How's That Again?

The city of New Orleans reported its 108th murder of 2007 last week, when a contractor who moved from Colorado after Katrina was killed early Thursday morning while returning from work. It's a sad story, but it does seem that New Orleans IS returning to it's former infamy.

What got my attention, though, was this quote from Sgt. Joe Narcisse, and NOPD spokesman...

"I think people can take some comfort in knowing that it was a random act of violence."

Yeah, that would make me rest at ease. Thank goodness it was just a random act of violence. Whew!

Keep It In Mind

I kid you not... Slate.com has posted "What If I'm Kidnapped by Terrorists? - A how-to guide for hostages overseas."

Google Earth Oddities

Google Earth has to be one of the most fascinating tools to be found on the Internet. I'll admit that I geek out when it comes to stuff like this. In a nutshell, Google Earth lets you zoom in on any region of the planet, using satellite imagery. In many cases, you can zoom right into neighborhoods. Now, PC World magazine has detailed their list of the 16 Strangest Sights In Google Earth.

Spirit of 1776

One of the things that upset me most about the last few years of Republican control in DC was their refusal to limit spending. They looked more like tax-and-spend liberals than any resembling conservatives.

But did anyone really believe things would change in a Democratic Congress? Of course not! In the defense spending bill that came out of committee yesterday, members from both sides of the aisle attached 1,776 earmarks.

1776... just makes you feel patriotic, doesn't it?

Some UGA Stuff

The AJC is reporting that sophomore QB Matthew Stafford has really taken command during practice, and that the rest of the team is responding to his leadership. Always a good thing...

The SEC is holding their Media Days today through Friday in Birmingham. Georgia will be represented by Coach Richt, senior center Fernando Velasco and senior safety Kelin Johnson.

Florida State is looking at scheduling a "neutral site" game at the Georgia Dome in 2008 against a non-ACC team. Georgia has been rumored as a possible opponent.

Coach Richt has outlined academic standards aimed at ensuring that football players are committed to being in and participating in class.

Georgia Southern University Cenetennial

The folks at GSU have this web site dedicated to celebrating the school's centennial. Check it out!

How Does This Happen?

Not long after the wife and I bought our house, we received a letter from the American Cancer Society. Junk mail, I thought. Then I noticed it was addressed to my Dad, but had our brand new home address. Interesting... maybe some weird coincidence. Not long after, another letter arrived, this time from a different health-related organization. More curious.

Somehow Dad's name and our address had been connected. But how? It became a funny little running joke. Every six or seven weeks, another piece of mail for him. Always the same thing. Either a letter with information about some health organization, or a solicitation for donations from one.

Then, a few months ago, we got the postcard. A magazine subscription offer, for Dad, from Playboy. The running joke just got funnier. Since then, a couple of other bits of mail, nothing memorable. But today...

In this afternoon's mail, guess who got a pre-approved offer for a major credit card? Yep, dear old Dad. At our address. I'm not sure I understand how this happened. More so, I don't know whether this should worry us or (more importantly) him.

As a side note, my boss told me that he received a pre-approved credit card offer in the mail recently for his street. Yep, it was addressed to the name of his street, at his street address. Someting like: "Maple Lane, 123 Maple Lane" I'm not sure, but I think he sent it in just to see what happened.

Should GSU Football Move Up?

When I was at Georgia Southern back in the late 80s/early 90s, there was talk about our football program "one day" moving up from Division I-AA to I-A. Alas, it was just talk. I know there's still that talk today. One thing we didn't have then, though, was the Internet. Now, there's a group of folks working together to study that very idea, and the Web is helping them communicate with Eagle Nation.

Here's their web site: SouthernFACTS.org

They've put together a plan to convince the powers that be to look into the idea, determine if such a move is feasible, and (if so) put into place a plan so that it could be attained. Would the Football Bowl Subdivision (old I-A) be a beneficial home for the Eagles, or should they remain in the Football Championship Subdivision (old I-AA)? It really ought to be looked into. I'm a supporter of this group, and I hope the idea gets its shot.

Welcome Back To Atlanta, Julio Franco

I'm pleased as punch to see Julio Franco back in the Braves lineup. He's one of my all-time favorite Braves, and he's an example of what's possible when you really take care of yourself.

Obama Wants Sex Ed For Kindergarteners

You read that correctly. Barack Obama says sex education for children as young as kindergarten age is "the right thing to do." Someone please explain to me how this makes any sense at all.

Atlanta Traffic Recognized

Forbes Magazine has placed Atlanta twice in their list of the nation's 12 worst traffic snarls. The Downtown Connector and Spaghetti Junction were among the worst of the worst. (Unfortunately, the pictures that go along with the story don't correspond with the roadways.)

Odds And Ends

Bovine Freedom - Cows with guns. Hilarious animation and music.

Google TiSP - Perhaps the greatest idea to come from Google Labs since Google Mars and Google Moon (be sure to zoom in all the way!). Google TiSP is a fully functional, end-to-end system that provides in-home wireless access by connecting your commode-based TiSP wireless router to one of thousands of TiSP Access Nodes via fiber-optic cable strung through your local municipal sewage lines.

Recharge Station - We could use something like this in our own house. Only $80 from Pottery Barn. Charging base for four items (phones, iPods, etc.) plus a drawer below.

Hey Falcons... Time For A New QB

With the news this afternoon of Michael Vick's indictment on dog-fighting charges, I'd like to join the growing throng of people who want Vick gone. Now.

Vick's personality has always been questionable. There's the water bottle at the airport in Miami, the Ron Mexico junk, giving the fans the finger. Nothing, though, compares to the information coming out today.

According to the indictment, Vick and others not only fought dogs, but they cruelly executed dogs that either underperformed or were badly injured. Their methods of execution (shooting, stabbing, electrocution) sound like the actions of a sociopath. As my wife put it, if a middle or high school kid was accused of this kind of animal killing, we'd say they were on the path to murder.

I'm a dog lover, and I'm sure many (if not most) Falcons fans are also. It sickens me to think that someone could be capable of doing those kind of things to a dog. I don't want to ever see this clown in a Falcons uniform. If these charges are true, I want him Vick sentenced to the longest term allowable, and I want him to serve every single day.

If he's not guilty, I want him out of the Falcons uniform anyway. He is surrounded by trouble, and Atlanta doesn't need any more of that.

Oh, one other thing... that Matt Schaub trade looks pretty bad now, doesn't it?

Zero Tolerance Insanity #1

I'm amused by stories of simple situations blown out of proportion by zero tolerance rules. Here's an example I find laughable. The Fort Wayne News-Sentinel reports that fifth-grade graduation at an elementary school in the Los Angeles suburb of Rancho Palos Verdes turned into a fight over... toy army men.

A fifth-grade promotion ceremony in Rancho Palos Verdes turned into a free-speech battleground Thursday, when students were asked to remove weapons from toys that had been placed on mortarboard caps because of the school's zero-tolerance policy for weapons on campus.

Each year, students decorate wide caps with princesses, football goal posts, zebras, guitars and other items to express their personalities and career goals. Cornerstone at Pedregal School is the only Palos Verdes Peninsula public school to practice the tradition.

On Thursday, before the ceremony, one boy was told he couldn't participate unless he agreed to clip off the tips of the plastic guns carried by the minuscule GIs on his cap. Ten others complied with the order before the event.

Parents reacted angrily, calling Principal Denise Leonard's decision censorship, but the Palos Verdes Peninsula School District defended her.

Cole McNamara and Austin Nakata, 11-year-old buddies who share an interest in all things military, said they put the toys on their hats to support American troops in Iraq.

"I was kind of mad because they just went over and clipped them off and didn't say anything about it," Austin said.

His father, Glen Nakata, said he was disappointed that parents were not approached or consulted on elimination of the "firearms."

The original story that the article quotes has been removed from the web site of the local newspaper, the Daily Breeze. Comments are still available, though, by following this link. My personal favorite:

Rancho Palos Verdes is lucky to find a Principal like Denise Leonards. It usually takes a few years before school administrators lose all common sense. She's way ahead of the stupid curve.

I Think I'm A Little Bit Goth

Supposedly, St. Mary's (Catholic) Church sent out a newsletter a couple of months ago with this bit of advice for parents. I can't vouch for it, but it's worth passing along just in case.

If Your Child is a Gothic, Reform Through the Lord!

Listed below are some warning signs to indicate if your child may have gone astray from the Lord. Gothic (or goth) is a very obscure and often dangerous culture that young teenagers are prone to participating in.

The gothic culture leads young, susceptible minds into an imagined world of evil, darkness, and violence. Please seek immediate attention through counselling, prayer, and parental guidance to rid your child of Satan’s temptations if five or more of the following are applicable to your child:

-Frequently wears black clothing.
-Wears band and/or rock t-shirts.
-Wears excessive black eye makeup, lipstick or nailpolish.
-Wears any odd, silver jewelry or symbols. Some of these include: reversed crosses, pentagrams, pentacles, ankhs or various other Satanic worshipping symbols.
-Shows an interest in piercings or tattoos.
-Listens to gothic or any other anti-social genres of music. (Marilyn Manson claims to be the anti-Christ, and publicly speaks against the Lord. Please discard any such albums IMMEDIATELY.)
-Associates with other people that dress, act or speak eccentrically.
-Shows a declining interest in wholesome activities, such as: the Bible, prayer, church or sports.
-Shows an increasing interest in death, vampires, magic, the occult, witchcraft or anything else that involves Satan.
-Takes drugs.
-Drinks alcohol.
-Is suicidal and/or depressed.
-Cuts, burns or partakes in any other method of self-mutilation. (This is a Satanic ritual that uses pain to detract from the light of God and His love. Please seek immediate attention for this at your local mental health center.)
-Complains of boredom.
-Sleeps too excessively or too little.
-Is excessively awake during the night.
-Dislikes sunlight or any other form of light. (This pertains to vampires promoting the idea that His light is of no use.)
-Demands an unusual amount of privacy.
-Spends large amounts of time alone.
-Requests time alone and quietness. (This is so that your child may speak to evil sprits through meditation.)
-Insists on spending time with friends while unaccompanied by an adult.
-Disregards authority figures; teachers, priests, nuns and elders are a few examples of this.
-Misbehaves at school.
-Misbehaves at home.
-Eats goth-related foods. Count Chocula cereal is an example of this.
-Drinks blood or expresses an interest in drinking blood. (Vampires believe this is how to attain Satan. This act is very dangerous and should be stopped immediately.)
-Watches cable television or any other corrupted media sources. (Ask your local church for proper programs that your child may watch.)
-Plays videos games that contains violence or are of a role-playing nature.
-Uses the internet excessively and frequently makes time for the computer.
-Makes Satanic symbols and/or violently shakes head to music.
-Dances to music in a provocative or sexual manner.
-Expresses an interest in sex.
-Masturbates
-Is homosexual and/or bisexual.
-Pursues dangerous cult religions. Such include: Satanism, Scientology, Philosophy, Paganism, Wicca, Hinduism and Buddhism.
-Wears pins, stickers or anything else that contains these various phrases: “I’m so gothic, I’m dead”, “woe is me”, “I’m a goth”.
-Claims to be a goth.

If five or more of these apply to your child, please intervene immediately. The gothic culture is dangerous and Satan thrives within it. If any of these problems persist, enlist your child into your local mental health center.

Well, more than five of these apply to me. Someone should probably intervene immediately :)

Top Ten Best College Football Uniforms

According to Sports Illustrated, Georgia Southern has the eighth-best uniforms in all of college football. UGA fans, your uniforms also made the list at number 10 (although the picture SI chose is not great!).

British Invasion - By Ducks - Set To Begin

The Daily Mail, from the U.K., reports that British shores are set to be invaded by thousands of plastic animals. The armada of 29,000 plastic yellow ducks, blue turtles and green frogs broke free from a cargo ship 15 years ago in the Pacific, and have been circling the globe. Because the toys are made of durable plastic and are sealed watertight, they have been able to survive years adrift at the mercy of the elements.

THE JOURNEY SO FAR:

10 JANUARY 1992: Somewhere in the middle of the Pacific Ocean nearly 29,000 First Years bath toys, including bright yellow rubber ducks, are spilled from a cargo ship in the Pacific Ocean.

16 NOVEMBER 1992: Caught in the Subpolar Gyre (counter-clockwise ocean current in the Bering Sea, between Alaska and Siberia), the ducks take 10 months to begin landing on the shores of Alaska.

EARLY 1995: The ducks take three years to circle around. East from the drop site to Alaska, then west and south to Japan before turning back north and east passing the original drop site and again landing in North America. Some ducks are even found In Hawaii. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) worked out that the ducks travel approximately 50 per pent faster than the water in the current.

1995 - 2000: Some intrepid ducks escape the Subpolar Gyre and head North, through the Bering Straight and into the frozen waters of the Arctic. Frozen into the ice the ducks travel slowly across the pole, moving ever eastward.

2000: Ducks begin reaching the North Atlantic where they begin to thaw and move Southward. Soon ducks are sighted bobbing in the waves from Maine to Massachusetts.

2001: Ducks are tracked in the area where the Titanic sank.

JULY TO DECEMBER 2003: The First Years company offers a $100 savings bond reward for the recovery of wayward ducks from the 1992 spill. To be valid ducks must be sent to the company and must be found in New England, Canada or Iceland. Britain is told to prepare for an invasion of the wayward ducks as well.

2003: A lawyer called Sonali Naik was on holiday in the Hebrides in north-west Scotland when she found a faded green frog on the beach marked with the magic words 'The First Years'. Unaware of the significance of her find she left it on the beach. It was only when she was chatting to other guests at her hotel that she realised what she had seen.

UGA 2007 Football Schedule

Now, the UGA football schedule for this season...

Sept. 1 -- OKLAHOMA STATE
Sept. 8 -- SOUTH CAROLINA
Sept. 15 -- WESTERN CAROLINA
Sept. 22 -- at Alabama
Sept. 29 -- MISSISSIPPI

Oct. 6 -- at Tennessee
Oct. 13 -- at Vanderbilt
Oct. 27 -- at Florida (Jacksonville, Fla.)

Nov. 3 -- TROY (Homecoming)
Nov. 10 -- AUBURN
Nov. 17 -- KENTUCKY
Nov. 24 -- at Georgia Tech

One nice change from years past... note the off week before the Florida game.

GSU 2007 Football Schedule

Here's the 2007 football schedule for Georgia Southern...

Sept. 8 - WEST GEORGIA, 6 p.m.
Sept. 15 - at Coastal Carolina, 7 p.m.
Sept. 22 - CHATTANOOGA, 7 p.m. *
Sept. 29 - WESTERN CAROLINA, 3:30 p.m. *

Oct. 6 - SOUTH DAKOTA STATE (Family Weekend), 2 p.m.
Oct. 13 - at Elon, 3 p.m. *
Oct. 20 - at Appalachian State, 3:30 p.m. *
Oct. 27 - THE CITADEL (Homecoming), noon *

Nov. 3 - at Wofford, 1:30 p.m. *
Nov. 10 - FURMAN, 3:30 p.m. *
Nov. 17 - at Colorado State, 2 p.m.

*Southern Conference game

The Football Championship Series (formerly Division I-AA) playoffs follow...

Nov. 24 - NCAA FCS Playoffs First Round, TBA
Dec. 1 - NCAA FCS Playoffs Second Round, TBA
Dec. 7/8 - NCAA FCS Playoffs Semifinals, TBA
Dec. 14 - NCAA FCS Championship Game, Chattanooga, TN, TBA

Welcome All

Welcome to the new Of Eagles And Dawgs. As you can tell by the banner at the top of the page, our home is a combination of allegiances. I'm a Georgia Southern graduate, my wife is a UGA grad. Fortunately, we like and respect the other's school. We only root against the other when the two play.

I suppose you could say this is replacing my old blog, A Word From The Right. To a point, that's true. But it would be more correct to say that this is a new project, broader in scope that the old one. A Word From the Right was primarily political in nature. While there will surely be political discussions here also, politics will not be a driving theme. Expect to see a vast diversity of topics here. And of course, lots of Georgia Southern and UGA topics too.

Hope you all enjoy!