Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

Rose-Hulman Scholar Rose-Hulman Scholar

The Rose Thorn Archive Student Newspaper

Fall 11-1-2002

Volume 38 - Issue 07 - Friday, November 1, 2002 Volume 38 - Issue 07 - Friday, November 1, 2002

Rose Thorn Staff Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, library@rose-hulman.edu

Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.rose-hulman.edu/rosethorn

Recommended Citation Recommended Citation Rose Thorn Staff, "Volume 38 - Issue 07 - Friday, November 1, 2002" (2002). The Rose Thorn Archive. 285. https://scholar.rose-hulman.edu/rosethorn/285

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WEATHER WATCH

R O S E -H U L M A N IN S TI T UT E OF TE C H N O L OG YVOLUME 38, ISSUE 07 FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2002TERRE HAUTE, INDIANA

ENTERTAINMENT FLIPSIDE

Men in kilts

Page 8

Web slinger flies in on DVD and VHS

Page 4 & 5

FRIDAYPartly Cloudy / Hi 44 - Lo 25

SATURDAYMostly Sunny/ Hi 47 - Lo 39

Information courtesy The Weather Channel

OPINIONS

Engineers versus Tar-tans on the football field

Page 7

SPORTS

Don’t over do it.

Page 6

From 1991 to the present, theHomework Hotline that wasstarted by Learning CenterDirector Susan Smith, andfunded by Lilly Endowment,Inc., has helped many Indianahigh school students with mathand science homework.

The Homework Hotline tutorsanswered a recordnumber of 2708 callsduring the month ofSeptember 2002, withan average of 159calls per night. This iscompared to the 676calls received lastSeptember. "Therecord num-ber of calls isprimarilydue ourexpansion into otherareas of thestate," saysSmith. Thisyear, theirgoal is tohave 15,500calls; however, at this rate, theywill surely surpass it!

She comments that this year'sexpansion is part of a three-yearplan that will, in the end, havethe Homework Hotline expandthroughout the state. This year,they expanded to Anderson,

Muncie, Richmond, Ft. Wayne,and their surrounding counties.The second year, the Hotline willexpand to Vincennes, Evansville,New Albany, and Jeffersonville.In the third year, the programwill expand to the northwest partof the state, including SouthBend, Kokomo, Lafayette, andthe Gary/Hammond area.

In addition, Smith says that theincrease in call volume is due to

excellent communica-tion and networkingwith teachers andschool administrators,as well as new promo-tional approaches.According to Smith,"People know moreabout Rose-Hulman

in partbecause of theHomeworkHotline."

Some of theservices thatthe Home-work Hotlinesprovidesinclude mathand sciencehomework

support for grades 6 through 12.Students can call 1-877-ASK-ROSE from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.,Sunday through Thursday, orsend an e-mail to www.ask-rose.org. When a student callsthe hotline, he/she will speakwith one of the 22 representa-

tives who will work through aproblem(s) with the student, notjust provide an answer. Also, thetutor has the state adopted mathand science textbooks, so thatthey can be on the same "page"as the student when working on aproblem.

Tutors are recommended bythe faculty and the applicants aresent an application. From there,

they are selected based upontechnical and communicationskills. Once a student has beenaccepted, he/she will complete atraining session on conferencingtechniques and how to ask ques-tions.

Smith comments, "It's great fortutors, because it reinforces theirproblem-solving skills."

Finally, some interesting facts

about the Homework Hotline:(1) their busiest time is Tuesdayfrom 7:00 - 7:29 p.m.; (2) 98% ofthe 493 student surveyed lastyear, say that they were satisfiedwith how the tutors helped them;(3) 93% were confident that theycould attempt and solve a similarproblem, after speaking with atutor; and (4) 80% of calls are formath homework help.

Wesley KalataNews Editor

Recently, Samuel Hulbert,president of Rose-HulmanInstitute of Technology, andJames Eifert, president of Rose-Hulman Ventures, have beennamed two of top 50 mostprominent and influential peo-ple in the state's technologyfield, according to the IndianaBusiness Journal (IBJ).

Hulbert was selected for hisleadership, which has been vitalto Rose-Hulman earning anational reputation that hasresulted in Rose-Hulman beingranked number one for thefourth consecutive year by U.S.News & World Report. In addi-tion, the college has receivedthe Indiana Quality Improve-ment Award three times and,recently, exceeded the $200million dollars goal of the larg-est fundraising campaign in theschool's history.

Eifert was selected for hisleadership as president of Rose-Hulman Ventures (RHV), atechnology-based incubator andproduct development centerthat was created in 1999 with a$29.7 million dollar grant fromLilly Endowment, Inc.

In addition, Eifert receivedthe 2001 Indiana InformationTechnology Assocation(INITA) Cyberstar Award foroutstanding individual constri-butions to the technologyindustry. He was also one of

the three honorees that wereinducted in to the INITA Trail-blazers Hall of Fame.

Other Rose-Hulman repre-sentatives named include 1970Rose-Hulman graduate WaynePatrick, president of Profes-sional Data Dimensions in Indi-anapolis; and Rose-Hulmantrustees Robert Compton,chairman and CEO of NoInkCommunications; and ScottJones, chairman, president, andCEO of Escient Technologies.

Who’s Who in Technology

Photo from Rose-Hulman websiteRose-Hulman VenturesPresident, James Eifert

Photo from Rose-Hulman websiteRose-Hulman President,

Samuel F. Hulbert

Homework Hotline smashes record

Chris ScribnerStaff Writer

During last weekend's Dad'sDay activities, an auction washeld to raise money for theshort term emergency studentloan fund.

Sixty items were silent-auc-tioned early in the day, with alive session to auction the moreexpensive items during dinnerthat night. Parents could bidon items via the Internet priorto the silent auction.

All in all, the auctions raisedapproximately $3,000. Thehighest bid of the day went fora week's stay in an exclusiveresort in Deer Valley, Utah.

A quilt sewn by a masterquilter of the Wabash Valleyarea took the next highest bid.The quilt bore Rose-Hulmanspirit through the use of red

and white colors.The Rose-Hulman Parent's

Association organized and exe-cuted the auction. All auctionitems were either donated byparents or collected by parentsfrom businesses. All moneyraised from the auction goes toan emergency fund for stu-dents.

The short term emergencyfund is fund administered bythe Office of Financial Aidused to assist any student in thecase of an emergency, such as awrecked vehicle. The loanedmoney is offered at zero inter-est and is to be repaid after a 2to 3 month period.

According to PeterGustafson of the StudentAffairs Department, the auc-tion was a success. It is likelythat auctions will be held infuture Dad's Day events.

Dad's Day auction raises $3,000

Wesley KalataNews Editor

Photo courtesy John Howard / ThornKevin Patel, a tutor for the Homework Hotline, helps a student with a math problem.

Homework Hotline Director,Susan Smith

“It’s a great example of how people can make a difference

in their community.”

EVENTSPage 2The Rose Thorn

Friday, November 1, 2002

COMMUNITYCALENDAR

SUBMISSIONS

Events may be published in Events by any organization or individual. Information on club meetings, lectures, speeches, and athletic events,including announcements of times and locations may be submitted to Campus Calendar , in care of Dale Long, associate director of communications, atBox 14 or extension 8418. More detailed articles containing plans, agendas, and specific information should be submitted to the Rose Thorn.

All submissions must be made by Wednesday at noon in order to be published in Events in the Rose Thorn on Friday.

21Sixwire - Eight Sec-

ond Saloon -IND

Drama Production

DJ Justin Long - Metro Smart Bar

- CHI

Drama Production

Free Tours of the Swope Art Gallery at

1 pm

Panhellenic Prefer-ence Party

9876543Creed - Roberts

Stadium - Evansville, IN

Gov't Mule - PieresFort Wayne, IN

Panhellenic Bid Day

Hatfield Hall Dedication

Sevendust - Oasis One Sixty- CHI

Veteran’s Day

16151413121110Learning Center

Reviews:CS120, PH111, PH113, ES201, ES205, Chem I,

O Chem I

Peter Gabriel - United Center -

CHI

Learning Center Reviews:

MA111, MA112, MA113, DE I,

Statistics, ECE130, Meat-

balls, Graph Comm, Disco I

Paul Gross’s Birthday

The Rose Thorn5500 Wabash Avenue

Terre Haute, IN 47803-3999Phone: (812) 877-8255

Fax: (812) 877-8166 E-mail: thorn@rose-hulman.edu

http://www.rose-hulman.edu/thorn

Writers Nicole Hartkemeyer Ryan PrinceChris ScribnerDrew WrightEva BarlowJacob P. Silvia

Rory SantJoe ReeseBriar ColwellJon Batman

Photographer John Howard

Cartoonist Chris Dupin

Thorn StaffEditorial StaffEditor-in-Chief Rachel Lukens

Copy Editor Luke StarkNews Editor Wesley Kalata

Opinions Editor Brandon HathawayEntertainment Editor Bob Schulein

Sports Editor Josh AnninHumor Editor Steve HoelleEvents Editor Michael KuehlPhoto Editor John Howard

Administrative StaffAdvertising Manager Open

Business Manager OpenAdvisor Richard House

Editor Emeritus Frank Pfeiffer ‘96Webmaster Steve Pierce

“Working to keep the Rose-Hulman community informed by providing an accurate and

dependable source for news and information.”

The Rose Thorn is published on Fridaysfirst through ninth week each quarter

The Rose Thorn welcomes and encourages comments from its readers. We request that all letters to the editor be less than 300 words in length.E-mail is the preferred method of communication. The editors reserve the right to edit letters for grammar, clarity, and length .

All letters must contain the writer’s signature (electronic form is acceptable) and contact phone number to confirm the letter before publication.ALL LETTERS TO THE EDITOR MUST BE RECEIVED BY NOON ON TUESDAY BEFORE PUBLICATION

The views expressed in the Thorn are those of the original author and do not necessarily represent the views of the Thorn staff or Rose-Hulman community.

PERSONALS

CLASSIFIED ADVERTISEMENTS

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Our Programs makefundraising easy with no risks.Fudraising dates are fillingquickly, so get with the program!It works. Contact CampusFundraiser at (888) 923-3238, orvisitwww.campusfundraiser.com

Newspaper seeks writing staff. Ifyou haven’t noticed, we have ashortage of staff members. Comeout and explore your writingtalents! Meetings Wednesday Olin101 at 5:10.

Classified advertisements are opento the public for $3.00 for the first30 words and 15 cents for eachadditional word. Bold faced wordsare available for 15 cents perword. Payments must be made in

advance.Members of the Rose-Hulmancommunity may have a 30 wordclassified advertisement for free.Each additional word costs 15cents. Payments must be made inadvance.

POLICIESANNOUNCEMENTS

Sixpence None the Richer - Park West

- CHI

23222120191817Quater Break BeginsGoo Goo Dolls - As-

sembly Hall - Cham-paign, IL

THORN Page 3The Rose ThornFriday, November 1, 2002

ENTERTAINMENTPage 4The Rose Thorn

Friday, November 1, 2002

A yea and a nay for “Arcadia”

Weekend Box Office Summary Title Weekend Total Gross

This Week’s Releases:

Bob SchuleinEntertainment Editor

Our friendly neighborhood Spi-der-Man did something previouslyunheard of this summer – He beat“Star Wars” at the box office!With a total domestic take of $404million, “Spider-Man” is now the5th highest grossing film of alltime. Of course, with all this lootand popularity, a sequel is alreadyin the works. I just hope it can liveup to the high mark set by this en-tertaining comic adaptation.

The movie spins the tale of howPeter Parker (Tobey Maguire)learns to cope with his newfoundsuper powers and his fight againstcrime. What has always set Spi-der-Man apart from other super he-roes is that he is just as concerned

with “teen” issues as he is with tak-ing on baddies. His feelings to-wards the girl next door, Mary JaneWatson (Kirsten Dunst) are on hismind just as much as his superpowers.

The best compliment that can begiven towards “Spider-Man” isthat it faithfully captures qualitiesthat made the comic so great - Pe-ter’s unique character, a compel-ling villain, and good popcornmunching fun action. There are afew small discrepencies from thecomic, such as the way Peter Park-er (Tobey Maguire) gains his superpowers, but only the most die hardSpider-Man fans will care.

Maguire’s meager demeanorwas a perfect match for Peter Park-er. What is surprising is that hepulled off the action of Spider-Manjust as well. Maguire was able tofully deliver a likeable, sensitiveSpider-Man that could still kick alot of butt.

Willem Dafoe continues to be astrong supporting actor in the roleof supervillain The Green Goblin.Though the costume was kind ofcheesy (come on, all green andplastic?), his facial expressions andsinister tone set the perfect mood.One scene involving Dafoe’s char-acter speaking to the evil inside

him showcases the actor’s abilities,as well as director Sam Raimi’s vi-sual style.

Swooping camera shots and car-toony effects really made this mov-ie fun. The special effects andcinematography put me in comicbook action mode, and kept methere throughout the show. Every-thing that happens in this movie isfun in some way - Spidey using hispowers for the first time, the fights,and the romance. The cheesy dia-logue also adds to the mood and isvery enjoyable. Sure, no Oscarshere, but who cares, it’s Spider-Man!?

The movie looks pretty good onthis DVD, though there are somewhite splotches every once inawhile. Most viewers won’t mind,as the splotches are only occasionaland not very noticable. “Spider-Man” sounds good in a nice DolbyDigital 5.1 mix, especially duringthe fights. A DTS track would re-ally have gotten the walls shaking,and its a shame that one is not in-cluded.

The first disc contains the movieitself, and a couple of commentar-ies. Also included are music vid-eos and trailers for “Spider-Man”and a few other movies.

The second disc is split into two

sections: The Web of Spider-Manwith info about the comic and Gob-lin’s Lair featuring the movie. Thecomic section is presented in com-ic-style animated drawings andfeatures some good information onthe history of Spider-Man. The in-terview with Stan Lee is not to bemissed. Other features includesome picture galleries, highlightsof comic book issues, and a worth-less guide to the game.

The Goblin’s Lair features a va-riety of standard features presentedin a simple menu style. A 7 minuteprofile of composer Danny Elfmangives an interesting look on howmusic is written for movies. Acouple of pre-release hype docu-mentaries are included, and aren’tamazingly informative or enter-taining.

I was disappointed that therewere hardly any features talkingabout the difficulties adapting a be-loved classic. Instead of gettingany truly informative features, ev-erything feels as if its there just toget you to see the movie.

Overall, while the features aren’tthe most compelling, there are a lotof them. The movie itself is greatfun, perfect for a study break.“Spider-Man” is one movie youshould let get caught in your web.

Columbia TriStar2-disc SpecialEdition DVD

Released Today in seperate Wide and Full Screen editions

Online: $15 - $20

Rated PG-13

Director: Sam Raimi

Starring: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, and Willem Dafoe.

Supplements: Two commentary tracks, documentaries, out-takes, comic info, comic/movie compar-ison.

Ooohhh.. Spidey sense tingling:Dafoe’s excellent acting, great adap-taion of the clas-sic comic

Spidey’s PR machine:No DTS, special features

Study break DVD of the weekThe Rose Thorn’s weekly column of classic and modern films you should check out on DVD.

22.7m18.8m11.7m

6.4m6.3m

1 Jackass: The Movie2 The Ring3 Ghost Ship4 Sweet Home Alabama5 My Big Fat Greek Wedding

22.7m39.7m11.7m

107.0m177.0m

I SpyThe Santa Clause 2The Weight of Water

Bob Schulein and Jacob P. Sil-via attended the Saturday nightshowing of Arcadia in HatfieldHall. Following the perfor-mance, they discussed the play.Here’s what they had to stay

Bob (B): So Jacob, what didyou think?

Jacob (J): The first thing I no-ticed was “Wow! Hatfield Hallis amazing,” and I hadn’t evenentered the theater yet.

B: Did you see the bathrooms?Class act all the way.

J: Was there a man there withsoaps and towels?

B: Uh, no, but it was reallynice. Anyway, back to the play.

J: I personally think TomStoppard is a great writer. Hewrites things that will entertainyou but at the same time makeyou think.

B: “Arcadia” definitely is athink piece. A lot of the deeperinsights went over my head.

J: I really liked the dramaclub’s production a lot. The ma-jor detraction for me was that Icouldn’t hear a lot of the wordsbecause of the lack of enuncia-

tion while theyspoke with En-glish accents.

B: The accentswere a big prob-lem for me. Icouldn’t under-stand a lot ofwhat they weresaying, and as aresult couldn’tever get into theplay. Therewasn’t enoughaction for me,and most of thedialogue left mefalling asleep.

J: True, thoughthere wasn’tmuch explicit ac-tion, but therewas plenty ofcharacter devel-opment.

B: Maybe, butI couldn’t stayfocused to appreciate it. Some-one behind me said there shouldbe a car crash to wake them up. Iagreed.

J: I will give you that it wasslow moving and probablywouldn’t appeal to a number ofaudience members, but you can’t

go to an engineering school andexpect non-cerebral productions.

B: I have no problem with ce-rebral productions, but I alsowant to be entertained, and thisplay didn’t do that for me. In allfairness, I was pretty tired outfrom hauling my family around

campus for Dad’s Day.J: Personally, “Arcadia” ap-

pealed to me. I like math, be-cause it’s a big part of the majorI’m pursuing.

B: I caught some of the jokesand they were funny. But in be-tween jokes there was too much

dialogue that didn’t keep me en-gaged.

J: It was written by Stoppard,not Tarrantino.

B: Fair enough.J: One time in the beginning of

the show, two of the lead actorsforgot their lines, leaving a pseu-do dramatic pause as a result.

B: I have to commend the castfor how they bounced back,though. They acted like the mis-take was part of the show andcarried on without any furthernoticeable errors.

J: I really didn’t notice anyother technical glitches.

B: I really liked the lightingand ambient sound. The musicwas really effective.

J: And that ending was kickass.

B: Yeah, having two separatetime periods on stage at oncewas a really original idea. Toobad I wasn’t hooked from the be-ginning to get the emotional pay-off.

J: You should probably seethis play, especially if you are afan of intellect. And it is the firstshow in Hatfield.

B: Just be sure you’re readyfor thick British accents and arewide awake going into the play.

Bob SchuleinJacob P. Silvia

David Kaiser and Tim Birkel at dress rehearsal for “Arcadia.” The final two shows are tonight and tomorrow night at 8:00 pm.

photo by Molly McShane

Dance Dance Revolution Max

Playstation 2

Rated E

This week, Konami releasedthe latest edition of their hit se-ries of dancing simulators:“DDRMAX.” For those of younot familiar with this game’slong line of hit prequels, DDRstands for Dance Dance Revo-lution. The game is played (tra-ditionally) by using a mat (a lathe Nintendo PowerPad), hav-ing the buttons of the controllerrepresented by logically-desig-nated regions of the mat.

The player then chooses asong, and a difficulty level(aside from even more ad-vanced options with which onlyseasoned gamers tamper). Thescreen flows arrows up thescreen while playing a song.The player must press the ar-row keys with his or her feet inthe same way as the screen rec-

ommends. It is similar to musi-cally playing a pattern writtenon sheet music, only using onesfeet, and not having any mea-sure lines.

“DDRMAX” takes the betterelements (songs and such) frompast games, and adds to it someremixes and fresh tracks, eachwith their own unique steps.Fans of the series will enjoyseeing some of their favoritesongs given a facelift, and a bitof fresh air, as they play thesetracks all over again, for thefirst time.

One might not quite “get” theidea behind a game such asDDR, since all it seems to be ispressing buttons as promptedon a screen. One might even goas far as to question the factthat there exists a DDR club onthe Rose-Hulman campus. I cansee this point, since the “danc-ing” one performs while play-ing this game is about as muchdancing as killing people in“Unreal Tournament” is actual-ly killing people.

Once one gains experience atthe basic mechanics behind thisgame, though, one may showoff his or her skills in public atvarious arcades, and win re-spect of people who respect onewho can “get down” whileplaying a video game. To play

this game for a prolonged peri-od of time and not try to makeyourself look good while doingit should be a crime.

All in all, I must say that thisgame is truly enjoyable, and atthe same time, moderately ad-dictive. If you have any slight

sense of rhythm (or even thinkyou do), check out“DDRMAX,” and ¡viva laDance Dance Revolution!

By Tim RitterThe Auburn Plainsman(Auburn U.)10/31/2002

(U-WIRE) AUBURN, Ala. -Nas has finally put out an albumcapable of living up to the hip-hop world's hype following hisdebut, "Illmatic," which is gener-ally considered to be one of thebest rap albums ever recorded.

And it came in a very unexpect-ed form -- a collection of b-sidesand unreleased tracks recorded inthe eight years since "Illmatic."

Coming off the weak "Nastrad-amus" and with shots comingfrom critics and other emcees,most notably Jay-Z, everyone ex-pected last year's "Stillmatic" tobe Nas' return to the greatness ofwhich everyone knew he was ca-pable.

While "Stillmatic" was superiorto "Nastradamus," "The LostTapes" is far superior to "Stillmat-ic" and is the album that comesclosest to matching his debut.

Why do these songs so obvi-ously outshine the tracks on Nas'recent albums? The most obviousdifference is the lyrical perfor-mance of Nas.

Instead of getting caught up inthe gangster fantasies that be-came his focus after his debut,Nas turns his observational pow-ers on the world and on his life inspecific.

On "My way," Nas reflects onthe loss of his friend: "Neverknew murder till I saw my manget popped / new blood soaking /laying there / eyes still open / Igot a little closer / put my hand on

his palm / he was looking rightthrough me / staring beyond."

Later, on "Poppa was a playa,"Nas describes how his dad's tran-sient lifestyle affected his family:"Poppa played the street all day /mom was either at home or atwork / while we played inside thehallway / she sacrificed all shegot to feed us / when she wasalone / she cried by the phone /peeping out the window heated."

Nas uses this lucid story-tellingfrom song to song, painting vividpictures of his life and ghetto lifein general.

He even follows in the foot-steps of the late Tupac Shakur bygetting afro-centric on "BlackZombies," examining the myriadof ways in which black people asa group are lacking a unified di-rection.

The second major difference(improvement) is in the produc-tion, an even larger cause of Nas'past disappointments.

An A-list of producers, includ-ing Rockwilder, L.E.S. and TheAlchemist, create mellow, jazz-inflected backdrops that comple-ment instead of distract from Nas'lyrics. A quiet but urgent pianosample supports "My way," whilea little bit of '70s funk slips into"No idea's original" and "Poppawas a playa."

The great production and Nas'amazing lyrical prowess yieldNas' second perfect album and fi-nally allows Nas to begin fulfill-ing his vast potential.

There's only one question re-maining: Why didn't Nas just re-lease these songs in the firstplace?

ENTERTAINMENT Page 5

Nas gets back to basics

The Rose ThornFriday, November 1, 2002

Dancing fools have never looked so good

Jacob P. SilviaStaff Writer

Dancin’ up a storm - On screen displays keep the beat and get you pumped in“Dance Dance Revolution Max” for the PS2.

http://www.gamespy.com

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Everyday!!

Moderation is a virtue over-looked entirely too often, espe-cially around here. I am nottalking about the more danger-ous cases, like alcohol, but morepractical, day to day things; likecomedy, movies, computergames, and the usual shenani-gans. Maybe there are just a lotof obsessive-compulsive peopleout there, but I suppose thatcomes with the territory.

Comedy is great, and justabout everybody enjoys come-dy. Maybe not Carrot Top. Butit is a curious matter, becausetoo much of the same comedy isnot great. In fact, it can be quitebad. There are too many "PoliceAcademy" and "National Lam-poon" movies out there. This isalso why Mike Meyers wassmart to stop at two "Wayne'sWorlds" - they were both hilari-ous, chock full of quotable ma-terial, but a third may have beentoo much.

Repeatability of quotes is in-tegral for the success of a come-dy, but in the same vein, is

detrimental in excess. This iswhy I'm sick of Monty Pythonand the Holy Grail. British hu-mour is very funny, and theblokes of Python are brilliant,but listening to the asinine num-ber of random quotes from thismovie around campus has reallyruined it for me.

The frequent use of the word"random" is adulterating theword, especially in reference tocomedic things. Comedy ishardly, if ever, actually random.It is calculated by the comedianand tailored to the audience. Allcomedy on television or in themovies is very deliberate, as ismost of the stuff heard aroundhere.

The attitude towards movieson campus is also quite obses-sive. I recall last year hearingthe sound effects of the Matrixplaying once a week somewhereon Speed Hall, usually in thesame rooms. The Matrix was agood movie and fun to watch,but no movie is that good. May-be Phantoms is.

Science fiction is also over-done. It is laughable, nay, it isludicrous that a lot of the peopleI've come across here can be di-vided into a Star Wars or StarTrek camp. Members of eachregard members of the otherwith equal scorn, and this is aquestion that will never be set-tled, not that most people actu-ally care, and rightly so.

The fans of these franchises

treat them as if they were reli-gions or cults, rather than think-ing of them as just the moviesand marketing colossi that theyare. Posters are reasonable. T-shirts are even ok, but a littlehazy. Computer games on theirown would be all right. Butwhen all of these things exist, inaddition to figurines, conven-tions, Christmas ornaments,dedicated languages, spin-offbooks, collectible card games,and brainwashing dogma, Ithink that it may just be a littletoo much.

I think I need to mentionanime, as well. I understandthat people's tastes differ, andthat no one person's taste is bet-ter than another's, but there is anawful lot of anime watched oncampus. I do not have anyproblem with the classics like"Akira." Crazy stuff, like hentaiis watched. There's even a clubfor it. That's quite a lot ofanime.

Being a technical school, it isunderstandable that people willbe playing a lot of video games,be it on a PC or on a console.One that comes to mind quicklyis definitely Counter-Strike, agood game but entirely over-played, especially in public.Network games are good everyonce in a while, but to play themin the Worx or the New Hallclassroom should deserve a lit-tle extra thought. Especiallysince the entire campus is net-

worked, the players can remainin their respective rooms andnot play in public, which wouldsave us from their taunts thatthey yell to other players.

Some people have an issuewith hygiene. I assume most ofthe attendees of Rose do indeedshower regularly, though I haveseen some evidence to the con-trary. The topic I want to ad-dress, though, is that a sizeablepercentage do not shave regular-ly. There are rules to wearing

facial hair,and appar-ently thesepeople donot knowwhat theyare. Thereis a reasonwhy therazors area huge in-dustry-you haveto knowhow towear fa-

cial hair. A quick rule of thumb:if it's patchy, you are not doingit right and have forfeited theright to wear facial hair. Spendthe three bucks on a Mach 3.

Cheap t-shirts are great. Iown a number of them, and stillwear quite a few. On the otherhand, I also have some real t-shirts, and wear them as well. Ithink that even college studentscould probably afford to own a

few t-shirts that do not comefrom a frat house. I do not thinkthat wearing a cheap t-shirt afew times a week is a problem,but if the only shirts that youwear says "FIJI" on it, then itmay be getting a little out ofhand. If you're really that hard-core about your fraternity, youmay want to think about some-thing else every once in a while,too. They print all sorts of neatthings on t-shirts these days.

Rose-Hulman is ranked thenumber one school in under-graduate engineering. I some-times think that there are Rosestudents who need to be remind-ed that they are not the only stu-dents here who are attending thetop ranked college, if you catchmy meaning. Many of thesefolks may have been at the topof their class in high school, butthen again most of us were.Some people need to calm downa bit. Engineers are, after all,professionals.

I am still a little surprised athow unsocial the residents ofNew Hall have been. I knowwork is important and all, butsometimes you have got to takea rest. It's not healthy to spend6 hours working on a paper, es-pecially on a Saturday. Leaveyour doors open every once in awhile, watch a movie or some-thing. Hey, even invite somefloor mates to join you. Unlessyou're watching "The Matrix"again.

Recently, it struck me that"Premium Friday" with ourfriendly ARA could use bit ofimprovement. Besides a few newentrees, nothing is changed.

The result: what could be avery enjoyable way to end aworkweek is generally held inlow esteem by students.

The solution to mundanemeals: live music. The soundscould be provided by Rose stu-dents, faculty, or local musi-cians.

There is certainly enough tal-ent here on campus to provideenjoyable music, and I am surethat Rose can afford the occa-sional pro. Students could bepaid for their gigs as well, pro-viding additional incentive. Allgenres would be welcome, fromclassical quartets to turntables.

Of course, volumewould have to be kept within rea-sonable levels, because the pur-pose is to complement thedinning experience.

A small campus group couldbe created to book performersand extract money from theSGA, or the entire matter couldbe handled by the RHA.

Live music with dinner wouldtruly allow Premium Friday tolive up to its name.

Pay Attention

Brandon Hathaway

OPINIONSPage 6The Rose Thorn

Friday, November 1, 2002

Wondering Aloud

Imagine if you will, a typicalmale college freshman studentsitting in a morning class. Thisfreshman is struggling to stayawake, so learning is not a high-priority.

To keep from dozing off, he be-gins to concentrate on things ofinterest: WarCraft III cheat codes,the coolest football game for PS2,and, of course, food. Obviously,he is totally oblivious to what ishappening around him.

Then all of a sudden, like a mir-acle from above, he is rescuedfrom this harsh environment, andwhisked into a new world. Hiseyes light up like aten-year-old openingpresents on Christmasmorning.

This dozing collegestudent awakes, in amatter of seconds;what happened?

He was dead to the world aminute ago and now he is awakeand typing profusely on his laptopthe next.

Alas, witness the power pos-sessed by the instant messagewindow. Of course! The hot girlhe had met the night before justinstant messaged him. What elsecould drag an exhausted freshmanmale from his comatose state?

The freshman class here atRose-Hulman is definitely moretempted to be distracted by thewonders of the web than yearspast. The reason is the miracle ofwireless internet.

When professors of years pastwanted to prohibit the use of the

network and internet, they simplydid not allow the ethernet cablesto be hooked up to the laptops.

Prohibiting the use of the inter-net for the freshman class is quitea bit more difficult. There is a lit-tle green light that illuminateswhen the freshmen are using the"wireless connection," -- this en-ables professors to make a deter-mination if you are connected tothe web or not. A well-placedpiece of tape or sticker could rem-edy this problem (I am not pro-moting illegal use of internetcapabilities, but it could be done,shhh).

This wireless accessibility justfurther escalates the temptation ofusing the internet during class forthings that are not classroom ap-

propriate. The internet and its communi-

ties are around us everyday, andseemingly wherever we go. Thisis no different when referring tothe classroom; the internet has be-come a tool used in the education-al process.

This tool adds a lot of responsi-bility on the part of the student. Itis very easy for a student to openup his or her laptop, and startsurfing the net. This is why it is soimportant to use the internet as atool for learning and not a distrac-tion.

I can safely assume that we areall guilty of using the internet ca-pabilities for things other thanschool work during class.

Come on now, how many timeshave you been sitting in class, andwhile the professor is talking up astorm, you decide that you arejust too tired of listening to thelecture at hand, and think: "Hey, Ishould check e-mail," or, "Maybemy friends are on AIM and canrescue me from this hell hole," ormy favorite, "I have a clever jokeabout the professor, I need to tellone of my friends who is also inthis class." Of course, then yousend the message and watch thefacial reaction of your friend,wait for the little snicker, and thesmile that will inevitably accom-pany your clever joke.

I know this is a great way to re-lieve stress, and share a laughamong friends, but you are totally

missing the true rea-son you are in class.This reason, believeit or not, is to learn.It's not to socialize.

I have realized thatif we are getting lec-

tured, I better be learning that ma-terial, and under

no circumstances be concernedwith anything else.

The message that I want every-one here at Rose-Hulman to takefrom this article is that the inter-net may benefit a lot of people,but it can only distract you fromlearning when it is used inappro-priately.

There is a young man that sitsnext to me in physics class thatusually gets fed up with the classlecture about halfway through.He decides that his time would bemore "wisely" spent doing otherthings. I sit with such close prox-imity that a simple glance revealsthat he is often perusing the ESPN

website. When asked about hisuse of class time, he calmly re-plies, "Dude, I'll do it later."

The issue at hand is a littledeeper than just the act of surfingthe net during class.

Many students do not see any-thing wrong with a class hour ofhardcore instant messaging. Theharsh reality is that your gradesare going to suffer, more for somethan others, but nevertheless, theywill decline.

When you begin getting dis-tracted during class you: no long-er actively participate, do notknow the material being present-ed, and may even stop learning!

Learning is a tricky thing; youactually have to be willing to dosomething to learn. It is not justgoing to "sink" in; it takes hardwork and dedication.

This is why total attention isneeded, no matter how hard thatmay be, how little sleep you gotthe night before, or even how hotthe girl that you talked to lastnight is, you still have to stay fo-cused on what is truly important.No, your weekend date plans arenot the truly important thing!

Your first-rate education comesbefore everything else. You willhave plenty of time to chit-chatabout things when you graduate.In reality, after graduation yourconversations will transcendmerely talking about your dreamsto actually obtaining them.

Your top-notch education willprovide you with the foundationto land that dream job and pur-chase that fast car, but until then,"buckle" down and get what hasto be done in class, no matter howpainful it is; it will pay off in theend.

How premium isPremium

Night?

“I’m the opinions editor and you’re not.”

Garry WienekeStaff Writer

Sky OlsonStaff Writer

Many students do not see any-thing wrong with an hour of hardcore instant messaging.

SPORTS Page 7The Rose ThornFriday, November 1, 2002

Carnegie Mellon University ranfor 305 yards on 75 attempts towin a football battle between twoof the nation’s top engineeringschools with a 27-17 decisionover Rose-Hulman Institute ofTechnology on Saturday after-noon.

Sophomore Brad Stanley ledthe Tartans with 119 rushingyards on 32 carries and one touch-down. Senior Andrew Garrodadded a 90-yard kickoff return fora score and rushed for 50 yardsand one touchdown in the victory.

For Rose-Hulman, senior quar-terback Jared Tharpe (Oak Ridge,Tenn.) completed 28 of 47 passesfor 285 yards, while senior RobKief (Cincinnati, Ohio/La Salle)added 10 receptions for 87 yards.

Defensively, senior Tim Swan(Farmington, Minn.) made ateam-high 15 tackles for Rose-Hulman, while junior Matt Jack-son (Dayton, Ohio/ Northridge)added 12 tackles and one blockedfield goal.

The matchup featured Pitts-burgh-based Carnegie Mellon,ranked No. 21 among undergrad-uate programs nationally and No.

7 in engineering in its category byU.S. News & World Report,against Rose-Hulman, ranked No.1 nationally among engineeringschools with a master’s as itshighest degree.

Rose-Hulman jumped out to a6-0 lead on its second possession,a 12-play, 80-yard march cappedby a 12-yard run by freshmanCharlie Key (Harrison, Ohio).Tharpe opened the drive with a20-yard pass to Key before hittingsenior Josh Reed (New Palestine)on a 17-yard pass to reach Tartanterritory. Key sprinted for runs of14 and eight yards before cappingthe drive with his 12-yard scam-per.

Garrod returned the ensuingkickoff 90 yards for a touchdownto give Carnegie Mellon a 7-6 ad-vantage. The Tartans extendedthe lead to 14-6 on a seven-play,29-yard drive capped by a two-yard run by Garrod.

Carnegie Mellon added threemore points on a 43-yard fieldgoal by Ben Koellmann with 41seconds left in the opening stan-za.

The Engineers closed within

17-9 on a 40-yard field goal byfreshman Cory Wright (Moores-ville) on the final play of the firsthalf. The score was set up bypasses of 20-yards from Tharpe tojunior Matt Horne (Goodyear,Ariz./Agua Fria) and 18-yardsfrom Tharpe to Kief.

Carnegie Mellon increased theadvantage to 27-9 in the fourthquarter after Ryan McMillen re-turned an interception 38 yards tothe one-yard line and Koellmannhit a 30-yard field goal with 4:30left.

Rose-Hulman scored on its fi-nal possession to bring the scorewithin 27-17. Tharpe and Horneconnected on passes of nine and22 yards before senior JasonShort (Niles, Mich./St. Joseph)scored on a fourth-down, one-yard run. Tharpe connected withReed on the subsequent two-pointconversion.

Carnegie Mellon improved to4-3 on the season, while Rose-Hulman dropped to 3-5 overall.The Engineers return to action onNov. 9 at DePauw University af-ter enjoying a bye in the schedulenext weekend.

Photo Courtesy Rose-Hulman

Senior Nat Hill intercepts the ball.

Carnegie Mellon tops Rose-Hulman in engineering football battle

Michael RayRose-Hulman Rifle Coach

A Rose-Hulman goal on a cor-ner kick midway through the firsthalf was the lone score as the En-gineers defeated Wabash Collegeby a score of 1-0.

Sophomore Tom Drochner(Mt. Zion, Ill.) turned on a passfrom freshman Eric Krupitzer(Troy, Mich.) and scored at 20:05in the first half for the game-win-ner.

Junior goalkeeper Al Ruth (In-dianapolis/Ben Davis) recordedfive saves in goal for his thirdshutout and fifth win of the sea-son.

Wabash outshot Rose-Hulmanon the contest 15-10. However,the Engineers placed seven shotson goal. Drochner lead Rose-Hulman’s effort with three shots,all on goal.

“We played a really good sec-ond half last Thursday, and wepicked up tonight right where weleft off”, commented coach GregRuark. “The key was the rewardfor great play in the goal.”

Rose-Hulman recorded sevenof its 10 shots in the first half.

“We beat a quality opponent to-night who has beaten severalteams we’ve lost to by a largemargin. This was a hard-foughtvictory that the guys reallyworked hard for,” stated Ruark.

Carlos Aguirre lead Wabashwith four shots. Goalkeeper JohnTaggart recorded six saves in net.

With the win, the Engineers im-prove to 6-10-1 overall. Rose-Hulman next returns to action onFriday at 5 p.m. against SCAC ri-val Hendrix College.

Drochner goal lifts Rose-Hulman over Wabash 2002 Football standings

Photo Courtesy Rose-Hulman

Sophomore Tom Drochner kicks the ball in for a goal.

Friday, Nov. 1 ·MSC vs. Hendrix College, 5 pm ·WSC vs. Hendrix College, 7 pm ·VB at Illinois Wesleyan Tournament, 5 and 7 pm

Saturday, Nov. 2 ·MXC, WXC at SCAC Champion-ships, TBA ·VB at Illinois Wesleyan Tournament, TBA ·SWIM at Lindenwood Invitational, Noon ·RIFLE at Purdue University, Noon

Sunday, Nov. 3 ·MSC vs. Rhodes College, Noon

·WSC vs. Rhodes College, 2 pm

Thursday, Nov. 7 ·RIFLE vs. Missouri-Kansas City, 6 pm

(Games in bold denote home games)

Upcoming athletic events

KeyFOOT = FootballMGOLF = Men’s GolfMSC = Men’s SoccerMXC = Men’s Cross CountryVB = VolleyballWSC = Women’s SoccerWXC = Women’s Cross Country

The Rose-Hulman rifle teamhad a tough match againstMissouri at Kansas City, los-ing 5998-5916. The difficultrange conditions took a toll onthe Engineers though Jason

LaBella was the winner ofboth events, shooting 1155 insmallbore and 383 in air rifle.

The lighting and cold defi-nitely affected the overall per-formance of the team becausethey did not expect to competein such a cold range whenshooting indoors. These fac-

tors did not affect Jason asmuch because he is from up-state New York. The engi-neers will provide a muchgreater challenge to UMKCwhen they host them here nextThursday.

The team travels to Purdueon Saturday.

Rifle team update

This Week in the News This Week in HistoryAll of the sudden, people seem to be caring a

lot more about the ‘Sniper Game’ put out by the US Army. Oh well, what could better de-fend violent video games from the govern-ment than the military making one, eh?

This Week in the Game IndustryA 16 year old girl dies due to a high-protein/

low-carbohydrate diet. Diaticians suggest something else, such as bulemia was involved in her electrolyte imbalace, and coincidental heart failure. I blame the bacon. Mmm, bacon.

122 A.D. -Emporer Hadrian orders a 72 mile wall to be

built in norther Britain to keep the Picts at bay. Hadrian’s Wall, as it comes to be called, remains far inferior to Emain Macha to this day.

The Little Line o’ Litigious Lard: The content of The Flipside is intended to be purely humorous, and it does not represent the opinions of The Rose Thorn or Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. It proba-bly doesn’t represent anybody’s opinions, ‘cause it’s all supposed to be a joke, okay? If you’re offended, we don’t care! All material is copyright of it’s respective owner. This product may cause birth defects.

Volume 38, Issue se7en Friday, November 1rst, 2002Flipside > all

Top Ten Worst Excuses to Get Out of Doing WorkMy, uh... mom died. Er, again. D’oh, wait, it was my dad this time.Hertz can’t even figure it out, what do you expect from me?I couldn’t seem to connect to the network. I blame Waters.It’s Friday, and every Friday is a holiday in my religion.I was busy trying to put on some crazy play. Really busy.Doing work is for chumps.I’m a Senior, Seniors don’t have homework, do they?...well, yeah, but hummers don’t count, do they?You see, doc, I’ve got a very special lady coming over tonight, a very special Asian lady, heh, heh.

Ron.

1098765432

1

“Trick or Frigging Get the Hell Off My Porch!”

“You will remember this stuff for a year [dramatic pause], or I will kill you.”--Dr Muir, on matrices

“Since tests seem to have such a deflating effect... I have to show you this cool Viagra pen I took from the doctor’s office. The good thing about it is that it always pops up, the bad thing is that it doesn’t write cause it’s out of ink.”--Dr. Hermiter

“And she’s an old guy! Well... not a guy.”--Dr. Steinstra, talking about his wife

“When I was unemployed my four year old comes up to me and says, ‘Dad, did you find a job yet?’ and I said, ‘Who the hell are you?!’”--Dr. Bremmer, on parenting

“I don’t know whose TV this is, but it’s ours now! ...Where’s the on button?”--Prof. Bunch, shadily aquiring a TV to watch some videos

“Those people are dumb, those people are really different... and we need to kill them.”--Dr. Kukral, explaining the causes of European wars

“Maybe tomorrow I’ll give you the proof that I’m the Pope.”--Prof. Holden, after a long logic discussion

“Structural engineers occasionally make mis-takes, but they're not supposed to. Thats when you lose youre license.”--Prof. Thomas, giving some career tips

“It eats the first one, spits out the second one, and kills the rest.”--Dr. Sherman, on ‘killer’ matrices

Wacky Prof Quotes

Have your profs said something wacky lately?Well, stay awake for a change and write it down!

Send your Prof Quotes to:flipside@rose-hulman.edu

Any other humor, comments, suggestions, complaints, or death threats are welcome as well.

Photo from www.viewcalgary.com,used without permission, but it reallydoesn’t matter, since it will probablybe completely unrecognizable in print.Oh well, it’s funny, look at him.

May or May Not Be Funny, But at Least it Involves Skirts... er Kilts

Y’see people, you need to write humor for the Flipside, because this is clearly the best we can come up with without you. I mean, what were we thinking, “Yes, clearly kilts will distract them from the lack of content?!”

Now, next week, you and your friends are going to sit down and think up some funny stuff, then send it to me via the email adress below. Don’t be shy, plenty of stupid crap gets printed on this page every week, I’m sure you can come up with better.

Now, for the oldschoolers, we’re going to burn up what’s left of the page the old fashioned way: