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(10/18/06 6:40pm)
MARTINSVILLE -- The parents of slain IU student Jill Behrman were called to the stand to testify in the third day of the trial of John R. Myers II, accused of killing the IU student. \nEric and Marilyn Behrman told jurors that their daughter had a lifelong interest in cycling, recalling how Jill tried out her older brother's bike when she just 5. \n"I can't forget Jill smiling, pedaling down the street," Eric Behrman said. "Bicycling was something she enjoyed very much."\nEric Behrman explained how Jill's interest in cycling developed as she grew older. He said she traveled on a bike trip with a local nondenominational group to Atlantic City, N.J., after graduating high school in 1999 and that she also rode in Monroe County's annual Hilly Hundred two-day bike race. \nEric and Marilyn Behrman recalled their memories from May 31, 2000, the last day Jill was seen alive, and the nearly three-year search for their daughter.\nSeveral jurors wiped away tears as Eric Behrman recalled the day he and his family were notified that Jill's remains had been recovered in March 2003.\nEric Behrman said three investigators and a minister from the Behrmans' church met with the family at their home.\n"They said 'This is the day we've been looking for for a long time. We found Jill,'" Eric Behrman said. "They gave us the news."\nSeveral pieces of evidence were introduced, including what is believed to be Jill's bicycle.\nFor more on this story, see Thursday's Indiana Daily Student.
(10/18/06 4:24am)
MIAMI -- Amid the pushing, punching and posturing during the sideline-clearing brawl between University of Miami and Florida International University, some actions were deemed worse than others. The punishments reflected the differences in severity.\nFIU kicked two players, Chris Smith and Marshall McDuffie Jr., off the team for attacks against Miami holder Matt Perrelli. Hurricanes safety Anthony Reddick, who swung his helmet as a weapon, saw his one-game suspension become an indefinite one Monday.\nThose moves were among the many made by the two universities, both of whom promised that they would do whatever possible to ensure something like Saturday night's fight between the teams never happens again.\n"For us," FIU athletic director Pete Garcia said, "one incident is one incident too many."\nThe universities found that:\n• Reddick ran across the field in the opening seconds of the fight, helmet raised high before he struck at least one FIU player. That merited "additional measures," Atlantic Coast Conference Commissioner John Swofford said.\n• Chris Smith wrestled Perrelli down as the melee began and appeared to punch him in the chin.\nAs Smith held Perrelli on the ground, McDuffie ran up and kicked the Miami player in the head.\n• There were many other violent acts committed during the fight, yet those were the ones that the schools apparently deemed the most grievous.\n"What was envisioned as an opportunity for two hometown teams to provide an evening of athletic competition resulted in a brawl that brought embarrassment to the teams, our universities, and our community," Miami president Donna Shalala wrote Monday in a letter posted on the school's Web site.\nShalala will meet with FIU president Mitch Maidique on Thursday to determine if next season's game between the teams will be played. An announcement will be made by the weekend, Shalala said.\nSomehow, neither team had any players injured during the melee.\nMiami ordered each of its other 12 players suspended along with Reddick to serve community service, plus said it "re-emphasized" the importance of sportsmanship to coach Larry Coker and members of his staff.\n"The coaches will be held accountable for any violation of this principle," athletic director Paul Dee said.\nThe brawl was the third on-field incident in Miami's past seven games; the Hurricanes also fought with LSU after losing last season's Peach Bowl and trampled Louisville's midfield Cardinals logo before playing there last month, an act widely viewed as taunting.\nCoker was not available for comment. He was to hold his regular weekly news conference Tuesday.\nMeanwhile, Miami's Brandon Meriweather -- who was seen stomping on FIU opponents during the fight and was suspended for one game -- released a letter of apology Tuesday.\n"I did not use my better judgment, and instead of helping the situation, I participated in the fight, much to my regret," \nMeriweather wrote. "As a team captain, I have come to expect more from myself."\nThe NCAA, in a statement released Monday, called the fight "wholly unacceptable" and said it hoped the added sanctions taken by Miami and FIU shows "that such behavior is not tolerated."\nWhile Miami's response was strong, FIU's was even stronger.\nBesides ordering the two dismissals -- those players will remain on scholarship -- FIU increased the suspensions for another 16 players involved in the melee. Originally ordered to serve one-game suspensions by the Sun Belt Conference, each of those players are now out indefinitely.\nPlus, all the suspended FIU players will have to complete 10 hours of anger management counseling and 50 hours of community service, besides being on probation for the remainder of the academic year. Further, all FIU players -- suspended or not -- and coaches will need to complete community service projects.\n"This is something that's not going to be tolerated," Garcia said. "We've got to use this as an example to the young kids in South Florida and all over. They need to know that yes, football is very competitive. Our society is very competitive. But we've got to make sure that we teach the youth in South Florida what's acceptable behavior and what's not"
(10/18/06 4:21am)
COVINA, Calif. -- Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle was remembered as "a loving husband and an awesome father" Tuesday at a memorial attended by family, friends and teammates of the avid yet inexperienced pilot who was killed during an aerial tour of New York City.\nAs the 45-minute outdoor service began, three planes similar to the one Lidle owned appeared over the roof of the Mausoleum of Christian Heritage and flew over the crowd before disappearing into dark gray clouds. The planes later made two more passes.\nAmong those at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Lidle's hometown were Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson and a contingent of Yankees: All-Star Derek Jeter, former high school teammate Jason Giambi, Jaret Wright, manager Joe Torre and general manager Brian Cashman. Also in attendance were Oakland pitcher Barry Zito, Philadelphia teammates Pat Burrell and Chase Utley, and former Yankees pitcher Aaron Small.\nNone connected to baseball spoke at the service, leaving Lidle's family and friends to recall his fun-loving nature.\n"I don't think much of it was about the baseball player," Jackson said afterward. "The nice thing was the way his family and friends spoke of him. It makes you reflect and appreciate life. He touched a lot of lives."\nLidle, 34, and his flight instructor, Tyler Stanger, 26, were killed last Wednesday when the pitcher's small plane crashed into a Manhattan high-rise.\nSupported by another woman, Lidle's wife, Melanie, walked to the gray casket, which was adorned with a huge spray of white roses and daisies. She paused, then leaned heavily on the casket, shaking with sobs.\nMourners seated in rows of white chairs on the sprawling lawn that sloped down toward a busy freeway below watched, some in obvious anguish. Men wiped away tears from behind dark glasses, and knots of family shared long embraces near Lidle's casket.\n"Cory would have been so amazed at all the people here who admired him," said Brandy Peters, Melanie's sister. "He was a loving husband and an awesome father."\nPeters recalled the early days of her sister's nearly 10-year marriage to Lidle, when the couple "begged me to bring 99-cent Jack in the Box tacos home from my high school job at Blockbuster."\n"His personality never changed with his increase in salary," she said.\nLidle's twin brother, Kevin, recalled a recent visit to Melanie's home. She told him to go through Cory's possessions and take anything he wanted.\nShe offered him a leather jacket that Kevin accepted and didn't put on until he got outside. He instinctively patted the pockets and felt something.\n"I reached into my pocket and pulled out a yellow tiny ball with a smiley face on it," he said, holding up the ball. "This is Cory looking down on all of us and he's OK."\nAmong Lidle's family seated on a plaza under green tents were his parents, Doug and Rebecca Lidle, and sister Lisa and brother Billy. On either side of the casket were large photos -- \none of a smiling Lidle in his Yankees cap, the other with him in full rotation on the mound.\nTwo of Lidle's longtime friends took turns speaking, calling him by his nickname "Snacks," a reference to Lidle's habit of devouring candy in between innings.\n"We were more like the 'Goonies' than the entourage of studs you would expect him to be with," one of them said.\nBoth men promised Melanie Lidle they would always look after her and the couple's 6-year-old son, Christopher. The family lived in Glendora, a Los Angeles suburb, during the offseason.\nLidle had been a licensed pilot for less than a year. Stanger was a veteran pilot and teacher who ran a tiny flight school in the San Gabriel Valley east of Los Angeles. Investigators have not determined the cause of the crash or who was at the controls.\nSmall, the former Yankees pitcher, had been friends with Cory and Kevin Lidle since age 9.\n"If there was a baseball game being played, me and Cory and Kevin were in it," he said, his voice breaking. "Cory was more than a friend. He was like a little brother to me."\nA reception at a nondenominational church followed the service.\nLidle pitched for seven teams during his nearly 10-year career, posting an 82-72 record with a 4.57 ERA. He came to the Yankees in July, traded from Philadelphia, where he had signed a $6.3 million, two-year deal in November 2004.\nStanger's survivors include his pregnant wife, Stephanie, and an infant daughter.\nLidle's family requested that donations be made to Stanger's family.
(10/18/06 4:21am)
Adam Ahlfeld\nIt seems like Hoosier Hysteria gets better each year. The amount of people attending keeps getting larger, as Friday's attendance was more than 14,000, and the atmosphere was electric as always.\nI think my teammates will agree with me when I say that the coolest part of the night was the introductions at the beginning of the event. Each player got to choose the song that played while he was introduced, and it gave us a chance to showcase any dancing ability that we have -- or do not have, in my case. I thought it was a lot of fun doing the "Cha Cha" with you all and the cheerleaders. I thought (junior guard) A.J. (Ratliff's) intro song, "SexyBack" by Justin Timberlake, and subsequent dance moves were pretty entertaining, while (junior forward) D.J. (White's) introduction might have produced the largest roar from the crowd. Then again, the ovation that coach (Kelvin) Sampson received might have topped them all. It's really great as a player to see everyone coming together and supporting both of our teams. We've put in a significant amount of work with conditioning, weight training and court workouts, and the support the fans provided Friday was a terrific motivator for us to continue to work so we can make them proud of us. \nAll in all, I'm really glad that so many people were there to support both IU basketball programs. I know all the players appreciated everyone who came out to support us Friday and also to those who will be making Assembly Hall one of the toughest places to play in this year!\nCarrie Smith\nHoosier Hysteria was so awesome! I had such an amazing time. We had to be at the gym at 8:15 p.m., and there were already huge crowds outside the door -- I love our fans. I think they might be the best fans anywhere. Everyone came out to support us. My favorite fans are the ladies who wear those awesome sweaters -- they rock the cream and crimson like nobody else can. \nSo anyway, when I got down to the locker room, everybody was getting dressed. The freshmen were really nervous. I remember what it was like the first time I was in Hoosier Hysteria. I was really nervous, too. I didn't want to make a fool of myself in front of all those people. It's probably worse now for our freshmen since they installed the new scoreboard, and the whole place can see everything. \nThis year I was more sad than nervous. This was the last time I would ever run out on that court to start a season, but I'm so excited for this year. I got even more excited when we got to sign autographs for the fans. It was so cool having everyone wishing us good luck for the year.\nAfter signing autographs, we hung out in the locker room for a bit, getting anxious about the competitions, making sure our hair looked just right, putting the finishing touches on handshakes and practicing dance moves.\nTo tell you the truth, I didn't hit a single shot in warm ups, I slipped on a cable one of the television guys left out on the court and I forgot the steps to the "Cha Cha" slide. Maybe -- even in my old age -- I was nervous just like the freshmen. Can you blame me? Running out in front of 14,000 people with the spotlights on you, everyone cheering, seeing those banners hung up, the traditions that have been made here on our court -- when I think about those things, I get chills. I think that's what Hoosier Hysteria is all about. Now that it's over, I can't wait to get this season going. I'm hyped, and judging by Friday night, our fans are hyped, too!
(10/18/06 4:16am)
CHICAGO-- Lou Piniella vows to make a winner of the Chicago Cubs, whose last World Series appearance came in 1945.\n"Urgency is important," said Piniella, who was introduced Tuesday as the team's latest manager. "We're going to win here, and that's the end of the story."\nPiniella agreed Monday to a three-year contract, worth nearly $10 million, with an option for a fourth year.\n"I'm just a little piece of the puzzle. My job is to come in here and unite this team," he said at a news conference.\nPiniella said he was assured by general manager Jim Hendry that the Cubs would make moves necessary to improve the team. He brushed off a report that he wanted the Cubs to acquire embattled Yankees star Alex Rodriguez, saying there hadn't been "any discussions about A-Rod." Piniella was Rodriguez's first manager when he signed on with the Seattle Mariners in the mid-1990s.\nPiniella said he was hoping injured pitchers Kerry Wood and Mark Prior would be healthy and come to spring training. The team holds a $13.75 million option on Wood for next season, and the right-hander is rehabilitating a torn rotator cuff.\n"They're both talented individuals. Both have had physical problems," Piniella said.\nThe 63-year-old Piniella has 19 years of major league managerial experience, including a World Series title with the Reds in 1990.\n"We got the right man for the job," Hendry said.\nPiniella replaces Dusty Baker, another veteran manager who came to the Cubs with a strong resume. Baker departed after four years when his contract was not renewed following a 66-96 last-place finish in the NL Central.\nNow Piniella gets a chance where so many of his predecessors have come up short.\n"I managed in a lot of places where winning was what was strived for," Piniella said after modeling his Cubs' No. 41 jersey.
(10/18/06 3:38am)
MARION, Ind. -- The family of a Taylor University student misidentified for weeks as a classmate who was killed in a highway crash has notified state and local officials of a possible lawsuit over the handling of the crash aftermath.\nThe tort claim filed on behalf of crash survivor Whitney Cerak, her parents and sister targets the actions of Grant County Coroner Ron Mowery in identifying the four Taylor students and one employee who were killed in the April 26 crash.\nGrant County officials received the claim Monday, the same day the Michigan truck driver asked a judge to reduce the $130,000 bond under which he was being held in jail on reckless homicide charges stemming from the crash.\nThe tort claim, a legal step required under state law before a government agency can be sued, argues Mowery was "not properly trained and educated" as a coroner and that he "failed to exercise reasonable care" to avoid the misidentification.\nThe claim seeks unspecified damages for emotional trauma.\n"This is basically putting us on notice that they believe that a tort or some wrong act was committed by a governmental entity," said Kyle Persinger, an attorney for the Grant County commissioners.\nThe crash drew national attention five weeks after it happened when it came to light that authorities had mixed up the identifications of 19-year-old Cerak of Gaylord, Mich., who was severely injured but survived and 22-year-old Laura VanRyn of Caledonia, Mich., who died in the crash.
(10/18/06 3:37am)
INDIANAPOLIS -- A Mooresville, Ind., woman is suing her son's public school, alleging that its practice of allowing some students to attend Bible classes once a week on school grounds while others stay behind without instructional time is unconstitutional.\nThe woman, identified only as M.W. in the lawsuit against the Mooresville Consolidated School Corporation, is the mother of an 8-year-old student at Neil Armstrong Elementary School.\nThe Morgan County school just southwest of Indianapolis allows third- and fourth-grade students to leave school for one hour a week to attend Bible classes in a trailer on school property, the lawsuit states.\nStudents who do not take part stay in school, but do not have instructional time, according to the lawsuit, which was filed Oct. 11 in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis.\nSteve Harris, an attorney for the Mooresville Consolidated School Corporation, said Tuesday that it is the district's policy not to comment on pending litigation.\nAlthough teachers at Neil Armstrong Elementary do not teach the class, they are involved because they collect parental permission slips to attend the program, said Jackie Suess, senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Indiana, which is representing the mother.\nThe mother also said a teacher asked her son on the first day of school why he was not attending the classes, the lawsuit states.\n"Her little 8-year-old child came home crying more than once because he felt sort of singled out for not participating," Suess said.\nFor the program to be constitutional, Suess said, the school should not be involved in any way. Teachers should not hand out enrollment forms for the program, and the classes should not be held on school property, she said.\n"We're not attacking religious education release programs," Suess said. "They can be constitutional if they're done correctly."\nThe Bible class is run by a private group called the Morgan County Schools of Weekday Religious Education. In a letter explaining the program to parents, the group said the classes are nondenominational and focus on the Bible. An offering is collected each week to help pay for classroom expenses.\n"Three aims are stressed weekly: daily Bible reading, daily prayer and encouragement to attend church school and worship in the church of your choice," the letter states. "A selection of Bible readings and a scripture applicable to the lesson are sent home with the child each week. Pupils are encouraged to memorize the \nscripture"
(10/18/06 3:36am)
PLYMOUTH, Ind. -- A nationwide spinach recall caused by an E. coli outbreak is prompting Ready Pac Produce Inc. to close a salad processing plant that employs about 200 workers.\nReady Pac, which produces fresh-cut salads, fruits and vegetables, plans to stop production next month at its plant in Plymouth, about 20 miles south of South Bend, company officials said.\n"The entire industry has dropped quite a bit" as a result of the E. coli outbreak traced to spinach farms in California, said Steve Dickstein, Ready Pac's vice president of marketing.\nSeverance packages and job referrals will be available to some workers, depending on how long they have been with the Irwindale, Calif.-based company, he said.\nA large Hispanic population works at the company, said Rebecca Griffy, director of Heart and Hands, a group that plans to help workers affected by the shutdown. She said the closure will hurt the entire community.\n"There's going to be some discomfort for a while," Griffy said.\nPlymouth Mayor Gary Cook said the local economy is fragile.\n"The economy isn't still quite where a lot of people think it is," he said. \nReady Pac plans to keep equipment in the building, which will not be listed for sale immediately, but Dickstein said the company's future is uncertain.\n"We don't have future plans at this point in time," Dickstein said.\nBut Dickstein did not completely rule out re-opening the plant.\n"Maybe, at some point, if business picks up, they will in fact start production again in Plymouth," he said.
(10/18/06 3:12am)
[The Facts] The Washington Post reported that the U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to enact a U.S.-drafted sanction on North Korean finances and weapons activity. North Korean U.N. Ambassador Pak Gil Yon has said the U.S. sanctions constitute a "declaration of war." Are the U.N. sanctions a proper deterrence for North Korea's nuclear program?
(10/18/06 3:08am)
Graduate students' lives are far from easy. Between research, coursework and grading papers, many are too busy to eat or sleep, let alone exercise or take time for themselves. This is why the Graduate and Professional Student Organization introduced a new program to bribe busy grad students to relax, recoup and get fit. Those who devote 10 hours in a month will receive a free bagel and be entered in a raffle to win basketball tickets, personal training sessions at the Student Recreational Sports Center, opera tickets and more.\nAs well-intentioned as the idea is, we foresee certain inefficacies in it. Given a definition of "wellness activities" that ranges from running and strength training to shopping to reading books for pleasure to going to the movies to spending time with family, the contest seems a little lopsided.\nBelow is a sample conversation between grad students -- based on careful observation of subjects in their natural environment -- discussing the new GPSO program:\nGrad Student 1: "Man, I'm so worn out! I had to read two chapters of the latest Janet Evanovich novel before breakfast this morning."\nGrad Student 2: "Whoa, that's heavy. I jogged for 20 miles over the weekend, but that was 10 miles each day. You'd better take it easy."\nGrad Student 1: "No worries. Afterwards I treated myself to some Kant. And besides, when I got tired, I just imagined biting into that warm, spongy bagel." \nBeyond these types of situations, we foresee other problems with the GPSO's program. All activities will be reported online, using the "honor system." While we know grad students are, for the most part, honest individuals, after months of living off of Easy Mac, Keystone Light and the occasional potato, a free bagel begins to look mighty appetizing. \nThink about it: People have been known to lie, cheat and steal for bagels in the past. We feel this case might not be any different, especially if the GPSO decides to make the cream cheese complimentary, too. And once people begin lying to get their bagel fix, it will only be a matter of time before we see a repeat of the grisly poppy seed killings of '97.\nWhile the GPSO is definitely on target with its idea for this program, it seems like there are still a few kinks to "work out." Although using personal training sessions as an incentive is fitting (if ironic), the bagels and basketball tickets might need rethinking. \nIf you ask us, there's a far simpler solution to the lack of motivation grad students feel to get healthy. We propose that the GPSO gather all the grad students together for a group workout a few times a week. Grads will convene at Woodlawn Field, and administrators will dangle funding opportunities in front of them to chase around a track -- not a far cry from how graduate education works already.\nTrust us. Once you yell "Go!" there won't be a sedentary grad student in the bunch.
(10/18/06 3:07am)
On Oct. 10, the Indiana GOP proposed stiffer enforcement of illegal immigration laws by denying \npublic social services and broadening police authority to investigate and detain offenders. While Democrats in the state legislature also oppose illegal immigration, they propose penalizing employers who hire illegal immigrants as opposed to the immigrants themselves. Republican state Rep. John E. Smith says illegal immigration harms Indiana taxpayers in the entire state. Our columnists debate the GOP proposal.
(10/18/06 3:03am)
"Why on earth would you spend your lunch break standing on a corner, holding a poster of an aborted baby?" This unspoken question was visible on the faces of many passers-by Friday afternoon as a dozen IU students and alumni held an anti-abortion protest in front of IU's Sample Gates.\nThese members of the Church of the Good Shepherd, a local nondenominational church, braved brisk weather and many hostile encounters while politely distributing anti-abortion literature and displaying posters. The diverse group included six women, seven men, one infant and one IDS columnist. \n"Why would you spend your lunch break holding a poster of an aborted baby?" I wondered, after getting the one-finger salute from a car full of women. \n"I haven't been on a date in 11 months," I thought. "Making a social pariah of myself probably isn't helping my prospects."\nOf course, I already knew the rejoinder to my introspection. It came a year ago from a middle-aged African man. My friend, Jean-Baptiste Mugarura, was targeted for "extermination" during the Rwandan genocide in 1994. He lost nearly his entire family and only escaped by the skin of his teeth. \nJean-Baptiste took me to a genocide memorial near Kigali, Rwanda, where the church's floor is still blanketed by bones, left just as they were after a massacre 12 years ago. He showed me this grim spectacle of his nation's shame, then exhorted me to "remember the victims of America's genocide."\nJust as Rwandans have shone the light of the public's eye on their nation's crime, we drag abortion out into the light where it can't be ignored. Yes, posters of aborted babies are repulsive -- just like a church full of dead men's bones.\nG.K. Chesterton once wrote: "Men do not differ much about what things they will call evils; they differ enormously about what evils they will call excusable." I haven't met anyone audacious enough to suggest that prenatal infanticide is good, but many accept it as a necessary evil. To be accepted as a necessary evil is not a commendation; rather, it's a condemnation of our complacency in excusing it. What is it that necessitates the commission of an act, the specter of which causes universal revulsion? \nWithout question, the Hutu peasants who murdered their Tutsi neighbors in Rwanda in 1994 also saw their act as a necessary evil. In their defense, though, they were given the urgent ultimatum "kill or be killed."\nGraduate student Josh Congrove, an organizer of Friday's demonstration, confirmed that future demonstrations are being planned. \n"As long as abortion continues, there will be cause for demonstrations," Congrove said. "We certainly don't savor that prospect, but we also recognize that to do nothing ... is to fail in our responsibilities before God, our community and our campus."\nSimilarly, Philip Gourevitch, chronicler of Rwanda's genocide, explained that "the best reason I have come up with for looking closely into Rwanda's stories is that ignoring them makes me even more uncomfortable." \nApathy is no excuse for God's law.
(10/18/06 2:52am)
Ah, October. In most places, it heralds a gradual drop in temperatures. \nBut Bloomington isn't most places. If last week's cold snap is any indication, we might soon be in over our heads here in southern Indiana's frozen hinterlands. As silly as it seems to break out your long underwear just after the official end of summer, we can't fight Mother Nature. Trust me, I've tried.\nBecause our schizophrenic weather seems to want to head straight into winter, all of our energy bills will rise to untold heights in the next few weeks. Heating an apartment or a house is definitely not cheap, and for those who think they've beaten the system by living in dorms, think again. Just because you don't see a bill doesn't mean there isn't a cost. Taxpayers end up taking the hit, and that hit translates into lower revenues for other aspects of higher education.\nThought you were clever, didn't you?\nNot only do energy bills skyrocket in the winter, but so do the emissions our Physical Plant belches into the atmosphere. No, there's nothing like a nice lungful of sulfur dioxide to start the day off right. \nSo, in the interest of saving energy and moolah, here are a few ways to reduce your energy consumption this winter:\n• Turn off TVs and computers when you aren't using them. Unplug your power cords and cell phone chargers when you are finished with them (they still draw energy even when they are not in use ... sneaky bastards). \n• Exchange your lightbulbs for longer-burning compact fluorescent lighting. It'll save you a bundle, plus it'll eliminate that period when you and your roommates sit in total darkness, in a contest of wills, waiting for someone to change the bulb. \n• If you have your own place, use your microwave to cook when possible. It uses much less energy than an oven, and besides, 10 minutes is much too long to have to wait for leftover Aver's to get warm.\n• For those of you who wash your dishes, make sure your washer is full before each load, and use a low energy setting if there is one available. For those of you who let your dishes pile up, make sure whatever species of mold is springing up from your leftover crumbs isn't emitting toxic spores.\n• Clean your dryer's lint trap before running it. Not only will this improve air circulation, but it'll also keep you from catching the dryer on fire and burning your dorm down. (Although, if your residence bursts into flames, you won't have to worry about heating it anymore.) \n• Now this last one's tricky, kids: Wear more clothing. Although your tube top might show off your, uh, assets, it's winter -- put on a sweater! And don't even get me started on the certifiably insane flip-flop wearers who think letting toe cleavage hang out in sub-zero temperatures is cool.\nSeriously, folks, save it for when the weather breaks -- next June.
(10/18/06 2:47am)
It rained Monday. The raindrops themselves were quite ordinary. They were wet and falling from the sky. There was nothing particularly masculine about them. In fact, the raindrops were incredibly asexual, more so than the most asexual things -- even peanut butter, TV stands and Nebraska.\nDisco divas Martha Wash and Izora Armstead had the right idea in 1982 with their chart-topping hit "It's Raining Men." Precipitation should have a sex.\nYes, it was raining Monday. But it wasn't raining men -- and that's a problem.\nI'm not trying to hate on rain. Rain and I go way back. It's fabulous for agriculture and the survival of the human race, but rain needs to know when it's time to get out of the game.\nIt's time to spice up the weather. A dreary, rainy, my-pants-are-all-wet day is depressing. But a happy, cheerful, hey-look-I'm-swimming-in-a-sea-of-men day is great for boosting everyone's morale.\nAs the Weather Girls sang, you can leave your umbrella at home when it's raining men. And there's nothing more stylish than big rubber boots. But the stress of accessorizing goes way down when you substitute men for rain.\nI think rainologists and manologists should explore the environmental advantages of raining men. Perhaps they could enrich the soil or save endangered sea turtles.\nIt's easy to sit around and make demands. Why aren't there more men plummeting to Earth from the clouds? Why isn't someone doing something about this? I can only assume man-rain lobbyists have been urging policymakers to take action on the severe lack of man-rain over the past few decades. But these demands are difficult to meet.\nThe Weather Girls make the process of raining men sound easy. They say Mother Nature can simply cause this weather phenomenon to occur. That's ridiculous. I look to the innovation of science. There must be some way to shoot masculine dry ice into the clouds, generate man-friendly electromagnetic waves or control the weather from space.\nGo, scientists. Win that Nobel Prize.\nThere are a few minor counterarguments that suggest man-rain has a dark side.\nWe could have issues with draught. Focusing on making the clouds rain manly stud muffins en lieu of water might be viewed as a waste of resources. People could get injured (not just the men falling but also people walking on the street below). The fragile ecosystem of the rain forest could be destroyed. \nBut running a simple cost-benefit analysis reveals that those side effects are negligible when compared with the advantages of rainin' men. Hallelujah!\nThe environment and human lives are relatively expendable, but you can't put a price on a veritable ticker-tape parade of the tall, blond, dark and lean, rough and tough, and strong and mean.\nI urge everyone to join in this grassroots campaign so that the next time you're checking your local weather forecast, it says the humidity is rising, the barometer's getting low and the street's the place to go. Because tonight, for the first time, at just about half-past 10, for the first time in history, it's gonna start raining men.
(10/18/06 2:46am)
This past Sunday, legendary New York rock club CBGB hosted its last live show, a three-and-a-half-hour farewell by punk-pioneer Patti Smith. Founded in 1973, CBGB was the unlikely launching pad for a revolution in popular music. By being a dive in a bad neighborhood, desperate for acts, it became a place where anyone could play and be heard -- and "anyone" turned out to be The Ramones, Television, Blondie, the Talking Heads and many, many more. Although justly celebrated as the birthplace of punk rock, CBGB was, more importantly, the place where the DIY ("do it yourself") aesthetic crystallized -- the idea that anyone, regardless of technical skill or financial resources, could make great music. And for the last 30-plus years, the DIY aesthetic has powered much of music's innovation, whether as punk, college rock, alternative, indie or, most dramatically, hip-hop. Yet at the end of this month, CBGB will be gone (although there are alleged plans to resurrect it in Vegas).\nWhen something happens to a cultural symbol like CBGB, the question then becomes: What does this mean? To invoke the standard cliche, is this the end of an era? What does it mean for music? For the DIY aesthetic?\nDIY emerged because misfits such as Smith and The Ramones felt alienated by the mainstream music of the '70s, and took it upon themselves to make their own. Upon looking at such guides as the Billboard charts, iTunes' top selling songs or MTV (when it deigns to show music videos) -- and seeing them dominated by slickly produced, mass-marketed, lowest-common-denominator, soulless dross -- the temptation is to say that in its war with the mainstream, DIY lost. Sure, every once in a while it pops up and overturns the mainstream -- punk's late-'70s explosion in Britain, Nirvana, '80s-'90s hip-hop -- but the sound always ends up being corrupted and co-opted. Bands sign to major labels and lose their inspiration, opportunistic copycat bands emerge, a movement runs into its logical limits (you can only play hardcore punk so fast, for example), etc.\nBut this falsely assumes the mainstream actually has that much to do with culture today. Sure, someone still has to be the most popular -- but the major labels' declining sales, combined with the rising sales among independents, show that the world of music is diversifying and decentralizing. Indeed, the question has become whether a band even needs a label to succeed. Other top-down mass media -- Hollywood, the broadcast TV networks -- find themselves severely challenged by a proliferation of competitors armed with cheap, high-quality, easy-to-use recording and broadcasting technology and no one to answer to but their own creativity. In the cases of MySpace and YouTube, media firms have found that their future rests in turning over the reins to you and me. \nThose who say CBGB's closing is an end of an era are right. The war with the mainstream is over -- and we won.
(10/18/06 2:37am)
N. Korea might conduct 2nd test\nSEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea said Tuesday it considered U.N. sanctions aimed at punishing the country for its nuclear test "a declaration of war," as Japan and South Korea reported the communist nation might be preparing a second explosion. The North broke two days of silence about the U.N. resolution adopted after its Oct. 9 nuclear test with a statement on the official state news agency, as China warned Pyongyang against stoking tensions.
(10/18/06 2:33am)
WASHINGTON -- The nation's population officially hit 300 million at 7:46 a.m. EDT Tuesday, when the Census Bureau's population clock rolled over to the big number.\nBut there weren't any wild celebrations, fireworks or any other government-sponsored hoopla to mark the milestone. Why bother? Many experts think the population actually hit 300 million months ago.\n"I don't think anybody believes it will be the precise moment when the population hits 300 million," Howard Hogan, the Census Bureau's associate director for demographic programs, said in an interview before the milestone was reached. But, he added, "We're confident that we're somewhat close."\nIt's not easy estimating the exact number of people in a country the size of the United States. It gets even more complicated when you take into account illegal immigration, another reason for the federal government to let the milestone pass quietly.\nWhen the U.S. population officially hit 200 million in 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson held a news conference at the Commerce Department to hail America's past and to talk about the challenges ahead. Life magazine dispatched a cadre of photographers to find a baby born at the exact moment, anointing a boy born in Atlanta as the 200 millionth American.\nThis year, there's a good chance the 300 millionth American has already walked across the border from Mexico.\n"It's a couple of weeks before an election when illegal immigration is a high-profile issue and they don't want to make a big deal out of it," said William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank.\nCommerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez said the Bush administration isn't playing down the milestone, though he said he had no plans for Tuesday. Census Bureau employees planned to mark the moment Tuesday afternoon with cake and punch.\n"I would hate to think that we are going to be low-key about this," said Gutierrez, whose department oversees the Census Bureau. "I would hope that we make a big deal about it."\nGutierrez said America's growing population is good for the economy. He noted that Japan and some European countries expect to lose population in the next few decades, raising concerns that there won't be enough young people entering the work force to support aging populations.\n"This is one more area where we seem to have an advantage," Gutierrez said. "We should all feel good about reaching this milestone."\nThe United States adds about 2.8 million people a year, for a growth rate of less than 1 percent. About 40 percent of the growth comes from immigration. The rest comes from births outnumbering deaths.\nThe Census Bureau counts the population every 10 years. In between, it uses administrative records and surveys to estimate monthly averages for births, deaths and net immigration. The bureau has a "population clock" that estimates a birth every seven seconds, a death every 13 seconds and a new immigrant every 31 seconds. Add it together and you get one new American every 11 seconds.\nThe 300 millionth American -- born months ago or Tuesday, depending on who you ask -- is probably Hispanic because Hispanics are the fastest growing demographic group in the United States, Frey said.\nJeffrey Passel, a senior demographer at the Pew Hispanic Center, said the Census Bureau has improved its population estimates in the past few years, but it still undercounts illegal immigrants.\nThere are an estimated 11 million to 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States. Experts differ on the specifics, but many estimate that more than 1 million of them don't show up in census figures.\n"The census clearly misses people," said Passel, a former Census Bureau employee who used to help estimate the undercount. "Having said that, when they crossed 200 million, they were missing about 5 million people. We think the 2000 census missed a lot less than 5 million people"
(10/18/06 2:25am)
By Nedra Pickler \nThe Associated Press\n Bush's plan for treatment of the terror suspects, called the Military Commissions Act, became law just six weeks after he acknowledged that the CIA had been secretly interrogating suspected terrorists overseas and pressed Congress to quickly give authority to try them in military commissions.\n"With the bill I'm about to sign, the men our intelligence officials believe orchestrated the murder of nearly 3,000 innocent people will face justice," Bush said.\nA coalition of religious groups staged a protest against the bill outside the White House, shouting, "Bush is the terrorist" and "Torture is a crime." About 15 of the protesters, standing in a light rain, refused orders to move. Police arrested them one by one.\nAmong those the United States hopes to try are Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the accused mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, as well as Ramzi Binalshibh, an alleged would-be 9/11 hijacker, and Abu Zubaydah, who was believed to be a link between Osama bin Laden and many al-Qaida cells.\n"It is a rare occasion when a president can sign a bill that he knows will save American lives," Bush said. "I have that privilege this morning."\nBush signed the bill in the White House East Room, at a table with a sign positioned on the front that said "Protecting America." He said he signed the bill in memory of the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks.\n"We will answer brutal murder with patient justice," Bush said. "Those who kill the innocent will be held to account."\nAmong those in the audience were military officers, lawmakers who helped pass the bill and members of Bush's Cabinet.\nHe singled out for praise, among others, Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, who has come under sharp criticism in recent months as violence has soared in Iraq.\nThe law protects detainees from blatant abuses during questioning but does not require that any of them be granted legal counsel. Also, it specifically bars detainees from filing habeas corpus petitions challenging their detentions in federal courts. Bush said the process is "fair, lawful and necessary."\n"The bill I sign today helps secure this country and it sends a clear message: This nation is patient and decent and fair, and we will never back down from threats to our freedom," Bush said. "We are as determined today as we were on the morning of September 12, 2001."\nMany Democrats opposed the legislation because they said it eliminated rights of defendants considered fundamental to American values, such as a person's ability to go to court to protest their detention and the use of coerced testimony as evidence. Bush acknowledged that the law came amid dispute.\n"Over the past few months, the debate over this bill has been heated and the questions raised can seem complex," he said. "Yet, with the distance of history, the questions will be narrowed and few. Did this generation of Americans take the threat seriously? And did we do what it takes to defeat that threat?"\nThe American Civil Liberties Union said the new law is "one of the worst civil liberties measures ever enacted in American history."\n"The president can now, with the approval of Congress, indefinitely hold people without charge, take away protections against horrific abuse, put people on trial based on hearsay evidence, authorize trials that can sentence people to death based on testimony literally beaten out of witnesses, and slam shut the courthouse door for habeas petitions," said ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero.
(10/17/06 6:20pm)
In our school careers, all of us have had the experience of doing group work. It can take the form of a collaborative paper or a presentation, and the work burden is split between two or more people each doing an equal amount of work (at least, that's how it's supposed to go). Whether you're the slacker of the group or the one who has to carry all the weight on your shoulders, you have undoubtedly been involved with group work at one time or another. \nNow, group work isn't usually all that bad. It gives students a unique opportunity to work with others who they might not have otherwise even talked to. As atomized as our society is (especially among students), most people only converse with those they already know, or perhaps whomever they happen to be sitting next to in class. Group work changes that. And group work is of particular importance given that, regardless of what field you go into, it is more than likely that you will have to develop some kind of group communication skills and learn how to work with (or at least tolerate) colleagues and teammates. \nBut you might be the one who has to do the most work. From my experience, it seems that most students in groups are looking for that elusive person who will take over and do the work of several people. Why? Because they are too lazy or too incompetent to do it themselves. \nFor the hard workers of the group, you are gaining valuable experience by working with morons (although it really sucks, I know). But the world is filled with morons, and one day you will thank your loser group mates for preparing you so well. (OK, not really, but you might ponder it briefly one day when you're reading about their arrest in the police blotter). You can be appreciative of the fact that you are now an expert in dealing with the dumb. \nThe slackers of the group might be thrilled when they get that good grade on the project -- never mind the fact that they contributed little to it. This calls for celebration. That's right -- it's time to get wasted! But one good grade on one project will hardly raise your GPA, and the knowledge these slackers gain will be next to nothing.\nMeanwhile, the experience that those of you who actually contributed to the project gained will most likely help you with your next job. So if possible, take a deep breath and try to deal with the idiots as best as you can; you will have to do so for the rest of your career. \nThe slackers might realize they don't even need to be in school in the first place. After all, McDonald's still needs college dropouts. Besides, even if they opt to finish school, the job they get will still likely have them asking: "Would you like fries with that"
(10/17/06 2:57am)
Graduate students are underpaid and face high tuition costs.\nThis seems like an obvious statement, but many are surprised to discover this reality after entering graduate school.\nAs reported last Tuesday by the Indiana Daily Student, opportunities to pay for graduate school, such as assistantships and various tuition deferral programs, are becoming rarer and much more competitive. Students who graduate from IU with an advanced degree now can potentially owe up to $48,000.\nWhile we agree that this is not a good situation for those seeking such degrees, we also believe students enter graduate school knowing the costs involved. Long hours of studying, long hours working at an assistantship or job and some form of debt are what most people expect from graduate school.\nThe question then becomes, is it worth it? Is it worth the debt and ridiculously long hours? That depends on your reasons for entering graduate school. In some cases, students pursue an advanced degree because, after joining the workforce, they decide they want to pursue greater career opportunities. In other cases, students are so fascinated by an academic interest that they choose to devote their lives to studying it. Students might even want something as simple as the satisfaction that comes with having a master's or Ph.D. hanging on their wall.\nWhatever one's reasoning, the act of entering grad school represents a tacit understanding and acceptance of the hardships that come along with it. Furthermore, if graduate school were really so unbearable, why would so many people be interested in it?\nAccording to National Association of Graduate-Professional Students, roughly 2 million people are enrolled in postgraduate educational programs. This is surprising given the supposedly insurmountable burdens that graduate students face.\nAdditionally, it's not as if assistantships and traditional methods of paying for school have dried up; they have simply become more competitive. Students have to compete against their peers for the best financial assistance and have to budget their money carefully.\nWe do not think it's unfortunate. We think it is the real world.\nCertainly there are things that are necessary to make the lifestyle possible for graduate student employees -- scholarships, research and professional development grants, livable (if not generous) pay, health and dental care (hint, hint), University housing, support for students' families -- but nobody should enter graduate school thinking they will not face a profound short-term cost. Students are there to earn a degree that most people can only dream about -- a degree that, on average, leads to a considerable boost in one's lifetime income.\nThe bottom line is that while the situation in grad school is not as good for students as it could be, it is what it is. To get to that level of education, a students have to know what they are getting themselves into. It is a person's choice to pursue that kind of education, and once the choice is made, graduate students should be ready to deal with the consequences.