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.