I didn’t see one of those, but I did watch that caterpillar climb and climb:
There’s probably a metaphor in there, or we could just be impressed by the closeup quality of my phone’s camera. Probably a metaphor in that, too.
Brian came down for a weekend visit. He and I went to Niffer’s for dinner. Turkey burgers and corn nuggets are for dinner.
Afterward we spent the evening in the pool. Colleagues and neighbors were there. It was a fine time with friends and more friends. We stayed so long the bottom of my feet are raw. And we’ll probably go back tomorrow.
Things to read … to prepare for tomorrow.
Alabama’s unemployment rate at 7 percent
The Re-Return of Chuckie Keeton
Inside the College Football Hall of Fame playground in Atlanta:
First and foremost, know this: This isn’t your father’s Hall of Fame.
Often ignored for nearly two decades in South Bend, Ind., the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta represents today’s game and media world while respectfully giving a nod to the past. The National Football Foundation’s decision in 2009 to move the Hall of Fame into the deep South symbolizes how the sport has changed demographically and through television.
Located within a five-minute walk from the Georgia Dome and the future Atlanta Falcons stadium, the Hall of Fame craves connectivity and a personal experience above all else. There are interactive videos and games, selfies with digital face paint, countless screens, and a field for activities and events.
It sounds like a nice experience.
Now the fanfic looks better than the source material …
Interestingly, everyone you see in that prelude has played multiple characters across the sprawling Star Trek franchise, except for … Richard Hatch. This is his first time in Rodenberry’s universe. They’re making a movie out of it. They’ve received more than four times their Kickstarter goal and their making a feature film, of the independent variety. It’ll be low-budget but, if you watch the entire prelude, you can see there’s some really great quality there. And Garth of Izar.
“Donors will receive either a digital HD copy, or a DVD or Blu-ray copy, depending on their donation level. It will also be released for streaming on YouTube for all to enjoy sometime later!”
The movie is in pre-production now, according to IMDB. I find it a bit more exciting than it probably should be.
Last night’s adventures in insomnia included this guy.
That’s my great-great grandfather, Jim. He was born in the winter of 1871, a year when the crops didn’t come in and the cotton caterpillars ravaged what was there. Jim married Sarah in 1904 and and they lived on a farm that her grandfather bought in 1854. They had 11 children. He died in 1953, his wife in 1970. So while I don’t know them, I did meet one of their kid’s, my great-grandfather. But I don’t remember him. My grandmother remembers her grandparents well, but I don’t know much more than what you find in this paragraph beyond where he’s buried. I do like that bicycle, though. So I found some old newspapers online and I’m looking for mentions, but turn up nothing.
I did find this, though:
Just found this ad in a 1953 newspaper, right next to a church ad detailing the evening's sermon. #fb pic.twitter.com/qquRaPKIHl
— kenny smith (@kennysmith) August 13, 2014
In 1953 the church ads told you what the evening’s sermon was going to be about. This one wasn’t about Old Hickory Bourbon, or temperance. The topic was “A Methodist sermon by a Baptist preacher.” A different church had an ad in the next day’s paper, the preacher had promised to answer the question of a generation, “Should a woman wear a hat to church?”
The pressing stuff of their time.
I guess that branch of my family didn’t believe in obituaries, or care for the local paper. I don’t find a mention of him there. Otherwise, he must have been the quiet type. You don’t get in the paper until you do something wrong or something bad happens. Maybe that’s a good sign for the couple.
On my bike ride today, something of a casual ride around the greater neighborhood just to get in a few miles, I passed one of the better church signs I know. They’ve got personality here, as noted by most any previous message, one of the best in recent memory suggesting that you bring your sin and “drop it like it’s hot.”
This week’s note:
It is a quiet little church, a lovely little place:
I also learned during this ride that I was on one of the local segments that the cycling apps chart as races. Without knowing it, I currently have the eighth fastest time on it for the year. I’ll have to try it again tomorrow to see if I can go any faster.
For dinner, we grilled pork chops and had beans which we discovered a few weeks ago:
I said to the lady that made them, a family friend, “You must give me your recipe or — ” which was the moment a look of embarrassment crossed her face. ” — or tell me what brand they are, because they are just about the best beans I’ve ever had.”
And they were. And they are. Also, they are from a can — Margaret Holmes. We discovered we didn’t necessarily need the lard — which is fine. The lady that made them, she’s a retired school teacher. She told me that her father, a man I knew a bit, was so old-fashioned the type that would not allow anything in his home that involved shortcuts. In this case that meant no canned foods. He made an exception for Margaret Holmes.
That’s an endorsement.
Things to read … because there’s probably something worth endorsing in here somewhere.
First, the journalism stuff:
How digital retailing could roil local media
If Disney is making that move …
Closer to home, 108 immigrant children relocated to Alabama in last 3 weeks:
Included among the children are those from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador who have crossed into the U.S. as part of a massive wave of immigration that has set off a humanitarian crisis and political firestorm.
The data does not include information on where the children were placed or whether they are residing with family members or foster care. The children will remain with the sponsors until a judge orders they be deported; until they turn 18 and are transferred back to DHS; or they are given permission to stay by immigrantion courts.
Finally, Ferguson:
Media upset tonight about the militarization of police haven't been paying attention these last several years.
— kenny smith (@kennysmith) August 14, 2014
Folks, it is possible to simultaneously think rioting/looting are bad and that the police in Ferguson are out of their minds.
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) August 14, 2014
Consider this from a crisis comm perspective. Wake people up. Media, online audiences are looking for real answers.
— kenny smith (@kennysmith) August 14, 2014
If you have a problem with "online audiences are looking for real answers," you might want to rethink your crisis comm.
— kenny smith (@kennysmith) August 14, 2014
I’m in the slow and frustrating process of trying to add a few more miles back into my typical bike ride. I probably complain about this all of the time: this or that doesn’t allow for as much time in the saddle as I’d like.
Life is really hard, right?
This spring and summer my time has been split between triathlon training and travel and other worthwhile pursuits, but that takes its own sort of toll on a guy with already shaky form. So it was that I set out today to add a few more miles than the small amount of miles I’ve been doing recently. And I cracked nicely, right about here:
A friend, and fellow rider, sent me this article and suggested I not worry about it so much.
“I would distinguish ‘easy’ from ‘slow.’ Easy doesn’t mean always going slow, but going at a pace that’s comfortable.”
Indeed, what I consider slow is twice as fast as my girlfriend would go—whereas Fabian Cancellara, out for a casual spin, would drop me as if I were doing a track stand. Novices and unenlightened amateurs see good riders going fast without realizing they might also be going easy—hence the perception that you must ride strenuously to be good.
“Quality training is when you go fast compared to the effort you feel like you’re making,” Saifer explained to me. “If it feels mellow but you’re actually going pretty quick, that’s great. But if you start out hammering, and then you find you’re tired for the rest of the ride, it’s not benefiting you. Those are junk miles.”
Junk miles was what I found today, there was a great deal of hanging on, and hoping the county had flattened a few of the hills I’d chosen for myself.
They had not.
But, I told myself, the next time I add five more miles to the total, it won’t be as bad as this. We’ll see.
Things to read … because reading helps us all see. We’ll start with the journalism stuff.
Attacked on the job: A Post-Dispatch photographer’s tale
The growing pay gap between journalism and public relations
Over 4,000 BuzzFeed Posts Have Completely Disappeared
Teaching the Digital Media Revolution Without Disregarding the Past
It’s a true fact!!! People who edit things no longer neeeded
That last one I’m passing out in class this fall.
I’m pretty sure there’s no way we make it to a point where the next revelation in this huge story is a good revelation. It all just seems more shameful at every unfortunate turn. Local VA finds another 1,146 unread patient images:
A review of the imaging system at the Central Alabama Veterans Health Care System prompted by 900 lost X-rays revealed there were an additional 1,146 unread patient exams going back to 2011.
According to a statement from CAVHCS, they conducted a “broader review” of the imaging system but didn’t specify what the review involved. CAVHCS generated a report dating back to 2001, when the imaging software was installed, and didn’t find any unread exams from before 2009.
Birmingham one of three to submit bid for 2021 World Games:
The Magic City has submitted a bid to host the eleventh edition of the World Games in 2021.
Birmingham had until the end of July to place a bid to host the games and it was announced Monday that the city made the cut for the final three bidding municipalities. The games will feature more than 30 sports like Tug of War, Sumo and Water Ski, according to a release.
Not quite the Olympics that former mayor (and current guest of the federal prison in Ashland, Kentucky — until 2023) Larry Langford had hoped for, but it is something.
Childhood cancer survivors going to Rangers vs Rays baseball game:
That picture was in the June 8 edition of The Birmingham News and caught the eye of Susannah Higgins Moreland. Moreland read about the boys’ mothers meeting in a waiting room at Children’s of Alabama when the boys were toddlers and diagnosed with ALL (acute lymphoblastic leukemia).
According to Children’s of Alabama, every year 150 Alabama children are diagnosed with cancer.
“It’s a life-changing diagnosis that is devastating to the family and is the first step of a grueling treatment journey,” said Kathy Bowers with Children’s of Alabama.
During that journey, the boys grew to become close friends and each others biggest fans on the baseball diamond.
Some recovery. Study: New jobs pay 23% less than those lost during the Great Recession:
The results sync with those of the National Employment Law Project which finds that during the recovery (measured from February 2010 to February 2014), employment gains have been concentrated in lower-wage industries.
This is an amazing feature, just over a decade old, on Robin Williams, the cyclist. Robin Williams: “I’m Lucky to Have Bikes in My Life”:
He also admires how the racers mirror his own go-for-broke style. “These guys spend everything they have, day after day,” he says. A typical Williams stand-up performance is nearly 2 hours long, and reviews of last summer’s comedy tour universally marveled at the entertainer’s exhaustive drive. Biking, Williams, says, helps sustain that drive. The sport became especially important to him as a substitute for a darker passion; in the 1980s, just before seriously taking up the sport, Williams struggled with a well-publicized drug habit.
An important angle to the sad Williams story. Suicide contagion and social media: The dangers of sharing ‘Genie, you’re free’:
More than 270,000 people have shared the tweet, which means that, per the analytics site Topsy, as many as 69 million people have seen it.
The problem? It violates well-established public health standards for how we talk about suicide.
That’s the first place I’ve seen this mentioned. It should be discussed more.
