Tuesday « Kenny Smith | A remarkable thing happens …

Tuesday

Signs of spring, finally

This little bush in our side yard always seems to have the first blooms. They showed up last week, finally. I thought it’d be nice to show them off, finally.

Two trees on campus, that I drive and walk past every day, have turned into lovely lavender explosions. Everything is about to surge forward. Spring, finally.

My swim was much better this evening, thanks for asking. I swam 2,000 yards. That’s 1.14 miles to you and me. I’m pretty sure I’ve consciously gotten into my car and deliberately driven it a shorter distance. It isn’t fast, or especially pretty, but there’s distance, and I don’t feel bad during it. Except for being constantly winded.

I’m told this is because I don’t know how to breathe. I’m beginning to believe that.

Things to read … because we want to believe everything we read.

With a new newsfeed, Facebook is getting ready to go Pay-for-Play includes some thoughtful tips and interesting links.

Alabama offering free photo IDs to vote

Perhaps you heard about the body found in Michigan. Today there’s a new angle on that story. Voting Records Raise Questions After Mummified Body Found:

The body found last Wednesday in Pontiac is that of Pia Farrenkopf — according to her sister, Paula Logan. Authorities investigating the case haven’t released her name, but they have said that the woman apparently died in 2008 at the age of 49.

According to a report in the Detroit Free Press, records show Farrenkopf as voting in the November 2010 gubernatorial election. Officials say, however, that it may represent an administrative error. Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard says the information must be checked out.

Whoops.

Also in Michigan, 82-year-old protects family, attacks home intruder with hammer to head:

Officers found the 33-year-old male suspect in the living room with blood dripping from his head.

The 82-year-old victim, George Bradford, who was inside the home, struck the suspect with the hammer in an effort to protect his family. George says his mother was in an upstairs unit and that he’s owned the duplex on Whitfield since 1968.

I don’t know about you, but I always enjoy when the aggressor is the one who gets hurt and the victim is the person with the hammer.

Weird headline of the week: Missing woman unwittingly joins search party looking for herself . And, remember, the week also includes that ridiculous story about the Oregon man who called 911 on his cat.

Ahh, educators. Fond du Lac students protest censorship mandate for school publication:

The piece features stories of three rape victims. Their names have been changed in the story.

On Monday Fond du Lac High School Principal Jon Wiltzius told journalism classes new school guidelines require that all stories meet his approval before publication and are subject to rejection.

“This is a reasonable expectation,” Wiltzius said. “My job is to oversee the global impact of everything that occurs within our school and I have to ensure I am representing everyone and there was some questionable content.”

Here’s a rule of thumb: If someone can fairly say you have a rape culture on your campus and you’re talking about how everyone is represented and you are questioning content, it is possibly possible that you are asking the wrong questions.

What will digital life look like in a decade? Some predictions, from the optimistic to mind control:

Tomorrow marks the 25th anniversary of Tim Berners-Lee’s initial proposal for what would become the World Wide Web. Think about how different media and technology were in 1989 from today. Now imagine how different things might look at a year that sounded like science fiction not that long ago: 2025.

And, now, Kevin Bacon:

You can’t just swipe away the hurt. Also, the Soviets had nukes for a lot longer than 20 years. Or maybe they ran out after nuking Bacon’s friends.

friends / I do not know what is happening. / journalism / links / running / Samford / things to read / Tuesday — Comments Off
4
Mar 14

Happy Fat Tuesday

There was beans and rice and gumbo — sans the okra, so it wasn’t actually gumbo, but good nevertheless — and there were beads and king cake and some weird jello dessert on hand today.

People dressed up. Or at least put on masks.

I declined the king cake. I don’t like king cake. Came as a surprise to me, too. And I don’t think I’ve had jello as an adult. I’m saving up for a rainy day. I did have some fried okra on the side, however.

And then this evening I ran a 10K. I sprinted some. I can’t feel the lower half of my legs just now.

I built a training regimen that will surely be difficult to stick with in one way or another, but if I want to do triathlons this year I have to get in something approaching a reasonable condition. The good news is that I have the base stuff covered. The bad news is that, eventually, the Saturday “run nine miles” day will at some point become something closer to routine rather than a big deal.

I do not know what is happening.

Maybe I should wear a mask, so no one will see me in pain.

Things to read … the all-link edition! There is something for everyone, I’m sure. Enjoy!

American Adults: Internet as Essential as Cell Phones

Two-thirds of 18-34s use online radio

Why Apple chose Tumblr for its social media debut

Under Russian flag, Kalashnikov-armed checkpoints come to Ukraine

Gov. Robert Bentley joins other state leaders in calling for reversal of proposed National Guard cut

FCC scraps study of newsrooms

Which Alabama public officials bought Auburn football tickets in 2013?

Kristi’s advice for students pursuing a career in sports

1 in 10 Americans think HTML is an STD, study finds

Runners detour race to thank 95-year-old World War II veteran

And, finally, this newly released video from my friend Nathan Troost, whom I wrote about here last week. Terrific story, sharp storytelling. It is worth six minutes of your time.

HOPE+ Sisterhood from Lantern Vision on Vimeo.

Nathan says it is his calling. I’ve seen enough of his work to think he heard correctly. Check out more from Lantern Vision.

journalism / links / things to read / Tuesday / Twitter / video — Comments Off
18
Feb 14

Heavier than a Hoover running back

Beautiful day. Just a lovely experience outside. Hope you took a few minutes to wander around in it in wonder. It is almost as if this wasn’t happening just a few days ago:

That was on the Daily Mountain Eagle Twitter account, which is a parody of a rural community in the name of a legitimate newspaper. And that video is, as you might have noticed, hypnotic.

Pulling magazines, I gave myself a massive paper cut on the tip of my index finger. I have now legitimately bled for print media. I don’t even work on that magazine.

Things to read … because people have occasionally bled for the things they produce for us. Not always, thankfully, but it has happened.

Journalist sues police who investigated his use of a drone:

A photographer for WFSB-TV in Hartford, Conn., filed a suit against the Hartford Police Department in U.S. District Court Tuesday, claiming a police officer demanded his employer discipline him after he flew a drone over an accident scene.

In his suit, Pedro Rivera says he was off work on Feb. 1 when he heard about an accident. Once he got to the scene, he flew a drone over it to “record visual images,” the suit says. Police “surrounded the plaintiff, demanded his identification card, and asked him questions about what he was doing,” the suit says. “The plaintiff did not feel as though he were free to leave during the course of this questioning.”

A police sergeant who wrote a report of the incident “expressed concern that flying a drone over the scene might compromise the integrity of the scene and the ‘privacy of the victim’s body.’”

For all of the things that the Olympics are, and aren’t, the visuals are always stunning. The photographers are terrific. The Inside Story of How Olympic Photographers Get Such Stunning Images:

Every single moment of the Sochi Olympics is documented in minute detail. Here’s how the AP and Getty Images, two of the biggest photo agencies on the scene, get their incredible photos from the Olympics to the United States, faster than you can microwave a bag of popcorn.

This past Tuesday in Sochi, American snowboarder and defending gold medalist Shaun White attempted a double cork as his third trick during his run in the men’s halfpipe final, a last-ditch to improve his score. He bungled it, landing on the edge of the pipe, and nearly taking a massive fall.

White came in fourth and walked away without a medal in his best event. But the moment led to one of the most memorable shots of the Olympics so far. Some of the best sports photographers in the world captured the violence and drama of the split-second impact better than any video could. White’s board, looking like it might snap in half. The American flag bandana startled out of place. White’s mouth agape at the shock from the impact. This is what it looks like when you fail to defend your gold medal.

Yesterday everyone said the notorious Bode Miller interview on NBC “went too far.” Miller disagrees. Bode Miller Supports Christin Cooper After Interview Leaves Him in Tears:

NBC Sports released a statement to several news outlets, saying, “Our intent was to convey the emotion that Bode Miller was feeling after winning his bronze medal. We understand how some viewers thought the line of questioning went too far, but it was our judgment that his answers were a necessary part of the story. We’re gratified that Bode has been publicly supportive of Christin Cooper and the overall interview.”

In an interview with Matt Lauer Monday on Today, Miller reiterated his support of Cooper.

“I’ve known Christin a long time. She’s a sweetheart of a person. I know she didn’t mean to push,” he said. “I don’t blame her at all.”

It wasn’t too much. It was awkward. And it was unnecessarily long. Remember, that interview, like almost everything else in these Games, was canned.

Closer to home. Vestavia Hills defensive back tackles purse snatcher at the Summit shopping center:

Hilburn, an 18-year-old free safety, went to the shopping center on President’s Day with his brother and father to buy a new suit. As they got out of the car, they spotted a man running through the parking lot carrying a purse. It wasn’t hard to tell something was amiss.

“My dad said, ‘Nicholas, go get him,”’ he said. He didn’t have to tell his son twice.

“I kind of thought about it for a second and looked at his hands to make sure he didn’t have a knife,” Hilburn said. “After that, I didn’t think much about it. I ran and I tackled him. I put a knee in his neck and his face in the ground.”

Only one thought really went through is head, Hilburn said. “When I got him in the air- I kinda body slammed him- and I thought he was a lot lighter than a Hoover running back.”

Wonder how that played with the rest of the family when they heard what the father said.

Farmers Worry About Sharing Big Data:

Purdue University agronomist, Bruce Erickson, says even with all the precision technology, there’s a lot of trial and error on the farm right now. The answers would be clearer if farmers pooled their results.

“We mine the information from farmers’ fields sort of like Google mines information from our mouse clicks and Walmart mines from when we purchase certain products,” Erickson said.

That would be a treasure trove for seed companies. It could help speed up research and establish a track record for new seed varieties.

“People are thinking whole farms could be our research plot versus doing a specific study in a corner of a farm,” Erickson said.

[…]

But that’s where the Information Age gets bogged down in the nitty-gritty.

If their data is sold, will farmers get a cut? What if there’s a security breach like at Target? Those concerns are enough for many farmers to keep their data between themselves and close advisors.

Even the farm is turning into an IBM commercial. Interesting times.

cycling / I do not know what is happening. / journalism / links / photo / running / swimming / things to read / Tuesday — Comments Off
11
Feb 14

I’d really rather not talk about the weather

Another day closer to the weather and we’re coming to the realization that it’ll hit us but good.

There are some things we have to keep in mind about winter in the South. First, it is hard to forecast. This is a dynamic region and the one-two punch we’re getting this week has major elements coming from the west, down from the north and up from the Gulf of Mexico. The forecast models change almost by the hour.

Meteorologists are more than happy to share those long-range models and, I’m half-convinced, they just confuse people who really shouldn’t be confused about winter weather.

Also, it isn’t the snow that’s the problem. Except when it is. Our snow is usually wet. And what often happens is the snow melts, the temperature drops and then we have great sheets of ice over everything. You drive on that.

You drive on that, because I’m staying inside.

And all of that may happen again this week. Most of the worst of it, right now, seems to be aiming for Georgia and the Carolinas. But we’ll have plenty, thanks.

Already the weather has canceled the student newspaper this week. It is due out tomorrow, but the printer is to our north, and they are expecting to get walloped. So on and on the fun goes.

To take our minds off that fun, here’s a shot of Allie, The Black Cat, sunbathing on Sunday:

That afternoon we decided, hey, it is a beautiful day, let’s run a sprint triathlon.

So we went to the pool. I had my new goggles and we swam our 650 yards. I started out too fast, which was a paradoxical decision as I am slow in the pool. And so I suffered with that for a while. I figured I would redeem myself on the bicycle, where I thought I would be able to hammer it a bit. So down the big hill and up the smaller, other side. Around part of the bypass, up another hill through campus. I got stopped at a red light, turned around and there was The Yankee. I was sure she would be nowhere to be found, but she was having a great ride.

Up through an old neighborhood, hang a left and then a right. I took a road I don’t think I’ve ever pedaled on before, but a road where we once looked at two houses. I finished the 14-mile route just a minute or two before she did, but she also caught a light I did not.

So I guess I’ll have to win in the run. We ran the first half of our 5K together, because it wasn’t a race. It was a beautiful, glorious, day for an hour and change outside, in shorts and t-shirts, in the sunshine.

We ran a sprint triathlon on a whim, making us those people. Last summer I did three of them, suffering and struggling and dreading them and only enjoying them after they were over — enjoying the knowledge that I’d completed them. (For this I get to thank Bud Frankenthaler, who two years ago I watched finishing a triathlon at the age of 79. If he could do it, the rest of us don’t have a lot of excuses, right? Thanks Mr. Frankenthaler. He will probably outpace me somewhere this year, too.) Today there were no bib numbers, no massage table, no timing chips. We did it for fun. Had a great time, too. I want to do it again. Let’s go next weekend.

I do not know what is happening.

Tomorrow we’ll have snow.

Things to read … because links will keep us all warm.

These are just the links, enjoy clicking through the ones that interest you.

Writing headlines that get clicks

IndyStar staffers read your mean comments

Drone use highlights questions for journalists

First Listen: St. Paul And The Broken Bones, ‘Half The City’ — This is a good band, a local group, that’s about to make it big. Some of the musicians are from Samford, too.

And now I’m going to go buy things on the Internet. Who delivers milk and bread?

journalism / links / Samford / things to read / Tuesday / video — Comments Off
4
Feb 14

The most frightening Muppets

One of the most frightening Muppets, to me, was Grouch. Doesn’t ask me why. I think it was his appearance, home and his voice, which vaguely reminded me of one of my uncles. That’s what I’m going with. I bring this up because the other one that disturbed me is at the bottom of the post.

At lunch today I dropped a plate, basically right in the lap of a young lady who’d made the unfortunate decision to sit between my Point A and Point B. The plate was, thankfully, empty. And it did not break. But this is mortifying. There are eight young women sitting there talking about their studies or their sorority or boys or who knows, and then I happen.

Some distance away I could hear the slow clap starting. That hasn’t happened since high school. My innocent victim noted, as she picked up my plate and I apologized profusely, that at least her table didn’t chime in, an observation I’d already made, and a decision for which I was grateful. But no one else did, either, and the slow clap quickly died. It was probably only three people.

“Frat boys,” one of the students said.

I’m pretty sure they started clapping reflexively, but then stopped when they realized this was an old guy. Maybe one of them was a student of mine. Maybe it just isn’t funny if it isn’t your peers.

For example, the state troopers now say there were more than 700 snow and ice-related car crashes last week, not counting whatever the locals worked. That’s unfortunate for those people, to be sure. Nine people died in crashes. And in this vein some people are making their wacky “Haha, Southerners can’t drive in snow” jokes.

But, hey, we opened our windows and sat around in shorts last weekend.

Here’s another video, a short film featuring Ms. Alice Herz-Sommer. She is believed to be the oldest living Holocaust survivor, and, perhaps, the world’s oldest piano player:

Things to read … because your parents warned you about watching all of those videos.

I saw this story today and wondered what the reaction would be and how long it would take. CBO nearly triples estimate of working hours lost by 2021 due to Affordable Care Act:

A historically high number of people will be locked out of the workforce by 2021, according to a report by the Congressional Budget Office released Tuesday.

President Barack Obama’s signature health-care law will contribute to this phenomenon, the CBO said, citing new estimates that the Affordable Care Act will cause a larger-than-expected reduction in working hours—eliminating the equivalent of about 2.3 million workers in 2021.

The answers were not long, and bad enough that they should have taken a few more minutes to think up something not so insulting.

Health Care Law Projected to Cut the Labor Force

With the expansion of insurance coverage, the budget office predicted, more people will choose not to work, and others will choose to work fewer hours than they might have otherwise to obtain employer-provided insurance. The cumulative reduction of hours is large: the equivalent of 2.5 million fewer full-time positions by 2024, the budget office said.

The report “rightfully says that people shouldn’t have job lock,” said Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader. “We live in a country where we should be free agents. People can do what they want.”

“Now you won’t have to work!” doesn’t sound like an especially compelling argument, really, Senator. But have at it.

Assault on California Power Station Raises Alarm on Potential for Terrorism

The attack began just before 1 a.m. on April 16 last year, when someone slipped into an underground vault not far from a busy freeway and cut telephone cables.

Within half an hour, snipers opened fire on a nearby electrical substation. Shooting for 19 minutes, they surgically knocked out 17 giant transformers that funnel power to Silicon Valley. A minute before a police car arrived, the shooters disappeared into the night.

[…]

The attack was “the most significant incident of domestic terrorism involving the grid that has ever occurred” in the U.S., said Jon Wellinghoff, who was chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission at the time.

[…]

To some, the Metcalf incident has lifted the discussion of serious U.S. grid attacks beyond the theoretical. “The breadth and depth of the attack was unprecedented” in the U.S., said Rich Lordan, senior technical executive for the Electric Power Research Institute. The motivation, he said, “appears to be preparation for an act of war.”

Have 24-hour TV news channels had their day?

The past two decades have seen a revolution in every aspect of the media industry – technological change has enabled consumers to develop sophisticated and subtle patterns of behaviour, constantly being updated from a variety of sources. Cable news established the 24-hour news habit, but today social media and mobile phones fulfill the instant news needs of consumers better than any TV channel can.

Yet around the world hundreds of millions of dollars continue to be invested each year in news networks. Is this money well spent? Or has the time come to rethink the TV news business? Were live channels simply the product of the satellite age which is now all but over?

[…]

News channels prize being first – a race that they can’t win, and nobody else cares about. “Did we beat CNN?” is a phrase often heard in a newsroom. But in the digital age social media will always win the race to be first (if not always the race to be right). And who, other than the inhabitants of newsrooms, is watching enough news channels simultaneously to know who was first anyway? Those 30 seconds might be important for commodity traders – but for news audiences?

In today’s media environment any broadcaster is first for minutes at most – by which time Twitter or the competition will have caught up. Being first – the primary criterion for 24-hour news channels – is increasingly the least interesting and effective value they offer.

What wasn’t included, but should be: The Weather Channel.

Making Failure Acceptable: Entrepreneurship in Journalism

Sochi facilities still a work in progress

From the multimedia blog:

Viral content, relevant news aimed at audience who offers excuses to news

Journalism trends? Let’s have some fries and talk about it

This will take two minutes

And, finally, the game is a-fruit!

The Count always scared me. But that’s a conversation for a different day.