Odds and ends, 9/26/07

The state Higher Education Policy Commission has recommended that the Marshall University Board of Governors give Marshall President Stephen Kopp a 3 percent pay raise. The Board of Governors is not required to follow that recommendation.

If Kopp gets a raise, that would mean the faculty, administrative staff and hourly employees would get one, too, right?

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If you want to see a map of earthquake epicenters in Ohio and neighoring states, click here.

I remember two earthquakes in my short life. Three actually. There was one in 1975 that woke me on a Sunday morning while I was in college. If I read the map right, the epicenter was in Gallia County, Ohio, and I felt it in Athens County. Or was it 1974, and the epicenter was near Parkersburg?

Then there was one in the late 1970s or early 1980s that I felt while sitting in my chair at work on a Sunday afternoon. It was so light, many people here didn't feel it. But I didn, and for half an hour I was answering phone calls from people wanting to know if we had had an earthquake. I kept telling them I thought so, but I was so busy answering phone calls that I couldn't verify it.

The third was not really an earthquake. I was at my mother's house in Gallia County one weekday morning when I felt the earth shake. But it wasn't an earthquake. Someone working at a barge repair place at Gallipolis was in a gasoline barge and a spark ingited vapors, killing him. I don't remember if anyone else was killed or injured in that accident.

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I'm starting to regret my promise to not write anything about a certain pop singer. Two or three things this week, and I want to go off the wagon, but I've resisted temptation so far.

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I'm glad I don't have a job driving this truck:

SOUTHGATE, Ky. (AP) — The southbound lanes of Interstate 471 in northern Kentucky have reopened.

The roadway was closed after a truck carrying rotten sausages, hot dogs, hamburger patties and lunchmeat overturned south of Newport. The contents of the truck spilled, covering the roadway.

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And one more before the work day ends.

I kind of like the WVU football uniforms. I hope WVU plays Cal in a bowl game so we can keep asking who is playing who. Or maybe one of them can play Toledo.

The traditional uniform with the big block numbers looks so dated now. Those Arena-type shirts are starting to grow on me.

But I'm a guy who would like the Astros to bring back those sunset shirts they wore back in the '80s. Those were cool. Seriously.

I like the Bengals' helmets. I don't know what to think of the Titans' uniforms.

I much prefer the Big Red Machine uniforms to those worn by the Reds now, although this year's are better than the black-heavy ones of recent years.

When they stick with white and gray, the Pittsburgh Pirates have neat uniforms. But those black and gold things from the late 70s ... ugh.

I hate to admit it, but the best home and road uniforms being used today are by the teams I dislike the most: the Yankees, the Steelers, the Cowboys and the Lakers, in that order.