{"id":573886819,"date":"2014-09-09T23:15:33","date_gmt":"2014-09-10T04:15:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/?p=573886819"},"modified":"2014-09-15T01:47:21","modified_gmt":"2014-09-15T06:47:21","slug":"wherein-i-reference-carl-sagan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/blog\/2014\/09\/09\/wherein-i-reference-carl-sagan\/","title":{"rendered":"Wherein I reference Carl Sagan"},"content":{"rendered":"

I showed off a neon sign in transition last week<\/a>, 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. <\/p>\n

I went back to check on the sign this evening. They’ve changed it:<\/p>\n

\"JNN\"<\/center><\/p>\n

We talked about<\/strong> generating story ideas in class yesterday, and will continue to do so tomorrow. Tonight the journalists produced their first issue of The Samford Crimson<\/a> for the year. <\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

It felt like this:<\/p>\n

<\/param><\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

But I’m learning, and I swam 2,000 yards. I do not know what is happening. <\/p>\n

Things to read<\/strong> … so you will know what is happening. <\/p>\n

(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.)<\/p>\n

(Nahhh … )<\/p>\n

Samford Is #3 in 2015 U.S. News Annual Rankings<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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\u2019s U.S. News list. <\/p>\n

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. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n

Another lovely story … Finding a groove, giving a gift<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And this is quite interesting … 11 Bird’s-Eye Views That Show How NYC Has Grown Over 350 Years<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

We’ve seen all manner of maps illustrating how NYC has grown over the centuries, but one of the coolest\u2014and least appreciated\u2014is 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. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Tomorrow<\/strong>, there will be more interesting things to be found here. Do come back, won’t you? And have a lovely time until then.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,28,35,25,56,44,8,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-573886819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-i-do-not-know-what-is-happening","category-iphone","category-journalism","category-links","category-swimming","category-things-to-read","category-tuesday","category-video"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573886819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=573886819"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573886819\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":573886820,"href":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573886819\/revisions\/573886820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=573886819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=573886819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=573886819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}