The Daily Helmsman

Page 1

Daily Helmsman The

Murphy Quits As Oscars Host

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Eddie Murphy drops out as host of 2012 Academy Awards

Vol. 79 No. 42

see page 7

Independent Student Newspaper of The University of Memphis

www.dailyhelmsman.com

This is your brain on video games

AP

BY CHRISTOPHER WHITTEN News Reporter

Trey Fannin, right, was sold the first copy of “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3” at “Midnight Warfare,” the marquee launch event for the game at the Union Square GameStop Union in New York City.

GameStop on Union Avenue closed at 9 p.m. Monday, but that didn’t stop more than 170 gamers from occupying the store until midnight, anxiously waiting for their preordered copies of “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3,” one of the most anticipated video games of the year. Despite standing in the long line that wrapped around the building until midnight for the game, University of Memphis student Paul Dunaway still managed to get some homework done. “I’m still going to class tomorrow,” Dunaway said as he stared down at his iPad. “I have an exam.” In the midst of the fall video game release season, where in addition to the latest in the Call of Duty franchise, popular titles including “Battlefield 3” and the final installments of “Gears of War” have been released, student gamers have an overwhelming

distraction from their studies. A 2007 report released about the effect studying has on grades showed that first-year students whose roommates brought a video game console to college studied 40 minutes less each day on average. In the study from the National Bureau of Economic Research, 210 students filled out diaries that asked how much time they spent studying, sleeping, attending class and other activities. Consequentially, those 40 minutes of lost study time translated into first-semester grades that were 0.241 points lower on the 4.0 grade scale. Undecided freshman Andrew Jeffords attended the midnight launch for Battlefield 3 and stayed up until about 3 a.m. playing the game. “The guy next to me in line said he had requested the next two days off from work so he could play the game,” Jeffords said. “I didn’t feel like going to school after playing

see

Game, page 7

Need an ego boost? Obama orders agencies to ‘Open your eyes’ cut spending on ‘swag’ Students will have the opportunity to rebuild any smashed self-confidence during “Open Your Eyes, it’s Real” week. “Love Your Body, Love Yourself,” hosted by the Student Activities Council, is a series of events that focus on self-image and self-confidence. The events, which started with an appearance from comedian and motivational speaker Elaine Williams Wednesday night, will continue through Tuesday.

‘Love Your

Body, Love Yourself’ is a series of events that focus on self-image and self-confidence.’

A body image panel discussion will be held today at 1 p.m. in the University Center Beale Room, where members of Girls Inc. and representatives from the Health and Wellness depart-

ments will have an open and honest discussion about body image. “I really think people will get a lot out of it because they are experts and they help people with body image all the time,” said Carissa Childs, junior public relations major. Soul Surfer, a film about a young surfer who survived a shark attack, and continued to surf with just one arm, will be shown at the UC Theater at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Friday. “She got back up on her board and accepted her body just the way it was,” Childs said. “Your body doesn’t have to limit your ambition and your confidence.” A multimedia discussion will be held Monday at 6:30 p.m. in the UC Ballroom, which will include music and videos. The final event in this series will be a walk-through exhibition, which will be the most interactive portion of the week. The exhibit, set up like a museum art gallery, will include a timeline of the perfect body, along with information on eating disorders and celebrity testimonies. “We’re looking at the good and the bad of the media,” Childs said.

BY LESLEY CLARK McClatchy Newspapers Government freebies handed out at conferences — T-shirts, mugs, etc. — will be cut back under an executive order President Barack Obama signed Wednesday, looking to cast himself as a frugal steward of taxpayer dollars. Under the latest move in his “We Can’t Wait” campaign — which seeks to castigate Congress for not moving faster on boosting the economy — Obama signed a measure aimed at cutting waste and promoting “more efficient spending” across the federal government. In addition to stopping federal agencies from using taxpayer dollars to buy plaques and other “unnecessary promotional” swag, the president is instructing them to rely more on video teleconferencing than travel, to limit the numbers of cellphones, smartphones, tablets and laptops that are issued to employees, to stop printing documents that can be posted online and to cut the federal fleet of vehicles. “These are important steps that can save taxpayers billions of dollars over the next several years,” Obama said from the Oval Office, joined by two federal employees who came up with cost-cutting measures of their own. “It doesn’t replace the importance of the work that Congress needs to do in coming up with a balanced, bold plan to reduce our deficit, but it indicates once again that there are things that we can do right now that will actually deliver better government more efficiently, more consumerfriendly, for less money,” the president said. “And we’re going to keep on finding every pos-

sible way that we can do that even if Congress is not acting.” The White House estimates the cutbacks could save as much as $4 billion a year. Republicans ridiculed the move, with

see

Swag, page 3

MCT

BY CHRISTINA HOLLOWAY News Reporter

President Barack Obama delivers remarks on tax credits included in the American Jobs Act and new executive actions that will help get veterans back to work.


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.