Special Projects

Define your own pattern of healthy eating

"Healthy" is a common buzzword these days. I can't count the number of times I've heard things like: "I shouldn't be eating this; it is so unhealthy," or "This frozen waffle is made with whole grains, so it must be healthy!" But what exactly is "healthy?" It seems like most of the time this word is thrown around arbitrarily without much thought as to what it actually means to live a healthy lifestyle. Too many people readily accept what others - friends, family, the media, the food industry - tell them is healthy, rather than figuring out what it means to be healthy for themselves. In my opinion, being healthy is a matter of lifestyle choices that, as a whole, suit you best and allow you to be the kind of person you want to be.

Relish: Late Night Pie mediocre

There comes a point in everyone's college career when they really, really need some pizza at 2 a.m. After a long night of teaching each other how to dougie, Dan and Siggy decided to reward their hard work with a visit to Late Nite Pie in midtown. Late Nite Pie is a rather hip place, so they gathered up their hipster friend (appropriately named) Austin and headed out to get some fairly standard pizza in a pretty neat venue.After driving onto a gravel parking lot that's likely to take out one's muffler, one is immediately attracted to the extensive artwork that covers the outside of Late Nite Pie. The entrance features a large, light blue Ren and Stimpy-like happy face, sure to make anyone in the 18-30-year-old demographic simultaneously nostalgic and creeped out. The art doesn't stop when you enter the place, either: We sat at a table underneath a picture of five scary-looking alien things. The best thing about Late Nite Pie is its local, underground vibe, and the artwork definitely compliments that. The place has three areas, divided in order of brightness: light, dark and outside dark. The dark room has a defunct pinball machine, along with a stage for their weekly live music. We were going to look up when exactly they have bands over, but their website doesn't work.

RPC organizes HP screening

On Nov. 18, more than 1,000 Rice wizards and witches will get the magical opportunity of a lifetime to ride the Hogwarts Express all the way to Edwards Cinema to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I at 8 p.m., four hours before the movie premieres to the Muggle community. The movie, based on the seventh and final book in the Harry Potter series, will be the second-to-last film installment of the series because of Warner Brothers' decision to split the final book into two films. Part II is scheduled to debut July 15, 2011.

Veg Out: Niko Niko's serves inconsistent Greek food

There is something exciting about going to a restaurant as popular as Niko Niko's. On the weekend, the lines frequently stretch out the door, making you feel like you're waiting for a rock concert. Many of the other people in line are regular customers and can recommend their favorite dishes or the best place to sit. Once you reach the counter and the menu, vegetarian options clearly abound, with appetizers and entrees alike catering to vegetable lovers. Each vegetarian dish is marked with a little leaf, a practice I dearly wish other restaurants would imitate. Unfortunately, there is no separate designation for vegan dishes, so you have to ask the person at the counter.All vegetarian dishes are not created equal. Niko Niko's offers some stunning dishes, and some that are merely passable. While I rarely praise hummus, as it is ridiculously simple to make, starting your meal at Niko Niko's with pita and hummus gives you the right Mediterranean feel; also, pitas are a Niko Niko's specialty. I advise eating a lot of them, even with different dips or sauces like the Melinzano Salata, an eggplant dip with tomato and onion. Although I've had better versions of the Salata elsewhere, it was lovely on the pita.

Leach on civility, U.S. politics

Jim Leach, a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa and chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), gave a speech at Herring Hall on Nov. 4 about the importance of civility in a democratic society to students. Leach prefaced his speech with a short history lesson about the founding of the United States and the values that it was founded upon.

Letters to the Editor

To the Editor:So much is said about bikes and cars on this campus, but it's been my experience recently that our biggest problem is foot traffic. It's as if no one knows how to safely cross the street without holding his mother's hand. To all of those who need some help, it's pretty simple. There are three steps. 1) Look both ways BEFORE stepping into the street. Sure, you have the right of way. Yes, it's supposedly a one-way street. But sometimes it's dark; sometimes there are bushes; sometimes the driver or cyclist is texting his mom. He might not see you. If you pop out from behind a tree like a ninja, he's not going to notice you until you're a hood ornament. ?2) If there are no cars or bicycles coming, or they have stopped, cross the street. Look for bikes, too. They move at about the same speed and will hurt if they hit you. Some bikes and hybrid cars are quiet, so you actually have to look - particularly if you have headphones in. 3) Keep looking both ways. You might have missed someone. Do not stop to chat with that girl from your ECON class in the middle of the street at 2 a.m. when you're both wearing black. Do not strut across the street like you're on a catwalk. Also, please stop riding your bikes in the wrong direction on the street. This is especially important if you don't have lights and it's dark. Bicycles are vehicles and must follow traffic laws. You can buy lights for $10-$15, and the Inner Loop is just over a mile. Take the long way around; you'll live through it. I almost hit four pedestrians and a cyclist tonight while driving 10 mph with my highbeams on. Please use some common sense. I don't want to have to get the dents you'll put in my car buffed out.

Acclaimed British novelist Zadie Smith reads at Grand Hall

Invited as a part of the 2010 Campbell Lecture Series, British author Zadie Smith performed a reading in the Grand Hall Wednesday to an audience of more than 300 attendees. Her first novel, White Teeth, became an international best-seller in 2000 while she was a student at Cambridge University. A tenured professor of fiction at New York University, Smith was named by Granta, a UKbased literary magazine, as one of 20 best young writers in 2003.

Justin Bieber: Not just a teen sensation, but a brand

Some of you may change the world one day as a successful doctor, lawyer or politician - but none of you were as close to Justin Bieber as I was on the evening of Nov. 6, 2010.The story starts in August when I purchased an early bird ticket to attend Austin's FunFunFun Fest, which was the weekend of Nov 5. Jumping at the chance to see a ton of bands perform over the course of three days, I gladly spent $100 on my weekend pass. Little did I know, things would change.

Students buy eco-friendly surrey bike for trial run

In conjunction with Rice's push for an environmentally friendly campus, students from ENST 302: Rice into the Future have brought a surrey bike to Rice. The students involved in the project are hoping to promote sustainable transportation by introducing surrey bikes to Rice as a replacement for at least some of the golf carts used by Facilities, Engineering and Planning and Housing and Dining. The environmentally friendly golf cart alternative has been peddled around campus for the past two weeks for a trial run. The surrey at Rice is a three-seater, two-pedaler side-by-side tandem bicycle. Each set of pedals has its own set of gears so that the individual pedalers can choose a comfortable speed. The surrey also has headlights and taillights for nighttime visibility and a canopy to protect riders from rain and sun. The surrey will be on campus until Tuesday, while a group of students from ENST 302 studies how much energy will be saved by using it. Lovett College senior Alicia Hernandez, who is a member of the group, said the goal of their research is to have surreys permanently on campus soon.

Doerr gives advice on jobs, school

John Doerr (Lovett '73), a venture capitalist whose gift made the opening of the Rice Center for Engineering Leadership last year possible, returned to campus a week ago to share some career advice with students at RCEL. "Rice engineering students are well known for their excellent technical education," RCEL Director Mark Embree said. "However, we haven't consciously challenged our students to develop the other essential skills that will enable them to make their greatest possible mark on the world."

Rice hosts yearly Sally Ride Science Festival

More than 1,000 fifth- through eighth-grade girls gathered on campus Nov. 6 for the Rice Space Institute's annual Sally Ride Science Festival, an event geared toward helping young female students explore and gain a deeper understanding of science. The fair was jointly hosted by science education company Sally Ride Science and professional services organization Deloitte, and featured astronaut Wendy Lawrence as a keynote speaker, discovery workshops for both children and adults and a street fair. The festival had a registration fee of $20, though some companies sponsored scholarships so that more girls could attend. Keynote speakers from previous years have included the astronauts Sally Ride, Eileen Collins, Peggy Whitson and Ellen Ochoa.

Men's Basketball Preview 2010: A slammin' good time

Within the Inner Loop lies a congregation of students, faculty and staff representing the university through a number of academic and athletic pursuits. Inside the hedges, new discoveries are unearthed and exploits are inaugurated every day, be it the buckyball or a quest for a pole vaulting national championship. But for the men's basketball team, some of the biggest offseason accomplishments were made more than 6,000 miles away from campus. To find one of the highlights of the summer for the team, you would have had to travel to Turkey, where sophomore forward Arsalan Kazemi competed valiantly at the FIBA World Championships against the highest level of talent that the game has to offer. Kazemi averaged 12 points and seven rebounds per game for the Iranian team, including a 14-point, five-steal effort for Iran against the gold medal winning U.S. team, anchored by the likes of NBA stars Kevin Durant and Derrick Rose. Despite Iran's 1-4 record in the tournament, Kazemi's team played competitively throughout and played the heavily favored U.S. side closely for most of the first half of the match-up before the more talented side prevailed.

This week's Editorial Cartoon

Weed the nonsense out of marijuana advocacy

Alas, it seems the campaign for marijuana legalization will not be moving forward in 2010 after all. California's Proposition 19 - the proposal to legalize recreational marijuana use for those over 21 - was defeated on Tuesday, dashing the hopes of those who sought to use it as a platform to challenge bans elsewhere. It seems very likely that a majority of students support legalization. If you count yourself among this group, give yourself a pat on the back - you've reached the correct conclusion.But as in all matters, how you arrive at the correct conclusion is just as important as the fact that you arrive at the correct conclusion. Considering this, the pro-legalization crowd has been woefully inept. The legalization arguments have become largely predictable, but none of them offer a compelling reason to justify legalization and all of them foolishly concede far too much to those who favor prohibition - and in doing so, make the job of the prohibitionists that much easier. On Prop 19, as has so often been the case, proponents of legalization were their own worst enemies.

Swimming falls to nationally ranked powers at SMU

In many ways, the Conference USA Men's Cross Country Championship has become more theater than sport, following a meticulous script that puts either the University of Tulsa or the University of Texas at El Paso as the lead actor and the Owls as the supporting role. For better or worse for the men's cross country team, Rice has followed the script perfectly, as they took home their third place finish in the C-USA Cross Country Championship held Monday at Indian Springs Country Club in Tulsa, Okla. Tulsa racked up just 34 points, with UTEP following closely with 42 and Rice trailing in third with 87. Redshirt junior Michael Trejo assumed his role as elder statesman of the roster, taking 10th place overall and earning a spot on the All-C-USA Second Team. Following him were redshirt junior Gabe Cuadra with a time of 24:31, freshman John Cavallo, who crossed the finish line just six seconds behind Cuadra to earn 19th place, and redshirt junior Matt Carey, who, in making his first appearance for the Owls this year, joined Cuadra and Cavallo on the All-C-USA-Third Team with his finish in 20th place. The fifth man and final scorer for the Owls was redshirt junior James Llamas. Rounding out the runners for the Owls were three true freshmen, Wyatt Doop who came in with a time of 25:33, Anthony Urbanelli and Travis Roberts, who were all just a second apart from each other. Redshirt sophomore Anthony Lauriello came in 43rd place, finishing the race in 26:28. Elkana Rotich from UTEP took the individual title, with Cavallo earning the Freshman of the Year Award.

NOD Vegas has high roll

Wiess College went all out for students to go all in at the 38th annual Night of Decadence: "Viva NOD Vegas" this past Saturday. More than 1,500 scantily clad students attended, approximately 200 more students than last year's NOD.Wiess Socials Kelsey Mase and Alysa Frost both said they were pleased with how the party went this year.

Kids go to Project Pumpkin

Children in costume flooded Rice with Halloween spirit last Saturday. Project Pumpkin, which took place in the Central Quadrangle, is a Halloween celebration held annually by Rice clubs and organizations for children from Houston.This year, Project Pumpkin was coordinated by Rice Student Volunteer Program members Elisa Zhao, a Hanszen College sophomore, and Dana Zhao, a Wiess College sophomore. RSVP Children's Committee Chairs Melissa Sheng and Wen Zhang, who are Duncan College juniors, helped coordinate the event as well.

Relish: Max's Wine Dive appropriately classy, has delicious gourmet comfort food

Sometimes when you're a senior, you feel like you need to do real-ass adult stuff, like wearing something that isn't even a Rice Athletics T-shirt or going on super hot dates to places that aren't even in the Village. Last Saturday, we decided to fulfill these urges by going to Max's Wine Dive, a moderately classy wine bar located on Washington Avenue. Max's does two things very well: It makes some really solid gourmet comfort food and it costs way more money than either of us will ever have. Upon entering Max's, the first thing we noticed was the light fixtures made of wine bottles hanging from the ceiling. The restaurant's red brick interior and "industrial chic" aesthetic made us feel like we were so not in a dive. There was a massive wine collection on display near the entrance. While the selection seemed impressive, we were shocked by the total lack of both wine in boxes and fortified wine. This, coupled with the hip young urban professional (read: yuppie) crowd, made us feel like we were finally in the company of super high rollers like ourselves.

Beyond the Hedges

National

Students go to vote

Rice students, faculty and alumni headed to the polls on Nov. 2 to cast their ballots for the midterm election. Between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., 400 people went to the Miner Lounge in the Rice Memorial Center and voted for national, state and county officials.Election Judge Cindy Dinh helped plan and oversee the entire process and said she was extremely pleased with Tuesday's turnout. Dinh, a McMurtry College senior, said that, according to a previous election judge, only about 100 students had come to the polls a few years ago. Dinh said any eligible voter who uses his residential college address can vote on campus, but usually not many people participate during midterm elections.