Special Projects

UTEP stifles men's basketball for second time

In what has truly been a season of peaks and valleys for the men's basketball team, never did the team fall further than after a Jan. 15 loss at the University of Texas-El Paso (18-5, 6-2 C-USA) in which the team managed to score just 43 points, losing by its largest margin of the conference season. The loss, which at the time marked the fourth in a row for the Owls, came largely in part to turnovers and atrocious shooting, both signs of a young team finding its way against one of the best teams in the conference. But the 23-point loss in El Paso, Texas proved to be an end to the slide, as Rice bounced back to win three of its next four games in conference to get back to .500 on the season. With a win at home over the University of Houston (11-11, 3-6 C-USA) sandwiched by road wins at the University of Central Florida (14-7, 1-7 C-USA) and Tulane University (12-9, 2-6 C-USA), the Owls quickly removed themselves from the cellar of the Conference USA standings.

Sports notebook: Twice is nice for women's tennis

The 48th-ranked women's tennis squad got back in the swing of things this past week, notching two victories over regional rivals. After having their match against the University of Houston postponed until Saturday due to Friday's inclement weather, the Owls took advantage of the extra day of rest by easily overpowering the Cougars 5-2. The Owls swept all three doubles matches, with the closest margin of victory coming in the second seeded match, where junior Alex Rasch and freshman Dominique Harmath defeated Maja Kazimieruk and Joanna Kacprzyk from the University of Houston. After her clinching doubles victory, Harmath took out Bryony Hunter in two sets for Rice's second singles victory, bringing the margin to a nearly insurmountable 3-0. The lead proved to be too much for Houston, as junior Ana Guzman closed out the match with a 7-5, 6-0 win over Kazimieruk. Despite the match effectively being over, the last three sets in progress were allowed to finish, producing the Cougars' only two points, which were a three-set match victory by Giorgia Pozzan over senior Jessica Jackson and a loss by freshman Kimberly Anicete to Kacprzyk. The loss dropped Houston to 2-2 and Rice moved up to a 3-2 mark. After the long hiatus from Jake Hess Tennis Stadium, the Owls were ready to return to their home court Tuesday against Louisiana State University (0-1). Much like the match against Houston, the Owls started off with a sweep of the doubles matches to go up 1-0 against the Tigers. Guzman picked up another point in the first singles match against Yvette Vlaar. The next three matches went in alternating fashion, with LSU pulling within one point after a two-set loss by sophomore Daniella Trigo, then Rice going up 3-1 after Harmath's fourth victory in the last two matches, and finally LSU's Whitney Wolf, the 33rd ranked player in the nation, bested senior Rebekka Hanle in the top-seeded match to make it 3-2. However, Anicete came through for the Owls at the end, getting her second match-clinching victory of the year, this time in two sets over high school teammate Ariel Morton. LSU's Kaitlin Burns finished off Jackson in three sets, but the win was already set in stone for Rice, who improved to 4-2, while the 75th-ranked LSU squad dropped to 0-1.

Vinyl: A look at punk's timelessness

There's no better way to celebrate Presidents Day than by examining two hardcore punk bands named after two of our nation's great leaders: Reagan Youth and Dead Kennedys. With their incredibly low production values and occasionally paradoxical political views, these pioneering bands are an important part of the American punk tradition. Reagan Youth's name is a reference to the Hitler Youth: Appropriately, the cover art of the seven-song E.P. Youth Anthems for The New Order, their only release during the Reagan Administration, features a cloaked Klansman chatting up an all-American family. Part of me hopes no young punks in the '80s confused this group of radical anarchists for racists, as some of lead singer Dave Insurgent's (aka Dave Rubinstein) family were Holocaust survivors. A hostile combination of anarchism and socialism, Reagan Youth's politics represented the vocal distaste many hardcore bands had for American conservatism.

OWL-Socrates set to expand

Two years into the OWL-Socrates website pilot project - capturing videos of classes which students can watch from home - the Educational Technologies Department plans to expand the project.According to Director of Academic and Research Computing Gary Kidney, the program has captured certain classes under the Schools of Engineering, Natural Sciences, Business and Music. Around 10 professors currently use this technology. Kidney said that he hopes to increase that number by encouraging faculty to use the technology in his discussions with them, but the choice to use the technology or not remains the prerogative of the individual faculty members.

Beyond the Hedges

National

Photo: Candidates compete for votes, laughs

Georgia Lagoudas, Adrianne Waddell, and Erik Tanner and Daniel Hays answered both serious and silly student questions at the Valentine's Day-themed SA presidential debate on Monday.

You're still good Charlie Brown!

Peanuts and the gang are back but in quite a different fashion; they are all grown up. In Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead, presented by the Rice Players, Charlie Brown and his friends are teenagers and, while they might be fictional, they face real and relevant problems. The cast of the show is small but strong and manages to give each character life. Bert Royal's play, Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead, originally premiered on May 3, 2004. Starting in New York City, the off-Broadway production quickly spread throughout the United States, claiming several awards in 2004 and 2006. Royal's dramatic parody addresses contemporary issues that teens deal with, from drugs to homosexuality. The story opens on C.B. (Charlie Brown) right after his beloved dog Snoopy has passed away.

Men's tennis goes on 1-1 road trip in Louisiana

There are times when effort can overcome a talent deficiency, and the men's tennis team's trip to the Pelican State was unfortunately one of those times. Assistant Coach Efe Ustundag (Baker '99) knew that it was going to be hard for the Owls to go into Louisiana and come back unscathed, especially having to take a trip to 45th-ranked Louisiana State University (1-2), who needed a win over a highly ranked Rice squad to bolster its NCAA tournament resume. "LSU was going to throw everything they had because [they knew] we were their ticket to the NCAA tournament," Ustundag said.

OWL-Socrates expansion a welcome addition

Rice is expanding the OWL-Socrates program, which allows professors to record lectures and post them online for students to peruse (see story, page 4). This expansion to the academic curriculum will be extremely advantageous for students. The ability for students to view lectures online provides for exceptional flexibility. Should a student be put at disadvantage for missing class because they were sick or representing our university at an athletic event? Furthermore, students would have the option to delay their lecture after an all-nighter of studying; going to a 9 a.m. class on two hours of sleep is simply useless if a student crashes 10 minutes into the lecture. Not only will this enhance overall wellness, but students can be sure they were alert when attending lecture; the osmosis method of absorbing lecture while falling asleep simply does not work. These online lectures will also provide the benefit of being a tool for studying for exams. Looking back at lectures of challenging asset could prove to be an indispensable asset.

Club baseball proving two can play at this game

Since Head Coach Wayne Graham stepped on campus 20 seasons ago, Rice baseball has been synonymous with winning, and winning with class. Owl baseball is the first impression of Rice for many people - excellence in all facets. From its inception in 2004, club baseball at Rice has not always created the same impression. With more engineers than legitimate "ballplayers," the club baseball team was like the National Club Baseball Association's own version of the Chicago Cubs, the league's "lovable losers." Struggling to field a competitive team in its first couple of seasons, the Owls piled up losing records. Up against seemingly insurmountable odds, playing against schools 10 to 20 times larger than their own, the team continued to practice every week and play every weekend. Fast forward to the 2009 season, and the squad knew right away they had a special group. Rice finished its spring season with an 18-3 win over Vanderbilt University and rode that momentum into conference play. The spring season was not without bumps, but the Owls' passion for the game and desire to compete pulled them through. An especially-motivated group of freshmen pushed the Owls to practice more often, and an old saying, "baseball is a game of repetition," held true on IM Field 7. Every day, there was visible improvement in the team's defense spurred on by many "player's practices," extra practices called by the players, not the leadership.

Letters to the Editor

Online Comment of the Week In response to "Puppy Mill needs further regulation," Feb. 4:

Homophobic tendencies still abound in South Asia

Great empires may come and go, but like the tides, they leave behind a tangled assortment of flotsam and jetsam. In the case of the British Empire, that included much that one might admire, but also a British Protestant morality that was codified in laws that persist to this day. Section 377 of the colonial Penal Code is a striking example. It classed consensual oral and anal sex as "carnal intercourse against the order of nature" and made it a crime punishable with imprisonment for life. When the British administrators withdrew, they took their soldiers, but left their law books behind. Section 377 was recently repealed in India, but it is still very much on the books in neighboring Bangladesh. Prosecutions under Section 377, which effectively makes homosexual sex illegal, are extremely rare. Section 377, hence, does not impair Bangladesh's moderate image in the world and questions about the country's human rights record on the issue of homosexuality are avoided in the international arena. Nonetheless, Section 337 forces the local LGBT community into a shadow existence. Their official illegality silences their voices in the public sphere.

Last week's online poll results

Classic Flicks: Groundhog Day an insightful comedy

The way I see it, the Pennsylvanian Germans invented the holiday of Groundhog Day so that, centuries later, it might inspire Harold Ramis and Danny Rubin to pen the remarkable screenplay of the film Groundhog Day, which was one of the nicest cinematic surprises to find among a collection of old family DVDs.The movie follows the story of Phil Connors (Bill Murray, Ghostbusters), an egotistical weatherman who comes to Punxsatawney, Pa. to cover the annual Groundhog Day festivities for his TV station in Pittsburgh. But when a snow storm shuts down the roads, Phil and his crew - news producer Rita (Andie MacDowell, Four Weddings and a Funeral) and cameraman Larry (Chris Elliott, Cabin Boy) - are forced to stay an extra day in the small town. Up until this point, the film might seem a bit unremarkable and reminiscent of the '90s.

Baker Institute world ranking rises

The Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program (TTCSP) at the University of Pennsylvania recently recognized the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy as one of the top think tanks in the world. In its latest "Global Go-To Think Tanks" annual report, the TTCSP ranked the Baker Institute 16th among university-affiliated think tanks in the world and 27th among all U.S. think tanks.The new rankings are an improvement for the policy think tank; last year, the TTCSP ranked the Baker Institute 37th in the U.S. University-affiliated think tanks were not assessed in 2009.

Meet the new Wiess masters

Three colleges have picked new masters, who will start their five-year term in the 2011-2012 school year. Will Rice College chose Associate Professor of Sociology Bridget Gorman and Mike Reed; Wiess College chose Associate Professor of History Alexander Byrd and Jeanette Byrd; Jones College chose Associate Professor of Linguistics Michel Achard and Melanie Achard. Each week we will feature the new masters of an individual college.

Sanctum fails to trump Avatar's effects

Sanctum, like Transformers, is one of those movies that would have been far improved if someone took out all the people and dialogue of the film. While the unknown Alistair Greirson (Kodoka) directed the film, you would not know it with executive producer James Cameron's name all over the promotional material. While this is an obvious ploy to link Sanctum with award-winning Avatar's technological superiority, the tasteless acting and plot made the film subpar.Sanctum's plot concerns a group of people who get trapped in the largest unexplored underwater cave in the world in Papua New Guinea. The leader of the expedition, Frank, (played by Richard Roxburgh, Van Helsing) first attempts to direct the group out of the cave by following it deeper to the ocean, but he not only has to contend with nature but also the irksome emotional problems of everyone else. His son, Josh (Rhys Wakefield, Broken Hill), just wants Daddy to love him. Billionaire Carl (Ioan Grufford, Fantastic Four) believes he is far more experienced than he actually is, while his girlfriend Victoria (Alice Parkinson, Where the Wild Things Are) will not stop crying. Last but not least, "Crazy George" (Dan Wylie, Chopper) is Frank's volatile assistant. The rest of the movie consists of spelunking in increasingly dark places. It did not take long for me to start wanting every character to die a horrible and gruesome death, and luckily, many of my wishes were realized.

News in brief: RMC renovations planned

RMC renovations planned

Letters to the Editor

I was pleased to read the extensive coverage of RESET projects in the Jan. 28 edition of the Rice Thresher ("RESET Projects Innovative"). After just one semester, RESET is already a great success, leveraging $15,000 from the student fee to fund more than $40,000 in conservation projects thanks to matching funds from the Facilities, Engineering and Planning Energy Steering Committee (incorrectly attributed to Housing & Dining in the article). As illustrated in the article, this is a shining example of student, faculty, and staff collaboration. Behind the scenes, the FE&P Energy Steering Committee is working on more than $200,000 in fast payback utility conservation projects, including a new pump in the central plant, and better controls in multiple buildings to help reduce over-cooling. In addition, H&D is implementing several conservation projects as well, from window tinting at Wiess College to high-performance, low-flow showerheads to motion sensors in common areas. I encourage members of the Rice community to consider submitting a RESET project proposal this spring. The deadline is April 8, and further details are available

Baker Institute essential to campus

Congratulations are in order for the Baker Institute's most recent accolades (see story, page 1).The institute, which made the top 20 global university think-tanks and top 30 national think-tanks in a recent ranking by the University of Pennsylvania, has made quite a name for itself in just under two decades of existance.