Monitor 2006-4-13

Rainy days ruin games – Page 8

Ernie G. performs for Unity – Page 2

– Page 4

Vol. XXXVI No. 12

Fremont, California

Delegates selected for trip to China

Unity Week dancers hula away

By Joyce Leung Features editor Representatives for the first Ohlone College Student Delegation to China have been chosen.

Heta Desai, Ekta Patel, Aisha Wahab, Don Vejar, Adam Drew Manning, Ashley Marie Dorsey, Myles Bowie and Nicole Sanders were chosen out of a pool of 20 applicants.

The student delegates will embark on a 10-day trip at the end of May accompanied by Student Services Assistant Renee Wong Gonzales, Professor Xisheng Fang and Dean of Fine & Performing Arts Walter Birkedahl.

The group will take part in a burgeoning student exchange

Thursday, April 13, 2006

program between Ohlone sister colleges in Shanghai, Hangzhou and Taizhou.

According to Gonzales, the panel was looking for student leader who represented different aspects of the college.

Bowie, one of the chosen, was most excited about experiencing the Chinese culture. He hopes to develop a better understanding of China and the United States and how the two can work together to benefit both societies.

In between learning about China’s rising educational, economical, social, cultural and political society, students will have the opportunity to visit historical and cultural sights, including the many Buddhist temples.

Power sources for cities of the future

By CHRIS MARSHALL Staff writer

The Math, Science, and Technology Division’s most recent brown bag seminar, entitled “SuperCities and SuperGrids: Teratechnology Energy Societies for an Exajoule World” focused on the energy situation facing the entire planet.

Esoteric titles aside, self-described “IBM pensioner” Dr. Paul M. Grant’s presentation was an in-

depth look at the energy problems facing the planet and possible solutions to these problems.

“It’s estimated the world’s population will reach 10 billion people by 2100,” said Grant, “and they all want to live like Americans.” Grant illustrated this point with the famous NASA photo of the Earth at night, showing the bright city lights of the industrialized nations. Grant then showed a graph comparing the Continued on Page 6

"Spirit of Polynesia" Tahitian dancer Audrey Throgmorton and students Ivy Brawner and Crystal Smith gyrate in the cafeteria Monday, April 10. Photo by Ross Tsvetanov. Story on Page 4.

10th Annual Health Fair set for April 19 in Building 1

By THOMAS HSU Correspondent Walking away from the Health Center’s 10th Annual Health Fair on April 19 with handfuls of free condoms doesn’t have to be your main incentive for going this year.

Ohlone Health Center’s slogan of “mind, body and spirit” means that that this fair will cover much more than just physical health.

The sponsors, the Ohlone College Health Center and the ASOC, seek to spread health awareness through a variety of booths which will offer information and activities ranging from HIV testing, to screening for anxiety disorders, to acupuncture and holistic healing.

The fair will take place at the lobby in Building 1 next Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and boast representatives from Washington Hospital, the American Cancer

Society, American Lung Cancer Association, Health through Art, Tri-City Health Center Teen Clinic, local chiropractors, Ohlone’s Fitness Center, and others.

Washington Hospital is offering free cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar screening, with immediate results.

Tri City Health Center is also offering free HIV testing.

Tri City’s Andrew Navarro hastened to mention that the testing is done without any hypodermic needles.

It requires only a cotton swab to capture samples of the tissues in your cheek.

The test is quick, and results come after two weeks.

To extend beyond physical health, the fair will also have a booth run by Ohlone’s Personal Counselor Rosemary O’Neill dealing with anxiety disorders.

Other booths, like Health for Art and the University of East-West Center will address alternative ways to good health.

“For many students, this is the first time they get to find out this stuff,” said Health Center Director Sally Bratton “Especially if they’ve never had health insurance.”

Those students who find abnormal results on any tests may follow up at the Student Health Center.

The Health Center is located in Building 16.

The center's hours are Monday to Thursday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4 to 6 p.m. closed Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.

The center can be reached at (510) 659-6258 or www.ohlone. edu/org/healthctr Though the fair is also free for faculty and staff, they must contact their own health care providers for follow-ups.

Bond oversight committee delayed

By OMER AHMED Opinion editor At Wednesday night’s Board of Trustees meeting, the election of new Measure A Bond Oversight committee members was delayed as the there were too few candidates.

The committee monitors how Ohlone spends its $150 million in bond money. Six previous committee members were not eligible for reelection, as they had served the maximum 2year term.

Board president Bob Brunton explained that the committee needed at least seven new members and that more would be preferable. Currently, the board only has six candidates: Ashok Bhatt, Shirley Buschke,

Bhaskar Chaudhari, Andrea Francis, Jack Rogers and Jeevan Zutchi.

Trustee member Dan Archer said, “There are some excellent names on that list but I believe that it is a good suggestion to extend the time.”

Vice President of Business Services Deanna Walston presented a report comparing Ohlone’s Bond project costs with projects done by other colleges. Walston said, “Our experience is unfortunately similar to other colleges.” This report along with other data will be provided to the Bond Committee once it is formed.

The Measure A Bond funds Ohlone’s current building projects and various other improvements.

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Opinion

monitor April 13, 2006

Associated Collegiate Press / National Scholastic Press Association All American 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 Regional Pacemaker 1988 Journalism Association of Community Colleges First in General Excellence, Northern California Fall 1994 General Excellence 2005 2000 2004

Editor in chief: Jerome Engelberts Anna Nemchuk News editor: Opinion editor: Omer Ahmed Features editor: Joyce Leung Sports editor: Nick Zambrano Photo editor: Mojhgan Mohtashimi Investigative Reporter: Sean G. Crawford Staff writers: Frankie Addiego, Naomi Balagot, Rahul Batra, Morgan Brinlee, Thomas Hsu, Ira Lazo, Chris Marshall, Danelle Meyer, Gabriel Vila Ad Staff: Frankie Addiego Photographers: Wayne Chow, Jerome Engelberts, Rostislav Tsvetanov Graphic Staff: Wayne Chow, Jason Montalvo, Chirag Patel, Ying Yam Ad manager: Danelle Meyer Adviser: Bill Parks Printer: F-P Press

Offices are located in Room 5310 on campus, 43600 Mission Blvd., Fremont 945395884. Call (510) 659-6075. Fax: (510) 659-6076. E-mail: monitor@ohlone.cc.ca.us Opinions expressed in the Monitor are those of the respective authors and are not necessarily those of the staff, the college or the Associated Students of Ohlone College.

Unsigned editorials reflect the majority view of staff members. Advertising material is printed herein for informational purposes and is not to be construed as an expression of endorsement or verification of such commercial ventures by the staff or college.

The Monitor is funded by the district, by the Associated Students of Ohlone College, and through advertising revenue.

The Monitor is a member of the Associated Collegiate Press, Journalism Association of Community Colleges, Community College Journalism Association, California Newspaper Publishers Association, College Media Advisers and Society of Newspaper Design.

Opinion

The true story of taxes: The cuts make sense

By Frankie Addiego Staff writer One of the hallmarks of the Bush Administration, the source of all evil, are his tax cuts for the rich.

Based on what many on the left say, George W Bush, out of sheer contempt for the poor, and women and minorities, lowered the taxes only for the wealthy and the workingman got hurt in the process. It’s not quite true, but it makes a spooky story, which is essential when you’re trying to use the President as a scapegoat.

Between the first and second tax relief bills that Bush signed, cuts occurred in every bracket. The lowest bracket’s tax break went from 15 to

10 percent. Similarly, the next three highest brackets each received a reduction of three percent. The highest bracket fell 4.6 percent. While a new, lower tax bracket was created; it’s only for dependents making that amount of money and not heads of household.

As you can see, the lowest bracket got the biggest reduction in the tax rate. Yet, critics cry bloody murder because the aggregate amount of the lower-class tax cut is so much lower than that of the others. Well, duh!

They make less, therefore, they pay less taxes. That means that a given percentage of whatever they earn and/or whatever they pay in taxes is invariably lower than the same percentage of someone who makes

more. In fact, if one individual makes $20,000 and another makes $20,000,000, then simple arithmetic dictates that if you cut the latter’s taxes by one percent, you would have to cut the latter’s by one-hundred, which is impossible since their tax rate is 10 percent. This is only an injustice when you look at people in the abstract.

The left reminds people that the wealthiest one-percent, people who make more than $200,000, got a whopping 35 percent of the tax cut.

This is a meaningless statement.

First of all, the wealthiest one-percent earn roughly 37 percent of the income in the U.S. and therefore pay 32 percent of the taxes according to various sources. These are approxi-

mate numbers but they illustrate that the reason a particular section of the population got so much more than another. Oddly enough, none of this seems to make a difference to the earning power or disposable dollar of someone who doesn’t fall into the wealthiest one-percent by any logic, but nonetheless, a great injustice has been performed upon him!

Of course, the Democrats have used statistics regarding the percent of all tax dollars that are contributed by each bracket. According to an article on factcheck.org from October 2004, an ad for John Kerry implied that the tax burden for the middle class had gone up saying that they’re paying “a bigger share of America’s tax burden.” While

this is true, all it means is that the amount of taxes coming into the IRS are from the middle brackets. Again, this statement is meaningless, as it has no effect on the aggregate or proportionate amount of taxes paid by an individual. In the abstract, it seems like a problem has arisen.

There was once a time when a politician who devoted himself to lowering taxes was seen as a populist. Yet a huge part of the Reagan presidency in the eighties was the lowering of taxes. Since the Democrats rely as much as they do on playing the poor against the rich and propagating class warfare, they needed to find a way to make the working man think that his taxes going down was a bad thing.

Boxers, tighty-whities or none of the above?

By Omer Ahmed Opinion editor In our stress-filled, worry-prone lives, we sometimes forget the things that honestly make a difference in our lives– like underwear. Hidden underneath protective outer-layers, underwear is the heart or maybe

even the soul of one’s garments.

The underwear you choose makes a statement about who you are.

Women’s underwear have always been more than just clothing. It is not even underwear, it’s “lingerie.” For example, Cclothing from Victoria’s Secret embodies sexuality. Within the last 20 years, this symbolism has transferred over to men’s undergarments.

Look at men in the media. The hot guy in a movie is not likely to be wearing tighty-whities. They are restrictive and conservative, not at all representative of “cool” or “badass.”

He is likely to be wearing boxers.

They are loose and free, like a biker on the open road. Exotic garments make more outlandish statements.

Quagmire, the nymphomaniac from the cartoon Family Guy, often

wears a g-string. Men’s underwear used to be a neutral item but the different forms now make different statements.

It’s no surprise that the undergarment has become an icon for both sexes. After all, the Tarzan loincloth might have been the first form of clothing ever worn. Men can now choose from the traditional briefs, boxers, the amalgamous boxer

brief, the bikini brief or other, more unusual options.

Like with women’s underwear, comfort is not always the main issue anymore. You might not choose to wear brief because they are “old guy underwear.” You might not want to wear a thong because it’s a little too flamboyant.

Now the clothing that no one sees makes a statement to everyone.

Campus Comment > > >

What type of underwear are you wearing?

Crystal Smith Visual Communication “Nothing but Victoria’s Secret.”

Peter Neddersen Liberal Arts “Boxers. They’re from Costco.”

ivy Brawner Broadcast “Silk Spongebobs.”

Eva griffen Physical Therapy “Boxer briefs.”

lasite Luke Law “Boxers, man! What did you think I was wearing?”

News

April 13, 2006 MONITOR

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Report from Australia for fall trip Dean of Language Arts and Social Sciences Mikelyn Stacey recently undertook a journey to Australia to prepare the Aussies for Fall 2006's influx of students per the planned trip to Sydney.

Seats for the Australia trip are still available and the third meeting will take place April 19 at 6 p.m. in Room 5209.

For more information, contact Professor Cynthia Katona at ckatona@ohlone.edu or (510) 659-6226 Clockwise from top left: Stacey gingerly communicates with a kangaroo at Sydney's Torango Zoo, innumerable quantaties of bats nest peacefully in Sydney's Botanical Gardens, a seal is examined for bright eyes and a bushy tail by a ranger at the Toranga Zoo, and the Koala of Independence greets visitors at an apartment complex. Photos courtesy of Mikelyn Stacey.

Register early by appointment Students who know they'll be continuing to study at Ohlone can take advantage of doing so by priority appointment. They will be greeted by the new registrar, Kimberly Robbie .

Why make an appointment? Appointments spread the load on the computer system, making it easier for students to access registration. Appointments also give priority to students close to graduation or transfer.

Here's a few pointers on how the process works: continuing students have all been assigned registration priority appointments and were notified by e-mail on April 5.

Registration appointments are based on having a declared academic program (major) and by the number of Ohlone units earned toward that program.

If you have not received an e-mail of your appointment do the following: 1. Check for your appointment by attempting to register for 2006 Summer/Fall on WebAdvisor on or after April 24. You will receive a message informing you of your appointment date.

2. Check WebAdvisor to record, change, or update your email address.

3. Check that your e-mail system spam filter is set to accept mail from Ohlone College.

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Features

monitor April 13, 2006

From left, Los Angeles comedian Ernie G and Spirit of Polynesia dancers Audrey Throgmorton and Kiana Zamora in full dress. Photos by Mojhgan Mohtashimi.

Unity Week continues on despite foul weather

By Joyce Leung Features editor Monday’s Unity Week opening ceremony provided temporary distraction from the dreary weather as students ambled into the cafeteria seeking refuge from the rain.

“We’ll take you to Tahiti pretty soon,” assured Spirit of Polynesia Band Leader Robert Stant, before entertaining lunch goers with melodious island music and hip-shaking Tahitian dancers. Afterward a small fashion show modeled the dress and costume of Tibet, East India and West Africa.

Tuesday brought on speaker Akili Shabazz who promoted his views on preserving cultural diversity in an ever-homogenizing country.

Though Shabazz made strong statements about the enslavement of the American people through miseducation, his speech was plagued by technical problems with the microphone and frankly, a crowd more interested in eating than listening.

Shabazz struggled to keep his voice above the lunchroom chatter and at one point even stopped his speech to ask the crowd for its attention.

“I see Unity Week as ‘defend my culture week,’” commented one stu-

dent who wished to remain anonymous and also felt that Shabazz was preaching instead of informing. He continued with his game of cards while Shabazz spoke.

Others like student Jason Chan decided to keep a more open mind.

“My philosophy is to listen to everybody because in the end it’s up to you to decide whether to accept it. The only thing you lose is your time but you have all to gain in knowledge.”

An open mic session later that day allowed for impromptu performances by student Jeremy Leonard, sister and brother duo Tatyana and

Ceramic heads look after library

Justin Hamady and rappers Ivy Brawner and Maurice Brackett.

Wednesday featured Los Angeles comedian Ernie G who looked out at the audience of about 40 in Room 2133 and said, “Alright let’s not pretend this place is packed.”

His earnest prespective on the situation was carried through to his act. The comedian poked fun at his Mexican American upbringing though Ernesto Tomas Gritzewsky’s ethnic background is a mix of Mexican, Puerto Rican, French and Russian. His point was, “we have to embrace our differences and not pretend we don’t have them.”

The Gay Straight Alliance also hosted a viewing of Brokeback Mountain, immediately segueing into a brief discussion of the themes the movie presented. The discussion pointedly centered upon the outrage the film generated nationally.

As the discussion progressed,

the group’s focus broadened until it reached an apex, “[homosexuality] goes right back to Adam and Eve…well not Adam…everyone after that,” declared one attendee.

The festivities continue today at noon in the cafeteria with club booths, free giveaways, belly dancers and music by Wild 94.9.

At 1 p.m. in Room 4201 photographer Francisco Dominguez will present a slideshow illustrating life and death at the U.S. and Mexico border while touching upon the current legislation regarding undocumented immigrants.

At 2:30 p.m. in Room 7102 the Speech Club will host “Battle of the Sexes,” yet another forum discussing the communication differences between men and women.

For more information on the Unity Week schedule, visit: www. ohlone.edu/org/campusactivities/ unityweek.html

Let go of stress

By Frankie Addiego Staff writer From left. Sea Witch by May Bobik, Princess Pepper Cloud Loves Her Cat by Kim de Young and Meditation by Frances Tshudy. These statuettes were created by Kris Lyon’s ceramics class and will be on display at the circulation desk until April 17. Photo by Ross Tsvetanov

On Thursday, April 6, the Ohlone Psychology club held a discussion featuring Rosemary O’Neil, the head of personal counseling services. The major focal point of the discussion was on stress. “It’s my passion to help you guys,” she said. The speakers and the students in attendance discussed both the many causes of stress and ways of coping with it.

According to O’Neil, a major part of stress is trying too hard. She asked the students to visualize themselves sitting on a beach holding a clump of sand. She asked them to try as hard as they could to keep every little grain in their hands. It proved strenuous and the students found themselves giving up in frustration.

Then, she asked them to visualize themselves just holding it casually and they generally felt they could do it indefinitely. This was meant to show that when students stressed needlessly over something, it would harm their ability to accomplish the very thing they felt they needed to do.

O’Neil advised students to avoid

unnecessary stress. As a catch-all for students who find themselves in despair, she advised, “If there’s nothing you can do about it, you don’t need to worry about it.” She then said that if there is something a student can do about a problem then they have nothing to worry about.

The speaker also talked about time management as being important to lowering stress in the long run. One handout had a list of ways to “beat” procrastination. These steps included buying a calendar and keeping a “to do” list.

Asked by a student if it was possible for someone to not be stressed enough, O’Neil answered, “yes.” She said that there are some people who are too “laid-back.”

This mindset leads to people not taking responsibilities or completing tasks.

Other resources that students can turn to for help included the Teen Crisis Line at (877) 9230700; Alcoholics Anonymous at (510) 839-8900; the Rape Crisis Line at (510) 845-7273 as well as the Ohlone Student Health Center, located in Building 16 and can be reached at (510) 659-6258.

Features

April 13, 2006 monitor

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Adolescence and adulthood unclear in America State of Illusion

By Chris marshall Staff writer An oft-overlooked flaw of modern American society is the lack of an official coming-of-age ceremony, especially for boys.

While some may see this as a trite issue, I believe the negative psychological impact of not having such a ceremony is much greater than is realized.

A coming-of-age ceremony is a practiced ceremony, often involving rituals, which celebrates and officializes a child’s passage into adulthood. The child is then

recognized as an adult by those around him/her and the responsibilities that accompany adulthood are often explained.

There are numerous examples: in Judaism, there is the bar mitzvah for boys at the age of 13, and the less-practiced bat mitzvah for girls at 12; many Hispanic cultures hold parties called quinceaneras for girls when they turn 15, a sort of cotillion; and the ancient Japanese celebrated genpuku, where a teenage boy was given adult clothes and his hair fashioned into an adult hairstyle.

Some might argue America has coming-of-age ceremonies in the form of driver’s licenses, loss of virginity, etc., but I would contend that these do not meet

all the criteria to be proper rites of passage. Most importantly, by no means are those who do these things viewed as adults by those around him/her. Also, most of the responsibilities of adulthood are not bestowed on those who get their driver’s license or lose their virginity.

Being treated like an adult is very important for a teenager who knows they have grown up.

The differences between adolescence and adulthood are ambiguous at best; teenagers need to be told when they are adults and then treated like adults.

I cannot say when I became a man, but a Jewish boy could tell you when he became a man -- the Saturday after his 13th birthday. I figure I have to be a

man since there are no 24-yearold boys.

I also believe such a comingof-age ceremony is more important for American boys than girls. The move into adulthood is important for both genders, but boys do not exhibit such a major biological change as girls. For girls, the onset of menstruation is often the sign of the beginning of womanhood, but for boys there really is no such change.

There seems to be a sort of reluctance adults have to bestow the recognition of adulthood onto adolescents. In America, the age gap can be measured by more than just years; it can be measured in terms of political, economic, social and spiritual belief. It’s almost as if the

older generations do not want to recognize these people with radically different views as adults.

Of course there are those who remember that they too were young once and how wonderful it is to be treated like an adult.

I remember how confused I felt that in junior high when I realized that I didn’t need or want to be told what to do and when to do it anymore. Yet in the American system, I had another five years of this treatment to endure. Instead of being viewed as an adult ready for the responsibilities of growing up, I was seen as someone who didn’t respect authority. It is a small consolation that I know I have surpassed, in intellect, those who viewed me this way.

Ohlone alumnus turns hobby into career

By Gabriel Vila Staff writer If you happen to pick up the new game “Tomb Raider: Legend” in stores this month, you can thank Ohlone alumnus Mike Peaslee for the excellent sound design.

Peaslee, 29, is a senior sound designer and second composer for Crystal Dynamics. His job entails sound mixing, dialogue recording and voice -over implementation for all languages. “We do just about everything in-house,” said Peaslee.

“So I’m a jack-of-all-trades.”

Peaslee has worked on roughly 10 games so far, most recently “Tomb Raider: Legend,” the latest installment of the classic “Tomb Raider” series started back in 1996 that was further popularized by the films “Tomb Raider” and “Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life.”

“I’m pretty damn happy about how that one turned out,” said Peaslee about his most recent game. “Before that I did ‘Project: Snowblind.’ It’s a futuristic urban first-person shooter.”

When asked about the video game

industry, Peaslee was outspoken on the topic of its future. “Games will surpass and replace film as the core of mainstream entertainment within 20 years, easily. Actors and directors will begin to migrate to games as the money improves. Beyond that, the game industry is simply not limited in the way that film is. We can offer 10-30 hours of immersion, instead of 120 minutes of a vicarious and linear, utterly passive ride. Fidelity and realism barriers in games will soon be long gone.”

He was also quick to add, “That’s not to say that movies are going away any time soon. It’s not as if movies wiped out books.”

Many of Peaslee’s views on video games are are not uncommon among millions of videogame fans.

When asked about the SCRB rating system for video games, he replied, “It’s far more effective at preventing underage people from purchasing Mature and Adult Only games than an R-rating is for movies. The problem is that parents are buying M rated games for their kids. We don’t ban R-rated movies, which have the same level of sex

or violence as M-rated games, just because parents allow their kids to watch them.”

Peaslee looks forward to the future of video game development as he relates its success to the indie film industry. “In American society, the indie game world will explode-in fact it already is. Instead of 10 grand and a dozen friends you can pull together when the lighting is good to cook up a short film, you just need a dozen friends with midgrade PCs.” While at Ohlone, Peaslee studied broadcasting and journalism.

He didn’t finish here, nor did he transfer out. By capitalizing on his hobby of sound and music, and by taking related courses at Ohlone, he catapulted himself into the video game industry.

Ohlone is now offering classes in video game design and Peaslee was pleased to hear it. “There wasn’t any video game related track at Ohlone when I was there, but if it were as relatively thorough, well funded and realistic as the journalism and radio departments are, then I’d have to recommend it.”

Former Ohlone student and senior sound designer for Crystal Dynamics Mike Peaslee out in the field. Photo courtesy of Mike Peaslee

Concert this Friday The Ohlone Ukulele Renegades K.G. Greenstein, Katherine Sparling and Hal Griffin, practice in the mailroom in preparation for the Chalkdust & Friends concert this Friday, April 14 at 7:30 p.m. in the Nummi Theatre.

The ukuleles are one of the many groups who will accompany the Mark Brosamer and Jeff O’Connell’s headlining band,Chalkdust.Admission is $5 with proceeds going to the Speech and Music departments. For more information on the concert, contact Professor O’Connell at 979-7439. Photo by Ross Tsvetanov

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April 13, 2006

News

About 300 years of coal left Continued from Page 1 amount of energy used by people in industrial societies compared to those in agrarian and hunter/gatherer societies, and said how it’s partly the drastically increasing population (All of whom wish to live like people in the U.S.) which is leading to an energy crisis.

Grant said the solution to population boom is “the enfranchisement of women.” As more and more women make the choice to either not have any children or very few children, the world’s population will begin to level out. Countries in the old parts of Europe and Asia such as Italy and even Japan are starting to see their populations actually decrease, thanks to the enfranchisement of women.

“Most people don’t realize that as industrialization increases, so does energy efficiency,” said Grant.

“The goal is to get energy efficiency to a point so it balances energy consumption.”

Another version of NASA’s famous photograph was then shown, this time a doctored version showing how the Earth might look at night in the year 2100. Safe to say, there were many more solid white blotches in all countries. Grant said he even included possible oceanic mega-cities in the doctored photo.

Explaining where America gets most of its energy, Grant showed two maps that displayed from

where America imports its oil and natural gas. “We import the most from Canada and Mexico, with 17 and 13 percent of our oil coming from them, respectively,” said Grant. “As you can see, America is not as dependent on Mideast oil as many think.”

Grant said America has about 309 years left worth of coal, which we burn for about 50 percent of our electricity. About 71.4 percent of America’s electricity is generated using fossil fuels, a non-renewable resource.

“China is becoming a very large energy consumer. With 1.3 billion souls living in China, all of them want to live like Americans,” said Grant. “The top three priorities of Chinese families are: television, washing machine and refrigerator, in that order. Also, many families now see air conditioners as a priority. China has rolling blackouts everyday, especially in rural areas.

They have a 30GW shortfall they are scrambling to make up.”

After touching on greenhouse gases and carbon dioxide emissions, Grant said it is likely the world will be out of fossil fuels by the year 2200. Grant then proposed a solution to the twenty-first century energy challenge, a “symbiosis of nuclear, hydrogen and superconductivity.”

“In order for hydrogen to be the energy source for U.S. surface trans-

portation, it would require 230,000 tonnes of hydrogen per day,” said Grant. “This would mean converting 2,055,383 tonnes of water into hydrogen everyday, or about the top meter of Lake Tahoe. The good thing is, we have a lot of water.”

The same scenario using wind, said Grant, would require a wind farm the size of New York. Using solar, it would require completely covering Death Valley and the Mojave Desert with solar collectors.

If we were to use biomass as the source of energy, something the size of Nevada would be needed.

Grant skipped past the more intricate details of nuclear power and went straight to superconductivity.

At a low enough temperature, a circuit can hold an electrical current indefinitely, without any loss.

This is the idea of superconductivity: manufacture cables capable of carrying electricity with little or no loss. Grant then showed a slide of a complicated math equation to “prove he was a real scientist.” Concluding, Grant said of the energy problem and its possible solutions, “you can’t always get what you want...you get what you need,” a quote from the Rolling Stones.

The next Brown Bag, titled Personalized Medicine and Stem Cells

by Ralph Sinibaldi, will be in Room 3201 from 1 to 2 p.m. Friday, April 21. Everyone is welcome and free refreshments will be served.

Campus Events April

make friends and meet likeminded people.

13 Unity Week Event -- Noon in the cafeteria there will be club booths, desserts, belly dancers, and Wild 949. At 2:30 p.m. the battle of the sexes will be in Room 7102, sponsored by the Speech Club. These events are free.

13 Guest Speaker: Flash -- 6:30 p.m. in Room HH116. Professional Flash developer Justin EverettChurch will show the process of combining Yahoo!

Maps API and Flash 8 to designing cool-looking maps that have creative applications for the web.

This event is free.

13 Men’s Baseball -- 2 p.m. vs. Porterville College at Ohlone.

13 Women’s Softball -- 3 p.m. vs. DeAnza College at Ohlone.

14 Chalkdust Concert -at 7:30 p.m. in the NUMMI Theater. Concert features Chalkdust and friends who are teachers on campus.

Tickets are $5 and are available at the box office.

Proceeds will go to the Speech Communication and Music Departments.

18 Transfer Event: CSU Monterey Bay-- Meet with a representative between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.

There will be a table in either the quad or the cafeteria, depending on the weather. For more information visit the counseling window in Building 1 or call (510) 659-6110.

18 Women’s Softball -- 3 p.m. vs. City College of San Francisco at Ohlone.

19 Semester Abroad: Sydney -- 6 p.m. in Room 5209. There is still space available for more interested students to spend a semester in Australia.

Come and check out what all the excitement is about.

Choose from many courses to study while exploring the area and meeting great people. For more info call Cynthia Katona at (510) 659-6226.

19 Transfer Event: CSU East Bay-- Meet with representative Donna Strobel between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.

For more information and to make an appointment visit the counseling window in Building 1 or call (510) 659-6110.

19 Spring Health Fair -10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Building 1 lobby. Health screenings provided by Washington Hospital, fitness testing

by Ohlone’s Wellness & Athletics, and community health information. This event is free.

20-22 Spring Dance Production: Literally Dancing -- 8 p.m. in the Jackson

Theatre on April 20, 21 and 22. There is also a show at 2 p.m. April 22.

This show has four suites, each representing a form of literature. Tickets are $10 for students, $12 for adults. They are available at the box office.

21 Brown Bag Seminar: Personalized Medicine and Stem Cells -- 1 to 2 p.m. in Room 3201. This is a program sponsored by the Math, Science and Technology Division. The purpose is to stimulate interest in topics, trends, and careers in science. This event is free.

p.m. in Parking lot E. $2 parking fee.

CLASSIFIEDS WEARE HIRING Teachers and Aides for Preschool Centers. Our locations are in Fremont, Hayward, Livermore, Newark and Union City. For more information please call Arlein @ 866-994-7823 or fax your resume to 650-994-7825 or e-mail it to calstaff@sbcglobal.net.

April 13, 2006 monitor

7

FREE Satellite TV System FREE installation. Get up to 4 receivers with remotes for up to 4 TVs. Over 300 channels available. For more information, call 800-7847694. Please mention the special promotion code: A33496003 Business For SALE Need an extra $36,000.00 a year? Vending business for sale. Sell $5,000. Call 800568-7346 or visit vendingfriends.com.

21 Earth Day Litter Pick Up -- 2 to 5 p.m. The gathering spot is the upper level quad. The purpose is to reinforce that controlling litter on campus is the responsibility of everyone, to assist clean up and increase awareness of recycling.

This event is free.

21 Tuba Ensemble Concert -- 7:30 p.m., at the CSUEB music building at 25800 Carlos Bee Blvd., Hayward. The Ohlone Tuba Ensemble is over 20 strong and performs all styles of music. Call (510) 885-3167. Event is free.

22 The Great Garage Sale Blast -- 8 a.m. to 2

18 . Free and Anonymous HIV testing -- 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Health Center in Building 16. For more information call (510) 659-6258 18 Gay/Straight Alliance Club-- In the Smith Center, Room SC-116, from 3 to 4 p.m. A student club for gay/straight/bi/or curious students who meet to talk,

Read the Monitor Online at http://ohlone.edu/org/monitor

The Monitor invites your comments. Letters should be 250 words or less and include your name and relationship to Ohlone. Letters become property of The Monitor and may be edited for spelling and length. Campus Events listings are free for college-related events.

To have your event added or to place an ad, contact Danelle Meyer at (510) 659-6075 or e-mail monitorads@ohlone.edu

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Page 8

Softball makes final push to postseason Sun is shining through the clouds for Runyon and the Lady Renegades

By Naomi Balagot Staff writer As the Ohlone Women’s softball team approaches a nearing end to their season, Head Coach Donna Runyon’s biggest obstacle is the unexpected rainy weather.

In all of her eighteen years of coaching at Ohlone, this year’s softball schedule has been the most adjusted schedule ever, as Runyon’s players adjust to the demanding school schedule of their once-a-week required Study Hall and homework to further accomodate to rescheduled games despite the inclement weather.

“Everything is routine and so far this has been the most un-routine season,” said Runyon, who has won over 600 games in her coaching career.

Nine out of Runyon’s thirteen players are freshmen, so playing games on the road and in tournaments are valuable experiences for the returning freshmen going into next year’s season.

“Every freshman has contributed, whether it’s a hit, a defensive play, or sitting the bench. All of them have been successful,” said Runyon.

Pitching and Assistant Coach Dave Villegas has contributed to the success of Ohlone pitchers Tiffany Chan and Isabel Ramos. Along with catchers Meredith Ang and Liz Wagner, these freshmen continue to

dominate on the field.

“The pitchers and catchers have great competition among themselves...and they support each other, which contributes to becoming successful,” said Runyon. “Both pitchers have done an excellent job and I’m excited to have them return next year.

I believe that they will throw harder next year.”

So far, sophomore stand-out Missy Cross has so far been accepted to Chico State University and Sacramento State University. CSU Northridge has contacted Cross for further recruitment as well. This weekend she will go to Eastern Kentucky University on a recruiting trip.

Fellow sophomore Ashley Marra has recently been accepted to UC Berkeley.

Both Cross and Marra look to further pursue their softball careers at the NCAA level.

Sophomore team captains Cross and Marra truly lead by example showing strong compassion and loyalty towards the Renegade Softball program.

“I always look for sophomore leadership, but even the freshmen have led by example. Leadership comes from more than one person, and leading by example pushes yourself to be better,” said Runyon.

With play-offs just around the corner, Runyon has high hopes of finishing the season strong, the Lady Renegades look to win their fourth league title.

“Once you make play-offs, it becomes a difficult season.

It’s a season within a season and you hope your team is peaking at the right time, as you take one game at a time,” said Runyon.

Runyon looks to make one more final push to the playoffs tomorrow as she and her team take De Anza College, weather permitting.

If and after the De Anza game takes place, the ladies will have their final home game against the City College of San Francisco.

Ohlone will then finish up the season, on the road against rival Chabot College and then the College of San Mateo.

Currently the Lady Renegades hold an overall record of 19-9-1 with conference of 12-2.

Rain pushes Renegades off the diamond

By Rahul Batra Staff writer No news is no news for the Ohlone baseball team. No one ever expected March - let alone April - to be a month full of cold, bitter weather, rain after rain after rain and nearly five consecutive nights with freezing temperatures.

Our Renegades have yet again had to endure another delay owing to rain that postponed their game against De Anza College.

Tuesday’s game was supposed to be played at 2:30 p.m. Then it got postponed to Wednesday at 2:30 p.m.

Because of the bad condition of the baseball field, the game is now being played today at Skyline College at 2:30 p.m., on what should be a rain-free day.

No one expected all this rain to continue this far into 2006.

Many people are frustrated and can’t wait for the sun to show up for at least two days. The Renegades are also feeling a little

frustrated.

Practices have been moved from the baseball field to other locations including the gym and the tennis courts. These locations allow for only a limited type of practice. The team couldn’t practice the simple fundamentals of the game like sliding, hitting and catching fly balls.

However, the they are dealing with it and do their best to work with what they’ve got.

“Things have been a little difficult,” Ohlone Manager Paul Moore said. “Everybody is showing up for practices and getting through the bad weather each day at a time.”

The season so far for the Renegades has not been a disappointment. Their current record is 1712-2. Their league record is also promising. It’s amazing that with this hectic month of bad weather, soggy fields and shifting schedules, the Renegades have been displaying solid pitching, tremendous defense and fist-punching offense to win key games.

With the bad weather continuing to put Fremont into a submission

The following is from a piece I wrote at the end of last semester entitled, Hey Warriors, come out and play: “The Warriors, our Golden State Warriors are the real deal this year.”

Well, you can’t win them all.

Normally, people blame the team for blowing their predictions, but I’m not most people. I am willing to own up to the fact that my prediction failed to be true. The Warriors aren’t what I said they would be this season.

Plenty of things went wrong this year after the Warriors’ hot start. The biggest problem Golden State faced this year was the health of superstar guard, Baron Davis. Davis started out the year strong, averaging 19.5 points and 9.4 assists per game.

Everything was looking good. He was named the player of the week for the week of Dec. 4 through 10.

In that week he led the Warriors on a five-game win streak while averaging 21 points and 13 assists. Then the All-Star break came and with it the usual Davis routine. An injury. A sprained ankle that has kept him out of the lineup since March 11!

No offense, but a sprained ankle doesn’t take more than a month to heal. Something there is a little too fishy. You have to suck it up man, other players are out there playing with sore knees, broken fingers and bruised ribs and you’re crying over an ankle sprain. You’re being paid to play a game that people all over

The Ohlone baseball team has fallen victim to the virtually non-stop rainfall in the Bay Area. The field is covered with puddles, like this one near second base. Photo by Ross Tsvetanov and with bad field conditions, look for more cancellations and postponed games in the near future. It takes a toll on players when they have to play “home” games in other ball parks, especially in rival territory.

However, it takes a mentally

tough team to not let all of this bad weather have a negative effect. The Renegades have shown this mental toughness all season long. From watching practices, speaking with coaches and players, it seems that they not only have the mental tough-

ness, but the energy and capability of sticking through the impromptu schedule changes, indoor practices and terrible weather conditions.

The results for the game against De Anza College were unknown as of press time.

show life. Mike Dunleavy just started to show what he can really do. Dating back as far as the beginning of March, the Duke alum has averaged almost 14 points a game. Albeit the Warriors have lost the last nine games, but that’s still an upgrade from Dunleavy’s previous years.

The center position still remains a problem. Adonal Foyle had his little moments this season, but they were exactly that, little moments. In order for the Warriors to become a legitimate playoff contender they have to establish a strong inside game. We all know the Warriors love to shoot from the land of threes but when you miss as many as they do, they need a solid rebounder. When they finally realize

that Foyle isn’t the way to go they might actually go somewhere.

Talks around the league have Minnesota departing with Kevin Garnett come the off-season. He would be a great pick-up for the Warriors, they can give up Foyle, Derek Fisher and a draft pick for the former MVP. There you go, two birds with one stone, you get rid of Foyle and the overrated Fisher for a 6’11” monster who has averaged a double-double in points and rebounds for his career.

Oh well, if that doesn’t fall through the Warriors can always cross their fingers they’ll win the lottery pick for the upcoming draft.

Can anyone say “Joakim Noah?”

Just like the Warriors, we can’t win them all Swing away

By Nick Zambrano Sports editor the world.

But I digress Chris Mullin brought Davis in to help make the other players on the team better.

I don’t know if it was that Davis wasn’t leading on the court or the kids not wanting to learn, but that idea failed miserably.

It wasn’t until Davis went on the injured reserve that the kids started to