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Faster in fall

“Right then, fall showed up.”

The days are shorter. The nights are cooler. The leaves are cluttering the ground. The last tiny bits of summer are hanging on for another round or two, but they’ll be on the ropes soon enough. All the signs are there. But give autumn this, it is a season of wondrous light.

If only it lasted longer.

Things to read … because everything goes so fast.

And as we get philosophical, we near the end of this round of Ebola coverage, Ebola And Mandatory Quarantines: A Delicate Balance Between Personal Liberty And Public Safety:

The U.S. Government responded to the debate by implementing a program that will screen arrivals for initials signs of a fever at each of the five airports that they will be routed to, but many people have called for something more. Most recently, that “something more” has consisted of mandatory quarantines of people arriving from that area who are deemed “high risk,” a policy that has been adopted in New York and New Jersey, Illinois, Minnesota, and Florida to date. Yesterday, New Jersey and New York modified their policy to allow for in-home detention but are insisting on keeping the program mandatory, which C.D.C. and other officials insisting that a less draconian voluntary program would be sufficient and would not have the unintended consequences of dissuading health care workers from volunteering to go help fight Ebola where it needs to be defeated.

Overriding the policy debate, though, is a debate about the legality and morality of mandatory quarantines that goes back long before we even knew Ebola existed.

Even if you can’t get care, at least you have coverage! Some doctors wary of taking insurance exchange patients:

Now that many people finally have health insurance through the Affordable Care Act exchanges, some are running into a new problem: They can’t find a doctor who will take them as patients.

Because these exchange plans often have lower reimbursement rates, some doctors are limiting how many new patients they take with these policies, physician groups and other experts say.

“The exchanges have become very much like Medicaid,” says Andrew Kleinman, a plastic surgeon and president of the Medical Society of the State of New York. “Physicians who are in solo practices have to be careful to not take too many patients reimbursed at lower rates or they’re not going to be in business very long.”

Media stories:

Virtual Reality Storytelling Is Trending in Hollywood

The Feds Want to Redefine TV, and That Has Cable Giants Nervous

Why publishers are flocking to explainer videos

Half of YouTube’s views now come from phones and tablets

Did you see the terrible news in Seattle? Here’s a nice gesture that followed, Rival offers division title to Pilchuck:

The Oak Harbor Wildcats, who were scheduled to host Marysville Pilchuck High on Friday night for the Wesco 3A North division title in Washington, have offered to instead accept second place following Friday’s fatal shooting at Pilchuck, a Seattle-area school.

Oak Harbor coach Jay Turner and Marysville superintendent Becky Berg confirmed the offer, according to The Herald of Everett, Washington, and The Seattle Times.

The gesture came just hours after a student recently crowned freshman class homecoming prince walked into the Marysville Pilchuck cafeteria and opened fire, killing one person and shooting several others in the head before turning the gun on himself, officials and witnesses said.

High quality.

journalism / links / Monday / photo / things to read — 1 Comment
27
Oct 14

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?

photo / weekend — Comments Off
26
Oct 14

Catching up

The update featuring holdover photographs that refuse to be held over any longer. Let’s get on to the things that are worth more than all of the words above them.

Went for a run this afternoon. She’s fast!

I don’t often have the opportunity, or good fortune, to capture a good butterfly shot. I got a few yesterday, and I’m sharing all of the best ones here:

From one flying thing to another, here are two shots of Nova, the golden eagle:

The thumbnail imprint of the moon hanging over the last tendrils of sunset, in Auburn:

A slightly closer view of that thumbnail of the moon. I moved the planet for this:

F. Page Seibert Hall, on the Samford campus:

adventures / Auburn / football / friends / photo / weekend — Comments Off
25
Oct 14

A day in the sun, night under the lights

Just a perfectly lovely day. I spent some time in a lawn chair with the sun peering through this tree. My head tilted back, aviators on and my eyes closed. Everyone thought I was sleeping. I could have been. I’m tired enough. But I was just enjoying the barest of breezes and that tinkling dance of the sun through the thinning shade.

A perfectly lovely day.

Two private school kids, separated by 800 miles, telling the same private school jokes to one another. We public schoolers can only pretend to know:

Penguin mascots make little sense anywhere, but certainly not in October in Alabama.

Spent the afternoon with friends. Football was played this evening and we watched it. Late into the night we enjoyed the company of friends and made it home in time for pizza at around 11 p.m. and more football.

No wonder I’m still tired. Tired, but pleased.

A perfectly lovely day.

Friday / iPhone / journalism / links / photo / Samford / things to read — Comments Off
24
Oct 14

To live in repeat

“I’ll be out here for days. Phew. Hurting my knees!”

How many of these do you have to do?

“All of them. A lot.”

He’s painting all of those little fence posts. The new look, Charles says twice, will match the paint scheme on the entrance gate down the hill. He’s sanding and scraping and painting and he figures it’ll take him two or three more days. He says it is about 15 minutes or so per post. But, when he’s down, they’ll all match the entrance gate, you know what color green it is, he says for a third time.

There is not a dot of green paint on his white pants.

A gentleman walks by as we’re talking and they know each other. He shifts the little cushion he’s kneeling on, happy for the break. Happy to be outside, happy for nice weather. And, when he’s done, they’ll be easier to repaint the next time. They’ll already match that gate.

I took this picture like this, with his face underexposed, for two reasons. I noticed, in the few minutes that I talked with him, that none of the students passing by even seemed to notice he was there. They were too distracted thinking about their next deadline or the latest drama or whatever was going on in their phone.

Second, I’m forever telling our journalism students that the best stories we never write about on campus feature the people who make the place neat, keep it so clean and treat it so lovingly. We’re only here for a few years. For some of these folks, this is a career. And the beautification of things is an important aspect of the job. We take a lot of things for granted.

Things to read … so we don’t take everything for granted.

The Mysterious Polio-Like Disease Affecting American Kids:

More than 100 cases of a polio-like syndrome causing full or partial paralysis of the arms or legs have been seen in children across the United States in recent months, according to doctors attending the annual meeting of the Child Neurology Society.

Symptoms have ranged from mild weakness in a single arm to complete paralysis of arms, legs, and even the muscles controlling the lungs, leading in some cases to a need for surgery to insert a breathing tube, doctors said.

The outbreak, which appears to be larger and more widespread than what has largely been previously reported by medical and news organizations, has neurologists and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention scrambling to find out what is causing these cases and how best to treat it.

“We don’t know how to treat it, and we don’t know how to prevent it,” said Keith Van Haren, a child neurologist at Stanford University School of Medicine. “It actually looks just like polio, but that term really freaks out the public-health people.”

10 Tips for Delivering Awesome Professional Development

The star makes all the difference … Slow STARt: Fewer than 1 percent have registered for new secure IDs:

Alabamians are slowly moving toward new federal identification standards the U.S. Department of Homeland Security says will go into effect sometime in 2016.

As of most recent numbers, about 37,000 Alabamians have registered for a “STAR ID,” the new secure driver’s licenses and identification cards that in coming years will be required for things such as boarding airplanes and entering federal facilities.

That’s fewer than 1 percent of the state’s estimated 3.8 million licensed drivers and ID card holders.

The state literature on the subject is here. Aside from additional documentation to get that little star, I haven’t yet seen an explanation as to how this is helpful — or keeps you safe — or why it is important. But, hey! If you don’t fit neatly in the arbitrary schedule the state has established here, you can pay for a new license because you’ll need that star! Don’t ask why you’re getting taxed again; just pay, I guess.

This is super cool. Why The New York Times built a tool for crowdsourced time travel:

Flipping through old magazine and newspaper ads is like throwing the switch on the world’s simplest time machine. Suddenly it’s 1969, the Apollo 11 astronauts have just made the round trip from the moon, Abbey Road just dropped, and for the low price of $29.95 you can enjoy an “electric computerized football game [that] lets you and your opponent call offensive and defensive plays.”

This is the benefit a paper like The New York Times finds in its archive: the ability to pluck moments from the historical record out of the past — the small steps and giant leaps, but also the assembled fragments and cultural artifacts that often share space on the page. While you can dig deep into the stories of the past with TimesMachine, uncovering specific ads isn’t as easy. The team in The New York Times R&D Lab wants to rectify that with Madison, a new tool for identifying ads across the newspaper’s archive. What makes Madison different is that it relies on Times readers — not a bot or algorithm — to do the tricky work of spotting and tagging the ads of the past.

I wish every news center could pull this off tomorrow. I’d love to see that.

Talked about this profile in class today, Michael Jordan has not left the building:

Back in the office after his vacation on a 154-foot rented yacht named Mister Terrible, he feels that relaxation slipping away. He feels pulled inward, toward his own most valuable and destructive traits. Slights roll through his mind, eating at him: worst record ever, can’t build a team, absentee landlord. Jordan reads the things written about him, the fuel arriving in a packet of clips his staff prepares. He knows what people say. He needs to know, a needle for a hungry vein. There’s a palpable simmering whenever you’re around Jordan, as if Air Jordan is still in there, churning, trying to escape. It must be strange to be locked in combat with the ghost of your former self.

Smoke curls off the cigar. He wears slacks and a plain white dress shirt, monogrammed on the sleeve in white, understated. An ID badge hangs from one of those zip line cords on his belt, with his name on the bottom: Michael Jordan, just in case anyone didn’t recognize the owner of a struggling franchise who in another life was the touchstone for a generation. There’s a shudder in every child of the ’80s and ’90s who does the math and realizes that Michael Jordan is turning 50. Where did the years go? Jordan has trouble believing it, difficulty admitting it to himself. But he’s in the mood for admissions today, and there’s a look on his face, a half-smile, as he considers how far to go.

You live with the notion of age and you grow to realize it is coming for you. Maybe you even make your peace with that in your own good time. Either way, there are some institutional figures, you figure, to whom entropy should not apply. Michael Jordan is one of those. I can slow down (even more), MJ should be able to dunk from the free throw line forever.

This only gets harder and stranger, I suppose. With everything so mediated, movie stars will remain trim and handsome through all time, musicians will always rebellious and Jordan will be young in highlights forever. Who ages when everything is available for recall and repeat?