Wednesday, October 10, 2012 - The Daily Cardinal by The Daily Cardinal

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Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Student leaders aim to rebrand activity center By Cheyenne Langkamp The Daily Cardinal

A student government subcommittee met Tuesday to discuss possible changes to the Student Activity Center. The Student Activity Center Governing Board, an Associated Students of Madison committee, has the responsibility of allocating space and determining policies for student organizations that use the center. According to SAC GB Chair Katie Cary, board members feel the building is currently used as a “quasi-library” rather than a community space for student organizations, as was intended upon the building’s creation through an ASM internship project more than ten years ago. “They came up with this building plan and the idea was there were going to be these student organization offices in these

cubby, garage-style offices, with ‘living room space’ where student orgs would come and collaborate with each other,” Cary said. In the meeting, members discussed possible changes to the current atmosphere at the SAC, ranging from alternative furniture arrangements to a café serving coffee, snacks and sandwiches. Cary said she hopes this project will allow the space to better serve its original purpose of showcasing student organizations, as well as create “an atmosphere that is similar to the union.” The board hopes to create a concrete plan over the course of the semester by laying out specific initiatives for the future of the building. “It’s something where we want to make sure we’re kind of tying the hands of future boards to take this on so that it doesn’t just get dropped off,” Cary said.

Ex-Walker aide to appear at plea hearing Thursday By Tyler Nickerson The Daily Cardinal

A former chief of staff under former Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker is scheduled for a plea hearing Thursday related to charges alleging she made illegal campaign calls while on public time, bringing the ongoing John Doe investigation one step closer to its culmination. Kelly Rindfleisch is scheduled to meet with Assistant District Attorney Bruce Landgraf in

Milwaukee, according to online court records, and would be the second former Walker aide charged. Rindfleisch faces four felony charges for misconduct in public office. If she enters a guilty plea, Walker, who was on a list of possible prosecution witnesses, would not have to testify at the trial. The prosecution alleges Rindfleisch and Darlene Wink,

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Graphic by Dylan Moriarty

Freshman enrollment rates have fluctuated over recent years, reaching a peak in 2012 and a minimum in 2002. UW-Madison Provost Paul DeLuca said the increase is a “good sign.”

Freshman enrollment reaches historic level By Sam Cusick The Daily Cardinal

Official enrollment data released by the University of Wisconsin-Madison revealed an increase in overall enrollment, making the 2012-13 freshman class the largest in the school’s history. The data showed there were large increases in out-of-state as well as in-state residents. UW-Madison Provost Paul DeLuca said the overall increase could be attributed to the university’s worldwide reputation for high quality education and student experience on campus. “It’s always encouraging to see increased pressure on people wanting to come here,” DeLuca said. “I think that’s a result of the quality of what we’re doing and the experience the students have when they’re here.” While most of the UW system is experiencing declines

in enrollment, the fact that UW-Madison is increasing is a “good sign” for future of the university, DeLuca said. Some of the increase was intentional, according to DeLuca, through efforts put in place by the Madison Initiatives for Undergraduates, which uses an extra tuition charge to increase the quality of undergraduate experience.

But DeLuca said the increase was higher than the university’s models predicted. The data also revealed all 72 counties in Wisconsin and 48 states in the nation are represented on campus. Additionally, 35 countries have representatives on campus and international students have climbed to ten percent of the student population.

Out-of-state students over limit Due to increased enrollment rates for the 2012-13 academic year, the University of Wisconsin-Madison surpassed the Board of Regents’ limit on the proportion of out-of-state students allowed to attend the university. The current percentage of outof-state students on campus is at 25.8 percent, which is a “slight drift” over the 25 percent Regent limit, according to UW-Madison

Provost Paul DeLuca. DeLuca said the university will discuss the increase with the regents to find a solution. A three-year rolling average of 25 percent out-of-state students may work better than the current system, according to DeLuca, as it would give UW-Madison the chance to adjust after any changes in enrollment. sAM cuSICK

UW releases report on impact of undergraduate initiative By Cheyenne Langkamp The Daily Cardinal

ON CAMPUS

‘Define American’

Journalist Jose Vargas speaks at the Pyle Center Tuesday about his unique American identity. + Photo by Aevyrie Roessler

The University of WisconsinMadison released a report Tuesday detailing the status of the Madison Initiative for Undergraduates, a program with the goal of increasing the quality, efficiency and affordability of the university. The program, created by former Chancellor Biddy Martin and approved by the UW System Board of Regents in April 2009, aims to provide need-based financial aid and improvements to undergraduate education through new funding provided by “differential tuition,” or costs added to the base level of

tuition to create supplemental services and programs for students. The program was funded by an increase in tuition of $250 per year for in-state undergraduate students and $750 per year for outof-state undergraduate students from fall 2009 to fall 2012. According to the report, the funds have created 54 new improvements to undergraduate education through additional faculty, academic staff and teaching assistant positions over a multitude of departments. Sundar Sharma, an undergraduate student representative on the MIU Oversight Committee,

said MIU funding helped the Department of Chemistry acquire more teaching assistants, giving students more options for chemistry classes and discussion sections. “In general, all the things we’ve been able to do using MIU tuition differential money have been great,” Sharma said. “I think that the overall impact on campus has been phenomenal and it’s measurable and that’s the one thing that you can see in the report.” The report said half of the MIU funds created additional need-based financial aid resources for thousands of undergraduate students.

“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”

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Today: partly sunny hi 52º / lo 37º

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

get informed about the presidential election.

Volume 122, Issue 29

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Voting for the next president Nov. 6 will be the most important decision you will make that day. Here’s how to best know the candidates, frontward and backward.

Read books about American politics because all political authors know more than you.

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Tune in to the debates.

Join College Republicans and College Democrats to be in as many loops as possible.

Business and Advertising business@dailycardinal.com Business Manager Emily Rosenbaum Advertising Manager Nick Bruno Senior Account Executives Jade Likely • Philip Aciman Account Executives Dennis Lee • Chelsea Chrouser Emily Coleman • Joy Shin Erin Aubrey • Zach Kelly Web Director Eric Harris Public Relations Manager Alexis Vargas Marketing Manager Becky Tucci Events Manager Andrew Straus Creative Director Claire Silverstein Copywriters Dustin Bui • Bob Sixsmith The Daily Cardinal is a nonprofit organization run by its staff members and elected editors. It receives no funds from the university. Operating revenue is generated from advertising and subscription sales. The Daily Cardinal is published weekdays and distributed at the University of WisconsinMadison and its surrounding community with a circulation of 10,000. Capital Newspapers, Inc. is the Cardinal’s printer. The Daily Cardinal is printed on recycled paper. The Cardinal is a member of the Associated Collegiate Press and the Wisconsin Newspaper Association. All copy, photographs and graphics appearing in The Daily Cardinal are the sole property of the Cardinal and may not be reproduced without written permission of the editor in chief. The Daily Cardinal accepts advertising representing a wide range of views. This acceptance does not imply agreement with the views expressed. The Cardinal reserves the right to reject advertisements judged offensive based on imagery, wording or both. Complaints: News and editorial complaints should be presented to the editor in chief. Business and advertising complaints should be presented to the business manager. Letters Policy: Letters must be word processed and must include contact information. No anonymous letters will be printed. All letters to the editor will be printed at the discretion of The Daily Cardinal. Letters may be sent to opinion@ dailycardinal.com.

Editorial Board

For the record Yesterday’s article on the city’s operating budget incorrectly stated Mayor Paul Soglin miscalculated the amoung of federal and state aid the city will receive in 2013. The additional funds are a result of adjustments in state aid. We regret the error.

Corrections or clarifications? Call The Daily Cardinal office at 608-262-8000 or send an e-mail to edit@dailycardinal.com.

And I think to myself, what a not so sucky world Zac Pestine zac attack

bout a year ago, “South Park” ran an episode in which Stan, one of the program’s protagonists, fell into a depression because he believed that everything in the world had become “crap.” New movies were crap. New music was crap. Even updated video games were crap. Indeed, all novel cultural phenomena seemed to be manufactured by ignoramuses and designed for ignoramuses. Stan’s new attitude toward the things he used to like pushes him to see a doctor, and there he is informed that since he turned 10 years old, he has become a cynic. It is as if he emerged from a bizarro cave in Plato’s allegory, but instead of failing to describe all of the illustrious wonders that the outside world has to offer, he lacks the ability show those around him how horrible everything has become. When rewatching this episode the other day,

I realized that I too once felt this way, and I began to meditate on whether today’s entertainment options really are worse than in years past. As a hip hop-head, I believe the period from 2006-’09 was one in which most albums grew increasingly difficult to stomach. With few exceptions, Nas’ proclamation that “Hip Hop is dead” appeared valid. My pessimism was only exacerbated once Eminem, who I believe to be the greatest rapper of all time, released the subpar Relapse. Movies seemed to be growing progressively mindless and unsophisticated. I must admit, though most people reading this will not be on my side, I thought the first 30 minutes of “The Hangover” were hilarious, and the next hour was redundant, unoriginal and frankly dumb. It was as if the writers pitched the script as, “OK guys, picture Dude Where’s My Car, but with a person instead of a car, and in Vegas!” But then I came to college, and things began to get good again. Rap had undergone a renaissance, with Eminem, B.o.B., Wale, J.Cole and Kanye West all releasing albums that

mollified my anger towards the new direction of the genre. Christopher Nolan offered audiences a buffet of riveting films, including the latest “Batman” series, which left its predecessors looking rather amateur. And hell, hate him all you want, but Lebron James is as good an athlete as Michael Jordan. In the previously mentioned episode of “South Park,” Stan is left to face the fact that the world around him is constantly in flux. But for better or for worse, it has to be. If our lives aren’t regularly freshened up, we grow bored of the toys in our possession, however golden they may be. It is often difficult to embrace new generations of culture and entertainment, and some of the most heralded manifestations might actually suck. Personally, I despise house music and cannot fathom why people listen to it. But that parallels any era. We often view the past through lenses of nostalgia, but we lose sight of the fact that these lenses are sometimes skewed. Moreover, iconic and idolized pop sensations may even be better today

than in the past. With this following statement, I may draw in an overwhelming amount of hate mail, but if I may be blunt, I fully believe that Katy Perry is a better Queen of Pop than Britney Spears had been a decade before. And if you look at it this way, it took a few years in the tabloids and an affair gone awry with a backup dancer living out of his pickup truck for us to learn Britney was not innocent, but with Katy, we learned so right away with her first hit detailing her endorsement of same-sex tonsil hockey. Anyway, what I am trying to say is that great minds still exist. Though “Saturday Night Live” is objectively worse than it ever has been, the film, music, television and arts scene is as lively and stimulating as ever. People are publishing great works of fiction and nonfiction alike. Things are not all bad. And with that, I am very glad about and appreciative of two things. One, I am not the clinical cynical asshole that I thought I might have been, and two, the world does not just suck. On team world/Katy Perry? Let Zac know you agree at pestine@wisc.edu.

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news Group says panhandling ban violates free speech By Taylor Harvey The Daily Cardinal

The City of Madison could face legal action from a Wisconsin group for placing an official ban on panhandling on State Street, which the group called a violation of the First Amendment. The American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin sent a letter to Madison Mayor Paul Soglin and City Council Monday stating the group “strongly” urges reconsideration of the panhandling ban, which Council passed at its Sept. 18 meeting. ACLU Senior Staff Attorney Karyn L. Rotker said in the letter the city has no constitutional right to ban panhandling, especially if it is because “some residents and visitors might prefer not to see or hear the messages of panhandlers.” “The government does have a legitimate interest in protect-

ing citizens from intimidation and harassment,” Rotker said in the letter. “We do not object to reasonable restrictions on aggressive panhandling.” Officials had a number of city attorneys reflect and look upon the policies before the city placed the ban, according to Ald. Scott Resnick, District 8. Resnick said the city Council put forward legislation that would be protected in a legal dispute. “I very much respect the opinions of the ACLU,” Resnick said. “In this case our city attorney and our legal council have a differing opinion on the matter.” According to Resnick, the panhandling ban was “not an easy decision by any means.” “There was a committee that actually opposed the ordinance, although it eventually did support it,” Resnick said.

Xinyi Wang/the daily cardinal

Metro Transit is proposing increasing bus fare from $2 to $2.25 for 2013, but the higher rates will not affect student passes until after contracts with UW-Madison have expired.

Metro proposes fare increase Higher rates would not affect Route 80, student bus passes in 2013 By Abby Becker The Daily Cardinal

Shoaib Altaf/the daily cardinal

Vice President Joe Biden will campaign in La Crosse Friday, one day after his vice presidential debate with Paul Ryan.

Biden to visit UW-La Crosse Friday Vice President Joe Biden will make a campaign stop at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse with his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, on Friday. The visit is set to take place the day after Biden faces off against Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Janesville, in the only vice presidential debate of the race. According to an email from his campaign, Biden will be at the Cartwright Center on the UW-La Crosse campus. Doors will open at 11:30 AM. Biden last campaigned in

Wisconsin on Sept. 13 when he held a rally the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. He also addressed supporters in Green Bay earlier that month. President Barack Obama stopped in Madison last Thursday after his first debate with Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney for a campaign rally on Bascom Hill, which drew a crowd of over 30,000. The most recent statewide poll in Wisconsin shows Obama leading Romney by a margin of only two percentage points.

A proposed increase in Metro Transit bus fare will not affect student bus passes in 2013 but could potentially affect the University of WisconsinMadison’s negotiations with Metro Transit when their contracts are up for renewal. The Board of Estimates, Madison’s financial committee, continued discussion on Mayor Paul Soglin’s proposed 2013 operating budget Tuesday, hearing budget presentations

from city departments such as Metro Transit. The budget includes an increase in adult cash bus fare from $2 to $2.25, which would create an additional $686,600 in expected revenue for 2013, according to the proposed budget. It also proposes increasing adult 31-day passes from $55 to $62 and raising senior and disabled 31-day passes from $27.50 to $40. Metro Transit General Manager Chuck Kamp said the contracts with UW-Madison and UW Transportation will not be impacted immediately by the 2013 budget. “Because we have multiyear contracts with UW

Transportation and UW [Associated Students of Madison] that go...past 2013, the fares don’t impact the contract in 2013,” Kamp said. Kamp said Metro Transit also will most likely open up negotiations with UW-Madison when the contracts are up for renewal, likely in 2014. The proposed 2013 budget will not impact the free Route 80 bus many students use to travel to and from classes. “The plan is currently that [the Route 80 buses] will remain free,” Kamp said. The Transit and Parking Commission will review the fare increases at its next meeting Wednesday.

Police chief explains parade permits, special duty officers By Abby Becker The Daily Cardinal

Madison’s police chief clarified the rules Monday regarding parade permits and how the Madison Police Department handles police presence during special events. Because of cuts in the MPD’s budget, the Central district found it necessary to require organizations who host events on city property, such as parades and festivals, to pay for additional police officers, according to a statement from MPD Chief Noble Wray. A long-standing police ordinance requires street use permit applicants to pay for special duty officers to keep their

events safe, if the MPD deter“The issue is...whether or not mines extra enforcement is taxpayers should pay for the offineeded, according to Wray. cers who will monitor the situTwo groups, the Great ation or whether groups Midwest Marijuana should pay for those Harvest Festival and [special duty officers],” the Madison Area Peace DeSpain said. Coalition, applied for Wray said the policy parade permits for has not changed, and orgaOct. 6 and Oct. 7 but nizations are not required refused to pay for speto pay a fee to march and cial duty officers the exercise their rights. WRAY MPD requested moni“The MPD has done tor the event, accordnothing to hamper, ing to the statement. Both hinder or dissuade anyone groups marched on State Street from exercising their First wiithout police intervention. Amendment rights,” Wray MPD spokesperson Joel said in the statement. “We are DeSpain said the issue with the proud of our tradition of makpermit process is not one of free ing Madison a safe place for speech but of economic concerns. democracy to happen.”

Police arrest woman after group fight outside Osaka bar Madison police arrested one woman after officers arrived at a State Street bar early Sunday morning to find several women engaged in a street brawl. Two groups of women ended up in the fight after one group claimed the other group cut in front of them in line at Osaka Bar at 505 State Street, according to the report.

“Officers arrived to find several women rolling around on the sidewalk, pulling hair, throwing punches,” Madison Police Department Spokesperson Joel DeSpain said in a statement. One Madison woman suffered a bloody nose while one fled the scene upon officers’ arrival, according to DeSpain. But police said the woman

left without her purse, and officers contacted the 39-year-old by phone. “[She] said she was ‘extremely bothered’ by the fact that one of the women from the other side tried to grab the wig off her head,” DeSpain said in a statement. Police arrested one 23-yearold woman involved in the fight for disorderly conduct.

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While he has repeatedly insisted he is not a target, Walker’s involvement in and knowledge of the illegal activity has been questioned throughout the John Doe investigation. Walker’s office was just 25 feet away from Rindfleisch’s office. Democrats called on Walker to provide details about his involve-

ment in the scandal in the days leading up to his recall election June 5. “A reasonable person should have deep worries about Scott Walker’s culpability in the crimes alleged,” Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Mike Tate said in a statement June 3, hoping to connect Walker with the investigation.

the other aide who has already pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing, were part of a secret email system set up in Walker’s office that helped employees engage in campaign work while on taxpayer time.

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Wednesday, October 10, 2012

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Discovering the weight detection of the Higgs boson has changed of the universe The the future of physics research and human life Story by Nia Sathiamoorthi

n July 4, 2012, scientists working at CERN, Europe’s Center for Nuclear Research, announced the discovery of the most sought-after particle of modern science, the Higgs boson. The missing cornerstone of the Standard Model of particle physics had eluded physicists for nearly 50 years before near-conclusive evidence of its existence was discovered from experiments conducted this year. So what is a Higgs boson? To put the particle into context, we have to start from the beginning. The universe was born with the big bang about 14 billion years ago. Fractions of a second after the cosmic explosion, when the universe cooled, energy condensed into many particles. To create matter, particles had to slow down and congregate; they had to be weighted.

“This will rewrite the textbooks.”

Wesley Smith physics professor University of Wisconsin-Madison

Peter Higgs theorized there was a field that was responsible for all masses from electrons to galaxies, what we now know to be the Higgs field, in 1964. The Higgs field would permeate all space. Particles that were once zipping around at the speed of light acquired a mass in the field, slowed down and eventually formed atoms. The Higgs boson is just an excitation

photo Courtesy CERN

Simulation of an event captured by CMS in 2012 showing the characteristics expected from the decay of a Higgs boson. The Higgs boson decays into a pair of Z bosons, which both decay further. One Z boson decays into a pair of electrons, the green lines, and the other into a pair of muons, the red lines. or vibration created by the Higgs field. “A common misconception is that the Higgs field is made up of Higgs bosons,” said Wesley Smith, a professor of physics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “We have to create a Higgs boson. They are not all around us. Otherwise, why would it be so difficult to find one?” To prove the Higgs field, scientists had to find the Higgs boson. To find the particle, CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) was built. The LHC is the world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator. Two beams of protons are shot through 17-mile circular underground tunnels. They travel in opposite directions until they barrel headlong into each other causing half a billion collisions per second. The near speed-of-light velocities

Loss of arctic ice may change Wisconsin weather patterns By Kristen Andersen the daily cardinal

A new study suggests the diminishing ice cover in the arctic might be playing an important role in the weather patterns Wisconsin experiences. The ice cover in the arctic has been rapidly shrinking over the past few years. By September of this year it was at a record low, down an area about the size of Texas since the last record set in 2007. This loss of arctic ice could affect climate in the mid-latitudes, according to Steve Vavrus, a climate expert and senior scientist in the Nelson Institute Center for Climatic Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The mid-latitudes are the temperate regions of the earth, falling between the tropics and the Arctic and Antarctic regions. The warming in the arctic could slow the jet stream that normally steers weather from west to east in the midlatitudes, causing more persistent weather. It could also cause more extreme weather, as the waves in

the atmosphere become stretched. “The combination of those two, the waviness promoting more extreme weather and the greater persistence making those weather events last longer, that combination will become noticeable as heat waves, droughts, floods and cold snaps,” Vavrus said. In a paper published in the Journal of Geophysical Research Letters last spring, Vavrus and coauthor Jennifer Francis of Rutgers University speculate that based on current and future trends, the warming in the arctic could cause a change in mid-latitude weather patterns in favor of more frequent extreme conditions. Extreme weather has been occurring at a greater frequency in the past several years, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s U.S. Climate Extremes Index. Although weather trends fluctuate between years, the past several years have seen an increase

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and colder-than-outerspace temperatures in the LHC mimic the extreme conditions a trillionth of a second after the big bang. Only about one collision in a trillion will produce a Higgs boson. To make matters more difficult, the Higgs boson decays almost instantly, in a matter of nanoseconds. Scientists are then responsible for reconstructing its existence from the decayed products. Since there are so few Higgs bosons, to find particular patterns, LHC had to produce a significant amount of data. Smith played the lead role in helping CERN process all the data from CMS, one of two particle detectors charged with searching for the Higgs boson. From the initial construction of the LHC, Smith and his team had been tasked with designing and overseeing

the CMS “trigger,” a filter of sorts to remove unwanted data from the wanted. “It’s pedobytes of data. It’s a huge amount. Deciding what to keep and what to throw away is a pretty big deal,” Smith said. “Wisconsin is not just a participant. We are leading this experiment.” UW-Madison professor of physics Sau Lan Wu, who played a significant part deciphering the data from ATLAS, the other particle detector looking for the Higgs boson, said it best. “We had one million billion collisions with four and quarter billion events,” Wu said. “In those events, 240,000 Higgs particles were produced. We were able to observe 350 Higgs events. From those events, we discovered eight cases with similar decayed particles.” The data from CMS and ATLAS were published together with a standard deviation of five-sigma, meaning there is a 0.00006 percent chance that their matching data was purely coincidental. But since when is the word “god” in the science language? A PR stunt pulled by a physicist’s book publishers coined the new nickname for the Higgs boson— the god particle. “Saying the Higgs boson is more important than another undiscovered particle is not right,” said fifth-year math and physics major Alex Plunkett. “Why not call the electron the god particle? After the big bang, there would have been nothing without the electron. But if it provided the initial spark for people to start reading into the field of particle physics, then I think it’s totally great.” So what is next for the god particle? There is a dark side and light side to the universe. Scientists can see four or five percent of the universe right now, only about half of the light particles. They are hoping the Higgs boson will

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science

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climate from page 4 in overall extreme weather, with 2012 currently setting a record for extreme weather. Other research has pointed toward global warming producing more extreme weather of certain types, including heavy rainfalls, heat waves and droughts. The arctic is particularly sensitive to warming. The expansive snow and ice cover reflects sunlight back, absorbing little energy. However as the snow and ice melt, more land and ocean become available to absorb

energy. The atmosphere around the arctic is also particularly thin, so there is less area for the heat to

spread out over. The increase in global warming is likely to continue, according to Vavrus. The main cause of the warming relates to greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, which traps heat in the atmosphere. Industrialization, the burning of fossil fuels and agriculture have all contributed to a dramatic increase in the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. “The levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are higher than they have been in at least 800,000 years, we know that from ice core graphic by dylan moriarty records … We have funda-

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mentally changed the atmosphere composition in just a very short amount of time,” Vavrus said. Although there is a lot of yearto-year variability in the weather patterns, the upward trend is very apparent in the arctic and is likely to continue in coming years and possibly accelerate. “Like stopping a freight train, we can’t talk about reversing it until we slow it to a halt. Right now that is the hope, that we will slow down the rate of emissions,” Vavrus said. “In terms of actually reducing the levels of carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere, that is a tall order because we are going so fast in the other direction.”

Wisconsin has experienced some extreme weather this year, including an unusually warm March, a cold snap in April and a drought throughout the summer. Based on Vavrus’ proposal, some may wonder if this increase in instances of extreme weather is related to the loss in arctic ice. Vavrus’ answer? Maybe. The weather is generally variable, and these events may have occurred regardless of any climate change. “But the warming climate... changing climate is the backdrop to all of our weather events, Vavrus said. “And the more climate change takes hold the stronger that contribution will be.”

photo courtesy CERN

Higgs decay event captured by ATLAS. The two Z bosons in this event decayed into two pairs of electrons, the red and blue lines, another characteristic of a Higgs boson decay event.

higgs from page 4 yield insight into the other half and its super symmetric interactions with existing particles. What may sound like science fiction with a Star Wars twist to most of us non-physicists will most likely end up a significant part of our lives. “Time and time again, investments in physics lead to huge growth in technology and power,” Plunkett said. Smith is already planning the next phase of the trigger for the Higgs project. His team hopes to increase the number of collisions by a factor of 10 and have to modify their detectors in order to keep up with that level of data. The experiment is designed until 2035, but he still does not see that as the end for the Higgs boson. “We have just landed on an island,” Smith said. “The act of arriving there was important. But what is more important is what we are going to discover and learn on this island. We are starting a new era of exploration. “This will rewrite the textbooks.”

The LHC: instrument for discovery

CERN’s Large Hadron Collider is the world’s largest and highestenergy particle accelerator. In the depths of Europe The LHC lies 574 feet below the border of France and Switzerland and has a circumference of 17 miles.

Worldwide collaboration There are 1800 scientists from more than 150 universities in 35 countries participating in experiments at the LHC.

A maze of research A series of four pre-acceleraters feed into the LHC, which houses six detectors conducting experiments.

arts Games create questionable characters 6

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Adam Paris SEGA what?! As my friend and I were pondering the idea of great video game characters the other night, we both failed to come up with many convincing arguments for any persona in the medium that has absorbed countless hours of our lives. Despite the comparable lengths between television and games, the former has created a multitude of compelling figures while the latter is mired in mediocrity and stale archetypes. With some games reaching over 50 hours of gameplay, there should be ample time to introduce a captivating protagonist or companions and develop them throughout the experience. Most development occurs during cutscenes, yet any

ground gained seems to stagnate as soon as the player reemerges into the game world and actual combat starts. It may be a fundamental flaw in the narrative structure of video games. Few developers can adequately mix gameplay and story in a way that provides plot development while not boring the player with unintuitive action. “Heavy Rain” tried by constantly funneling players down an adventure that tested the limits of player choice but essentially the experience boiled down to a series of quick-time events. The “Uncharted” series has plenty of endearing characters from Sully and Nathan Drake to Eliza Fisher. Although the writing is second to none with realistic conversations and chemistry rarely seen between an animated ensemble, each of these people are simply a static shell that fails to advance

beyond a pigeonholed role such as “witty action hero” or “old companion making wisecracks.” Peering through the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences awards from the past few years will reveal they seem to have had as much trouble finding worthy recipients of the outstanding character performance award as I have. Past nominees or winners include “The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess,” Sheva Alomar from “Resident Evil 5” and Kratos from “God of War.” To be blunt, Sheva is an asinine character whose sole purpose is to support cooperative play and Kratos is a sympathetic but one-note hellion bent solely on revenge. I’m also of the belief Link can never be a truly compelling character because in every game he’s simply a mute puppet through which the same tale can be rehashed continuously.

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Although the prospects seem fairly dismal, there are some pleasant surprises who have emerged in the past few years that demonstrate the potential for characters in an industry with central figures that fail to live up to the standard set by their fellow media compatriots. Both Bonnie MacFarlane and John Marston from “Red Dead Redemption” represent figures fiercely devoted to their ideals yet willing to change when necessary. Bonnie rescues Marston after he finds himself left for dead by a member of his old gang. Throughout the duration of the game their relationship grows and while the predictable route would be for a romantic pairing, Rockstar handles their relationship with far more tact. Marston does whatever morally ambiguous task is necessary to save his family and Bonnie

remains a stalwart companion whose primary focus is still the survival of her family’s ranch. There’s an understanding between the two that in a different time they may be together, but Marston has an agenda and Bonnie is a strong female character that leads her ranch with authority in a medium where most women are stuck as the damsel in distress. Interesting and relatable characters are one of the hardest things to create in all of entertainment. In a medium where players are often thinking about the next opportunity to kill something instead of constantly contemplating the fate of their character, this task becomes that much harder. While recent years have provided some hope, the video game industry has a lot of growing up to do. I can only hope the characters it produces are able to do the same.

Love for literature with a side of exasperation for English Sean Reichard your raison d’être I will say right now that I am a better literature student than I am an English student. I lacquer up the cracks in my spare time with books, and if I’m not reading, I’m merely taking a break from reading. In my dorm, I’ve got a shelf full of books brought from home, a shelf of library books above my desk and a host of books waiting for me at Steenbock Library. Call it an obsession, but you can only call something obsessive when it gets in the way of your life. Literature is my life; something that simply is cannot dominate since it is already the sum, the totality. At the least, it is the glue which gives my being a pleasant, humming gestalt. You’d think those qualities make for a passionate, devout and ecstatic English major. And they do. I enjoy being an English major. I will go ahead and say I am passionate, devout and ecstatic about literature. But I can’t say I feel the same way about English. That lacquering I was telling you about: The finish is a mélange of books. I’ve got books by the Amis dynasty, Virginia Woolf, Jack London, George R. Stewart, John Updike, Herman Melville, Leo Tolstoy and John McPhee out from the library. I’ve been culling all my Henry James, Saul Bellow and John Steinbeck from home, along with some books of poetry (Rumi, Whitman, Berryman, etc.). That’s the sort of variety I don’t really get from English class right now. I will not name names but I’m only getting this vibe from one class, not all of them. Granted, I’m working through all the required classes, with their rigid curriculums and themes. I’m not thrilled at some of the books I have to read, but it’s one of things where you just grit your teeth. You don’t have much leeway. At the same time, something about this arrangement irks me. Some recoil ebbs from an inner fount. It has everything to do with how the books are taught, I think. It is the nature of an English major to deconstruct, dissect, delin-

eate. Or it should be. That seems to be the recurrent theme in my classes, and I’m not wholly opposed to it. Literary analysis trucks some manner of respect and dignity, and a career path to boot. Nonetheless, sitting through lecture and working on essay assignments, I know that something is off. It’s like I put my first perturbation on the back burner and I’ve only just noticed that it’s kicking up noxious smoke from its searing mass. It’s been sending signals the whole time. Most of our analysis and discussion of literature in this class is geared towards taking passages and detailing all their working parts. We note symbolism, metaphors, certain phrases, vocabulary, even punctuation. This should all be very familiar to you. You likely did the same thing in high school English class. But what gets to me about this relationship is that, whereas high school English classes were probably more interested in just teaching the fundamentals of literature and having you interact with books on a higher level, appreciate them and (hopefully) find them great for what they are (or know them well enough to pass exams), my classes suggest that a book’s greatness and importance lies in the parts, isolated, identified, cataloged and explained at great length. I’ll post a sign here and say that the rest of this column is going to be using a lot of mixed metaphors. You’ve been warned. If this was a biology class, you wouldn’t cut up a pig and sprawl it out and then hold up the sternum as carrying particular significance, as really being the linchpin of the pig as a whole. Are sternums important? Yes. But so is the rest of it. You could make the same argument for the brain or heart. But while the brain and heart of a pig carry more potent physiological significance, they don’t make a pig a pig. A pig makes a pig. A counterpoint to this would be clockwork. Writing hinges upon words acting upon other words strung together, much like gears and mechanical minutiae. Understanding all the parts that go into a clock, perhaps painstakingly listing and enumerating the pieces,

may give you a better understanding of what a clock is, but it’s a dim model for understanding what a clock does. And it’s the same with literature. Metaphors, symbols, alliteration, anaphora, personification, grammar, spelling, punctuation, word choice: These are all very important to the structure of a particular work, but they do not stand in for the work as a whole. Part of the reason for this obsession, on the part of my professors, is a belief that the books they’ve assigned, and any book of significance, are brimming with secrets;

literature is like a puzzle box wherein whoever can successfully crack it will be privy to all manners of enlightenment. They might even go so far as to say they have the key to making great literature, that they have the skills now to make their own puzzle boxes for play. This is all wrong. The notion that literature is something so predictable and regimented that one can chart it, outline it, chop it up and then string it all back together is insulting—glaringly arrogant. Or, worse, that by focusing on one particular piece or tangent, you

unlock a work’s deeper meaning is equally arrogant and insulting. The brain of a pig or the butt of a pig is not a pig. Time does not dwell in clockwork alone. It is the force which drives it. Life does not dwell in the structure of a pig. It is the force which moves it. Likewise, meaning and significance do not dwell in the words alone, or the metaphors or the other literary gambits. Writing’s worth is what it does—what surges through its framework—rather than what it is composed of. And in the end, English class alone can’t teach you that. Only literature can.

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Mama Bear

Today’s Sudoku

Evil Bird

Sorry bros... The names Kevin, Justin, Marvin and Dennis are least likely to be clicked on by women on dating websites. Wednesday, October 10, 2012 • 7

By Caitlin Kirihara kirihara@wisc.edu

Eatin’ Cake

By Dylan Moriarty www.EatinCake.com

Caved In

By Nick Kryshak nkryshak@wisc.edu

Solution, tips and computer program available at www.sudoku.com.

Fill in the grid so that every row, every column and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 through 9.

Today’s Crossword Puzzle

First in Twenty Classic

Answer key available at www.dailycardinal.com

CROSSWORD 77

ACROSS 1 Powerful feline 5 FedEx alternative 8 Kind of button or attack 13 Chilled 15 Opposite indicator 16 Splash clumsily 17 Make a comparison 18 Stag’s sweetheart 19 Maltreatment 20 Well past one’s prime 23 Just hired 24 Bric-a-___ 25 Arch enemy 27 Make a little ___ long way 30 Course, in education lingo 32 Hooded viper 33 Sky holder of myth 35 Guest of honor’s place 37 First name in ‘70s women’s gymnastics 41 Get a bad situation under control 44 One inspired by Calliope 45 “American ___” 46 Where the case is tried 47 Telepathic gift 49 Fairy tale meanie

1 Serpentine letter 5 52 Lacking integrity 56 Hoggish bellow 58 Cry at the bullfight 59 Realistic and practical 64 Treated the lawn, in a way 66 Take in sustenance 67 Fern’s reproducer 68 Small egg 69 Gift wrapping time, for many 70 Tribal symbol 71 Violin rub-on 72 Blair’s old house number 73 “___ on truckin”’ DOWN 1 Game on horseback 2 Brown or Rice (Abbr.) 3 Device often worn on a lapel 4 Lip-puckering 5 Poll category 6 Eeyore’s friend 7 Rathskeller mug 8 The Bible’s 150 9 Celebrant’s robe 10 English subjects? 11 Early Japanese immigrant 12 Readies for swallowing 14 Hand over with confidence

1 Lando’s sci-fi pal 2 22 Car dealer’s offering 26 Lyric poem part 27 Struggle for breath 28 NFL legend Graham 29 ___ vera 31 Cultural no-no 34 Better-chosen 36 Acquired dishonestly 38 Amusement park annoyance 39 Wildebeests 40 Yellows or grays, perhaps 42 River horse 43 Least bumpy 48 Unexpected 50 Kia subcompact 52 Sportscasting commentator’s forte 53 Martini garnish 54 Uncle of folklore and literature 55 Canary call 57 Pillow-filling fiber 60 Basilica center 61 Mechanical learning 62 Elm or fir 63 Burlapmaterial 65 First name in pharmaceutical giants

By Steven Wishau wishau@wisc.edu

lassic Two Word Title Vintage, 2004

By Jon Lyons

By Melanie Shibley shibley@wisc.edu

Sports One last go-around wednesday October 10, 2012 DailyCardinal.com

The nation’s top player a season ago, Brianna Decker returns to Madison for her senior year to lead the Badgers in their inaugural season at the LaBahn Arena Story by Vince Huth wil gibb/the daily cardinal

ast March in Duluth, Minn., Wisconsin forward Brianna Decker won the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award, the Heisman Trophy of women’s hockey. Decker, a junior at the time, was asked almost immediately after winning the award if she

afraid to shove back. Although she refined her hockey fundamentals during her years playing in organized competition, Decker’s toughness on the ice links back to the games with her brothers. “You look at her now on the ice, she usually comes out of

wil gibb/the daily cardinal

Senior forward Brianna Decker enters the season as one of four Badgers to ever win the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award. thought she would do so again as a senior. Despite Decker’s success that season—and also the team’s, which played in the national championship game the following day—her seniorseason expectations and storylines had already begun sprouting. Since that day the pressure on Decker to succeed has only increased. Decker’s hockey career began back when she was just four years old, scrapping on the ice or in the driveway with her older brothers. Like any younger sister, she wanted to mimic her two older siblings, Ben and Brian, who loved any form of competition and therefore included Brianna in their after-school games. Brianna was naturally the underdog; there was no pressure on her to skate well or score goals. If anything, the pressure was on her brothers to keep her from outplaying them. For that reason—and also because of the innate, unspoken older brother hierarchy—they didn’t take it easy on her. Ben said the two-on-two games (Brianna’s younger brother, Brody, eventually joined) often led to pushing and shoving, but Brianna wasn’t

the corner with the puck,” Ben said. “I probably should take credit,” he joked. Hockey initially sparked Decker’s interest because she admired her older brothers; she enjoyed the competition and developed a deep passion for the game the more she played. Now a senior captain on the No. 4 Wisconsin women’s hockey team, expectations—and pressure, at least in some fashion—for Decker couldn’t be higher. Her Badger teammates and coaches chose the Dousman, Wis., native to lead them on the ice, where it’s assumed she will be the best player each night. The LaBahn Arena, a $34 million facility and new home to Wisconsin women’s hockey, will open Oct. 19 and Decker has just one season to leave her mark. However, she’s managed to flip any pressure that might come with the preseason storylines in a positive light. “It’s a lot of things to factor into this year, but dealing with pressure is kind of a privilege,” Decker said. “I know what my role is, and I just need to stick to everything that I know. I can’t think of [this season’s goal] as trying to back up last season.” Decker will wear the captain ‘C’ patch this year, courtesy of

the votes from her teammates and coaches. All returning personnel, including head coach Mark Johnson, are allowed a write-in vote, on which they must list whom they believe would make the best captain and assistant captains. Beyond a simple ranking of players, however, the votes include explanations for why each player deserves a captaincy. Johnson believes in giving his personnel extensive input, and he reviews the compilation of votes with his coaching staff before ultimately choosing the team’s captains. “It usually tells a story. Sometimes you get surprised by the story, but certainly Brianna has grown as a player and matured as an individual,” Johnson said. “Now is her time to lead this team.” Decker’s leadership starts with her consistent approach to preparation. She has acquired a genuine desire “to do the extra little things,” according to senior defenseman and assistant captain Stefanie McKeough. As cliché as it sounds, Decker is routinely one of the last players on the ice

after practice, either putting in extra repetitions for herself or zipping passes to a teammate who’s working on her slap shot. That’s the type of example every coach wants to see from all of his players, regardless of whether she’s won the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award. “If you want to be a better player and you’re confused how to do it, you just have to watch her,” Johnson said. Decker doesn’t flip the switch on her practice and training regimen once the Badgers’ season wraps up, either. Between preparation for another collegiate season and commitments to USA Hockey, one would be hard-pressed to define Decker’s offseason. “She’s always had the mentality the offseason is just as important as the regular season and that, you know, she’s gotta bust balls,” Ben said. When Decker returns to Dousman to visit her family— time most would spend relaxing, regardless of whether their plate was as full as Decker’s— she makes time to complete her workouts. Even after the weight lifts and sprints, Decker and the extra repetitions some-

how cross paths. In this case, they intersect in the basement, where Decker pounds hockey pucks with her brothers into a net against the wall. “When we’re home, we’re always bored,” Ben said. “We probably shoot 300 pucks each time we’re down there.” While Decker primarily leads by example, she vocally directs her teammates if her actions don’t offer enough guidance. She isn’t the type of captain who incessantly barks directions, and she doesn’t coddle her teammates with an overdose of encouragement. Instead, Decker’s verbal leadership falls somewhere between the two: She senses when someone needs a boost after making a good play, but she certainly isn’t afraid to take charge and hold her teammates accountable. “Off the ice she’s a jokester, but on the ice you don’t want to mess with her,” McKeough said. “The freshmen are coming in, and she’s earning their respect that way.” This is the first installment of a two-part story. Check Thursday’s issue of the Daily Cardinal for the second installment.