April 2014 Binghamton Review by Binghamton Review

TRUTH AND TWO STAPLES

BINGHAMTON BINGHAMTON REVIEW REVIEW APRIL 2014

INSIDE:

WHAT IS A HACKATHON? CAN I INTEREST YOU IN BITCOIN? THE REVIEW STAFF’S CPAC REFLECTIONS THE NEED TO LOOK AT ISSUES RATIONALLY REASONS BING NIGHTLIFE SUCKS! AND, TEN OF COURSE, WHY CAPITALISM IS SUPER EVIL

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EDITOR@BINGHAMTONREVIEW.COM

FOUNDED 1987 • SUPER SPECIAL (...EHH... I’VE GOT NOTHING.) EDITION • APRIL 2014 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Daniel D. Milyavsky Managing Editor Samuel P. Bondy Layout Editor William Schneider

Contents

CPAC REFLECTIONS

Our personal experiences in DC while attending The Conservative Political Action Conference PAGE 13

Treasurer Sean Glendon Webmaster Jordan Raitses Copy Desk Chief Amanda Harbour Editor Emeritus Jacob Hayutin Associate Editor Lawrence Gerchikov Contributors Jack Russo, Christopher Medrano, Aditi Roy, Chris Gil, Jack Russo, Samson Audino Patriarchs of the Review Louis W. Leonini Adam Shamah Friends of the Review Dr. Aldo S. Bernardo The Leonini Family Mr. Bob Soltis WA2VCS The Shamah Family The Grynheim Family The Menje Family The Leeds Family The Lombardi Family Binghamton Review is printed by Our Press in Chenango Bridge, NY. We provide the truth; they provide the staples.

8 What is a Hackathon? by The Wolf 9 SOM Scholars Revitalize Rec Park by William Schneider 10

My Bitcoin Experience by Sean Glendon

The Need to Look at Issues Rationally by Dan Milyavsky

12 The Search For Flight MH370 Continues... by Aditi Roy

Departments 4 CAMPUS PRESSWATCH 5 WHAT YOU MISSED 6 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR FLASHBACKS: 3 EDITORIAL: STEAL AWAY & STAY AWAY 7 BRING BACK THE CAMPUS PUB 15 AN OLD PIPE DREAM INTERVIEW

TELL US WHAT YOU THINK! Direct letters to editor@binghamtonreview.com 2

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FLASHBACKS

EDITORIAL

Steal Away and Stay Away : Education in a Closing World Once called Free Editor’s Note: This is a reprint of a brilliant editorial written by former Editor-in-Chief John Carney in May 1997. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. -DM Coming out is all the rage. Postmodernism, a fancy word for life at the close of the century, might even be defined as the cult of coming out, whether in the philosophy of Nietzsche, in the endless babble of talk television or in the Sappho confessions of sometime comedian Ellen DeGeneres. We hurdle toward the millennium with a warped confessional ideology that dictates we detail our every past romantic encounter to every future romantic en-counter in the name of physiological health, and admit to our inevitable victimization for the sake of psychological health. Who isn’t either abused or an abuser these days? We are consoled by the proposition that all men and women are created dysfunctional. Our guilt dissolves in the widening pool of fellow degenerates. Petty infidelities, white lies, small thefts, and everyday dishonesties disappear when mixed with vices of our neighbors and their neighbors and their neighbors. Our national motto has become: I cheated two friends, and they cheated two friends, and they cheated two friends. None of which is very shock-ing, confirming the age old saying that there is no honor among thieves. In another era we might have sensed that the rising tide was becoming a flood. A university priding itself on “inclusion” while driving out all dissent would have been labeled hypocrisy. The ways of sin and error now declared rights by our ruling elite might, at the very least, elicit pro-tests from the more balanced intellectuals. Envy, the desire of the shiftless to gain at the expense of the productive, would not be celebrated as a moral virtue by editor@binghamtonreview.com

our leaders. We would recognize the cruelty of a coarsened culture that cares nothing for the voiceless, the powerless, the helpless. I see a bad tide rising at Binghamton University. Trouble is not only on the way, it is here. Liberal education, education into civilization, is all but gone. In its place is multicultural education, education against civilization. Multiculturalism has declared open season on our inherited wisdom, pro-claiming its obvious dedication to anti-American politics as a virtue. In this mixed-up world bias is neutrality, while objective is tyranny. John Gardner once described this as the theory that life itself was “sin and error.” We should all be trembling at the threat. We have known the danger of miseducation since Plato, who railed against instructing the young in the ways of the wicked in his Republic. H.L. Mencken wore out his copies of Nietzsche, translating them from German in such a way as to draw out the terrible implications of foolish and kooky education. Albert Jay Nock counseled against one response to this education: a constant preaching to the mob would never prevail. As the flood-tide rises, Noah must board the boat without his neighbors. “We’re always too much out or too much in,” Robert Frost told the graduating class at Columbia some sixty or so years ago. Our education reaches out to the far corners of the world, but somehow misses the work of Confucius or the great Muslim philosophers. Instead we are asked to become internationals, even before we have be-come nationals. The situation mirrors the break-up of the family, which springs from our inability to become interpersonal because we have lost our grip on the personal. When everything is in the state Frost called “cosmical dilation”—

which is to say, when we’re all out and loud and proud—well, then, “We’re so much out that the odds are against/ Our ever getting inside again.” We’ve become latchkey kids who have lost the keys to our own lives, our own country, our own civilization. The effort to make good neighbors by tear-ing down the fences has instead created an isolated, alienated, disaffected generation whose connection with its heritage is almost entirely severed. While Faulkner could write that in the South of the early twentieth century the past was not dead, in fact it wasn’t even past, a honest writer of these times would say that the past has been aborted. My years as a conservative student will come to a close before the month is done. Not a week has passed since I left home that someone has not said that the only choice facing young rightists is to turn away from our love and loyalty to the virtues of faith, hope and charity, in favor of a newer and more popular dogma. Join the debate on its contemporary terms; find relevancy; gain credibility: thus spake Noah’s neighbors as the flood tide rose. I propose a different course. “We’re too unseparate out among each other,” Frost wrote. “Steal away and stay away.” Those making haste, joining the latest revolution, haste on the latest dissolution. We need not despise them, but we need not join them. I bid you to a revolt against revolt. The magazine is, first and foremost, a place where corrup-tion is not mandatory, where young conservatives can gather and form the sort of friendships that are becoming nearly impossible in the lives of persons and nations pied. It comes down to what W.B. Yeats wrote of Jonathan Swift: our cause is human liberty. —John Carney Binghamtonreview.com

CPampus resswatch FEMINISM CAN PREVENT SUICIDE Pipe Dream “Suicide among young males is an evergrowing epidemic, but there is a viable solution. Feminism can theoretically decrease the suicide rates of teenage males. “Suicides among young males are four times more common than among young females and they are occurring among ever younger males, some in their early teens.” What is the cause for these drastically different suicide rates? In 2010, Newsweek Magazine attempted to answer this question in its issue, “MAN UP!” According to an article by Andrew Romano and Tony Dokoupil, the concept of masculinity is the fundamental cause for the higher rate of male suicides.” The author does not go on to cite any evidence. Instead, he shares the speculation of the Newsweek writers that men feel out of place due to the harsh economy and changes in the workforce. But this is absolutely ridiculous. Why would a male in his early teens care about the changes in the economy, let alone be so distraught about said changes that he would end his own life?

BINGHAMTONREVIEW.COM Written by our Editor in Chief

Furthermore, the fundamental problem with this article is that it ignores the fairly apparent point that the traditional notion of masculinity has been on the decline for a while. Go watch There Will Be Blood, starring Daniel Day-Lewis as Daniel Plainview, an entrepreneurial oil man in the 1910’s. When a young man offers to sell him the location of some land with oil beneath it that can be bought cheaply, Plainview accepts the offers, and then utters the line: “If I travel all the way there and I find out that you’re a liar, I’ll find you and I’ll take more than my money back, is that alright with you?” Can you ever imagine the CEO of ExxonMobil saying something like that nowadays? Social media has made men more narcissistic than ever. Our entire educational system is suffused with feminisms, and boys are brought up listening to its maxims. “The suicide rates among teenage males are rising because young men undergo new academic challenges such as college when they are not yet comfortable in their manhood.” The certainty with which this statement is written is ridiculous. Men entering college have ALWAYS faced these challenges. Personally, I have no idea why male suicide rates are rising. This is a rather serious topic, and demands more research than simply reading a Newsweek article. But the idea that feminism is any sort of panacea to this epidemic is most certainly a spurious claim.

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EXPANDING THE INFLUENCE OF BIG MONEY IN POLITICS HAS DANGEROUS CONSEQEUENCES [SIC] Pipe Dream They spelled “consequences” incorrectly in the very headline. Good start! “But, the question remains, why do we care? If corporate and wealthy donor interests line up with constituent interests, we may not. However, when private and public interests clash, public officials are charged with upholding the interests of their constituents. When the interests of the wealthy clash with those of the middle and lower class, public officials must find a way to address everyone’s needs.” This all sounds very reasonable, but I have just one question to ask in response: the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law was in force between 2002 and 2009. During that time, we had countless corruption and bribery scandals, Jack Abramoff’s being one among many. So is there any actual evidence that campaign finance laws allow for better public policy?

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WHAT YOU MISSED Also written by our Editor in Chief Today is Holocaust Remembrance

Day. Never forget, never again. It is unconscionable that something as horrifying and so clearly immoral as the Holocaust as permitted to happen at all, let alone within the past century. Who knows about what countless scientific advances and other contributions to the well-being of humans all around the world could have taken place if 6 million Jews had not perished in Europe. I am extremely lucky to have been born in America, and that my grandparents lived far enough East to be able to avoid the fate of so many of those less fortunate. Otherwise, I would not be alive today. A homeless man named Jerome Murdough was arrested in New York City for trespassing. He was formerly a Marine and was mentally ill. While in custody in a Riker’s Island jail, the temperature in his cell went up so high that he baked to death. The punishment for the guards tasked with his well-being? A 30 day suspension. Thanks, unions!

Ahhh, Cliven Bundy. Bundy is a rancher in Nevada who grazes his cattle on land that belongs to the Federal Government. The Feds have no business owning the land; they own 85% of the land in Nevada, while owning less than 1% of the land in, say, New York. This is a gross injustice. Anyhow, Bundy hasn’t paid his grazing fees since 1993, so the Bureau of Land Management sent agents to seize his cattle. Heavily armed militia members rode down to the rescue, and the BLM backed off. Someone beat the government after all! Then Bundy said some stupid racist things about slavery. It happens, I guess. Speaking of stupid racism, the owner of the LA Clippers, Donald Sterling, told his girlfriend, or exgirlfriend or whatever, that he doesn’t want her associating with black people in public. The audio of this conversation is now public, and Sterling is understandably in a lot of hot water. For the record, Sterling was a donor to the Democratic Party. PLOT TWIST!

The State of Michigan banned affirmative action via referendum. The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 vote, said this was constitutional. Why do four justices think that banning racial discrimination is unconstitutional? Russia is still messing around in Ukraine. Putin is arming proRussian militia groups there, who are stirring up trouble in Ukraine’s East. After spending $248 million, Oregon has given up trying to fix its health care exchange website, and Oregon residents will now use the federal cite. That’s a quarter of a billion dollars wasted! Can you ever imagine a private company wasting that much money?! John Oliver has a new show on HBO called Last Week Tonight. It’s actually really good! And, judging at least by the first episode, relatively devoid of humor-killing liberal bias!

Its no fun being a minority publication if the majority dont believe anything! Don’t just grumble on about change... Conservatives, please give us your support. Liberals, please give us more ammo. (Just open your mouth. Thats all.)

editor@binghamtonreview.com

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FEEDBACK FROM STUDENTS

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Letters to the editor Anonymous, via email February 12th 2014, at 3:35 A.M. Dear Binghamton Review: I would like to remain anonymous, because even though I am certainly not in the minority here on campus, I actually want to write a letter to express my opinion and its scary. While I feel that a lot of other people here at Binamon...Bingameton... (whatever, no one really cares...) feel exactly the same way as me, I think that you guys definitly dont think like me, and therefore you guys are being horribly misleading to poor freshman because you are clearly wrong. Just because you guys have a paper doesn’t mean you can print anything you want, so I decided to actually pick up a pen (well... start typing. Around 6th or 7th grade I forgot how to actually write a tangible letter...) and say something which will enlighten the world and put an end to your shenanigans. Unlike the evil conservative spindoctors who try to force us into the corporate mold, (you know, people who have actually read a book, or the constitution, and know facts and stuff,) I dont have any of those facts or that statistic mumbojumbo to explain what I mean. But, I know it must be true because I heard my dad say it on the phone to someone, and he’s a genius. I also learned it in class during our ‘why the unemployed should earn a higher salary than me’ discussion. Also, Kim Kardashian also said it on her show one time.

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I also wanted to ask a few questions about a few things that you printed, and some more about politics and the economy. I want to be the first liberal ever to actually listen to people who don’t agree with us. This is really exciting. Remember, I still want to remain anonymous because I’m not quite confident enough to give my name. Shout out to my friend Rob. Sincerely, Proactive Angry Lefty Dearest angry lefty, Even though you said absolutly nothing, I commend you for excersizing your constitutional rights and saying it. People always say they want to contribute more, and I spend all day listening to people explain to their friends how we could achieve world peace by making their tiny change in the tax code, if only everyone saw things the same way they do. Now I’ll be honest here, if you are this person I probably do think you are an idiot. Especially if you say something like this in public, and there is no way around that. But whatever it is that you want me to know, I respect the hell out of the fact that you have the balls to say it to me. Especially considering the things that people have the balls to say. Your opinion doesn’t have to be penned by Shakespeare to be heard, or for us to print it. In fact, if its awful we might just print it anyway, because I heard that reverse psychology works really well on children (and in my experience liberals are essentially children). I am professionaly obligated to keep you anonymous if you wish to remain that way, and would be more than happy to answer all your questions and explain my reasoning regarding all of my controvercial opinions so that you may have all the information you need

to make your own judgements. Thank you for expressing your valued opinion, and engaging in constructive debate. Good job. Best Regards, The Binghamton Review Staff ***Getting the message guys? If you guys don’t start being a little more proactive, I’m going to have to keep writing fake essays about nothing to fill this column, and everyone loses. Seeing your name in print is awesome, and who knows, maybe others could actually learn from you. Anonymous, via online post When I was young, I was liberal because I have a heart. Now that I’m older I’m conservative, because I have a brain. I like your style, anon. A Bearcat, via the fake interview we had with a real bearcat Rawwwr. (...that is what a bearcat says, right...?) Dearest fake Bearcat, Your response poses the most mystifying question since we last heard from Ylvis. Or at least since we last cared about anything they produced. Liberal student, verbally through the office door If you guys were more politically correct people wouldnt think you were such ******* ***holes. No one likes you OP, go home.

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CAMPUS PUB

bring back the campus pub Written By Louis Leonini Editors Note: This article is reprinted from the November 2003 “Legalize It” They’re at it again. In a letter to the student body, Rodger Summers says he is “con-cerned” about students’ drinking, and the rising number of students getting caught. He then asks us what we should do about it. Perhaps stricter sanctions will do the trick? How about parental noti-fication? Well Rodger Summers, I will answer an emphatic no to both of those, and save you a hundred e-mails regarding the subject. This shows us yet another exam-ple of how the current campus administration is spineless. The administration consorts with cam-pus radicals, gives in to ridiculous demands, makes silly decisions, and generally takes the path of least resistance in the name of Binghamton University (which the administration changed from its erstwhile name, SUNY Binghamton). It is therefore no surprise that it was Lois DeFleur’s administration that was responsible for giving in to external pressure and feel-good leftist paternalism to demolish the campus Pub. That’s right, everyone, this school used to bc just a tad less lame. Over by where the campus mail windows are is where the Pub used to be. As we can clearly see from Rodger Summers’ letter, the admin-istration’s approach to drinking is fallacious. His approach side-steps the issue--something that spineless liberals often do. This makes them perfect technocrats; they offer stu-pid suggestions on potentially-dangerous problems so they are absolved from responsibility. This is their idea of public service (but don’t get the REVIEW started on that fallacy). The truth is this--alcohol is a societal issue that has been an issue since the founding of our nation. Various approaches have been taken, including total prohibi-tion, which we saw completely fail and was editor@binghamtonreview.com

repealed after the Roaring Twenties. It just plain didn’t work, and neither will calling Mania and Papa at home to tell them little Johnny has been sipping from a beer bottle in Oneida Hall. Another truth is this--peer haz-ing in regards to drinking mostly takes place off campus, rather than on campus. The administration may not realize it, but it has a vest-ed interest in replacing the Pub for this reason. If drinking occurs on campus where it can be “watched,” it certainly would cause less harm concerned about your drinking. The REviEw concern-ed about :.Ro ger Summers and the .:,(.1-roinstILLion’s Gestapo-like tactics curtail student to those who drink than if it were done in the “downtown” social scene, since downtown is far from the safest place on Earth. While nothing recent has been reported, downtown Binghamton used to be a hotbed of “townie-SUNY” rivalry that caused shootings, stabbings, and other incidents. The numbers of students has increased down-town over the last few years, and this has much to do with the fact that there is no place on campus to drink. I propose to Lois DeFleur that she re-think this, and allocate space in the Union in her next stu-pid building project sure to bleed New York State taxpayers. Having an on-campus pub would place students at less risk for harassment off campus. Even if the Pub did not serve everyone--there still would be people who preferred going off campus—it would be the start of a de-puritanization of alcohol in our society, which is where I make my final point. As one of Italian descent, I was given wine with dinner from a rel-atively young age. Part of the

rea-son many students drink so damn much is because they are exposed to the forbidden fruit for the first time. I do not share this attitude, because alcohol was never totally denied to me. See the logic? The less of a big deal you make of something, the less likely people are going to flock to it and reap all of its negative effects, rather than enjoy it for a legitimate purpose. The logical and responsible approach to addressing the drink-ing problem our society faces would actually be to lower the drinking age to 18, like it was not too long ago. The idea that people are sent off hundreds of miles away from the parents’ nest and won’t do things like drink is irresponsibly stupid to expect. At least when my parents were growing up, they could do so responsibly, rather than have to sneak it by their overzealous resident assistant and then face legal action. Logic and responsibility are clearly not pres-ent in discussions over this prob-lem in government, so why should we expect logic and responsibility to be high on DeFleur’s priority list? If the right thing is done here, however, I say we should go to our brand new campus pub and raise our campus-provided alcohol to the sky, clink, and cheer for the return of common sense and the death of DeFleur-style paternalism.

HACKATHON

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What is a hackathon? The Wolf

Imagine for a moment a room full of eager college students, who have not bathed, slept or even seen sunlight for the past 36 hours. No, this isn’t the cram session you usually do with your friends, 2 days before a test worth 40% of your grade, this is a Hackathon. Put frankly a Hackathon is a collection of ambitious Computer Scientists and Engineers who come together at a specified location (usually a University) and work for 24-36 hours to come up with whatever they can think of. Of course to the technologically challenged, whose knowledge of computers goes as far as typing in Facebook in the address bar, and whose idea of “hacking” involves Keanu Reeves dodging a multitude of bullets in slow motion, a Hackathon may seem like a completely alien concept. I mean you don’t see Chemistry Majors from around the country coming together to do lab experiments. In many ways a Hackthon is a culmination of the current passion and innovation in the technological world. The great thing about a Hackathon is that you don’t have to do anything, there is no pressure to make something, and if you do choose to make something you can make anything that comes to mind. Want to make a website that lets Binghamton University students share helpful study tips or the best places to study in the Bartle Library(it’s on the third floor)? Do it. Do you want to make an app that tracks how long you have ran for the day? Go ahead. As long as you have the skills and ideas you can make it. With that being said, a huge

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barrier for people who are interested in computer science is the actual programming languages itself. An average person looking at a sample of *Java code, might as well be trying to read hieroglyphics. While upon first glance it look complex, (and to be fair some languages are hard to understand), there are many simpler languages that ease new users into the experience such as HTML5, Python and Basic. In today’s increasingly technology dependent society it almost seems unrealistic to completely ignore programming. Sure even if you don’t care who made your iPhone, or who keeps the track of the websites you go on everyday, making your own personal website is strongly recommend by most employers and even required by some. Back on the subject of Hackathons, I recently had the chance to experience my first one around the first week of April. Honestly, I was a bit reluctant to go, the prospect of being trapped in a university for a weekend with hundreds of other un-showered students sounded horrible. However, as I arrived I was greeted to a huge stadium filled with sponsors, such as Microsoft and *Oculus Rift, tons of food and most importantly a group of eager peers ready to program. As the Hackathon progressed I met a lot of new people

who shared the same interests as me and gave me tips whenever I asked for them. By the end of the competition I had met a handful of new people and seen the things that I could only dream would be created. Among the projects that were on display, the standouts included a virtual reality game that puts you in the shoes of Iron Man, a speech to text software that will recognize and type out any math equation you dictate to it and finally a piano program that generates notes and chords to synchronize with the melody of the note you just played. Although not as impressive on paper as in person, these creations offer a glimpse into the future of consumer products. In the end that’s really what computer science is about, taking something in life of the is difficult or tedious and making it easier and more enjoyable. What to take away from this is that a Hackathon, is not a competition, rather it is a congregation of likeminded individuals who come together to create the technology of the future. Hackathons are an opportunity for experienced programmers to show off ideas, and for novice programmers to build community(and for all the rest of the people an opportunity to get free stuff from the sponsors.). There really is not a better time to be a computer science student than in 2014, and I hope that many more people have the opportunity to experience it. *Java- A programming language *Oculus Rift- A virtual reality headset that was recently bought by Facebook for 2 Billion dollars.

APRIL 2014

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RECREATION PARK PROJECT

School of Management’s PwC scholars help revitalize rec. park! Written By William Schneider If you live next to Recreation Park, you probably spent last Friday deciding whether to break out your dad’s toolkit and get involved or call the fire marshall. Throughout the day the park saw over 120 students and at least that many community members come together to get the ball rolling on a project that’s ultimatly unlike anything attempted between Quebec and Washington DC. The scale of the effort was stunning, and the results seem promising, but the Rec. Park Project is far from over. The Vision The final product will be a revitalized Recreation Park, complete with brand new ballfields and unique spaces offering many innovative activites to the community. Together, they will create a space with an endless potential for family, friends and fun, a space that can be enjoyed by indeviduals of all ages and all abilities, a space that will enable each and every commumity member to be themselves and be involved, a space lovingly dubbed OurSpace by the numerous volunteers. The mantra among the designers has been “Its not your space, its not my space, its OurSpace!” A saying which has resonated well with everyone involved, transcending indevidual differences and creating a vision that everyone can rally behind. The Players Each year the Binghamton School of Management’s PwC Scholars undertake a community service project. They design, fundraise for, and eventually impliment the project over the course of the year. These undertakings have become bigger and bigger every year, and it is through this process that the OurSpace project was implimented. This time however, the project has developed editor@binghamtonreview.com

on a grand scale, growing well into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. In order to facilitate this pioneering vision, our SOM Scholars have now become partners in a much larger group. The Mayor’s Office and the Binghamton Parks and Recreation Department have been major supporters, along with the Binghamton Community. Donations have been made by many indeviduals and organiztions, including Visions Federal Credit Union, UHS, PwC, and many more. Among the most powerful driving forces behind the project is the phenominal work being done by Life is Washable Inc. They have been helping to shape and develope the Recreation Park Project from all angles, and it truly would not be possible without their help. As Binghamton University students we should be very proud of the work our peers have acomplished and contributed regarding this project, and as Binghamton Community members we should be in awe of the money, skill and time donated by our community, for our comunity. Even throughout the design and constuction, this is truly OurSpace. The Plan There are two main phases to the revitalization, Phase One was essentially completed on April 25th, and consisted of renovating the baseball fields with new fencing, dugouts, and an electronic scoreboard. Phase Two will not be implimented untill the physical build day around this time next year, and entails eight unique spaces... PlaySpace consists of a playground that’s acessible for people of all abilities, so everyone can have fun! SoundSpace features an innovative sound garden full of engaging and theraputic sounds to explore!

GrowSpace boasts full standing gardens, open to all and providing gardening jobs that dont require the physical ability to bend over! GatherSpace serves as the allabilities dining area, so anyone who uses the park can stay for a picnic! FitSpace provides several different stations dedicated to personal fitness. Its acessible by people of all abilities, and no gym membership is required! GreenSpace is an open field with a maze laid in stone underfoot. Great for football, picnics, tag, or anything else! TreeSpace represents a treedeck that is elevated several feet off the ground. A perfect setting for relaxing or for play. CrowdSpace houses a permanent Ampitheatre where anyone with desire can preform for the community. My Take After attending the first build day, I am in awe of the extensive collaboration and the sheer scale of this project. I’m truly proud of what my community and my school are doing at the iconic park (did you know they filmed an episode of the Twilight Zone there?) and I can’t wait for Phase Two! Considering I’ll be living a few blocks from Recreation Park next year, I’m expecting to spend quite a bit of time there.

Binghamton’s Historic Recreation Park

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BITCOINS

My bitcoin Experience Written By Sean Glendon I impulsively invested in Bitcoin on a Monday night. Bitcoin, as in the plural for Bitcoin. Two full Bitcoin. I was officially a money nerd or maybe an idiot. Only time would tell. Let us backtrack a little bit though, because the word “impulsively” might be a bit misleading. A few months back, I decided that Bitcoin was a cool thing to invest in. Maybe. When the price was right, I downloaded Coinbase, an international digital wallet used for transactions of Bitcoin. The price was about $580 per coin, and I was ready to buy away, but then tragedy struck. I needed to connect my bank account, which would require verification through correctly inputting the total of a few small deposits Coinbase made into my account. This process would take a few days, and by the time I was ready to go, the price was no longer in my range. I spent the next few weeks contemplating a strategy, and debating inputting a second payment method (a credit card), to allow for instant transactions. I didn’t. I might one day. On February 7th, I tweeted “If Bitcoin dives again, I’m investing. I’ve had a wallet set up just waiting. Tank BTC, tank” and I meant it. On Monday, February 24th at around 10:45 pm I pulled the trigger. Mt. Gox, a Japanese bitcoin exchange,

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had suspended trading. Boom. Crash. Just what I was looking for. After a 1% fee charged by Coinbase, and a 15 cent fee charged by M&T bank, I was out $865. On the bright side, I had 2 full units of extremely volatile virtual currency in its place. That entire night, I was constantly updating Coinbase to see the value of my new intangible valuable items. I actually did not have them in my wallet yet, and wouldn’t for a few days, because everything had to clear. That meant that I couldn’t sell them even if I wanted to that night. An hour later, I was up over $100 dollars from where I started. Things were looking very, very good. By March 3rd, I was up over $500 dollars, and that’s when I should’ve pulled out. But I didn’t. I got greedy, and can you blame me? In December, each coin was trading well over $1,000. So I rode it out, and growth stagnated. And then it began to drop again. And I held out. It would obviously begin increasing again… right? Wrong, at least as of now. When the downward spiral continued slowly, I eventually had to let go. On March 28th, I said goodbye to my virtual friends, bidding farewell in exchange for 989 real dollars. That’s a $124 return, or 14.33% of my initial $865 investment, in a little bit over a month. Had I sold at the peak of my possession, I could have had made well over 50% of my initial investment. As of

April 2nd, the market price for Bitcoin was lower than my payment price was. Throughout this adventure, I learned a lot about Bitcoin. After this experience, do I believe that Bitcoin has potential as a virtual currency? Maybe, but not in its current state. The market will need to stabilize before it becomes a legitimate option. Do I believe Bitcoin has potential as an investment tool? Absolutely. The main aspect holding Bitcoin back from being a successful virtual currency is what makes it perfect for investments: its volatility. In a short period of time, Bitcoin offers higher returns than other options. I’ll be keeping my eyes on Bitcoin, and ready to throw money in it again, because it offered one hell of a ride.

APRIL 2014

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LETS BE RATIONAL

The Need to Look at Issues Rationally Written By Dan Milyavsky This year’s political roundtable featuring the College Republicans, Democrats and Libertarians was a rather calm affair. Voices were kept at reasonable volumes and passions were kept in check. As is the norm in political debates, nobody convinced anybody of anything, but things were rather respectful. The same cannot be said for last year’s roundtable. Then, a particularly thin-skinned member of the College Democrats made the entire atmosphere more caustic and belligerent. You could not bring up an issue without this guy freaking out and reacting viscerally and emotionally. If you said something skeptical of global warming, he would shout, “You don’t care if the entire planet gets destroyed, as long as corporations make money!” Being against gay marriage would elicit a comment like: “How can I even have a discussion with someone like you?” Unfortunately, this way of looking at issues is far too common in our political discourse. Both the Right and Left are guilty of this, but the Left is especially culpable. If you express concern about the level of U.S. debt, you really just want to cut government services for poor people. If you make a point of the negative effects welfare programs can have on family stability, you really just want black people to starve to death. If you believe that government regulation can be harmful to the economy, and that a strong economy is most important to those with the least amount of wealth, leading Democrats will say that you just want Big Oil to pollute our rivers. To give you a real life example of this, let me present you with two quotations: editor@binghamtonreview.com

1. “We have got this tailspin of culture, in our inner cities in particular, of men not working and just generations of men not even thinking about working or learning the value and the culture of work. There is a real culture problem here that has to be dealt with.” 2. “When it comes to getting an education, too many of our young people just can’t be bothered. They’re sitting on couches for hours, playing video games, watching TV. Instead of dreaming of being a teacher or a lawyer or a business leader, they’re fantasizing about being a baller or a rapper.” Now, both of these quotes express pretty much the same sentiment. If anything, the second quote uses language that is a little bit more strident than the first. However, the first was spoken by Paul Ryan, a Republican congressman from Wisconsin, and the second was spoken by Michelle Obama, the first lady. Since Michelle Obama is black and is a Democrat, her remarks

were met with a complete absence of any sort of controversy. Paul Ryan, however, was branded a vicious racist who only cares about white people. Enough of this sort of thing. Let us stop being petulant children in our political discourse and instead let us cease questioning our adversaries’ motives. Republicans don’t want poor people to die and Democrats don’t want everyone to live in poverty. Let’s take respond to arguments honestly and politely, instead of engaging in character assassination.

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)

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FLIGHT MH370

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The Search For Flight MH370 Continues... Written By Aditi Roy Several weeks have passed since Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 disappeared on March 8, 2014 on what should have been its journey from Kuala Lumpour, Malaysia to Beijing, China. Instead, recent evidence suggests that Flight 370 most likely ended up in the depths of the Indian Ocean. What we cannot seem to fathom is how in today’s day and age could a commercial airline carrying 239 people just vanish? And why hasn’t it been found yet? In what light has the media presented this case?With so many complex theories and so little time left to find out what happened that night, officials are scrambling to locate the whereabouts of the aircraft. A lot of speculation surrounds MH370’s disappearance. As far as factual information goes, here’s what we know; the Boeing 777-200 ER departed at 12:21 for its expected arrival in Beijing in approximately 6 hours. At 1:19 a.m. the last spoken words “Goodnight Malaysia 370” were uttered through the transponder and at 1.21 a.m. it was shut off. It was at this point when the plane made a sharp turn heading down south towards Malaysia instead of proceeding north as scheduled. It disappeared from the radar at 2:40 a.m. According to signals from neighboring countries, the flight took a route that completely avoided Indonesian airspace. This complex change in course could have only been carried out by someone who had the excellent flying skills to maneuver a commercial jet. The aircraft had enough fuel to last 7.5 hours, even though it’s scheduled airtime was just over 6 hours. Finally. there were in fact at least two passengers with stolen passports on board. Everything else we know about this flight’s fate is not 100% certain. 12

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There is no solid evidence surrounding the current search, which is based on probability. Avid visitors off CNN you will see a new update being posted about possible leads in the investigation almost every hour. This was the case for Air France Flight 447 that disappeared on June 1, 2009 and the actual site of the crash was found in the Atlantic ocean floor two years later. With this aircraft, 36 hours after the crash, some debris was found floating in the water that provided a much narrow search range to find the plane and confirmation of its fate. On the other hand, finding Malaysia 370 in the vast Indian Ocean will be like trying to find a single grain of rice in an Olympic swimming pool or a pencil eraser in a football field. This, in addition to the mighty ocean currents and unrelated debris in the ocean will lead to what could be an incredibly lengthy quest to locate the wreckage. All jets contain a black box that operates for thirty days before its battery dies, sending out pings that would help locate major wreckage sites. Over 30 days have passed since the flight’s disappearance and the black box has not been found. Now with no definitive area to search, and the pressure from families and friends desperately demanding to find out what happened to their loved ones is increasing. The currently believed theory is that there must have been some sort of major diversion on the plane that would cause the pilot to take this major change in route, whether a fire or some other emergency. At this point in the investigation, all of the passengers have been cleared of a possible hijacking, even those with the stolen passports, ruling out the turn in the flight’s course as a possible“criminal offense”. Endless questions remain about the reason

behind the alternative path that avoided airspace and if it was deliberate and why. Satellite imaging showed reasons to believe the plane may have ended up in the southern Indian Ocean near Australia, where various countries’ search teams are looking. As of now the search is being executed around the two pings that were heard by Chinese ships that matched the frequency of the black box, 37.5 Hertz. Realistically, the search could take several more weeks, months, and even years.These are real people working under strenuous conditions and immense odds. While they face the agonizing wait to find out the truth, family and friends of the missing are mourning together to pass through these difficult times. They should be given privacy, but the media can’t seem to understand that.We all know what grief and pain looks like. So why must interviewers ask questions that would evoke painful response from these people? Under no circumstances should this ever be acceptable. And under no circumstances should libel be used to create headlines, as what happened to the pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah’s daughter when a British tabloid released an article that falsely claimed that she said her father was not in the proper mental state before he went missing. While it is the media’s job to keep the people informed, it is not their place to daunt on the victims of tragedy. What can be learned from this disaster? Perhaps we are overconfident with our technological reaches against the forces of mother nature and the inevitable presence of chance. Perhaps we are too trusting of modern systems to never fail. This was certainly the case for the infamous Titanic and unfortunately history repeats itself. One thing is for certain. The events surrounding Malaysian Airlines Flight MH 370 will not be forgotten and we should reconsider the manner in which the news of these adversities are delivered.

APRIL 2014

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CPAC REFLECTIONS

CPAC Reflections Written By Various Review E-board Members

The Binghamton Review team attended the Conservative Political Action Conference this year, an annual event which draws thousands of Republicans, conservative, and libertarians to a conference to…do whatever people do at conferences, I suppose. Here are our takes on the experience: Dan’s CPAC Reaction This was my second year in a row attending CPAC. I had a great start to my conference, as I had the privilege to meet Rand Paul in his U.S. Senate office, courtesy of some well-connected Jews. Around fifteen other people and myself, including my dear friend Ross Marchand, sat around a conference table, with Paul of course sitting at the head of it. First he did a quick lap around the table and shook all of our hands (I introduced myself by first and last name when I met him, as if he’d ever remember me.) We had about 20 minutes with him, and we all got to ask him a question. I asked him what he thought of someone embarking on a medical career today. He answered that even when he was finishing up his medical training in the early 90s, people were already talking about how medicine was less financially profitable than it used to be, but that there is something very special in being able to heal someone, which is why he still performs eye surgeries for free (Senate rules prohibit him from keeping his day job as an ophthalmologist.) Ross asked him about how to get better at public speaking. Paul replied that he was initially awkward at public speaking, just like he was initially bad at drawing blood, but that over time and after enough practice, he got better at both things (exhilarating answer, I know. Only the best here at the Review.) The editor@binghamtonreview.com

rest of the questions had to do with his views about the situation in Ukraine, and if you’re interested in his views on that, Google is your friend (I purposely took the opportunity to ask a question that Rand Paul wouldn’t be asked on CNN.) Afterwards, we all took a group picture (no individual pictures, to my disappointment). After this visit, Ross and I conveniently took a free shuttle from Union Station in Washington D.C. to the convention center in National Harbor, Maryland. CPAC is located in the Gaylord National Resort, which is ironic, since CPAC banned GOProud, a gay Republican group, from being a sponsor for the second year in a row. The first speech I attended was Marco Rubio’s. I had to walk out of it in the middle. Here were some typical lines (paraphrased from memory): “America has its challenges, but I wouldn’t trade places with any other country in the world.” “I want the 21st century to be an American century, just like the last one.” “America is the greatest country on Earth.” “There is nothing more positively American than an American living in America.” Look, I’m a pretty patriotic guy. I have an American flag (opposite a Gadsden flag) hanging in my room. But this sort of unthinking, boring patriotism is quite grating to my ears, so I got up and sought refuge in the Exhibit Hall. The Exhibit Wall was a much more interesting place than the main speaker hall. There were probably at least a hundred stands set up. I ran into the publisher of National Review, whose office I had visited over two years and a half years prior, before I even transferred to this school. I ran into a Rick Santorum (I know, I know, just the very thought is unpleasant) supporter who went to a Christian college up here in Johnson City I had never heard of called Davis

College. He asked me which church I attended. I told him I wasn’t Christian. His face dropped. I visited the Young Americans for Liberty booth, and got a Stand with Rand shirt. To my life’s eternal dismay, I later lost it. That was Day 1 (or at least the parts that didn’t involve alcohol). Day 2, more talks. Newt Gingrich gave a surprisingly interesting speech. There was a panel on the compatibility between libertarianism and social conservatism. Reason editorin-chief Matt Welch performed well, whereas Students for Liberty president Alexander McCobin delivered canned answers which completely ignored the questions asked. Rick Santorum gave a cringe inducing speech wherein he whined about what a great tragedy it was that he never got elected President and how much we should appreciate him. I suffered through it though, because next up was Rand Paul, who gave the only speech of the event in which the hall was packed to standing room only. The speech was lively, energetic, and drew on examples from history, literature, and even Pink Floyd. Fast forward. That midnight, me and Sam Bondy saw Sarah Palin in the lobby of the hotel. She saw my Stand with Rand sticker, and complimented me on it, saying how she liked that whole libertarian thing. Sam saw her the moose on her shirt, and complimented her on her moose shirt. She thanked him. I asked for a picture. She obliged. Winning!

meet Dan, the current Editor-inChief of the Binghamton Review

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CPAC REFLECTIONS Sam’s CPAC Reaction Although 2013’s CPAC was highlighted by an undertone of recent political defeat and its accompanying grief and imbibery, 2014 was entirely different. The renewed spirit and confidence in the 2016 presidential candidates was truly refreshing, and less hangover-inducing. I was disappointed that there weren’t as many academics this year (such as George Nash) speaking on historical conservative thought. Also, there was only one speech on economics during the whole conference… I’ve come to accept that CPAC is less about intellectual conversation, and more about instilling pride and nationalism amongst the deluge of republicans and libertarians alike, although the latter is integral. The necessities of college academics prevented me from attending Chris Christie’s speech, which was unfortunate. Rand Paul rallied and energized the crowd, which was overflowing the Potomac Ballroom, the increasing number of libertarians at these conferences is frankly remarkable. Hopefully the divide between strict conservatism and libertarianism will be bridged, without too much fuss, when the time necessitates it. And I will never again forget just how far, by foot, the Washington Monument is from the Lincoln Memorial.

Dan, & Sam in Fort Worth, Texas earlier this year BINGHAMTON REVIEW

BINGHAMTONREVIEW.COM Sean’s CPAC Reaction I had absolutely no idea what to expect from CPAC. I just knew that it better be worth the horrendous prior approval and voucher process that I would have to go through as treasurer. That process was surprisingly painless. On Thursday afternoon, we got on the road. On the way there, we almost ran out of gas. We really almost ran out of gas. We got off the highway at an exit that had a Walmart Distribution Center, and no gas station, and had to turn around on the highway. We were within 3 miles of disaster by the time we arrived, and almost made a wrong turn. Our next stop was at Chick-Fil-A, because we’re from the Northeast and don’t have cool things like that around us, and also because it seemed like the most suitable fast food place for the occasion. Eventually, we got to the hotel: Gaylord National Resort Convention Center. I couldn’t help but laugh at the fact that a bunch of super religious conservative activists would be speaking on the topic of traditional marriage at a place called Gaylord. The irony was beautiful. We missed the Thursday speakers unfortunately, but got to see a bunch of great speakers. Rick Perry showed us that glasses can actually make somebody look a lot smarter. He should continue to rock those. Rick Santorum managed to avoid homophobia for the most part, and came to a pretty legitimate conclusion as to why Republicans lost the 2012 election. He took shots at Mitt Romney, and was all family values in a more positive light than usual. Dr. Ben Carson really got the crowd going, and apparently a lot of the conservative base really wants him to run for President. His whole “nonpolitical” style gets people excited. Not as excited as Straw Poll winner Rand Paul though. Senator Paul gave exactly the type of speech one would expect from him, and it was beautiful. In person, it was extremely powerful. The crowd was standing up for him more than every other speaker of the day, probably. He does have “Stand With Rand” going for him, so that number

Our Treasurer, Sean Glendon

might be a little inflated. Jim DeMint was quite disappointing. On Saturday night, we ran into Sarah Palin, and got to take pictures with her, and then she started her speech off by talking about us. It was awesome, although we had to listen to it on the radio unfortunately. CPAC was about much more than the speeches: it was an experience. I got to meet a bunch of awesome people, and a few pretty terrible people. I got a bunch of free stuff. Free stuff is cool. I arm wrestled a man whose bicep (named “National Debt”) was larger than my head for a t-shirt. We went to a party in the hotel that was run by the national Republican party or something like that. It got shut down by 7:30 pm. All in all, CPAC was great, and I am definitely looking for a return next year.

Check out the back cover to see our editors Dan and Sam standing with Sarah Palin during CPAC 2014 in Washington DC!

APRIL 2014

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PIPE DREAM’S INTERVIEW

Flashbacks:

An old Pipe Dream Interview Q. What are the Binghamton Review’s principles? A. See page three, you fucking moron. Q. What are the most significant things the Review has accomplished, both specifically and conceptually, in its history and during your service? A. Freeing the slaves, landing on the moon and ending communism. Oh, and destroying NYPIRG. Q. What attracts you to the Review? A. The Review’s support for traditional gender roles. Q. What are some important things that distinguish the Review from other campus publications? A. We don’t suck. Q. The Review is known for attacking other campus publications in its pages. Why? What does it accomplish? Are there any reactions from those publications that are notable and you’d like to mention? A. In order of questions asked: Because they suck. To prove they suck. Probably, but we don’t really care… because they suck. Q. If the Binghamton University campus ever became predominantly conservative rather than liberal, how do you think the role of the Review would change in campus life? A. The Binghamton Review would be printed bi-weekly. On Tuesdays and Fridays, in fact. And we’d have large white racks to distribute on. Life would be better. Q. The Review tends to focus on politics and campus issues. Is there any interest within the Review staff in doing a section on Arts & Entertainment, Science, or anything else? A. No. Q. Are there any faculty members that know you well? If so, who? A. Only the ones that actively support terrorism. We know them very well.

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Editor In Chief Dan Milyavsky and Managing Editor Sam Bondy meet Sarah Palin at CPAC! I sure picked a great time to blink!

The Binghamton Review always wants new writers, contributors, and editorial and production staff. Come join the ranks of Binghamtonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s premier news and opinion outlet. Contact editor@binghamtonreview.com for more information.