Wrap

Bringing you the world’s 4 most successful scholars in one issue!

w June 2009

Letter From the Editors

Welcome to the first issue of Wrap, a magazine that reaches out into the world of

diversity. In this magazine, we try to cater to all interests. Inside this issue, you’ll find

stories about art, music, math, and television, not to mention many other categories of

entertainment. There’s even a story on some “hacking” done by MIT students. Regardless of what you’re into, you can definitely find something that will appeal to you in this first issue of Wrap.

Our goal in this issue was to write an assortment of stories so that everyone could

find something that they would enjoy reading. Not only are there fascinating feature stories, in this issue, but a variety of alternative story forms that are fun to read and include

many eye-catching images to accompany the stories. We spent a lot of time on this issue and we hope that each reader finds something that they can individually take away from this magazine. It is our hope that everyone reads and likes this first issue of a truly great magazine.

Before making this first issue, all four editors were new to the complex design

game of creating a magazine. We all learned valuable skills of design and now we want to display them to the world in Wrap. Our perseverance To “wrap” things up, we would like to thank you for choosing to read our magazine.

Sincerely,

The Editors of Wrap Magazine Aaren W, Daniel W, Jami T, Jaron M

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Paz, Amor y Musica Latina

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The Soaps of Life

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Forever an Artist

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Everday Genius

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Outside Realism

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Destruction Downtown_

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The Big Switch

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A More Modest Proposal

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Hacking 101

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1884 to the Present

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Seventy Years of T.V

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Pure Nature

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Texas Mysteries

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Lights Out: Disconnected From it All

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Native Species of LASA

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Lucky Number 7

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o n t r i b u t o r s

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ami T. likes music, writing, thinking, and her friends.

She enjoys doing whatever makes her happy no matter what. She calls herself a vanilla/cinnamon mix. Her eyes have yellow in the middle. Jami would totally “pwn” you in a rap battle (unless you can actually rap) and has tried being a vegetarian 3 times. When Jami grows up she wants to own a coffee shop. Additionally, Jami is emotionally opposed to Helvetica. In addition to loads of charisma and comedy and distraction, Jami has contributed to the magazine: Paz, Amor y Musica Latina; Destruction Downtown; Lucky Number Seven; and 1865 to the Present: A Glimpse at Austin’s Architecture.

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aren W. is Jewish. She has blue eyes and brown wavy hair. She is always on Facebook. She likes reading, making jewelry, listening to music, shopping, hanging out, playing piano, and a bunch of other stuff. She contributed “Forever an Artist,” “Outside Realism,” “Pure Nature,” and “Texas Mysteries.” She also contributed (according to Jami) a lot of charisma.

When she grows up, she wants to be an intellectual property lawyer. Aaren dislikes people who are stupid, annoying, and who don’t try at life. She also dislikes people who don’t believe Pluto is a planet. She likes to travel and is a diehard Democrat and Longhorn fan.

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aron M. is a 15-year old guy who spends his time on Facebook and watching the latest television show. When he grows up he wants to become an ice cream flavorologist. He appreciated the idea of a general interest magazine that would interest many different people and decided to join the team.

His life is surrounded by technology, so all of his pieces have a common technology theme. His latest addition to the magazine is a vignette about life without television, phone, and home internet services entitled Lights out: Disconnected from It All.

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aniel W. has a Doctorate from Harvard, Yale, MIT, Princeton, Juliard, and Austin Community College.

He donates regularly to charities such as the Red Cross and UNICEF. One of his greatest accomplishments is winning the World Series of Poker with a 2 of clubs, 7 of diamonds, “Get out of Jail Free” Monopoly card, a Joker, and an Uno card. His favorite hobby is pwning N00bs at manly sports such as ping-pong, volleyball, and Halo 3. Daniel must leave now since he has no more time for these foolish mortal follies. In this magazine, Daniel has written A More Modest Proposal for you to chew on.

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Paz, Amor y MĂşsica Latina

Del Castillo live at Antone’s, December 2008.

By: Jami T w 1

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lbert Besteiro stood backstage at Antone’s. “Hey! How are you?! Just make yourselves at home, okay? I gotta go back and talk with the band. Really glad you guys are here!” He said. He walked into a small, secluded room where the other band members were waiting. A few minutes later, they exited and walked on stage. “Hello Austin!” They yelled, “How are you guys tonight?!” The audience went crazy, but this was just another show for Besteiro.

The band is Del Castillo, a Latin rock and blues band with traditional Mexican flare. It consists of Alex Ruiz (vocals), Rick del Castillo, Mark del Castillo (guitars/vocals), Mike Zeoli (drums), Carmelo Torres (percussion/vocals), and Albert Besteiro (bass). They play shows all over Austin and all over the country; they’re even beginning a tour in Europe this April. But touring, Albert says, is not all it’s cracked up to be.

Albert Besteiro attended St. Joseph High School and Texas Southmost College in the small border town of Brownsville, where he received a degree in marketing, “Ironically, not a very marketable degree,” he said jokingly. He later moved to Austin, working in a cubicle at Dell Financial Services. His friends Rick and Mark Del Castillo asked him to play bass for a CD they were making as a gift for their parents; he accepted.

Little did he know, his life would change, and quickly. “It wasn’t something anybody really expected. A student of Rick’s, he was a lawyer, heard it and asked if we were gonna play any shows and you know, we weren’t really a band, so he had this party with 100, 150 people and asked us to become a band and play there, so we did.”

What sets Del Castillo apart, aside from the super-jammin’ music and mind-blowing guitarists is the energy and fun they have on stage and the love they have for each other.

You can feel it in the audience, just seeing them perform.

“This one night, it felt like we were in the living room practicing ‘cause we were joking around and cracking up and the audience really felt that…Like Willie Nelson once said, ‘the life I love is making music with my friends’ and that’s kind of like my motto. That’s what makes me happy in life.”

For Albert, everything in this business is about love. He says he knows his parents are proud of him, because they know he does what he enjoys. “It’s not as glamorous as people think,” said Besteiro, “you’re always in a different spot.”

When asked how he would feel if his son became a musician, he says, “I’ve always told Dillon ‘whatever moved him in his heart’…’Whatever you feel in your heart, as long as it’s something you love’…I would support him if that’s what he wanted, but sometimes it’s a tough life.”

However, he says he wouldn’t have it any other way. When asked if he would change anything, Besteiro responded, “If I could look thinner on stage!” He laughed.

“You know, I probably wouldn’t. You know, I’m playing music with my friends. Maybe to play for more people around the world; that’d be nice you know, but really, as far as the way things are and the way we are with each other, I wouldn’t change anything.”

“It’s great to play with people that you love and people you can laugh with...We’re like six brothers.” At the end of the day, Besteiro really does live by the band’s motto, “Paz, Amor y Música Latina” : Peace, Love, and Latin Music.

The Soaps Of Life By: Jaron M

Photo Illustration by Jaron M.

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t’s six p.m. The TV is turned to Soapnet, the television station created for soap operas. All other noises are hushed. No one dares to change the channel or talk. “The Young and the Restless” is on.

Vivian Mackey has been a devoted watcher of soaps since she can remember, and she hasn’t stopped yet.

“I was four years old when I was exposed to them [soap operas] by my mother,” Mackey said.

Mackey recalled the first years of her life that she spent at home. Being the youngest child, she was at home with her mother a lot until she was of school age. Soaps were a part of her mother’s routine, so it was natural that Mackey would be interested in them.

“My mom watched As the World Turns after she had done her chores around the house,” she said. “Sometimes she would do things as she watched, for example cooking dinner, shelling peas, ironing clothes, and sewing by hand. I would be in our family living room sitting on the couch. The commercials would always be ads about dishwashing or laundry detergents.”

The soaps provided young Mackey with a sense of life outside of her family. Mackey, growing up in the country, was able to see how families interacted and how they lived their lives in the city.

“Some families were happy and it seemed they had the best kind of life anyone could want, and other families no matter what they did, they were dysfunctional.”

When Mackey began school, she watched the soaps less and less, but it wouldn’t be the end of her watching the shows.

Mackey’s college years would bring soaps back into her life.

“Other students watched [soaps]. We would go to morning classes, and then if we didn’t have class at let’s say 11 a.m., we would rush back to see them [soaps]. Days that we didn’t have class we would meet up in the lobby and everyone would watch the stories.”

Soap operas once again brought people together. This time it wasn’t a mother and daughter, but a group of young adults. During Mackey’s time in college, she began watching what would become her favorite soaps.

Mackey says her soap opera lineup now includes, “The Young and the Restless, Guiding Light, and As the World Turns.”

“As the World Turns” however holds special meaning to her, as it was a favorite of her mother’s.

“I tune in occasionally because it was one of the first soap operas that I watched,” she said. “The show allows me to reminisce about the time I spent watching the soaps with my mother.”

After Mackey finished college, watching soaps became more difficult than ever before. Since Mackey didn’t own a VCR, soaps had more influence on her schedule.

Her husband, Marvin looked at her and added, “ You would schedule appointments around show times. You would find yourself saying wait ten or fifteen minutes until your show goes off. Or you would hurry up and get back to watch the show.”

“That would be me,” Mackey said and smiled.

Once the couple bought a VCR, Mackey would tape “The Young and the Restless” everyday that it came on. Marvin ended up buying tapes in boxes of about twelve to keep up with the midday airings on CBS. Nowadays Mackey doesn’t need a VCR to watch her soaps when she wants. She tunes in to Soapnet, which replays the earlier airings for viewers in the evenings. Not only does Mackey like watching “The Young and the Restless”, but she also enjoys discussing the show with a female co-worker who also watches it. During their conversations occasionally people walk in and Mackey and her friend are given confused looks.

“They think we’re talking about someone in real life,” she laughed. “If they have a strange reaction we tell them who we’re talking about.”

These soaps allow Mackey to relate to others around her. Since she was a young child, watching soaps have brought people together. They have been a way for her to spend time with friends and family. Although Mackey is older now she can still look forward to watching the daytime soaps, to get away from the trials of life.

“Sometimes life can be like a soap opera,” she said, “with everybody’s problems. We try to live our lives through others and put ourselves in their [the characters] places.”

And with that, Mackey’s off to watch another episode of

“We would go to morning classes, and then if we didn’t have class at let’s say 11 a.m., we would rush back to see them [soaps].”

The Young and the Restless.

w June 2009

Forever An Artist

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n 1959, when most ten year olds were making the same old model airplanes like everyone else, young Hal Weiner had a somewhat different approach.

The model airplane kits generally came with a large amount of plastic branches that held the plane parts and were usually thrown away, as they were no longer needed. But once Weiner was done making his airplanes, he had a better idea. After accumulating many of the branches from several model airplanes, he recycled them in a more creative manner than most. “I started welding (the branches) into large sculptures, and I’d hang it in my bedroom from the ceiling,” he explained. “And it was probably about four feet wide and about three feet tall, and it was just kind of a contained, almost free-form... a big block of intricate parts welded together, different colors, and different sizes.”

That was just the beginning.

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At San Jose State University, Weiner majored in graphic design and took art classes for four years. During most of his earlier school years, Weiner was told he had artistic talent, and he decided to take advantage of it by pursuing a career in art. Before he started school and during his art education, two major people inspired him and his art. During his high school years, Weiner had a next-door neighbor who was an art teacher. “He was also a really good calligrapher, and he showed me how to do a lot of things, and he was very inspirational in terms of what you can do, and how neat it can look.” The teacher also did some graphic design, and he got Weiner thinking about pursuing it as well. Weiner also had a design teacher in his first year of art school. “He was very well known artist in Los Angeles, and he was actually a writer for a big magazine. And he got me to do some large scale geometric abstract paintings for a gallery he was doing, and he saw I had some talent, and took me outside the class, and had me do a whole bunch of stuff outside of the class.

“Weiner chuckles when explaining what his art Steel Dog Sculpture classes were like. “None of them were typical.”

In his classes, he used a variety of art mediums, including lettering, calligraphy, drawing, perspective drawing, painting, silkscreen, photography, ceramics, airbrush, design, industrial photography, Airbrush Painting illuminated manuscripts, sculpture, and several others. Each class was unique, and a quirky teacher was part of the package. “We had a perspective drawing class in which the teacher walked in, and he had collected piles of large machine parts, and stuck them in the middle of the room, and they were there for three weeks,” Weiner remembers. “We had to sit in the same place every time and draw machine parts, and this was using charcoal and white chalk and gray paper.”

Another art class involved long airbrushing sessions in which the students were given large projects to complete. “We had these airbrushes with an air hose on it, valves, and we had all kinds of inks we’d use, and we spent the whole three hours each time on

air brushing projects.” One of his projects is framed in his daughter’s room. It features a large planet and a type of space vehicle in bright blues, greens, and purples.

Not all of Weiner’s classes involved abstract or creative concepts. Some were more commercial. In a graphic design class he took, the students developed concepts and graphic solutions to problems. “The thing that I liked most was coming up with conceptual solutions, mostly advertising, marketing-related, and it was all concept art, and we were given just an assignment to come up with a brochure for something, or an ad campaign, or a poster (it was) really kind of open-ended,” he said. “Then, they were put up on the board, and the teacher did a critique on everything.”

After Weiner finished his four years of art school, he traveled from San Jose to Austin after receiving a job offer to work for the University of Texas Student Union.

Weiner eventually worked his way up to be the Assistant Director of the Union. However, his artistic habits did not Sailboat Photograph stop despite his work on the campus. “When I worked at UT, I did a lot of brochure stuff, and art stuff, and I also did some consulting with the Austin Chronicle on layout and design when they first got going,” he explains. “I did a lot of poster stuff, and photography stuff.”

After working at UT, Weiner’s Welded Steel Lamp began the process of getting his Master’s degree in business at St. Edward’s University. This path eventually led him into Real Estate. He is now a local Realtor in Austin with his own business, City Properties. This obviously wasn’t his original plan. Even though he was offered to take a graphic design job after he finished art school, he chose not to. “It’s a major desk job, and it’d really be a grind.” Doing art 24/7 would be too hard, and he had already gone through the constant deadlines and hard work of a career composed solely of art in college.

Thirty years later, Weiner manages to keep up with his love of art and design. He has recently gotten into metal and steel welding, which are among his favorite types of art to do, which also include graphic design, computer-aided photography, and

(continued on page 29)

w June 2009

veryday Genius

By Daniel W

Even as a child, Kevin was good at math.

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L-R, Coach Jeffrey Boyd, former President George Bush, Kevin Li, Ding Zhou, and Kevin Tian Here Kevin and his teammates pose for pictures. Team Texas won 1st in the National Mathcounts competition.

Try these math problems if you s the clock ticks off the remaining the International Math Olympiad, or IMO , think that 2 out of 6 is a lessseconds, Kevin Tian furiously scribis only a bronze medal, but it was “an interthan-sterling grade. bles the last answer on his SAT test. national competition, after all.” In the IMO ,

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The timer “dings”, and the tests are collected.

Four weeks later, Kevin Tian receives his test results. His score? A 2140, with a perfect 800 on the math section. Although many people score higher than he did, most people taking the test are juniors, 11th graders, while Kevin managed this in only the 7th grade, four years early.

Two years later, fourteen-year-old Tian is a bright high schooler who still regularly competes in math, but his focus has shifted. He explains that, although prizes in math competitions are impressive, colleges look at other things. He has now set his eyes on the SiemensWestinghouse competition. Also, he is now learning to play tennis and sometime swims for the Barracuda swim team.

Musing about his hobbies, Tian reveals that he is a big fan of Super Smash Bros.

Brawl, the mangas “Naruto” and “Bleach”, and music. He then adds that he doesn’t have much free time, even on the weekends. “Maybe half an hour each day, assuming nothing comes up” His weekends are usually booked with whatever he didn’t have time for during the week, such as projects and errands. Occasionally, he gets the chance to have a friend over, or play at a friend’s house.

While generally laid back and relaxed, Tian can get serious when the time is right. His many medals and trophies can attest to that. “I got that from winning the national team Mathcounts competition” he remarks, as he points to a laptop. “I also got to go to Washington D.C.. and meet the president.” Another medal, from

participants are given nine hours over two days to solve six math problems. Tian managed two correct answers. This may sound like a belowaverage performance, but the included sample problem taken from the 2008 test illustrates the difficulty of the questions. Kevin also has a large collection of medals from Number Sense, other Mathcounts competitions, and various other contests.

Tian’s love of math is obvious. When he begins talking about a problem, his eyes light up, and he speaks quickly, sometimes stumbling over words. To most people, doing math may seem like a chore, but Tian has a different view of math. “To me, math isn’t something that bores [me] or tires me out.” He explains, “When I solve a math problem, it is just as enjoyable as beating a game, or winning in a sports match. As nerdy as it may seem, math is a passion to me, just as soccer or piano might be to others.” However, this only applies to what Tian defines as “real math”. He defines math problems of the textbook variety as “boring math” or “useless math”, while higher level math, or more abstract, multi-step, or proof questions are examples of “real math”.

Tian has many awards, but he is modest about his accomplishments, saying things like “No big deal” and “Lots of other people did better”. But his easy-going nature and good sense of humor belie his drive to win.

“I do some pretty insane things to prepare for competitions” he explains, “I practiced for six hours on the day before All-region orchestra auditions. Obviously, I got in.”

For Geometry freaks: An acute-angled triangle ABC has orthocenter H. The circle passing through H with center the midpoint of BC intersects the line BC at A1 and A2. Similarly, the circle passing through H with center the midpoint of CA intersects the line CA at B1 and B2, and the circle passing through H with center the midpoint of AB intersects the line AB at C1 and C2. Show that A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2 lie on a circle.

For Algebra people: Let a, b, and c be positive real numbers such that abc=1. Prove that (a-1+1/b)(b-1+1/c)(c-1+1/a) is less than or equal to 1 Let n be an integer greater than 3. Prove that there is a set of n points in the plane such that the distance between any two points is irrational and each set of 3 points determines a non-degenerate triangle with rational area.

If you get any of these correct (there’s more than one correct answer), you should definitely think about a future in math.

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Outside Realism: The Perfect Portal into Landscapes I have seen a lot of photography in my life. I studied much black and white photography in middle school and one of my dad’s favorite hobbies is photography. Despite this, never have I seen an exhibit featuring photography so in depth and so detailed that it perfectly and vividly captures moments of life on such a mind-blowing scale. The name of the man responsible for such great works of art is photographer Clifford Ross.

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oss’s photography exhibit at the Austin Museum of Art is a glimmering pearl in a large ocean of photography that anyone who appreciates art needs to dive down and see. Although the title of the exhibition, Outside Realism, does describe the photographs themselves, it does not describe adequately the way the viewer gets pulled into each piece. As I viewed Ross’s series “Hurricane,” I felt as though I were standing before the crashing waves right next to Ross. The stark black and white of the sky and water provide for an impressive and indescribable contrast. His “Mountain” series features large-scale photographs of Mount Sopris in the Colorado Rockies. These billboard-size pieces feature more than a mountain; they show it in the most beautiful, breathtaking, and intriguing way possible using wide lenses to capture vast landscapes and different times of day to illustrate many different colors.

In the mountain exhibit, Ross captures two different mountains at two different times of day. The results are phenomenal. In his Mountain IX, the photograph at dusk of the mountain releases hues of pinks and purples that are so vivid, they look like they came from a bottle of acrylic paint. The late afternoon version, on the other hand, is completely different. The blue of the sky and the green of the grass pop out of the photograph. Meanwhile, in a full-daylight picture of Mount Sopris, the trees in the foreground appeared so three-dimensional that I felt like I was standing in front of them myself and could touch the leaves.

Another series, “Grains,” features giant, framed, rect-

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angular slabs of black, white, and gray. Some critics might complain that this is a feeble attempt at “modern art,” but the story behind the process is much deeper and more fascinating. To achieve such pieces, Ross used numerous cameras with different types of film and shot directly into the light of his 8x10 enlarger in his dark room. The pieces are much more than just solid color; they are actual photographs of different amounts of light.

Another of Ross’s series, “Redux,” is very unique. It features pictures of Mount Sopris that resemble negatives, only without color, in shades of black and white.

One piece features Mount Sopris in this “negative” form with small, brightly colored, rectangular portions of itself inserted in a wave of interesting geometrical patterns. I have never seen or heard of anything like it. The concept seems to me somewhat of a new medium of art: photography on photography to produce not photographs, but a unique, individual piece of art that could never be recreated.

This exhibit is truly inspiring. The exhibits “Grains” and “Redux,” each in a different way, create the idea that art can be made where one would never think to look: photography on top of photography. Ross’s landscape prints pull the viewer in and make him/her feel as though he/she is viewing the landscape through his/her own eyes. These remarkable pieces of art make up a captivating collection of art. People who live in Austin or nearby should definitely make the trip to the AMOA to see this exhibit.

By: Aaren W

D estr

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Construction Downtown

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120 floors of new living space.

25,000 new citizens.

12,000 new cars.

All in approximately four blocks.

hat’s a lot, no? It costs a lot too. Over 300 million dollars, damage to the local environment, and damage to the unique social fabric that is Austin, Texas.

Something has got to stop this unnecessary, grotesque, invasion of our land, usurp of space and resources, and destruction of a culture that has been so preserved in a pristine way in the heart of this beautiful town.

Some may say that these luxury living areas will be good for Austin; that they’ll further propel the growing economy. I want to know if it’s worth it. Is my classic Austin skyline, my funky Austin groove, and my gorgeous Austin wild life really worth losing so that a bunch of rich yuppies can come live in some ugly buildings in my favourite part of town?

I don’t comprehend at all how someone could value money over Austin’s unique look (after all, that is this condo-trend’s only up-side). Austin’s skyline has been a major part of everyone’s life, who has lived here. It’s on ACL t-shirts and traditional runs such as the Capitol 10-K and the Turkey Trot t-shirts. It’s on thousands of post cards and visitors and residents of the city have posted countless photos of it online. It’s the backdrop for every concert at Auditorium Shores, and so much more. After the 33 floor, 515 foot Frost Bank Tower was completed in December of 2003, Austin graciously integrated the building into the Austin look. It was the tallest building in Austin, and the first high-rise building to be built in the United States after the September 11th attacks. One new building was acceptable, but now there are two completed condominium complexes, one being built, and several more planned. I was in the car a week or so ago and counted eight cranes as I was driving north on I-35 through the downtown area. Eight! That’s ridiculous! For comparison’s sake, the newly finished Austin 360 building stands at 573 feet

By: Jami T

and is 44 stories tall. The Austonian (what a gross name, it reeks of brandy and expensive perfumes, doesn’t it?), due to be finished next year, is planned to rise up to a whopping 683 feet and 55 floors tall.

Not only has the tallest building been changed, but it’s been suggested by these condo-dwellers that the city’s music ordinance be changed as well! In November of 2007 (and many times since then) it’s been suggested that the city lower the decibel rating for music venues from the current limit of 85 dB to anywhere between 70-75 dB, depending on setting. Austin isn’t called the Live Music Capitol of the World for no reason! Austin’s economy, population, and culture thrive on music.

Mayor Will Wynn replied to these complaints in a speech suggesting that the condo-residents/complainers “get their asses off the sofa and go listen to live music.”

The music complaints are incredibly illegitimate, however, because it seems rather clear to me that if you live in a building surrounded by music venues, you should be prepared to deal with a little noise. These buildings aren’t only around music venues though. They’re right on Austin’s beautiful river. The owners of these buildings are all talking about being environmentally conscious and safe and what-have-you but that only means so much. Just because you’re being “aware” and using “safe new methods” does not mean the environment isn’t being affected, it just means it’s not being affected as much. And just because the building itself was made by people who are “environmentally savvy” that does not mean that those 25,000 new people living there will be too.

Austin’s wildlife, along with everything else, is unique, and like the culture and skyline needs to be preserved. Our economy is growing anyway; it doesn’t need this “boost”. This change is only hurting our city. Now the only question is: what can we do to stop it?

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The Big Switch By: Jaron M

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or $40 you can purchase a box that changes your picture quality from average to crystal-clear. The digital converter box will bring analog users into the new era of television, but no one said there would be so many problems with the making the switch.

Congress did not properly plan the transition to a digital signal, and the citizens were left to face the effects of the lack of organization.

Some feel as though the public was forewarned and given plenty of time to purchase their digital converter boxes. After all, the warnings went as far as the local television stations providing warnings of the switch, and several aired tests to see if viewers would get a signal after the switch from analog television.

However effective the television campaign was, once the deadline of February 17, 2009 was in sight, many people still were unaware if they would receive their digital converter box coupons, which were valued at $40 and could be redeemed for a converter box.

To request digital converter box coupons, tv owners can log onto the Digital TV Transition site www.dtv2009. gov/ where they can submit their address or call a telephone number to request up to two coupons (as a separate converter box is needed for each television to get a signal after the switch.)

A large part of the problem was that the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) had reached its funding limit of $1.34 billion dollars and could no longer issue converter box coupons.

Congress’ inadequacy in the budget planning resulted in a waiting list for digital converter box coupons, created by the NTIA. This lack of funding seems to be the largest problem with the switch.

President Obama asked Congress to delay the

date of the switch to June 12, 2009, once it was apparent that people would be on the waiting list to get their converter box coupons. According to TV industry analysts at Nielson Co. the main reason for the delay was that, as of December 2008 approximately 7,752,000 households that still hadn’t purchased their boxes or received coupons.

Congress could have decided to delay the switch a couple of months earlier, allowing many more people to get their boxes. Instead Congress left this plan for the President to come up with and then they tried to make up for their poor planning by raising the funding limit for the NTIA, so that people without boxes could receive their coupons.

Unfortunately, the price range of converter boxes has posed a number of problems for the people of Austin. The cheapest converter boxes sold for $40 at Wal-Mart and Target. However, these stores were selling out the fastest; meanwhile, some television stations had already switched over. This left customers waiting for the arrival of new shipments of converter boxes every couple of days. Those who chose not to wait for the cheaper boxes ended up going to stores such as RadioShack, which was selling converter boxes for $60.

The problems encountered during the transition could have been avoided had proper efforts been made to make the transition as smooth as possible. Clearly, Congress should have appropriated more funds for the NTIA once the number of requests for converter box coupons was close to the funding limit. As appreciative the tv owners were about the delayed switch date, the delay only came a couple of months before the switch was scheduled to occur. When a national initiative is made, the organizations involved will have to create a realistic budget and properly educate those affected. Next time there may not be an option to delay the deadline.

Photo Courtesy of Birds-Eye.net

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A More Modest Proposal

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ith the w o r l d economy in free-fall, even governments are looking for ways to save. But the things they are cutting, health care, Medicare/Medicaid, public services, are the wrong things to cut. Instead of cutting these essential parts of the budget, we should simply abolish the prison system. Prisons cost our nation over 60 billion dollars a year.

The inmates inside are being fed, housed, and kept healthy at no cost to them.

It is almost an incentive to commit a crime. If I kill this guy, the government will feed me for the rest of my life! What kind of message do we want to send?

My plan would resolve this inconsistency. Instead of sending convicted criminals to “Jail”, where they have no obligations, no need to worry about staying healthy, or paying the bills, we should abolish the prison system. What? Is this guy for real? Of course! We should make the default sentence the death penalty (which is totally constitutional) and forget about all the assorted problems that comes with managing prisons.

Remember the whole kerfuffle a while back about California being in a huge budget deficit and not knowing what to do with its prisons that it could no longer afford to keep? There wouldn’t have been a problem if they had followed my plan. Another reason to follow my plan is that prisoners are escape risks. On the other hand, corpses can go nowhere fast.

What if people complain? Who would want to keep alive the thieves, robbers, murderers, the lowest of the low? Religious people maybe, but since when has anyone ever cared what religious people think?

Having people know that they actually have to fear getting caught would become a huge deterrent for crime. Prison? You go in and a little while later, you’re out. Death? You die and a little while later, you’re still dead.

Prisons are an unnecessary burden to the American tax-payer. It is the honest, hardworking tax-payer who is forced to foot the bill for inmates. They deserve something better. If we follow my plan, the streets will be safer, we will have an extra 60 billion dollars to spend as we please, and the crime rate will fall like the Dow-Jones in the last six months, allowing us to feel a little safer.

It is almost an incentive to commit a crime

Watching... “The Sound Of Music” may have shortened your life by several years

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here’s more. Another sliver of the population, which garners little attention, is also a threat to our safety and peace. Some of you out there will know who I’m talking about. Yes, professional yodelers. The World Health Organization has recently recognized yodeling as one of the most carcinogenic (cancer causing) experiences around, ranking them 32.4 on a scale from 1-10, 10 being the most carcinogenic. Watching the “Lonely Goatherd” scene from “The Sound of Music” may have shortened your life by several years. Many people are beginning to file huge lawsuits, but the professional yodelers have refused to admit that they had a hand in the death of every cancer patient that heard their singing.

Now, they run around in small bands, ambushing lone, defenseless people minding their own business, jumping out from behind dumpsters and yodeling. The police are powerless to stop them, as the individual policemen are unwilling to subject themselves to the cancer-causing sound waves.

Therefore, my plan to combat them is to arm all police departments across the nation with earmuffs, and offer classes on managing the yodeler problem. Already, there have been 324.547 victims of their guerilla tactics, all of whom have developed cancer. This is a major problem, but hopefully, we can turn this into an opportunity. This crisis will hopefully generate a breakthrough in cancer research and prepare us for the next imminent threat: Suicide-bomber Smurfs.

By Daniel W.

w June 2009

H4(l<1n6 1O1 (Hacking 101)

By Daniel W. MIT has a long history of “hacks,” funny little pranks that demonstrate engineering ability and entertain the masses. Here are some of the best ones, but they are not listed in “Top 10” order. That’s for you to decide

The Criteria Hacks must be: 1) Difficult 2) Entertaining 3) Appealing to the masses 4) Public 5) Original 6) Audacious 7) A demonstration of superiority over Caltech

What should happen 1) No one should get hurt (much) 2) (Almost) everyone can laugh 3) The hack must demonstrate ingenuity 4) The hack should be (mostly) legal

1. On the first day of his new term as president

of MIT, Charles Vest found the door to his office completely blocked off by a bulletin board.

Inside, the perpatrators were kind enough to leave a bottle of chamnpagne. A classic example of a classic MIT hacker welcome.

3. Another hack on the dome was when hackers

placed a replica of a campus police car on top of the dome (a 10 story building), along with a ticket stating “No permit for this location”. Presumably, this hacker was incensed over a ticket he received, and sought vengeance in a rather unique way.

5. In anticipation of release of Halo 3, the

videogame, Hackers placed a Masterchief (The main character in Halo) helmet on the statue of John Harvard in Harvard square. The helmet was inscribed “Master Chief in training”. Also included was an assault rifle, the default weapon from Halo 3.

7.

2. Hackers placed chainsaws around campus,

inside glass cases proclaiming “In case of zombie attack, Break glass”, much like fire extinguishers. The bulk of the chainsaws were located in the neurology department, since zombies are known to eat brains, but other buildings also were also equipped to deal with zombie attacks.

4. For Halloween, creative hackers transformed

lobby 7 into a cathedral with pews, an altar, a confessional, and commandments such as “Thou shalt not divide by 0” and “Honor thy professors, for they are the source of grades”. Someone even performed a real wedding while the lobby was in its transformed state.

6. Angry about conferences which had question-

able standards for submitted papers, some MIT hackers wrote a computer program that randomly generated papers complete with graphs and fake citations, and submitted one of the papers created by the program. To their surprise, one of them was accepted by the conference.

8.

This time, MIT hackers installed a toilet at the top of building 37. The toilet was accompanied by a spare roll of toilet paper, and was fully operational. The toilet was based off the “epiphany tiolet from the TV show Scrubs, in which people who sit on the toilet find solutions to their problems. What a great way to study.

In another hack on the MIT dome, hackers decorated the dome in the likeness of R2D2 as a way of celebrating the release of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. Also included were deconstuction instructions for the “Imperial Drones” signed “Rebel Scum”.

non, a popular icon at Caltech. Caltech has long been a rival of MIT in almost all fields. After impersonating maintenance workers, MIT students drove the cannon cross-country from Caltech’s camplus to MIT’s campus.

MIT students who felt under-represented placed a weather ballon under the 50-yard line and set it off during half-time. Harvard went on the beat Yale 45-7, but it is obvious that the true winner of the footbal game was MIT.

9. MIT students stole Caltech’s Fleming Can-

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10. At the 1982 Harvard-Yale football game,

4.

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8.

5.

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By: Daniel W

9.

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1865 to th A Glimpse Archit

Oldest 12

The oldest non-residential building in Austin, Texas is The Ironstate Bank built in 1865.

After that...

10

11

8

St. Maryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Cathedral Built: 1884

Buford Tower Built: 1931

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7

9

The Driskill Hotel Built: 1886 (has been rebuilt)

University of Texas Tower Built: 1937

6

Texas State Capitol Built: 1888

The Castilian Built: 1969

he Present: at Austinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tecture

By: Jami T

1

newest

5 Lyndon Baines Johnson Library Built: 1974

4 One Congress Plaza Built: 1987

3 The Convention Center Built: 1992

2 The Frost Bank Tower Built: 2004

The newest complete building in Austin Texas is the 360 Condominiums building, completed 2008.

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70

1939 RCA TT5

Years of T

1949 GE 810

1974 Sony

2009 Sony

Photos Courtesy of www.tvhistory.tv and www.sony.com

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First Facts

TV

1939- The first TV was

1959 RCA â&#x20AC;&#x153;Fliptopâ&#x20AC;?

shown at the New York World fair.

1949- There were 2 million televisions in the U.S. 1951- The first mechanical tv was released by CBS.

1980 Magnavox

1955- The first remote control released by Zenith, complete with an on and off switch, mute button, and channel selection 1959- The first quality video tape recorder was released by Ampex.

By: Jaron M

1977- The first VHS VCR released by JVC. w June 2009

PURE nature A Look At the Barton Creek Greenbelt

By Aaren W.

The Barton Creek Greenbelt is a popular area and trail stretching 7.9 miles long and spans 809 acres. Sheer cliff walls, lush vegetation, and refreshing swimming areas make the Greenbelt an important Austin landmark. w 19

w June 2009

By Aaren W

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hether youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re a native Texan or just taking a tour of the largest continental state in America, you might want to beware of a few strange happenings around the land. Since the 19th century, people visiting historic Texas buildings and landmarks have experienced some not-so-normal encounters. Are these places really haunted? Who tells these stories of ghostly appearances and spooky voices? Read more to find out!

The Driskill Hotel (Austin)

A

n apparition sometimes seen in this historic hotel is that of the tiny four-year-old daughter of a Senator. The story goes that she was playing with a ball when she slipped and fell down the marble staircase to her death. The front desk staff has, on several an occasion, heard the girl bouncing the ball down the steps and giggling.

Photo courtesy of Jami TreviĂąo

The Alamo (San Antonio)

I

t is said that one can feel cold spots and sadness when walking through the Alamo, one of the most known monuments in the United States. More than 1,000 Alamo and Mexican defenders died in the building without proper burials. Ghostly sightings in the building were first reported only a week after the epic battle at the monument ended. Many believe that hundreds of lost souls wander the ancient building.

Photo courtesy of Corel Draw

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Marfa’s Mystery Lights (Marfa)

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arfa, Texas, a small ranching community on a Chihuahuan Desert plateau in west Texas, is widely known for its mysterious lights.

The strange beams have been reportedly seen in the are for over one hundred years, and many theories surround them. The lights change colors, move around, and their intensity changes.

They are currently unexplained and commonly referred to as “ghost lights.” To the right is a photograph of the Marfa Lights Observatory.

Photo courtesy of milebymile.com

The Hotel Galvez (Galveston)

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n Galveston’s Seawall Blvd. sits The Hotel Galvez, a beautiful old building dating back almost one hundred years ago. Story goes that one room in the hotel, room 505, is haunted, and most people don’t stay in it overnight. They say that the room itself makes them feel uncomfortable.

People also say that one can smell Gardenias in the room at times. Other locations in Galveston are said to be haunted, including the Tremont House Hotel and the Peanut Butter Warehouse.

Photo courtesy of Galveston.com

Austin State School (Austin)

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he Austin State School, located on W. 35th St., was built on top of a cemetery and opened in 1917. Built on top of a cemetery are the remains of deceased patients from the early 1900s. Staff members in several of the buildings have heard and seen mysterious things. It is rumored that a coffin from the cemetery somehow popped out of the ground next to a condemned building.

Photo courtesy of Adreanna

w June 2009

Lights Out : Disconn

The following Vignettes a Viewer Discret

By Jar

Day One

Day Two

The cable box just froze, again. No channels are being displayed. The blue startup screen with the AT&T logo bouncing around, is all that I can see. I try to reset the box, with no luck. After several failed attempts, the signal for the television doesn’t return. Something has really gone wrong.

Now all three of our services are unavailable. Television, cable, and internet. After trying to reset the control tower none of the services come back on. How will my family survive? We call the cable company only to learn that an appointment will have to be scheduled to assess the situation. For now we’re stuck with discovering something to entertain ourselves.

Day Five I’ve finished my homework in record time!

Either I got less homework or I’m actually more productive without the TV being on. For now things are starting to look up.

The silence is both calming and disturbing.

There’s almost always at least one television that’s on at my house. Now all that I can hear is the occasional radio or maybe the analog TV in the kitchen.

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Day Six Reset. Reset. Reset. Ugh. Over and over, I press the power button, wishing it would respond. No one knows when the line is going to be fixed. Maybe if I wish for the services to come back online they will. Maybe the red light shining through the key shaped hole will turn a shade of green that my eyes haven’t seen in what seems like years.

nected From it All

are based on True Events. tion Is Advised ron M

Day Three We just found out that the line for the services has been cut by construction on the street behind us. The date of repair is unknown. We have to use cell phones for all phone calls. Meanwhile our automated voicemail is still taking messages, so we have to call our voicemail to receive the messages, and then call the people who have left them.

Day Seven Multiple calls have been made to AT&T customer service. The representatives still have no idea how long our services will be out.

Countless hours have already been spent on hold on our cell phones. Fears begin to arise about the limit of our cell phone family plan We’re already paying for service that we don’t have. The last thing that we need is to pay a cell phone bill where we’ve gone over our minutes limit.

Day Four With the boxes serving no purpose, we choose to revert back to analog television.

A black and white TV is brought out of my dad’s room. Yes, a Black and White TV! How fitting that Life on Mars comes on, a show about someone being trapped in the 1970s.

Watching TV is not as convenient as it used to be. I have to get out of my chair to turn the knobs for the channels and volume.

Day Eight I make one last attempt to reset the control tower. Today being a new day brings new hope that our services will return. Five minutes later.... Everything is green, signaling the power being restored. As much as I enjoyed the break from it all, I’m more than happy to see it end.

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Native Species of LASA LASA High school is a unique ecosystem which contains many species unique to LASA. Here, we examine some of the native species, both exotic and common.

Preferred: Freshmen, Sophomores, Hand Sanitizer Predators: None Preferred Hunting Grounds: Room 254 (Luttig-Buonodono’s Room Behaviors: Poker, Harassment, Disruptive the Peace Habitat: LASA High School Distinct Traits-Propensity to Defecate

Ways to protect yourself:

Avoidance is key, Michael Allen’s stench is easily recognizable from up to 50 ft away, allowing observant natives to evade detection. Also he makes a distinctive sound which some say sounds like nails screeching on a chalkboard. When fleeing from a Michael Allen, it is advised to run quietly, as it is best to remain unnoticed as long as possible. If you are unable to escape, it is advised that you protect your neck with your hands, and lie facedown on the ground, in order to give the appearance that you are dead. Unconfirmed reports claim that he is easily distracted by shiny objects and hand sanitizer.

The Michael Allen is one of the Most Dangerous creatures at LASA.

One of the few existing photographs of the fearsome Michael Allen beast, this one depicts him terrorizing the defenseless “Red Fish” who requested anonymity. He is currently wanted for questioning in 14 states and a suspected member of the mafia, and may display pedophilic tendencies. He is to be considered armed and dangerous, and should not be approached under any circumstances.

The Michael Allen towers above most LASA students, and even most teachers. It has a Bigfoot-like reputation among the locals, but none doubt its existence. It spends its days aimlessly wandering the halls, preying on lone, defenseless freshmen and occasional sophomores. It has already left a track record of 15 deaths, and all run scared when he appears. The survivors, few and far between, are

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usually traumatized, and avoid all discussion of this beast. One of its favorite hunting grounds is room 254, Mrs. Luttig-Buonodono’s classroom. Usually, it appears in room 254 only in the afternoons, and terrorizes the innocent students who are unable to escape, though it has not eaten anyone from room 254 yet. Several attempts have been made to control this dangerous predator, but to no avail. Its

favorite activity is stealing the flags and using them as rapiers to harass the bewildered freshmen. Some of the braver ones have fought back and one even engaged Michael Allen in fencing match by taking the other flag. Strangely, Michael Allen has been observed to have a hand-sanitizer fetish. Why it likes hand sanitizer is unknown, but it is assumed that Michael Allen consumes copious amounts daily.

Observations of Creatures in Their Natural Habitat

The Strange Mr. Gross

The venomous Mr. Gross is also a dangerous creature to be avoided.

Preferred food-The suffering of children Behaviors-Racism, Sexism, Bigotry, Pollution Failing students, Crushing hopes and dreams Distinct Traits-Complete lack of fashion sense Habitat-LASA High School

In the same vein, Mr. Gross is possibly even more fearsome than the aforementioned Michael Allen. Although he is usually confined to his classroom, Mr. Gross has also mastered the art of hall-wandering, and regularly strolls the halls insulting people in racist, sexist, and funny ways. His style of dressing is rather intriguing, as he insists that everything “Goes together” and often wears strange outfits such as a blue shirt, a polka dot tie, and red jeans. One student recalls Mr. Gross’s warning that “I would get AIDS through my feet” if she walked around barefoot. Despite his pompous demeanor and arrogant manner, Mr. Gross actually wields considerable power, as he is Head of the English Department.

He also holds incendiary beliefs and claims that “I hate Mother Nature”. Despite all this, he is a quite popular figure, but also very controversial.

The Average Nerd

The nerd, although not unique to LASA, demonstrates incredible diversity at LASA. Preferred food- Brain food Behaviors- Video Games, Studying, Calculus, Quantum Physics, Foreign Languages, Computers Distinct Traits-Extreme sensitivity to light, GPA Habitat-LASA High School, Schools Nationwide The nerds usually show up to school an hour before it starts, since they display a great obsession with learning, grades, math, and video games. They are generally harmless, but if provoked, can ruin your Facebook/Myspace page, and other online accounts. A number of them also play ping-pong during lunch, and have been joined by a small group of non-nerds. Though physically weak, they are great in number at LASA. Though little is known about what they do at home, it is assumed that they study and play video games. Most play instruments, and take extracurricular activities such as Quiz Bowl, Robotics, and Science Olympiad. They usually congregate in small groups in the halls and discuss topics most people have no knowledge about. Though they are looked down upon by many, they make up an integral part of LASA.

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9â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 0 0 2 at s d n a B al t v s i e t B s e 7 F : 7 c i r s be Mu m s u t i N m Lucky in City Li Aust

The Scabs

Genre: Alt. rock, Latin Rock, Other Members: Bob Schneider, Bruce Hughes David Robins, David Boyle, Adam Temple, Charles Rieser, Carlos Sosa, Fernie Castillo, and Rolo Formed: 2000 Most Recent Album: Freebird Song You Need to Hear: Tarantula Rating:

Daniel Johnston

Genre: Folk Rock, Alt. Rock Members: Daniel Johnston Formed: 1978 Most Recent Album: The Angel and Daniel Johnston Live at the Union Chapel Song You Need to Hear: Casper the Friendly Ghost Rating:

Ghostland Observatory

Genre: Electronic Dance Members: Aaron Kyle Behrens, Thomas Ross Turner Formed: 2004 Most Recent Album: Robotique Majestique Song You Need to Hear: Sad Sad City Rating:

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Ben Harper & the Relentless7 Genre: Alt. Rock, Blues, Folk Rock, Gospel, Reggae Members: Ben Harper, Jason Mozersky, Jesse Ingalls, Jordan Richardson Formed: 2005 Most Recent Album: White Lies for Dark Times Song You Need to Hear: Lay There & Hate Me Rating:

Flogging Molly

Genre: Celtic punk Members: Dave King, Bridget Regan, Dennis Casey, Nathen Maxwell, Bob Schmidt, George Schwindt, Matt Hensley Formed: 1997 Most Recent Album: Float Song You Need to Hear: Drunken Lullabies Rating:

Sonic Youth

Genre: Rock, Post-punk, Alt. Rock Members: Thurston Moore, Kim Gordon, Lee Ranaldo, Steve Shelley, Mark Ibold Formed: 1981 Most Recent Album: The Mix-Up #1 Hit Song: (You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party) Rating:

The Beastie Boys

Genre: Old school hip-hop, Punk, Rock-hip-hop Members: Michael Diamond (“Mike D”), Adam Yauch (“MCA”), and Adam Horovitz (“Ad-Rock”) Formed: 1979 Most Recent Album: The Mix-Up Song You Need to Hear: Paul Revere Rating: iño v e r T mi By: Ja w June 2009

Jump Page Continued from page 9: Forever an Artist ...sculpture. On weekends, one can find him in his garage welding a sculpture, somewhere in Austin taking a picture of a house just recently put onto the market, or on the computer in his study, editing a photograph with Adobe Photoshop.

Many of his projects line the walls and shelves of Weiner’s house, along with countless other works of art he has bought at auctions and on vacations to the Caribbean, Mexico, Hawaii, and many trips to places around the U.S. On one wall is a series of framed photographs taken by Weiner on a rafting trip in the Grand Canyon several years ago.

However, most of his personal projects were done in his garage or on the computer. His welding tools, a MIG welder and an oxygen acetylene torch, which he uses for various steel and sculpture projects, sit in his garage. On a chest Weiner’s living room sits a flat steel sculpture of his dachshund Lucy looking up at the sky. A painting he did of a French horn that used to hang in his dining room was donated to Lake Travis High School and now hangs in its band hall. Other works in Weiner’s house were done by other artists. Some of his favorite artists are Willem de Kooning, Andrew Wyeth, Marcel Duchamp, and Frank Stella. Two original Dali works hang in the entryway of Weiner’s home.

Weiner says he has always felt connected to art. “I’m always

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looking at it, it’s always around me,” he explains. “I’m always thinking, [and] I’m always working on something, whether it’s metal sculptural projects, or stuff I’m working on the computer…I’m always thinking of ways of expressing myself through art.”

He believes that art is very important to the average person’s life. “Especially in today’s culture, art adds a whole lot of creativity and innovation, allows people to expand their thinking into all kinds of possibilities, because that’s what art really is, art’s about finding different ways to look at things and express them graphically or sculpturally. It could be meaningful, it could be emotional, it could be just interesting.”

Wrap