After seeing James Spann speaking on Monday he said something very important.  Limit any political talk.  This is the only time you will see me talking about politics.  Legislative Roundup on Thursdays is for talking about some of the things the Alabama Legislature has done in the last week.  So here I go.

The last week the legislature has been considering some bills that just make so much sense.  One is the bill to ban texting while driving.  I know some of you out there will say that the government has too much say in our lives.  But this bill makes so much sense.  I think all of you out there has seen people acting weird behind the wheel.  And what are they doing?  They are talking on their cell phones or doing something else like eating or  putting on makeup.  I would support a bill that bans all distractions behind the wheel like the city of Scottsboro has done.  So this is a great start to make driving safer.

Another bill is sponsored by Free the Hops.  This bill would allow bigger containers of beer and the limit would go from 16 to 25.4 ounces.  This is another bill that makes so much sense.  Alabama has had some of the worst laws involving alcohol.  But Free The Hops has made huge advances in Alabama.  First they got to allow bigger alcohol content in beers.  And they got the law changed to allow microbreweries.  This bill would complete the process in allowing craft beers in Alabama.  This would also bring in more business in Alabama.  So I really do hope this bill passes and is signed by the governor.

But the biggest issue right now is the state funding cuts that will cause lots of trouble.  Another story has come out saying that the state DHR might have to cut 900 jobs and shut down programs that would enforce child support collections.  And even the TANF program might have to be shut down as well.  And programs to prevent and treat HIV and AIDS and inspecting restaurants might have to be scaled back.  Of course with the prison system and mental health system also facing huge cutbacks this is not good.  Alabama needs to look at our tax code but the legislature will not do that.  Well; Alabama is getting closer to doomsday.  I just hope the legislature can prevent that.

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Right now I am still sick.  I have a clogged up nose and a sore throat.  So this morning I wanted to do something easy.  And before I saw James Spann speaking at the Alabama Theatre on Monday I went to the McWane Science Center next door.  One to take a quick bathroom break but the other is to see one of my favorite things in the lobby.  The Vulcan’s Dream Machine is a contraption that uses various devices to get the balls from the top to the bottom.  And after the balls are carried to the top gravity does the rest.  So enjoy the pictures below.  And I hope I start feeling better soon.

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http://www.gadsdentimes.com/article/20120222/NEWS/120229956/1016/NEWS?Title=Grandmother-stepmother-charged-in-9-year-old-s-death-

http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2012/02/etowah_county_sheriffs_office.html

This story is probably going to make national news.  And it happened in Young’s Blog territory so this story needs to be talked about.  A 9 year old girl named Savannah Hardin has died because she was forced to run around a house for over three hours as punishment for eating a candy bar on a school bus.  As she was running around she collapsed from dehydration and passed away at Children’s Hospital in Birmingham on Monday.  The tough decision was made to pull her off life support after her father who flew back from being halfway around the world was by her bedside.  This story has blown up on social media and all the comments are in anger to the parents responsible.  And many on social media are wishing the parents arrested hope they get the death penalty or has to do the same punishment they forced on Savannah.  I think this sunset shot tonight is appropriate to a child lost.

The first thought I have in this story is disbelief.  When I first heard the story this afternoon my head just shook.  What is wrong in eating candy on a school bus?  Kids love candy and it was a Friday afternoon.  Kids need to have some fun.  And everyone knows that kids love candy.  I know that even some bus drivers will give kids a treat now and then.  So what the girl did by eating candy and then gets punished like this makes no sense at all.  My second thought is I am not surprised.  I used to work for Fed Ex and delivered in the Carlisle area of Etowah County where this girl was from.  And I saw some houses where the living conditions are not so great.  And there were some people that I delivered too that were a little weird.  So was this a surprise?  Maybe.  My final thought goes to the girl’s friends at school.  They now have to go through the process of grief.  And they are all too young to go through this.  I am glad that the school brought in grief counselors and are allowing everyone at the school to leave notes at Savannah’s desk.  The girl’s desk at school has been turned into a makeshift memorial and the notes will be given to Savannah’s father.

The grandmother Joyce Garrard and the stepmother Jessica Hardin have been arrested for Savannah’s death and have been charged with murder.  Here’s the mugshots.

And the news has come out that Jessica Hardin has given birth to a child at a Gadsden hospital and is being guarded by Etowah County Deputies.  Other news is coming out saying that there is a DHR case in another state from this family.  So it sounds like there is a history of abuse in this family.  I want to end this post with my thoughts.  The DHR officials in Alabama were too late in saving this girl.  And this is a sad story.  But I have been abused by my dad and step mom when I was younger and had DHR officials look into the matter only to have the parents lie to them and nothing happening at all.  I just have to wonder if the parents in the mugshots above were lying to DHR officials and thus nothing happened at all.  To everyone out there; if you suspect you are seeing child abuse from anybody; report it!

I think the bigger threats with both severe weather chances will be high winds and large hail.  But a small tornado can not still be ruled out.  Please stay weather aware from Wednesday afternoon through early Friday morning.

As always you can follow me on my social media accounts below:

    Facebook: facebook.com/nvyoung

Twitter: twitter.com/nvyoung or @nvyoung   

Follow hashtags #nealwx or #alwx on Twitter for updates.

Google Plus: gplus.to/nvyoung

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For more pictures; visit the offical photo blog Traffic Light Pixels. http://trafficlightpixels.tumblr.com/

It’s time for another edition of Roadscapes Wednesday.  And this week I am featuring some old bridges around Dekalb County Alabama that you probably do not want to cross.  These one lane bridges have seen better days and really need to be replaced soon.  This bridge is on CR-86.

Kind of bad right.  But it gets better!  This bridge is on CR-185.

Here is a brave person crossing this bridge.

Those are some bridges in very bad shape.  Now here are some in Collinsville, AL on Broad St.; Valley Rd.; and College Ave.

The old bridge tour continues in Dekalb County Alabama on CR-39.  You would think they get these dead trees cut out from under the bridge.

And to wrap up this old bridge tour.  Here is one old bridge with a 3 ton weight limit on Campbell Gap Rd. in Etowah County Alabama.

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I thought I needed to let everyone know about the delay to the ABC 33/40 Storm Alert Extreme meeting at Pleasant Valley High School near Jacksonville that was scheduled for Thursday Feb. 23 at 6:30pm.  Due to the severe weather threat on Thursday night the meeting has been moved to Monday March 5th at 6:30pm.  If severe weather breaks out on Thursday night stay with Young’s Blog for updates and follow me @nvyoung on Twitter and at facebook.com/nvyoung for updates.  Hopefully this event turns out to be nothing!

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Everyone should know the movie series Star Wars.  If you don’t; which planet are you from?  One of the best moments of the movie series is the Death Star.  The giant space ship that looks like one big ball (insert Wipeout joke) and has the power to blow up planets.    This was Darth Vader‘s dream to see this built.  And the Jedi‘s got it destroyed.  And everyone is safer in a galaxy far; far away….  By the way; the Star Wars and Star Trek debate rages on to this day!

Well a study from Lehigh University came out with the costs to build the Death Star and it is staggering.  It would cost $8,100,000,000,000,000 quadrillion or 12 zeroes to build the Death Star today.  That is approximately 13,000 times the world’s gross domestic product or GDP.  I do not think we will have to worry about seeing a Death Star around the Milky Way galaxy.  Speaking of Star Wars; my brother David and his girlfriend Caitlyn went to see a movie over the last weekend.  Guess who was there?  May the force be with you.  

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On Monday I attended a luncheon in Birmingham and James Spann was the speaker about how social media is now used to warn people of impending severe weather and to also help people after the storms have passed.  The entire room was captivated in Mr. Spann’s speech.  April 27th was a hard day for everyone in Alabama and Mississippi and the rest of the southeast.  James Spann had very hard feelings on how so many people died on that day.  And he kept his thoughts quiet for around 6 months.  Seeing the town you used to live in being torn apart by a EF4 tornado on live TV can be tough to swallow.

But the people in Alabama are starting to come back and we are stronger than ever!  Here are some of my favorite tweets from @alsocme talking about @spann

“I usually speak to 3rd graders this time of year. Some of you make me feel at home.”

“I *am* the Forrest Gump of technology.”

“Why ruin your neutral position with a RTR or WDE at the end?”

“A lot of people in corporate settings think their viewers/listeners/customers/audience are idiots.” 

“You need to treat people as human beings, can’t dismiss them because they aren’t experts in the things you are.” 

“Some people think I have a staff for my social media accounts. The only people with my passwords are me and Mrs. Spann.”

“I used to be a REAL jerk, one of the most selfish people on the planet.”

“After that first tornado in Cullman, the rest came like bullets from Hell.”

“I’m not an all-caps guy, but when you see me type TORNADO EMERGENCY with your town, dig a hole!” 

“Business leaders who belittle social media just DON’T get it. This is how the world communicates.”

“The president of ABC News called the owners of 33/40 wanting a truce.” 

“I am convinced there are people walking around alive today because they got a warning on Social Media.”

Not only you have the people at the TV stations sending out warnings through social media.  You also have individual people like Alabama Storm Spotters, Alabama Storm Trackers, Forecast Weather Chat, and Talk Weather Forums with dedicated people who care about weather and warning people when severe weather strikes.  Social media has changed the game in weather today.  But it’s up to the people receiving the warnings to take action!

This blog and my social media accounts does care about weather.  Whenever there is a severe weather event, tropical system, or winter storm event I will post a discussion and map on Young’s Blog about what is going to happen within 24 hours of the event.  And during the severe weather event I post on my social media pages when tornado or severe thunderstorm warnings are in effect for NE Alabama.  I have many readers who read Young’s Blog from NE Alabama and they deserve the coverage and updated information when we have a weather event going on.

The April 27th tornadoes came too close for comfort to my mom’s house in Ragland.  The tornado went about a mile north of her house.  Also the tornado down in Dadeville came too close for comfort to my Grandfather’s son’s house and land.  I always have been a weather geek and I am always memorized by tornadoes.  It is sad when they destroy people’s lives and even kills people.  But we have to be weather aware!

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http://www.abc3340.com/story/16976676/social-media-in-natural-disasters

Learn more about this event at http://alsocme.com/

Well today I went to Birmingham to the Alabama Theatre for the Alabama Social Media Association Luncheon with guest speaker James Spann from ABC 33/40.

The Alabama Theatre is a piece of Alabama history.  Once inside the Hill Event Center the room got very packed.  And after a great lunch we saw James Spann give a great speech.

ABC 33/40 Marissa Mitchell interviewing Wade Kwon

My lunch.

ABC 33/40 Marissa Mitchell interviewing Scott McClellan.

James Spann took the podium and gave one great speech.  He gave some advice for people like me who use social media.  Tips like putting out too much spam; putting out bad information; and putting out teases can make people unfollow you on social media.  And there are great ways to use social media to gain new followers.  Doing things like following people back; answering questions; be consistently available; putting out useful information; and even having a servant’s heart can help you gain new followers.

James Spann said some personal things about the April 27th tornado outbreak.  He kept quiet for a long time about his personal feelings after the tornado outbreak because it was hard.  Mr. Spann used to live in Tuscaloosa and when the EF4 tornado went through Tuscaloosa he fought it was the worst part of his entire career watching the tornado live on TV plow through Tuscaloosa.

James Spann was not happy that 252 people were killed on April 27th.  The warnings were great and there was plenty of lead time.  Mr. Spann cried a lot in bed after the tornado outbreak.  But then he helped to take action to help people recover.  Social media was used by many people to coordinate supplies and volunteers to help people in the tornado damaged areas.

After the recent tornado outbreak in late January.  James Spann talked about Diane Sawyer saying there was no warning and people were surprised.  That story generated lots of traffic on social media.  He was satisfied that ABC World News did a story the next night about tornado safety; but it still had some mistakes.  And Mr. Spann was not happy that the national media was only covering the big city tornado damage and not the rural area tornado damage after April 27th.  He gave everyone one last piece of advice.  To write down your top priorities and follow them in life.  And he also told everyone he is helping to form Big Brains Media later this year.  More of that will come in the near term.

So it was a great midday event in Birmingham.  And everyone had a good time.  Thanks to the Alabama Social Media Association and the Alabama Theatre for putting on the event.  And I was also approached along with James Spann and Scott McClellan with Alabama Storm Spotters from people at UAB that are making a documentary about storm chasers and social media.  More of that coming soon.  Could you tell James Spann liked signing the papers?

And who would like to wear this hat?

Now back to my regular job searching activities.  And if there is no severe weather on Thursday.  James Spann and the other meteorologists from ABC 33/40 will be at Pleasant Valley High School near Jacksonville for the ABC 33/40 Storm Alert Xtreme tour on Thursday at 6:30pm.  If the event goes as planned you will see pictures of the event here on Young’s Blog on Friday.

UPDATE:  The Storm Alert Xtreme meeting at Pleasant Valley High School has been moved to Monday March 5th.

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Wow! We have just seen the 500th episode of The Simpsons.  We are now on season 23 of the show that gives us lots of laughs and parodies of the culture we live in today.  This show is going to be on the air for 25 seasons and maybe even more.  This show came on the air a couple of years after I was born.  And some people now argue that this show has been on the air for too long.  That this show quit being funny seasons ago.  But I say The Simpsons still has lots of great ideas and laughs left in its tank.

Image copyright Fox

The opening sequence to The Simpsons is something we all remember and love.  I love seeing what Bart writes on the chalkboard on each episode.  And seeing what Lisa plays in her saxophone is great as well.  But the best part of each episode is the couch gag.  The 500 couch gags flashback at the beginning of the 500th episode brought back a lot of great memories as a great series that is still running strong today.  This series has brought us a lot great things to TV.  And it is engraved into our culture forever.  You know that lots of parents want to strangle their child sometimes for doing bad things.  Thanks Homer!

The Simpsons has broken numerous records and has won numerous Emmy Awards as well.  I know some of you out there have grown tired of seeing this show.  But this show still has lots of ideas to come out.  I even have some favorite moments from The Simpsons from the last 23 seasons.  Do you remember Donut Hell?

Or the time Bart went nude on his skateboard.

And there has been some great couch gag openings through the years.  Here are my two recent favorites.  Do you remember the Homer Evolution?

And this favorite showing slavery making The Simpsons products inside the 20th Century Fox logo.

To Matt Groening and the entire crew that makes The Simpsons.  Keep up the good work!

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