INSIDE
Eating healthy on a budget Should you google people? Will basketball win on leap day?
SMU’s alum wins Oscar
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WEDNESDAY
FEBRUARY 29, 2012
Wednesday High 55, Low 38 Thursday High 71, Low 50
VOLUME 96 ISSUE 66 FIRST COPY FREE, ADDITIONAL COPIES 50 CENTS
Culture
Islamic Awareness Week kicks off with interfaith discussion panel BRIDGET BENNETT Contributing Writer brekow@smu.edu
SPENCER J EGGERS/The Daily Campus
Lauren Lyngstad (above) and Caroline Baliker’s birthday falls on Feb. 29 meaning that after 20 years, she technically turns 5 years old on Wednesday — Leap Day.
Two leaping ladies, one extra day SARAH KRAMER Editor in Chief skramer@smu.edu Lauren Lyngstad is a Leap Day baby. According to her birth certificate, she is turning 5 years old Wednesday. In reality, she’s celebrating her 20th year. As an event that only comes once every four years, and doesn’t involve politics or the Olympic games, Lyngstad has the perfect excuse to honor her birthday for multiple days, especially when the year is one day longer. “I think that when your birthday only comes around once every four years, you have an excuse to celebrate extravagantly to make up for the three years I technically didn't have a birthday,” she said.
When she was born in 1992, Lyngstad’s parents decided to make her official birthday March 1. While she knew she was born on Feb. 29, she was confused why her actual birthday wasn’t on the calendar ... Or, only appeared every four years. “When I was younger my mom would write the 29th in on the calendar on years it didn’t exist just to make me feel better,” she said. “It’s hard to grasp the concept that your real birthday only comes every four years when you’re young.” Unlike Lyngstad, sophomore Caroline Baliker celebrates her birthday on Feb. 28 on non-leap years and both Feb. 28 and Feb. 29 the other three years. Baliker always knew her birthday was the last day of February, but it wasn’t until her fourth birthday
that she found out the date on her birth certificate, and later driver’s license, only falls once every four years. “I figured out that my birthday only came every four years when boys in my kindergarten class told me that I didn’t have a birthday that year and made me cry,” she said. “My parents told me I would appreciate it later in life and ever since then I have loved it.” Though their birthday caused some confusion when they were younger, today, both girls embrace being born on a special day. “I love being born on leap day because no one ever forgets,” Baliker said. For Lyngstad, saying she’s born on Leap Day is always her fun fact.
While many people believe that meeting someone born on Feb. 29 is rare, both girls graduated high school with at least one other person sharing their birthday. I graduated from high school with three other people who shared my birthday,” Lyngstad said. “My class was about 250 people so it was actually kind of crazy.” Because they can only truly celebrate once every four years, both girls plan on honoring the day regardless of how old they are turning ... in leap years, or real years. “I’m definitely going to have to celebrate my leap year age on certain occasions when I’m older,” Lyngstad said. “When I turn 21 in leap years I’ll technically be 84, so that’s one I hope I celebrate properly.”
GLOBAL
Experts talk North Korea, hope for change RAHFIN FARUK News Editor rfaruk@smu.edu The Korean Peninsula is a region of contradictions. After the peninsula was split into the areas that currently make up North and South Korea in 1945, the nation-states have moved in two different directions. A panel composed of Dr. Hiroki Takeuchi, a SMU assistant professor, Chong Choe, the chair of the Korean American Coalition and Brian Park of the National Advisory Council discussed the past, present and future of the Korean Peninsula on Tuesday. After the split, South Korea became one of the world’s greatest economic powers while North Korea became a totalitarian state with a monumental food crisis. “Koreans were the same people for more than 5000 years. They speak the same language and shared the same culture,” Park said. With the rise of communism in North Korea and further militarization under Kim Jong-Il, the nation became especially important to world affairs. “The issue of nuclear development in North Korea is the most troubling,” Takeuchi said. “While the rise of China and the Taiwan Strait issue are on balance because of a strong economic relationship, North Korea is crucial to the future of East Asia.” Under Kim Jong-Il, North Korea developed nuclear weapons. Since then, the country has continuously
agitated its neighbor to the south. A South Korean island was attacked by the Kim Jong-Il regime on Nov. 23, 2010. The event marked one of the heaviest attacks on South Korea since the Korean War ended in 1953. With Kim-Jong Il’s death earlier this year, the reins of the nation have been put in the hands of Kin Jong-Un. Many experts hope that Un will bring a change to his country by allowing for free market reforms and international dialogue. “Some believe that Un is willing to reach out to the foreign community but very little is known about him,” Choe said. However, Takeuchi warned that more emphasis should be put on individuals other than the leader. “What a leader can do is quite limited. Officials in government wield large amounts of power and they are very good at the tasks they are given,” he said. “And the military holds a lot of importance in North Korea.” He also alluded to a possible post-famine shift in North Korea’s economic system. “After failed reform and a famine in China, there was an opening up of special economic zones and the country began to understand the importance of market economy,” he said. Panelists stressed the humanitarian need in the northern half of the peninsula. “It is very difficult to portray how horrible it is to live there,” Choe said. “There is a system of espionage
Balance and moderation — that was the main topic of Islamic Awareness Week’s interfaith discussion panel Monday night. Dozens of students gathered in the Hughes-Trigg commons to hear from religious leaders of Islam, Judaism and Christianity. Amar Zeynu, a junior mechanical engineering student and executive board member of the Muslim Student Association, said the event was held to encourage conversation among people of all faiths. “It’s for us to get together, learn about each other, ask questions and clarify anything you want to know about the other faiths,” Zeynu said. A common theme could be found in the responses on balance and moderation. Each religious leader discussed how the essential truths of their religions stress the importance of balance and moderation. However, they all spoke of extremists within their religions whose actions go against the core values of their faiths. “Balance and moderation is a challenge,” Rabbi David Gruber said, describing extremist behavior he witnessed by some Jewish people in Israel. Abdul Nasir Jangda, an Islamic Imam, said Muhammad teaches his followers to, “be very careful about being extreme in your religion.” Campus Pastor Jerret Sykes said some Christians are extreme in their hate and judgment of others. However, he says the Bible teaches, “to be extreme in how
you pursue love.” Zahra Khan, a sophomore marketing and English major, said she learned a lot about the spectrum of views within each religion. “The fact that there are so many different points of view was really interesting to me,” she said. Dr. Robert Hunt, the evening’s moderator and director of Global Theological Education at SMU, posed the next question about how modesty relates to moderation. Again, the three religious leaders shared a similar response of an overall presence of modesty — in appearance and in spirit — as a key aspect of their religions. Next, audience members submitted questions with topics ranging from women’s roles within each religion to the central hope of each faith. The responses to many of the audiences’ questions revealed some of the key differences across the three religions. Khan said she believes it is important to understand these differences. “To get along with other people, you need to understand their religion and where they are coming from,” she said. Zeynu said that is what Islamic Awareness Week is all about. “The reason that we do this is because a lot of people really don’t know what Muslims believe and they don’t know what Islam stands for,” he said. This interfaith discussion was the first of many events that will be held this week. Other topics that will be addressed are Islam and art, Islam and the environment and Islam and the media.
TECHNOLOGY
Apple to release next generation iPad STEPHANIE BROWN News Director stephanieb@smu.edu
SIDNEY HOLLINGSWORTH/The Daily Campus
Dr. Hiroki Takeuchi, a SMU assistant professor, discusses the future of the Korean peninsula during a panel discussion Tuesday night.
where you are told to spy on your neighbor and you cannot disrespect the leader in anyway.” North Korean citizens have been put in work camps — effectively known as death prisons by the academic community — for folding a newspaper on the face of any leader. “When I visited the country, I only got to see the absolutely perfect part of the country,” Choe said. “Even when I was at a fancy restaurant, one of the few in North Korea, it was hard to eat when you knew people around you were starving.” South Korea has often tried to aid its northern neighbor through economic policies. The Sunshine Policy, which was effective from 1997 to 2008, provided North Korea with food assistance with a combination of help from the government, the private sector and
non-governmental organizations. “But, the policy has been criticized because it might have saved the Kim Jong-Il regime from collapse and a social revolution that might have followed,” Park said. All the experts hinted at the possibility of reunification — a possibility that might occur in the next decade under the correct conditions. “Unification will definitely come true,” Park said. “Once North Koreans experience the world and its true shape, there will be real change.” While there are great hurdles to reunification, the hope of a united Korean peninsula touched Korean students in the audience. “I hope that this happens one day for my country. I hope the experts are right, “ Kang Park, a local high school student, said.
It’s official — Apple official. Apple sent out invitations Tuesday that read, “We have something you really want to see and touch.” Despite rumors of the event being held in New York City, this clever riddle reveals that Apple will debut the next generation iPad on March 7 in San Francisco. The event will take place at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. “I am so excited to see what the new iPad 3 looks like and what new additions it will have,” sophomore Nicole Matthews said. “I wasn’t expecting it to come out so soon.” Much speculation has generated about the next iPad as usually occurs for any new Apple product ensues whenever Apple is to release a new product. Some assumptions include features, pricing and even the name.
Apple has continuously proven that it will undoubtedly have some major surprises for its consumers — as it did when it released the new iPhone 4 S. “There are so many rumors about any Apple product before it comes out that it’s almost obnoxious to even try to preempt their events or describe their products,” senior Rob Burns said. What is certain about the next generation iPad is that it will be powered by a quadcore CPU and host 4G LTE data connectivity. In non-tech geek terms, the 4g LTE data connectivity will allow the iPad to run ten times faster as the current iPad 1 and 2 running on 3G. The quad-core CPU allows less of a delay when running the different applications, particularly video or gaming applications. Until March 7, speculations will run rampant about the new iPad. Who knows, maybe it will be called the iPad 2 S? After all, Apple remains a mystery.