DAILY TITAN The Student Voice of California State University, Fullerton T
Volume 93, Issue 31 NATIONAL | Health
Obama proposes research initiative
NEWS 2
Faculty salary reports released OPINION 5
We become what we watch FEATURES 6
Literature conference informs students FITNESS 8
Nutritional trends change diets
TUESDAY, APRIL 9, 2013
dailytitan.com
HOLOCAUST REMEMBERED
KEVIN BLACKBURN Daily Titan
President Barack Obama asked Congress to invest $100 million in the 2014 fiscal year toward research to help unlock the mysteries of the human brain. The so-called BRAIN Initiative project would map out brain functions with the hope of eventually finding cures for disorders like Alzheimer’s and Epilepsy. The initiative is part of the president’s proposed fiscal 2014 budget, which is expected to be released Wednesday. Congress will have to sign off on the initiative through its appropriations process. The BRAIN Initiative, which stands for Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies, was a focal point in the president’s State of the Union address where he laid out his visions for creating jobs and building a thriving middle class by making large investments in research and development, which would begin with this new initiative. “As humans, we can identify galaxies light years away; we can study particles smaller than an atom,” Obama said in his address. “But we still haven’t unlocked the mystery of the three pound of matter that sits in between our ears.” SEE INITIATIVE, 3
LOCAL | Fullerton
Commission discusses Muckenthaler proposal CALEB STRANO Daily Titan
The Fullerton Parks and Recreation Commission met Monday night to discuss the Muckenthaler Cultural Center Master Plan as well as city’s proposed Parks and Recreation budget for the current and following fiscal year. Once the commission heard the responses from the public, it voted to conduct a feasibility study with a public review. This would entail future meetings in which people will be able voice their opinions on the proposal once again. The Muckenthaler Cultural Center, which is owned by the city, required approval from the City Council in order to construct improvements and renovations. The proposal was scheduled to be fifth on the agenda, but was moved up to first when the commission realized that most people in attendance were there for the center proposal. Eleven people spoke out on the proposal, with seven in favor of the center. Those who spoke in favor discussed the historical impact that the center provides and how it teaches art and education to both children and adults. Austin Muckenthaler, a Board of Trustees member for the proposed center, was one of the supporters of the proposed plan to add renovations to the center. SEE PROPOSAL, 2
JOHN PEKCAN / Daily Titan CSUF student Jevon Tabar, 22, reads a list of names from Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Israel in no particular order. Tabar addressed the students through a megaphone during a moment of remembrance for the lives lost during the Holocaust at the Titan Walk on Monday for Holocaust Remembrance Day.
SEE HOLOCAUST, 3
STATE | Law enforcement
CSU warned of diminishing campus police force ERINN GROTEFEND Daily Titan
The Statewide University Police Association (SUPA) has warned the California State University system of a police workforce shortage, which leaves campus departments shorthanded and could lead to dangerous circumstances for students, faculty and staff of the 23 CSU campuses. With a spike in statewide crime and an already low number of of-
ficers coupled with officers leaving CSU departments, SUPA continues to negotiate its contract for last year. SUPA is a non-profit organization that represents about 386 police officers, corporals and sergeants in the CSU police system, according to Jeff Solomon, president of SUPA. Solomon said their primary concern is the safety across the 23 CSU campuses, but the ability to hire and retain police officers is crippled by their pay system.
“We have not had a pay raise since 2006-2007,” said Solomon. “Every police department in the state of California … (gets) some kind of incentive every year.” For police departments, if employees do a good job or get a good evaluation, they go up a pay level and eventually max out after five or seven years, according to Solomon. University officers have not received a raise in over seven years nor have they received basic incentives, “which help departments to iden-
tify and retain the most skilled individuals,” according to a statement from SUPA. According to a statement from the CSU, the university system has proposed to continue the salaries and benefits with SUPA, which uniforms other employee groups. During its Board of Trustees meeting in March, the CSU suggested allocating funds in 20132014 toward a compensation reserve for salary-related concerns. “Claims by the Statewide Uni-
versity Police Association of mass turnover and increases in crime on campuses are hyperbole associated with this time in the negotiations. Despite expanded rhetoric from SUPA, we are committed to trying to find a resolution to this dispute at the bargaining table as we go through the impasse process,” said John Swarbrick, CSU associate vice chancellor of labor relations, in a statement. SEE POLICE, 2
FEATURES | Dance
Queer Straight Alliance hosts annual prom The club’s goal was to provide students with a judgment-free dance CHELSEA BOYD Daily Titan
Formal dresses, suits and ties, tiaras and crowns, the sounds of Beyonce playing through loud speakers—this could only mean one thing, prom is in full effect. The beloved tradition graduated from high school and found itself at Cal State Fullerton on March 28, courtesy of the Queer Straight Alliance (QSA). QSA kicked off spring break in style by bringing a Great Gatsby themed prom to the TSU Pavilions. “The Great Queer Prom” had all the elements of a traditional prom with some signature twists, all in the spirit of equality and inclusion. Guests were greeted with the option of buying a raffle ticket for the opportunity to win prizes including gift certificates to Del Taco or AMC movie theaters, a journal or a paperback copy of The Great Gatsby. Upon entering the room attendees were provided with markers to add to a banner that read “What does Queer Prom mean to you?”
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Some messages read: “It means finally going with someone special,” or “Having somewhere to express myself.” One prom-goer wrote, “First prom ever!” Cody Montoya, a fourth-year entertainment studies major, has been on the queer prom committee in past years and said the event was an important second chance for people who felt left out of high school proms. “It’s one of those moments where you can have the experience that you didn’t get in highschool if you’re part of the LGBT community because a lot of us didn’t get to take our significant other just because of restrictions and stuff like that and because a lot of people aren’t out at that point,” Montoya said. The next stop after the banner station was the voting station, where not two, but four tiaras stood. Beneath them were ballots with five categories. Voters chose both male and female kings and queens as well as a cutest couple. After all of the writing tasks were finished, guest were invited to take Gatsby-style photos at a photo station complete with costumes and props. Feather boas, pearls, hats and
MARIAH CARILLO / For the Daily Titan
The event featured a “Great Gatsby” inspired theme, a picture booth, formal attire and prom court ballots.
suspenders were available among other pieces for attendees to try on in 1930s style photoshoots from a professional photographer. Modern music crashed the vintage party and was greeted with a full dance floor. Songs by Beyonce, Christina Aguilera and Lady Gaga
ruled the night. The floor erupted into near hysteria when Rihanna’s “We Found Love” played. The dancing was briefly interrupted by the announcement of prom court by QSA president, Christopher Labrot. In his presentation Labrot men-
tioned the importance of having the two gender options in each category as a show of respect and acceptance for those who identify differently from how the outside world views them. SEE PROM, 6
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NEWS
PAGE 2
THE DAILY TITAN
APRIL 9, 2013 TUESDAY
24% 2,686
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
PROFESSOR
4,664
17.6%
17.4% LECTURER
41%
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
FACULTY AND STAFF DEMOGRAPHICS OF CSU
2,007
1,991
Source: California State University
FOR THE RECORD It is Daily Titan policy to correct factual errors printed in the publication. Corrections will be published on the subsequent issue after an error is discovered and will appear on page 2. Errors on the Opinion page will be corrected on that page. Corrections will also be made to the online version of the article. Please contact Editor-in-Chief David Hood at (805) 712-2811 or at editorinchief@dailytitan.com with issues about this policy or to report any errors.
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POLICE: Many CSU campuses are understaffed CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
CSU Police Department has a 15step pay scale. Currently, however, employees get hired at a pay and stay there for their whole career unless a raise is negotiated, according to Solomon. At the time of hire, a CSU police officer is more than 20 percent below the average starting pay in the industry, and after at five years, the pay is 40 percent below an average counterpart at a municipal department. “Nobody’s going to want and come and work for us when they can work right down the road and make thousands more,” said Solomon. The ability to hire people now is severely impacted, he added.
When the economy was bad, employees stayed at their jobs, but as the economy improves, outside police agencies are hiring, making for a more competitive environment, Solomon said. Solomon said the primary concern of the CSU chiefs of police is the ability to keep the officers and then hire more, due to the amount of open positions that are not being filled because of the budget. Many campuses have inadequate numbers of police officers, he said. “There is no statewide policy on minimum staffing for police officers so essentially you could have a police officer working a 30,000 populus campus and … they seem to think that’s okay,” Solomon said.
Throughout the 23 campuses, there is no standardization in regards to equipment or further training after initial police academy training, for CSU Police. It is a campus-by-campus decision, which is made by the university’s chief of police, to determine what training employees should attend. Comparative organizations, such as California Highway Patrol, are issued the same equipment for their gun belts. “It’s such a redundancy and waste in money and safety issues with everybody doing it a different way,” Solomon said. “It puts a big safety concern when these guys don’t have the proper tools that they need.”
MEETING: Residents voice opposition CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
“The Muckenthaler, we are constantly growing and local communities support to ensure that we have the proper capacity and ability to deliver arts education programs ... to the city of Fullerton and beyond,” Muckenthaler said. The others in support of the proposal reiterated this sentiment and felt that it would help to not only improve the center but also the community around the center. Many residents were worried that the loud noises and traffic that would increase if the center decided to expand. Harry Price Jr., a Fullerton resident who has lived next to the center for more than 50 years, shared his disapproval of the proposal. He said many residents who live around Muckenthaler do not have any clue of what they are getting into and the inconveniences that lie ahead. “This is going to be an absolute zoo,” said Price. During the meeting, Price said Zoot Velasco, member of the Community Development Citizens Committee, claimed that Muckenthaler would host more weddings inside of the building rather than only outside. “Muckenthaler was not designed to be this,” said Price. “Muckenthaler was designed to be a nice little small community art culture center for basically the locals.” He added that the center was not designed to be a “mini Getty” and this project is out of character for the whole neighborhood. Alice Loya, administrative manager of Parks and Recreation, spoke about how the commission understood the importance of the topic and that is why they made this decision. “We wanted to make sure that we take everybody’s thoughts into consideration, so that was the purpose of tonight,” Loya said.
DTBRIEFS US to equip Guam with more troops and missile defense Due to threats from North Korea, 95 Army personnel will be based at Guam for missile defense, according to USA Today. The 95-person crew based in Fort Bliss, Texas will travel to an undisclosed base in Guam in the coming weeks with a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system (THAAD). According to USA Today, North Korea has threatened to attack the U.S. and their territories while specifically naming the Andersen Air Force Base in Yigo, Guam. The THAAD was deemed to be the best suited military system to protect Guam according to a report by the National Research Council of the National Academies. It will work in conjunction with other defense-systems in the region. Guam will receive a truckmounted launcher, interceptor missiles, tracking radar and a fire-control system. Guam has 10,000 US troops in its base and has been a US territory since 1898.
Brief by MICHELLE TUYUB
JCPenney ousts CEO Johnson JCPenney announced Monday afternoon that CEO Ron Johnson would be replaced immediately by former chief executive Mike Ullman, according to USA Today. Ullman was CEO for the retail company from 2004-2011 when Johnson took over for him. The first year that Johnson ran the company stocks fell 44 percent, and since then an additional 25 percent. In February, JCPenney released that they had lost $985 million, which comes out to $4.49 a share. Johnson implemented a new low price strategy in order to make the brand hipper and more appealing to the younger generation. The hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, JCPenney’s largest shareholder, showed his unrest with Johnson for not adequately testing out the new retail strategy. JCPenney said that Ullman is not a long term solution for the job and that they will be actively looking for a seasoned replacement.
Brief by CODY LEONG
ROBERT HUSKEY / Daily Titan
Patrick Hough, a representative from a local business, waits in line with Fullerton residents to discuss the Muckenthaler Cultural Center on Monday.
The center has an existing plan which was approved in June 1984. The plan included the establishment of multiple buildings including a classroom, multipurpose room and an outdoor theater. The only building that was constructed for the plan was is the outdoor theater. The commission also went over the preview for the two-year operating budget for the 2013-14 and 2014-15 fiscal years. This budget could affect the renovations for the Muckenthaler as well. The 2013-2014 operating budget has been increased by from $8.2 million to $8.5 million. Revenue has increased from $4.4 million to $5.5 million. Major changes have been made to the Parks and Recreation budget in the last three years, which include the increase of revenue, restructuring the department and reducing the commission staff. Two division managers retired and two manager positions were eliminated which led to the redistribution of responsibilities to the
remaining managers. The proposed budget’s goal is to keep the status quo and reduce if possible. The commission reviewed the loss of approximately $120,000 in revenue from the Meridian Sports Club, reduction in hours for parttime staff to meet the new medical insurance requirements, the Garnet Center rent which ends in April 2014, absorb the Parks Project Manager position responsibilities and the two Planned T-Mobile cell tower sites. The commission also explored new opportunities and strategies for the budget. This includes trail grant opportunities, partnering with Cal State Fullerton on fitness classes and a $500,000 grant received from CalGrip gang prevention. The proposed budgets are reviewed every two years along with the Five-Year Capital Improvement Program, which was reviewed in March. After each first fiscal year, the budget is reviewed and revisions can be made.
Anaheim fire deemed accidental A fire that damaged a business-complex and caused $200,000 in damages in Anaheim is being called accidental, according to the Orange County Register. The fire that occurred on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. in the 4000 block of East La Palma Avenue was quickly put out by 12:55 p.m. The only known injury that occurred during the rescue was to a firefighter who hurt his left arm but was treated at a nearby clinic. Although the cause fire is still being investigated it was thought to have originated from a pizza company’s business office, smoke and flames were seen coming out of the building. Firemen from the Orange County Fire Authority and the Orange Fire Department responded to the fire with 58 firefighters who had to use force entry to enter the building. The building most affected was a pizza business, while others in the vicinity endured only moderate damage.
Brief by MICHELLE TUYUB
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NEWS
APRIL 9, 2013
TUESDAY
HOLOCAUST: Students commemorate TIM WORDEN Daily Titan
A dozen Cal State Fullerton students marched through campus Monday afternoon to the Titan Walk, wearing black shirts with signs reading “Never forget,” to commemorate Holocaust Remembrance Day, which ended at sunset. As they settled at a bench at the Titan Walk near the TitanShops bookstore, the group’s spokesman, Jevon Tabar, 22, a student in the English teaching program, blared his loudspeaker and climbed on the bench. “Attention,” Tabar said through the loudspeaker. “To every person there is a name,” he began, as he read a list of a few of the people who were killed in the Holocaust. Following the names, the group held a moment of silence for those who were killed. Holocaust Remembrance Day, or Yom Hashoah in Hebrew, commemorates the estimated 6 million Jews and others who were killed during World War II. This year marked the 70th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, a Jewish resistance within the Warsaw Ghetto where 13,000 Jews were killed in 1943 in an attempt to oppose German control. The event on campus was sponsored by B’nai B’rith International, a Jewish advocacy group, and Alpha Epsilon Pi, the campus’ Jewish fraternity, Tabar said. “This is something that we do every year on campus,” Tabar said. The fraternity, which was founded about five years ago, has 16 members at CSUF and about 11,000 members internationally,
Holocaust. ” JEVON TABAR CSUF Student
“We (want to) just always remember and never forget about what happened,” Tabar said. One of the participants in the remembrance day has a very special connection to the Holocaust. “My grandfather, Shaia, is a survivor of the Holocaust,” said Ben Taitz, 21, a psychology major. “He managed to escape (a concentration camp) and he is still alive today but the rest of his family died in the Holocaust in mass graves.” Taitz, who is vice president for
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INITIATIVE: Plan to help brain dysfunction patients CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
according to David Feldman, 25, a business administration major who participated in the memorial. About 100 Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternities held similar Holocaust memorials at campuses across the U.S. on Monday, Feldman said. “For me, it’s a day where we try to remember those lost, non-Jews and Jews alike, who were lost in the Holocaust,” Tabar said. Tabar said the remembrance helps something like the Holocaust not happen again.
“For me, it’s a day where we try to remember those lost, non-Jews and Jews alike, who were lost in the
PAGE 3
JOHN PEKCAN / Daily Titan David Feldman, 25, a business administration major, displays a “Never Forget” sticker on his T-shirt in remembrance of Holocaust victims.
CSUF’s Jewish club Hillel, said he is named after his grandfather’s brother, Benjamin, who died in the mass graves in Latvia, where their Jewish family is from. His grandfather, now 89, was just 16 when he was put into a concentration camp. He was put into forced labor because he was the youngest, Taitz said. Shaia Taitz was eventually transferred to Dachau in southern Germany, one of the fiercest camps, but managed to escape when an Allied bombing blew a hole in the wall of the prison, Taitz said. He stole a uniform from a dead German soldier and escaped into the woods, where he was picked up by an Allied army who were on their way to liberate the camp, Taitz said. Dachau, the first permanent con-
centration camp, was set up by the Nazis less than two months after Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor in 1933. According to the camp’s memorial website, 41,500 people were killed there. Taitz said he believes it is important to not forget the Holocaust. “People think ‘Oh, what happened to those people won’t happen to us.’ But it does happen to everyone at one point in history or another,” Taitz said. “History is not kind to its subjects.” Taitz said he visits his grandfather, who now lives in Israel, every year and Skypes with him every weekend. “He wants us to remember the story, he wants us to remember our family who did not have a chance to live and have children of their own,” Taitz said.
Dr. Francis Collins, the Director of the National Institute of Health, is leading the charge for the BRAIN Initiative. He calls the human brain, “the most complicated biological structure in the known universe.” Collins wants the initiative to build on recent neuroscience strides in hopes of helping more than 100 million people who suffer from brain dysfunctions. Collins was a key contributor to the Human Genome Project that started in 1988. The 13-year project was coordinated by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Institute of Health to discover more about genetics. For every dollar invested in the project, it returned a value of $141, Obama said. The money for Obama’s BRAIN Initiative will be disbursed to three different agencies. The National Institute for Health intends to allocate approximately $40 million to the project in 2014. Those funds are specifically devoted to projects that support the development of new tools, training opportunities and other resources. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) plans to invest $50 million in a set of programs with the goal of understanding the dynamic function of the brain. DARPA aims to develop a new set of tools to capture and process dynamic neural and synaptic activities and raise interest in researching a new generation of information processing systems, which according to the White House can improve the way veterans suffering from
post-traumatic stress, brain injury and memory loss are diagnosed and treated. The National Science Foundation is another key investor offering $20 million that will help to develop molecular-scale probes that can sense and record the activity of neural networks. Several private-sector organizations, such as The Allen Institute for Brain Science and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, are also committing to the initiative. The initiative would be launched amid recent strides in neuroscience research. Researchers now have the ability to record thousands of neurons firing through an animal, which was found during testing. They can also get a coarse-grained look at how regions of the human brain are connected by using techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging. While these technological innovations have contributed substantially to expanding scientific knowledge of the brain, significant breakthroughs in how neurological and psychiatric diseases are treated will require a new generation of tools to enable researchers to record signals from brain cells in much greater numbers and at ever faster speeds, according to a White House press release. Obama said he believes the BRAIN Initiative has the ability to help billions of people. “Now is not the time to gut these job-creating investments in science and innovation. Now is the time to reach a level of research and development not seen since the height of the Space Race,” Obama said in his State of the Union address.
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OPINION
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THE DAILY TITAN
APRIL 9, 2013 TUESDAY
The push and pull of tragedy LAUREN DAVIS Daily Titan
Mass shootings that tragically strike at random ultimately instill fear and anger into individuals both near and far from these horrible events. The massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School seemed to do just that while also giving gun control a new focus. According to the Christian Science Monitor, the home of Sandy Hook Elementary School gunman Adam Lanza helped reveal both the extent of his arsenal as well as evidence of his mental disturbance, finding clipped newspaper articles about school shootings and a holiday card with a check from Lanza’s mother for another weapon. Lanza’s actions along with other mass shootings—actions that have slain not only people, but hearts and minds as well—will forever change the way gun control is handled if citizens have anything to say about it. For example in the 1960s, the three shootings of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy ultimately introduced and immediately helped define what ground gun control would stand on. “President Lyndon Johnson won passage of the Gun Control Act of 1968, the most sweeping federal gun law at the time,” states Wes Goforth’s “History of gun control in the U.S.” “Its main features still prohibit convicted felons, drug users and the mentally ill from buying guns.” Goforth also goes on to describe the “Brady Bill,” established in 1993 years after the 1981 shooting of Reagan press secretary, James Brady, which created the waiting period we see today for gun acquisition. As a result, leaving such massacre’s in the
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RICARDO GONZALEZ Courtesy of MCT Shootings like that at Newtown have set the debate on gun control ablaze.
hands of law enforcement agencies and providing even stricter background checks, may now help weed out the people that are not eligible to own and or use a gun of any kind. Massive and unfortunate shootings of innocent people is never something anyone wishes to witness again, especially in reference to the Sandy Hook shooting involving young children and teachers who happened to be the targets of Lanza’s disturbed rampage. However, the continual reinforcement Americans are receiving towards the purchasing and carrying of guns has gotten out of control. An extreme example of this has occurred in Arizona. According to USA Today, former Tucson mayor Shaun McClusky is currently casting a privately-funded program to help provide residents of high crime areas with free shotguns in order to defend themselves. McClusky stated that because the city government is failing to do their job, citizens must do more to protect themselves. This is a perfect example of how people (a former politician in this case) have taken a right to bear arms and twisted it into their own way. In his article, Goforth went on
to note that by 2012—nearly 18 years after the Brady Bill was put into play—an estimated 156 million Americans had received background checks, yet an estimated one million were rejected. Adam Lanza on the other hand, had not received background checks, even though papers found in the house stated otherwise. Law enforcement apparently found a “certificate” from the National Rifle Association among Lanza’s personal belongings. In the end, the NRA denied that either Adam Lanza was a member of the association. Ultimately, having a proper background check and a properly registered firearm are the correct ways to own a firearm. However, because of the pressure citizens receive from being reinforced (and reprimanded) so many times after the Sandy Hook massacre and similar tragedies, people may still slip the system and make firearm laws the way they want them to be regardless of good or ill intentions. And in the end, this back and forth that people are receiving left and right is making the mess of gun control and gun ownership even messier.
Our words are tweeted in stone “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say nothing at all.” Not just an adage for adorable, grammaticallychallenged rabbits, this is a useful sentiment in most situations. Yet regardless of one’s attempts to stick to it, there are going to be instances when something harsh, offensive or otherwise stupid slips out at an inopportune time. People are people. Mistakes are made in moments of weakness and sometimes things are said that are better left unsaid. Words as immaterial soundwaves, however, hang in the air for just a few moments and exist only as long as people are willing to recall them. Unless this slip-up comes in the form of a tweet. Then you are, for lack of a better term, screwed. It’s a lesson that many have to learn the hard way: The idea that when the whole world is watching (or 85 million people daily, at least), it is very likely that a controversial comment here or an ill-taken joke there will ruffle some feathers. After all, there are reasons why there is the suggestion that those in the professional world should keep a separate Twitter account for their personal musings—preferably one that is private and protected. Again, it comes down to the idea of permanence. It is the idea that once something is “on the Internet” it is there “forever.” That may or may not be entirely accurate, but it is undoubtedly difficult to slip something past the ever-watchful eyes of social media stalwarts, particularly if you hold a relatively public position. The term “relatively” being operative in this case.
For those not in the know, the video game community is currently in the throes of speculation as the big console developers start the excruciatingly slow reveal of their respective systems. I won’t get into the minutiae of this process or the systems themselves (this isn’t my colleague Matt Atkinson’s column, darn it), but just trust that it has much of the Internet in a veritable tizzy. But that tizzy turned full-on controversial last week because of previously unknown Microsoft Studios creative director Adam Orth. A brief backlash ensued after comments surfaced online that Microsoft’s next Xbox system would require users to have a constant connection to the Internet in order to operate—similar to the ill-conceived concept implemented by recently released PC game, SimCity. Apparently unaware that opinions on social media fly as frequently as planes out of LAX, Orth felt it was his job to chime in and defend the rumor utilizing his worldly knowledge and faultless logic. By that, I mean he made some semi-insulting comments suggesting consumers #dealwithit; “it” being the unconfirmed feature that Microsoft’s system might or might not actually have. It, like most tweets that cause a big hubbub, is fairly convoluted and quite questionable in just how sincere its sender is. However, it’s here that we can take a closer look at just why this is dangerous, not just if you’re a Microsoft employee, but if you’re anyone who cares anything about your perception online. It’s currently unclear if Orth will face
any concrete reprimand from Microsoft, but it’s likely that if he’d considered the following, he could have avoided ridicule. Namely, there are two notable elements here. Number one is to remember that while you are using social media—Twitter specifically—although you are visible in a sense, you are faceless. What I mean by this is that while people might be able to see your chosen avatar (it may indeed be a picture of your face) and while they can read what you write, they can’t very well guess with 100 percent certainty what you mean by your words. People may indeed “know” your online persona, but when you are tweeting you are not just tweeting to those in the “know”. You are tweeting at the world at large. Many people are not going to rightly understand what you’re really tweeting about or in what way they should be taking things. Secondly, and this is more to the heart of the matter, what you tweet should be perceived as permanent. Even if the delete button is hit moments after a tweet is sent out, it might still exist. For example, Orth currently has his Twitter account locked down under privacy settings, yet his offending tweets exist in screencaps on every news source caring to write about his misstep. But even if you pay close attention to these two and still find yourself staring at your Twitter timeline—fingers at the keyboard—wondering whether you should tweet out that next biting comment, then you probably already know if you should or not.
‘Robo-reporters’ have brains, lack heart ANDY LUNDIN Daily Titan
We live in a world where most people simply can’t go a few hours without some technological device assisting them through their day, making their hectic lives go about more efficiently and productively. Journalists aren’t an exception to this, some have it so they don’t even need to write their stories, they just let a program do it for them. Over the last few years there have been so called “robo-reporters” creating stories with the help of algorithms designed to piece together news stories. All the algorithm needs is the data for the story, then the program writes it. According to The Vancouver Sun, Los Angeles Times writer Ken Schwencke is one such journalist that has been doing this kind of work. Schwencke, who is the digital editor for the LA Times, has posted earthquake stories online that were created as a result of an algorithm that Schwencke himself designed. This kind of journalism practice raises some interesting questions as well as concerns. How much of the algorithm-created reporting is necessary? What does it mean for the future of a real flesh and blood journalist? In Schwencke’s case, using algorithms for earthquake stories seems practical enough. Since these stories are primarily based on the data that Schwencke has collected, there isn’t any need to make the story any deeper than the facts that have already been provided. But this is just one facet to an CONTACT US AT: OPINION@DAILYTITAN.COM
even larger number of possibilities that makes up what this kind of storytelling is and might also someday be capable of. According to Wired, Kristian Hammond, the CTO and cofounder of Narrative Science, a company that teaches computers to write for the news, thinks that this method of creating a story is going to play a larger part for news writing in the future. He believes that within the next 15 years, more than 90 percent of news stories will be written by computers. Sounds a bit disconcerting, doesn’t it? A few issues arise when considering that one of the biggest being the question of where this leaves the actual human journalist in terms of work. Although Hammond has claimed that his company’s work has yet to affect jobs for journalists, the possibility of it doing so in the future certainly seems likely. If this is indeed the direction that journalism is headed in as Hammond makes it seem, it’s important to assess both the positive and negative aspects to find out how it can be the most beneficial. According to Wired, “Hammond believes that as Narrative Science grows, its stories will go higher up the journalism food chain—from commodity news to explanatory journalism and, ultimately, detailed long-form articles. Maybe at some point, humans and algorithms will collaborate, with each partner playing to its strength.” This is quite the astounding
consideration—the idea of cooperation between the two could provide an opened-ended number of possibilities. But what else is the journalist to do other than strictly collaborate if a program can do the job on its own just as well as a human reporter can by himself? And will there be anything that a computer can’t do that a human can? Might we see op-eds or detailed profile stories written by the most human-esque and objectively programmed algorithms? Sounds ridiculous, but the possibilities almost do seem endless. While Schwencke has said that doing this kind of journalism makes life a little bit easier for everyone, will it get to the point where we will see a future where all the great stories we read aren’t even really written by people? Given that thought, there definitely should be some hesitance when it comes to accepting what the idea of algorithm reporting could bring about. While it clearly is important in the world already, there should be a certain amount of balance between writing stories using the program and doing it the traditional way. It certainly opens up a plethora of new ideas and opportunities, there just should be a little more consideration about how the average journalist could be effected in the long run. If the world gets too caught up using algorithms to create stories, it might forget what everyone liked so much about the traditional ways in the first place.
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OPINION
APRIL 9, 2013
TUESDAY
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THE DAILY TITAN
A look at Cyprus’s failing banks and when ‘levying’ feels like theft DANIEL BARBEAU For the Daily Titan
Courtesy of MCT
During its run, Jersey Shore was one of cable’s most successful shows. It averaged three million viewers per episode.
With role models like these, TV is a beacon for troubled youth to follow MIMI HUNG Daily Titan
Why do you think people think of you as nerdy because you know what Spock is about to say the second he raises his hand and separates his fingers? Do you become what you watch? You may not think the choice you made on selecting a TV show could affect you, but the truth is it does in one way or another. “What you’ve been thinking about recently or seeing recently (is) at a higher level in your consciousness, so your brain is kind of predisposed in that direction,” said Joanne Cantor, a psychologist and member of the American Psychological Association, to NBC News. “So if you’ve just seen a movie about really altruistic people and you get an opportunity to behave altruistically, you’ll probably do it, rather than if you’ve just seen a movie about selfish people.” With so many different genres of shows on TV today, viewers have too many to choose from. So how do the show producers, in order to fulfill the desires of a wide variety of viewers, ask: what is okay to put on TV, and what is not? What are the right choices and what are the boundaries? “‘Good TV,’ in their parlance, often walks a fine line between not enough and too much.” said Randee Dawn on Today.com. Many at this point likely know about last week’s death of Shain Gandee, MTV star from the reality show Buckwild. Gandee was found dead in his truck, along with his uncle and a friend. Reports indicated he died via carbon monoxide poi-
The producers are creating a fabulous image that viewers would love to be a part of: their normal daily life becoming wild. soning because his truck was stuck in a deep mud pit after late night drinking; some time after 3 a.m. The antics that likely led to this tragedy were viewable weekly on Buckwild. The show averages three million viewers per episode, mostly 12 to 34 year olds, and has been filling the time slot of Jersey Shore, the previous hottest show on MTV, according to CBSNEWS. By all means, many young people are watching these types of shows where all they see are other relatable young people partying, flirting, fighting and doing dumb things. “Partying” is certainly a big aspect of attracting viewers in reality TV shows because cast members live so freely without the burdens of real life. Life seems easy when you just party and enjoy the money made from the show and live a luxurious life while gaining fame. So who doesn’t want that? Exactly. The producers are creating a fabulous image that viewers would love to be a part of: their normal daily life becoming wild. I remember watching Power Rangers when I was younger and wanted to be a superhero when I grew up (something just did not work out). But things change over years when what is shown on TV switches over from heroes to drunkards. The people who we want to live up to changes.
“You’re sitting there at home, watching on TV, thinking, ‘Wow, this is so much more exciting than my own life. Let me go out and try this. Maybe I can get on a reality show,’” says Lou Manza, a psychology professor at Lebanon Valley College in Pennsylvania, to the Pittsburgh Courier. I am not saying watching shows like these only have negative aspects. After all, those shows still manage to get over 3 million views per episode, but what are the positives? Take, for example, Teen Mom from MTV, where one of the teen moms, Amber Portwood beat her former fiancé in front their young daughter (which she got charged with two felony counts afterwards). The whole thing just seems wrong, regardless of what the show itself stands for or who is starring in it. If all the dramas were meant to attract the higher ratings rather than a round of applause for the producers, but what is it left for the audiences? A drunk driver like Michael Douglas Burford and drug-possessing girl like Salwa Armin—both Buckwild cast members. The future seems bleak, but there are still many choices on TV for you to watch. So next time you switch channels, think of this: “Am I what I am watching?” And all I can say is ... live long and prosper.
If a bank robber managed to make off with up to 40 percent of a bank’s deposits, it is theft. When unelected international institutions manage the same feat, it is a tax or levy. The recent and ongoing financial conflagration in Cyprus underlies a disturbing new precedent in global bankruptcies: The direct expropriation of personal capital through nationalization of bank accounts. The sad story of Cyprus begins many years ago, after the small island promoted its financial and banking attractiveness through lax regulation and high interest rates. Because of its financial opaqueness, Russian, British and Greek capital flowed into the island’s banks, swelling financial assets to several times the national GDP. Cyprus became a favored place to incorporate a business or to stash cash, seemingly safe from expropriation by domestic governments. Since these banks also invested heavily in neighboring Greek bond issuances, problems arose when the “troika” of the European Central Bank, International Monetary Fund, and European Union ordered Greek bondholders to accept a write-down of bonds of up to 70 percent. This halved the value of Cypriot banks’ holdings, which soon became severely overleveraged and left banks unable to maintain solvency. March 16, Cypriots awoke to find their bank accounts frozen. Moments before the lockdown, well-connected depositors managed to move their capital from Cyprus as word of the plan leaked to insiders. However, most islanders discovered that Cypriot leaders and EU bureaucrats had secretly negotiated a deal which would recapitalize the national banks to a tune of €10 billion, but at a
cost of a levy of 6.75 percent of bank depositors’ savings below, and 9.9 percent above, €100 thousand. Domestic outcry, however, forced the Cypriot Parliament to torpedo the deal unanimously. Nevertheless, banks remained closed and ATM withdrawals limited to €100 per day, bringing economic activity to a standstill. A chaotic exit from the Eurozone and return to the lira loomed as the dire alternative to the ‘levy’, which would have sent the nation into a vortex of default, devaluation and economic ruin for years. A trip to Russia by the Cypriot Finance Minister to exchange offshore natural gas exploration rights or perhaps a new Mediterranean naval base for a financial lifeline failed and Cyprus again turned to the EU for money. Once the banks would reopen, a run on deposits was a near certainty, as every depositor would desperately seek to pull hard cash from accounts. Already hobbled and needing recapitalization, any bank run not supported by emergency loans from the ECB would crush the banking system. Before the banks could reopen, a political solution needed to be found. Back at the negotiating table, the EU offered a sobering deal: Cyprus must raise €5.8 billion in exchange for a €10 billion loan, then reorganize and downsize its banks. For an economy with an annual GDP of €17 billion, the deal amounted to a crushing blow. In order to specifically target foreign account holders, bank depositors with accounts above €100 thousand will lose up to 40 percent of their money to the levy. This time, the deal’s technicalities allowed it to avoid Cyprus’ Parliament, thus avoiding any inconvenient parliamentary debate, while nullifying any semblances of democracy. Meanwhile, savvy depositors found
loopholes through the porous capital controls from which to transport their cash. Nobody knows how much capital surreptitiously fled Cyprus, but the more that escaped the island, the harder Cyprus must raid its remaining depositors to raise the €5.8 billion bailout requirement. According to the latest developments, depositors could now lose from 60 to 80 percent in accounts above €100 thousand, and strict capital controls remain in effect that allow only €300 per day in withdrawals. This Cyprus fiasco has ushered in a brave new world for the troubled Eurozone. Cyprus’ economy is expected to shrink by 30 percent over the next few years and the banking sector is essentially finished. With GDP to debt ratios soon to rise to 140 percent and climbing with a shrinking economy, the island will likely become a constant national welfare case needing further bailouts in the near future. Perhaps the most important lesson learned by European bank depositors is that no bank account is safe from governmental raiding. Whenever Italy, Spain and other nations need future bailouts, masses of depositors will likely rush to withdraw their cash, lest they awake to find their accounts frozen and a significant chunk levied by the EU. The Cyprus fiasco has virtually guaranteed panicked bank runs and capital flight at the mere rumor of bailout. Ultimately, the Eurozone experiment is an abject failure and the only long term alternative to a chronic and dysfunctional European economic sclerosis is dissolution of the monetary union. The profligate peripherals must revert to their national currencies, while healthier central European core economies continue to use the former German deutschmark, cleverly disguised as the euro.
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40 students present research and stories at seventh annual event ANDRES MARTINEZ Daily Titan
ANDRES MARTINEZ / Daily Titan
The conference allowed students to share experiences from around the world with other interested students.
ence, students develop organizational and presentational skills that they can apply in future academic and professional endeavors,” Hussar said. Thomas Cottam, a master’s student in International Studies at Chapman University, takes Chinese courses at Cal State Fullerton because Chapman doesn’t offer higher level Chinese courses. He added that he enjoys the interactive classroom setting and the diversity of Chinese courses offered at CSUF. His professor, Jack Liu, asked Cottam if he was willing to present something related to Chinese culture or about learning Chinese because Cottam had spent time in China. Cottam shared his experience traveling in China, cultural clashes and how he managed to live there for a year. “I really enjoyed my experience in China and I wanted to share that and answer any questions that other students might have about how they can get involved with something like that and that you don’t necessarily have to go with an organized
program,” said Cottam. “You can do something like this on your own and have an amazing time.” Cottam said that the students who didn’t make it to the conference on March 28 missed out because there was extensive information put out, specifically for those that are interested in Chinese culture or language. “What I hope students were able to take away from the presentations were some of the variety of methods by which to understand and engage foreign cultures. We live in an increasingly globalized society where isolationism and ignorance of other cultures is a liability,” said Cottam. Alexis Guzman, a Spanish and math major with a minor in economics, presented his work at the literature conference. Guzman said that his Spanish professor, Reyes Fidalgo, asked him if he was willing to present and he accepted because he hasn’t been that active in the Spanish Department and thought it would be a great opportunity to be more involved. His presentation, “A Rich Lan-
guage: The Beginning of a New Era” was about how a person’s background, who they live with, where they go to school and things of that matter are of key importance in the development of the person speaking and the way they speak. “I wanted to bring not only the phenology aspect to my presentation but I wanted to see how it influences when the person is speaking,” said Guzman. Guzman said he liked everything in general, but he especially liked that the presentations in his session were all connected to each other. He said that he wanted to tell the students to participate in these types of events, even if they might not be majoring or minoring in the subject. “I am intrigued to find out what makes those other languages unique from Spanish because some of us are very used to the language that we speak that we don’t even go and participate or see what other things other languages bring to us, what enrichment can we get from them,” Guzman said.
On-campus jobs convenient for Titans CASEY ELOFSON Daily Titan
Whether grabbing a sandwich at the Nutwood Cafe or checking out a library book, fellow students will most likely be the ones who are working behind the counter. Cal State Fullerton is filled with students working various jobs durring each semester. And because students continue to fill these jobs, the benefits of working on campus, besides the obvious paycheck, are numerous. For many students the convenience factor of working on campus is what make the jobs alluring. Lara Neal, industry specialist for the Career Center, said that the convenience of not having to drive off campus is a huge factor for students. She said that this allows students to have more time to actually do work whether it is school work or actually working, rather than having to drive from place to place. “You don’t have to plan to drive and park somewhere, you can come in for two to three hours at a time, you know, bop in and out five days
TUESDAY
PROM: Students dance the night away
Literature, language and culture conference
From French to Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese and Portuguese, more than 40 students participated in the seventh annual Conference on Literature, Culture and Languages. The conference was organized by the Spanish club Asociación de Alumnos y Ex-alumnos de Español (AAEE) and featured presentations of original research by more than 40 undergraduate and graduate students representing seven programs in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures, according to James Hussar, Spanish and Portuguese professor and chair of the conference. Speakers were chosen based on the quality of their proposals, with the intent to represent the diversity of programs within the Department of Modern Language and Literature. Hussar has been the conference chair for five consecutive years, beginning spring 2009 and is the one that reviews and selects the presentation proposals. “The main purpose of this conference is to provide a student forum on academic topics to stimulate critical reflection, motivate research and promote future publication,” said Hussar. “It is an opportunity to explore and share diverse perspectives on literature, culture and language.” The conference represented an excellent opportunity for students to participate in an academic forum, engage in intellectual conversation with peers and faculty and develop manuscripts for future publication. “By participating in the confer-
APRIL 9, 2013
a week,” said Neal. Anthony Giordano, 20, a thirdyear business administration major, who works at the library as a lead consultant, said that he enjoys working on campus because it saves him money on gas. “I figured that being on campus anyways, going to class, it’d be a lot easier to walk to work, instead of having to drive ... and kind of be here all day instead of having to move around,” said Giordano. Students who work on campus also enjoy the flexibility that comes with working at the university. Neal said that because they are working for an educational institution, as an employer, the school is more understanding to a student’s needs. She said that they do tend to be a lot more flexible about tests, finals week schedules and special projects. Vivian Lopez, 19, a student assistant for the Career Center, said that she finds the job appealing because the center works with her on her hours. “I feel like they can be really flexible with your schedules and it’s really convenient to go from class to one class and on to your job and
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then go back to class,” said Lopez, a second-year math major. Academics take precedence as students are only able to work up to 20 hours a week during the semester and up to 40 hours during summer. “If I had any other job right now, I’d be even more stressed out, because a lot of other people (employers) don’t understand that stress that comes with school,” said Chelsea Girvan, 22, a human services major, who works at the front desk of the Student Recreational Center. Working on campus also allows students to be involved with the campus community and helps students to meet new people outside of classes. “Everyone that works here is a student, so kind of networking that way too and meeting new people is good ... I would recommend it to any incoming freshman to try and get a job on campus,” said Giordano. Girvan said that working on campus has also enhanced her college experience as a whole because it has helped her meet new people and make more connections with a professional staff who have prepared her for future jobs.
“Having the community involvement sense of feel that comes with it, you know more people on campus ... it just looked like fun,” said Girvan. Jim Case, director for the Career Center, said working on campus can help a student understand more about how the university works, and can provide an opportunity for professionally related experience to build your resume. “Even if the content of a job is not career related, it can enable you to develop transferable skills you can use throughout your career,” said Case. There are four different methods that students may use to find a job on campus. The Titan Connection, which is the Career Centers database, Associated Students Inc., who employs more than 300 students each semester, CSUF Human Resources Department or The Foundation, which is set up by the university to fund students jobs. Also, there is always the good old-fashioned approach, which is to walk around with a resume to various departments, all of which employ students.
The winners were: Claudia Prado and Matthew Dalphin for female and male kings, Melanie Woods and Jerry Kou for female and male queens and Kristen Leckie and Cinthya Mendoza for cutest couple/prom court. “It’s pretty awesome to know our peers think we’re the cutest,” Leckie said of her and Mendoza’s win. Mendoza, whose burgundy dress perfectly matched the pocket square in Leckie’s shirt, echoed sentiments about queer prom being an opportunity to make up for lost time in high school. “You get to go with someone special, who you really want to go with, without feeling uncomfortable or like you won’t be safe or that it’s dangerous to take them with you,” Mendoza said. The prom was free and open to anyone who wanted to attend. Students of all cultures, genders, and orientations danced, laughed and
took photos together. Even students from other schools took part in the evening. Several members of the court were students from Fullerton College who attend QSA meetings at CSUF. Allie Vechil, QSA’s public relations representative, said the club worked with the Association for InterCultural Awareness and Associated Students Inc. to put on the annual event. “We did a lot to get people interested in QSA that wouldn’t necessarily know about it,” said Vechil. As the night went on, Vechil said she was most looking forward to attendees enjoying themselves in an environment where they were free to be themselves. “I just want people to have fun. It’s really hard when you’re kind of working under these pretenses of your identity and you kind of have to hide yourself in certain realms,” Vechil said. “With this it’s more comfortable. You are who you are and we love you regardless.”
Dirty jobs: A day in the life of campus custodian crew CSUF maintenance is responsible for cleaning 2.5 million square feet CHRISTINA BENAVIDES Daily Titan
Every morning around 1:30 a.m. while some are fast asleep or just getting into bed, Isaias Hernandez wakes up to a quiet home and prepares to drive 22 miles to work. He arrives at Cal State Fullerton at 3 a.m. or earlier, enters his office, checks his voicemail and begins his work as one of CSUF’s lead custodians. He walks over to the three buildings he oversees Steven G. Mihaylo Hall, Langsdorf Hall and University Hall ready to get to work. Every now and then, Hernandez stumbles upon a student sleeping in the lobby of Mihaylo Hall and pauses in confusion as to how they arrived and entered before him. He continues with his duties and as the cleaning begins, so do countless surprises and everlasting stories. Roughly 60 people work under custodial services on campus, a department that is overseen by manager Terri Thompson. All custodians are assigned permanent buildings to work on, where they do a variety of duties that range from cleaning restrooms, offices and classrooms. Vacuuming, mopping, taking out the trash and window cleaning are just a few of the tasks that custodians perform daily. Many times, the cleaning goes past these common duties because of surprises left by students around campus out of either carelessness or foolish fun. Restrooms are some of Hernandez’s least favorite places to clean because of the mess left by students. “Feces on the walls, feces all over the toilet—that is done on purpose after they do what they need to do. I mean they get something just to smear it all over the place,” he said. “You see throw up, you see feminine napkins just thrown on the floor, graffiti, sexual favors being offered through what they put on the bathrooms.” Hernandez said that most of these students are already over 18 years old and know better, yet they do things that kids who wouldn’t know any better would do. He said that students should be considerate because after all, it is their university. Hernandez said he works his shift, then goes home. Ultimately, it’s the students who spend the most time on campus and have to deal with these things. Thompson said she has noticed that these acts are done most often around finals week. During finals week last year, one of the custodians walked in on someone urinating in a classroom and people were also defecating in
the stairwell. “I think it would be really nice if they would just think before they do something like that, because somebody does have to clean that up. And to be respectful of the property that’s around here because we get a lot of damage,” said Thompson. “They pull dispensers off the walls and graffiti, that takes a lot of time to clean up.” In total, custodians are responsible for cleaning 2.5 million square feet, a task that requires work from at least 100 custodians to be done efficiently. Over the past few years, due to budget cuts, and after several people have retired or resigned, custodial services has been left with positions unfilled. As a result of this, the 60 remaining custodians are left with extra work which at times makes it difficult for them to keep the campus as clean as they would like it to be. The service center offers a hotline that anyone who sees a spill, or mess that needs attention can call right away. Custodian Daniel Clavel, who starts his work day at 3 a.m. and takes his lunch break at 8 a.m., said that it would be beneficial for everyone, including students, if they called the hotline to report these messes or problems. Despite challenges faced, custodians take pride and find enjoyment in what they do. Clavel said that he believes a lot of the success is due to the people that are hired. He said that they have the right crew and knowing that his name is behind everything that he does gives him that much more motivation and incentive to put 100 percent into his work. Clavel also said that he loves working in the university setting because he has always enjoyed doing things for others and considers himself a public servant. “I just love what this does for people. It’s a learning environment and it’s building character in people, building businesses, managers, owners and also it’s giving back to the community,” he said. Every minute and every task counts for custodians at CSUF as they work hard everyday to keep the campus clean and presentable for students and staff. They take pride in their work and know that what they do is not only a job that needs to be done for sanitary reasons. But also because it is essential in shaping the way that visitors perceive the university. “If you see custodians, say hi, say thanks. They are underappreciated in a lot of ways, but they’re a great bunch of people, great group of people, just doing the best they can trying to feed their families, take care of their families, just like everybody else,” said Thompson.
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7
April 9, 2013
Crossword
FOR RELEASE APRIL 9, 2013
To
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
view our online
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“I’m not waiting
until my hair turns white to become
patient and wise.
Nope, I’m dyeing my hair tonight.” -Jarod Kintz
to Lewis you by mctcampus.com Edited by Rich Norrisbrought and Joyce
ACROSS 1 Send payment 6 Utter angrily, as insults 10 Cameron of “Knight and Day” 14 Compensate (for) 15 On the briny 16 Dope from a booth? 17 Grocery bag option 18 Narrow inlets 19 1944 invasion city 20 Patient’s therapeutic shriek 23 For free 26 Groundbreaking old Fords 27 Multivolume ref. 28 It’s right on a map 31 Mentalist’s alleged ability, briefly 32 Tiny data storage device 35 Old-timey word of woe 39 Cowgirl Dale 40 Forest feller 41 Garlicky spread 42 Thinker Descartes 43 Uprising at Leavenworth, e.g. 45 Old name for Tokyo 47 Sports pg. number 48 St. Louis-toChicago dir. 49 Open courtyards 53 Warnings from a ticked-off tabby 55 Comical sort, like the last word of 20-, 32- or 43Across 58 New Age pianist John 59 Tavern flier 60 “Nothing ventured, nothing gained,” for one 64 Aid in a caper 65 Trees with splitresistant wood 66 Himalayan land 67 Optimistic 68 Bacon buy
DOWN 1 Jay-Z’s genre 2 LAX listing 3 Swiffer product 4 All thumbs 5 Scotty and Jack Russell 6 Do damage to 7 Old Voice of America org. 8 Kingdom 9 Caught at a rodeo 10 Tumbledown condition 11 What spies gather, for short 12 G sharp equivalent 13 Close-up lenses 21 Words to an old chap 22 Music store buys 23 Mayberry’s Pyle 24 Christopher who played Superman 25 Slogan writer 29 Melee memento 30 Urban cruisers
Horoscope
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Aries (March 21-April 19) Listen carefully to songs that show you the way. Ultimately, you choose your direction. Your obsession with details comes in handy. Hidden treasures get revealed. Your subconscious mind is a great problem-solver. Taurus (April 20-May 20) Wait until later to discuss an upcoming purchase. A benefactor appears. Listen to all the concerns. Watch out for hidden expenses. Anticipate surprises ... fireworks, even. Get everyone on the same page.
Sudoku
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Gemini (May 21-June 20) Discover a big question. Think about it a while longer. Notice changes before being told. Your reputation precedes you. Conditions are unsettled. Settle in for some cozy nesting and ponder. Cancer (June 21-July 22) Paint a stroke of genius without skipping a beat. Blend optimism into the syncopation. The result isn’t as imagined. Keep practicing. Enjoy the day. Adventure beckons. Go ahead and get loud! Leo (July 23-Aug. 22) It’s not a good time to gamble, especially not with savings. Curl up somewhere cozy with your homework. There’s more time for fun later. Fix up your place after. Celebrate finishing with something delicious. Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) Invest in home, and improve your living conditions. Take care of a water problem. Consider options, and ask probing questions. Call for a vote. Encourage a genius. Tempers could flare. Results surprise. Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) Collect on invoices, and encourage others to focus. Appeal to their intellects. Persuade with charm; bullying and nagging won’t work. The possibility of error is high, so take it slow. A new idea improves your confidence. Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) Look for ways to make more money. Schedule private time, too. Walk around the neighborhood. Break out of your shell! Sell at a profit. Follow your intuition. Change direction intuitively. Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) Modifications are required after you discover a mess. You’re very persuasive now, though conditions are unstable. Show your calm under pressure. Use humor. Make an amazing discovery, as the truth comes out. Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) There’s a startling development. Keep digging to get to the bottom of it. Offer encouragement and an inviting proposition. Release an old assumption for a new perspective. Travel another day. Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) Your off, and there’s a sudden shift in tion. Join a good team. Expand your Defer gratification, and avoid
determination pays your material posiportfolio with color. reckless spending.
Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) More work now leads to more comfort later. Ask informational questions. Charge forward and surprise everyone. Disrupt the status quo. Continue to produce results. The impact stuns. Proceed with caution.
How To Play: Each row must contain the numbers 1 to 9; each column must contain the numbers 1 to 9: and each set of boxes must contain the numbers 1 to 9.
4/9/13
By Gail Grabowski and Bruce Venzke
69 ’50s-’60s TV beatnik Maynard G. __
Monday’s Puzzle Solved
(c)2013 Tribune Media Services, Inc.
33 U-turn 34 Sit for a spell 36 Pork cuts 37 How most writers work 38 Webmaster’s creations 41 Designed to defeat a Panzer, say 43 Scented hair ointments 44 Waikiki’s island
4/9/13
46 “Like, no-brainer!” 49 Hitching post? 50 Martial artsbased workout 51 Slick tricks 52 Sweater size 54 Passover feast 56 “__ la Douce” 57 Govt. crash investigator 61 “Great” simian 62 Chatter 63 Golfer Ernie
FITNESS
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THE DAILY TITAN
APRIL 9, 2013 TUESDAY
Healthy eating and nutrition made easy Snacking on food options like kale chips and fresh fruits is a healthier choice STEPHANIE MERCADO Daily Titan
Following the veg-heads and Atkins fanatics of 2009-2010 and the gluten-free guts of 2011-2012, nutritional trends tend to come and go in seasons. However, the motion to go gluten-free is still going strong and without complaint. With the benefits of losing that stubborn gut, a gluten free diet simplifies nutrition to really cut down on the excess we commonly tend to overlook. Bread, pastries and pastas are such examples of that potential accidental carbo-loading for a less than active consumer. Starches and sugars that are however beneficial to someone dedicated to daily exercise, may make another fall victim to some excess belly fat. Gluten-free is a great kick start to losing a few inches without dropping weight too quickly. Keep it simple with healthier snacking on power-foods like kale chips, flax seeds, quinoa snaps, greek yogurt, sweet potatoes, coconut water, whey protein and natural sugar alternatives. As low-fat and low-carbs are almost always incorporated into dieting, 2013 is encouraging with more leniency to our eating habits, so long as it is balanced. Simplifying our dishes to worry less about caloriecount and more about being in sync with healthy exercise is one strategy that seems better fit to our liking. We can eat what we want in smaller portions so long as it is complemented with fresh elements. It’s about moderation, and luckily that doesn’t take too much to think about when choosing your foods. For about as many heavy starches and fatty foods as you intake, which
Some like it hot CASEY ELOFSON
Mind, body and the ‘yoga union’ Courtesy of MCT Fresh vegetables such as carrots, brussel sprouts and broccoli are the perfect substitute for fueling hunger on the go. Many often skip a meal or two, however that is an inferior method, as it is important to keep the body’s metabolism going.
should not be much to begin with, balance it out with an equal or greater amount of fresh fruits, veggies and lean protein that can be thrown in throughout the day. Our busy lives keeps us on the move, making it easier to snack on fruit, nuts and veggies by just replacing our usual high-fat snacks with healthier options. Snacks are upsettingly deceiving. Unaware of its way of increasing our empty calorie count and spiking blood sugar levels, snacking has called attention to where we need to refocus our diet. Not necessarily trying to limit our food intake anymore with 2013, but
With the benefits of losing that stubborn gut, a gluten free diet simplifies nutrition to really cut down on the excess we commonly tend to overlook.
simply replacing the bad with the good at a higher frequency to keep the metabolism running, it’s not all that difficult. Focusing on the finer
details of eating while creating a habit in the process, healthier snacking is an obvious step by step way to incorporate better nutrition into your diet. Finally embracing the highest form of temptation in dieting, snacking is being transformed this year to better benefit our health by a quick change of habit. Whoever thought of this, definitely had a few of us in mind. Too often, it’s those little snacks here and there that add up to a higher caloriecount than when it actually comes to our meals at times. So, think: cauliflower over popcorn, snap peas over chips and coconut water or protein shakes over high-sugar juices. Having learned from past diet plans, 2013 is optimistic of a more successful route of better nutrition and healthy maintenance. For the busy and preoccupied, as most of us are, without much time to dedicate to exercise as we can to
Focusing on the finer details of eating while creating a habit in the process, healthier snacking is an obvious step by step way to incorporate better nutrition into your diet.
food, it’s about snacking and keeping that metabolism up. We should all be aware by now that skipping a meal is about the worst thing we can do for our bodies. Getting our day’s needs of fruits and veggies from just snacks alone leads to better nutritional habits for our sit-in meals. Not that our meal’s nutritional value does not matter anymore, but from better snacking, it will be an easier transition to healthier eating by cutting down on the extra fat and sugar. Going back to the basics with 2013, choosing the right nutritional snacks are the steps to better eating. CONTACT US AT: SPORTS@DAILYTITAN.COM
“Blessed are the Flexible for they Shall Not be Bent out of Shape”Unknown The word “yoga” when translated from its original Sanskrit, the ancient language of India, from where the practice stems, literally means “union”. It’s a union because the practice of yoga, is meant to align the body, mind and spirit, through a combination of concentrated breathing and posture movements. The practice of posture and physical poses are known as “Asana.” All of these elements sync up to create a feeling of fusion and harmony between the brain and the body, allowing the mind to quiet and the body to destress. By week four of my hot yoga journey, I was beginning to do just that. I felt as though my 210 minutes of yoga weekly were really starting to pay off and my body and mind were starting to reap the rewards through this positive physical readjustment. The once unforgiving heat of the room was actually starting to feel quite welcoming to me instead of it feeling just muggy and unbearable. I had learned to appreciate the hotness, realizing that it is essential to warm the muscles and to gear up the body for exercise. The heat seems vital to achieving Asana and I could feel my breathing in the still insanely humid room starting to stabilize. I felt as though I was able to “send the breath,” a term it seems all yoga instructors like to say, to the parts of my body that needed aid. This helped me to stick more difficult poses like the “stick pose” or Tuladandasana and “eagle pose” or Garudasana. As beads of sweat hit my yoga mat, I was truly starting to feel the benefits that yoga promises. I was gaining more flexibility, increasing my strength and my “mind chatter” was truly starting to quiet. I’m not alone in this feeling. According to a study released by Yoga Journal in 2012, about 8.7 percent or 20.4 million people in the U.S. practice yoga, and about 78.3 percent stated that their reason for starting yoga was to increase flexibility. 62.2 percent said it was for general conditioning purposes and 59.6 percent said it was to decrease stress levels. Like millions of other yogis out there, I was on my way to truly understanding that “yoga union” term, feeling more confident each day with my body. I had also lost about four pounds, helping me to gain some strides in my weight loss goal. But just as soon as I was getting my yoga groove back, midterms hit. With massive amounts of term papers due, countless Daily Titan story deadlines to meet and a fulltime job that’s littered with obligations, I was starting to crack and the zen slipped right out of my body. Instead of taking these stresses to my purple yoga mat and sweating them out, I retreated to my old bad habit of simply freaking out. I skipped a week and a half of yoga and got sick. Like coughing, sneezing, sore throat, stuffy nose, sick. This combination was my body’s way of telling me I shouldn’t
take life’s stresses out by ignoring my yoga mat and sidelining my new love of the practice. Gentle exercise boosts the immune system when sick and definitely eases stress tension, but I ignored that. Old habits die hard. If I hadn’t freaked out, I may have not gotten sick. Although there is no way to scientifically prove this, bodies react in different ways. I feel like I know my body, however stress does a number on the body and yoga aims to reduces those stresses.The achiness I had felt before I started my yoga regiment was coming back with a vengeance. My back was tweaking, I was feeling lazy and lethargic again and my overall concern for my health and fitness was dissolving quickly. It was also starting to show. Buddha said, “The mind is everything, what you think, you become.” I was thinking like a stressed out crazy person, trying to be everywhere and do everything at once. Likewise, my body was starting to do crazy things and was shutting down. As a wannabe hot yoga goddess, this bad yogi behavior simply will not fly. I realized where the root of my body breakdown was coming from, grabbed my yoga mat, and headed for class that day.
According to a study released by Yoga Journal in 2012, about 8.7 percent or 20.4 million people in the U.S. practice yoga, and about 78.3 percent stated their reason for starting was to increase flexibility.
Although I did feel a few steps behind from where I had left off of my yoga practice, before the week and a half from hell, it was good to be back and breathing through the postures and life pressures instead. It’s important to clear the mind and focus on what we can control. Due dates and deadlines are forces to be reckoned with, but they shouldn’t get in the way of the mind’s time to reconnect with the body. I realized that the “union” that is yoga, is really just that. Your body needs the mind just as much as the mind needs the body. Instead of getting bent out of shape over life’s dramas, which will come and go, it’s better to get bent back into shape on a yoga mat and just let it go.
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