A&E| PAGE 5 Superbad star gets good
SPORTS| PAGE 3 SMU to play Memphis Saturday
VOLUME 97, ISSUE 16
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What the truck? By KATLIN SMITH Contributing Writer kmsmith@smu.edu
A SIDE OF NEWS
World economy falls The U.S. stock market took another major hit on Thursday as the world economy worsened. The Dow Jones, Nasdaq and Standard & Poor’s dropped by more than 4 percent. European and Asian stocks went down by nearly 5 percent. Global commodities markets also worsened, including the gold’s value, which went down by 4 percent. Analysts predict that China’s growth will continue to slow.
Texas ends last meals The Texas prison system abolished the practice of letting Death Row inmates choose their last meal Thursday. The inmates will now receive the same meal as their fellow prisoners. The final straw was apparently when Texas inmate Lawrence Russell Brewer ordered an elaborate meal consisting included a triple-meat bacon cheeseburger, a meat-lover’s pizza, a big bowl of okra with ketchup, a pound of barbecue, a half a loaf of bread, peanut butter fudge, a pint of ice cream and two chicken-fried steaks Wednesday night.
Satellite hurls to earth The immolated UARS climate satellite has been predicted to hit the earth on or around Sept. 24, somewhere between 57 degrees north and 57 degrees south of the equator. There is a 1-in-3200 chance of the satellite killing a person. The satellite can be seen rotating as it heads toward earth. By the time it hits the earth, most of it will have broken up and burned up upon entering the atmosphere.
Palestine asks for statehood Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will formally ask the U.N. Security Council to recognize Palestine as a full member on Friday, despite President Obama’s threat to veto. Obama believes the best way for Palestine to achieve statehood is through negotiations with Israel, not to demand “statements and resolutions at the United Nations.” The Palestinian News Agency quotes Abbas, saying that Palestine doesn’t believe U.N.’s blessings will prevent peace negotiations with Israel.
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Have you spotted a pig pitching grilled cheese sandwiches from a truck lately? You are not seeing things — creative dining is catching on in Dallas in the form of gourmet food trucks. This trend started on both coasts in Los Angeles and New York and has arrived in Dallas. Stephanie Hawkes, Dallas food truck fan and creator of the blog dfwfoodtruckfoodie.com, explained that this new fad is catching on, and food trucks have to keep a competitive edge. They are doing so by offering flavorful, diverse food in interesting ways. “Everyone is trying to do something unusual,” Hawkes said. “There’s not a lot of just American hamburgers and hot dogs anymore. Everything is becoming more specialized.” Hawkes, who started her food truck research in July, has seen her fair share of trucks. Since she started following food trucks, Hawkes said the numbers of trucks in Dallas has grown due to their popularity and an improved permitting process. With a base of approximately 30 trucks rolling on the streets today, that number is expected to increase by as much as six in the next month. One of Hawkes favorite trucks is Nammi, known for their Vietnamese fusion cuisine. “I love their food and people that run it,” Hawkes said. One of the popular trucks Hawkes has visited is Ruthie’s Rolling Cafe Known for their gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches, this truck is growing in popularity, especially within the SMU community. “We are trying to work something out with SMU,” Ashlee Kleinert, owner of Ruthies, said. For now, students can find the
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truck during boulevarding hours at the Bank of Texas, located next to campus across Hillcrest. They also have an agreement with SMU student weekend hotspots Barley House and Twisted Root Burger Company. “(Ruthie’s Rolling Cafe) parks in the bars’ parking lots, and as long as we don’t sell drinks…then they are allowing students to buy grilled cheese (sandwiches) from us and eat it inside the bars,” Kleinert said. Kleinert started the food truck before the improved mobile food permitting process. It took her several tries and an extended period of time to receive a permit, but now the truck can sell their gourmet sandwiches all over the city. Kleinert said that food trucks have established their own local community of sorts, helping each other with the permitting process or finding mechanics to fix
trucks. “It is such a supportive group,” she said. Trucks that have started more recently have received help from city officials throughout the process. The 3 Men and a Taco food truck recently received a permit and the owners were impressed with the guidance and support from the city. “(Dallas City Hall) sent someone to help us,” owner of 3 Men and a Taco Olivia Risner said. “They were really helpful through the whole process.” One of the unique aspects of food truck dining is locating your favorite trucks. Most trucks use their Twitter and Facebook accounts to let their followers know where they are going to be.
By RAHFIN FARUK Contributing Writer rfaruk@smu.edu
The Innovation Competition, a joint venture sponsored by the Caruth Institute for Engineering Education and CARR Intellectual Property Law, hosted its introductory meeting on Wednesday. Open to all students — artists, engineers, linguists and scientists alike — the competition is a campuswide event designed to tap student vision and talent. Nathan Huntoon, the campus coordinator for the competition, said, “This whole thing got started based on the belief that you all have better ideas than the old guys in the room.” Student innovators have had success in tackling problems that corporations and professionals have ignored. Last year, students at Rice University designed a twenty-dollar centrifuge that can be used in thirdworld countries. However, Huntoon stressed that the project is about innovation instead of economics. “This is not a business planning
competition. I am looking for creative ideas over ideas that can just make money,” he said. For non-engineering majors, the project will be an opportunity for interdisciplinary exploration. In previous years, students from Cox, Dedman and Meadows have submitted proposals. ”My job as an engineer is to bring ideas to life,” he said. “We want to connect non-majors to people who can help you bring your ideas to life.” Creativity is the driving force behind the competition. Inspired by the United States Constitution and its protection of new sciences, the competition stresses ingenuity. “Ideas deserve to be done because they are neat and unique,”Huntoon said. “We just should.” For students in attendance, the presentation sparked thoughts of discovery and fame. “This is the key to the future,” Ridwan Haseeb, visiting student, said. “This is how great scientists and inventors of our time started off. With a simple idea and encouragement.”
State Fair comes to ROFC
SIDNEY HOLLINGSWORTH/The Daily Campus
Sophomore Elisa Farrell and Junior Christian Genco pose for a caricature artist at the State Fair theme night at Umphrey Lee dining hall Thursday.
Execution bigger than just Troy Davis By ASHLEY WITHERS Editor in Chief awithers@smu.edu
Troy Davis was executed late Wednesday night after one of the most contested and controversial death-penalty cases in the country’s history. The SMU and local community held a vigil in protest of his execution and to honor Davis’ life. “I was very glad we had a vigil here last night for Troy Davis,” Dr. Rick Halperin, the director of SMU’s human rights program, said. “I wish we would have one every night that someone in this country is executed.” However, Halperin believes that the Troy Davis case was outrageous on more levels that just his potential innocence. “The media consumption with the Troy Davis case was equally outrageous,” Halperin said. “Don’t
get me wrong it merited a great deal of attention, but I bemoan the fact that there was another execution here in Texas last night that received no attention at all.” Lawrence Brewer, a white supremacist, was executed Wednesday night in Texas for the dragging death of James Byrd Jr., a black man, in 1998. According to Halperin, Ross Byrd, James’ son, had forgiven Brewer and protested his execution. “Where was the media on that case?” Halperin said. “This was a story about forgiveness, compassion and redemption and the murder was equally as horrific.” Another execution took place Thursday night in Alabama. Derrick Mason was accused of shooting 25-year-old Angela Cagle in the face during an early morning robbery. “It’s not right to out one case the way the media did on Troy Davis,”
Halperin said. “Every case needs media attention.” To Halperin, these cases are also a measure of the value of human life in America. “There were a million signatures garnered across the world last night to stop the execution of Troy Davis,” Halperin said. “He has the same value as a human being as Mr. Mason, Mr. Brewer and everyone else condemned or not. Where are the million signatures for Mr. Mason?” Halperin also believes these executions are a reflection of the darkness of our country. He thinks that continuing the death penalty will lead to further immoral and criminal government behavior. “The system failed Mr. Davis and it failed this country,” Halperin said. “It will fail Mr. Mason tonight [Thursday] and it will fail this country again.”
Associated Press
About 500 marchers walk past the historic Big Bethel church on Auburn Avenue in support of Georgia death row inmate Troy Davis, in Atlanta, on Sept. 16, 2011.
Facebook changes spark online complaints By STEPHANIE BROWN Staff Writer stephanieb@smu.edu
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Greenhouse Truck serves lunch one afternoon on Preston Road in the DeBoulle’s jewelry store parking lot.
Contest promotes creativity
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FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2011
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Associated Press
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerbergspeaks at a news conference Thursday.
Zuckerburg is at it again. Whether you’re a fan of change or not, it’s coming quickly to the social media giant, Facebook. At their annual developer conference, F8, held Thursday, founder Mark Zuckerburg discussed the new features Facebook intends to roll out. The conference lasted two hours detailing crucial changes that will affect users. The first new change that has already been implemented is the
new profile design that includes a new version of the news feed and a new Twitter-like ticker. The news feed aggregates your “friend’s” activities like it did in the past, only now it focuses primarily on events and photo sharing. Also, it aggregates friend activity that it thinks you would be interested in viewing, followed by a section detailing recent friend activity. In discussing this particular change, many Facebook users are not too happy with this change. “I feel like it’s a good idea, but it’s also a bit chaotic,” Amanda Cox, SMU junior, said. “It will just
take some time to get used to the new features.” Another change Facebook plans to introduce is the allowance of websites and app-makers to contribute content that can be viewed and shared on their platform. This may be one of the most controversial new changes Facebook plans to include. They are working with Netflix and Hulu to work to stream video content that you can share and watch movies or shows with your friends. As if they were getting too carried away, Facebook plans to
launch their own version of Internet radio as they are partnering with Spotify and Rhapsody, among others, to allow users to listen and share music. Facebook plans to commence these changes in a progressive fashion that they have not yet released. The release of the official timeline of these new changes is sometime next week. So for now, users should start acquainting themselves with the new layout and stay tuned for more changes to come.