A YOUNG MISTAKE
THE TROPIC HEAT
Lacrosse player arrested for DWI; suspended for at least two games
In his new war farce, Ben Stiller scores as writer, director, producer and star
SPORTS | PAGE 12
DIVERSIONS | PAGE 7
THE DIAMONDBACK THURSDAY, AUGUST 14, 2008
98TH YEAR | ISSUE NO. 150
THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER
Police probe bar fire as arson Cornerstone Grill and Loft still closed after last weekend’s incident BY BRADY HOLT Senior staff writer
ADAM FRIED–THE DIAMONDBACK
Last year, Robotics @ Maryland finished tenth in the Annual International Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Competition in San Diego. This year, the club and its robot, seen in the water above, won.
SINKING THE COMPETITION University club’s underwater robot takes first place BY CHRIS YU Staff writer
ADAM FRIED–THE DIAMONDBACK
After placing tenth in last year’s competition for autonomous underwater vehicles, the university’s Robotics @ Maryland club hoped to rank in the top five this summer. But thanks to a robot far more advanced than its predecessor, the club was in for a big surprise. Robotics @ Maryland took first place at the 11th Annual International Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Competition in San Diego, which took place from July 29 to Aug. 3. The competition featured 25 schools from around the world as they competed to see whose robot is capable of performing the most tasks underwater. Members of the robotics club were shocked by the unexpected win. “It didn’t really sink in at first because we were so surprised,” said Joseph Gland, the graduate advisor to the club. “We went into the competition thinking it would be great getting second place.” The competition required each school’s robot to accomplish a set of objectives in a
The robot, seen above, had to complete a series of tasks during the competition, such as going through a gate, locating an item and picking the item up.
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Please See ROBOTICS, Page 2
This little Students find out Oprah customer endorsement earned Obama votes went to the Graduate students’ study analyzes the media mogul’s effect market... online BY BEN PENN Staff writer
BY KELLY BROOKS For The Diamondback
Emu eggs: They may be green, but they are also 10 times the size of chicken eggs, have less bad cholesterol and are slightly higher in nutritional content, according to Westminster emu farmer Diane Brown. The $13 eggs are also one of more than 60 listings on www.foodtrader.org, an online farmer’s market run by the university’s Environmental Finance Center. The website launched July 15 and complements the
Please See MARKET, Page 3
Tomorrow’s Weather:
In the midst of a presidential election reaching levels of intensity this summer normally reserved for September or October, two unlikely candidates with close ties to the university threw their names into the mix last week — except not as election candidates but as doctorate candidates. Tim Moore and Craig Garthwaite, second and third year economics graduate students respectively, released a study last week that estimated media mogul Oprah Winfrey’s endorsement of Barack Obama resulted in more than one million votes for Obama in the Democratic presidential primaries this past year. Moore and Garthwaite, who focus their studies not on politics but primarily on health economics, thought the project would be creative and interesting but never imagined their
T-Storms/80s
Index:
Last week’s fire at Cornerstone Grill and Loft is being investigated as arson, fire officials said. The bar has been closed since Aug. 3 while damage from the fire and other vandalism is repaired, said College Park Public Services Director Bob Ryan after a conversation with Cornerstone owner Mark Srour. Prince George’s County Fire Department Spokesman Mark Brady said the fire had burned itself out before the fire department was called to the scene. Cornerstone employees found a “possible break-in and vandalism, and they noted that there may have been a fire,” Brady said. Brady said the first steps of an arson investigation are “processing physical evidence and looking for a fuel source” but said he could not be more specific because the investigation of the Cornerstone fire is ongoing. A sign posted on Cornerstone’s door last week encouraged patrons to go to Santa Fe Café while Cornerstone is repaired. Srour owns both bars, along with The Mark. Srour declined to discuss the fire, saying he was too busy. “My life is engulfed in getting Cornerstone back open,” he said.
‘Peer pressure’ raises local bar prices Owners, city say state officials urged price floor for bar specials
names would be featured in the campaign coverage of several national media outlets. “Craig and I were working for the same professor last year; we were just talking about Oprah and whether her effect on consumers might be the same as on voters,” Moore said. “Once we started talking, we thought, ‘Why not use the information on commercial products and use that as an analysis of voting behavior?’” Though Garthwaite is on vacation this week, he explained in an e-mail his study’s applicability. “I think that, in general, the academic community has an unclear view of how endorsements affect politics,” wrote Garthwaite in the e-mail. “To the extent that we can further the understanding of this in both the academic community and the general political arena, it is a positive thing.”
The meeting last month that decided a price floor for alcohol in College Park’s bars was called in response to pressure on county and state legislators, city officials said. The City of College Park hosted a meeting between bar owners, elected officials, police officers, representatives of the county liquor board, university officials and student leaders to discuss the Thirsty Turtle’s 25-cent rail drinks, city Public Services Director Bob Ryan said. Ryan said state Sens. Jim Rosapepe and Paul Pinsky and Prince George’s County Councilman Eric Olson received “concerns” the low prices may be encouraging students to excessive or binge drinking, but the three legislators could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Please See OPRAH, Page 3
Please See LIQUOR, Page 3
News . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Classified . . . . . . . . . . . .5 Features . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
BY BRADY HOLT Senior staff writer
Diversions . . . . . . . . .7 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . .12
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