Turkey sandwiches: the hookup version
Chopped liver
Making the most of a relationship that might have gone stale +PAGE TWO University of Wisconsin-Madison
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Badgers extend one-way dominance in battle for the Axe
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Nuclear agreement reached with Iran
TEDx comes to UW-Madison By Melissa Howison the daily cardinal
Despite widespread skepticism about whether or not the digitalization of America’s dialogue can advance modern thought, University of Wisconsin-Madison professor Dietram Scheufele said there are only three common behaviors that, if corrected, could transform the current state of polarizing disagreements online into beneficial conversations. Scheufele, a science communication professor, spoke at the university’s first TEDx conference Saturday, an event UW-Madison students and staff organized independent of the national TED series. Scheufele said he realized the poisonous aspects of an online news environment last year while studying the phenomenon of the mass “inability to really interact in a somewhat polite and somewhat civil fashion” to things read online. One of the key contributors to the problem is something Scheufele called the “virtual ski mask,” which refers to the absence of natural conversation regulators, such as facial expressions, online. “What we don’t have there is this immediate social feedback or this immediate non-verbal feedback,” Scheufele said. To combat the problem, Scheufele encouraged people find a way to invite “that little person in your head that censors you” during
face-to-face interactions to their online persona. Secondly, Scheufele said people are missing out “on ideas that challenge what [they] already know,” because online news consumption does not “maximize informational serendipity.” For instance, Scheufele said the current system filters the content people come in contact with, allowing them to only view opinions they agree with. Lastly, Scheufele condemned many who are content as spectators to the sport of online debate. For the best ideas to emerge victorious, Scheufele said, full-scale participation is necessary. “We need to figure out as a country a way to express disagreement, to utilize disagreement and really reap the benefits of this great experiment,” Scheufele said. Four other UW-Madison faculty spoke at the event, including Alexander Shashko, a Black music history professor; Anita Bhattacharyya, a stem cell researcher; Christopher Coe, the director for the Harlow Center for Biological Psychology; and Lori DiPrete Brown, the associate director for education and engagement at the UW Global Health Institute. Vincent Thielke, the TEDxUWMadison spokesperson, said the organizational team was “very happy” with the audience turnout and is hoping to host a similar event in 2014.
TCF Bank stadium
Decade of dominance
Members of the Badger football team hoist Paul Bunyan’s Axe for the 10th year in a row after defeating Minnesota 20-7 on the road Saturday. + Photo by Grey Satterfield
Debunking myths about the student housing rush By Lilly Eggert the daily cardinal
Winter break might seem ages away and term paper due dates are creeping closer, but for many University of Wisconsin–Madison students, it seems the only topic of conversation during the last weeks before Thanksgiving is where they will be living next year. While some students wait until the end of the first semester or later to sign a lease, there is pressure to sign early. According to several students, pressure comes from talking to friends, emails from property
managers that start arriving as early as September and flyers around campus saying places are filling up quickly. But Campus Area Housing staff member Emma Coenen said these factors can be misleading. “We call it the ‘Fall Housing Rush Myth,’” Coenen said. According to Coenen, “There truly is a surplus of housing,” but many students still feel pressured to sign early along with many of their peers. She said this is mainly a problem for first-year students who have
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ALUMNA PROFILE
Renovating the Union, building a community By Adelina Yankova THE DAILY CARDINAL
When University of Wisconsin-Madison graduates walk out of commencement with diplomas in hand, they know they have accomplished something great but never think they will someday be renewing one of their school’s most iconic buildings, Melanie Taylor, Boldt Construction’s project manager for the Memorial Union Reinvestment, said. Yet, this is precisely what happened to Taylor. Nine years after graduating from UW-Madison, she said she feels incredibly blessed to be working on renovating the Memorial Union.
“Every civil engineer that works for a contractor wanted this job,” she said. “I don’t know how the stars aligned that I happened to be the one sitting in this position. It’s still pretty amazing to think about.” As the leader of an engineering team made up entirely of former Badgers, Taylor said she and her colleagues have a vested interest in conducting the renovation in a manner that honors safety and accessibility while preserving the historical significance of the “valuable jewel” that is Memorial Union. She emphasized her commit-
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Monday, November 25, 2013
Adelina yankova/the daily cardinal
UW-Madison alumna Melanie Taylor is the project manager of an engineering team entirely made up of former Badgers.
President Barack Obama announced a historic nuclear weapons deal with Iran that would limit its ability to create nuclear weapons in a nationally televised address Saturday night. According to Obama, negotiations between Iran and the U.S. have been unsuccessful in the last decade, but the situation has improved with the election of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. Obama said Iran and members of P5+1, a group of six countries that negotiate Iran’s nuclear foreign policy, agreed on a deal to dismantle Iran’s nuclear enrichment programs in exchange for economic sanctions to be lifted. Although the deal’s full details have not been disclosed, Obama named key parts of Iran’s nuclear program that would be rolled back.
“Simply put, [the deal’s mandates] cut off Iran’s most likely paths to a bomb.” Barack Obama president United States of America
Specifically he said the deal requires Iran to stop certain levels of enrichment, to discontinue work at its plutonium reactor and to allow extensive inspections of its facilities. The commander in chief said while some economic sanctions would be lifted, the “broad architecture” of sanctions would still remain. “Simply put, [the deal’s mandates] cut off Iran’s most likely paths to a bomb,” Obama said. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry explained the international community will permit Iran $4.2 billion in oil revenue, but the nation will continue to lose $25 billion in oil revenue due to economic sanctions. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, expressed doubt in Iran’s motives to follow through with the deal. Boehner said all agreements must be met with “healthy skepticism and hard questions,” according to a statement. “Today, we have a real opportunity to achieve a comprehensive, peaceful settlement, and I believe we must test it,” Obama said. —Eoin Cottrell
“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”