Winner of the Society of Professional Journalists’ Mark of Excellence award
Spring Issue 4
Feb. 24, 2015
The Florida Tech Crimson
s e i b m o z . s v s Human s u p m a c s e tak
Photo by Alex Coultrup
Zombie apocalypse hits Florida Tech, adding excitement, intrigue to students’ week Alex Coultrup Campus Life Editor It happens all across Florida Tech’s campus: students chasing and attacking one another with Nerf Weapons. They come from all majors, class years, athletic teams and social groups. Are they coming for you? Humans Vs. Zombies at Florida Tech is a CAB-sponsored event that allows students to roleplay as surviving humans or attacking zombies in a campus-wide moderated game of tag. Players participate in the game in designated areas on campus, attempting to either kill off zombies or “turn” humans, depending on their role. Humans vs. Zombies happens at least once per semester at Florida Tech. Games last for a week of round-the-clock play, with organized missions each evening. These missions contribute to the game’s storyline. Nightly mini-games originate from the Student Union Building, where participating students convene for instructions and an outline of the assignment. Players have 30 minutes to complete their designated mission. If 80 percent of humans get “turned,” it counts as a Zombie victory. On Friday the 13th, the week of play was almost at its close. Players gathered at the SUB, wearing vibrant orange bandanas and armed with Nerf weapons. Human players tie bandanas around either the arm or thigh, while Zombies are identified with a bandana around the forehead. At 6:11 p.m., the voice of Nick Karnes, a student moderator, sounded out. “Go!” he shouted, and players fanned out in groups
across central campus. “The humans are looking for a critical plot device,” said Christopher Bracci, sophomore. The items in question were lengths of PVC pipe hidden near the Crawford area of campus. The PVC pipe represented parts to construct a helicopter, which the humans desperately needed to escape from the zombie-infected region. “They missed ‘em,” said Jean Hirschfeld at 6:20. Hirschfeld is a moderator who wrote the most recent game’s plotline. Each game of Humans vs. Zombies follows a story written by moderators. This game incorporated elements of local politics. The plot involved Florida governor Rick Scott, who brought back the Zombie virus after embezzling money in Ukraine. “We usually use the basic rule that whoever writes the stories sits everything out,” said Hirschfeld. Participating in the game as an Arbiter is acceptable, and allows him to moderate for safety and settle in-game disputes. “I know everything,” he said, grinning. During the mini-game, the humans must discover the missing helicopter parts and avoid getting infected. Meanwhile, Zombies were working to “turn” the humans, which they could do by two-hand touch, Bracci said. Whoosh — one of Hirschfeld’s foam darts cut through the air, striking Bracci on the shoulderblade. He would be “stunned” for one minute, meaning he was unable to tag any humans in that time. It was 6:24 at this point. “We found something,” came a shout from near Crawford Tower. Emerging from a cluster of trees in front of the building,
Alex Woodel held up a PVC pipe. It was 6:27. “Aren’t you meant to be assembling those?” said Caitlin Bigelow, sophomore, in a singsong voice. “They don’t know they have the right parts,” said Woodel, to which Bigelow responded, “they look like the right parts to me.” Bigelow is the only Zombie with a weapon, a right she earned the night before during a V.I.P. event. “Sometimes you just have bad-ass encounters where you go on a killing spree,” she said. Her weapon is a bowstaff, just under five feet in length. Ingame weapons must meet certain safety standards and be no longer than 60 inches. At 6:38, Bracci attempted revenge on Hirschfeld, who swiveled and quickly shot him down. “A way to not get noticed as you come behind me - softer footfalls,” Hirschfeld said, demonstrating. “Game is over!” Karnes’ voice came booming across the quad and Crawford Green at 6:41. The players moved back to the SUB, ready to recap the mission. The Humans lost. “Lots of schools have their own specific rules,” said Jeff Dubois, a moderator in training. The official game rules are outlined at humansvszombies.org, a site designed by game founders Chris Weed and Brad Sappington. Weed and Sappington invented the game in 2005 while studying at Goucher College in Maryland. It quickly became a sensation and was adopted by campuses across the nation. Big schools like the University of Southern California can have up to 3000 players. “This is nothing,” Hirschfeld said.
At lots of bigger schools, fraternities tend to participate more, but Hirschfeld said they’re not as interested in playing at Florida Tech. In fact, They’ve had some bullying issues here in the past. Players get insults from nonplayer frats. This semester, the worst it got was a post on the anonymous, location-based app Yik Yak saying that players take the game too seriously. The trend seems to be changing. “They respect us if we respect them. The perception seems to have changed, and it’s probably for the better.” Some of the essential rules include guidelines that are meant to keep players and their nonparticipating classmates out of harm’s way. Karnes, who moderated last week’s gameplay said, “as a moderator, I’m looking for safety, not just fun.” It’s important to spent time
Relay For Life to collaborate with SGA: page 2
as a player before becoming a moderator, Dubois said. “You’re getting insight on how the game works and how to play it better.” This is Karnes’ first year moderating. Students come to participate in Humans vs. Zombies in different ways. “I just saw it my freshman year and it was interesting,” Bracci said. “I made a lot of friends, and now I play every year.” This is his fourth time playing. “Zombies are the best side to be on, it’s like playing as the bad guy in a videogame - you just have to kill,” said Bracci. “Humans have a lot of heavy lifting to do, like carrying weapons and escorting V.I.P.’s” Chesapeake Gustin, who was “turned” mid-mission on the 13th calmly said “I haven’t eaten any humans yet.” Gustin learned about Humans vs. Zombies at the club fair and participated in a minigame soon after. v
Photo by Alex Coultrup
2 - February 24, 2015
CAMPUS LIFE
the Florida tech crimson
Relay For Life to collaborate with SGA for online fundraiser Ebube Ubochi Sci/Tech Editor Relay For Life has made plans to collaborate with Student Government for a 2-day online event, starting Feb. 26, to raise at least $4800 in 48 hours for the American Cancer Society. This event will effectively serve as a prelude to the annual Relay For Life event that takes place on campus and features the congratulation and celebration of local cancer survivors. Its official title is “48 in 48.” “The initial idea for the event came from Lenny,” said Ariana Tate, co-chair for Relay for Life at Florida Tech. Lenny Bernas is Florida Tech’s other co-chair and one of the leads on the upcoming project. Many schools around the country are holding similar kickoff events. “We usually have a spring kick-off, where it’s like a minirelay in front of Crawford,” Tate said. “But since we’re somewhat pushed with time and we’re also waiting for a new ACS rep, we wanted to do something a little more different and Lenny’s approach was doing an online fundraiser with the team.” One of the main goals of the event is to motivate teams and help them learn how to use the website. “The activity on the online site is how Relay tracks our participants and our team numbers, so that was something that we wanted to try this year and see how it worked,” Tate said. “SGA has been super awesome with the entire process.” The event is strictly online at www.relayforlife.org/fitfl and is run through the American Cancer Society portal. All funds collected during any event hosted by Relay For Life on campus are monitored through this website. “The biggest thing that we’ve always had trouble with at Relay is trying to get faculty and staff involved,” Tate said. “As team development chair, that is one of the things I’m concerned with, so I talk to a lot of people and get the hype and the word around with the campus and the community.” Tate said she believes getting faculty involved in such a way that they didn’t have to physically
be at the event but could still help and support the organization and its cause through the online fundraiser would be a really great way to show that they do care. “We did have a really great turnout last year,” Tate said. “We had about 15 faculty members, and adding the staff that were also present, we had about 20 in total. That was a big deal for us; that was actually a lot.” Tate said a considerable amount of faculty and staff that were present at last year’s event found out about it through word of mouth. She said she believes that this new online venture will present things in a more formal way and involve the rest of the campus, in terms of academic, administrative staff and otherwise. “It is a huge event and it affects everyone,” Tate said. “I don’t think a lot of students realize that we do have staff members and faculty members who have been affected by cancer, so it was something that I wanted to bring up with them.” Tate explained that she has found this difficult to achieve this so far, being on the undergraduate level and not having her foot quite as far in as she would like, but she’s thankful for all the help from the organization’s advisers. “It’s great to have SGA on board,” Tate said. “They are the bridge between students and faculty, and as such they are a big help in our mission to reach out to faculty and staff.” SGA President Carla Deras said she and the other members of student government were happy to assist when Relay For Life approached them. “The main people running Relay For Life, Lenny and Ariana, are graduating,” Deras said. “They felt that SGA has been very strong lately and that they could count on us to, not necessarily be a part of, but support Relay For Life.” Deras said she believes that this will not only attract faculty and staff, but also reach students that are not as involved with the event. “There are a lot of students who, even though they’re involved on campus, probably are not part of Relay For Life,” she said. “And through SGA, they can hear the message. Our main objective is to
lead by example, and that’s why we decided to get involved.” Deras is excited that SGA is supporting them as an organization, as she believes it will go a long way in making sure students see that it is a good cause. Jess Cushman, vice president of SGA, said that SGA, with some assistance from the Relay For Life team, will be tabling to make sure more students are aware. “We will be tabling ... to allow us to ensure more student participation,” she said. “We can let them know about all the cool prizes that we have.” Cushman explained that the main objective is to get emails sent out to possible donors, because the more emails that are sent out, the higher the amount of donations that hopefully come in. SGA will be having a number of events to facilitate the sending of these emails. “We’re having two pizza parties,” she said. “One for the team with most emails sent, and one for the team that raises the most money. We’re also doing raffle prizes, which will be for individuals who send the most emails.” Participants have to be in teams to send the emails, so the SGA executive board said they hope it will encourage students to join one or form their own. They are even free to join the all-new student government team. Anything that the SGA team wins as a group will be donated to Relay for Life. To enter the contest and gain eligibility to send emails, interested parties must go to the school’s Relay for Life page, sign in and make sure they are part of a team and start composing their message. To compose, participants will have to go to the “My Relay Dashboard” tab, click “Compose Email,” send the email to both their chosen party and the address provided by SGA – they need to make sure SGA is copied on the mail. SGA will continue to work on this event and provide support while planning and preparing for their upcoming election and the student leader luncheon which they expect about 100 student leaders to attend this semester.
Photo courtesy of carla deras
Free Speech Day
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Join the Crimson on the Crawford Green on Feb. 25 for some food, fun and ... freedom? Come listen to the keynote speech, given by Bob Gabordi, Executive Editor at Florida Today in Olin Life at 5 p.m.
It’ll only cost you your First Amendment rights.
Demonstration & lunch: 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., Crawford Lawn Keynote: 5 p.m., OLS 130
Campus life
5 -february 24, 2015
The Florida tech crimson
Fraternity draws in ‘letters for Bubby’ Lindsay Isaac Staff Writer “Have five minutes to make a child’s day?” This was the subject line for an email circulated by Alpha Phi Omega roughly a week ago. Alpha Phi Omega, Florida Tech’s only co-educational service fraternity, jumped to action after one of its members learned about Bubby Everson: a terminally-ill 8 year old with a simple birthday wish. “Bubby has Cytomegalovirus, and his parents would like to give him a special surprise for his upcoming birthday,” read the email that Alpha Phi Omega broadcasted via fitforum. “All Bubby wants is letters and stickers (he loves getting mail),” The fraternity reached out to the Florida Tech community to ask
for their support in the effort titled “Letters for Bubby.” “Alpha Phi Omega would like to collect some letters, and any stickers that you may want to give, and send them in a big envelope to the family. If you are interested in helping us, all you have to do is write a letter, and drop it by our office in Evans Hall, room 232.” The turn-around-time was quick. The first email about Alpha Phi Omega’s “Letters for Bubby” effort went out on Wednesday, Feb. 4. A few days later, Alpha Phi Omega shipped its contribution of “around 20 letters and a ton of stickers” to the Everson family in Graham, Washington. Those estimates come from Rebecca McFadden, Alpha Phi Omega’s secretary and the member responsible for bringing Bubby to her fraternity’s attention. McFadden explained what inspired her about Bubby’s story: “I love to help other people. This was such a heart-warming story, because what Bubby was
Want to see More? Check us out on: twitter.com/ ftcrimson Facebook.com/ ftcrimson crimson.fit.edu
asking for was so simple: letters and stickers … It’s the little things. If it is so easy to make somebody happy, why not do it?” McFadden said the thought the drive was a success. “I was just really thankful for anybody who gave something. I would like to thank those who contributed. By no means was it required.” McFadden then brought attention to the big picture: Bubby’s one small request has turned into an international effort. “I have been following Bubby’s story, and it is amazing how much support the family has received … something like 15,000 letters and packages.” Bubby’s 9th birthday was on Wednesday, Feb. 11. The family received thousands of letters and packages from all over the world, and the mail is still pouring in. If you want to send Bubby a card, it is not too late: Bubby Everson PO Box 1142 Graham, Washington, 98338.
Photo By Lindsay Isaac
Campus life
6 -february 24, 2015
The Florida tech crimson
Student Spotlight
Student prepares for cross-country journey Alex Coultrup Campus Life Editor What do you have planned for summer vacation? For two Florida Tech civil engineering students, the answer is a crosscountry biking adventure to make a difference for affordable housing. Rafaella Rocha and Louisa Costa, the two participants, are civil engineering students in Florida Tech’s Brazilian exchange program. “Bike and build is a nonprofit organization that organizes yearly cross-country trips for young adults to get involved with other nonprofits for affordable housing,” said Rocha. Rocha says that Bike and Build is a good way to get young people involved with community service. “A lot of times, they don’t know how they can help, how they can do something. Biking across the country is a good way to catch everyone’s attention.” Affordable housing is important to Rocha, who heard about Bike and Build from Mike Renoe, a 2014 FIT alumnus who participated in the program. “He showed me pictures, videos and told me about the program and everything. I was like ‘I definitely want to do that.’” The key thing is helping people, Rocha said. “If I can help one family to have a house,” she said, “It’s going to be worth all the soreness, all the biking.” Being able to do construction and learn practical skills on the Bike and Build journey makes for a useful opportunity, Rocha said. “Because I study civil engineering and we will be building houses all along the way, I can use it as an internship,” she said. Young adults who want to
participate in Bike and Build don’t need any previous biking experience. “I just biked like normal, from the house to school, and places like the market. But not professionally,” she said. Rocha is also looking forward to seeing more of the country on her trip, which will pass through nine states. “Biking is a unique way to get in touch with the places,” she said. “It will help me get in touch with the culture of every community.” Rocha is heading to North Carolina on May 15, where she will meet the rest of her Bike and Build team. The team of about 30 young adults, mainly college students, will bike coast-to-coast across the United States. Their journey of nearly 3,600 miles will take place over a two-and-a-half month period. “There are eight routes,” Rocha said. “We bike around 70 miles a day, and on the days we build, we don’t bike.” When the group reaches their build locations, they will help with the construction of a house there. “Usually it’s Habitat for Humanity or another affordable house organization,” she said. To prepare for the journey, each participant will ride 500 miles. Rocha says that the staff at Infinity Bike Shop in Melbourne recommended some good roads to train on. “There are some good roads in Viera, and the beach route from here to Cocoa.” Each Bike and Build participant must raise $4,500 in order to participate in the program. To help with this, each individual has a personal fundraising profile on bikeandbuild.org, and can be found by searching their individual rider number. Rocha and Costa’s numbers are 7828 and 7915. Rocha said that both she and Costa have reached just less than half of their fundraising goals.v
Photo by Mike Renoe
SCI/TECH
7 - february 24, 2015
The Florida tech crimson
Apple’s new smartwatch to soon be released Christopher Pangalos Staff Writer Back in September, Apple announced their entry into the smartwatch world with their own Apple Watch. The watch is expected to be released this April. According to Apple, it will feature several new technologies, such as inductive charging and a heart rate sensor. Like smart phones, smartwatches have their own mobile operating systems and support the installation of multi-purpose apps for gaming, documents and more. Unfortunately, they tend to be more limited due to their size and hardware, but there’s still a fair amount of room for customization. According to Digital Trends, one Android watch owner was able to use a DOS emulator to install Windows 95 and run Doom on their watch. According to Cnet, Apple has already released a software development kit allowing developers to start making Apple Watch apps before its release. Currently, the smartwatch market is primarily dominated by Samsung and Pebble, with Android and iOS being the main operating systems. Due to the popularity of Apple’s mobile devices, many, including Cnet and the Washington Post, have called the Apple Watch
one of the most anticipated products of the year. According to Apple, the watch will include their usual mobile device features, such as a music player, weather reports, maps using Siri, and a calendar/ organizer. The user will navigate via a new touch screen called Force Touch which can distinguish between light and hard presses and provide appropriate responses for each. The wheel on the side of the watch will allow the user to scroll or zoom and, if pressed, return to the home menu. The Apple Watch will charge via inductive charging without any exposed contacts. The charger makes use of a small disk attached to the cord which snaps onto the back of the watch using a magnet. The watch has a few helpful features for health-conscious users, including a sensor on the back that uses lights and photodiodes to detect heart rate, as well as an accelerometer to detect movement. One of the main features/ requirements of the Apple Watch is connecting to the user’s iPhone. When connected, the watch will give notifications for emails, messages and calls, allowing the user to answer or ignore. On the downside, the watch doesn’t have its own GPS or Wi-fi, making it completely de-
Image courtesy of Apple Press Release pendent on the user’s phone. Those without an iPhone or not carrying it at the time would see significantly reduced functionality. Apple itself lists an iPhone 5 or iPhone 6 with iOS 8 as a requirement. Users can receive notifications via the watch’s “Taptic Engine,” which produces different types of taps to the user’s wrist based on the action. According to Apple, this feature also “enables
Falcon 9 successfully launches Deep Space Climate Observatory
some entirely new, intimate ways for you to communicate with other Apple Watch wearers” allowing users to send their taps to others. Apple indicates you can also use this feature to send others your heartbeat, opening up interesting opportunities to couples or people trying to be creepy. According to Apple, the watch is offered in stainless steel, silver anodised aluminum, or
18-karat gold casings. The watch will start at $349 for the cheapest casing and go up from there. Overall, the watch has some interesting features, but keep in mind, it won’t be very useful unless you have an iPhone with you, which makes many of the features redundant anyway. v
Gadget Corner Joseph Stoltz Staff Writer
Photo by digitaltrends.com
Niket Ghelani Staff Writer Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX (Space Exploration) has christened Falcon 9, one of the most successful rockets, after the Millennium Falcon from Star Wars. Falcon 9 holds the key to Star Wars style deep space exploration capabilities. The future is here. So what’s the big fuss about Falcon 9, right? On Feb. 11, Falcon 9 successfully launched the Deep Space Climate Observatory, better known as DSCVOR. The satellite’s orbit is four times farther than that of our Moon, approximately 238,000 miles away. NASA, NOAA and the USAF have jointly developed DSCOVR. It will help in observing and providing advanced warning of extreme emissions from the sun which can affect power grids, communications systems, and satellites close to Earth. Falcon 9 is a simple, efficient rocket system. It is a two-stage launch system with nine Merlin engines on the first stage and a single one for the second stage. This results in a higher reliability as in an event of an engine failure,
the rocket can still complete its mission. Just before sunset at 6:03p.m. EST, Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force station. The number “9” in Falcon 9 represents nine Merlin engines that are capable of producing one million pounds of thrust in a vacuum. Falcon 9’s Merlin engine burned for two minutes and 44 seconds before shutting off as per the protocol, just prior to the separation of first and second stages. After separation, the second stage’s Merlin Vacuum engine ignited to initiate the first of two burns for a duration of approximately one minute. After the first burn, the second-stage cruised for 22 minutes. After 30 minutes and 47 seconds into flight, the second stage successfully ignited for its second burn and placed the DSCOVR into its parking orbit. It took the second-stage less than five minutes and the whole mission about 35 minutes to park the DSCOVR satellite successfully. The satellite will take 110 days from the day of the launch to reach its final orbit. The final orbit of DSCOVR is at 930,000 miles from Earth. v
Something new and different is brewing in the ocean of endless cell phones that run, and ruin, our lives; of course it has to be Google behind it. However, this new cell phone in development will definitely stand out from the rest, for Google is developing not just any phone, but a modular smartphone. Currently under the name of Project Ara, this phone is not a traditional solid rigid model, but instead it has many swappable parts, better known as modules. According to Digital Trends, everything in the phone is able to be swapped out while the phone is still on, except for the screen and the phone’s processor. There were no specifics stating as to whether these could ever be traded out, or if they simply required the phone to be off. While what different modules may be used with the device is still unclear, the given examples were of the phone being able to swap out the camera, or adding modules for use in medical or scientific purposes; supposedly about a hundred prototype components have been produced. Surprisingly, Google has not enlisted the help of any of the major phone developers, but has instead approached a small manufacturer called Yezz. The reasons for Google approaching this company are not outright stated, but the main reason appears to be that Google wishes to expand its empire to South America, because South America is actually one of Yezz’s main markets. Currently, there doesn’t appear to be a release date for this new species of phone, but it will be on display at the Mobile World congress in Barcelona early when it’s held in March. You can probably be assured that Ara will have a hefty when it’s first released, but as smartphones did, it will become affordable as it becomes widely used.
Photo by digitaltrends.com For the sake of randomness, and needing more space, I’m throwing this next gadget in for all of you who like spying on pets and screwing with them. The Petcube is a small camera with two-way audio allowing you to see and speak to your pet via smartphone app while not actually being there; or suspiciously hiding in the closet. The only aspect that makes this gadget any different from something like a nanny-cam would be the fact that you have the option to turn on a built-in laser to screw with your pet. If the Petcube was made with wheels, it might actually be quite fun since you could chase a cat in someone else’s house with the laser while also getting to play cat demolition squad at the same time. If you’d like your own, sadly stationary, Petcube, it’ll set you back $200; for that price you might want to get an actual nanny-cam. Personally, I’ll hold out until someone decides to put wheels on this thing. v
SPORTS the Florida tech crimson
february 24, 2015
Men’s lacrosse team ranked No. 15 Andrew Shipotofsky Staff Writer Florida Tech men’s lacrosse made history in multiple ways this past week. The team not only beat its first ranked team in the program’s four-year history, but became ranked as well. On Valentines Day, men’s lacrosse played No. 15 Lenoir-Rhyne in Hickory, North Carolina. The team survived a comeback bid in their first away game of this young season. Jason Terry, a junior, led the offense with five goals, and sophomore Daniel Errett, in his panther debut, recorded three goals. The defense was led by Jordan Carlock, a senior, with two turnovers and only allowing four goals on a six on six procession. “We knew it was one of the toughest games on the schedule and we knew we could win it going in,” said Carlock. “We stuck to our game plan, prepared all week, and ended up coming out on top.” Head coach Ryan McAleavy called the win the biggest win in program history. “Knocking off the No. 15 ranked opponent, this is a huge win for us, for morale and for the program,” he said. “I’m happy. I’m ecstatic of my seniors. They worked their tails
Photos courtesy of floridatechsports.com off, everybody did. It’s just a great win.” On Monday, the team learned it was ranked No. 15 in the Nike/Lacrosse Magazine Division II rankings. “It’s a great accomplishment for our team. It’s something we always wanted as a team and only being a four year program, it’s great to finally be recognized by the nation,” said Carlock. With this being the first time this team has been ranked, no one knows
how the team is going to react. Carlock said he thinks it is important for the team not to get over themselves or too confident in order to continue to succeed. Looking ahead, the team will face off against No. 9 Mount Olive in their next game. Mount Olive beat the Panthers last season 16 – 5. Carlock spoke about how the team is preparing for this game. “It’s a bit of a chip on our shoulder after last year. We
have two weeks off until next game. We are going to prepare very hard for it,” he said. “They’re nationally ranked and they are a good team, they’re tough. We are going to have to bring everything we got, and four quarters of it.” The No. 15 Florida Tech Panthers will play No. 9 Mount Olive at Palm Bay High School’s Pirate Stadium at 7 p.m. on March 2. Live video, audio and stats will be available at FloridaTechSports.com. v
Streaming online at www.wfit.org MK-862-1114
Twitter.com/FTCrimson
crimson.fit.edu
facebook.com/FTCrimson