Tuesday « Kenny Smith | A remarkable thing happens …

Tuesday

It must be Tuesday

A passing thought this morning, as I walked from here to there: I am not sure if I’ve ever been on the Samford campus when the power went out. All of the lines here are buried and the service has always been excellent. The things we take for granted, no?

So late this afternoon the power blinked. And it blinked again and then once more. After a few minutes, wherein students in the newsroom were confessing their fears of the dark and people and clowns and four-leaf clovers and who knows what else, the power blinked one more time.

We noticed the hardwired connection first.

The wireless was down as well. There’s a router right outside the window. Turns out that continual green ring of light means something. You never notice it until it is a pale red, which means you don’t have an Internet connection, so you have the opportunity to notice the telltales on routers:

Telnet was beginning the march.

All of our phones and Internet are tied together in a VOIP, so they didn’t work. Some of the locks on campus are tied into that network, so those doors didn’t work.

I raided my emergency peanut butter stash.

Also, the printer died, because today was a Tuesday:

I’ve renamed that machine the Lazarus. It keeps coming back, though we’ve been worried about it for almost four years now.

Somehow, the cash registers in the cafeteria and food court were online. So the crisis was merely humanitarian rather than truly dire. And the IT people here know their stuff. In perhaps an hour or two — who can tell the passage of time without the web? — things began returning to normal.

But all of that let me hear this:

Student 1: “What did we do before the Internet?”

Student 2: “We were prepared for it.”

For a group of people who grew up with the Internet always at their beck and call, this is an interesting point. There’s a story in this. I wonder if anyone will write it.

Things to read … because people went to the trouble to write it.

Mike Lutzenkirchen is an incredibly brave man, Philip Lutzenkirchen’s father uses son’s life — and death — to motivate high school players:

Mike Lutzenkirchen, standing before the James Clemens High School football team in its weight room Tuesday afternoon, called out Logan Stenberg, the Jets’ offensive tackle, and had him leave the room so that Lutzenkirchen could illustrate a point.

After Stenberg obliged, Lutzenkirchen said, “He just stood right there in the flesh. Now he’s not here. A teammate. That’s how quickly it can happen. That’s how quickly you can lose somebody.”

His son, the former Auburn star Philip Lutzenkirchen, one of the Tigers’ most popular players in recent seasons, was killed in a car wreck in Troup County, near LaGrange, Ga. He was 23 years old.

Mike Lutzenkirchen, who also spoke to the Huntsville High football team Tuesday evening, shared an array of statistics about his son’s sensational career. There was one stat he saved until the last, the one that is most staggering and devastating.

“Listen to this closely: Point three seven seven,” Lutzenkirchen said. “That was Philip’s blood alcohol content.”

Hard to imagine what he must be going through.

And now, for something a bit lighter:

Journalism and tech links:

VR journalism! Harvest of Change: Iowa farm families confront a nation in transition

A Wearable Drone That Launches Off Your Wrist To Take Your Selfie

The (surprisingly profitable) rise of podcast networks

Staying connected with college graduates: Social media and alumni

Magazines Get a Way to Measure Their Reach Across Media Platforms

Things you don’t want to hear from your doctor, American Family Care alerts customers of stolen laptops containing patient information.

I’m having my students read this story this week, Dispatcher reflects a week after Birmingham UPS shooting: ‘I asked God to lead my words’:

“The officers, they did a great job,” said Davis, otherwise known as Operator 8061. “They did a good job in responding and getting me notified so that I could make my notifications.”

Davis, an 18-year BPD dispatch veteran, said she was just one of many dispatchers who sprang into action when the first call from the UPS customer center on Inglenook Lane came into the radio room at 9:21 a.m.

“Had it not been for my coworkers helping me, it would not have gone as smooth as it did,” she said. “It wasn’t just me. It was a team effort. I was proud to be a Birmingham Police Department dispatcher that day.”

The challenge of that day isn’t unusual. Dispatchers and officers deal with a crisis of some sort almost each and every day, though not usually to that extent.

About 10 calls came in to the radio room almost simultaneously after the shots erupted in the UPS warehouse. Those nearly dozen calls accounted for one dispatch, one of 11,663 dispatches handled by BPD last week alone.

And then there’s this stupid story, New York artist creates ‘art’ that is invisible and collectors are paying millions.

If the empty art studio burns down, how much does the insurance company pay out?

You can only figure that out with an Internet connection.

journalism / links / memories / photo / Samford / things to read / Tuesday — Comments Off
16
Sep 14

It takes practice to appear like Lincoln

So the coach hits the ball and the player just passes them, over and over, toward a netted basket.

I played volleyball, recreationally, and it was a lot of fun. I think the reason I wasn’t especially good at it was that even though I played with talented and fun people, my technique was lousy. And, also, I stopped growing. But mostly the technique. “Let this ball hit you on your forearms over and over for hours on end,” has limited appeal. And so I stopped growing and stopped improving and I never could set. But I could serve. I would have done that all day if the referee let me.

Anyway, the basketball/volleyball court is overlooked on one side by the gym at Samford. I ran on a treadmill there and then had some water and watched the passing going on below. The more I looked at the photo the more I liked it. The angle is such, and the lighting and floor just so, that all of the volleyballs can look like they’re floating. Samford volleyball is good, but maybe not that good.

Things to read … because reading makes us all look good.

Ten years ago today, Hurricane Ivan hit us. Talked about that in class the other day. I had been at al.com for just a few months by then, and we did some great work covering the storm. Here are some of the archives, looking very 2004-ish. We did something like 4 million views that day, which was easily a record for the time.

Apparently, older folks are in a boom period for narcotics use … Someday, kids are going to tell us to shut up.

Opelika’s Willie Fuller face of Johnny Ray bike ride to combat Parkinson’s:

Willie Fuller can’t tell you how many miles he has logged on a bicycle since he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease about 12 years ago.

But every mile – whether it was a 440-mile trek on the Natchez Trace, the numerous round-trip rides from Opelika to Auburn or 45 minutes on his back porch exercise bike – inspires many who also live with the disease, along with those fortunate to know him.

Fuller’s love of bicycling has helped him live with Parkinson’s. He said he hasn’t had to increase his medicine dosage in 12 years.

Smartphone Experiment Shows How Your Metadata Tells Your Story:

For one short week, a Dutch volunteer named Ton Siedsma with the digital rights group Bits of Freedom agreed to allow researchers to have full access to all his smartphone metadata. This is the information the National Security Agency (NSA) and other governments have been collecting from its own citizens while insisting the information did not violate our privacy.

Few actually believe the government’s arguments, but how much can somebody figure out just from smartphone data? Thus, the experiment with Siedsma. It turns out, as has been growing increasingly clear, you can figure out a lot. According to an article subsequently published in Dutch media, researchers (from a university and a separate security firm) gathered 15,000 records in a week, complete with timestamps. Each time he did pretty much anything on the cell phone they were able to determine physically where he was. And they were able to figure out a lot about both his personal and professional life.

A few quick media links:

Is it original? An editor’s guide to identifying plagiarism

The business of building on tweets

When breaking news happens, reporters and police try to keep up with social media

There’s carrying someone’s water up the hill, and then there’s going up that hill, looking down and realize you are carrying a very leaky bucket … Obama Channels Lincoln in Campaign Against Islamic State:

Abraham Lincoln did it when he inspected troops on Civil War battlefields. Lyndon Johnson flew to Vietnam to stand with soldiers. And George W. Bush donned a flight jacket during the Iraq war and landed on a U.S. carrier to declare “Mission Accomplished.”

Projecting a sense of command has always been an important ingredient of presidential leadership, particularly during military missions. The images don’t guarantee success; they do convey grit.

President Barack Obama, with a visit to the military’s central command today after going to the nation’s disease-control center yesterday, is trying to demonstrate his resolve in fighting two international scourges: Islamic State terrorists and the spreading Ebola virus.

The man flew to Atlanta. And then Tampa.

The stops show Obama adopting a more muscular posture on foreign affairs, reversing the cautious and introspective style that has mostly defined his administration until now.

And he didn’t even pick up the visitor’s guide.

When was the last time you picked up a visitor’s guide? Been awhile, I’d bet. Did you feel like Lincoln when you did it? Me either.

I do not know what is happening. / iPhone / journalism / links / swimming / things to read / Tuesday / video — Comments Off
9
Sep 14

Wherein I reference Carl Sagan

I showed off a neon sign in transition last week, without making too many philosophical references to the illuminating gases within us all that shine brightly into the evening sky. I stared at the distressed sign, full of rust and faded paint without wistfully wandering through paragraphs about age and history — OK, I talked history — and the way the elements shape the decay that shapes us.

I went back to check on the sign this evening. They’ve changed it:

We talked about generating story ideas in class yesterday, and will continue to do so tomorrow. Tonight the journalists produced their first issue of The Samford Crimson for the year.

Also, this evening, I taught myself how to do flip turns in the pool. They are bad, awkward, crooked, slow and hilariously off target. I can hit the lane line. I can push myself deep into the pool. (Good thing I was trying to figure all of this out in a deep pool.) My flip turns are also incredibly violent. I was here and then I pushed and now I’m waaaay over there, and it was fast.

It felt like this:

Watch a person who knows what they are doing and they are elegant. Watch me do a flip turn and it is like something out of the ACME catalog.

But I’m learning, and I swam 2,000 yards. I do not know what is happening.

Things to read … so you will know what is happening.

(When various of your gimmicks come together in an unplanned moment like that, it is kind of neat. And, perhaps, a signal to kill the gimmick.)

(Nahhh … )

Samford Is #3 in 2015 U.S. News Annual Rankings:

Samford University continues to be ranked 3rd in the South in the 2015 annual college rankings released Sept. 9 by U.S. News & World Report. Samford also was ranked third in last year’s U.S. News list.

Samford is the highest ranked university in Alabama in any peer group and continues a three-decade tradition of being ranked in the top tier of its peer group. Samford also recently was ranked the top university in Alabama by Forbes, Inc.

One of our students wrote this, and it is a neat read … Alabama’s first Miss America reflects on title more than 60 years later

Another lovely story … Finding a groove, giving a gift:

Darlene Werner suffered a stroke in 1994 and had not been out of the home where she lives with her husband, David, since Christmas.

Even with David’s support, she could no longer negotiate the four steps from the front porch to the patio or the three steps from the kitchen to the carport.

The couple tried, first with Darlene, 74, using a walker. For the past year, she has mostly been confined to a wheelchair. Returning some of her freedom was the goal of the eight men representing family-owned Contractors Service and Fabrication Inc., of Decatur, during United Way of Morgan County’s Day of Caring on Tuesday.

The crew, only two of whom had ever worked together on a ramp, created a way out down the house’s 29-inch high front porch with a ramp of three sections totaling 30 feet.

And this is quite interesting … 11 Bird’s-Eye Views That Show How NYC Has Grown Over 350 Years:

Exactly 350 years ago today, New York City became New York City. The city itself already existed, of course: As the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam. But on September 8th, 1664, the British gave it its permanent moniker, which makes today its name-day.

We’ve seen all manner of maps illustrating how NYC has grown over the centuries, but one of the coolest—and least appreciated—is the bird’s eye view. These are images that are, loosely speaking, maps; but thanks to a little artful perspective, they give us much more of a sense of what the city was like in each case.

Tomorrow, there will be more interesting things to be found here. Do come back, won’t you? And have a lovely time until then.

iPhone / journalism / links / memories / photo / swimming / Tuesday — 1 Comment
2
Sep 14

There are no free potatoes, either

Another free commercial on the basis of a photo, a story and nostalgia. I should get a free meal for this, I think.

The sign, it seems, is getting a makeover. The old neon has been stripped out. And pulling the gas-holding-gas has just shown the smear of age and wear and rain and paint. I love that sign. There’s just something about that pig face, blissfully unaware what is happening to his real life counterparts inside, grinning stupidly despite the messages often on display on the marquee just below. Hopefully they aren’t replacing the whole thing.

The Yankee and I had our first meal there — Friday was Pie Day, I said, and she said yes. I used to eat there frequently when I was still broadcasting. It wasn’t far from the station. I’ve dined there with a lot of friends. I ate there with my book tonight. I’d swam a mile and a big baked potato sounded right.

It was just the thing after only a brunch. The editorial staff at the Crimson dined with the media relations folks late this morning. I took some leftovers to have fruit for lunch, but I’d swam a mile, you see, and I can look at a body of water and get hungry. Real and hearty food was what was required tonight, and there was no Italian to be had with friends. So I had a baked potato with a book.

Things to read … becausing reading always brings around friends. Just get comfy with something great, and someone will come along to interrupt.

Learning How to Score a Job Using Social Media, for Beginners is a free email-based class, if you’re interested.

A friend sent this. I hated telling him he’s going to have to find someone else to see it with. A 15,000ft descent, sheer drops and 300 deaths a year: Welcome to Bolivia’s Death Road, the terrifying route tourists love to cycle

Ukraine: Russian forces in major rebel cities:

A Ukrainian official said Tuesday that Russian forces have been spotted in both of the major rebel-held cities in eastern Ukraine.

The claim by Col. Andriy Lysenko, a spokesman for Ukraine’s national security council, came as the country’s defense minister said Ukraine’s armed forces are expanding their strategy from just fighting separatist rebels to facing the Russian army in a war that could cost “tens of thousands” of lives.

Lost in America: Visa Program Struggles to Track Missing Foreign Students:

The Department of Homeland Security has lost track of more than 6,000 foreign nationals who entered the United States on student visas, overstayed their welcome, and essentially vanished — exploiting a security gap that was supposed to be fixed after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.

“My greatest concern is that they could be doing anything,” said Peter Edge, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official who oversees investigations into visa violators. “Some of them could be here to do us harm.”

Yet another of the core competencies that DHS was created for … and it is less than a sterling success.

3 free iOS apps for visual storytelling:

(J)ournalists do not necessarily need a big budget, banks of editing software or even a desktop computer to create appealing visual stories.

These three apps for iPhone and iPad all allow you to create beautiful visual stories on the move without any special gear.

Even better, each are easy to use – and free.

When you said free, you had my attention. Shame that meal wasn’t also free.

history / journalism / links / things to read / Tuesday — Comments Off
26
Aug 14

Just a few quick things on history, and today

As I worked, I had this playing in the background. A movie you’ve seen a few dozen times is good for noise. And it was kind of fitting. I’ll talk about some World War II examples in class tomorrow.

I wonder what Patton would be like if they made that movie today.

And as I wondered that, I found this evening’s most interesting story, Longtime Opelika resident Bennie Adkins to receive Medal of Honor:

Retired Command Sgt. Major Bennie G. Adkins was recently named the latest recipient of the Medal of Honor, the highest military honor in the United States. He will be awarded by President Barack Obama Sept. 15 in Washington D.C.

“Mr. Adkins is a true American hero who served his country in Vietnam,” Congressman Mike Rogers said in a written statement. “His acts of heroism during his tour of duty earned him our nation’s highest honor, which he has long deserved. I congratulate Mr. Adkins on this honor and thank him for his bravery, sacrifice and service to our nation.”

He was in the Special Forces in Vietnam. After he retired he received three degrees from Troy, taught at Southern Union and Auburn University, ran an accounting firm for two decades and, with his wife, raised five children.

The three-day battle for which he is justly being honored is a rich read of heroism, pain and the best attitude we could ask for from service members.

During 38 hours of close-combat fighting he was frequently in and under enemy fire and manning a mortar position. That was when he wasn’t continually exposing himself to the enemy to treat and save wounded men and retrieve the bodies of the fallen. When the mortar was spent, he changed weapons. When he had exhausted his ammunition, he sought out more, again under fire. Ultimately, when he’d fired every weapon they had at Camp A Shau, he led the survivors out with just an M-16. They’d fought for a day-and-a-half. He would led men through another two days of evasion before they were picked up by the good guys.

From the battle narrative:

“Approximately 200 of the camp defenders were killed in action, with 100 wounded. The enemy suffered an estimated 500 to 800 casualties. It is estimated that Adkins killed between 135 and 175 of the enemy, while suffering 18 different wounds.”

You wonder why it took so long.

Things to read … And these won’t take too long.

Turner Broadcasting to offer voluntary buyouts, layoffs also expected

Here’s a rapidly evoloving topic. Why public relations and media relations don’t mean the same thing anymore

Harassment Charges for Student Who… Told Joke [Gasp!]

Student Activists Keep Pressure On Campus Sexual Assault

And that, I think, will do for one night.