UA students participating in NASA Eclipse ballooning project
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – Aug. 21
A group of students from The University of Alabama is part of a nationwide NASA project to take video of the solar eclipse as it moves across the country Monday. Similar to a weather balloon, the UA balloon should rise 100,000 feet in the air, high enough to see the curvature of the Earth, and send live video of the eclipse to a Web site as part of the NASA Space grant network’s Eclipse Ballooning Project.
NBC 12 (Montgomery) – Aug. 21
WTVM 9 (Columbus, Georgia) – Aug. 21
University of Alabama eclipse watching party
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – Aug. 21
Thousands of students returned to campus for the start of classes later this week at the University of Alabama. It’s the first time any of the students ever saw an eclipse with their own eyes. Some students kicked back and soaked it in. They wore free eclipse glasses provided by the University. School officials expected about 3,000 students on the Quad to watch the eclipse. They filled up the Quad from about 11 a.m. until 1:30 p.m.
Tuscaloosa News – Aug. 21
WTVM 9 (Columbus, Georgia) – Aug. 21
WALB 10 (Augusta, Georgia) – Aug. 21
NBC 12 (Montgomery) – Aug. 21
WDAM 7 (Moselle, Mississippi) – Aug. 21
NBC 5 (Memphis, Tennessee) – Aug. 21
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Aug. 21
ABC 33/40 (Birmingham) – Aug. 21
CBS 42 (Birmingham) – Aug. 21
NBC 13 (Birmingham) – Aug. 21
At the Nashville Zoo, a teachable moment — as well as animals
Washington Post – Aug. 21
As the sun emerged from behind a cloud, Erik Peterson donned his eclipse glasses and directed his children’s eyes to the sky. “It’s started,” said an awed Peterson as he and his daughter Greta, 13, and son Will, 10, gazed at a sun slowly diminishing from its upper-right side. The Petersons were among the more than 5,800 visitors who filed into the Nashville Zoo as of noon Monday, with thousands more expected by the time totality began at about 1:30 p.m. . . . The Peterson children, meanwhile, were positively giddy in their eclipse T-shirts as they debated which animals they wanted to be near when totality hit. Their enthusiasm flowed from their father, a history of science professor at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, who took them out of school for the day. “Humans have been interested in eclipses for thousands of years,” said Peterson, 42. “This is a moment in human history to pay attention to a phenomenon that connects us to all these events in the past.” Peterson’s history of science course begins with a discussion of eclipses and a Greek philosopher, Thales of Miletus, who is reported to have accurately predicted an eclipse in 585 B.C.
Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor to Speak in Tuscaloosa
U.S. News – Aug. 19
U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor will speak at the University of Alabama law school next month. Sotomayor will participate in a discussion with dean Mark Brandon and U.S. District Judge Harold Albritton III on Sept. 12. Brandon says in a statement the school is honored to have her.
Tuscaloosa News – Aug. 19
The Rock Hill Herald (South Carolina) – Aug. 19
ABC 11 (Meridian, Mississippi) – Aug. 19
Technology Enables ‘Fake News.’ Can It Help Stop It, Too?
Extreme Tech – Aug. 21
In 1985, Neil Postman, in his now-prescient social commentary Amusing Ourselves to Death, compared the dystopian visions of George Orwell’s 1984 with Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World … A study by Richard Fording and Sanford Schram (political science professors at University of Alabama and Hunter College, respectively) analyzed the psychological profiles of voters and the “need for cognition.” They coined the term “low information voter,” who were voters who measured low in their knowledge of government and politics and questions like “thinking is not my idea of fun.”
UA Religious Studies professor says the solar eclipse may mean the End Times for some
CBS 42 (Birmingham) – Aug. 21
While many were having fun enjoying the solar eclipse, some Christians were taking this day much more seriously. According to a University of Alabama Religious Studies professor, for some Christians when the moon eclipses the sun and darkness washes over the land for a few short minutes, they say that spells the beginning of the end and the start of a tumultuous time in the Biblical apocalypse called the Great Tribulation.
After Charlottesville, schools rethink Confederate names
Politico – Aug. 21
AFTER CHARLOTTESVILLE, SCHOOLS RETHINK CONFEDERATE NAMES: Schools like Robert E. Lee Elementary in Dallas, Texas, and Stonewall Jackson High School in Manassas, Va., may get new names this fall. School officials nationwide are hearing calls from their communities to re-examine how they memorialize Confederate war figures in the anguished aftermath of the white supremacist demonstrations in Charlottesville, Va … It often takes events like the ones in Charlottesville to “bring back these conversations that should’ve been started earlier,” said Hilary Green, an assistant professor of history in the Department of Gender and Race Studies at the University of Alabama.
Al Brophy on the Removal of Confederate Statues
C-Span – Aug. 21
Professor Al Brophy talked about efforts to take down Confederate statues. He spoke via video link from Birmingham, Alabama.
2017 Awards for Excellence in Public Safety GIS Recipients Recognized at the National Geospatial Preparedness Summit
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – Aug. 21
The National Alliance for Public Safety GIS (NAPSG) Foundation Board of Directors is pleased to announce Major General William N. Reddel of the New Hampshire National Guard, Richard Butgereit of Florida’s Division of Emergency Management, and Chad Council of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as recipients of the 2017 Award for Excellence in Public Safety GIS. Awards were presented at a special reception during NAPSG Foundation’s annual National Geospatial Preparedness Summit on August 8, 2017, in Tuscaloosa Alabama.
93.7 The Eagle (Lubbock, Texas) – Aug. 22
WDAM 7 (Moselle, Mississippi) – Aug. 22
WTVM 9 (Columbus, Georgia) – Aug. 22
Telemundo 2 Kasa – Aug. 22
9 and 10 News (Michigan) – Aug. 22
NBC Right Now – Aug. 22