Wednesday

football / I do not know what is happening. / photo / running / Samford / Wednesday — Comments Off on The paper, a panorama, a pared piece of perspiration
9
Sep 15

The paper, a panorama, a pared piece of perspiration

I forgot to include this the other day. I took this picture during my Monday ride, when I was happily headed up the wrong road to somewhere I hadn’t intended to visit. Every now and then I find some place where the topography and the surroundings can trick you, offering this weird feeling that you’re on the top of the world.

This was one of those place. I figured a panorama would be an appropriate way to try to capture a small bit of the feeling.

Panorama

Click to embiggen, and then add this sensation to the list of things a simple photograph can’t convey. And let us also acknowledge how weird that entire premise is considering you’re at about 700 feet above sea level if you’re standing on that road side. Weird, I know, but it happens.

Today:

This is a first issue and, as first issues go it is pretty nice. We had our weekly critique meeting this evening and if this is their starting point, I told them that I think they’ll be pleased with where they wind up this year.

It stormed here again today, a big, loud, angry, demonstrative thing. I wanted to go have a big run, but the lightning was in the way. So I went to the gym, where there is an elevated indoor track. Only the football team had taken over that gym because of the storm. Some of their gyms were using part of the track. So I sat and watched them for a while.

There’s only so much you can do in terms of football practice on a basketball court, it turns out. But the coaches kept their spirits high and the players focused and they had some walk throughs and practiced some specific scenarios that they expect to encounter down the line. At the end of it all they huddled together and the head coach, Chris Hatcher, told the team how many lightning strikes were in the area. I’d like to look up that National Weather Service number for myself.

Then I ran two miles, thinking this part of life has gotten a little odd. “Two miles is a disappointment. Oh well, make up for it tomorrow.” And then realize, I’m looking forward to that.

I do not know what is happening.

I do not know what is happening. / links / podcast / running / video / Wednesday — Comments Off on All of our meanwhiles
2
Sep 15

All of our meanwhiles

Here is a podcast I recorded today with Trussville Tribune publisher Scott Buttram. He tells us about a sparsely attended secession rally in Montgomery. We wind up touching on whether things like this should be covered and the art of providing your audience with an even-handed report. It is a good conversation, check it out:

Meanwhile, I saw this video over lunch, and immediately identified with the kid:

Meanwhile, here’s your “educators” story of the day. New York School Wants to Block Student With Down Syndrome on 1st Day:

The president of the Westhampton Beach Board of Education did not responded to ABC News’ request for comment. But in a letter sent to The Southampton Press by school board member Suzanne M. Mensch and obtained by ABC News, Mensch wrote she was “extremely disheartened by the Killoran family’s repeated public efforts to bully the Westhampton Beach School District into developing an educational program for their son” and that “Westhampton Beach has not been a party to this discussion” regarding Aiden’s placement.

I think that stands all by itself. Mean ol’ family bullies.

Meanwhile, these stories about cutting-edge technology solving archeological problems keep cropping up. If it didn’t have some extremely expensive laboratory equipment involved you’d think they were just making things up as they go. Mostly because they are. And why not? Silver scans solve mystery of Jamestown graves:

The coffins were long gone, victims of decay, but the coffin nails remained. The scientists knew of the tradition of burying important people in the chancel—and two important clues clarified the mystery further.

One was a small, sealed silver box that had been placed on top of one of the coffins, as evidenced by wood fibers preserved on the bottom of the box. The other was silver thread found in one of the graves.

But the team from the Jamestown Rediscovery archaeological project was left with a conundrum: how to use these valuable clues to reveal the identities of the people in the graves without destroying the artifacts?

Meanwhile, from the Department of Things Change, Obviously: Millennial Travel Habits Force Tourism Bureaus to Shift Strategy:

Millennials at destination marketing organizations are pushing senior leadership to develop more innovative digital communications and more experiential sales efforts targeting both the leisure travel and meetings sectors.

Especially on the digital side, many of these younger professionals feel that their youth and social media expertise can be better leveraged to create more compelling social media and content marketing outreach for their organizations.

[…]

“I think it’s important for Millennials to point out to their senior leadership that the intent behind these campaigns is not just to do something fun,” says Spencer. “Of course, it was fun, but there was a strategy behind it and a lot of ROI. We wanted to get folks excited about Cleveland as a great place to visit, and we achieved that with a great outcome.”

Stack dimes.

After I’d had all the fun I could with class and podcasts and emails and reading and directing the typical traffic of a Wednesday I went for a run. I had a nice seven-mile jog, and I clocked my final mile at 8:26. That’s not fast, not even for me, but I’d like to stress, again, that it was mile seven.

I do not know what is happening.

journalism / photo / podcast / Wednesday — Comments Off on Can I get $1.86?
26
Aug 15

Can I get $1.86?

There’s not really a lot to say about the events of the day that hasn’t already been said. Terrible as this was, the people in Virginia have covered their own tragedy with great aplomb. Media criticism will probably continue on with the New York tabloids tomorrow. But outside of that, it has been one of those days where the media somehow manages to rally around itself. Mostly because they think it could have been any of them.

To a degree, that is true. At least, I suppose, this horrible thing wasn’t entirely random, but that is surely coming. And it is a terrible thing to contemplate.

Watching media reaction is informative. How many times have we all stood somewhere doing a story, harmless or dangerous, and thought nothing of what might be lurking around the corner? How does a story like today’s change how we view remotes, covering violent crime or the privacy of others?

Something happier, then. The 10-year anniversary of Katrina’s landfall was the subject of today’s podcast. Specifically, this cool story from the New York Times.

Andre is such a fun storyteller, particularly about the role that “place” has in telling the story of “us.” I was pleased he took the time to join us for what became a pretty far-ranging topic. And that Times piece he chose is pretty impressive, too.

Having just celebrated the big Netscape browser anniversary and then the 10th anniversary of YouTube it is fitting that we lunge headlong into the next phase of the internet. First there was text, then the images, now video is yielding to streaming video … Why live streaming is important for Facebook. Don’t forget, meanwhile, the booms from Meerkat and Periscope. The market is clearly ready for live streaming.

And sometime soon thereafter, virtual reality for everyone. All of this that has come before is the foundation upon which that will be built. Exciting times.

Exciting for different reasons, even though it is just a picture of a sign:

Wallets everywhere, rejoice.

photo / Samford / Twitter / video / Wednesday — Comments Off on “We could give ’em Christmas pants”
19
Aug 15

“We could give ’em Christmas pants”

Talked about this video in my social media practices class today:

This is the first time I’ve taught this class, but I’m pretty excited about it. We’ll talk about the personal usage aspects for the first week or so and then get into more professional applications. I know a handful of the students from other classes or projects and as a group they are a sharp bunch. I hope they get something out of it.

I tend to spend a lot of my time on campus in just two or three buildings which are all nearby. But today I had to go across the quad to pick some equipment that had been, let us say, misplaced. And I saw a food truck:

That was a new one to me.

I remember, last week, watching the GOP debate thinking This should be pretty fun on Saturday Night Live. But that was a 20th century response. I should have been thinking about a modern response, because this is brilliant:

Kasich inspired this post’s title.

adventures / photo / Wednesday — Comments Off on This nickel doesn’t bend
12
Aug 15

This nickel doesn’t bend

Easily the best picture I’ll take this week:

Of course it is only Wednesday, but what am I going to do to top that?

You should see the version The Black Cat photobombed. It is a near-perfect head merger.

Tonight I did the thing where you accidentally turn Siri on. Since the device was patiently waiting I gave it a few queries. (Still doesn’t know who John Shaft is.) And then I asked this question. A machine has never made me feel bad for it before:

But, man, I want to go buy my phone some cookies. And introduce it to my old iPod.

I had to pull out a few things from the office closet tonight — an old mixing board, some cables and such. While searching for a particular microphone — What? You don’t have more than one microphone in your home? — I ran across some old coins. I don’t collect coins, but I have a wheat penny and a 1940s mercury dime and a silver dollar from my birth year. Together, I learned tonight, those are worth about $6.51. So there goes that retirement plan. This guy doesn’t add anything to that fund:

Numismatists would turn their nose up at my buffalo nickel. Too much wear. That’s why this coin was on the way out after its 25-year run. The production problems meant almost all of the coins that went into circulation got heavy wear. And, of course, But I say that’s what makes this coin works. We’ll never know how old that coin is. Ever. And, after a certain age (It is from somewhere between 1913 and 1938) isn’t that what we all want?

Also, the buffalo nickel doesn’t do yoga. I read the Wikipedia pages of all three men — a Cheyenne, a Kiowa and an Oglala Lakota — believed to be part of the composite character. Not a single one of them could pull of an arm-balancing split.

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