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August 30, 2007
MSU 0, LSU 45
It was not a pretty sight, not a pretty sight at all. The good news is that we held LSU to 9 for a while. Our defense looked pretty good, the offense was, well, there is lots of room for improvement. Henig threw far too many interceptions. The fans were ready to have him taken out far earlier than the coaches. About midway through the fourth quarter Caroll came in as quarterback but he had no line left. The crowd cheered when he entered but there were so few fans left it was not much of a roar.
I know, LSU was ranked #2 and we were ranked not number 2. I never expected to win the game but I did think we would do better than 0-45. But there was a good side. First, the officiating was actually good. It has been a while I have been able to say that so perhaps that is an improvement. Second, the LSU fans were actually fairly tame for a change. Perhaps it is because it was an away game so we got more of the adult fans than if it had been a Saturday game.
There were also some bad parts. First, many of the fans left far too early. They sat through two fairly heavy downpours then left when the score got to high for LSU. What? They expected us to actually win this game? I’m not a rabid fan who expects everyone to stay the entire game but this is getting ridiculous. I swear there were more cheerleaders in front of the student section than there were students in the student section. Second, we had too many students up in our section of the stadium. They didn’t have tickets for that section; they just sat where they could, even on the steps. Now I like students, but I don’t like them being more concerned about their friends seeing them than they are about seeing the game. I did the student section thing a long time ago, now I like the old folks section. Most of us have had tickets there for many years and know each other. We can pretty much predict each person’s reactions because we have seen them so often.
This is only the beginning, and we will play some teams that we may be able to beat, but I sure hate we looked this bad on national TV. There is a consolation prize though. We are not ranked as the #13 party school in the nation like LSU, and we are certainly not ranked the #2 party school like the University of Mississippi. I guess our players are spending too much time in the classroom, but they will be the better for it.
Posted by robertgreen at 11:16 PM | Comments (0)
August 18, 2007
Troop Deaths Fall Below 100--Won't See it one the News
CENTCOM Point Man Sees Progress in Surge. Navy Times, August 20, 2007, p. 28-29.
Funny, I haven’t heard about this on CNN, Fox, my Internet news feeds, or any other source, but according to Command Sgt. Maj. Jeffrey Morin who works for Admiral Fallon, there slightly more than 70 deaths among US Forces in Iraq in July, the first time the number has fallen below 100 since March. Now I do recall seeing news stories in the last few months about the “highest number of causalities”, the “rising number of casualties”, etc. Always quick to criticize, seldom ever to praise, our main stream media is once again showing how its collective judgment is often flawed.
CSM Morin essentially gives evidence that things are improving in Iraq, security is gradually being restored, and Iraqis are feeling safer. Admittedly it is not happening everywhere, and it will take some time to spread, but things are improving.
One thing the troops need, more PRTs (Provincial Reconstruction Teams), something near and dear to my heart as it is likely to be the subject of my forthcoming dissertation. PRTs really belong to the State Department but they do involve military personnel and are an evolution of tactics started near the end of the Vietnam War.
Posted by robertgreen at 4:34 PM | Comments (0)
August 12, 2007
Way to go Marine!
Fond on Blackfive.
Posted by robertgreen at 4:31 PM | Comments (0)
August 11, 2007
MVNU2MSU
Today was moving day for students coming to Mississippi State. I signed up to help the students move into their rooms and worked as part of the Day One Leadership program. We helped students, some of them our Day One students, move into Cresswell Hall. It was hot, and it was a lot of work, but it was also fun.
The students and the parents were appreciative of the help. I enjoyed seeing the excitement on the students' faces and I only hope it will last through the semester. It was also interesting to see the difference between the guys and girls rooms. While there were some exceptions on both sides, the girls were really into making their rooms look nice while the guys just wanted to get everything in.
I must admit I had forgotten how much "stuff" girls have though. I suspect much of it will be taken home over the next few weeks as they realize how little space there is in their rooms and how they really do not need everything they had at home.
Next year, we have to schedule this for a day with reasonable temperatures!
Posted by robertgreen at 6:03 PM | Comments (0)
Ridiculous Item of the Day
I read this and was simply amazed. First, there is a Flight Attendant who is not familiar with the term “fair dinkum”; second s/he confuses it with a “swear word”; and third, s/he considers uttering it to be “swearing at an attendant”. Did it ever occur to this attendant to ask the passenger what “fair dinkum” meant? Perhaps it didn’t, but I am sure a flight attendant does not have the authority to call the police to a gate at the airport which means she had to report this incident to someone who does have that authority. Why did this person then not follow up and ask a few simple questions?
I am sure that the passenger was embarrassed and I can only hope that the flight attendant, the pilot, and Delta are incredibly embarrassed by this. What if instead of being an Australian English-speaker this passenger had been Italian and had uttered a swear word in Italian? How would the flight attendant have known that it was a swear word? Given this attendant is not very well-read I suspect you could have “cussed up a blue streak” at them in another language and they would have never known. This law of “swearing at attendants” is yet another ridiculous over-reaction to security.
I'll not fault the attendant (too much) for not knowing what "fair dinkum" means, but I do fault him/her for not asking. There are many things I do not know but I do try to ask questions.
Did someone pass a law making it illegal to use common sense? Think people!
The news story is quoted here in case the link does not work.
Australian Slang 'Fair Dinkum' Gets Airline Passenger Into Trouble
Friday , August 10, 2007
By Catherine Donaldson-Evans
It's a phrase that's been uttered by both President George W. Bush and actor Paul Hogan, but Delta Air Lines apparently still doesn't like it said on its flights.
The term in question is the benign Australian phrase “fair dinkum,” which as an adjective means “real” and as an expression means “Seriously?” or “For real?”
Aussie Sophie Reynolds muttered the idiom this week on her Delta connection flight on SkyWest Airlines when she rejected the snack crackers offered, asked for pretzels instead and was told there weren’t any.
One person’s trash is another person’s treasure — and in this case, one person’s slang was another person’s swear word. The flight attendant misunderstood what Reynolds said and thought she was cursing at her.
The crew asked for her passport and told her swearing at attendants was against the law.
When Reynolds, 41, emerged from the plane in Pittsburgh, Pa., there were three uniformed police officers waiting for her to tell her about the federal rules prohibiting cursing at the flight crew.
But after chatting with authorities, Reynolds was allowed to go — and no charges were filed against her.
One linguist confirmed the definition of the common Australian phrase.
“It means real, authentic — the real McCoy,” offered University of Pennsylvania linguistics professor Anthony Kroch. “If you say it with a question intonation, it means ‘For real?’”
If it were actually an expletive, President Bush most likely wouldn't have uttered it in front of the Australian Parliament, the way he did in 2003 when he recalled a prior meeting with Australian Prime Minister John Howard.
"I called him a 'man of steel,'" Bush told the Parliament. "That's Texan for 'fair dinkum.'"
Similarly, Aussie "Crocodile Dundee" star Hogan probably wouldn't have cursed in a TV commercial trying to lure Americans to his homeland.
"America, you look like you need a holiday — a fair dinkum holiday," Hogan says in the 1980s-era tourism ad.
Kroch said miscommunications are common even when two people essentially speak the same language, since slang and dialect can vary so widely.
“Misunderstandings due to dialect differences are very common,” he said. “But I don’t think most people hearing something they don’t understand would assume it’s offensive.”
Reynolds told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that she said “fair dinkum” out of frustration. The newspaper quoted the airline on Thursday as saying that SkyWest was still investigating the incident but Reynolds had exhibited other aggressive behavior during the flight.
Ordinary Aussies were surprised to hear the “fair dinkum” tale.
“I can’t see how it can be misconstrued,” said Penny Mapp, 37, an Australian who lives in New York. “It seems somewhat extreme.”
Mapp said “fair dinkum” is often used sarcastically, but never as cursing.
Swearing in and of itself is a special case anyway, according to Kroch.
“There’s no way to tell whether people are swearing just by their inflection,” he said. “If you use a swear word that the other person doesn’t know, it doesn’t count as swearing. Swearing is the use of taboo words. A word that you don’t know can’t be taboo.”
Posted by robertgreen at 5:15 PM | Comments (0)