Bringing Science to the Buzz

Dan Vergano makes a leap and subsequent splash.

[Shilvio] D. Linton

Student in LSC 212

          Dan Vergano has really moved up in life. From his days researching for PBS to a senior writer-editor with National Geographic Society. Now comes the next big step in his career with BuzzFeed. Whaa?

          Vergano says he hasn't really changed jobs he’s just changed his target audience to the generation obsessed with the internet. Citing the decline of the physical media, Vergano is just getting the cool science news to the generation that may never pick up a magazine.

          He still tells sensational science stories, but he wasn't in the business of looking for a nugget of science he wanted to impart tohis audience that day. It’s not hard to imagine; “every story in the modern world has science behind it.”

          It wasn’t clear as to why he left National Geographic (my science writing instructor’s dream job) and something I’m suspicious of. One thing is certain, Vergano deeply respects digital interfaces. They allow readers to effectively pass on things that would be newsworthy and adds another layer of trust. Who do you believe more? Advertisers sticking something in your face or your aunt Minnie who passes an article to you via social media?

For the record, I do trust my Aunt Minnie.

          Regardless of why he’s left the big daddy of science writing, Vergano hasn’t retired his journalistic ethics. He’s still practicing investigative reporting with a high degree of professionalism, whether it be exposing Exxon Mobil at the root of climate naysayers or checking out the plausibility of force fields on Humvees.

Vergano expertly closed the question answer section by mentioning he had BuzzFeed stickers.

This man is experienced.

The Power of the Phalange

         On Sunday, I hurt my thumb playing volleyball. It was a spectacular set that came my way. Just pure gold. I was in position 4, outside hitter. I am a pretty decent spiker (Better known as a killer (because you should be getting the point by putting the ball down (get it? (put it down..?)))))

Right there, the number 4 position.

          I got an AWESOME set from one of my teammates. He set it quickly to match my light jumping style. Feeling the spike as something that should have happened naturally, I swung at it with my right hand. (I am right handed (for the record)). The set wasn't intended for that hand; it was supposed to go to my left hand so I could hammer it down (and get the kill)! I spiked at the ball (technically, I wasn't spiking at the ball) at full force. My thumb was pushed all the way back. As soon as I horribly executed the play feeling my thumb, not in the right place, I grabbed it (while midair still if I may add that) and grimaced.

The point was valid. (cheap but valid) 

Planetwalk Day Five

Coming soon!

Planetwalk Day Four 2015

Steps: ~25,500 

          Today was significantly harder than the other days (in my opinion) perhaps it was because I wasn't pushed very hard and the sudden jump in intensity. We started in the back of Frosty’s (a local restaurant). The asphalt was cracked and broken bleached by the sun.
          We slid out of the sight of the city in an instant. I would have missed it if I were looking at the 18-wheelers mowing through the worn. It seemed like the highway took a break in the city. It was easy to think we would continue down the highway, but that would be dangerous. There was no indication that we were expert Planetwalkers. I saw many instances where the walkers weren't following conventions. We were to walk against the flow of traffic, facing the incoming traffic. That way we would be able to see cars coming and would not be victim to the Doppler Effect.

          There was a calm while walking. The roars of the semis died down and faded into the open space. The rows of corn silage became a regular sight again. There was a hum in the air though. It wasn't coming from the us passing by. There was an ethanol plant right nearby. Two massive piles of corn being processed. The fields around the facility were being surveyed by XXX He was using a machine from XXX the previous year, they put some tech underground and he wanted to find them. He was like a savvy treasure hunter using a metal detector on the beach.
          I planned on walking with Nichole, but she was involved in another conversation. I decided to change gears to cruise control (at my pace).

a shadow of my former self, cast on a broken road

          Walking past houses sprinkled on the path. I left little notes in their mailboxes. They were literally just little hello's telling the relaying a little message to the people that I didn't have a chance to talk to in person. There was one that wrote that saying “Hi. I’m just informing you that Planetwalkers passed by your house today.”  I would include John Francis’s name so they would have something to look up and find out more. This would possibly open up a conversation in the future where people would check out what we are and what we did and have a little memento of something that could be valuable in the future. The method was kinda similar to what John did all those years ago. He didn’t speak but to introduce himself, he would have a little card that explained his situation, the small biography that I would give to the people if I had been speaking to them in person. I wanted to have these be like magical tickets that would bring us all together to a tea table in a gazebo to talk about what life is all about. Imagine what that would be like, a conversation between people about where they live and their place in the living environment! 

mailbox located!

Walking ahead

the first seen the first conversationability to break the glass.set an example to how to actreinforce the feeling of discovery and "firstness"
 

          The path to number one can be arduous. There are always things that sidetrack the wanderer. The first was a pair of brothers that were working with a disk plow. It could have been the middle of a chisel plow, but I saw there were no hooks on it. I thought that they were outfitting their rigs. It was quite the opposite. The brothers were breaking down the old plow for recycling. They said the steel may fetch some fair price somewhere. I thanked them for recycling. Using that preceding sentence, I cleverly introduced my field of study. They were pleasantly surprised and welcoming after that. We got into a little conversation about the different practices one can have on a field the size of his. There as a continuous silage on the field. These cats were getting everything right.

We ended the conversation with a picture.

Breaking down the old plow. Much respect.

Planetwalk Day Three 2015

          Walking was a lot easier today. I thought there was a lot of dust blowing around but in retrospect that just means I need to take a nice shower.

          I was talking and walking with Carlie (aka. Curly). I found out that she was a big-time photographer and wanted to take photos all day that day. I would be shadowing a pro today. We did a lot of lingering. Wherever there was a group of people, we were there to document it. Such is the life and time of a person that was in interested in the way that people saw and interacted with their environment.

          We got a complaint' that we went taking any time to paint or draw pictures. Something that the planet walker did was draw and write little haiku about what he saw on his travels. They are littered throughout his books aptly titled Planetwalker. I didn't think I [personally] did things like that ...but apparently I do. I've got this habit where I saw people on the train when while going to and fro. Some of the best ones happen in the morning on my way to my high school in Williamsburg (that was when I was in NYC). John too had done that. Now we were going to take a drawing break

          There is a barn in our path and we'll use that as our stopping path. It is a windbreak for us. All the chill slipped out of the air as we enjoyed the sun in its full glory. The air was warmer and started a gentle simmering on my skin. I decided to take off my layer of sweats to fully appreciate the life-giving warmth. The trademark barn red faded away blurring into a mahogany colored wood. The wash appeared to be painted by a skilled artisan. Planetwalkers take their time allowing nature to seep into their papers. Some use paints, others pens and pencils.

The soft sky is aptly punctuated with listless clouds each smoothly sailing dragging their transformed shadows across the ground.

          Leaving the barn with Carlie, I walked on. Eventually, I came across a young man (definitely over twenty (and according to a fellow Planetwalker, quite handsome)) and his father. They were the first people I had seen out during that day. They were doing something together and I was intrigued. They turned out to be moving gravel back in place. During the winter shoveling, they had inadvertently moved the gravel off of the driveway. today they were spreading it out again so their [dirt] driveway would be more protected from rainfall impact and not flow away with the rain that was expected the coming Friday. They turned out to be Dutch. They had loved the tranquil space that the outback offered. 

          There was a guy driving an ATV in a field of what was corn the previous year. The soil was tilled the previous year with a disk plow. The silage was half under the soil with little pieces sticking up.  He was planting new water drainage tiles and also placing GPS tags into the soil so he could find them later. Great idea!

          Back on the road. I broke from my walking partner curly. Carlie and picked up the Planetwalker's son, Luke Francis. We ended up walking up to catch up with his dad.

          We walked forwards. There wasn't much to talk about. Luke is eight years at the time and he didn't really feel the whole walking thing. He was saying that running would be better to do. “It got to there faster" he said. There was a different mindset. John started his walk after seeing an oil spill. His son, on the other hand, hasn't felt the same drive to walk. (funny word choice there aye?)

marching on...

I end dropping Luke off at the next group. The done after his dad. I returned to my pace on and trudged ahead. I had wanted to walk with someone the entire time to avoid something that happened last year. During the 2014 planet walk, I had gone at my own pace.

What happens at Shilvio pace
-   A chance to observe tree stands and their staccato-like nature on the landscape-   Silence-   A kind of walking cruise control