Special Projects

Men win Johnny Morriss Invite

The men's cross country team knew it was going to have to rely on its newcomers for success this season. It just didn't expect their ascension to come about so quickly. The youths on the squad served up an important victory at the Johnny Morriss Invitational last Friday, as sophomore Michael Trejo and redshirt freshman Gabe Cuadra teamed with senior Scott Zivick to lead Rice to a first-place finish on the University of Houston intramural fields. Rice's 31 points defeated Houston's 43, Sam Houston State University's 58 and Houston Baptist University's 81.

Emotional weekend for soccer brings first win

It's amazing how quickly emotions can turn. One second, you're riding high from a spectacular, come-from-behind victory against Stephen F. Austin University. Not two days later, you find your mouth agape, staring in bewilderment as Texas Christian University pulls the same mini-miracle on you. Such was the case of the soccer team last week.

KTRU Top 35: Week of 9.6.2009

Professors win $40,000 grant

With Houston as their backdrop, a team of Rice and University of Houston researchers will put Mother Nature to the test by evaluating the city's sustainability. After being awarded a $40,000 grant from the Shell Center for Sustainability, which is based out of the School of Social Sciences, the researchers will team up to craft a set of measurements to determine whether or not Houston's progress is feasibly sustainable.The areas of specialty for the three researchers - Jim Blackburn, professor in the practice of environmental law; Stephen Klineberg, sociology professor and director of the Urban Research Center of Houston; and Barton Smith, economics professor and director of the Institute for Regional Forecasting at the University of Houston - represent three key areas to test Houston's sustainability.

Arctic Monkeys explore new musical paths

As is the case with many aspects of Arctic Monkeys' latest album, the title Humbug draws attention because of its unexpectedness. The word's meaning nowadays is akin to "nonsense" or "gibberish," but fortunately for listeners the songs themselves are anything but. Arctic Monkeys reach in very different directions for influence and inspiration this time around, and the resulting collision between their old and new styles works impressively well.

This week's Editorial Cartoon

Letters to the Editor

Intelligent design explains creation

Slideshow: Food, water and shanties

What happens when over 70 students, surviving on only the bare minimum, set up camp in the Central Quad shanties? Beans, stench and, for a lucky few, a spot on the nightly news. //

Welcome to the shanties

Students participating in the $2 A Day Challenge moved in to their shanty town on Tuesday, laying out blankets and spray-painting their shacks. To see what else the students did while living in the Central Quad, see Food, water, and shanties.

Jones coordinator to leave

After 17 years at Rice, Jones College Coordinator Lisa Bryan has announced she will be leaving her position in November. She will be joining her husband, English professor Dennis Huston, as he goes on sabbatical at the beginning of December through next August. Her last day as coordinator will be Nov. 6.Bryan had a long history with Rice before she joined Jones College in March 2005. Before assuming the position of college coordinator, Bryan worked in the Office of Admissions as Assistant Director of Admission from 2004-05. Prior to that position, Bryan and Huston were masters at Hanszen College from 1992-98.

Football falls to UAB as new crop continues adjustment

Last time we saw the football team, it was delivering an indisputable beat-down on Western Michigan University in the 2008 Texas Bowl, the big shining Texas star atop a seven-game winning streak to end the season. But with graduation and the NFL draft taking their victims - namely James Casey to the Houston Texans, Jarett Dillard to the Jacksonville Jaguars, and Chase Clement to consulting - suddenly there are different Owls responsible for running, catching and throwing the football. These new faces had their debut last Saturday, along with many others, falling 44-24 in a conference battle against the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

HedgeHopper expands reach

Thai food, gyros, ice cream, glasses and bicycles are just some of the discounted items students, faculty and staff can purchase with this year's HedgeHopper cards. The cards, organized by the Student Association, were distributed during the first week of classes by the college coordinators.The card offers discounts at all previously featured restaurants, including popular eateries Swirll and Niko Niko's, SA External Vice President Amber Makhani said. She also said additional businesses with more practical services such as Today's Vision and Bike Barn were added this year.

Mike Judge Extracts a winner with latest comedy

When peering into the blue-collar workplace, Mike Judge's Office Space is at the top of the paper heap. Judge brings his comedic intelligence back to the stack in his latest movie, Extract, focusing on the owner of a food extract company in Podunk, U.S.A. in this smart and smarmy satire.While Extract is unable to live up to its iconic predecessor - and may not have the cultural impact of Milton's stapler- that doesn't mean that it is not worth the cost of admission. A strong cast combines with an original and realistic plot, allowing Extract to be the intelligent comedy that will fill the current vacuum.

Online only: This week in photos

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RUPD forced to cut number of officers

Last year, each department at Rice was forced to cut its budget by 5 percent. No area was left untouched, and the Rice University Police Department was no exception. However, RUPD was not simply forced to make cuts in both materiel and personnel - it was forced to scrap plans of expansion, made all the more necessary by the fact that Rice now has the largest student population its campus has ever held.

Despite star power, My One and Only delivers nothing but boredom

The 1950s, or so the stereotype goes, were a time of peaceful picnics and families happily cruising in four-door Cadillacs. Staid and calm, they were borderline uninteresting and often uneventful. With its pearl-necklaced housewives and tweed-suited fathers, My One and Only nails this stereotype just right.Unfortunately, My One and Only also stays true to the high level of boredom wrought by the decade. Aside from a slight dose of feminism, this film contains nothing unique, nothing special and nothing that makes you stop your Cadillac-cruising to go see it.

Swine flu reaches Rice, infects over 120 students

Editor's note: This article has been changed from the printed version.Swine flu has officially hit Rice. The H1N1 flu virus, commonly known as swine flu, has infected over 120 students, Director of Student Health Services Mark Jenkins said.

Photo: Special delivery at the hospital

Sophomore third baseman Anthony Rendon, sophomore outfielder Jeremy Rathjen and junior shortstop Rick Hague stopped by a local hospital to visit Wesley Blomquist, a baseball fan who received an operation last week. The players gave Blomquist a ball signed by the team.

Students attacked on the outer loop

This weekend, eight incidents were reported on or near the Rice campus in which people were attacked with air-propelled pellets from BB guns, airsoft guns or a similar type of weapon. Rice University Police Captain Dianna Marshall said two of the attacks took place Sunday, while the other six cases occurred Monday. Although four of the attacks occurred on the perimeter of campus near entrances 3, 4 and 17, another four cases occurred in the areas surrounding Rice: two similar instances occurred in Rice Village at the intersection of Morningside Drive and University Boulevard, one at 1815 Bissonnet Street and another on Interstate 45 South at Scott Street.

Foreman, Cooper promote courage to students

George Foreman