UA student develops pitching app
ABC 31 (Huntsville) – Oct. 31
A Madison man has developed technology that will tell you how fast that pitch went and how accurate it may be. You’ve already seen the technology on TV if you’re watching the World Series, when instant replay shows whether the pitch made the strike zone. But Matt Bowen, a University of Alabama student and start-up business owner with a passion for baseball has patented similar technology for much less than the sports channels. It’s $29.99 compared to the tens-of-thousands of dollars broadcasters spend to show you the balls and strikes. It’s because this software requires not much more than a Go Pro camera and a computer. Bowen claims it’s highly accurate. He’s now marketing this to people playing everything from T-ball to college ball.
Check Your Ageism, Science. It’s Unbecoming
Psychology Today – Oct. 30
As a PhD student of Clinical Psychology of the scientist-practitioner tradition, I am trained in the art and science of psychology. The art being clinical practice— the science being the research. Of course, and ideally, the primary purpose of this scientist-practitioner model is to produce clinicians who are consummate researchers and researchers who are also consummate clinicians. Because a good psychological science is one that studies what it practices and practices what it studies. (Christina Pierpaoli is a third-year graduate student in the Clinical Geropsychology doctoral program at the University of Alabama)
NAB PILOT Program Announces Winners Of ‘Innovation Challenge’
All Access – Nov. 1
The NAB’s PILOT technology innovation program has announced the 3 winners of its PILOT Innovation Challenge … Third place: CHANDRA CLARK of the UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA for customized news-by-phone service THE NEWS CALL, winning $10,000. The three winners will also receive expert guidance, access to key broadcast executives, and exclusive exposure at the NAB Shows.
Public – Nov. 1
A daughter of the Black Belt is inspiring a renaissance in the state’s poorest regions
Al.com – Oct. 31
Felecia Lucky wasn’t supposed to come back. Not to the poverty, oppression and hopelessness that surrounded her growing up in Livingston, Alabama, the heart of the handful of counties we call the Black Belt, and in a city where 55% of the residents are living below the poverty line—more than double the state rate … In health care, the group helped fund a grant, along with the University of Alabama’s Institute for Rural Health Research, to conduct a research study that will allow the community to co-own the findings rather than simply being the subjects of research ultimately owned by others.
VA center director to deliver speech
Tuscaloosa News – Oct. 31
John F. Merkle, director of the Tuscaloosa Veterans Affairs Medical Center, will be the keynote speaker for this year’s Tuscaloosa County Veterans Day program. The program will begin at 10 a.m. on Veterans Day, Nov. 11, at Veterans Memorial Park in front of University Mall … This year’s Veterans Day program will also feature remarks from David Blair, director of the University of Alabama’s Office of Military Affairs, and Sgt. Michael Hale of the Alabama National Guard.
The Not-So-Spooky History of Halloween
Netscape ISP – Oct. 31
Halloween has not always been defined as warty-nosed witches, ghouls, goblins, princesses and clowns stalking neighborhood streets upon nightfall begging for the sweet taste of candy. But it does have a decidedly witchy beginning! Halloween started as one of the European harvest festivals, such as the Wicca holiday of Samhain … It was a time of year when the temperatures dropped and cold winds blew harder. The crops had been harvested, and the fields turned brown. The days became shorter and the nights longer. The leaves on the trees turned colors and then died. And that made people think about the dead, says Dr. Michael J. Altman, an assistant professor of religious studies at The University of Alabama.