TECHNEWS
technews.iit.edu
TUESDAY
October 30,2007
Student newspaper of the Illinois Institute of Technology since 1897
CAMPUS
NEWS
W h a t ’s t h e M u s l i m
Christmas? Find out this
week in News.
Volume 163 • Issue 9
Check out a TechNews
review of the new
movie “The Darjeeling
Limited”.
Read the Faculty of the
Week interview with
Dr. Roya Ayman.
page 9
page 7
page 5
Why we love our President
By Raymond Ballard
TECHNEWS WRITER
Out with the old and in with the new. Two
purposes, bred from preexisting problems,
one university president for both. President
Emeritus Lew Collens brought IIT to 2007, but
the age of new President John Anderson has
just begun.
This new President has been long awaited
by students, as Lew Collens left many students
frustrated with the problems close to their hearts
unsolved. At the end of his reign as President,
Lew Collens was not greatly appreciated by
the student population, nevermind the staff or
faculty. He was never seen or heard on campus,
and his few wanderings into student events made
students wonder if the man even knew what was
happening on this campus.
We must acknowledge that the purpose of
Lew Collens was never to interact with students.
He came to IIT with a very different view of the
campus... the university prestige was low, the
MTCC and SSV were nonexistent, Crown Hall
was not restored, and gunfire ravaged the IITRI
tower as IIT struggled to remain the small bubble
of paradise in the desert of projects plaguing the
State Street corridor. He was brought to save
a financially troubled university. According to
President John Anderson, IIT was facing very
dooming questions before President Collens
arrived: whether to move the university to the
suburbs to save costs and cut down on gunfire
damage, find some very large donations, or
to begin shutting the door on the life of the
University. Lew Collens was an exceptional
businessman with an aptitude for fund raising,
and his goal was to bring IIT into the 21st
century financially secure with an increased
undergraduate body and improved surrounding
community. In these regards, Lew Collens did
an excellent job, and will be remembered for
helping pave the lighted road from the dark ages
of IIT history.
While many of the aforementioned
problems were solved, his administration left
many others unanswered, largely noted by the
Princeton Review, which has not hesitated to
flaunt them to the general public. Some of
these include the underdeveloped surrounding
community; apathy from faculty, staff, and
the student body; a lack
of interaction between
these groups leading to
severe misunderstanding
of student wants, needs,
or feelings; and the well
known phrase, Red Tape.
However, it is quite
clear that the University
has made massive
improvements to the beauty
of campus, the number
of programmed events
for student life, school
spirit via large volleyball
and soccer games, and
involvement in student
organizations has grown
significantly, whether they
be in SGA, RHA, UB, or
any number of over 85
student organizations on
campus. Many of these
improvements result from
the determined resolve of
inspiring student leaders
to ensure that campus only
Photo by Linda Goldstein
continued on page 8
AEPi house demolition on the Quad
By Daniel Votipka
TECHNEWS WRITER
For everyone who hasn’t ventured by
the Quad in the past day or two and seen the
massive wrecking arm of the wrecker tearing
down the old façade that was once the APE
OPINION 2-4
NEWS 5-6
CAMPUS 7-8
A&E 9
SLIPSTICK 10-11
SPORTS 13-15
A&E
fraternity house, the demolition has begun.
The process began last week when the
school began to section off the area around
the building with fences and also brought in
wreckers and dump trucks to begin the job.
At around 8:00 am this Monday the first wall
was torn down and crowds began to flock
around the construction site to watch between
classes.
Don’t worry though, if you still haven’t
been by to check it out, this tear down process
will probably last at least another week, so
stop by the quad sometime and watch the
demolition and the passing of an age.
32nd Annual
International
Fest hits IIT
By Minh Tran
TECHNEWS WRITER
If Phileas Fogg could travel around
the world in 80 days, you could do the
same thing in only a day!!! Don’t believe
me? Come to The 32nd International Fest
on Friday November 2nd. It’s that time
of the year again to celebrate the diversity
of IIT community. International Fest has
become one of the greatest traditional
events at IIT.
Every year, this festival brings
students, faculty, staff and local
communities together in a celebration
of diversity and culture. I’m sure most
of the international students are very
excited to share their culture. People
attended previous I-fest celebrations
with high expectations and came out
with satisfaction. International Students
Organizations (ISO) – the student board
that organizes this event – has received
lots of positive feedback every year and
this year we have been working hard to
improve the quality of the event.
The I-fest day includes 2 main
events – The Day event and The Evening
event. Imagine you are a hungry traveler
and Nov 2nd is the only day for you
to explore the world. During the Day
event, which is from 11:30 to 1:30 pm
in Herman Hall, you will have a chance
to try out different types of cuisine
from 14 cultural groups. Be assured
that these specially prepared ethnic
foods will satisfy anyone‘s appetite
even the pickiest eater? Well not only
that, you will also get to learn more
about the cultures of different countries,
continued on page 8
Photo by Elizabeth Wong
Photos by Babajide Oke
TECHNEWS
OPINION
2
JOSHUA MULLIN, EDITOR
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2007
MULLJOS@IIT.EDU
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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2007
SexTech
TECHNEWS
3
OPINION
By SexTech Staff
TECHNEWS
Dear SexTech,
Hey guys, what’s up? I was wondering if you could help
me with something. I have this attraction to fruits. It started
innocently with me watching some pictures of naked people with
them, but then progressed to something more. When I go to the
grocery store now I have a sudden urge to please myself with
different types of fruits. I don’t know what to do, am I weird for
wanting some alone time with mangos? Also is it wrong that I
like the fruits more than what my boyfriend has?
- Hungry for answers
SEXTECH PERSPECTIVE
Hey, Hungry...
I should first mention that all of our submissions for SexTech
are now going to be submitted to the IIT Counseling Center as
well as answered by our staff. Hopefully this will give you an
inkling of real advice in the event that we call you (or anyone
who submits a question for us for that matter) a filthy pervert or
recommend you have yourself professionally sterilized.
That said, Your problem reminds me of a certain robotic
juicer from the webcomic “Penny Arcade” who just couldn’t keep
it in his... Whatever it is robotic juicers wear over their juicing
“equipment.” He would juice any fruit, any time. Regardless,
if you want to know all about what may be happening to you
psychologically, I think the Counseling Center staff did a
wonderful job explaining it. Now I’m here to tell you what I think
you should do about this seemingly strange sexual fixation.
Jon Stewart, of Daily show fame, wrote in his book
“America (the Book): A Citizen’s Guide to Democracy Inaction”
that, “Man-on-pumpkin sex is an inalienable right and should be
taught to children.” You, sir (or madam), could be this person
who passes on Jon Stewart’s torch. Fruitiphiles, as I’ll call you,
but I’m sure there’s some long latin word that actually describes
your fetish, are some of my favorite people with strange fetishes.
As strange as the fetish itself sounds, I simply can’t find anything
wrong with what you do. Even if you actually copulate with
a piece of fruit, you haven’t drawn blood, hurt, demeaned,
destroyed, or otherwise affected anyone else’s life. You guys
and gals are like the pacifists of sexual perversions. If I had to
choose a sexual perversion for a child of mine to have, I think
I’d want him or her to be a fruitiphile. I’d sleep better at night
than if he or she were, say, into pyronecrobestiality.
I mean, who am I to say that lemons shouldn’t turn you on?
I’ve heard many a man say, “Hey, look at her melons.” Maybe
that means something different to you, and that’s okay. That
probably makes you a better person than the guy who shouted
that phrase in the first place, to be honest. So rather than tell
you to stop doing what you’re doing or that you’re a sicko, I’m
going to recommend to you some ideal viewing for someone
who is in your situation.
1. Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery - They have
a whole melon plus naked people scene at the end of that one.
2. American Pie - For obvious reasons... Does it count if
the fruit is cooked?
3. Fried Green Tomatoes - I’d give anyone a crisp dollar bill
if they could find any part of that movie that’s sexually-arousing.
I don’t even think you could do that if you stared at the fresh
tomatoes throughout.
4. Soft Fruit - Not because I’ve seen it, but because it’s the
first google search result for “fruit in movies,” and it’s rated R
for nudity. That seems like it might be a shoo-in for someone
like you. My apologies ahead of time if there’s not actually any
soft fruit in the movie.
Like the counseling center says, unless this fetish is stopping
you from having a healthy sex life, enjoy yourself. I leave you
with this:
It’s pumpkin season. Go have fun. Buy a carving kit with
those little safety saws though... Kitchen knives are dangerous
tools when used for pumpkin carving, and circles are very hard
to cut with them.
Sincerely,
SexTech Staff
COUNSELING CENTER’S PERSPECTIVE
Dear Hungry for Answers,
It sounds like you are describing a sexual fetish, which
is a paraphilia. A fetish is the use of a nonliving object to
gain sexual excitement. Your fruit fetish is likely a response
to associating sexually arousing materials (e.g., pictures of
naked people) with a more benign and inanimate object (e.g.,
fruit). The simultaneous presentation of the two caused them
to seem connected in a learning process. The process is further
reinforced by the “reward” of sexual excitement when the object
is viewed or used.
JOSHUA MULLIN, EDITOR
MULLJOS@IIT.EDU
The intensity of your fetish makes a difference in whether
your fetish might require treatment. If the fetish is “optional,”
meaning that the object is a alternate means of achieving sexual
excitement, it is less serious than an “exclusive” fetish, which
means that one cannot achieve any arousal without the object.
Exclusive fetishes can lead to relationship problems and sexual
problems.
So, if you enjoy your fetish and it is not disruptive to your
sexual life, then it is likely to be a normal variation of human
sexuality, and nothing to be concerned about. If your fetish
begins to cause problems for you, it would be important to seek
help. The Counseling Center can help discuss treatment options
with you so that you can have a healthy sex life.
Sincerely,
Counseling Center Staff
Word of the Week:
Ripcord - A long rope tied with many successive knots
that is inserted into the male body and pulled out during sexual
climax in an attempt to enhance the pleasure.
Example: If you pull the ripcord too early, your equipment
may fail.
Disclaimer: The content of SexTech is the opinion of
the author, not TechNews as a whole. In no event is advice
given to be taken as medical advice, and all advice given is for
entertainment purposes only.
Send your SexTech questions to:
iitsextech@gmail.com
or drop them off discreetly in the TechNews office.
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4
TECHNEWS
OPINION
JOSHUA MULLIN, EDITOR
What Grinds My Gears
By Christopher Chock
PHOTO EDITOR
iMust say, iHate these new ad campaigns.
iAgree with Paul in his article last week,
while he was touching on the iClicker. Why
is everything white nowadays? Or am iThe
only one who’s noticed that?
The success that apple’s felt from its
iPod campaign is quite remarkable in fact.
Its campaign was so successful, that if iM not
mistaken, Apple’s computers were redesigned,
all but the G5. Everything that apple has now
sports the smooth white façade with a clear
coat over it with varying thicknesses. The
campaign was so successful in fact, that even
the font is a requirement in order to complete
the iBranding that is continuing to this day.
It’s not even that I have a problem with
the iPod itself. It’s the premiums that are
associated with such devices. The premium
on the iPod is amazing. The iPod wasn’t the
first mp3 player to hit the market, but due to
Apple’s admirably successful ad campaigns, it
sold the product, and if iRemember correctly, it
put the Australian band Jet on the scene.
What followed this successful campaign,
however, was quite the bandwagon. Like the
“support troops” (aka the “loose lips” that sink
ships) that follow any great army into battle
and share its spoils, other brands swooped in
and imitated everything iCould think of. It
was so annoying. Within several weeks of the
iPod’s breathtaking success, there were white
ear buds everywhere, along with what was
only the beginning of iBranded items hitting
the market.
The iBranding campaign quickly left
its home of portable music devices and
accessories and spread on to what felt like
every facet of life. Have you seen how almost
everything now a days that used to be in grey
or a nice black is now also in white? Am I the
only one who’s annoyed by this fact?
iCan’t even go to a store anymore and see
something that isn’t white directly because it
was the shifting industry standard. iWas at a
grocery store about two weeks before coming
back up to Chicago for school and I remember
seeing a pair of white ear buds packaged with
an 8-pack of Duracell AA batteries. What?
Are so many people that dependent on these
things that are now all conspicuously white
that Duracell, a battery company that has
success even without any help from Apple,
feels the need to include that with its products?
This baffles me.
But iLl admit, at least the level of
intelligence of the Apple iBranding campaign
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2007
MULLJOS@IIT.EDU
was not too low. The thing that really gets me
is when there are ad campaigns that appeal to
our lowliest of instincts. Using hunger for
food is one thing, that’s logical. It’s all the
other uses that annoy me. Are we as a society
so pathetically out of control of ourselves that
we will allow ourselves to buy things solely
because there is some large breasted female
(...or male!?) donning tight denim shorts and
an equally tight T-shirt to sell us rates for an
internet address? Seriously, what is wrong
with this country? Do you think that someone
dressed like that is trying to really sell domains
online?
I’m more depressed than offended by
things like this because I know for a fact that
most people will be paying more attention to
this than anything else that was flashed on the
screen. The fact that people will pay attention
to something like that more than anything else
is completely understandable – it’s all they can
do. What really bothers me is the fact that the
advertisers think that those kinds of things are
the best way to sell their products. This is what
is fundamentally disturbing.
I personally don’t have much love
for ad campaigns of any sort, but seeing
advertisers for the most part appeal solely
to the combination of the crudest urges and
stupidest antics to get our attention is by far
the most worrisome part. I barely believe
myself when I begin to miss an ad campaign
because it wasn’t just stupid sub-par slapstick
humor, an individual or group of scantily clad,
promiscuously posed women dancing around
what is most likely a completely unrelated
product, or watching stupid home videos that
are all unrelated to each other and the product
that they are being used to sell.
The only thing that I can think of that
could possibly be posed as a solution to fight
these advertisers is for us as a country to stop
being so stupid when it comes to ads. The
products that they advertise for may have some
inherent value and just the misfortune of being
sold with a horrible ad campaign, but the fact
that this trend is growing, as is the level of
just stupid overall ad campaigns for things is
something that needs to be curbed.
Advertisers need to realize that just
because their competitor has stooped to the
level of flashing stupid scenes of pointless
videos, that isn’t an invitation to do the same.
Of course, I could be entirely wrong in this
matter, in which case I can only say, well,
bring on the stupid ads. Maybe I’m just not
superficial enough to see their inherent value as
good ways to sell products without demeaning
them. I mean, after all, maybe women whose
clothes look like they’ve been shrink wrapped
onto them are the best way to sell domains
and a site with the name “GoDaddy.com” has
more brain than boob behind its ad campaign
than I can tell.
Who nominated me for SGA Student Senate?
By Joe Kaiser
ASST. EDITOR IN CHIEF/SLIPSTICK EDITOR
I got an email on Friday around 3 in the afternoon, just
as I was waking up. The email was excitedly titled: “You were
nominated for Student Senate!”
My first thought was, “Where’s Ashton?”
The email continues, “You are receiving this email because
someone you know feels you would make a valuable asset to
our Student Senate!”
Really?
I’m not questioning the judgment of whoever thought
I might be a responsible representative of the class of ‘09.
Certainly, I like to think I have some good qualities. I mean,
they like me, so they must not be all bad. But on the other hand,
my most notable contribution to this campus thus far has been
educating the lot of you on the worldly accomplishments of one
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs. I would be the opposite of a “valuable
asset”! If anything, I would be a “niggling distraction” or a hunk
of “dead weight.”
To worsen things, I don’t really know all that much about
SGA. My college experience, for what it’s worth, hasn’t been
horrifically lacking, so I’ve taken the ain’t-broke-don’t-fix
approach to campus life. It’s safe to say that, though I’m
generically flattered, I don’t think I’ll be taking them up on
the offer.
So either someone has a much higher opinion of me than
they ought to, or someone just checked off everyone on their
Facebook friends list and invited them all. Or maybe no one
nominated me at all, I was just chosen based on some criteria
and I got the email. After all, 100% of the population sample
(one dude) I polled received a similar email.
Alternately, maybe someone is just trying to shoot a remake
of the Robin Williams movie “Man of the Year” Bowfinger-style
on campus here (hint: the twist ending is voter irregularities!).
I remember when I was about 13 years old, a bunch of online
crush websites started becoming popular. They’d say something
like, someone you know has a crush on you! But we’re not telling
you who. Give us a list of five people you have a crush on, and if
you match, we’ll let you know and you can live in marital bliss!
And if not, we’ll just email them inviting them to join our service
and do the exact same thing! Turns out we were all a bunch of
nerdy chumpy kids who were invited to this service, and none
of us had five crushes, so we just ended up putting in names of
friends and the service became pretty useless. And I’m pretty
sure no one had a crush on me circa 7th grade. In a way, that’s
Colin’s Corner
By Colin Emch-Wei
A&E EDITOR
Just a quick precursor...somebody let me have my own column. Yes,
I typically bring to you some flavor of cynicism every week, but now
I’ve decided on a format change. From now on, the Corner will feature
anything from one extended exploration of a topic, or it’ll be like this
week: a bunch of crap that just popped into my head. Without any further
ado, I bring you...
Things that Bother Me
1. The IIT website. It’s garbage. I avoided it like the plague for the
first few weeks it was open, and then I finally took a look at it. First and
foremost, it looks really rough. The graphics are a little unprofessional,
and it’s a bit confusing to look at. To be honest, it looks like a rehash of
myIIT. In addition, the graphic design doesn’t carry over past the home
page...so the entire site comes across as not being very visually cohesive.
Secondly, it’s impossible to use. The old IIT site allowed me to access
Educational Services, Web for Students, and all that good stuff right from
the get go. Now, if I want to do ANYTHING, I have to use the search
box. Case in point: I needed some transcripts sent to a few schools I’m
applying to for grad school. I looked and looked at the site, and nothing
jumped out at me. No undergraduate services, no helpful links. I had to
what this feels like. Someone has a student government crush
on you! Run for student senate to find out who!”
But what’s really important is _tell me who nominated me
for Student Senate_. Was it because you’ve seen my valiant
fart jokes run in the paper, week after week, and you think that
I’m the one this institution needs to get Student Government
back on track? Is it because everyone on SGA was required to
come up with 10 people to invite and I’m one of 10 people you
know on campus who you haven’t seen visibly drunk or high?
Or was I selected by clerical error? Don’t worry, I won’t be
mad. I mean, I’m kind of peeved that you let me know really
anonymously instead of giving me an inspiring speech on how
I can be the one to make a real difference and guide IIT further
into the 21st century, but that’s OK! Making a difference is kind
of overrated, anyhow.
use the search function (something that, last time I checked, was a last
resort for any potential user) to find the appropriate site. I’ll just come right
out and say it; it seems to me that the website was designed to be used by
prospective students, rather than students who are already here.
2. The “fill words with IIT” campaign. I’m seeing this junk
everywhere, and now I’m getting tired of it. Imagine my horror when I
saw a bus drive by me in the morning with “CreativIITy” emblazoned on
the side of it. Hey, marketing people! You know who else advertises on the
CTA? DeVry, ITT, Harold Washington College, and all the other nothing
schools in Chicago. Put the pieces together...this isn’t something we want
to associate ourselves with, unless your target demographic is the lower
echelon of students. Oh, and by the way, every profession/discipline/job
on campus doesn’t need an IIT label. I continue to see staff walking around
in these branded shirts, and I have to pinch myself to make sure that I’m
not in the middle of a cartoon. Perhaps I should just make shirts that say
“IIT Student” and be done with it.
3. Illinois drivers. They are scary, and apparently have no resolve to
keep their cars undamaged. I’ve gotten more dings and scratches on my car
in the last nine months than the last five years I’ve owned my car. I check
my wallet to make sure I have my health and car insurance card on my
body every single time I leave my apartment to drive somewhere...soon
I’ll have to start saying a few Hail Mary’s on my way out the door.
Right now, that’s about all I can think of. However, I’m sure that you
can tell me how wrong I was or something...email me at emchcol@iit.
edu.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2007
TECHNEWS
NEWS
ANAM KHAN, EDITOR
5
AKHAN50@IIT.EDU
Congress fails to overturn
Bush’s veto on kid’s health
By Victor Guharoy
TECHNEWS WRITER
Last Thursday in a 273-156 vote, Congress failed to
overturn the President’s veto of expansion of kid’s health
program to cover an additional 4 million children (Associated
Press, October 18, 2007). It was 13 votes short of the two-thirds
majority needed to bypass President’s objection in making it a
law. 229 democrats and 44 Republicans supported the bill. The
bill was approved last month with more than two thirds majority
in the senate.
The expansion of the program would have increased the
spending on the State Children’s Health Insurance Program
(SCHIP) started during Clinton years by $7 billion annually. The
bill would have raised federal taxes on cigarettes to $1 a pack to
pay for the additional cost for expanding the coverage.
The legislation would have allowed states to extend health
coverage to uninsured children in middle-class families making
up to $61,000 a year for a family of four. Currently, many of those
kids have no health care coverage at all. Today, many jobs do
not come with health insurance coverage. Republican opponents
claim the income level is too high for qualifying for the program.
The President claims that the initiative is a socialized health care
program in disguise.
However, all leading organizations including American
Medical Association and American Association of Pediatrics
have strongly supported the bill since it takes care of health care
needs of the kids for whom no coverage exists at this time.
Congressman Pete Stark (D) commented “Republicans have
funds for the Iraq war but not for children’s health”.
FDA panel recommends ban
on pediatric cold medicines
By Victor Guharoy
TECHNEWS WRITER
Last Friday, an advisory panel of the Food and Drug
Administration voted to ban many of the popular over-thecounter cough and cold medications for children under six
(Associated Press October 20, 2007). The recommendation was
based on the fact that the medicines have not been proven to work
and may cause harm. The initiative came one week after some of
the major drug makers decided to withdraw more than a dozen
drugs labeled for use for babies. The panel voted unanimously
to ban the drugs for children under age two. However, the vote
to ban them in kids aged 2-5 was 13-9. It is uncertain whether
The FDA is going to accept both recommendations or not. Dr.
John Jenkins of the FDA’s office of New Drugs commented “the
recommendations may not lead to a ban of the products, but to
a warning on the label”.
The recent initiative was based on reported studies that the
products were not found to be effective in research studies and a
growing number of reports demonstrated that they are harmful
and dangerous. The FDA safety experts published a 365 page
review that showed decongestants and antihistamines have been
linked with 123 pediatric deaths since 1969.
Currently, there are about 800 pediatric cough medications in
the market and parents spend around $2 billion each year buying
those drugs. The recommendations apply to drugs containing
at least one of the following: expectorants, antitussives,
antihistamines and decongestants. The drug makers claim that the
drugs do work and are safe. They suggested that parent education
is needed to avoid overdoses that cause the harm.
The American Academy of Pediatrics told the FDA panel
that all cough and cold medications should be labeled to tell
parents that they are not effective for children under six and may
be dangerous. Pediatricians told the FDA panel on Thursday
that the over-the-counter drugs should not be given to children
under six.
Eid: Muslim
Christmas
By Anam Moin Khan
NEWS EDITOR
Muslims all over the world celebrated Eid earlier this
month. This day comes after a month of fasting during
the month of Ramadan. During Ramadan, Muslims fast
consecutively for 30 days from sun rise to sunset. They are
not allowed to eat or drink anything (not even water) during
the mentioned time period. They are also to refrain from all
sinful acts or thoughts.
Muslims keep fasts just to please God. They are not
kept as a penance or apology for any sinful acts committed
by them; they are just a way of showing how much they love
God. By fasting Muslims are able to experience the same pain
and suffering as their poor fellow brothers. This experience
in turn makes them thank God for all the blessings He has
bestowed upon them and also makes them more sensitive to
the situation of other people around them. During this month
Muslims provide aid to all brothers in need; a practice which
they continue even after Ramadan ends.
Muslims follow a lunar calendar due to which they
never know when Ramadan will finish and Eid will fall. In
order to find out when Eid will fall Muslims search the sky
for the moon after breaking their 29th fast. If the moon is
sighted; it means the end of Ramadan and the next day Eid
is celebrated. If the moon isn’t sighted they keep one more
fast and Eid is celebrated after the 30th fast.
On Eid day all Muslims gather in an open ground
TECHNEWS
your voice
Che Guevara
hair on sale
By Anam Moin Khan
NEWS EDITOR
The lock of hair and other artifacts, including photos of
Che’s dead body and fingerprints taken during post-mortem,
are being offered with a minimum bid level of 100,000
dollars.
One of the men who tracked down and killed Ernesto
“Che” Guevara is selling a dozen strands of the iconic
revolutionary’s hair at auction on Thursday.
The sale has generated protests from both Guevara’s
widow and supporters around the world. The items belong
to Gustavo Villoldo, who was an American CIA liaison to a
group of US Rangers authorized by the Bolivian government
to apprehend Che Guevara 40 years ago this month.
“He kept some remembrances of the whole experience,
but until now he’s never been willing to part with them,” said
Tom Slater, of Heritage Auction Galleries in Dallas, Texas.
The Cuban-born Villoldo was not available for an
interview, but Slater said Villoldo is unhappy with the mythic
status Guevara has attained through the years.n “He doesn’t
like the way Che has become a political icon, so he’s anxious
to get the whole story out,” Slater told AFP. “He feels that
Che was a murderer and a bandit and it was appropriate to
hunt him down.”
Guevara, a 39-year-old Argentine who became a Cuban
and internationalist guerrilla leader, was tracked down and
killed in the Bolivian jungle on October 9, 1967.
Villoldo said he removed the lock of hair and took
the photos and fingerprints as proof that the mission was
completed.
Slater said e-mails of protest have come from groups
and individuals who have “a left-leaning political persuasion”
and don’t understand the collector’s mentality.
One of the e-mails written in Spanish described the
auction as an “aberration committed by unscrupulous beings
that attack the memory of our unforgettable Ernesto Che
Guevara.”
The sender called for creation of “worldwide committees
where we denounce those who sell or dare to buy ... relics
of humanity.”
“They view the sale of his hair in particular almost as a
sacrilege, a desecration,” Slater said, adding that the e-mails
have not threatened injury or property damage, so he has not
reported them to law enforcement.
Guevara’s widow has also publicly “expressed dismay”
about the sale, he said.
However, he has hired additional uniformed and
plainclothes security for the preview and sale.
The Guevara lot also includes a map used in the chase,
an intercepted telegraph between rebel groups that allowed
pursuers to pinpoint Guevara’s location and identification
cards Villoldo received from the Bolivian government .afp
Source: Daily Times
photo from fastbytes.com
(preferably) and offer prayers in which they thank God. After
Prayers everyone wishes each other a ‘Happy Eid’ or ‘Eid
Mubarik’.
All the children get ‘Eidi’ on this day; it is a small
present given to them in order to show appreciation of their
good behavior during the past month. The whole community
gathers together to celebrate the day and thank God for all his
blessings.
If you would like to contribute to the News Section
or would like to see something else in it
Contact Anam
technews@iit.edu
TECHNEWS
6
NEWS
ANAM KHAN, EDITOR
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2007
AKHAN50@IIT.EDU
The specialized search for extra-terrestrial life
By Siddhartha Duna
TECHNEWS WRITER
Does life really exist beyond the boundaries of our tiny
planet? Is it possible that life may have originated somewhere
else in our seemingly infinite universe? Has someone out there
been observing mankind’s progress over the centuries? Just the
thought of this is enough to make the hair on the back of your
neck stand up. But even now, after centuries of wondering, and
decades of searching, humans still don’t know the answer to
this question.
Historical Evidence
Sightings of extra- terrestrial life forms on earth are not
exactly new. In fact one of the first ever recorded UFO sighting
was by Alexander’s army in central Asia in 329 BC. Digging
even deeper we find that UFO stories are found in most ancient
texts all around the world. Ica stones found in Peru in 1966
shows pictures of vehicles flying through space and many
other modern phenomenons. However the authenticity of these
stones have been questioned recently. Ancient texts from India
describe spacecrafts (called vimanas) and a war with aliens on
the moon.
There are also ancient stories of aliens coming from
space and settling on Earth in China. Archaeologists have
discovered regularly aligned rows of graves in the ‘Baian Kara
Ula‘ mountains near the Sino-Tibetan border. Beneath cave
drawings of beings wearing helmets along with depictions of
the stars, sun and moon, small frail skeletons with unusually
large skulls were found. Stone plates found in between the
graves after translation told an eerie story of a group of beings
that crash-landed on the third planet of this star system about
twelve thousand years ago.
Origins of Life on Earth
Life: A flamboyant, rambunctious, gregarious form of
matter, qualitatively different from rocks, gas, and dust, yet
made of the same stuff, the same common elements lying around
everywhere.
No one knows for sure when life first sprung on Earth. It
has been suggested that self-replicating, carbon-based microbial
life became well developed during Earth’s first billion years of
existence. Since then life on Earth never looked back and these
microbial life forms slowly evolved through billions of years.
These microbial life forms spread their wings and evolved into
the life forms we know today.
The big mystery that still baffles scientists is the question
as to how the first life forms came into being. Scientists around
the world have come up with unconvincing theories as solutions
to this problem. The Miller- Urey experiments conducted in
1953 attempted to recreate the chemical conditions of primitive
Earth in the laboratory, and to synthesize some of the building
blocks of life.
Another theory suggests that life on Earth may have come
from outer space. It has been deemed possible that microbial
life may have survived a journey through space on the back of
a meteorite. This meteor after crash landing on Earth may have
given rise to the first known living organism on this planet. If
this theory is true then in a way we are all “aliens”. Tests have
been conducted in which projectiles with microbes in them have
been fired at very high velocities. The projectiles after impact
have been studied and it was found that a few microbes did
survive the impact. This experiment goes on to strengthen this
theory and hence it might be possible for life to be abundant in
Bush calls Castro
Government a
“dying order”
By Anam Moin Khan
NEWS EDITOR
President George W. Bush called the
Castro government, “a disgraced and dying
order” on Wednesday. In his speech he urged
the Cubans to protest against the communist
law and work to establish a democratic state.
In his speech President Bush also defended
the stringent economic sanctions put by the
US on Cuba.
President Bush made it clear in his speech
that none of the sanctions on Cuba would be
lifted unless they fully switch to a democratic
government system. He explained this action
saying that if the sanctions were lifted they
would just give the Cuban government a firmer
grip on power.
This speech was the first that President
the universe.
Searching for Life beyond Earth
Belief in extraterrestrial life may have been present
in ancient Assyria, Egypt, Arabia, China, Babylon, India
and Sumeria, although in these societies, cosmology was
fundamentally supernatural and the notion of alien life is difficult
to distinguish from that of gods, demons, and such. Presently the
search for alien life forms is restricted to our solar system because
of technological constraints. We have sent probes to Mars and the
Moon with the sole intention of finding life. The Viking landers
sent in 1976 failed to detect any forms of life on Mars. Scientists
have admitted these missions were based on the presumption that
life on Mars would be similar to that of Earth. These failures did
bring the morale of biologists and scientists down for a while.
However the ‘Mars Global Surveyor’ recently found that liquid
water did indeed flow on the surface of the red planet and is still
present in large quantities under the surface. This discovery has
again rekindled the hope of finding life on Mars.
Another extraterrestrial body that has shown immense
potential to harbor life is Europa (one of Jupiter’s Moons). Recent
Galileo spacecraft images have provided evidence that Europa
had a liquid ocean underneath the frozen crust sometime in its
history, but it is not clear if this ocean still exists. Of the various
explanations proposed by scientists, most scenarios of Europa’s
evolution have the water layer freezing solid earlier in its history.
The moon’s surface is -260° F, which could freeze an ocean
over several million years. But scientists think that the warming
caused by a tidal tug of war with Jupiter and neighboring moons
could be keeping large parts of the ocean liquid.
Although we have not found life anywhere else other
than Earth there are a few scientists who are sure that life is
bound to exist in other parts of the universe. One such person
was Frank Drake and it was he who proposed the now famous
Drake Equation in 1961. He was confident that intelligent life
forms were abundant in our galaxy. His equation goes something
like this
N = R * fp * ne * fl * fi * fc * L
R: The average rate of star formation in a galaxy
Bush made with regards to Cuba since Fidel
Castro handed over the government control to
his brother Raul in the June of last year due
to his failing health. Castro, who is 81 years
old, has not been seen in public in the last
fifteen months and it has been reported that
he is suffering from an undisclosed intestinal
illness. Most political analysts believe that
there has been a complete and absolute transfer
of power to Raul Castro. It is predicted that
once the change in power becomes official the
world might see Cuba undergo some gradual,
modest changes.
President Bush made it clear in his speech
that a change in the leader would not affect the
US sanctions in anyway because they do not
want the Cuban government to have anymore
power than it already has. The American
government thinks that it is high time that
the Cubans are given more command of their
own life. Bush commented on the change of
leaders to merely “exchanging one dictator for
another.” “America will have no part in giving
oxygen to a criminal regime victimizing its
own people,” He gave this speech at the State
Department where the family members of
Cuban political prisoners were present.
fp: The fraction of those stars that have planets
ne: The average number of planets that can potentially
support life per star that has planets
fl: The fraction of the above that actually go on to develop
life at some point
fi: The fraction of the above that actually go on to develop
intelligent life
fc: The fraction of civilizations that develop a technology
that releases detectable signs of their existence into space
L: The length of time such civilizations release detectable
signals into space.
As a direct consequence of this equation, SETI (Search
for Extra- Terrestrial Intelligence), was formed. SETI works by
surveying the skies for transmission from other civilizations.
Only once in its history did it receive a transmission that had
the expected hallmarks of potential non-terrestrial and non-solar
system origin. This signal dubbed the “wow” signal was never
observed again.
Conclusion
It is believed by many people (although a big chunk of them
are science fiction writers) that life can be found almost anywhere
in the universe if we look hard enough for it. Considering the
huge number of stars in a galaxy and the number of galaxies
present in the universe it can be safely assumed that life is
bound to be present elsewhere other than our planet. Our own
galaxy for example has more than 200 billion stars and we have
discovered many stars with planetary systems around them. Now
it is very safe to assume that there must be many such planetary
systems across the universe that has conditions ideal for the
formation of life. The sad thing is that hundreds of civilizations
in a common galaxy may span their entire life without ever
coming in contact with each other. This is because of the great
inter- stellar distances involved.
In spite of all the odds humans are still searching the
heavens for someone else to talk to. Given the inquisitive and
exploratory nature of man it can be expected that we will keep
on searching till we have our first “contact” with an intelligent
being from another world.
photo from radrowdies.com/
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2007
TECHNEWS
C
AMPUS
Faculty of the Week: Roya Ayman
BABAJIDE OKE, EDITOR
By Jide Oke
7
OKEBABA@IIT.EDU
they present their projects and studies with confidence and
professionalism.
TECHNEWS WRITER
Please could you tell us a little bit about your growing
up years?
I was born in Edinburgh Scotland UK and was brought
up through my high school years in Tehran Iran. During these
years with my parents I spent two years in the U.S. and couple
of summers in boarding schools in England. In Iran, I started a
summer neighborhood lending library and book club for several
summers.
What colleges did you graduate from?
I graduated from University of Utah .
For how long have you been teaching here?
I joined IIT in the fall of 1983.
What courses do you teach at IIT?
I teach Leadership, Organizational Psychology and advance
graduate seminars in attitude and behaviors in organizations and
I oversee the internship of our graduate students.
What is your favorite thing about teaching here?
I like the interaction with students. I like the diversity of
students at IIT and their inquisitive minds. I enjoy a good and
informed discussion!
One of the highlights of your teaching career?
The best times I have had at IIT is when I have had the
honor of working with high caliber, motivated and hard working
students. When I work with students who are resourceful and
positive in their attitude and they don’t give up, it is a real joy.
It is exciting to watch my students who came to the program
motivated but confused and novices, later at conferences where
If you could change one thing about IIT, what would
it be?
More support for students and Faculty to do research and
to go to conferences. Also, we need to design our classrooms to
be better equipped with technology, more flexible for different
teaching methods.
What do you do in your free time?
I am active in the Chicago Bahá’í faith community life with
the focus on eliminating prejudice and developing a multicultural
community. In summers, I read novels, attend to my balcony
garden , and travel, as well as catching up with my writing and
presenting at conferences.
Any other comments/interesting things about yourself
that you’d like to share.
I like to be of help to others and work with students who take
initiative and are excited to work on projects. The best times I
have had at IIT are when I have had the honor of working with
high caliber, motivated, and resourceful students.
Advice to IIT students?
Enjoy your time as students by exploring new knowledge,
trying new experiences, and being open to new ideas. Step out
of your comfort zone. Befriend those who are different from
you, and build strong social networks. Try to excel in what you
do as this is the foundation for your future. Be involved!
Profile
Name: Roya Ayman
Hometown: Chicago
Favorite Book: The Fine Balance
Currently Reading: Articles about leadershipWomen’s Labyrinth of leadership Harvard Business
Review
Preferred Music: Jazz
Favorite Quote: “The diversity in the human family, should
be the cause of love and harmony, as it is in music where many
different notes blend together in the making of a perfect chord.”
(Shoghi Effendi, The Advent of Divine Justice, p. 38)
“The happiness of mankind will be realized when women
and men coordinate and advance equally, for each is the
compliment and helpmeet of the other.”
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Bahá’í World Faith p. 241)
Auction of Red Sox baseball book to benefit small Chicago college
Press Release
TECHNEWS WRITER
This week, while much of the country is focused on the
outcome of the World Series contest between the Boston Red
Sox and the Colorado Rockies, a small Chicago College will be
closely watching another contest involving the Red Sox -- an
eBay auction for the 1897 first publication of George Touhey’s
Boston Base Ball Club 1871-1897, one of the rarest books in
baseball history. The book will be listed on eBay starting this
Sunday, October 28th, in a week-long auction for the benefit
of Shimer College. Shimer is an academically rigorous fouryear liberal arts college where students study a Great Books
curriculum in small discussion-based classes. The college
is located on the Chicago campus of the Illinois Institute of
Technology (IIT), where Shimer students can take courses on
topics ranging beyond the Great Books curriculum.
Only a handful of copies of the book remain in existence.
It is considered highly collectible due to its numerous vintage
photographs of the 1800’s Boston Red Stockings (later changed
to Red Sox) ballplayers as well as its excellent history of baseball;
one that debunks the common myth that the game was invented
by Abner Doubleday.
The book’s donor, Dan Shiner (sic) of Mill Valley,
California, is a rare book dealer, 1977 Shimer alum, and member
of the Shimer College Board of Trustees. He says that Shimer’s
highly regarded Great Books program and its determination to
offer admission to the broadest possible spectrum of promising,
highly motivated students inspired him to offer the proceeds of
the sale to the College.
The College’s President, Ron Champagne, has agreed that
if the sale price is $50,000 or more he will personally deliver
the book anywhere in the continental United States. Champagne
added, “It is fitting that the gift of a rare book is being used to
support a college committed to the Great Books of Western
literature.”
New speed bumps
on South Wabash
By Daniel Votipka
TECHNEWS WRITER
In the schools recent push in facilities to
make the school look nicer and work better,
there have recently been speed bumps added
to S. Wabash street which is on the west
side of the Quad. These have been added
due to the observation that too many people
speed down this road and their appearance
should be able to deter such actions from
continuing. So for everyone driving in the
area, watch out for the new speed bumps on
S. Wabash, and for everyone walking there,
make sure to thank facilities for making that
area safer for pedestrians.
TECHNEWS
your voice
New Psych class being
offered in the spring
The Institute of Psychology’s Dr.
Mike Young is offering an interesting
new class this Spring. The course number
is PSYC489, and it will be offered Mon
& Wed 10-11:15. The prerequisite will
be either 221, 222 or 303. The course
description is below:
AUTOBIOGRAPHY AND MENTAL
HEALTH
Psychological disorders impact the
individual, the family, and society in
general. It is estimated that mental illness
affects 1 in 5 families in America and that
serious mental illness affects about 1 in 17
Americans.
The World Health Organization reports
that four of the 10 leading causes of disability
are mental disorders. Many people with
psychological disorders have written about
their lives, their problems, and their coping
and recovery. In this course, we will read a
variety of these autobiographies and work to
understand the experiences of their authors
and what the science of psychology has to
say about the nature of their difficulties. A
wide range of disorders will be considered
including depression, bipolar disorder,
schizophrenia, substance abuse, anxiety
disorder, eating disorders, and autism.
If you would like to contribute to the Campus News Section
or would like to see something else in it
Contact Jide
okebaba@iit.edu
TECHNEWS
8
CAMPUS
BABAJIDE OKE, EDITOR
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2007
OKEBABA@IIT.EDU
32nd Annual International Fest hits Illinois Tech
continued from front
regions that each group represents through the
decoration of their booths.
If the Day event cannot satisfy your appetite
then the Evening event would satisfy your
hunger for arts with more great performances
from IIT students. Performances will be in the
Herman Hall auditorium from 7:30 pm – 10:30
pm. You wouldn’t imagine that your everyday
classmates could be such good dancers, singers
or musicians. Come and explore their talents
and support them during the performances.
Students from different background and
different cultures come together on one stage
to share their cultures through their elegant
performances. Yet this is not an end! For those
tradition savvy people, we have a fashion show,
with students in their traditional attire, which is
like toppings on the desert! And that’s why we
think the “colors of the world” is an apt theme
for the evening performances.
These are just some quick facts of I-fest.
Come to the fest where lots of surprises await
you. Mark down your calendar now for the 32nd
IIT Annual International Fest. Come to support
your country! Come and enjoy the biggest
DiversIITy celebration of the year!
If you have any questions about I-Fest,
would like to explore the opportunities and get
involved in this great IIT traditional event or
want more information on how to be a part of
enriching international students life at IIT, visit
the ISO website at http://iit.edu/~iso or contact
us through email at iso@iit.edu.
Comedy Central sensation to announce Flix2Clix $1,000 winner
By Linda Goldstein
LAYOUT EDITOR
Voting for Flix2Clix, (the IIT studentmade video contest) is closed, and on
November 1, Andrew Kennedy (Comedy
Central sensation) will announce the
winners.
Communications and Marketing and
Union Board are hosting a film screening
festival of the top 10 video submissions. The
festival, to be held in the MTCC Auditorium
at 6:15 pm, will feature Andrew Kennedy’s
stand-up comedy routine, and he will
personally present the top three cash-prize
winners with their prizes. Someone you know
Why we love our President
continued from front
continues to improve. These leaders seek
improvement, a University to take pride in, and
an administration willing to listen to the issues
at hand and deal with them.
It is this craving from students that is
fulfilled with the new chapter in the life of IIT,
a chapter full of hope and promise.
On Tuesday, October 30th, the new
President John Anderson will be officially
inaugurated as the leader of this growing
institution, and it is an exciting moment for
trustees, students, staff, faculty, alumni, and
all future University community members to
come. In only 2 months, I have seen President
John Anderson around campus almost as many
times as I have seen my professors. This is a
President who commands respect immediately
upon introduction, yet (I am) humbled by his
friendliness and sincere concern for the welfare
of students. He eats in our Center Court, holds
meetings in the MTCC, speaks at student
organization meetings, and comes to many of
the events on campus! Who would believe
it? A President whose life is intertwined with
the University’s? When students attend big
home volleyball games, he attends volleyball
games. When half of the student body attended
the Homecoming Carnival, that’s right, the
President was there. He does more than just
attend, he looks for problems students deal with
on a regular basis and seeks to solve them. When
he attended the Homecoming Volleyball game,
he said, “why is it so hot in here?” It hadn’t
occurred to anyone in the administration to tell
the President that the student gym doesn’t have
air conditioning...maybe a new recreational gym
facility is needed? When the President attended
a Tech Soccer game, the President wondered
why members of Scarlet Fever, the IIT sports
fan club, were spending $500 and then grilling
burgers for Tech fans for four hours when
Sodexho offers catering services. He discovered
the overpriced costs of Sodexho catering. To top
it all off, this is a President willing to have a beer
in the BOG! It’s unheard of! This uncommon
interaction with students IS common with this
President. In fact, he offers 15 minute meeting
times several times a semester for students
to come discuss...well, pretty much anything
actually. Believe it or not, he doesn’t want to
hear just problems, he enjoys talk about almost
anything, but his only rule for these meetings is
to not ask for money. This is understandable,
since the last proposition for money was the
reopening of the BOG, leading to a much-needed
expenditure of over $1 million. And maybe, just
maybe, a student might ask the President to hold
this “meeting” down in the BOG, to share a few
beers, and meet a President with a background
in engineering, a love for movies, and a personal
interest in University athletics.
My friends and fellow students, this
President is the cure: the cure to the disease of
policies made without student recommendation
or need, and the birth of a new age; a new dawn
that will lead IIT to its potential as one of the
more prestigious, thriving, and student-loved
universities in the country.
I am excited: excited for my university,
excited for the changes yet to come, and excited
for us all... this is a very wonderful time to be
on campus at IIT, and I am excited to be a part
of it. Mr. President; with the attitude you bring,
the campus involvement you’ve shown, and the
knowledge that you care about our students;
it is easy to see why the best of IIT is yet to
come. Now is the time to be at this university.
Good luck at your inauguration; I will join in
the applause.
might go home with the top prize of $1,000.
Also, the top video will be displayed at iit.edu
for a year! The second and third place winners
will receive $500 and $250 each.
Some statistics on how amazing these
videos (and YOU for getting your friends to
vote) are:
Students from 92 colleges and universities
voted
Students from 85 high schools voted
There were 8,565 page views in the first
15 days
Loads of reviews and comments from
IIT alumni
Come rofl with Andrew Kennedy and
cheer on your favorite Flix2Clix movie!
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2007
TECHNEWS
ANDRES DE LA HOZ AND
COLIN EMCH-WEI, EDITORS
A&E
9
DELAAND1@IIT.EDU
EMCHCOL@IIT.EDU
The Limited keeps rolling H. G. Wells, the father
By Colin Emch-Wei
A&E EDITOR
I am almost ashamed to admit this, but
here goes: when I first saw the trailer for “The
Darjeeling Limited”, I thought it was a waste
of celluloid. Wes Anderson was making another
movie about immature people developing,
and that it’d be something to pass up. I was
wrong. The writing is definitely different from
past films like “Rushmore” and “The Life
Aquatic”...and it’s appreciated.
“The Darjeeling Limited” is the story of
three distant brothers who band together for
what they feel is a spiritual rail trip across
India. Led by recently crippled Francis (Owen
Wilson), fellow brothers Peter (Adrien Brody)
and Jack (Jason Schwartzman) each have
issues of their own that constantly manifest
themselves throughout their journey. Each
doesn’t trust the other, as they haven’t spoken
in a year, and the group dynamic plays out
exactly as you’d expect three men who aren’t
comfortable with each other to act. They bicker,
find fault in each other’s idiosyncrasies and
mannerisms, and at least one point, come to
blows as brothers are apt to do.
However, due to a series of unfortunate
events involving a poisonous snake, a can of
mace, and a fistfight, the brothers are kicked
off the train and forced to take their journey
on a slightly more unconventional path. As
they do so, they discover what it is that is
exactly wrong with themselves (this question
is directly posed to Jack, who responds with “I
don’t know...I’ll have to think about it and tell
you later.). Each brother has emotional baggage
that prevents him from being totally free, and
the method through which this is dealt with
quite striking.
Perhaps the best part of the film is the
chemistry between these three actors. The
awkward silence and situations makes for some
honestly funny humor that sort of sneaks up
on the viewer and takes one by surprise. None
of the actors is particularly outstanding in
“The Darjeeling Limited”, but their combined
performance is actually quite moving. The
symbolism, camera play, and other metaphors
aren’t too deep, so casual viewers shouldn’t
be too intimidated. All in all, this is a pretty
solid movie. It’s most definitely a low-key,
feel-good movie, and it doesn’t pretend to be
anything else.
Just a minor rumble
By Andres De La Hoz
A&E EDITOR
Jose Gonzalez’s second album, the
recently released “In Our Nature”, is about as
slight as his first one. Gonzalez, an acoustic
singer-songwriter from Sweden, has a knack for
great melodies and powerful songs, yet they’re
short and sweet enough to make less of an
impression than you’d imagine. His melodies
slowly creep up on you and before you know
it, you have an entire album memorized even
if you hadn’t given much thought to it.
“In Our Nature” doesn’t find Gonzalez
straying too far off the path that he’s followed
for his last few releases. There’s no new
elaborate instrumentation or anything dramatic
here. The songs are backed by soft acoustic
strumming and a few overdubs. Gonzalez’s
hazy voice carries the tunes.
Lead single “Down The Line” is probably
the biggest change from his old material, and
the only change from it is that it’s a little bit
more energetic. Most of the material here could
comfortably fit on Veneer or his EPs. After
toying with it live for a few years, he’s finally
included a proper cover of Massive Attack’s
“Teardrops”. Unlike his cover of “Heartbeats”
by The Knife, which is still his most popular
song, this one isn’t the definitive recording of
the song. It is, however, a powerful song on its
own, and it shows that he can use the limited
palette that he’s allowed himself to toy with in
very efficient ways.
Playing to a large crowd at Park West,
Gonzalez’s live show was reminiscent of
his music: all too brief, yet hard to demand
anything else from it. Sitting down alone and
playing his acoustic guitar, Gonzalez’s set
seemed contradictory, yet it was just right. On
one hand, it was quite short. On the other hand,
he played practically every song anyone would
want to hear him play. Going through powerful
renditions of Crosses, Heartbeats, Hints,
How Low, Teardrop, Cycling Trivialities,
and more, Gonzalez engaged the crowd, or
at least as much as you can engage a crowd
in a seated venue. There were no wild new
arrangements, no extended playing, no selfindulgent moments, nothing that would break
the line between performer and performance.
Gonzalez, though perhaps “boring” in the
conventional sense, did a perfect balancing
act of not selling himself and his personality
while presenting his work and making a strong
impression with it.
of science fiction
By Anant K.S. Puri
TECHNEWS WRITER
This summer I had a chance to go
through some good books. Not really in to
sci-fi, I was looking through the Literature
section in Galvin library when I came across
“Seven Short Science Fiction Novels- H.G.
Wells”. The words that rang a bell were
“Short Novels” and I decided to give science
fiction a chance. The novel is turning out
to be a great read. It has stories which have
proved to be the script to many of Today’s
biggest grossing flicks. Noteworthy are
“War of the Worlds”, “Hollow Man”, “The
Time Machine” etc. All these short stories
were culled before/around 1940s and are not
just the figment of someone’s imagination
gone for a home run. H.G. Wells wrote
his first best seller in 1901 and was called
“Anticipations”. It was more of a prophecy
and it did come out true. It dealt with topics
such as the existence of the European Union,
greater transportation in the from of cars
and Trains and had a hint of doubt about the
aircraft and the submarine ever being made.
The beauty of these novels lies in the fact
that most of them were written during the
time when such ideas and technologies were
deemed out of reach even by the researchers.
The short novels especially “The Invisible
Man” gives partially logical deductions on the
existence of a chemical that can render one
invisible. Similarly, the world of the future
explored by the main protagonist in “The
Time Machine” takes us to the future where
there are 2 kinds of beings. One living in the
light and the others living in underground
tunnels in complete darkness. This idea was
picked up by a British movie “The Descent”
Gonzalez’s work is reminiscent of Nick
Drake; extremely competent, finely crafted,
yet due to its very own nature it’s hard to see it
as anything but “minor”. He’s not making any
powerful statements, or releasing any epics,
or filling his songs with magical productions.
Rather, the man has refined his songwriting
and guitar-playing skills to a point where
in which a group of adventurers fall into a
cave where similar beings thrive. However,
they forgot to give credit to Wells.
Another noteworthy novel was “The
Island of Dr. Moreau”, which was written
by Wells in 1896 and was the inspiration
for the 1996 flick of the same name starring
Marlon Brando and Val Kilmer. It is about
a supposedly mad scientist who is an expert
in vivisection and thanks to his experiments
(which I shall not disclose so as not to spoil
the fun) is banished from England only to
take refuge in an island where he continues
with his experiments. I do not recommend
the movie since it fails to do justice to the
vision of Wells.
So for all those looking to catch up on
some reading during the Fall Break, this book
is a definite read.
he can easily produce heartfelt, delicate
songs with consistency. In an era were many
singer-songwriters are constantly reinventing
themselves or going through wild changes to
diminishing results (Devendra Banhart’s spotty
new album being a prime example), it’s good
to see someone less concerned about a grand
statement and simply refining himself.
10
TECHNEWS
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2007
THE SLIPSTICK
Crossword
JOE KAISER, EDITOR
Across
1. Sweater eater
7. Curly cabbage
10. Modernizations
11. At hand
12. Musical composition
13. Like some dorms
15. Go out with
17. Stetson, e.g.
18. Driving hazard
20. Low island
21. Symbol of might
23. ___-Wan Kenobi
24. Aardvark’s morsel
26. Of two minds
27. Unseeing
29. Biblical twin
31. Actress Moore
32. Small, medium or large
33. Use a beeper
35. Signalled
37. Prohibitionists
39. Inquire
41. Pink lady ingredient
42. Wear and tear
43. Leather-working tool
44. Part of a joule
45. Sign after Cancer
47. Deposits
50. Only
52. Insightful
53. Apiece
54. Convalesces
55. Articulates
56. Actress Russo
1. Lunar period
2. Farm vehicle
3. Parade honoree
4. Golf club
5. Kenyan capital
6. Rear
7. Bow
8. Facets
9. English exam finale,
often
14. Lodge member
16. Doctors’ org.
18. Leaves
19. Chinese medicinal root
22. South American range
25. Must-haves
26. Hint
27. Mercedes competitor
28. Accomplished
30. Battleship letters
34. Art museum
36. Good qualities
38. Set free
40. Door opener
42. Roswell sighting
43. West Wing workers
46. Earthy color
48. “Planet of the ___”
49. Poker variety
50. Navy commando
51. Lecherous look
Down
The Slipstick
Anti-Slipstick
xkcd
xkcd.com
b y R a n d a l l M u n ro e
JKAISER2@IIT.EDU
Sudoku 4ever
TECHNEWS
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2007
THE SLIPSTICK
JOE KAISER, EDITOR
11
JKAISER2@IIT.EDU
Fear and Loathing on YouTube:
A Savage Journey to the Soul of Soulja Boy
By Joe Kaiser
SLIPSTICK EDITOR
It was about 2AM in the living room when the song began to
take hold. I remember saying something like “Walk it out” about
seven times over. Suddenly there was a terrible roar all around
me and the air was full of what sounded like novelty rap, from
the dirtiest part of the dirty south walking to the west side and
the south side and the east side and the north side. But no point
in mentioning that to the present company, I thought. Those poor
bastards will hear it soon enough.
I knew I had ended up at a search page, but why? I hadn’t typed
anything. I had been given the means to complete my experiment,
I had only to finish the job. More importantly, how long had I been
there without having typed anything? Hours?
But there is nothing more helpless and irresponsible and
depraved than a man in the depths of a novelty rap song high. And
once you start, you have no choice but to indulge. You can try to
resist, but you’re hit by bad waves of paranoia, fear and loathing,
intolerable vibrations. No, I had to press on. I can’t stop here! This
is UNK country!
Jesus! Did I say that out loud?
Or did I just think it? Was I talking? Did anyone hear me?
When you search a novelty rap song you have two choices.
There’s the classic version. Clean. Safe. Family fun. Nothing to
offend your delicate sensibilities if there’s anything left up there
that can even be offended. And then, of course, there’s the other
choice, where you could see things that no loving god might ever
subject anyone to, where everything you grew up with has been
perverted for some higher purpose that you could not possibly
hope to comprehend in this lifetime. A person can learn to cope
with things like a giant urban rodent assaulting you with only a
windshield to protect you from its wrath, but nobody should be
asked to handle this trip. Of course, it was too late.
The first time you experience a novelty rap song visualized
by popular children’s entertainment you are inevitably unprepared.
How could you prepare for something like that? You’re thrust into a
world governed only by a crowd of dancing penguins flailing their
wings and legs as if they’d lived in Atlanta all their life. “Happy
Feet vs Walk It Out” is what the whole world would be watching
every Saturday night if Churchill and Roosevelt had been stoned
out of their minds. This was the Weimar Republic.
It goes without saying that this is the kind of thing that can
get to you, that can start to give you the fear. This was no work of
god, this was a mad reinvention of avian development. This was
the world as we know it if Jonathan Swift was responsible for the
Origin of Species. But once you’ve entered this vortex, how can
you quit? I had hit the jackpot. I was in search of the American
Dream and I had just come upon the main nerve. Maybe that was
the scariest part of it all.
But the task at hand begged a more attentive mind. The
bastards had stopped after one verse, and I didn’t have much
time. If I hesitated much longer I’d forget the penguins altogether
and another song would close in on
me and hunt me down like a beast.
But I still had time to guide my own
destiny.
I had a lot of options still
available to me, but not a lot of good
ones. It wasn’t going to be easy. We
could count out all the iterations of
the same song - when you leave a
song, you stay away, for good reason.
It was important to pick something
with the highest potential: too weird
to see, but too rare to avoid.
I have only now come to realize
that those criteria were too strict, that
there was no way to figure out which
way a trip would take you before
you’d even taken one step on the
journey. Admittedly I had taken that
first step, but it was a step so trivial,
so irrelevant that I couldn’t bear to
leave it at that.
But there was enough to consider without becoming wired
into a survival trip. Time had become shorter than it was, and I
hadn’t a moment to think, just a moment to know!
Some would say that “Spongebob vs This is Why I’m Hot” is
the furthest they’d ever go. About thirty seconds in, you won’t be
able to explain any further. You’ll understand it, but when the mind
tries to identify a single object on-screen, your mouth won’t be able
to form the words. If you stop to write down what you’re seeing,
you won’t be able to read the letters you’ve written. Everything that
sounds right looks wrong, everything that looks right sounds wrong.
You’re still going at that American dream, obsessed with the idea
that your salvation will come at the end of a progress bar. Instead,
you get some shoddily animated credits and an instrumental reprise.
You’re ready for your money back.
By the time you’ve let your eyes rest elsewhere, you can’t
compose an image in your mind. Spongebob has jumped from his
trousers, then split into two pieces
and floated in opposite ways with
the underwater currents before
meeting himself in the middle.
Suddenly, he’s between two
pillars of fire! Have your senses
betrayed you, or is this just some
sick palette characteristic of any
journey without a point B?
that the world fits together like it should, that everyone knows far
more than they let on and maybe if we all dropped these guises, we
could stop hunger, cure disease, save mother earth. It seems like a
lifetime ago, like that kind of high will never come again. It was a
very special time and place to be a part of - no mixture of senses
and emotions can come close to knowing that you were part of that
movement, in that little corner of the world, whatever it meant.
Today, though, the buzz was still strong, but wearing off. We
still had a lot left, but not very much of it would give me the kind
of hit I was looking for. I’d heard lots of stories about Soulja
Boy Pooh. Not the kind of thing you read to a kid before bed. The
things I’d heard about Soulja Boy Pooh would make your arms
and legs fall off. A girl from Nebraska, dragged out of her home
by junkies and made to play Soulja Boy Pooh over and over for
them. Right in the middle of the day, with countless witnesses
helpless to stop them. Friends, family. When you’ve been hit by
Soulja Boy Pooh, there is little that can protect you, save for the
tears of a child. It’s not something that the unprepared would want
to get mixed up in.
I remember thinking, “Jesus, what a terrible thing to lay on
somebody with a head full of Party Like a Rockstar Remix Barney.”
The ambiance of the room turns into something out of a dark alley.
You have to kind of sit back and absorb it - if you try too hard to
fight it, you’ll start to get brain bubbles. Strokes. Aneurysms. You’ll
wither up and die. It starts to feel like you’ve gone through every
video ever produced since 1891 AD.
I recall one night in the
bathroom at the corner bar, years
ago. There I was, a victim of the
YouTube explosion. It didn’t
matter what the combination
was, so long as it could get you
moving for a few minutes. I’d
pick up anything that passed
by. The easiest to come by was
Eminem and Dora the Explorer,
but on rare occasions we’d pick
up a reel of Pokemon versus
whatever Japanese group was
hot that week. I didn’t care. We
didn’t care about what road we
were taking, all we wanted was
the excess. We knew we were
invincible - the further we dove into this underworld, the less
and less anyone would believe us. I met a guy with the new stuff,
Party Like a Rockstar Remix Barney, trying to find someone with
a screen to play it on. I decided only to watch half the video at first,
but it was taking an inordinately long time to buffer and we went
for the whole thing in one go. In walks this real tidy guy, maybe a
lawyer, maybe a businessman. With a little luck, his life was ruined
forever. He’d always be thinking that just behind the bathroom door
at his favorite bars, men in black hooded sweatshirts are getting
enormous pleasure from things he’ll never know.
The defining characteristic of any Soulja Boy Pooh trip is the
motion. As soon as you start to settle into an established rhythm, a
sudden burst of motion shoots your head upward toward the sky,
and you’re helpless to stop it. about once every thirty seconds, you
have a freak-out so severe that you’re convinced that you have
reached the penultimate moment of your life, that your heart will
fail to beat and you find yourself with precious little time to make
your peace with whatever deity you happen to be responsible to.
A good Party Like a Rockstar Remix Barney binge should
come on slow. The first twenty seconds is all waiting. About twenty
seconds later, you start to curse the schmuck who screwed you,
because nothing’s happened yet. Suddenly... zang! There’s a mirror
running down the bridge of your nose. You can see the world far
more clearly, because you’re seeing all of it twice. You have a sense
The sun was coming up as I was winding down. I was as
joyous as they came: a man on the move, too wound up to stay
down, too laid back to stay up.
The crash is long and painful. You’re tempted to just queue
up the video until your queue is completely filled. But no man of
any stature is able to deal with that much SBP at the same time.
You’ll turn into something out of the DSM-IV, a prime case study
for someone who’s entirely lost their marbles. You’d be paranoid,
completely disoriented, fixated on the video and nothing but.
I had abused every rule that YouTube lived by. Spamming
comment sections. Unauthorized use of copyrighted content.
Misuse of the “flag as inappropriate” link. I had lived a screaming
inverse of the American Dream. I’d gone to the pinnacle of excess
and come out the other side without devolving into a complete mess.
I’d crashed around the internet looking to expand my consciousness
and in the end never giving a thought to the grim reality waiting
for me on the other side. With me, I took down a whole generation
of thrill-seekers, permanent bufferers, never understanding the
fallacy of the YouTube culture - that there was some destination,
somewhere we’d end up at once the ride was over.
(Apologies to the memory of Hunter S. Thompson. Incredibly
sincere apologies.)
?
Will you be the next mustachioed President?
Fact: Of all Presidents with mustaches,
not a single one wrote for TechNews.
Won’t you be the first?
TECHNEWS
technews.iit.edu
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2007
TECHNEWS
SPORTS
STEPHANIE HERRERA, EDITOR
13
HERRSTE1@IIT.EDU
Men’s soccer Ferrari champions for 2007;
1/4-finals loss Iceman drivers’ champion
By Stephanie Herrera
By Abhishek Gundugurti
SPORTS EDITOR
TECHNEWS WRITER
Men’s soccer wrapped up their season this past week,
ending with an overall record of 9-5-4 and a conference
record of 5-2-2. The weeks leading up to the finals were
something to cheer about.
Two Saturdays ago the Hawks faced conference foe
St. Francis and took the match 2-1 on their field. The game
started off slow, in the 28th minute SFU scored the first goal
of the match. The Hawks responded late in the second half
at minute 67, Junior Nathan Waisath had a hard kick to the
top of the net to tie up the score. Just before the final minutes
of the game, Waisath added another goal to his record with
a shot to the corner past the St. Francis goalie, assisted by
Steven Booher. They ended the match 2-1 adding another
win to their record.
Last Tuesday Robert Morris visited Stewart Field and
went home with 1 goal to the Hawk’s 5. The first goal of
the game was a cross kick by Scott McFarlane to Graeme
Port who guided the ball just past the eagles goalie. Adding
another notch to his belt Port scored again with an assist by
Steven Booher. The 3rd goal was a sight to see, possibly
being one of the best shots of the season. Booher had a 25
yard shot to make the score 3-0. RMC final got a shot off
of a penalty which resulted in the loss of goalie Michael
Tilatti. Shortly after in was a 10-10 man game when the
Eagles receive a penalty of their own. Booher ended the
game with a hat trick with a goal in the 82nd minute on a
break away and anther off of a penalty shot conversion from
Daniel Aronberg.
The following Saturday they tied it up with Judson 2-2,
who secured their spot in the conference. The two goals were
claimed by Graeme Port and Pedro Lima. It was a pretty
even match-up with IIT’s 16 shots on goal to JC’s 11. Goalie
Jared Svaldi had 9 saves for the game.
Finally, the Hawks ended their season with a
heartbreaking loss to Olivet Nazarene (2-1). They finished
5th in conference. Leaders for the season were Graeme Port
with 10 goals and 30 shots on goal, Steven Booher with 8
goals, 15 shots on goal and 3 assists and Pedro Lima with
4 goals, 3 assists and 25 shots on goal. Announcements
for All-Conference Players will be made later this week.
Congratulations to the Coach Lee and the Hawks on their
great season!
World famous sports car manufacturers, Ferrari have
once again concurred the world’s race tracks. The Scuderia
Ferrari Formula 1 team has won the World Constructors’
championship and their ace driver, Iceman Kimi Raikkonen won
the World’s Drivers’ championship last weekend in Brazil.
In a very exciting season of Formula 1, which saw
the first black driver in Formula 1, the rookie Lewis Hamilton,
started off in one of the top teams, Vodafone Mclaren Mercedes
Benz racing team, This year also saw a big spy-scandal that
partially tainted the sport and gave much gossip about its future
as well.
Way back in March, the first race in Australia seemed
so much like a continuation of the season from last year. The
Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen won the race with both the Mclaren
drivers finishing 2nd and 3rd. Lewis Hamilton finished 3rd in
his debut race, thus creating a record for himself as a rookie. The
second race in Malaysia was a thriller as well with Alonso, the
two-time and reigning world champion taking his first win of the
season. Hamilton finishes second for Mclaren’s first one-two of
the season. The third race in Bahrain was a reversal as Ferrari
once again dominates, this time in the hands of Felipe Massa.
Moving on to May 07, the first race of the summer
season in Spain, home hero Fernando Alonso failed to make
much of the race and was beaten by his team mate to second
place. The race was won again by Felipe Massa. Kimi Raikkonen
failed to finish the race because of an electrical failure. The next
race was the most prestigious one in the season; the Monaco
Grand Prix. Fernando won the race here and proved that he was
good enough to be world champion. Hamilton and Massa came
in third and fourth respectively.
The races moved to North America in June. The first
race, the Canadian Grand Prix was held in Montreal. Rookie
Hamilton came out with a blistering drive to win the Canadian
Grand Prix and the first Formula 1 race of his career. His closest
rival, Kimi Raikkonen finished fifth and Alonso had a disastrous
race to seventh place. Moving to the United States race (which
was attended by a lot of IIT students) the results were similar with
Lewis Hamilton winning his second race in as many weeks with
his team mate coming in third. Massa finished third. Going into
France, the F1 circus celebrated another Ferrari one-two victory
with Kimi Raikkonen beating Massa for first with Hamilton
finishing in third.
In second week of July, the F1 racing went to Britain;
though home town hero Hamilton was favorite to win, Kimi
Raikkonen won his second race in a row and Alonso finished
second, Hamilton third. A rained soaked European Grand Prix
was next where Alonso came out strongest after beating Massa
in an intense battle for first place. Australian Mark Webber
finished third for Red Bull Racing. In August, racing continued
in Hungary, where Lewis Hamilton won the race from Kimi
Raikkonen after his team mate was penalized for blocking
him in qualifying. Nick Heidfield in the BMW team finished
third. In Turkey, Felipe Massa proved he could still be world
champion by winning the race from his teammate Raikkonen
and rival Fernando Alonso. Hamilton finished fifth because of a
tire puncture.
Back in Ferrari’s homeground of Italy, Mclaren beat
Ferrari fair and square. Alonso finished first and his teammate
overtook Raikkonen in a superb move to claim another Mclaren
one-two. Massa did not finish because of a suspension failure.
The famous Belgian Grand Prix saw Ferrari’s fight back with
Kimi Raikkonen winning again from Massa and Alonso.
Hamilton finished a close fourth. Racing then moved to Asia
with Japan hosting the first race. After a torrential rain and almost
zero visibility, Hamilton won the race as Alonso crashed out,
Raikkonen finished third and Massa finished sixth. A similar
race happened in China; due to severe rain, the race was cautious
and produced some dramatic results. Hamilton lost out and
crashed due to severe tire damage. Kimi Raikkonen, Alonso and
Massa went on to finish in 1-2-3 which gave Fernando Alonso,
Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen a chance to fight for the
championship in the final race.
The final race in Brazil was a climactic end to the most
exciting Formula 1 season since 2000. Kimi Raikkonen gave a
good fight to Hamilton in the first lap and over took him. Under
pressure, Hamilton made a small error which let his teammate
Alonso also take advantage and overtake Hamilton. At that
instance, due to an error, Hamilton lost power in the engine
due to a faulty gear change. This put him in 18th place by the
end of lap 8. He made up his way to 7th place by the end of the
race, but it wasn’t enough. Kimi Raikkonen went on to win the
race with Felipe Massa finishing in second place and Alonso in
Third place. Due to this finishing positions, Kimi Raikkonen was
champion by one point over Alonso and Alonso and Hamilton
were tied for second place.
Over all, a very exciting racing season in the exciting,
technically challenging and a true motorsport, Formula 1.
In honor of Ferrari winning the championship, Motor Sports
Fan Club at IIT is hosting an event next Thursday, November
1st, at 9pm in the E1-auditorium. If you are interested to know
more, email msfc@iit.edu for details.
Do you know
sports?
In what city in China are the 2008
Olympics being held?
A.
B.
C.
D.
Shanghai
Hong Kong
Suzhou
Beijing
Answer in next week’s issue.
Answer to last week’s issue B. Real
Tennis
TECHNEWS
your voice
If you would like to contribute to the Sports Section
or would like to see something else in it
Contact Stephanie
technews@iit.edu
14
TECHNEWS
SPORTS
STEPHANIE HERRERA, EDITOR
HERRSTE1@IIT.EDU
Cross Country is rounding out
their season with Conference
By Stephanie Herrera
SPORTS EDITOR
Two Saturdays ago the cross country team traveled to
UW-Parkside and placed 8th and 10th against nationally ranked
schools. For the women Stephanie Lucas broke her month old
record by 4 seconds. Top 5 contenders representing IIT were
Stephanie Lucas (23rd/12:29), Lisa Nielsen (39th/20:07), Liz
Bilitz (56th/20:28), Guadalupe Cortez (87th/21:16) and Brooke
Jeffcoat (89th/21:17). For the men, Dan Oh lead the way for
the Hawks (15th/26:09), Oba Vincent (58th/27:27), Ed Aramayo
(87th/28:02), Wes Villalobos (94th/28:16) and Nick Williamson
(101st/28:32).
Phil, Head Coach and Trainer, had this to say about the meet,
“We are close. There is room for improvement and I believe
that will come with the team overcoming the lingering injuries,
illness and mid-terms.”
Last Saturday was conference for the men’s and women’s
team. The women finished 3rd out of 7th and the men finished
2nd out of 7th. For the women Stephanie Lucas finished 8th
out overall at a time of 19:48. Liz Bilitz followed in 11th with
a time of 20:16, then Lisa Nielsen (12th/20:19), Brooke Jeffcoat
(15th/20:29) and Beth Nielsen (23rd/21:35). For the men, Dan
Oh finished 4th overall with a time of 17 minutes flat. Following
for the Hawks were Ed Aramayo (8th/27:18), Oba Vincent
(10th/27:19), Wes Villalobas (18th/27:56) and Nick Williamson
(23rd/28:21).
Regionals are this weekend, November 2nd in Iowa.
Lady Hawks finish their season to
Trinity Christian in Quarterfinals
By Stephanie Herrera
SPORTS EDITOR
Last Saturday the Lady Hawks earned their 8th shut out
of the season (2-0) when they defeated St. Francis on their own
turf. Even with a sketchy playing field the Hawks were able to
manage 10 shots, 7 on goal keeping the match mostly offensive.
St. Francis had an aggressive defense, but not aggressive enough
to stop Kim Grubisich in the 17th minute of the match. In the
second half Emily Kunkel had a free kick that bounced off the
post and landed at the feet of Freshman Stephanie Salem. She
took advantage and put a shot in the back off the net in the 55th
minute. Goalie Lauren McClelland had 3 saves for the game.
Last Wednesday the women had a tough loss to Robert
Morris on IIT’s own Stewart Field (3-1). Wet conditions didn’t
contribute to the Hawks tough loss. The 1st goal of the game
came early in the 7th minute. The second game just before the
half from a corner kick header just past the IIT goalie. Finally
in the second half the Hawks picked up their game and cut the
lead in half in the 64th minute with shot just past the RMC
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2007
keeper. Robert Morris sealed the game in the last minutes of
the match.
Finally the Hawks faced the number 2 seed in the
conference for the first match of the quarter-finals. With rain
the whole time both teams were scoreless in the first half. The
Trolls had 7 shots, 1 on goal to the Hawk’s 3 shots, none on
goal. Unfortunately, only the Trolls picked it up in the second
half, scoring all three goals after the half. The trolls ended the
match with 20 total shots to the Hawks 7. Lydia Benger kept
the Hawks in the game as best she could with 9 saves.
The Hawk’s ended their season in 7th place and 3-6 in
conference and 10-8 overall. Senior Amy Bourquard and Erica
Delgado ended their season with an All-conference trophy and
Julia Campana received honorable mention. Amy lead the
team with 10 goals, 14 assists and 43 shots on goal, Erica had
3 goals, 4 assists and 10 shots on goal, Julia had 6 goals, 10
assists and 37 shots on goal. Freshman, Angie Skaar rounded
out her first season with 6 goals, 1 assist and 16 shots on goal
and sophomore, Kim Grubisich had 9 goals, 9 assists and 45
shots on goal.
Photos by Sarah Bowes
Lady Hawks
Volleyball
season ending
By Stephanie Herrera
SPORTS EDITOR
Last week in the Olivet tournament the scarlet hawks
went 3-1 increasing their record to 21-7-0. The first match
up was against Mid America (30-16, 30-24, 30-18) which
ended in a 3-0 sweep. The second game was against Embry
Riddle which went to five games (30-20, 16-30, 30-21, 2630, 14-16). The third match-up against Indiana Southeast
ended in a loss (30-17, 26-30, 32-30, 26-30, 16-18). They
rounded out the tournament with a 3-1 sweep against Indiana
University Southeast (30-21, 30-13, 23-30, 30-26).
Last Tuesday the Hawk’s had a tough loss against
Cardinal Stritch in 4 games (33-31, 25-30, 27-30, 11-15).
But the Hawk’s came back quickly with a sweep against
Judson College on there home court for senior night. Each
game started slow but the Hawks didn’t let any slip away.
In game one the eagles lead the game 12-9 until the Hawks
scored 8 of the next 9 points ending the game 30-20. In game
two Judson tallied up the kill count but the Hawks 9-3 run
took the game 30-28. In game three JU started out leading
9-6 but once again the Hawks went on an 8-2 run to lead the
game 18-12. The Eagles were unable to recover, only getting
within 4 points, but IIT ended the match 30-24.
The next night the Scarlet Hawks robbed another senior
night from the University of Chicago. The swept them in 3
games (30-22, 30-25, 30-16).
Be sure to catch the Scarlet Hawks last home game on
Tuesday, October 30th when they take on Olivet Nazarene
to secure a spot just before Conference starts.
Photos by Sarah Bowes
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2007
TECHNEWS
SPORTS
STEPHANIE HERRERA, EDITOR
The future of
lawn tennis
By Anant K.S. Puri
TECHNEWS WRITER
Looking back on the 80s and the 90s, I go back to the
time when Tennis saw its most interesting times. It had a
great assortment of players with contrasting styles, ranging
from natural Serve and Volley players like Pistol Pete, Boris
Becker, Stefan Edberg and Patrick Rafter to Baseline Hard
Hitters like Andre Agassi, Jim Courier and many more. The
point to note above is that from the list above, most of the
players were from the US and most of them won Multiple
Grand Slams.
After the retirement of Great American champions
like Jimmy Connors and John Mc Enroe, US had the next
generation of players waiting anxiously to take over the reins
from the seniors. However, with Andre, Sampras, Courier,
Todd Martin and Michael Chang gone, the players to look
forward to from the US were Andy Roddick, Taylor Dent,
Mardy Fish and James Blake.This list had two serve and
volley players in Mardy Fish and Taylor Dent and Good
Baseliners in James Blake and Andy.
However, Andy Roddick is the only one to taste Grand
Slam Success once. He is down 1-14 head to head against
Federer. He has lost 6 times to Federer in Grand Slams,
which I believe he could have won if Federer was born a
decade later. Harvard educated James Blake exploded on the
Men’s circuit with a bang. However, he had his own share
of struggles. At a practice session in Rome during the 2004
Italian Open, Blake lost his footing on a damp clay court and
slammed into the metal net post. He had broken his neck and
had narrowly avoided paralysis. Blake then returned home to
discover that his father had stomach cancer.
In the end, Blake confessed to being thankful that his
injury gave him the time to say good bye to Thomas Sr. before
he died. He has come back very strong and is currently ranked
# 8, a very inspiring recovery. However, he is 0-7 down to ...
any guesses, Mr. Federer. Mardy Fish and Taylor Dent are
definitely not Grand Slam material. They are indispensable
in Davis Cup matches thanks to their talent as Serve and
Volley players.
The Bryan Brothers are doing a great job picking up
Grand Slams almost at will and also forming a formidable
doubles team in the Important Davis Cup ties.
Andy’s alliance with Jimmy Connors has reaped great
dividends. He has understood that he can not simply muscle
his way out of Federer. He gave Federer a very good match
in this Year’s US Open. He has it in him to win Grand Slams
but he has got to add another dimension to his game, maybe
a volley to compliment his big first serve. For the moment, I
am disappointed at the state of US Men’s Lawn Tennis, hoping
there is someone on the National Circuit waiting to step up
and fill in Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras’s shoes.
Health Tip
of the Week
By Stephanie Herrera
SPORTS EDITOR
Pre-packaged is your enemy! Try and stay away from
anything that “takes ten minutes or less.” Anything that is
prepackaged most likely has preservatives and chemicals
that your body can’t break down. Try to cook all of the
food you make. For good ideas on eating healthy, try
to cook raw food recipes, meaning foods that start from
scratch and foods that are natural. Try to remember that
the more you cook raw foods the more they loose their
nutritional value, so raw carrots and celery are more
nutritional than steamed.
15
HERRSTE1@IIT.EDU
Coach Bond’s high expectations
By Stephanie Herrera
SPORTS EDITOR
There were quite a few losses last year to Coach Bonds 2007
graduating class, but he doesn’t expect that to slow his team down.
For the women, Marina Hartung and diver Julia Northrop as we
all now were key losses to this year’s squad. Marina held several
school records in 200 Freestyle Relay and 200/400 Medley Relay
and Julia held records in all of the IIT’s diving events. Both were
held spots as All-Americans and national competitors. Kaylyn
Siefkas also graduated making it a total of 3 key losses for this
year’s class, making Coach Bond’s rough recruiting season even
rougher.
This puts more pressure on this year’s senior class. Coach
Bond say, “ I have a very strong group of seniors that I am
leaning on to lead this team...We do have a number of school
record holders returning this year and there are certainly enough
women to do well.”
The men’s team suffered key losses as well. National
Champion, Jeff Larson, two time NAIA National Champion, Ryan
Feuerstein. Both being All-American, Coach Bond thinks they
both represent some of the best Athletes in history to come out of
IIT. That being said he has also recruited what he thinks to be the
best in history. There are 7 guys on scholarship and he expects
several walk-ons to compete for spots on the team as well.
Of the recruits there is Marius Hatting from Toronto, Canada,
Kyle Pinsonneault from Ontario, Canada, Kalman Varga from
California, Joe Munchna from Illinois, Colin Carpenter from
Texas, Kyle Wagner from Illinois and Mark Callan from Illinois.
He expects all of them to qualify for nationals and Canadians Kyle
Pinsonneault and Marius Hatting to “contend for All-American
spots immediately.
As for the returning class, it is expecting that they will have
a better showing than last year. Returning competitors, Andrew
Mehr, Brandon Toro, Luke Shorette and Jay Park are expected to
provide enough experience to show the freshman the ropes.
“Overall, both teams are going to be successful. I expect
that there will be a number of school records broken this year
and that we will continue to have a strong national showing. I
am very excited about this year”, states Coach Bond.
The Dive Team had its first showing over the break and the
men placed 4th overall in the UIC invitational. Brandon Toro
competed in both 1 meter (5th/229.90) and 3 meter (4th/263.65).
Brandon earned a total of 21 points for the hawks.
The Hawks compete this Friday and Saturday November
2nd and 3rd at University of Chicago.
Olympic star, guilty
By Anant K.S. Puri
TECHNEWS WRITER
“Marion Jones found guilty of Steroid use” is the kind of
headline that takes a few minutes to register. Being a fan, this
news took me back to the time when I saw her winning 5 Olympic
Golds for the US in Sydney. It was a great achievement and
made her a megastar. She was an epitome of great athleticism
and Honesty. Now that the truth is out, I feel for all those honest
track and field athletes who had trained for years and prepared
for the highest honor, an Olympic Gold, only to be robbed of it
by someone who was powered by Steroids. So, what must be
going through the mind of the athlete who took home a silver
realizing now that the Gold belonged to her and what about
the athlete who came 4th and could have won the Silver. This
seems to be just a tip of the Iceberg and the fact that Testing for
Steroids needs to be updated is the need of the hour. There was
a talk about steroids that can go undetected even hours before a
crucial race. Marion Jones was a great star from her High school
days but reading deep in to the story, she had Johnie Cochran
on her side who defended her against drug abuse charges even
during her High School Career days.These disclosures cause a
loss of faith to the fans and the only thing we can hope for is that
such events are disclosed much earlier and testing for banned
substances made stricter.