Thursday « Kenny Smith | A remarkable thing happens …

Thursday

You’re going where again? Canada?

I managed to sneak out for a late day ride today. I probably won’t get another one for a few days, so it didn’t seem important to go far or ride hard. So I stopped and took two pictures, which I should do more. It isn’t like I’m setting any great records or chasing anyone anyway.

Above is a stretch of road on the local time trial circuit. I tried the race against the clock one time. I am no good at it. So I just ride it as part of most every other route. Today I did it on the bike half of my ride, a measly little 15 mile circuit. But I got all the good curves and some of the better hills in, at least.

This one is a bit closer to home:

You ride on down the road, turn into a subdivision and then out the other side. You go over a little roller and turn again there’s a little hilltop finish that I always imagine is a big race finish. Except I never really beat my best time. Tonight I was pedaling and it was apparent there was nothing in my legs and yet there I was, straining and trying and wheezing and there was a car waiting patiently behind me.

Which is fine, because he passed me, a few more turns were taken and I managed to pass several cars. Sometimes, now, I can do that. It usually involves a downhill tailwind and a distracted driver who is out for a Sunday stroll to admire the scenery. But still. I did it on a Thursday night, and that’s something.

Called my grandmother this evening, to check in after a recent doctor’s visit. She told me all about the football she watched this past weekend.

Also, she’s now planning a trip to Canada in the spring. It seems my mom and step-dad mentioned this scenic place they’d discovered. “I figure I deserved it by now,” she said. Now both my folks’ mothers are going on this trip.

Both ladies are in their 80s.

Things to read …

This is pretty tough to hear. Many middle-class Americans plan to work until they die:

A growing percentage of middle-class Americans say they have saved so little for retirement that they expect to work into their 80s or even until they either get too sick or die, according to a recent survey.

Nearly half of middle-class workers said they are not confident that they will be able to save enough to retire comfortably, according to a Wells Fargo survey of 1,000 workers between the ages of 25 and 75, with household incomes between $25,000 and $100,000.

As a result, 34% said they plan to work until they’re at least 80 — that’s up from 25% in 2011 and 30% last year. An even larger percentage, 37%, said they’ll never retire and plan to either work until they get too sick or die, the survey found

It seems like every survey similar to this finds some slightly different numbers — perhaps someone should do a meta-analysis — but there are some common themes emerging. The role of news on Facebook:

(A)bout half of adult Facebook users, 47%, “ever” get news there. That amounts to 30% of the population.

Most U.S. adults do not go to Facebook seeking news out, the nationally representative online survey of 5,173 adults finds. Instead, the vast majority of Facebook news consumers, 78%, get news when they are on Facebook for other reasons. And just 4% say it is the most important way they get news. As one respondent summed it up, “I believe Facebook is a good way to find out news without actually looking for it.”

However, the survey provides evidence that Facebook exposes some people to news who otherwise might not get it.

Here is some navel gazing about web design. Ignore the headline. WYSIWTFFTWOMG!:

Since we’ve been using computers to make websites we’ve tried to make them like print. Of course, early on, that was fair enough. It was familiar. We knew the rules and tried to make the web like it. Even now, with the realisation that the web has changed – or rather, we’re being honest to the way the web is. It never really changed, we just tried to make it something it wasn’t – we’re still enforcing a print-like mental model on it. Not necessarily us designers and developers, though. This is coming from people who write and manage content. Just like printing out an email before they send it, they will want to preview a website to see how it looks.

The problem is this: The question content people ask when finishing adding content to a CMS is ‘how does this look?’. And this is not a question a CMS can answer any more – even with a preview. How we use the web today has meant that the answer to that questions is, ‘in what?’.

Here is the only thing in America getting smaller. The Incredible Shrinking Plane SeatPeople have an idea in their head, given the cost and security and the herding indignities and now the shrinking seats, of how far they are willing to drive before they’ll resort to flying. You have to think those numbers are going to slide a bit more when people enjoy these … intimate … tiny experiences.

Well, tomorrow is Friday, and I hope yours is as big as possible. Do stop back by when you can. And, of course, there’s always Twitter.

journalism / links / things to read / Thursday — Comments Off
17
Oct 13

Where it seems I’m making a habit of finding ridiculous stories

Thursdays, for which I have a lot of respect, are the days that really hold the week together. They maintain the decorum of the week. They give you permission to look forward to Friday afternoon. They are sometimes the days when government workers go back to work.

You wonder what those first conversations back in the office would be like after those long breaks from the routine. How much paperwork has accumulated, how much more efficiently things will move under the wheels of power. Or how much of the afternoon will be spent in nonessential chatter.

Nonessential was the best work of the entire foolhardy exercise, wasn’t it? Who in which office was nonessential? Who was judged nonessential and then someone in the national security apparatus decided, “You know, now that we think about it, security might be essential. You should come back to the office.” And of course someone had to apply this to everyone under their charge, which must have made for some miserable lunches and awkward office parties in the future.

I’m still stuck with my initial thought. Everyone somehow went about all of that shutdown business in the wrong way. And, ultimately, just lays the groundwork to be in the same spot again in a few months.

As people slip back into their routines now, I’m not sure that it impacted me directly. Probably much of America share that non-experience. All of it was essential, of course.

Things to read, which I found interesting today …

Here’s your trifecta of headlines: It is unnecessarily long, it asks a rhetorical question and it offers you nothing in SEO. Just what is in the bill Congress passed to end the government shutdown, increase the debt ceiling?

Here’s a list of some of the other items the legislation included:

A $174,000 payment to the widow of former Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J)

$3.1 million for the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board. The board addresses privacy concerns over laws and regulations related to fighting terrorist threats.

An increase in authorization for spending on construction on the lower Ohio River, something people are calling the “Kentucky Kickback” because of Sen. Mitch McConnell’s (R-Kty.) involvement

Back pay for federal workers furloughed because of the shutdown

Compensation for states that paid for federal programs to continue to run when the government shutdown

More on that Kentucky dam … McConnell-Reid Deal Includes $3 Billion Earmark for Kentucky Project:

Here’s this week’s example of how student media matters. Ohio high school journalists push for records, break a story:In September, two Ohio high school journalists broke the story that an alleged assault at Shaker Heights High School was actually an alleged rape, and they did it with public records.

[…]

The Shakerite reported last year that the school has had three sexual assaults in the last five years. Following the September story, SPLC reports, the school began examining strengthening their security.

Just dumb. Erin Cox, Massachusetts Teen, Punished By School After Trying To Drive Home Intoxicated Friend:

When Massachusetts high school senior Erin Cox went to pick up an intoxicated classmate from a party, she thought she was doing the right thing. However, administrators at North Andover High School are punishing her for the deed, citing the school’s zero tolerance policy on drugs on alcohol.

Cox, an honor student and volleyball star, received a cell phone message from an intoxicated friend asking for a ride home from a party earlier this month, according to the Boston Herald. However, Cox arrived at the party at the same time as the police, who were arresting a slew of students for underage drinking.

While Cox was cleared by police who recognized her sobriety, her school has given her a harsh punishment. The 17-year-old was stripped of her title as captain of the volleyball team, and she was suspended from five games.

She’s apparently a volleyball star, and who knows how this has hampered her collegiate hopes. But some right-thinking people in her community have established a scholarship even as her “educators” have failed. “Educators” have impacted a student for doing something off school property, during off-school hours, not at a school function and socially and civically upright. “Educators” have left a 17-year-old feeling “defeated.”

Quick hits:

Re-birthing radio

Like it or not, this is the future of American journalism

Skull Suggests Single Human Species Emerged From Africa, Not Several

errands / journalism / links / running / things to read / Thursday — Comments Off
10
Oct 13

Downloading a tux pattern to avoid this in the future

And I ran. I ran not far away. Really a jog, just a little ways …

Enjoy those seagulls in your head. They chased me for 2.5 miles today. And then I was finished running. It was, as they say, one of those bad days. I would have previously thought you’d need a series of good days with which to surround a bad run, but this is apparently not the case.

The Yankee said later to think of it this way: You ran 2.5 miles and you think that was bad, which you wouldn’t have thought at the beginning of the year. Which is true, but also missing the point. It was not a good run.

But it was fine. The sun and shade were delightful mixtures. The pavement was suitably hard. The body parts weren’t in a terrible amount of discomfort. The breathing was no more labored than normal. I was just finished. My body seemed tired and my mind didn’t bother to try to convince me otherwise. So I stopped running.

Need to make sure that doesn’t happen again anytime soon.

Physical therapy today, where we moved up to the two-pound weights and added some new muscle movements, which together really wiped me out. I hope that is the saddest sentence I write today.

You stick a towel under your arm, pinch your shoulder back and move your arm in and out or up and down, depending on the routine. My amazing physical therapist had me do something today with both hands, which was new. Interestingly enough my bad shoulder felt better about that exercise than my good shoulder did.

Told you she was amazing.

There are the famous Thera-Band exercises. (We look like a physical therapy office at home, by the way, with my many Thera-Bands.) There are row exercises and bicep curls and lateral movements and so on. Then I get to repurpose a chair and use it for something approaching a push up. I dislike this exercise because it hurts my hands and wrist.

After all of that there’s the torture table where I go from resting on my stomach to arching out in such a way as to make a close-parenthesis mark that has fallen over. There is pulling on nylon and rubber straps that are attached to springs which lock into pulleys and eye-hooks. I try not to think of all the things on this table that could accidentally hurt me by pretending I’m doing a snow skiing long jump. Sometimes this distraction actually works.

We closed the session with an exercise I get nothing out of, which more than likely means I’m doing it wrong. You take a ball and roll it around in little circles on the wall while I pondering the now timeless dictate: wax on, wax off.

Picked up my tux this evening. This is the fifth visit to the rental store, each a more silly waste of time than the last visit. The first drop in was punctuated by a helpful gentleman who left you cold with the feeling he may or may not know what he’s doing and it may or may not be realized on your transaction. The second was the opposite, a man who knew his stuff, but with an air that suggests you might be leery of letting him park your car. The third visit was the first man, and this time came the measurements and he knew about this stuff. The fourth visit was Monday, because in true guy fashion, as soon as you get the thing arranged there will be a change in the parameters, necessitating a further visit, and a third and fourth person plugging aimlessly through software that was a bad idea for Windows 3.2.

So today was the fitting, double-checking the size and making sure no last minute alterations were needed. Which, if that were the case, would of course require a sixth visit. Happily that was not the case. A fifth person was there to make sure everything fell just as it should. She struggled in vain through this tedious software which would see semaphore as an upgrade to find me in the cobweb filled corners of the computer system.

What I’m saying is Jos. A Bank could do a better job of this if they wanted too. The staff have been helpful and polite, how they maintain that attitude in dealing with their software is a mystery.

So the tux is in hand. Looks nice. Fits well. Tomorrow it gets to travel.

Things to read which may be of interest …

Patriot Act author preps Freedom Act to rein in NSA:

Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), the original author of the USA Patriot Act, said Wednesday that he plans to introduce legislation in the “next few days” to restrict the National Security Agency’s surveillance power.

[…]

In a speech at the Cato Institute, Sensenbrenner argued that the Patriot Act’s “relevance” requirement was meant to prevent the kind of bulk collection the NSA is now conducting.

“This is something that Congress would have never authorized,” he said. “And since the administration has assumed this authority, Congress should not hesitate to stop it and stop it quickly.”

Long overdue. Here are more details, from The Guardian, which has seemingly beaten all of the traditional American media to the story. Curious.

And now a series of journalism pieces:

The rise of the reader: journalism in the age of the open web

Student newspapers in Northampton, South Hadley follow news industry trend with online editions

Report: Obama brings chilling effect on journalism

The Effects of Mass Surveillance on Journalism

And today’s Dumb Thing Which Is Dumb, which is threatening to become a regular feature here, Student stopped from handing out Constitutions on Constitution Day sues:

On Sept. 17, Robert Van Tuinen was passing out copies of the Constitution in honor of Constitution Day at Modesto Junior College in California when he was asked to stop. Officials told Van Tuinen that if he wanted to pass out literature, he could only do so in a designated “free speech zone” on campus and under college policies would be required to get permission in advance.

[…]

After the incident, Modesto Junior College President Jill Stearns issued a statement saying the school apologized to Van Tuinen and was working to clarify with campus officials that policies allow students to distribute printed material “as long as it does not disrupt the orderly operation of the college.” Stearns also said the school was reviewing its policies.

Is there video? Yes, there’s video:

First of all, the guy should be cited for holding his phone incorrectly, but that’s secondary.

I understand the concept. I appreciate what the universities, and Robert Van Tuinen’s Modesto Junior College is far from alone here, are trying to do. The application of “free speech zones,” however, leaves something to be desired.

One of those appeared on campus when I was in undergrad. It was a small square on a campus of 1,841 acres. They were, I’m sure, trying to balance the school’s real need to fulfill educational and research goals while limiting distraction. (The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education may disagree.) Regardless, the solution is poor. One must also be aware of the supposedly largest free speech zone in the world, the 3.794 million square miles that is the United States.

Oh look, the local chapter of Young Americans for Liberty just had a demonstration at Auburn. It reads like a success. And, it turns out, the president of the YAL chapter at Samford is one of our photographers. Good for him.

Anyway, every campus being different — the layout, the culture, the traffic patterns and so on — there is no blanket solution. Some moderate to high traffic areas, some respectful distance away from classroom doors and windows and no amplification technology seem like a good place to start. Bring in too many opinions on the question and you run the risk of getting “That green space behind the alumni building” as a working policy.

Finally, someone distributing the U.S. Constitution should always be acceptable. We have enough problems with civics in this country as it is. We shouldn’t hamper it further.

collarbone / cycling / journalism / links / things to read / Thursday — Comments Off
3
Oct 13

I played the waiting game

My doctor’s appointment almost made me late for physical therapy. That’s what you get for scheduling those three hours a part.

The receptionist at the doctor’s office kindly explained that they only had two doctors working. This, after you’ve been there 82 minutes, suggests a scheduling error and not a problem on the patient’s part.

That this has happened twice here, well, that suggests I’ll try not to come back.

Curiously, as soon as you say “I don’t want to be that guy” while proceeding to be that guy, they manage to find a room to put you in. And then, of course, the extra waiting begins.

Eventually the doctor shows up. Nice guy. He’s intent. He listens. He’s happy for your successes. He’s a shoulder expert. He does things to my shoulder, is proud of our progress and then, without thinking, claps me three times, right on the trapezius. Thanks, doc.

So I barely made it to physical therapy in time, where today they gave me a series of weights and we swapped up a few stretches. Everyone is pleased with the progress, me most of all. The doctor rightly noted that what we’ve done so far is basically with a month of new therapy work. In three or four more months, he said, I’ll be good as new.

And the equally good news is that I didn’t have to schedule another doctor’s appointment in the near future.

Picked up my bike from the bike shop this evening, where it has been held since last Friday. It needed a new front derailleur. They were so excited to give it back to me that they called twice yesterday.

When I picked it up tonight I was happy to have it back, too. I set out for a quick twilight ride … and the chain is rubbing the new derailleur cage. So I guess I’ll take it back to the bike shop, because one visit begets three.

But I rode the time trial route, and then climbed up two of the ‘biggest’ hills we have. They are tiny, really, but they are in a sequence. The second one is the largest. Today it was the easiest.

I turned left instead of right. Right was home, but the thing was already clicking and there was a little descent to take and then weaving through some easy road construction, past the museum, through a park and then back up the other side of that earlier big hill. There’s a side road there that takes you down into the neighborhood, and for a minute or two it makes you feel like a real rider. There’s a curve, a right turn that falls immediately into a curve and then a switchback to the left. Then there are houses, kids on bikes and adults unloading their cars with groceries and old men walking dogs. It keeps swooping down until it has to go back up and that’s the point where the darkness started to seep in under the tree canopy.

I met a cyclist going the other way. I only do that when I’m soft pedaling. So I had to stand up out of the saddle and finish the last bit of the neighborhood route home.

Can’t believe I have to take my bike back again.

We had dinner tonight, pizza, with our friends Adam and Jessica. Mellow Mushroom put us in the very back of the restaurant. We had pretzels, of course, and pizza, of course. And we had a fine time with friends.

They’re getting married next weekend. We were there when they got engaged. I get to be in the wedding.

Tonight I told him that I’d contemplated backing out as I paid to rent the tuxedo.

He joyfully threatened me with physical harm.

Things to read which I found interesting today …

This will only get worse. And more incorrect. Doing drone journalism in Texas? You could be fined $10,000 or more:

As of the first of this month, taking aerial photographs of someone’s land in the state of Texas, without the landowner’s permission, is punishable by up to $2,000 and 180 days in jail, each time such a photo is distributed. Journalists are not exempt from this law.

[…]

The law also applies to photos taken in public places, at an altitude greater than eight feet above ground level (AGL)

That’s a good site about drones, by the way. (I want one.)

I remember the first time this happened to me. Rep. Todd Rokita To CNN’s Carol Costello: ‘You’re Beautiful But You Have To Be Honest’ OK, maybe it wasn’t that. But a senator told me I asked too many questions. The nerve of a reporter to do such a thing. When an interview subject says things like this, the odds are good that you’re taking them somewhere they don’t want to go. Keep at them, I say.

A followup from yesterday: 2 of 4 found shot to death in car in Winston County faced child molestation, pornography charges in Tennessee, sheriff says

Mice and fungi and skin scrapings are on the line: How the Shutdown Is Devastating Biomedical Scientists and Killing Their Research. This is actually an interesting perspective and a necessary story. There are many of them. None of them come with easy answers. You wonder how many times we can cut research budgets and stay on the forefront of science.

Some things shouldn’t be made to wait.

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26
Sep 13

A fast Thursday post

Wrote a long email today, in keeping with my email style. I went through it to edit and did manage to eliminate 42 words. I also used the word “countervailing,” which I felt like was a good reason to go for a bike ride.

So I managed to wrap up the day on my bike, catching the last few rays of sun from the saddle. It was late enough in the day that I didn’t even wear sunglasses, because that just made it look dark. As it was I found myself way over in the lane as I worked my way along shaded roads. No need to blend in, as Richard La China taught me:

This is why I ride in the middle of the lane. pic.twitter.com/bOPPniXzjA

— Richard La China (@richardlachina) August 29, 2013

I’d just started out and noticed my front derailleur wouldn’t shift. I could feel it in the shifter, and I could see it bolted onto the frame. I was in the big gear and it was staying there.

Everything was spinning, but I only had about six gears at my disposal. So I did a short, easy ride and stayed away from any hills. That’ll be something I get to look at tomorrow.

Things to read, which I found interesting today …

Speaking of riding the bike, here’s a local story from earlier today about the local bike scene. Hint: it ain’t bad.

The Garths scrimped and saved for two years before starting their tour in 2011 in Maine. After pedaling through 41 countries, the couple has experienced some of the best, and worst, areas for cycling.

“Our favorite place, as far as scenery goes, and natural beauty…was Patagonia,” Dave Garth said “For cycling, it’s terrible.”

He added Auburn is somewhere in the middle.

“Auburn is definitely getting better,” Garth said. “At this point, having been to some places that are really modeling this well…there is definitely room for improvement.”

Alabama currently holds the second-to-last spot in a nationwide ranking of bike friendliness by the League of American Bicyclists, coming in just above last-place finisher North Dakota. But with the implementation of Auburn University’s more pedestrian and bike friendly campus, the city as a whole is working to improve its biking infrastructure.

“Auburn is currently the only bicycle friendly community in Alabama,” said Brandy Ezelle, traffic engineer and bicycle coordinator for the city of Auburn. She added the city has received a bronze ranking in bike friendliness by the League of American Bicyclists.

Thomas McCrary, thought to be Alabama’s oldest farmer, dies 4 days before 102nd birthday:

Up until a year ago, when he was 101, Thomas McCrary drove a tractor around his 200-year-old farm, ensuring operations were running smoothly.

The humble man from New Market said in December he cherished the land that was settled by his namesake and great-grandfather, the first Thomas McCrary.

“It means a great bit to me,” McCrary said of the farm, which since its founding 203 years ago had been divided among family members.

Mr. McCrary died Monday.

There’s a book about that family, and that farm, perhaps the oldest one in the state, a decade older than the state itself. It was written by an old newsman, Joe Jones. About Thomas it says “he loves all and is loved by all.” He stayed on the farm his entire life, except when he was in Burma and China during the war. Here’s his obit, which is full of old-fashioned charm.

Thomas McCrary would have remembered his grandmother, who lived until his 18th year. She remembered the Civil War. A link just two generations removed is now gone. The first plane was flown in the state in March of 1910 by Orville Wright. McCrary was born 18 months later. Think of all he saw in his life.

And that’s what you lose when you lose a centenarian.

Sounds like a longform story, really. Here are some chat tips on one could do that:

It turns out that long and short writing are not necessarily in conflict. Think for a moment about your favorite magazines. Compared to newspapers, the long stories in magazines are longer, and the shorter pieces are shorter. It’s the combination of short and long that make a publication versatile for readers.

Although I’ve met some writers who tell me “I want to write shorter,” that is the exception. Most writers I know — including me — want to go longer. The daily beat reporter wants to do a Sunday feature. The Sunday feature writer wants to do a series. A series writer wants to do a book. The book author wants to do a trilogy.

And Twitter goes to emergency mode: Twitter Alerts: Critical information when you need it most:

We know from our users how important it is to be able to receive reliable information during these times. With that in mind, last year we announced Lifeline (a feature that helps Japanese users find emergency accounts during crises), and since then, we’ve been working on a related feature for people around the world.

If you sign up to receive an account’s Twitter Alerts, you will receive a notification directly to your phone whenever that account marks a Tweet as an alert. Notifications are delivered via SMS, and if you use Twitter for iPhone or Twitter for Android, you’ll also receive a push notification*. Alerts also appear differently on your home timeline from regular Tweets; they will be indicated with an orange bell.

You can see a list of participating organizations here.

More on the multimedia blog, Tumblr and Twitter.