Giants present President Bush with Giants jersey
By Michael Eisen, Giants.com

April 30, 2008

WASHINGTON - President Bush lauded the NFL champion Giants today, calling their Super Bowl XLII triumph over the New England Patriots, “one of the great, legendary games in our country’s history.”

http://www.giants.com/news/eisen/story.asp?story_id=27088

So In Virginia, there’s a debate roiling about "Hunting with Hounds" which is primarily limited to Fox Hunting. I’ve found the debate pretty interesting and close to home though...literally. We allow fox hunting by two hunts across our 200 acres in Northern VA. I’ve always found the hunters to be respectful and extremely diligent about property boundaries and respectful of property owners - both those who allow and don’t allow hunting across their land. I was reading this article:

http://www.dailypress.com/news/opinion/dp-ed_hounds_edit_0407apr07,0,6199745.story

...and the only thing I found surprising is the following:

"In recent years, more people have complained about hunters who trespass, road hunt or abuse a policy that allows hunters — fully armed — to retrieve a wayward hound from private property."

While I can understand the retrieval need - the fox hunters who come on our land aren’t actually "armed" - I believe the huntsman (the lead) carries a firearm in case a fox is caught and needs to be put down, but the objective of the hunt is not the kill...it’s the chase. It’s about riding hell bent through the words on a horse. Rarely do they actually kill the fox. It also bothers me that the folks that were part of the massive influx of development in my rural part of Northern VA complain about hunting in general – especially the fox hunting though. It’s like moving in next to an airport and complaining about the jetliner noise. When one moves to a rural area, they should expect to live with the environment. Dirt roads shouldn’t get paved, speed limits shouldn’t get increased, and you should be ready to accept a rural lifestyle…which includes hunting of all manners.

The only issue I have with all of this is the fact that fox hunters get to hunt on Sundays - the "regular" hunters don’t. I’d prefer to be able to hunt on Sunday’s rather than not letting the fox hunters hunt...

http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/hunting/hounds/

So apparently we signed David Carr from the Panthers and he will be competing with Jared "Quarter(got)back" Lorenzo and Wright for the 2nd slot.  We’ve only seen Lorenzo play 1 quarter in the 07 opener against Dallas - but I don’t recall him being terrible...but then I don’t really remember and maybe that’s the issue. Carr seems to be comming in with some experince with his stints in Houston and then Carolina - and he’ll now be working for his old Houston Offensive Coord., Chris Palmer...our QB Coach

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jSFoqpc96qI3rQ-OKggLYRBOWL-AD8VC5OAO0

Artemis, the goddess of hunting and the keeper of forests and hills, was worshipped throughout the Hellenic world. Her best known cults were in the island of Delos (her birthplace); in Attica at Brauron and Mounikhia (near Piraeus); and in Sparta. She was often depicted in paintings and statues in a forest setting, carrying a bow and arrows and accompanied by a deer.

She gradually displaced Selene (the titaness of the moon) as goddess of the moon.
 
In Ionia the "Lady of Ephesus", a goddess whom Hellenes identified with Artemis, was a principal deity. Her temple at Ephesus (an ancient Greek city located in western part of Turkey), one of the Seven Wonders of the World, was probably the best known center of her worship apart from Delos. In Acts of the Apostles, the Ephesian metalsmiths who feel threatened by Paul’s preaching of the new faith, jealously riot in her defense, shouting "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!" (Acts 19:28 KJV).
 
Athenian festivals in honor of Artemis include Elaphebolia, Mounikhia, Kharisteria, Brauronia; the festival of Artemis Orthia was observed in Sparta.

Pre-pubescent Athenian girls young Athenian girls approaching marriageable age were sent to the sanctuary of Artemis at Brauron to serve the Goddess for one year. During this time the girls were known as arktoi, or little she-bears. A myth explaining this servitude relates that a bear had formed the habit of regularly visiting the town of Brauron, and the people there fed it, so that over time the bear became tame. A young girl teased the bear, and, in some versions of the myth it killed her, while in other versions it clawed her eyes out. Either way, the girl’s brothers killed the bear, and Artemis was enraged. She demanded that young girls "act the bear" at her sanctuary in atonement for the bear’s death.

Virginal Artemis was worshipped as a fertility/childbirth goddess in some places, assimilating Ilithyia, since, according to some myths, she assisted her mother in the delivery of her twin. During the Classical period in Athens, she was identified with Hecate. Artemis also assimilated Caryatis (Carya).

more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemis

Tom Coughlin, who reached the pinnacle of his profession when he led the Giants to a victory in last month’s Super Bowl, has signed a new four-year contract with the team.

The 2008 season will be Coughlin’s fifth with the Giants. He is 35-29 in the regular season and 4-2 in the postseason. Coughlin has led the Giants to the playoffs in each of the last three seasons, including a 2007 Wild Card berth that kicked off one of the most remarkable and memorable postseason runs in NFL history. The Giants won four consecutive games away from Giants Stadium, including a 17-14 triumph in Super Bowl XLII over the previously undefeated New England Patriots.

http://www.giants.com/news/eisen/story.asp?story_id=26998

http://www.aarp.org/community/ToeKnee/photo/We_Need_a_Bigger_Pool_Dad/1952

So I’ve been trying out these "Best Time to Hunt" sites...my favorite so far is :

http://www.fieldandstream.com/weather_hunt.jsp

I’ve also tried this one out...but it’s a little difficult to use...but I like the "census" data...not sure how accurate it is, but I like how it tries to verify the predictions:

http://www.huntstats.com/besttimes.php