Posted by Terry Rombeck September 1, 2006 at 7:48 a.m.

Marching director's new start

¢ James Hudson, the former KU marching band director starting his first year at Arizona State University, is the subject of a short profile in the [Arizona Republic][1]."That's the direction ASU really wanted to go, matching up entertainment with the athletic department," he said. "It'll be different. You've got to play to the tickets holders and play stuff they know."¢ Jayhawk fans' habit of tearing down goalposts last season is mentioned in this [Columbia Missourian][2] article about MU officials trying to keep Tiger fans in the stands.Neil Gilman, president of Connecticut-based Gilman Gear, said the posts his firm sold to MU are effective at reducing post-game chaos and are in use at 35 universities. The University of Kansas bought collapsible posts from Gilman in 2003, after a home field win against MU led to goal post ruin."The thought is that if (the goal posts) are already down, it will discourage fans from running onto the field," Gilman said. "They would lower the goal posts at the end of the game to head off any fans from flowing onto the field to try to rip them down."¢ KU professor Bill Narayan's experimental AIDS vaccine, which is nearing testing on humans, has been getting media mentions around the world, thanks to a story distributed by [United Press International][3]._Narayan is waiting for word from the National Institutes of Health on whether he will get the $20 million needed to manufacture the vaccine and test it on people.¢ KU grad and native Kansan Bill Kurtis is highlighted in this story from the [St. Paul Pioneer Press][4]._A tornado tore apart Topeka, killing 16. When (Kurtis) learned about the storm on-air, he uttered a saying famous in Kansas - "For God's sake, take cover" - and covered the disaster for 24 hours."I thought God was showing me a way to not practice law," said Kurtis. "In journalism, everything was new."¢ A former Kansas University diving coach has opened an eclectic art gallery called Moka in Chicago and was featured in the [Chicago Journal][5].As for the name Moka, it dates back to his days as a diving coach at the University of Kansas. One day, he found himself on the state line dividing Missouri and Kansas, with the abbreviated versions of each state's name of their respective sides of the road, hence Moka.¢ Paul Mason assistant dean off the KU School of Business, is quoted in this [bankrate.com][6] story about whether you need to sign the back of your credit card._"There is very good evidence that signing the back of your card is meaningless anymore," says Paul Mason, assistant dean of the University of Kansas School of Business. Mason is a certified fraud investigator and CPA who has been teaching courses on fraud for the past eight years and is writing a textbook on the topic for college-level instruction. "I can tell you that in the Midwest, where I live, it is most unusual to have a clerk look at the back of the card. They usually swipe it and hand it back." _ [1]: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0831b2band0831.html [2]: http://columbiamissourian.com/news/story.php?ID=21313 [3]: http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20060831-043021-9291r [4]: http://www.pioneerlocal.com/cgi-bin/ppo-story/localnews/current/de/08-31-06-1017671.html [5]: http://www.chicagojournal.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=60&ArticleID=2126&TM=83112.5 [6]: http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/cc/20060901a1.asp