IU / television / Twitter / video / Wednesday — Comments Off on Late night, so just a few quick things
29
Sep 21

Late night, so just a few quick things

Something for you to listen to, if you haven’t already heard this one.

These school board meetings, around here, around the country, the angst, the rage, parents targeting students. It’s a bizarro world driven by the insecurities of a few preying on school board members who didn’t sign on for this. And everyone knows it.

Read this statement from a school district in northern Indiana:

A person’s beliefs notwithstanding, harassing and trying to intimidate others because of what you read on Facebook or have seen on OAN is some kind of performance. People are going to have to live with this one day. Righteous indignity and a lack of self-awareness don’t stay merged forever.

Except, of course, when they do.

Tonight!

It was a part of a big show. They shot it like proper television, and it worked well. They only had to loop two or three pick-ups.

I stopped by their post-production meeting — which I do about twice a year at most, even though they always look like a lot of fun — to compliment them specifically. The sports folks are doing some really nice work to be this early in the year.

And the news side, a bit younger but no less enthusiastic, is coming along, too. These were the shows they produced when we were in the studio last night.

And on this show, Anna was riding solo. It was a bit of last-minute planning. Unfortunate that it had to happen, but this is a good place to have to learn to deal with curveballs.

And if you like baseball talk, come back later tomorrow, and Friday, for a lot more sports, here in this same space. Until then, listen to that show above. And if you see yourself in a television, be just as cool as Ta, up there.

IU / photo / television / Tuesday — Comments Off on Puck and Oberon do not appear in this post, but other fossils do
28
Sep 21

Puck and Oberon do not appear in this post, but other fossils do

Here are a few of the crinoids I found down on the lake shore on Friday, or, as I’ve lately come to think of it, My Struggles With White Balance.

I shot all of these on my phone, because that’s convenient, isn’t it? But, next time, a real camera. There’s just far too much variation, and at the same time, a poor representation of the fossils colors.

Here are a few small samples of the 340-million-or-so year old columnal segments which became a part of sedimentary rock.

At first I wrote that in the present tense. Like it was happening before our eyes. How many millions of years ago did all those lumps freeze up as one?

You don’t often find samples, at this site anyway, which demonstrate the animal’s branches.

And a bunch of the typically small artifacts you’ll find on a public and oft-used site.

But, hey, not everyone comes here for the fossils.

No one does.

Some of you want to see things that are living.

Or at least pretending!

So here’s a rugged bit of damage on a young tree just trying to make do in the shadows of its elders.

(It’s doing well, in fact.)

Somewhere after noticing fall, and all of its pleasures, it’s time to notice the falling away of the ubiquities of summer. It’s the moment after Lileks’ annual observation of the apogee of summer and before Camus’ proclamation of the second spring, and you can see it easiest in the flowers we still have now.

All year, these two walnuts have been together. I wonder how far apart they’ll be when they eventually fall from the branches. I’m not saying it’s Midnight Summer’s Dream in those woods, but if you think of Hermia at the end of the second act, I would understand.

And, if it’s too late in the month for a bad Shakespeare reference, here’s something more prosaic. Anna Black is doing standups for What’s Up Weekly and I somehow managed to get all the signs in one shot. And she isn’t even blinking here!

That was this evening, one of two shows the news division of IUSTV produced this evening. I’ll share them in this space when they make it online, which should be sometime tomorrow.

cycling / Monday / photo — Comments Off on Getting outside for the textures of the evening
27
Sep 21

Getting outside for the textures of the evening

Happy Monday. Beautiful fall weather all day, or so I heard. I spent it ‘neath the fluorescent lights.

Fall has a weird transcendent quality to it. I should get out there and enjoy this. Because winter is coming and you know what that’s like. But I have things I need to do inside. So I’ll get to it tomorrow. Yeah, tomorrow! Good idea! Tomorrow! It’ll be beautiful out there, then, too. But it’s never long enough.

Because winter is always looming just out there, somewhere. Waiting to arrive, unwelcome, a few days too early and determined to leave much too late.

The signals aren’t much help, either. There’s a saying about corn, knee high by July. But there’s not a saying that says “How in the world did that happen? It’s just the first of September?”

And sure, it signals fall, but that just foreshadows winter. It’s impossible to shake.

Anyway, saw that corn field on my Saturday bike ride, near the end, after I’d given up. At least my shadow had a good ride.

And he should! He never does any of the work on the bike. He just lets me pull him along, shadowy wheelsucker that he is.

When I got in for the evening I took a walk in the woods. Something about having to spell the word fluorescent seemed to require it. Let’s take a look at a bit of nature.

This is just down stream from where I found that leaf.

And if you were standing roughly there and wisely looked in all directions, you would eventually find yourself looking up. And you would be justly rewarded.

But when you turned back around and saw the light cast by the sun skating away, you’d get another beautiful glimpse that made wading through the underbrush worthwhile.

I am not a botanist, which is a statement that should be plain and obvious every time I put a picture of a plant here. And because of this, each time I see this plant, I want to say it is something else. This week we’re calling it milkweed.

Look at the bark on this tree. How beautiful is this?

Same tree, just below eye level.

And just below that, and slightly around to the side, there’s this sign of a limb removal.

It’s pretty low on the tree, and that looks as if it was a big branch. Maybe kids climbed on it. Maybe it just got in the way.

And since it’s a beautiful autumn Monday, it is time to check in with the kitties.

Phoebe is happy with the changing weather. She’s lately getting more snuggly and it has not escaped her attention that blanket season is upon us once more.

She likes blanket season.

Poseidon is a cat for all seasons. I believe he was upstairs soaking up some window sunshine before I interrupted him here.

He would like you to know you interrupted him. And he wants to know why. It’s a fair question.

adventures / Friday / IU / photo — Comments Off on A full fall Friday
24
Sep 21

A full fall Friday

First thing this morning it was into the studio. The morning show folks were under the lights this morning. I saw part of their production, but had to duck in and out for other things. There was a special alumni presenting to students today, so I had to do a bit to help with that.

And then there was a student who needed to interview someone in a podcast studio. That required giving a crash course in the equipment. (I saw her later. She said it all went great.) Then back to the guest speaker. And then another podcast tutorial.

After which I was able to sneak in a quick sandwich at my desk. And then the actual speaking event took place. After which I was able to catch up on Email.

And after that there was another podcasting tutorial.

One of the emails I fielded today was also about teaching people how to podcast.

Perhaps I should add that as an additional title.

(At least I had a nice matching blue theme today, no?)

After work it was to the house, and then immediately out to the lake to watch my lovely bride do one of her last Ironman workouts.

I also walked through the woods by the lake shore.

And I studied some of the flowering weeds.

And that sums up Friday, and most every day.

It’s the weekend. Supply your own allusion. And enjoy your weekend!

family / IU / memories / music / photo / television / Thursday / video — Comments Off on What was your first concert?
23
Sep 21

What was your first concert?

It was a productive and quiet Thursday, which allowed me to catch up on things and prepare for tomorrow, which will be productive and hectic.

I had a great memory this morning.

This is Ray Charles’ birthday. He was born in Georgia. I saw him when I was a little boy at Opryland, in Tennessee. My mother and my grandmother were at the park. And, to be honest, it was probably just an excuse to get out of the sun and heat for an hour or so. But, as I recall, they opened the doors for general admission seating and I, being smaller than everyone waiting to get inside, weaved through the crowd and got us seats close to the stage and right in the center. Maybe six or eight rows back.

Pretty great first concert.

Charles came on from stage right, sat at his piano, and The Raelettes came in behind him. At some point my mother leaning over and saying “I remember, he was old when I was young!”

He would have been about 54 or 55 at the time, my mother was in her mid-20s. That sentence is now hilarious.

He played to the crowd for a nice long matinee set. He leaned way back on his stool. He sang all of the songs you’d expect. He wailed on Hit the Road Jack. I remember that clearly. This isn’t from that show, but a concert about two years before.

I’m sure my grandmother knew some of his songs. Probably some of the country catalog and the stuff that, by then, had become American standards. I wonder what she thought about the show.

Here’s the sports show from last night. It’s just a barrel full of IU sports. What transpired, and what’s coming up. It’s all on Hoosier Sports Nite.

And here is one of the planters out front of Franklin Hall. This area, in the Old Crescent, is one of the campus highlights, and it’s always photogenic. The landscape and facilities people are putting out their best fall colors. They always do terrific work on campus. Just imagine this sort of thing all over the heavily landscaped parts of a sprawling campus.

We’re waiting for them to return my call about whether they work on private residences. I’ll let you know.

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