Rock Hill's Vernon Grant and Christmasville

You may know of Norman Rockwell and his famous illustrations. I know him because he's from my "home state" of Massachusetts.

 

Recently I came to find out that there is another famous illustrator that was stepping on Rockwell's heels and he's here in Rock Hill, SC where I work.  The Museum of York County has a few exhibits about him and his story. Vernon Grant was not just an accomplished illustrator but he also was a very involved person in this town.  Without him Rock Hill would be another forgotten town in South Carolina and under the shadow of Charlotte.

The town also transform during Christmas time by using his illustrations of gnomes and Santas to decorate Christmasville in Rock Hill. Christmasville Rock Hill.

Here's a short version of his story....

 

and an outtake from a stand-up that might put you in the Christmas spirit or make you laugh a little more than usual.

NextGen Aviation Podcast

NextGen Avaiation website 

Click play to listen to the podcast!

Good dog! Bad dog!

I'm a dog loving freak! Always had dogs my entire childhood and now in my adult life. I feel a bigger bond with animals than I do with humans. That's just my weird self. No, I am not Dr. Doolittle or the Dog whisperer. I just like dogs...and would try and recuse a ton if I could afford it. I already have 3.

The Ladies of the House hold. Mini Schnauzer: Zora, Border Collie: Sasha and Toy: Poodle Ruby

Before I digress anymore, let me get to what I want to talk about.  You know how you are always talking to your dog like a human-being and telling them what to do and you think that they could almost understand what you are saying but then you just shake it off like you are crazy. Well you may not crazy at all.

A recent in the Cell Press journal Current Biology released November 26, shows the first evidence of how dogs differentiate and process those various components of human speech.  Your furry little friend can differentiate between the words you say and the emotion behind them.

"Previous studies showed that dogs have hemispheric biases--left brain versus right--when they process the vocalization sounds of other dogs. Ratcliffe and her supervisor David Reby say it was a logical next step to investigate whether dogs show similar biases in response to the information transmitted in human speech. They played speech from either side of the dog so that the sounds entered each of their ears at the same time and with the same amplitude." (Sciene Daily: Dogs hear our words and how we say them)

The results: "The researchers did observe general biases in dogs' responses to particular aspects of human speech. When presented with familiar spoken commands in which the meaningful components of words were made more obvious, dogs showed a left-hemisphere processing bias, as indicated by turning to the right. When the intonation or speaker-related vocal cues were exaggerated instead, dogs showed a significant right-hemisphere bias." (Sciene Daily: Dogs hear our words and how we say them)

Obviously, it doesn't mean that they will understand everything we say. It just means that they are paying attention to what we say and can make decisions on what we are saying really means to them.

Listen to the podcast of this blog.
 

Bill Cosby Rape Allegations

Here's the story: Bill Cosby's had a civil lawsuit in 2006.  The lawsuit: a women who claimed Cosby sexually assaulted her.  He settled the lawsuit and moved on with his life.  In a recent comedy show in Philadelphia, Hannibal Buress brought up that and called him a "rapist."  This was face that launched a thousand ships.

After this, more than a dozen women came forward saying that Cosby had sexually assaulted them.  Many news agencies from NPR to the AP have given Cosby the opportunity to have a say in these allegation but he has remained silent.  Recently, the AP decided to release this video footage that show extras of an interview where he asked the reporter to not show that part. While I feel the reporter should have stood his ground, he was a little wishy washy.  It's his job to get to the truth whether or not he answers. Don't pass it onto "your boss wants you to ask."

Cosby has the right to not say anything and protect his privacy but as a public figure and "America's TV father," that's out of the question. He owes his viewers, followers a comment. NOT SAYING ANYTHING HARMS YOUR CREDIBILITY!

After a month of not saying much, yesterday, Cosby finally broke his silence:

"I know people are tired of me not saying anything, but a guy doesn't have to answer to innuendos," he told Florida Today on Friday. "People should fact check. People shouldn't have to go through that and shouldn't answer to innuendos."

So what happens from here? Who knows. He hasn't been charged with anything, yet. These are just allegations. We will have to wait if any of these women bring back the lawsuit since there is no statue of limitation on it.

Listen to the podcast of this blog.

To Ebola, or not to Ebola...

I've been avoiding this post for a while because I don't want to make this a bigger deal than it already is! What I do want to focus on is the quarantine that is the hot topic.

Many are saying that it's unnecessary, that it's making doctors not want to leave and help in Africa because they will be subjected to that quarantine. That it's taking away certain freedoms.

This article, Nurse Defies Quarantine, explains her reasons why she won't do the quarantine. Yes, it is unnecessary to be quarantine if you have tested negative after you come back from Liberia, Sierra Leone and/or Guinea.

While I agree with this, I still think it's a good idea to follow the quarantine measures to make sure that the doctors who tested you didn't miss anything. It's only 20 something days and then you can be on your merry way.


NJ Governor Christie has a Controversial Ebola Quarantine.  All healthcare workers exposed to Ebola have a 21-day mandatory quarantine period. While he was criticize for it, more are joining in, especially Nobel Prize-winning doctor and medical researcher, Dr. Bruce Beutler.

Again, the risk of you getting Ebola in the United State is very low, but it's still a good idea to be safe about what you do and as a healthcare professional it is your job to avoid a wide spread fear by leading by example.  Diseases mutate and before we know it, it could become an airborne virus. Healthcare professionals have responsibilities to their patients and sometimes you have to give up a little freedom to make sure others will be safe.

Now, so far if the president can hug it out, then you can go on about your day and not worry about it until doctors release new findings that it can spread through the air. Obama eases Ebola fears by hugging ebola survivor Nina Pham.

For now, here's a few infographics from the CDC and WHO that will help you understand how low risk this really is and maybe help you understand how to avoid it, where it's currently at and what the U.S. is doing about it.

Listen to the podcast of this blog.

Stealing The Show

So Halloween is coming up and I wanted to write about something fun.  

WE broadcasters usually don't get to dress up for Halloween. So we try to spice things up a little bit.  Sometimes it doesn't go as planned like the video above. There's a saying in Hollywood: "Don't bring animals or children into the mix."

The same goes to broadcast but sometimes these curious dogs and kids end up making you a viral sensation like Ripple the dog.  He doesn't care that there is broadcast going, he just wants to play.

Then you have the ones that take the opportunity to just dance in front of the camera.

While these can be super distracting, it happens more than you think.  You have moments you will be live and someone comes behind you and yells or even asks you out. Like below:

But no matter how many times this happens, we still have to continue with our jobs and report. So yes, we can hear you and yes we have to address what you are doing behind us and then continue on with our story.

So opportunist! Keep working hard to ruin the live-shots we worked hard on. We wont crack...well it's kinda tough not to crack up when a rhino farts.

Elections? Already here? Who's running?

Really who is running? Or what are these people saying about themselves to get elected.

Elections have changed a ton with social media.  You can reach so many in just a simple click and post. But there are still television ads that the campaign puts money into to, to either sell you their candidate or bash the other candidate, or both.

I think they show insight on a persons character. If a candidate bashes the other then I know that candidate is trying to fight dirty. I don't like the bashing ads because it always reminds me of two high school kids fighting.

If they post an ad about themselves and what they do, then I always think that they are a little narcissist but of course a campaign ad is supposed to sell why you are the best candidate so I let it slide. I just look for honesty.

I asked a few people on social media what their thoughts where about television ad campaigns. This is what a couple said on our facebook page MediaMosis:

Check out this article from the Boston Globe, I thought it was pretty interesting and gives insights on how these ads can backfire quickly.

The Good, Bad, Ugly Political ads - Boston Globe