The Smarmy Carny

Every time a hurricane rips through the southeast, I think of all the schools that use the Hurricane (or a derivation) as their school mascot. I always wonder if the sports directors of these schools ever consider changing their mascot.

The ability of a hurricane to do so much damage is much of why the meteorological event is chosen as a mascot in the first place, so perhaps it only solidifies their decision. I would like to note that I have a personal belief that meteorological events should not be used for either team mascots or as the primary antagonist in movies. (Of Jessamyn West's seven plot distinctions, Man vs. Nature was always my least favorite.)

Of course, I don't think anyone should be pressured to change their mascot. After all, when a panther attacks people, I never wonder if those schools should switch mascots. When I'm driving through tire smoke on the highway, I never think twice about MLB asking Atlanta and Cleveland to change mascots. According to certain activist groups, nets disturb so many dolphins each year, yet New Jersey's basketball team doesn't seem like a mascot change is on the table. When the fighting Irish do their thing, my thoughts never lead to wondering about Notre Dame's future mascot. When my white sox don't fit on my feet or develop holes, Chicago doesn't cross my mind.

TCU Horned Frogs

Of course, I must now digress and discuss one of the best (and by "best," I mean "lamest") school mascots: The TCU Horned Frogs. Watch out! We'll hop right over you! Or perhaps we, like the actual horned frog, will squirt a fine, four-foot stream of blood from our eyes! Surrender now! There's also the NHL team, the Minnesota Wild. What does that even mean?

And I thought my school mascots were lousy simply because they were people-based mascots instead of animals!

A blonde was sitting on the train reading the newspaper.

The headline read, "12 Brazilian Soldiers Killed."

She shook her head at the sad news and wiped away a tear.

She then turned to the stranger sitting next to her and asked, "How many is a Brazilian?"

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and with the damage from Hurricane Rita, New Orleans faced setbacks on the progress they had attained. My local talk radio station took their afternoon show to invite people to call in with a one-word summary of what had happened down in New Orleans and other affected areas. "Humbling" and "devastating" were a couple words offered up by the hosts, but the first three callers offered suggestions such as "Biblical," "repent," and "Revelations." Each of these callers suggested that God had sent the hurricane(s) for such-and-such a reason. Of course, New Orleans isn't quite the Salt Lake City of the south, but I still remained uneasy about the willingness of these people to pronounce that Katrina was simply God's wrath on the sinful city of the south.

I was reading through The Religion & Philosophy Blog from Houghton College's Religion & Philosophy department tonight. It's a new blog with only a couple entries to date. The most recent entry to date was written by Dr. Richard Eckley. Eckley is the author of the book Revelation: A Commentary for Bible Students, so I knew he would have some interesting insight into the issue of claiming that Katrina's destruction was due to God's wrath or even the end times.

I urge you to read the article, titled "Leviathan Alive and Well in Louisiana." For the click-challenged and just plain lazy, here's an excerpt that should serve as some motivation to read the entire article:

Though these natural forces are deemed demonic because of their destructive chaos, the line between God's sovereign control and Satan's activity is blurred.

Certainly assigning an apocalyptic meaning to such natural disasters gives some sort of purpose and meaning to these cataclysmic horrors, howbeit merely to resign us to their happening in the "end times"–as if such things never happened in the "middle times" or the "earlier times!"

Natural disasters allow us to see evil at work in an indiscriminate and meaningless way (when a tornado runs through your neighborhood, trees fall on the rich and the poor alike.) Evil as surd at least allows our theology to stay neutral. No one caused Katrina to happen, and no one should try to find purpose in it happening to them.

Read the full article.

I have finally taken the time to create a couple of my own Free iPod pics. Here they are:

Read up on how to get your own free iPod!

On the 14:30 CBS News Update, one story discussed the decision to allow pets on the buses transporting people away from the hurricane zone.

One woman was being interviewed and she was quite happy that she could bring her cats with her. She noted that if she was not allowed to bring her cats that she would not have evacuated.

The shining line of the update was when this woman followed up that statement by saying that pets should not be left behind, and that "They're human like we are."

Hmm . . . I'll have to keep that in mind.

Arrrrrrrrr!

I missed this year's Talk Like a Pirate Day!

I have celebrated TLaPD several years previously, but I missed the (pirate) boat on this one. I'll have to make sure it ends up in next year's day planner.

I Got Mine!

Just before I left for work today, the glorious DHL woman pounded on my door and delivered my free iPod!

I have had a little while to test it out, and I am quite pleased. The iPod I received is in perfect working condition and included the AC charger, headphones, and a USB cable.

I will post a photo here on this post in a bit, once I get a pic and make it pretty.