The first guest on Monday's “Mornings unPHILtered” show was Ron Shiffler of the College of Business Administration. Shiffler announced that the Princeton Review has now ranked the Game Program Design program at Georgia Southern University as one of the top 50 in the United States.
    The ranking will be released in an upcoming issue of the magazine “Game Pro.” Shiffler told host Phil Boyum that the Department of Computer Sciences has designed a four-course program in which graduates get to learn the world of game designing. It will be awarded as a program emphasis, similar to earning a minor.
    Shiffler said there are many companies who have designed games for gaming machines in the market. Most use programming codes that are proprietary and not able to be modified. A number of the nation's top universities, however, have been using open source (or free to use) programming code languages to write new or better games.
    One such regular competition held in the south uses what is known as Robocode. Robocode is an open source educational game started by Mathew Nelson.
    The game is designed to help people learn to program in the Java programming language and enjoy the experience. While a robot code can be written in just a few minutes, perfecting the robot can actually take months. GSU's new program emphasis will be taking over much of the future modifications of Robocode, and will begin their own in-house competitions.
    Shiffler said they are currently asking college alumni to help fund building the labs, which will require the purchase because of the cost of these machines and all their associated hardware.
    Boyum next welcomed Democratic gubernatorial candidate Carl L. Camon to the show. Camon said he is running so people will have a choice. Camon said he will be a governor who is responsive to their needs. He said his greatest area of concern is the public education system.
    Camon said that since so much has been cut from the school's budget it will be nearly impossible to provide teachers with the tools and students with the quality of education they need to succeed.
    His first idea to raise more money was to begin phasing out alternative schools. Camon stated that by returning those students to the regular schools, you would greatly increase the amount of money being given to the regular public schools.
    Camon stated that standardized testing does have it uses and is necessary.
    Camon has been councilman and then Mayor of Ray City, served for four years as Chairman of the County & Municipal Probation Advisory Council, served as Chairman of the Mayors Motorcade for the Southern Region of Georgia, as Chairman of the Environment & Natural Resources Policy Committee, and on the Executive Committee for Georgia Municipal Association.
    Camon is very proud his 10 plus years of service in the United States Air Force. He also is proud of how as mayor, he helped start the first Pre-K program in the State of Georgia operated by a municipality.
    Camon said Georgia has what it takes to get out of this economic downturn. He said we have to invest in the state of Georgia, and must stop continuously cutting our budgets. He said we must let the rest of the United States, and the world, know that Georgia will do what it takes to get them to locate here.
    Camon said before giving any company considering moving to Georgia a tax break or special incentive to locate here, however, we must make them tell us how many new jobs the company's move will provide for Georgians, and how much money in real terms their business will bring to the state once it is up and running.
    Camon said we must do the research before we make any decision about the proposed inter-basin water transfers. Camon we need to set up a statewide water conservation plan, fully utilize existing reservoirs that arent being used to their best potential, and then expand those reservoirs that already exist.
    
     “Mornings unPHILtered” airs live Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. on statesboroherald.com and also simulcast on WWNS-AM 1240 on the radio. You also can listen anytime at BoroLive.com on statesboroherald.com