Spinnaker [Distributed: Wednesday, January 31, 2007]

1. Read your game cards and voice your reservations about the clues before the game starts. No whining allowed after the kickoff.

2. Playing multiple cards is allowed. You decide what people "pay" for extra chances to win.

3. Winning doesn't have to conform to a straight line with five squares in a vertical, horizontal or diagonal row. Maybe in honor of football-viewing tradition, you might want to have a six-pack version. This means you have two adjacent rows of three adjacent clues that look kind of like a six-pack if you viewed it from the top (this can occur anywhere on the card). Or you can insist that all of the clues be checked off for a game card to win.

4. When you see one of your clues on-screen, you have to call it out. If various people have the same clue on their card, you can either play nice and say that everyone gets to mark off the clue whether they saw it or not OR you can insist that only the first person(s) to shout out gets to mark off the clue and the others will have to wait for another shot of the redheaded cheerleader or what have you.

5. Keep going until one player completes the designated bingo pattern and wins the prize.

John Mayer opens blues-inspired tour in Jax

"This is what I'm supposed to be doing," John Mayer told the screaming crowd at the Jan. 25 opening show of his Continuum Tour in Jacksonville at the Veterans Memorial Arena. Mayer explained to the crowd that he was starting to get freaked out because things in his life were too good, but that he was excited about being back on tour.

With Mayer's third studio album, Continuum, going platinum Mayer said he is "experimenting [with] what makes songs last and what makes songs last year."

Mayer must be doing something right because he was nominated for five Grammys, including album of the year for Continuum and best rock album for Try! by the John Mayer Trio.

Continuum has a different, more soulful sound than his previous albums full of pop love songs. The Spinnaker asked Mayer a few questions about how he was going to blend his past albums with his new one during the Continuum Tour.

"It's really interesting," Mayer said. "Some songs have been replaced by better or updated songs."

Mayer further explained how he feels pop and blues don't necessarily get along with each other but some of the songs have the same music DNA, which works.

On Jan. 25 the time had finally come for Mayer to show his hard work and the blending of albums to the world (or at least Jacksonville).

At 8:46 p.m., jazz music played and the crowd danced and screamed in anticipation of Mayer. In ripped jeans, a black shirt and sneakers, the famously curly longhaired Mayer stepped into the spotlight with a smile for the crowd. Putting the guitar strap over his shoulder, fans could tell he was ready for this tour to begin.

Neon light squares of red, green, yellow and blue lit up the stage behind Mayer while flashes from the audience's cameras went off as Mayer started to sing "Vultures" from his "Continuum" album.

With the smell of alcohol looming in the air, men and women, young and old were dancing to the soulful singing and playing of the electric guitars. As the first note of each song was played, the crowd went crazy; screaming as if each of the songs was their favorite.

"I'm not nervous anymore," Mayer told the audience 20 minutes into the show.

It was hard to believe he could be nervous because each detail of the concert looked like it has been thought out for years. From the storytelling set list to the eye-catching and soothing lighting, which fit every song perfectly, there was no element overlooked by Mayer.

One of my highlights of the show occurred when Mayer slowed down for his hit "Daughters." With touching lyrics and heart-felt singing by Mayer, the soft and simple lighting was the perfect touch to the song. Turquoise light fanned out over the audience as if wanting to wrap up the emotions of every person in the building.

With the start of "Belief," Mayer and his band hit an off note and said "oh boy" and restarted the song. While smiling about this, fans could truly see his laid back personality. Thirteen songs under his belt, he thanked the audience for coming out and left the stage.

The crowd screamed and cheered for what seemed like forever. Mayer returned to the stage for an encore. He started out with "Wheel," a soulful song from his Heavier Things album. The extended live version of the song featured heartbreakingly beautiful solos from his band, which excited many die-hard fans.

Mayer then sang "In Repair" from Continuum to end the concert on a fast beat note. After a concert this satisfying, it was fitting to leave the crowd the same way he saw it the first time - clapping and smiling.

After playing for over an hour and a half, Mayer bowed to the audience and walked off stage clapping in what seemed like approval of the crowd, himself and his band.

One concert down, 23 to go.

University's founding faculty: the few, the proud, the dwindling

There are a number of things separating the University of North Florida from some of the larger, more populous state universities in Florida.

North Florida has no fraternity row, boasts no NCAA championships in any sport, and in its 35th year is still without a football team.

Although many might look at these as prerequisites when choosing or judging a school, there remains one attribute UNF can claim over the likes of some of its more storied counterparts.

Unlike the century-plus-old programs such as Florida State University and the University of Florida, UNF remains unique in that it still retains some of the faculty who were present on the first day the university's doors opened in 1972.

Even though many of the professors who taught at UNF during its inaugural year have long since left, no less than 24 of the original staffers still walk the grounds.

Not just mere professors, these instructors have exhibited a kind of commitment to their jobs making them fit to be dubbed "founders."

More than just another professor, these last remaining founding faculty members exhibit a kind of commitment not often seen in any work environment. A commitment of 35 years made to the university, to students, and as many of them will admit, a commitment they weren't even aware of when they first came to Jacksonville.

While all the professors chosen for that opening year came from different schools, disciplines and backgrounds, one thing that seems to have helped in bringing them all to UNF was the excitement at creating a new university.

"It was an opportunity to teach in a new place, to help a new place begin" said Dr. Leonard Lipkin, Professor Emeritus of Mathematics.

Before starting at UNF, Lipkin spent time educating at Berkeley and the University of Kansas, and what enticed him most about UNF was the chance to create a curriculum from scratch.

"Many of the original faculty found that very appealing" Lipkin said.

For others, however, UNF was their break-out roles into the world of academia.

Like Dr. Dale Clifford, interim dean for the College of Arts and Sciences, who was offered a job at UNF shortly after getting her Ph.D.

"It's not often you're a wet-behind-the-ears Ph.D. and people hand you something and say 'let's do it,'" Clifford said. And it isn't often that one person can stick to one job, one city even, for 35 years on end.

Clifford credits her long relationship with UNF to "the fact that the university kept getting better and better." And because even as it has grown, UNF has been able to maintain an "increasingly rare uniqueness" in that the school educates graduates and undergraduates alike without giving any preferential treatment to the former.

Lipkin, on the other hand, sees UNF as a much more traditional school now than back when it started in 1972 with only four buildings and 1,000 students, all of whom were juniors or seniors.

"It has become more traditional overtime," Lipkin said.

Other than the knowledge each one of the founding faculty carries with them, they also hold a huge part of the university's history within themselves.

These 24 men and women have dedicated their professional lives to the UNF, and for some like Lipkin, who officially retired two years ago but chose to stay on as an adjunct, it is a commitment that goes far beyond teaching for a living. It is a commitment to a place created by one's own hands.

Oddball Antics

THOSE BABIES NEEDED SOME AIR, OFFICER
A couple was arrested on the highway in Asheville, N.C., while riding in a stolen car. They caught the attention of the police because the woman was standing up through the sunroof naked from the waist up.

BURGLARY? NEXT DOOR? I DIDN'T HEAR ANYTHING, OFFICER
A man broke into the apartment of an elderly woman in Wisden, England, and stole all her furniture, rugs and television sets, and moved the stuff into the vacant apartment next door where he had been squatting for months.

PROFILING? DID SOMEONE DETECT A TREND?
After Prince Albert police arrested the only black person in Saskatchewan, Canada, they were accused of racial profiling.

LIKE TO JOIN ME FOR A BANANA DAQUIRI, MY SWEET?
At Chimp Haven in Caddo Parish, La, a home for older chimpanzees, all the males receive vasectomies. Despite this, a female chimp named Teresa got pregnant and turned up carrying a newborn, much to the amazement of staff members. The males are currently undergoing paternity tests.

EXCESSIVE TICKETING? US? DON'T BE SILLY
Police in Yonkers, N.Y., have suddenly increased the number of tickets they are issuing, and the mayor accused them of doing this to bully officials into settling their contract. A TV news crew went to police headquarters to investigate, and were told that there is no ticket blitz. When the crew got outside, they found a parking tickets on their van.

I BELIEVE I WAS QUITE SUAVE AND CHARMING
Some heavily intoxicated interlopers crashed a wedding in Davidson Mains, Scotland, but when police arrived to evict them, they were attacked by the groom, of all people. He had consumed "a significant amount of alcohol," and was arrested for throwing wine glasses and a beer keg at them. Appalled at his drunken behavior, the new bride left him and went to live with her family in Dalkeith. The groom is having trouble remembering the incident.

NO NEED TO SEARCH ME, OFFICER, HONEST
A man came to court in Athens, Ala., to answer a stolen property charge, carrying a $5 bag of marijuana in his pocket. When a court officer began to search him, the guy tried to swallow the dope. He failed. "I don't know what he was thinking," one officer said.

I'M SICK I TELL YOU! WHAM!
Two men in Bahrain tried to get a day off from work due to illness, but a doctor found them to be in good health, and refused to sign a medical slip. So they beat him up.

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EXPRESSIONS

Football fan or not, here's a game everyone can play!

John Mayer opens blues-inspired tour in Jax

University's founding faculty: the few, the proud, the dwindling

Oddball Antics

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