Dear dimwit on the phone

We posted a photo off the accident as soon as we had someone on scene, but the reporter couldn't get any closer than seeing things from behind a fire truck. But other people who were driving by posted on a local Facebook group where you could see the two cars involved where two people died. Other than seeing the makes and colors of the cars, there was nothing to identify anyone. Boy, there was some grief from the users about posting the photo because they were afraid people would learn their loved one died on Facebook. I didn't understand it because one these were two popular cars and there were no bumper stickers and two the Facebook group is a closed group so you can't see posts unless you are a member of the group. And while the town I'm in is small in comparison to Oakland, San Jose, San Francisco and other Bay Area towns, the road where the accident occurred is used by people leaving a metro area heading home to one of four little towns, so it isn't immediately a given the victims are from my city. Turns out neither were, but it just bugged me. I get not posting obvious photos of who victims are and not posting names until families are notified, but on a closed group covering one town among several which is home to more than a million people (when you include big metro that the road connects to) I feel that's taking yourselves too seriously.

 

Another annoying thing about all of this is that the people complaining about us posting a photo of the vehicle, are usually the same ones offering condolences to the family on Facebook and referencing how they found out from other social media (i.e., Facebook accounts of other friends and family).

 

Convo I had recently:
Old lady: Can you put the [Big 12 school I cover] basketball schedule in your newspaper?
Me: I'm sorry, but we don't have room for that in the paper. You can check their website. It's [Big12school.com]
Old lady: I don't know what that is. I don't have a computer.
Me: ... well I guess you could call their office?
Gotta love 'em

 

Well, I guess you could find room with agate type?

 

Do you still have an agate page?
Before each basketball, football and baseball season, I spend some time typing up all of our state college schedules and run them along with the Top 25 and a couple of conferences in one big glance every day.
A comprehensive state college schedule might not be feasible if you're in Texas, but it seems like you should at least have the Big 12 standings in there every day.

 

Just had a coach E-mail in the basketball results. Added "Sports Department needs a twitter account. Easier to send message thru that than email."
He took pics of the scorebook and a pic of team stats on his iPad, then E-mailed them in.
They're readable; that's not the problem.
The problem is, it's NOT easier to send that same info via Twitter.

 

It's easier for HIM.

 

I loved it when a coach took a picture of his iPad with his iPhone and emailed it, oblivious. Loved it.

 

If you're in an area with no WiFi or crappy internet, it may be the best option

 

One of the photos was just that — a pic of his iPad screen showing the team stats.

 

In theory, if a coach has an iPad without a data plan, but has an iPhone with data, he could tether the iPad to the iPhone for a connection and send the stats.

You know what, I just like assuming that the coach could do it but was too stupid to figure out he had that option. It's more fun that way.

 

I don't remember if I told this story or not, but it's from several years ago. Someone called wanting us to start running prep stuff for schools on the other side of the state because the paper over there had a pay wall which prevented him from seeing it for free. He actually gave that for his reason.