Pedal Pushing Pooches (Dogs can Drive)!

            
-By: Brittany Reid

Dogs have been man’s best friends for centuries.  They have operated as hunters, security guards, and service dogs for those who are handicapped.  So, what’s the next step for our canine companions?  How about seeing these furry, four-legged creatures driving next to us on the highway?  Well, it’s highly possible!  According to recent studies conducted just this week, it has been proven that dogs have the ability to drive! 

            New Zealand’s Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) recently rescued three abandoned pups and spent two months training them on how to operate buttons and gear shifts similar to that of a car.  Monty (an 18-month-old giant schnauzer), Porter (a 10-month-old beardie cross), and Ginny (a 1-year-old whippets cross), were the lucky pups chosen to take part in this experiment.  After mastering the control of various buttons and levers, the animals were put behind the wheel of a specially designed test vehicle to practice what they had learned during training.  Then, the dogs were taken to a wide field for a rehearsal run.  There, they garnered worldwide recognition when footage of the rehearsal made headline news on renowned networks like CNN.  This Monday, the dogs were taken to the racetracks for their official solo performances.  Monty and Porter’s successful test runs were broadcasted live on New Zealand’s 3 News TV station.  Ginny’s test was not aired.

(Highlights of Porter's test shown below)

            The purpose behind this experiment was to increase promotion for adopting dogs from rescue shelters by showing that they are highly capable of being trained and tamed.  Many people opt to purchase well-bred dogs when the rescued ones are in need of a home too.  All it takes is a lot of Tender Loving Care, along with patience, and they can do anything (like drive a stick-shift)!  But the possibilities of how this could directly affect our society are endless!  Dogs already aid humans by performing duties such as leading the blind and sniffing out drugs for law enforcement.  Could you imagine them driving around the visually impaired or taking part in a high-speed chase alongside their human police-partners? …okay, so maybe that is a stretch.  But hey, after Mishka the Talking Husky went viral showing that dogs can imitate human sound, just about anything is possible!  The world may be “going to the dogs” a lot sooner than we think!
            So the next time you’re training your pooch to “sit,” “speak,” “roll-over,” or “play-dead,” you may want to start adding the phrases “drive,” “turn,” “put it in neutral,” and “park,” to your list of dog-commands!


For more information about the SPCA and their efforts to encourage the adoption of abandoned canines, visit their Facebook page here: DrivingDogs.

DEXTER’S RUDE REMOVAL: THE LOST EPISODE…FOUND!

By: Brittany L. Reid

“Enter at your own peril, past the vaulted door where impossible things may happen that the world’s never seen before!”


            You know this infamous phrase.  This is the first line to the ending theme for Cartoon Network's classic animated series, Dexter's Laboratory.  But, did you know there is an episode of this cartoon that showcases Dexter and his sister, Dee Dee, as you've NEVER seen them before....LITERALLY?!  Recently there has been a bevy of activity online about an unaired, “lost episode” of Dexter’s Laboratory entitled, “Dexter’s Rude Removal.”  But “rude” would be putting it lightly.  Apparently this episode is so vulgar that it would make a sailor blush.
            Research indicates that the episode features Dexter performing an experiment that goes horribly wrong due to Dee-Dee’s interference (so what else is new, right)?  The result is the creation of devilish personalities who cause chaos, and whose language rivals that of South Park!  This particular cartoon was created to be viewed by those who were 18 years of age or older at special events.  There are accounts that the episode once aired at a Californian comic convention in the late 90s.  However, this was the only time that the taboo episode ever went public…until now!
            In October, there was an AMA (Ask Me Anything) session on Reddit.com that was hosted by Genndy Tartakovsky, the creator of Dexter’s Laboratory.  During the session, someone made a post questioning if “Dexter’s Rude Removal would ever see the light of day again.  Mr. Tartakovsky (account name- iamgenndytartakovsky) confirmed its existence, and there was an online movement via Tumblr, Twitter, and a multitude of other social media sites urging for a public release of this episode.  It wasn’t long before Adult Swim, the late night programming block on Cartoon Network, picked up on the fans’ pleas.
            The block went to work updating its viewers on progress with obtaining the episode and somehow getting it to air.  Their hard work paid off!  According to one of the network’s recent late night bumps (title cards shown between commercials), they will be broadcasting Dexter’s “lost” episode on the Internet sometime this week.  The announcement that Adult Swim aired is shown below.

 So adult fans of the show should keep a sharp eye out for this debut!  

…But, make sure you keep your kiddies or little siblings out of the room!  Needless to say, “viewer discretion is advised.”

Can you Afford a Ford....Stock?

-By: Brittany L. Reid

Considering the recent recession, one may wonder if taking interest in the Ford Stock Price is a wise investment.  The Ford Stock Price is the price or value of stock in the Ford Motor Company.  Before one can consider investing in this automotive corporation, it is important to have a basic understanding of the stock market and how it affects one’s finances. 

                  In the stock market, people buy shares of a company so that when the value of the company rises, investors receive a profit.  When the stock prices continue to increase over a long period of time, buyers refer to this as a Bull market.  When the stock prices decrease, it is a Bear Market.  So now, the question is whether or not the current economy has resulted in the Ford Stock Price being a Bear Market, or a Bull Market.

                  The cause for the current state of Ford’s stocks can be traced back about eight years.  In 2004, Alan Mullaly was brought into the Ford family.  He made wise decisions concerning the financial aspects of the company while simultaneously brainstorming to reconstruct some crucial areas of the corporation.  In the early stages of the recession, Mullaly opted to drive Ford down a different route than its competitors by providing the company with billions in finances as a safety net.  Chrysler and General Motors, in contrast, gassed up their engines by accepting federal bailouts, which ended up giving them car trouble.  Alan Mullaly was later appointed as the chief executive and president of the Ford Motor Company in September, 2006.  Since then, the Ford Stock Price has continued to maintain fairly high value.  This can be attributed to the company analyzing various benefits of smaller, more energy-efficient vehicles, as well as investigating various methods of cost reduction.  The company’s Ford Motor Credit branch is also a top contractor of auto-financing.  However, comparing Ford’s business in the United States to its global competition highlights other defining factors for whether or not it is a good investment.  China, South America, and Europe are just a few of the leading contenders that serve as healthy competition for the company. 

                  In conclusion, the Ford Stock Price has had relatively moderate to strong buys over the past few months.  One might say that the stock is in the green zone.  It’s not a Bear Market, but it is not quite a Bull Market either.  In the end, when it comes to the stock market, whether or not one decides to invest in a company depends on the stock buyer’s personal research and analysis of the corporation.

FOX- 25 YEARS AND COUNTING

-By: Brittany L. Reid
        
           It began with a new television station's struggle to find just the right type of entertainment to bait its audience hook, line, and sinker.  Who would've thought that the wrong content would be what they were looking for....or perhaps we should say the most unorthodox content?  The year was 1987 when FOX, a novice network practically out of the womb, premiered a show about a family of underdogs that would slowly begin winning the hearts of Americans.  A shoe-salesman, his fashion-forward wife, his ditzy daughter, and his wannabe-player son would spend the next few years taking the television audience on a journey of the rarely acknowledged every day life of the unconventional family.
            The context of this show, “Married…with Children,” would begin a tradition that seemed to be the key for future hit shows on FOX.  The network would go on to syndicate programs with the pitch of the "underdogs struggling to achieve."  FOX would utilize real life scenarios in both factual and fictional settings, and play on the opinions and sympathies of America to debut the oddest elements of television programming, from attacking animals, to focusing on taboo subjects like drugs, sex, sexual orientation, and more.  The network would become renowned for cultivating shows like “The Simpsons” (following a similar foundation of “Married…with Children,” but in an animated format), “Beverly Hills 90210,” “In Living Color,” “Malcom in the Middle”, “American Idol,” and more.  From reality competitions, to pushing the patience of the FCC, the network became its own type of Underdog, one that would go on to even make fun of itself in the programs it featured throughout the years.
            While it's only been a quarter of a century since the debut of this network, there is no doubt that FOX has become an integral part of the American family, simply because everyone has someone in their family with that same attitude as FOX: the reckless, over-dramatic, leap before you look type of relative who takes chances and somehow, always seems to still come out on top.  Now, at the brink of young adulthood, the network celebrated its 25th Anniversary on Sunday, April 22, 2012, with a look at its history.  Such a nostalgic sendoff allowed the audience to see how it has grown with FOX over the years.  It is only natural to wonder just what the next 25 years will have in store for the underdog that always seems to be.....as Charlie Sheen would put it, “WINNING!!!!!”  

THE WORD, IS BIG BIRD!

-By: Brittany L. Reid

       
          It looks like the “Bird is the Word” for the 2012-2013 season.  Big Bird, one of Sesame Street’s mascots, recently garnered national attention when Republican Governor Mitt Romney mentioned cutting government funding to PBS as part of his fiscal plan to help manage the debt crisis.  The social media world went insane with YouTube videos, Memes, and even fake Twitter accounts expressing their opinions on Romney’s statement.

            But the six-year-old bird remained as innocent as a child when he responded to the issue on an October 7, 2012 Saturday Night Live skit.  “I feel like I’m famous now,” he said.  “It’s so weird to think that just a few days ago, I could just blend in like every other perfectly normal 8-foot tall talking bird!”  If Big-Bird is feeling the publicity now, he’ll feel even more famous next year.  Or at least…his Muppeteer will.

            The man behind Big Bird, Caroll Spinney, has been providing the voice and motion for the walking puppet since Sesame Street’s debut in 1969, and he’s still going strong.  The 78-year-old Muppeteer will give insight to his life as the lovable, yellow fowl in a documentary set for release some time in 2013.  The film is titled, “I Am Big Bird: The Caroll Spinney Story,” and is produced by Copper Pot Pictures.  The film comes following the success of the 2011 documentary “Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey,” which chronicled the life of Elmo’s puppeteer Kevin Clash and was Directed & Produced by Constance Marks.

          For more information about Caroll Spinney's upcoming documentary, visit Copper Pot Pictures' website at www.iambigbird.com. 

Reid Wins at Georgia Golden Olympics

This post features an article that I recently wrote and was published in my local newspaper.  The paper was printed and distributed on October 2, 2012.

REID WINS AT GEORGIA GOLDEN OLYMPICS

By: Brittany L. Reid

The West Georgian Newspaper Articles: Written by Brittany L. Reid

The following are samples of articles that I've written for The West Georgian newspaper.

"Dr. Sewell Awarded for Multiple Accomplishments on Campus"

**Note - For this article: 1) Click the link. 2) When the article comes up, click on it to expand the text.

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"New Student Fees Help Bring UWG Football Stadium to Life"

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"Construction on Campus Leads to Exciting Future"

**Note - For this article: 1) Click the link. 2) When the article comes up, click on it to expand the text.

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 "The SGA Corner- With Brittany Reid"

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"Alpha Lambda Delta Hosts Campus Wide 'Trick-or-Treat for United Nations Children's Fund"

**Note - For this article: 1) Click the link. 2) When the article comes up, click on it to expand the text.

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Links to Samples of my Digitally Published Journalistic Works

Print Journalism

These are links to articles that I wrote while working for the Communications & Marketing Department during the Summer of 2010.

UWG Perspective: Exceptional Educators: (After clicking the link, Scroll Down to Pages 18-19) A piece that I wrote for the digital publication of the UWG Alumni Magazine, "UWG Perspective"

Preview pictures

         

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Restaurant Research Gains National Recognition: A piece I wrote that was featured on the UWG webpage.

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RESTAURANT RESEARCH GAINS NATIONAL RECOGNITION

Contact: Brittany Reid                              

Cell Phone: 404-274-5609

Email: breid2@my.westga.edu

Recognition by a national organization is great.  Recognition by two national organizations is awesome.  Recognition by three national organizations is fabulous and recognition by three national groups and a state council is phenomenal!  This was the reward of four students at the University of West Georgia who had the honor of attending two national conferences and a state conference for their marketing research project conducted in 2009.  They will be attending a third national conference later this year.

Ameen Kazerouni, Chelsea Briant, Adam Szaruga, and Armando Ramos performed graduate level marketing research under the guidance of Dr. Beheruz Sethna.  The research project was an extension of his Business Challenges class, and consisted of comparing the businesses of Mexican restaurants in the local Carrollton area.  The students pinpointed variables that could enhance the restaurants’ business, as well as the variables that could potentially slow down their business.  The two main restaurants chosen for this experiment were The Boarder and The Grillage.

After about five months of collecting data, converting written information to variables, calculating, and staying up from 3-5 am to revise, revise, and revise their research for an academically accurate report, the team’s results were well worth the sleepless nights.  They discovered that the variables that had the strongest influence on the restaurants’ business were cost, quickness, and variety. They presented their information to the restaurants and soon afterwards, they noticed changes in both The Boarder and The Grillage.  The team felt that the restaurants appreciated the hard work that they put into the project.  Not surprisingly, several conferences appreciated the team’s hard work as well.

Once the project was finished, the National Social Science Association (NSSA), the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR), and the Georgia Collegiate Honors Council (GCHC) recognized the students’ results. Members of the team attended conferences for all three organizations, and they were invited to attend National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC) conference, which will be held in October of this year. The team also won first place at the NSSA conference, which will publish their work in late fall-early winter of 2010.  Needless to say, the students were thrilled.

“Our goal was always to go to a conference.   Our focus wasn’t so much on the fact that the project was a part of our class, but we definitely wanted to make sure the quality was strong enough to be accepted by a national conference,” says Briant.  So it’s no wonder that the group was positively ecstatic when their work was accepted by more than just one national conference.

 “Getting together with colleagues to conduct this experiment was a brilliant rush.  We put a lot of sweat, blood, and tears into this project, and we were blessed to be recognized by four conferences,” says Kazerouni.  The students also agree that the project could not have been completed without Dr. Sethna.  “He was not just our professor, he was an essential part of the team.  He was also the most enthusiastic member of our group; Dr. Sethna is a genius,” the entire team agreed.

Now the students eagerly await viewing printed renditions of their work in publications of the NSSA, and their work is currently undergoing a second review for NCUR’s publications.  They also hope that their research will be published again after they attend the NCHC conference.

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Terry Receives Threadgill Scholarship: Another piece I wrote that was featured on the UWG webpage.

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Contact: Brittany Reid                              

Cell Phone: 404-274-5609

Email: breid2@my.westga.edu

TERRY FIRST RECIPIENT OF THE JACK E. THREADGILL SR. MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP

Jocelyn Deanne Terry is the inaugural recipient of the Jack E. Threadgill, Sr. Memorial Scholarship.  This scholarship was established to reward outstanding and deserving students in the field of accounting.  Ms. Terry is a junior at the Richards College of Business majoring in accounting with an expected graduation date of December 2011.  She has achieved a GPA of 3.5 while working part-time as a bookkeeper and taking a full course load.  Ms. Terry is active in her community, currently serving as the Vice President of the United Voices Gospel Choir and as Ministry Leader of the Blessed Sacrifice Dance Ministry.

"I am honored to receive this scholarship.  I express my condolences to the Threadgill family and thanks to those who contributed to this scholarship,” says Terry. “I also give God the glory, thank my parents for raising and encouraging me, and I thank the Richard's College of Business for choosing me as a recipient.” Terry is excited about furthering her studies in her selected career field, “I look forward to continuing my education in Accounting and becoming a successful Certified Public Accountant."

The scholarship honors Jack E. Threadgill, a respected accountant in the Carrollton community who served as the first public accountant in the area.  Threadgill was also the first president of two West Georgian Chapters: the National Association of Accountants and the Georgia Society of CPAs.

An active volunteer in his community, Threadgill was a dedicated leader and an integral part of many local business organizations. In 1989 he was named Beta Gamma Sigma business honoree and given an award in 1996 by the University of West Georgia Foundation for his outstanding service to the community.  

The Jack E Threadgill Sr. memorial scholarship will be given out annually, and each recipient may only receive it once.

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If you would like more information, contact the University of West Georgia’s Communications and Marketing department at 678-839-6464

Video Journalism

These are links to videos that I shot and uploaded to the UWG Media blog while working for the Communications & Marketing Department during the Summer of 2010.

• School of Nursing on UWG Campus Promotional Video

• The Waring Archaeological Lab Promotional Video

• UWG's New Homepage Video

• Small Business & Development Center Promotional Video

• Career Services Promotional Video

• Students at UWG Video

• Wolf Radio Promotional Video