Ian Essling

No Futher Posts on this Blog

2008-04-03T21:14:00.001-07:00

All of my writing will now be consolidated at my main website:

Ian Essling and Conservative Rumblings/Ian Essling Blog

Enjoy!

Grassroots Student Group Helps Slow Cole Demo Plan

2008-03-08T11:41:00.000-08:00

Section: News
Published: Waubonsee Insight

Facing serious opposition from concerned students and local lawmakers, the demolition plan for NIU’s Cole Hall has faltered and slowed to a near stop.

In an email sent to the students and faculty of NIU on March 4, NIU President Peters announced the creation of a “February 14th. Memorial Committee.” The purpose of this committee, according to Peters’ email, is to solicit the opinions of students, faculty, alumni and families, in order to “develop ideas for a fitting memorial.”

Peters announced a “three phase process” that will involve the newly formed committee collecting and organizing the suggestions on the future of Cole Hall. At the present time, the hall will remain closed, but no steps will be taken to tear the structure down.

This reversal is significant; it stands in stark contrast to the sure-fire statements put forth by Peters and Gov. Blagojevich at the press conference last week, when both leaders stated unequivocally that the building would be taken down. However, as that plan quickly came under fire from many sides, its supporters were forced to re-evaluate their stance.

Part of the pressure to reconsider the decision came from a student group that coalesced online within hours of the Feb. 27 press conference; one of the key leaders of this opposition group was Amy Genova, an anthropology/archaeology graduate student at NIU.

Genova, along with several colleagues, created the Facebook group “Preserve NIU’s Cole Hall” immediately after the press conference. According to Genova, the group was reaction to a decision the group felt was made without the “consultation of the greater NIU community, students, faculty [and] staff.”

“Our original intention [for the group] was to find out whether or not other students, faculty, and staff disagreed with the proposed legislation,” Genova said.
The group quickly ballooned up to several hundred members, and the discussion board of the group became the site of lively and spirited debate regarding the future of the building.

Genova and the other administrators of the Facebook group sent a lengthy email to Peters the day after the press conference, and also contacted State Representative Robert Pritchard (R-DeKalb) and State Senator Brad Burzynski (R-Sycamore) to express their concerns.

Both lawmakers responded “immediately,” according to Genova.

“Burzynski wrote in an e-mail that the proposed legislation was to be revised, and that more community voice will be involved. Pritchard contacted me via telephone and expressed similar sentiments,” she said. “Both men have been truly amazing, and I value their hard efforts to make certain that all voices be heard this time around.”
The group also organized a petition that has been signed by over 1300 students, faculty and alumni. Those signing the petition essentially stated that they were in favor of calling a general community assembly to address all options regarding the future of Cole Hall.

Genova explained that the goal of the petition was to educate the community as to the options and consequences involved with the various choices for Cole Hall’s future, and also to ensure that all sides of the issue were able to voice their opinions. The intended recipient of the petition is Brian Hemphill, NIU Vice-President of Student Affairs.

“Because we had no formal venue to discuss our thoughts and opinions regarding the matter, [the online group and petition are] all we had,” Genova said. “After seeing the reactions of my fellow community members, I knew that we needed to combine efforts and make sure that our voices were heard regardless if one was in favor of the demolition or not.”

“The petition was and still is a movement for the community to move ‘Forward, Together Forward’ without forgetting who we are and why we need to support each other in such times of tragedy.”

Despite her leadership role in the group, Genova quickly pointed out that the project would have never been possible without the support of the hundreds of members of the Facebook group, as well as all those who signed the petition.
“I believe everyone deserves credit,” she said. “Those who signed placed their personal opinions aside to advocate a community voice, even if that meant their voice would receive opposition.”

The debate about Cole Hall’s future is likely to continue for some time given the passion and fervor shown by both sides. Genova said she simply wants more community input before a decision is made final.

“As an archaeology graduate student in the anthropology department, I understand the importance of monumental structures standing for future generations,” Genova said. “Even though I would like to see Cole Hall stand as a memorial in testament to the five lives tragically lost [in the shooting], I want the community to make this decision together.”

Blagojevich, Peters Outline Cole Hall Demolition Plan

2008-03-04T09:21:00.000-08:00

Section: News
Published: N/A

Braving blustery winds and freezing temperatures, over 100 students, faculty and members of the media gathered outside Cole Hall on Feb. 26 to hear Gov. Rod Blagojevich unveil his new plan for the building.

The governor outlined a plan that would involve the complete demolition of Cole Hall and the construction of a new building called Memorial Hall. The new hall would be about 40-percent larger than Cole Hall and would provide 10 classrooms, as well as three lecture halls and several media production computer labs.

Cole Hall has been closed since Feb. 14, when former NIU graduate student Steve Kazmierczak entered an auditorium in the building and opened fire on the assembled students with a shotgun and several handguns. He killed five students and injured at least 16 others before turning a gun on himself. Classes for the rest of the semester were moved from the building, and the university has been weighing options for the future of the building.

That option seems to have been chosen. According to NIU President John Peters, the decision was made very soon after the shooting. “Very early on I made the decision that we had to raze [Cole Hall]; we had to demolish the building and replace it with something fitting our needs and [serving] as a memorial,” Peters said.

Peters appealed to the governor’s office for help, and Blagojevich stated in a press release that he would introduce “emergency funding legislation” in order to obtain the funds. “It’s time to look to the future, and Memorial Hall is part of the future of this campus,” Blagojevich said at the press conference Wednesday.

The demolition plan, however, is not without its obstacles. No legislation has yet been introduced, according to an Associated Press report published Saturday that quoted State Senator Brad Burzynski (R-Sycamore). The same report also quotes Burzynski as saying that what the project will entail would probably not be what “the governor envisioned.” Burzynski did tell the “Northern Star” in an interview that he hopes to have the legislation introduced by the end of this week, but it remains to be seen if the funding bill will pass the Illinois General Assembly.

The governor’s contentious relationship with Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan (D-Chicago), whom Blagojevich has feuded with several times since 2002, may end up delaying or even completely halting passage of the funding bill.

Despite the optimism of both President Peters and Gov. Blagojevich, the debate rages on campus as to whether or not the new plan is the best option for Cole Hall.
Two student groups entitled “Save Cole Hall” and “Preserve NIU’s Cole Hall” spawned on the popular social networking site Facebook almost immediately after the press conference, and quickly recruited hundreds of members.

Many postings on the groups condemned the project, with reasons focusing on funding issues, the logistics of moving the classes Cole held for at least several years and the fact that the decision was made so quickly.

One student pointed out that “tearing Cole Hall down is not as easy of a solution [as] people think it is,” while another posting argued that destroying the building was surrendering to the fear and “letting the shooter win,” instead of “moving forward and showing our spirit and resolve.”

Several students also pointed out the option that Virginia Tech employed after 33 students were killed in a shooting there last year. Norris Hall, the site of 31 of the 33 fatalities from that shooting, was reopened within three months of the incident. The second floor of the hall, where the attacks took place, was kept locked, but the remaining areas of the building went back into use.

Student debate on the plan was not limited to online tongue-lashings, either; Sherry Loos, a junior accountancy major, had “several” heated arguments on the controversial topic while on campus Friday.

“My question is what other vital project is this $40 million being taken from? Completely remodeling the inside of the building [would work], but to demolish the entire thing is not the solution,” said Loos. “There are a lot of better ways to honor the victims than tearing down Cole Hall.”

What’s Romance Without an Execution or Two?

2008-02-13T22:28:00.000-08:00

Section: Features
Published: N/A

Many people know Valentine’s Day only in the context of the late 20th and early 21st century: chocolates, cards, flowers, chocolates, romantic dinners and, well, chocolates.

However, the history of Valentine’s Day is a bit checkered and much less well known, as the traditions and origins behind the ‘most romantic day of the year’ are rather varied and, in some cases, not quite so romantic.

The holiday has its roots in legends that belonged to both Christian and Roman culture, according to Cheryl Lemus, an NIU Ph.D. candidate in history.

“There are several myths about St. Valentine and why Valentine’s Day is celebrated in February,” she said, “Like many holidays, Valentine's Day was ‘Christianized,’ as the Catholic Church, hoping to spread Christianity, adopted many ‘pagan’ celebrations.”

The Roman Catholic feast of St. Valentine, which falls on Feb. 14, is named for a martyred saint who died on that day in the third century. Christianity was a persecuted faith at that point in history, as the Roman emperor, Claudius II, had banned marriage, claiming that it “decreased his soldier’s zest for battle.”

A priest named Valentine, however, performed marriages in secret for those that wished it. When Claudius uncovered what was happening, he arrested Valentine and had him imprisoned.

Valentine was given the choice of renouncing his faith or facing death. When he refused to deny his religion, he was executed and later canonized as a saint. Before he died, however, he inadvertently started one of the main traditions of Valentine’s Day: the giving of Valentine’s cards.

According to the Christian Science Monitor, the practice of giving ‘valentines’ began while Valentine was in prison. After meeting the blind daughter of his jailer, the priest felt pity for her and offered up prayers for her healing.

As the legend goes, the girl’s sight was “miraculously” returned to her. Valentine became friends with the girl, and on the night of his beheading, wrote her a farewell message that ended with, ‘From your Valentine.’”

Thus, the practice of calling sweethearts ‘valentines’ was born, and the tradition has grown from that goodbye note to a massive level; the U.S. Greeting Card Association estimates that one billion cards are sent every year for Valentine’s Day, which is second worldwide behind only Christmas.

The feast day also has significance in Roman legend, as Feb. 15 was a Roman celebration that honored the pagan god Lupercus and involved a sort of arranged courtship procedure. Women would write love notes and place them in a large urn that men would randomly draw from. Whichever note was drawn would be the woman that the man would court.

When Christianity eventually became the official religion of Rome, the church combined the Feb. 15 Lupercus feast with St. Valentine’s martyrdom on Feb. 14 and the holiday was born.

Lemus notes that Western Civilization did not pick up the holiday, officially, until the 1600s. “In Britain, Valentine's Day was celebrated sometime in the 17th century, as men and women sent each other little notes and gifts,” she said, “In America, Valentine's Day was not really recognized until the 1840s.”

Despite the fact that many anti-Valentine’s Day advocates in recent years complain that the commercialization of the holiday has ruined its ‘original purpose,’ when America first recognized Valentine’s Day as a holiday in the 1840s, the commercialization began right away.

The credit for the first Valentine’s Day card goes to a Massachusetts resident named Esther Howland, who sold $5,000 worth of colorful cards in 1847. Other manufacturers soon copied her ideas, and very quickly the ‘commercialized’ Valentine’s Day became the norm.

By 1861, Richard Cadbury had invented the Valentine’s Day candy box, and within 40 years, heart-shaped boxes of chocolates were a mainstay of the holiday and could be found all across the country.

According to Lemus, today’s Valentine’s Day is much the same as it was then, with just subtle differences. “It is still a commercialized holiday.” Lemus said. She explained that she has seen old advertisements from the 19th century that listed prices for valentines, some reaching as high as $250 each, no small sum in the 1800s.

Men and women were urged as well as they are now to spend their disposable income on treats and gifts for their significant others.

When Google, Yahoo fall short, University Libraries picks up slack

2007-11-15T22:43:00.000-08:00

Section: Opinion/Perspective
Published: Northern Star, November 15 2007 Issue

An Internet search can provide vast amounts of specific information, but not without sifting through piles of distracting data.

For example, if you wanted to find information on the Civil War Battle of Antietam and you went to Google, you would find about 575,000 results. That’s quite a lot of information to wade through, and it may or may not be usable.
Most likely, you won’t get through more than four or five pages of results. The Antietam search is also on the small end of what you will usually find using Google; sticking with historical battles, the Battle of Marathon pulls down 2.3 million, and the general term of World War II - try 183 million.

Since the Google search algorithms use page views and external links to rank their results, chances are extremely good that an off-the-beaten path source with some really good information is probably hidden behind hundreds of thousands of other so-so sources that you will never wade through.

So, if Google is giving you information overload, where can a self-respecting student go to get good information for a research paper?

Enter the NIU University Libraries article database, a massive repository of quality sources easily available to students.

Remember my first search, the Battle of Antietam? Well, after perusing the history section of the NIU library database, I came across a database entitled “Civil War Letters and Diaries.” Within 20 seconds, I found about 100 letters and diary entries, written by Civil War soldiers and civilians, that mentioned the Battle of Antietam. How’s that for some primary source material? Imagine trying to sift through the 575,000 results on Google and come up with something as rock solid as that.

Besides its own extremely thorough collection of sources, the NIU library database also provides thousands of starting points that lead to other credible sources of information.

In my Antietam example, I did a page search on the history section of the database for the terms “Civil War,” (press ctrl+f in your browser and type in your query; very useful when you are trying to find a specific term in a long document). I found, near the bottom of the page, a link to a huge Civil War database maintained by the University of Tennessee.

All of these results are what I found under one section of the history database. This is only a small example of what awesome power you can wield with this database at your fingertips. The databases include everything from the history section we’ve already explored, medical terminology, social studies, legal information, math and statistics and everything in between.

Granted, the NIU database can seem a little overwhelming at first, just like a random Internet search, but the distinct and clear advantages it has over just a simple search engine are huge. For starters, all the sources are legitimate, which is usually a huge time sink for anyone researching on the Internet.

Secondly, the information is sorted very well, allowing you to quickly and efficiently find exactly what you need.

To access the database, head to www.ulib.niu.edu, click on “Students,” then click on “Find Information” and then “Articles and more.” The process is slightly different based on whether you are on-campus or accessing it from another location, but the general steps are the same.

Note that you will have to login using your Z-ID number if you are off-campus, but once you have done that, you are off and running. Just remember to cite your sources.

Ruckus free for students - but at what cost?

2007-11-11T20:49:00.000-08:00

Section: Opinion/Perspective
Published: Northern Star, November 9 2007 Issue

When I got the e-mail saying NIU was partnering with Ruckus to give students free music, I wanted to commend the university for trying to do something like this for students.

As a transfer student from Waubonsee Community College, where the administration often went out of its way to make things more difficult for students, this really impressed me.

I still want to commend them for trying, but unfortunately, when I spent some time investigating Ruckus, my optimism turned to disappointment after downloading and setting up the player and seeing how it all worked.

Basically, you have to download the incredibly unintuitive Ruckus player, which meshes with Windows Media Player (only the newest version, of course). After you have that whole mess installed, you can begin downloading music.

The problem with this music, however, is the insanely strict DRM (digital rights management) codes attached to every song.

The songs are given in .wma format, the Windows Media Audio file, which means, you guessed it, they are incompatible with iPods and iTunes.

You can only put the music on “Play for Sure” devices (such as the Microsoft Zune player), and only after you sign up for the “Ruckus to Go” subscription service.

With all due respect to the four NIU students that use “Play for Sure” devices, the rest of the modern world is using iPods, and this music will not play on them.

The songs each have a license that lasts one month, so you have to renew it at that time or the song will refuse to play. Perhaps more aggravating is the fact that you cannot burn the songs to a CD (even once).

So, if you use a CD player or your car as your main source of listening to music, Ruckus is essentially worthless.

Since you can only use the music on a computer and not in a CD player or non-“Play for Sure” device, it also becomes problematic for those of us who don’t do our homework sitting at our computer.

This situation is sort of like giving someone a coupon for unlimited free hamburgers at McDonalds, but the burgers you get can only be bun, ketchup and pickles, without the burger itself.

You want to say thank you, but then you realize you really haven’t gotten anything worth thanking someone for and you wish they hadn’t gotten your hopes up to start with.

It sounds pretty ungracious to trash something being given to students for free, but I want to use this to illustrate a bigger point. The reason this music is useless is because of the copy protections put in place to combat music piracy.

This makes the Ruckus music situation a microcosm of what is wrong with digital music.

Criminals are still going to be criminals. Making it harder to steal music isn’t going to stop them. Instead, they will just put more effort into it and break the codes anyway.

Every version of DRM has been cracked in some way, and this version is no different. It will be broken, and all of this will be for naught.

These so-called “protections” are only inconveniencing the criminals. They are not stopping them. The protections are, instead, putting up roadblocks for legal users.

I buy all my music legally on iTunes, but as more and more companies put ridiculous copy protections on their music, legal users are forced to pay the price for the illegal downloaders who steal music.

Perhaps what NIU should have done was partner with independent artists who would have welcomed a chance to get their music distributed for free. That way they could have accomplished their mission of giving students free music, but without the copy-protection mess Ruckus brings us.

Most students aren't protecting their PC against viruses

2007-11-02T21:04:00.000-07:00

Section: Opinion/Perspective
Published: Northern Star, November 1 2007 Issue

Students often cite cost as one of the main reasons for not keeping their computers safe.

After all, does anyone really have this insatiable urge to shell out $90 for a security suite from Norton Anti-Virus?

Thankfully, that $90 can be spent elsewhere, because you can protect and defend your computer from viruses and spyware on a very low budget – for free, in fact.

Setting up your computer to be protected is not exactly a fun job. It’s much easier to run the no-firewall, no-anti-virus route. Easier, that is, until you get infected and your computer begins to run so slow that the Comcast Slowsky turtles pass you on the information superhighway.

Chuck Downing, NIU professor of operations management and information systems, explains that virus and spyware protection is critical for two reasons.

“First, to avoid the hassle and inconvenience of having a slow or stalled computer: Many spyware programs redirect your attention to other Web sites and advertisements and can dramatically slow or even disable your computer,” he said. “The second reason is to protect against theft, disablement and liability.”

Downing said that the second reason is actually the more serious of the two. If someone uses your computer as a “springboard” to attack another computer or network because your system was not secured properly, you will be liable for the damages caused on the other end - a concept called “downstream liability.”

BROWSER

The first step in defending your computer is using the proper browser. Internet Explorer, despite its current 80-something percent market share, is a terrible piece of technology. Nearly every virus and piece of spyware is written with Internet Explorer and Windows in mind.

I’ve worked in the computer industry for six years. Of the scores of infected computers I’ve saved from spyware and virus attacks, the vast majority owe their infections to one of two sources: The user intentionally installed something filled with worms, i.e. Kazaa, or they used an unsecured browser (Internet Explorer) that was compromise.

Use Avant Browser (www.avantbrowser.com), a little known browser that views Web pages just like Internet Explorer (so you don’t have the compatibility or plug-in problems that sometimes plague Mozilla Firefox), but it is far more secure, quicker and more stable. Avant gives you built-in, tabbed browsing, an ad blocker, a pop-up blocker and many other useful security features.

ANTI-VIRUS

Head over to www.grisoft.com/free and download AVG Anti-Virus, the free edition. This anti-virus is easily one of the best anti-virus programs, as it runs in the background, instantly scans everything that downloads your computer, including Trojan horse worms that download themselves to your temporary Internet files, downloads new virus definitions in seconds each day and has a fantastic e-mail scanner.

The best testament I can give to the power of this program is the number of viruses I pulled off a single client’s computer – 45,000 - and I did this after the client’s Norton Anti virus program removed a whopping nine viruses and called the computer “clean.”

FIREWALL

For a free firewall, there is none better than ZoneAlarm (www.zonealarm.com). You have to navigate the site a bit to find the free version, but it’s there and it’s good. The firewall can monitor each piece of incoming and outgoing traffic and also has an emergency stop button that can be used to instantly shut down an Internet connection if necessary.

SPYWARE

I suggest, for most users, a two-tiered approach for spyware detection and removal: Lavasoft’s Ad Aware (www.lavasoft.com) and Spybot Search and Destroy (www.safer-networking.org). More advanced users should check out HijackThis (www.merijn.org/programs.php), but that program requires far more experience than the first two.

Ad Aware is an extremely simple program that will find many pesky pieces of spyware with little input from the user. You install, you run and you quarantine.

There are rarely any false positives, and the program does a stand-up job of eliminating many light threats. Spybot is slightly more difficult to use but catches a wider array of enemies. The program is quick and efficient, and while it does catch more false positives than Ad Aware, it is easy to uncheck those and move on.

Regularly running these two programs on your computer - whether you think you are infected or not - is good practice, because they can often find an infection in its infancy, when it is easy to remove without resorting to drastic measures.

Overall, Downing does not believe students protect their computers well enough.

“Most college students have simple or no anti virus software, and use a reactive - rather than proactive - strategy of protection,” Downing said. “They go on about their business and hope that nothing will happen.”

With these free options, more students should be able to protect themselves from the swirling hordes of viruses and spyware lurking just outside their firewall.

Sports fans take team loyalty too personally

2007-10-28T19:24:00.000-07:00

Section: Opinion/Perspective
Published: Northern Star, October 25 2007 Issue

We get emotional when our favorite sports team wins and loses – it’s just a simple fact of our society because of the emphasis that we place on sporting events.

If you were to walk into work or school and declare that you were in a rotten mood “because the Cubs lost,” no one would question you. It’s not necessary to have a real reason to be upset. Forget the “rough weekend” or “case of the Mondays” excuses. In 2007, your favorite team losing a game can cast a pall over you that is accepted by society as a good reason to be depressed for the next two weeks.

When Bad Rex showed up to deliver his opus during last year’s Super Bowl and the Bears were cast down by Indianapolis, the depth of the depression radiating from the Chicago area was palatable and somewhat disturbing.

How many people remembered that this was a game and that it was supposed to be fun?

There is a line between healthy support for your favorite team and an obsessive streak that can be detrimental to you and those around you and, unfortunately, fans are crossing this line.

Many fans are much larger stakeholders in their team’s welfare now than in past years. A study in Psychology Today magazine calls these types of fans “high-identifiers,” fans that they say have “extreme emotions in the face of defeat, compared with average sports fans.”

These labels used to be most often applied to the fans who really went over the edge and jumped onto the field of play, pummelling the guy sitting next to them or engaging in some other sort of outlandish behavior.

Increasingly, however, more and more fans are starting to drift toward the “high-identifier” category. Sporting events are transcending hobbies and pastimes and becoming emotional crutches, and that change in our thinking is not healthy.

When the hardcore fan becomes a part of the team, their health, both mental and physical, can become tied to the team’s performance. The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology explained that the team can literally become an “extension of the fan’s ego,” and when the team does poorly, the fan begins to feel tired, despondent and depressed.

If your favorite team decides to go on a massive losing streak and you are living and breathing every play, you are going to go down with them. Questioning the meaning of life because your favorite player just blew a tight game is just a little beyond the realm of healthy sporting fervor.

It’s important to not get too high or too low on your team. When my D’Backs finished off the Cubs a couple weeks ago, I was cautiously optimistic about their chances against the Rockies. Obviously, they got absolutely destroyed in the NLCS by the suddenly unbeatable kids from Denver, but at that point, it was something to shrug off.

As college students working and taking huge course loads, do any of us really have the time to become so wrapped up in our team’s destiny that a loss sends us into a haze for the next week?

Step back and remember: It’s just a game.

Eating right can actually help memory recall, and maybe improve test scores

2007-10-08T00:14:00.001-07:00

Section: Opinion/Perspective
Published: Northern Star, October 5 2007 Issue

There’s a reason many students can’t think before noon.

How often have you slammed down a hit of caffeine or sugar and ran out the door to an exam? After all, who has time for breakfast? You need those extra five minutes to jam one more obscure fact that may or may not be on the test into your head.

Well, as it turns out, those five minutes may be better spent getting some nourishment rather than blankly staring at your study guide.

I’m sure you’ve all heard the clichés on TV and the radio about how breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

However, most of it is actually true. According to a study conducted by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 1998, “Breakfast consumption preferentially influences tasks requiring aspects of memory.”

Last I checked, exams require quite a bit of memory, so falling into the habit of skipping breakfast isn’t going to work quite so well for anyone trying to ace a test.

Martha O’Gorman, a registered dietician with Recreation Services at NIU, agrees.

“Traditionally, breakfast refers to a meal eaten early in the morning,” she explained. “The crucial element is to eat your first meal within two hours of waking, [and] this meal ideally will include protein as well as carbohydrate.”

“The protein will come primarily from the dairy products or the eggs and, to a lesser extent, the whole grains. But, this first meal might also be a hearty soup, a sandwich, a piece of fruit and a glass of low fat milk consumed at 11 a.m.,” O’Gorman said.

Trying to single-handedly increase PepsiCo and Hershey’s third-quarter profits by another tenth of a percent might taste quite good (believe me, you get no argument from me – I bleed Pepsi); however, it’s not the best choice when you’re trying to use your brain on an exam. In fact, too much caffeine and sugar can actually hurt your ability to recall information.

According to O’Gorman, “Consuming large portions of caffeine or sugary beverages without adequate protein and healthy carbohydrates will likely leave the student feeling lethargic or fatigued in the middle of the exam, just when he/she needs to accomplish their best recall.”

She added, “The biggest detriment for students will be if they are taking an exam or studying for an exam without fueling the brain.”
O’Gorman explained that students who want to improve their exam performance should focus on a “balance in the time and type of meal” to properly fuel the brain.

“Whether maximizing mental or physical performance, eat within two hours of getting up and eat every four or five hours up to the two hours before going to bed. Choose a balanced mix of lean protein, whole grains, fruits, vegetables and healthy fats,” O’Gorman said.

Eating is something you’re going to do anyway, so why not do it right and give yourself a leg up when it comes to that next exam?

Software License Agreements A Must-Read, Now More than Ever

2007-07-30T12:53:00.001-07:00

Section: Features
Published: Waubonsee Insight, July 2007 Issue

Let’s be honest; when you click “Agree,” and check the box that says, “I have read the above license and agreement and agree to abide by its terms,” how many of those times have you really read whole thing? Once? Twice? Seen one, seen them all?

It’s ok to admit it; we are all guilty of it at times. License agreements used to be standard affairs and you could get away with it; the old pattern included a part about it not being the company’s fault if you were stupid and misused the program, a part about not reverse engineering and stealing the program, and then a part about not transferring the program to a country the U.S.A. currently had a trade embargo on.

But now, every company (scrupulous and not) is sculpting their agreements in different ways to reach their goals, and the end user (you and me) has to be more cautious then ever.

Companies creating programs such as the virus-filled file-downloading utility called Kazaa bank on the fact that most people don’t really want to read 15 pages of legal mumbo jumbo about reverse engineering and copyright infringement information that does not even apply to the vast majority of users. So, deep down in their agreement, they hide the nefarious little lines of text that can cause so many problems.

Unfortunately for those who’d rather just slap the next button as fast as they can, software developers have grown smarter, and now they are making sure that they cover themselves from potential lawsuits by having the user essentially say, “Yes, please install much spyware on my computer.” Because, when you click “Agree,” that is exactly what you are doing; you are agreeing with everything written in that license, whether you have read it or not.

I have worked cleaning viruses and spyware infections from computers for the last six or seven years, and I can say easily that the vast majority of infections are not caused by downloading some mysterious file that accidentally gets installed; the infections are caused by programs intentionally installed by the user, but programs with loopholes and security risks in the license agreements that the user did not read.

Obviously, there are a lot of programs of ill-repute (such as Kazaa) that are teeming with these license agreement add-ins, because that’s what the programs are all about. What is becoming a disturbing trend is how many legitimate programs have dangerous things hidden in their license agreements.

I recently ran into a license agreement that totally blew me away. I was installing a copy of Iolo Technologies’ System Mechanic 7, which is a tool for fixing a myriad of issues on your computer, when I almost clicked Next as usual at the 300 million page license agreement.

After all, it was a legit program. It’s not like I was installing a file-sharing tool or something else that you would expect to be laden with open doors for viruses and spyware.

Something caught my eye in the first paragraph, however, just a small wording difference from the usual agreement. My interest was piqued, so I continued to read the entire document. Lo and behold, buried beneath many pages of gibberish that means nothing to the average legal user, was the disturbing nugget of information. The license agreement, under the heading of “Software Data Collection and Monitoring” stated the following: “The SOFTWARE contains features that allow iolo and/or third parties to collect data from, control, and/or monitor computers and devices running or interacting with the SOFTWARE in order to prevent unlicensed or illegal use of the SOFTWARE.”

The English version of that is that Iolo is allowed to take information from your computer, including what other programs you are using, in order to make sure that you are not pirating the software.

Talk about a security risk! Even the fact that the program (which is supposed to be doing things like defragmenting the hard drive and fixing registry errors) would have the ability to do such a thing is beyond anything that would have been seen in a license agreement five years ago. Obviously efforts taken to prevent software piracy are commendable, but not at the expense of your user’s privacy.

You can argue that a legitimate security company like Iolo is not going to do something illegal, but giving any company the permission (not just the ability, but the permission) to take hold of your computer is simply asking for problems. Who is to say that a dishonest employee of the company couldn’t take control of your computer for his or her own purpose? What would stop the company from simply spying on you? It’s pretty far-fetched, granted, but is it a risk that you really want to plunge into without reading about it first?

We live in a day and age of fine print. You see it in T.V. commercials and magazine ads, you hear it in that really fast talking guy’s voice at the end of radio commercials, and now, you are seeing it in the license agreements of that new piece of software you just bought.

The difference, however, is that you don’t store personal information in your T.V. or your radio. Read your license agreements and read them well. I am not advocating that you don a tin-foil hat and never install another program because it might be dangerous or include some nasty text in the agreement, but it only takes one program like that to wreck a computer or steal your information, and this is a simple and painless way to save yourself from problems down the road.

"Transformers" Solid Entry into Cartoon-to-Movie Genre

2007-07-10T21:30:00.000-07:00

Section: Arts and Entertainment
Published: N/A

Cartoons and comic books being turned into movies have mixed results; for every “Spiderman,” there’s a “Hulk,” and for every “Punisher” there’s a “Catwoman.”

The legendary cartoon-now-turned-movie “Transformers” pits the righteous Autobots against the nefarious Decepticons in a war for the All-Spark, a powerful device that would make either side the winners in the struggle.

Truthfully, “Transformers” falls somewhere in the middle of the above list, but definitely closer to the “good adaptation” side than many movies.

Before I go any further, let me say that to those of you who pay attention to directors and the style of movies that they make, this is a Michael Bay film, through and through. Think the absurd battle sequences and ridiculously bland and brain-numbing attempts at a romance plot from “Pearl Harbor,” and add in the one-liners and tongue in cheek humor from “Bad Boys 2.” The latter is enjoyable, while the former is, well, a necessary evil you have to live with.

“Transformers” can be an enjoyable movie, don’t get me wrong; the caveat is that you have to make one adjustment before you sit down to watch it: don’t think. I really, really mean this too. The movie is fun, but you can sap that fun out pretty quick by starting to overthink the scenes.

For example, the lines spoken by the Transformers (especially when speaking to one another) are incredibly cheesy, but I suppose that in the spirit of mimicking the cartoon, they certainly did a good job at that.

On the acting front, Shia LaBeouf (“Disturbia”) played the teenager whose first car turned out to be an Autobot, and was easily the best of the lead actors; he was quite solid, but not awe-inspiring. It was obvious that much of the focus on the movie was on the robots, as it should have been, and the human actors were woefully neglected in some places, particularly with some seriously underdeveloped secondary characters. I’m not a huge secondary character fan (blame it on me being a Trekker who is infected with “Red Shirt Fever”), however, if you are going to use secondary characters, they are going to need a bit more development than the writers used here. They tried to introduce too many characters that you were supposed to care about too quickly in the middle stages of the movie, and you quickly forgot who was actually important and who wasn’t.

One side character that was a success was John Turturro (“Anger Management,” “Mr. Deeds”), who played a government agent who seemed just a little bit off his rocker, and was hilarious, as usual; I think the man could play a statue and still find a way to crack the audience up.

For the movie itself, the pace was quite good; the movie kept you watching the entire time, with only spots here and there that seemed to give you pause. It was a very nice balance between rushing through too fast and dragging uphill in a snowstorm, and it fit perfectly.

The battle scenes involving the Transformers were sometimes hard to follow, because the close in shots ended up just being a wash of color. Some of the best parts, from a cinematic perspective, involved the battle in the city when the camera pulled back and let you see the whole street, the two fighting robots and the defensive line set up by the special ops group.

The CGI for the bots was fantastic, however, and the sheer spectacle of them tearing each other to ribbons is pretty impressive and definitely worth the watch. If nothing else, forget the dialog and the plot and just take in the robot fighting (which, when you boil it down, is the point of “Transformers” anyway; big robots beating each other up amid massive explosions). When you put it like that, “Transformers” hits it big.

Without spoiling the plot, I will say that how the robots are able to get an advantage over the humans straight away is somewhat deus ex machina-ish and kind of far-fetched, but that’s another one of those overthinking scenes.

There’s also another set of scenes that I felt really stole from “Independence Day,” but I don’t know the cartoon well enough to know if that’s how it actually went down and the movie was just copying it. Either way, it was again a bit convoluted and very convenient.

The ending was a bit of a disappointment in my mind, but not exactly deal-breaking. The battle scene was chaotic and the timing was a big odd; when the film cut to another set of bots battling and then went back to the first, it was as if no time had passed while the focus was elsewhere. The ending also seemed very tacked on and very contrived. Of course, I’m no scholar of the original “Transformers,” so maybe it was closer to the cartoon than I think it was.

Overall, I would say definitely go and see “Transformers,” especially if you are or were a fan of the cartoon series. There are parts of the movie that absolutely require you to not think them through or you’ll hurt yourself in the process, but honestly, even with its flaws, it is still a very enjoyable, fun and action filled movie, and that’s all that’s really required from a summer flick.

Midseason MLB Team Report: Arizona Diamondbacks (47-43)

2007-07-09T12:24:00.000-07:00

A week before the All Star break, the Snakes would have solidly had an A if I was giving grades, as they were nine games above .500 and leading the tight NL West division. However, a five game slide that included two losses against the hapless Cardinals and an embarrassing sweep by the last-place Reds drop them down a bit. The ‘Backs entered the break with the second worst ‘last 10’ in the majors, dropping 8 of the final 10 games before the break. The young bats continue to be either very loud or very quiet in Phoenix, and the D’Backs need more consistency in order to make the playoffs. Eric Byrnes (.306, 14 HR, 49 RBI) leads essentially every offensive category for the team, and while Byrnes is one of those players who plays 100% every pitch of every game, he can’t power the offense by himself (although he certainly tries sometimes). Chris B. Young (.233, 13 HR, 31 RBI) and Orlando Hudson (.296, 7 HR, 47 RBI) are both putting up relatively solid numbers as well, but the Diamondbacks sorely lack a true power hitter.

The rotation has been solid, but not spectacular; Randy Johnson (4-3, 3.81) is back on the disabled list, Cy Young winner Brandon Webb (8-6, 3.37) has not looked like himself lately, and Doug Davis (5-10, 4.26) has a painfully high 1.75 WHIP. The bullpen has been shaky as well, but some recent demotions to Triple A Tucson (see: Brandon Medders, 1-2, 4.84, and a penchant to give up HRs like they are going out of style) might help to stabilize the situation. Look for the Diamondbacks to make a good run for the pennant if they can get through the first set of games after the break, as they play a tough series against NL West leaders San Diego and NL Central frontrunners Milwaukee and Chicago.

Midseason MLB Team Report: Chicago Cubs (44-43)

2007-07-09T12:23:00.000-07:00

Somehow, the Cubs are still in the playoff race (4 ½ back of Milwaukee) despite making, on a regular basis, some of most stupid and amateurish plays in baseball (such as throwing the ball away on game-altering plays or getting caught in run downs over and over again…paging Angel Pagan) and nearly blowing half the games they’ve managed to win. Case in point: on June 29, the Cubs took a five-run lead into the ninth inning, promptly gave up six runs in the top half of the inning to fall behind, only to come back in the bottom to score two and win the game.

They seem to have settled down a bit since the departure of the hot-headed Michael Barrett, and when you combine that with a Milwaukee team that is starting to slip just a little, the Cubs just might be able to squeak themselves into the playoffs. They need to win the division, however, because there are too many good teams in the East and West vying for the Wild Card to consider that a really viable option (Mets/Braves in the East and Padres/Dodgers/D’Backs in the West are all legitimate playoff contenders).

Probably the biggest flaw on the Cubs right now is the atrocious and inconsistent bullpen. Aside from Carlos Marmol (2.0, 0.96), who is having a career year and has only given up a whopping three runs all year, the rest of the cleanup men are not getting the job done, especially in clutch situations. Scott Eyre has a 6.60 ERA over 30 IP, Bob Howry is running at 4.68 and almost all the relievers have the unerring ability to give up runs at exactly the wrong time for the Cubs.

Chicago nearly lost 100 games in 2006; a comeback to 85 or 90 wins this season could be quite a victory for the Cubbies. Seeing as they are only a game above .500 at this point, it will be a stretch; will they be able to hang on? It depends on whether or not they play like the Cubs of late June and July or the Cubs of April and May.

The better question, however, is whether or not Lou Piniella will eat his hat in a fit of rage before the end of the season.

Midseason MLB Team Report: New York Yankees (42-43)

2007-07-09T12:22:00.000-07:00

Alex Rodriguez (.317, 30 HR, 86 RBI) continues to clobber the baseball, but his 30 homers are more than double (in fact, nearly triple) of what the next best on the team is producing (Hideki Matsui at 11). Derek Jeter has only five long balls, and Johnny Damon and Bobby Abreu are in similar power slumps (five each as well). The lack of home runs hasn’t particularly hurt the run production, however, as the Yanks are third in the Majors for runs scored (464) and fourth for team average (.280). They are still not winning games, however, and with there being 10 games between them and Boston right now, they probably won’t catch the Sox unless the latter really fall down in the second half of the season. For New York, a team that hasn’t seen the World Series since 2003 and hasn’t won since 2000, it may be time to rebuild.

New York plays Tampa Bay six times in their first nine games back from the All Star break, then they have four games against Kansas City and three against Baltimore, so they should be able to pick up a lot of momentum very quickly, but Boston’s schedule isn’t that much more difficult, however, with games against the Jays, KC and the White Sox, so the Yankees can’t rely on Boston to trip and fall, and they probably will not be able to muster enough of a blitz to take the top spot from the Sox.

Midseason MLB Team Report: San Francisco Giants (38-48)

2007-07-09T12:19:00.000-07:00

Barry Bonds will, barring some sort of career-ending injury, break Hank Aaron’s home run record sometime this year. Unfortunately for the Giants, that is pretty much the only highlight they have left in the season. They are 10 ½ games back in the hotly contested NL West, and the ‘other Barry,’ Barry Zito, has been a tremendous disappointment; $10 million a year for a starter that has a 6-9 with a 4.90 ERA and a 1.2 K/BB ratio is definitely not that San Fran had planned when they made the blockbuster deal. Zito’s 57 ER are a dozen more than the next most on the team.

Matt Cain and Morris have both been better than their W/L record show (3-9 and 7-5, respectively), but the Giants’ struggling offense can’t keep them alive in close games. Noah Lowry looks on paper to be the most solid of the starters with a 3.35 ERA and a 9-6 record, but Cain and Morris both have solid ERAs as well. The Giants simply are not giving the run support; the only teams to have scored less runs this year are the White Sox and the Nationals. The Giants’ team batting average of .250 isn’t helping either.

Morris and Cain also have startlingly bad K/BB ratios that are only slightly better than Zito’s. Morris does have three complete games, however, while Zito has none and Cain and Lowry each have one.

To add to that mess, the bullpen, aside from Randy Messenger, is a disaster. Their reliever with the second most appearances (behind Messenger), Jack Taschner, also has the highest ERA, clocking in at a staggering 6.08 after giving up 18 ER in just 26 2/3 innings.

Midseason MLB Team Report: Tampa Bay Devil Rays (34-53)

2007-07-09T12:18:00.000-07:00

The Rays stumbled and fumbled their way into the All Star break, going 1-9 in their last ten games before they mercifully got a reprieve. The team’s awful .391 winning percentage is the worst in baseball, and when you have a winning percentage worse than Texas and Kansas City, you know something is seriously wrong. Tampa Bay lost 101 games last year and 95 in 2005; they will easily match those numbers and probably beat them this year. Their second to last game before the break was sort of a microcosm of their entire season; relievers Jay Witasick (1-0, 4.81) and Casey Fossum (5-7, 7.52) combined to walk a team-record five straight batters (walking in two runs) during the eighth inning, giving away a 6-4 lead. The kicker? They were facing the lowly Royals.

James Shields has really been the only burst of sunshine in the black abyss of the Rays’ pitching nightmare, but after a strong start, he’s been slapped around a lot lately, pulling his record up to 7-4 and his ERA to an acceptable (but not great) 3.82. His K/BB ratio is phenomenal, though, sitting at 6.1. The sad part for Tampa Bay is that the other starters are more than bad enough to erase anything good Shields does. Edwin Jackson is 1-9 with a pathetic 7.23 ERA through only 74 2/3 innings (averaging just 5 innings per start), and none of the other starters have positive records (although Scott Kazmir comes close at 5-6).

On the batting side, Carlos Pena has an OPS of 1.004, OBP of .395 and 20 long balls, BJ Upton is batting .320 and speedy Carl Crawford has eight triples to go with 23 steals, but nothing the guys at the plate do is going to slow down the damage the guys on the mound are doing; the Devil Rays composite ERA is a hideous 5.82, almost a full point worse than the next to last team, the Rangers at 5.08.

Slow Zombies Are More Effective

2007-06-14T22:11:00.000-07:00

Section: Opinion/Editorial
Published: Helium (http://www.helium.com/tm/397706/whole-allure-uniqueness-zombies)

The whole allure and uniqueness of zombies is that they are unnatural. They are reanimated dead that shamble and shuffle along while trying to tear the flesh off of live people, and they are just not as fun when they are running while they do it.

The classic tried and true zombie is slow; they shamble, scuffle and groan while relentlessly pursuing their victims. Despite that fact that Hollywood has tried to reinvent the wheel by making several painful movies such as 28 Days Later, zombies are meant to be and have always been slow and methodical.

Normal people move fast, and since zombies are supposed to be unnatural, they should not be doing things that normal people are doing.

Fast zombies, quite frankly, are not as terrifying as slow zombies. Sure, they might be physically more frightening in the sense that you might not be able to outrun them, but physical fear is much easier to overcome than mental fatigue.

Fast zombies will probably catch you, and then you have to fight them off, but that's not the point of zombies. The point of zombies is the inexorable pursuit of a foe that does not die and does not stop. Fast zombies that can fall on humans without warning take away from the suspense and the take away a fundamental part of what a zombie is: a weapon of psychological terror.

There are many psychological reasons for slow moving zombies. While fending off an attack by lightning quick zombies might be a quick adrenaline jolt, the slow and steady grind of being pursued or hiding from a pack of slow moving and groaning zombies cannot be ignored. The tension level is far higher with slow zombies. Parties of humans trying to elude slow zombies will, at times, be forced to travel within sight and within earshot of the enemy, subjecting them to terrible stresses as they move so close to the zombies eager to rip them to pieces.

With fast zombies, the tension is over far too quickly. There's not enough time to build the fear, and certainly not enough time for the humans to really think about the situation they are in and really get that cold feeling in the pit of their stomachs.

Despite the fact that slow zombies have been around for years, I do not think they are worn out. On the contrary; zombies are meant to be slow. It's part of what makes them zombies. When zombies start moving fast and running around like normal people, they lose what makes them "zombies," and they become, instead, simply monsters, and who is scared of a couple of monsters?

Guantanamo Bay Should Remain Open

2007-06-13T22:16:00.000-07:00

Section: Opinion/Editorial
Published: Helium (http://www.helium.com/tm/395833/guantanamo-vital-survival-country)

Guantanamo Bay is vital for the survival of our country. Each captured terrorist imprisoned there is one less threat to our country, and one less extremist that is out there ready to strap a bomb to his body and blow up innocent people.

We are at war with a force of people whose sole mission is to destroy our country and our way of life. During wartime, it is acceptable (in fact, necessary) to take prisoners.

The lives of American citizens are the responsibility of the US Government. Putting terrorists in Guantanamo saves American lives, and thus, I have no problem with it existing. I’m not concerned about my tax dollars being spent to keep Guantanamo running. I’d rather that the money be spent there, protecting our country, than lining the pocket of yet another corrupt member of the House of Representatives.

If we close Guantanamo, what happens to the terrorists we capture? Are we supposed to just kill them outright? Well, then we would be no better then they are. We can’t just catch them and then let them go, because then they are back on the battlefield and back trying to kill Americans. Guantanamo is the solution, and it needs to remain open and running as long as there are extremists out there trying to annihilate our nation.

Honestly, we treat the prisoners down there much better than the terrorists treat the prisoners they take. They aren’t starved, they are allowed to pray, and they do not have to endure daily beatings. If Guantanamo was really the gulag it is portrayed to be, then the prisoners would be locked away in solitary rock-walled cells with no light, no water, no books, no food and a pig. The terrible atrocities you hear on the news about Guantanamo are not even close to accurate; the whole ‘Koran in the toilet’ debacle (that cost many people across the world their lives when Muslims rioted) was false information and completely fabricated. We are Americans; we are not butchers and we are not savages. We don’t abuse these people, even though many of them would not hesitate to kill as many of us as they could if given the chance.

Quite frankly, despite the fact that we obey the Geneva Conventions when dealing with this prisoners, we need to remember that the men imprisoned in the Bay do not deserve the rights enjoyed by citizens of this country, because they are not Americans; they are the enemy, soldiers in a war who are fighting to destroy everything we believe in, and they were caught while trying to kill or help kill American citizens. They are prisoners of war, and Guantanamo Bay is one of the most important fronts of the war on terror.

Work 101

2007-05-09T22:29:00.000-07:00

Section: Arts and Entertainment
Published: Waubonsee Insight, May 2007 Issue

Ever wondered what “business casual” really means? Do you know when it's ok to pull out all the stops in shameless self-promotion?

What's the best way to fend off the infamous Cubicle Invader or keep a conversation afloat that is sinking faster than Rosie O'Donnell's career?

If these and other pressing business world questions have been weighing heavily on your mind (or you're at least curious to know the battle plan to use against the previously mentioned Cubicle Invader) then Work 101: Learning the Ropes of the Workplace Without Hanging Yourself is the book for you.

Written by Elizabeth Freedman, M.B.A, Work 101 bills itself as the book that will give you “everything you need to know about corporate survival,” and honestly, that's not very far off base.

The book is extremely thorough and covers a very wide variety of business topics, and it does so from a quirky, but detailed, perspective.

The book includes sections on etiquette at work, including introducing yourself (which involves a lot more than 'my name is so and so'), surviving and thriving in workplace meetings, and a well titled and very in-depth chapter on the business standards of eating called “Your Fork Is Not Shovel, Your Knife Is Not A Saw.”
Work 101 also features sections on the best ways to network, maintain relationships and communicate, and one on the art of getting that often sought but less often received promotion.

Freedman does a good job of maintaining a fun but serious attitude throughout the book. You get the sense that she is trying to get the points across in an entertaining manner, but at the same time, she's letting you know that some of these are very serious situations that could make or break your career.

She succeeds in both areas, as a matter of fact. Her section on what attire is appropriate and not appropriate is hilarious, especially when she is admonishing the reader to, “for the love of God,” avoid certain articles of clothing because of the…situations…that said articles can cause.

Obviously, the book isn't going to give you the 'be all, end all' answers to every situation in a working environment; companies are never cut and dried in their standards, and may be more lax on some things and totally focused in on others, but overall, Work 101 is an excellent resource for anyone who is currently or plans to soon be out and about in the business world.

WCC Reviews Campus Safety Protocols

2007-05-09T22:27:00.000-07:00

Section: News
Published: Waubonsee Insight, May 2007 Issue

After the Virginia Tech tragedy last month, colleges across the nation have had to take a step back and look again at their security protocols and procedures.

Waubonsee, however, was already in the process of a security overhaul.

Insight recently sat down with David Quillen, Waubonsee Vice President of Campus Operations and Finance, and Public Safety Chief Joe Monstwillo, to discuss the safety of Waubonsee's campus, as well as future plans to make the environment of Waubonsee even safer.

If a safety issue were to develop on one of Waubonsee's campuses that was similar to the Virginia Tech shooting, Waubonsee's response would be somewhat different than how Virginia Tech reacted.

“Our first response is something that was really neglected at Virginia Tech, and that is to notify as many people as possible as to the location and type of incident that is occurring,” Monstwillo explained.

He added that Waubonsee has been working on a variety of community notification strategies since before the VT tragedy. “Community notification is kind of a work in progress right now,” he said.

Quillen elaborated on that, saying that there are currently several communication devices in place, including emergency call boxes. “We do have some things that are in place, [but] we are looking at enhancing those…as we expand into other projects, we're looking at modernizing, as well as expanding, the number of [call boxes],” he confirmed.

Quillen also stated that there would be “no limit” as to what would be done to keep students safe in the event of a security issue.

He explained that although responses would be “scenario specific,” most options would “be on the table.” These could include closing the campus, locking down buildings and many other related actions.

In that vein, both Monstwillo and Quillen encouraged anyone confronted with an emergency situation on campus to be proactive.

“I think it's important for the members of the WCC community to understand that they are all empowered to [call 911 in the event of an emergency.] They don't have to contact us and filter an emergency through the public safety department or through any other entity. We expect that if an emergency would develop, that time being of the essence, we would anticipate students to take the initiative to make that call,” Monstwillo said.

He went on to say that he gives the students enough credit to understand when a situation is emergent and when it warrants a 911 response.

Calling 911 does not sidestep the WCC Public Safety Department, either; the 911 dispatch center can tie directly into the radios of Public Safety personnel and dispatch them to the scene of the incident immediately.

“Everyone here is a stakeholder in the safety of the community. People should make responsible decisions based upon that,” Monstwillo added.

One situation that was brought to the forefront after the Virginia Tech shootings was the fact that Waubonsee police officers are currently not allowed by campus regulations to carry any sort of firearms.

Quillen explained that although he has only been at Waubonsee for roughly 14 months, nearly every meeting he has had with the President and the Board of Trustees has involved some sort of discussion on revamping the campus security protocols.

“[We] have been working to analyze some component, not strictly about armed or not armed, but a comprehensive review of the public safety function here,” he explained, “Is it appropriately staffed? Is it appropriately equipped? Is it the appropriate size?”

Quillen pointed out that it's “not a one size fits all conclusion,” because Waubonsee's Sugar Grove campus is a different environment than the Aurora campus, and the administration is also still working on the future of the Plano campus, as well as the current model of security in place at the Copley campus. “[Discussion regarding public safety officers carrying weapons] has been in process, and that will be a component piece for the Board of Trustees to consider,” he said, “The public safety department can effectively do the majority of their job without [weapons,] but they cannot effectively do all of the things they are potentially called upon without them.”

It is important for the community to understand that the security of the campus is something that is very “fluid and adaptable,” as Monstwillo explained.

“I don't think you'd call it a science; it's almost an art,” he stated, “One of the important aspects of security is remaining aware of and constantly assessing the number and variety of threats that are part of the environment.”

He continued, “For us to say that a certain course of action is correct today may be inappropriate a month from now or six months from now, or certain decisions that were made years ago regarding the public safety function here at the college may or may not still be appropriate for today's environment, because you have to consider all the factors that have changed within that timeframe. Security is one of those areas where there are seldom hard fast answers that are chiseled in granite and will always be correct.”

While changes may be made to the overall security policy, Monstwillo stated that they will not be made as “knee jerk responses” to the Virginia Tech slayings.

Rather, any changes will most likely be part of the ongoing improvement process in the area of campus security.

“The Virginia Tech incident did very little to change the way we do business, because the bottom line is it is something we do behind the scenes every day and it's something that we think about every day,” Monstwillo continued, “After eight years of Federal service, [where] scenario planning was an important part, those 'what ifs; are always at the back of my mind whether I'm here or not here.”

According to Quillen, the college takes these security concerns very seriously. “It's a serious circumstance, and the college takes it seriously,” he said, “As always after events like this across the country, the reassessment [and] continuous improvement thought process goes into it. One [area] I definitely feel we can do better in is communication.”

Time to Don Your Helmet: Biking Illinois A Must-Have for Bicyclists of All Levels

2007-05-09T22:25:00.000-07:00

Section: Arts and Entertainment
Published: Waubonsee Insight, May 2007 Issue

The early April snow and slush attack we weathered notwithstanding, it's about summer time, which means it's time to pull the helmets and gloves out and take part in one of the most popular summer pastimes: bicycling.

But if you're tired of riding the same old trails, fear not! Thanks to Waubonsee alumni and former Insight Editor In Chief David Johnsen, bicyclists in Illinois have a veritable treasure trove of well planned rides right at their finger tips with Johnsen's book, Biking Illinois.

Sandwiched between an attractively colorful and glossy cover, the book is only 132 pages, but it crams in an amazing amount of content. Biking Illinois spends a few pages in acknowledgements, introduction and general biking tips before it gets down to business.

The book features 60 unique rides, sorted by location, and has sections detailing each geographical area of the state (northwest, northeast, central and south). Anyone in Illinois who reads the book will probably have at least one ride in relatively close proximity, as Johnsen features rides from Rockford, to the Chicago lakefront, to Shawnee National Park and everywhere in between.

Johnsen devotes two pages to each ride, and each ride has a quick reference box that immediately gives the readers a quick “at a glance” look at what the ride will encompass. The details include the location, distance of the ride, rough amount of time the ride will take, the surface, terrain and “sweat factor.”

The rest of the first page gives a step-by-step breakdown of the ride itself, including a photo or two from along the trail. The second page devoted to each ride is a full-page map of the area, with a clearly highlighted path and well-placed marking that point out tricky areas of the trail (as well as things like rest areas and steep hills).

Each ride is very thoroughly described; on top of being able to effectively direct readers to where they need to get (not the easiest task in the world), Johnsen is also an accomplished bicyclist who knows every nuance of the rides he writes about, right down to when you need to veer a couple feet this way or that to avoid some sort of obstacle on the trail.

I've personally ridden on a number of the 60 trails listed in the book, and I can say that Johnsen's descriptions of not only the trails themselves, but also the areas around them, are extremely accurate and very helpful.

It's interesting to note that aside from the author, there is another Waubonsee connection in the book; ride number 24 in the list is the Virgil Gilman Trail, a ride that begins in the Waubonsee Sugar Grove campus parking lot.

At first read, I questioned Johnsen's sorting method for the rides; my first impression was that sorting them by difficulty would be a better idea, because there are many different skill levels of riders and it can be a bit tedious to page through the whole book if you're looking for a specific type of ride.

However, upon further review, I have to say that I did come around to agree with his original arrangement, which groups the rides by locale. After all, if you're looking for a hilly, challenging ride, but the one listed in the difficulty you are aiming for is in Zion and you're in Peoria, that doesn't work as well as being able to search the rides around you first.

One thing I do think could have been improved is to add some more photos to the descriptions.

Don't get me wrong here; even without photos, the book would still be extremely successful, because the descriptions of the rides are, as previously mentioned, first-rate. But on a number of the rides, there's some empty space on the page that is just asking for another photo.

A little bit of layout nitpicking can't detract from the overall quality of the book, however; Biking Illinois is a spectacular resource for any level of bicyclist in Illinois. On top of the fact that many bicycling books only focus on well-traveled areas and forget the lesser known and off the beaten path biking trails this book does a good job of covering, Biking Illinois is much more personable than a normal cut and dried “here's the trail, ride this way,” biking guide.

Johnsen does a good job at making each ride interesting to read. On top of the spot-on descriptions, he also includes little tidbits of history and trivia about the towns and historical landmarks that the rides travel through.

It's worth knowing that the author is a veteran bicyclist who has pedaled over 9000 miles in sixteen different states over the last seven years, because it shows in the book. Johnsen's writing is descriptive and well thought out, and his obvious experience seeps through at every turn.

Biking Illinois is available at most Borders and Barnes and Noble bookstores in Illinois, and the author can be contacted through his website (www.bikingillinois.com), where he also posts updates to the book and other information on biking.

That’s Broadway, Baby!

2007-05-09T22:23:00.000-07:00

Section: News
Published: Waubonsee Insight, May 2007 Issue

Under the direction of Maria Boundas Bakalis, the Waubonsee theater department performed Broadway, an entertaining story set in a 1930s nightclub, on April 12, 13 and 14.

Drama began to unfold when feuding crime lords (played by Will Wilson and Cameron Meuller) paid a visit to the club at the same time, sparking a less than friendly confrontation. The remainder of the play revolved around the cover up of said confrontation, especially when police detective Dan McCorn (Clint Carlton) showed up. The other major plot twist involved the love triangle between nightclub manager Roy Lane (Michael Hochstetler), crime boss Steve Crandall (Wilson) and cabaret dancer Billie Moore (Christa Foster).

On top of all the conflict between the characters, the nightclub was still a nightclub, and Lane, Moore and the other dancers were constantly flitting back and forth to perform numbers in a wide variety of costumes (props to the designers for the variety and to the actors for changing their outfits so quickly).

With regard to the acting, the award for one of the best performances of the night definitely goes to Michael Hochstetler and Will Wilson. The duo played the parts of nightclub manager and crime boss, respectively, and had a number of excellent scenes together. Both characters were trying to woo the same woman, and they were at odds for much of the play.

The performance of these two was especially interesting to watch, as they played a far different type of role in the fall 2006 play, Break a Leg, when they were insufferable comic hounds who had a one-liner response to everything.

Another highlight of the play was the spectacular set. Led by Sean Ream, the set construction crew built an amazing set that included two sets of stairs, an office, a bar, and very period-appropriate paint scheme. My hat is off to all those that put in hours of work on the set, because it turned out very nice and added a great feeling to the entire play.

While Broadway was nowhere near the laugh-fest that last semester's Break a Leg was, there were a few laugh out loud moments and a number of smirk-inducing lines, including one said by the exasperated club owner, Nick Verdis (played by Ream), who exclaimed at one point that it “was a free country-almost.”

Broadway succeeded in the drama department, however, and aside from a few dragging moments here and there, the play was well acted, exciting, and
definitely another top-notch performance by the Waubonsee
theater department.

Skills? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Skills!

2007-05-09T22:22:00.000-07:00

Section: Opinion/Editorial
Published: Waubonsee Insight, May 2007 Issue

Years ago, computer and video games took skill. On the Sega Genesis, if you didn't throw the ball at your receiver at the right time in College Football 97, you didn't complete the pass. In Goldeneye 64, if you didn't aim your gun at the enemy and pull the trigger, you didn't kill them (believe me, I learned the latter the hard way many, many times).

Those were the days; those with skills won, and those without went home licking their wounds, swallowing their pride, and hoping to improve before the next gaming session.

Being good at a game took some effort; not a monumental/obsessive 15 hours a day practicing kind of effort, but at least someone couldn't pick up a brand new game and be “owning” in an hour.

Those days are sadly gone. With the advent of auto-aim, auto-pass catch, and auto-everything else, games just aren't what they used to be.

I probably sound a crotchety old guy yelling at the whippersnappers running around in front of his house with this article, but in my ripe old age of 21, that's almost what I feel like sometimes when I see how absurdly easy new games have become, and how punk kids think they are “all that” because they can master multiplayer Halo in an hour.

Newsflash: that game is not difficult, it has no plot, and Master Chief is no match for a crowbar (inside PC vs console joke).

I will admit that I expect the easiness, to an extent, from console games. Consoles are already operating at such a handicap comparing to PC games (with regards to graphics and controls, mostly) that you have to dumb down the game a bit to make it work.

After all, when you have an X-Box controller that has, what, two-dozen buttons, and you face that against a keyboard and a mouse that has over a hundred keys and the most dynamic controller in existence, there are going to be allowances.

However, even PC gaming, the most hallowed and uncorrupted form of gaming in my book, has seen some disturbing cross pollination from the console gaming wave of luxury. The first time I played Counter Strike, I died so fast and so many times, I had no clue what was going on.

From my vantage point, enemies appeared from nowhere, my weapon never fired correctly and I spent a lot of time studying the floor and the ceiling.

I ended the game with one kill to match 25 deaths, and knew then and there that if I wanted to play the game against the type of people that just gave me a thrashing, I had to put in a bit of time to learn the ropes.

This is no the case anymore. Now, you can pick up a game and “learn” it in an hour or two. What happened to destroy gaming as we know it?

Well, the problem is something that, in my opinion, can be described in two words: “The Mainstream.” You've heard the term before, I'm sure. “The Mainstream” is what “everyone” is doing, don't you know?

The “Mainstream” likes results, and they like those results quickly, with a bottle of Dasani on the side, thank you.

Counter Strike for PC was one of the most popular PC games of all time, but it never received a following from “The Mainstream” until a butchered and stripped version of the game appeared on consoles, complete with auto-aim, practice bots and simplistic weapon controls. Soon after, the butchery extended to the newest version of the PC version of the game.

It seems that now, no one wants to own a game for months before being able to be competitive; they want to sit down and immediately be a master at the game.
No one wants to put hard work into anything any more, least of all a game, and that's just a sad development in my eyes.

I always loved the challenge of learning a new game, and I relished the ass-beatings that you have to endure on the way up the ladder.

Now, an afternoon in front of a screen and you've learned all you can learn from the game.

Our society’s pathetic “instant gratification” attitude is bad enough in the context of the Iraq War or other things, but now it’s even polluting our games.

Imus Firing Is Another Nail in the Coffin of Free Speech

2007-05-09T22:20:00.000-07:00

Section: Opinion/Editorial
Published: Waubonsee Insight, May 2007 Issue

By now, most people have heard this story: radio personality makes disparaging comments, and free speech gets trampled on for about the fiftieth time in as many days.

Of course, that's not the version of the story that you'll hear about on the evening news, but that's the version you SHOULD be hearing.

You see, Imus made some inappropriate comments about the Rutgers women's basketball team on his morning radio show, and it didn't take very long for CBS to bow to political pressure and pull the plug on him, all for exercising his 1st Amendment rights.

My problem with this is that at the current rate of societal whitewashing, the not-too-distant future includes a culture that disallows anyone from making any sort of statement that may offend someone else. Essentially, everyone will be gagged from speaking his or her mind, all in the interests of not hurting someone's feelings.
If people didn't want to listen to Imus after what he said, they have the freedom to choose that, and they can tune him out. His show may have lost listeners, lost ratings and eventually lost funding.

Then, CBS could have cancelled it for those reasons, instead of canceling it because of the opinions stated by Imus. Of course, instead of letting that run its course, CBS chose the knee-jerk reaction of dropping the hammer on him.

Regardless of the content, I strongly believe in Imus' right to say it. Freedom of speech is about giving people the right to say whatever he or she wants, and the right to look like a racist idiot if that's the path they choose.

This freedom is (supposed to be) undeniable, unless the person in question is doing something illegal and abusing the free speech rights (i.e. making a call for violence).

You see, freedom is an essential and integral part of what makes this country great. Without it, we would never have risen from a colony of Britain to the only superpower in the world in 230 years.

When the Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution, they added the Bill of Rights when they realized that many fundamental rights were not expressly detailed in first document. One of those rights is freedom of speech, included in the 1st Amendment.

Now, my question is, if the Founders intended for us to have a society where no one ever speaks a word that offends anyone else, why the need for the 1st Amendment?
After all, if everyone agreed with what the other said, there would be no censorship, no stifling of people or the press, and certainly no one getting offended.

Why, then, did they make an amendment to protect speech if that's the kind of world they intended for us to live in?

The answer is that the Founders did not intend for us to be living in that world.
They did not intend for this country to become a country of fear: fear of saying the wrong thing, fear of offending the wrong person, and, perish the thought, fear of sharing your opinion. The First Amendment was made because the Founding Fathers wanted us to share our views without worrying that doing so would lead to us being persecuted, ostracized…or fired.

His firing was politically motivated, obviously; Al Sharpton, who one of my colleagues so eloquently referred to as the “D-student of the civil rights movement,” and Jesse Jackson, who is quite possibly the biggest hypocrite in the world when it comes to discussing “racism,” both saw an opportunity to get some hard-to-obtain camera time to push their own agendas, while simultaneously pushing CBS to take care of Imus, and voila, Imus is gone.

I daresay that if those two moonbats hadn't spoke up, Imus would probably have been reprimanded and suspended, but not canned.

My point is that if we go after Imus, then we need to go after everyone. If it's no longer acceptable to ever offend anyone, then that's it; there are no excuses, no conditions.

Everyone who makes an offensive comment, in any medium, should be fired under this new system.

Late night comedians, columnists, bloggers, commentators; they all have to go!
Can you see the problem with this? Once the floodgates are open, there's no stopping it.

It's very easy to stand up for freedom of speech when you support what is being said, but the test is when someone says something you don't agree with and you still stand up for his or her rights.

If we started policing the airwaves and taking down everyone who offends someone else, pretty soon we'd have one giant, non-stop PBS telethon, interspersed with Billy Mays and Tony Little infomercials. And I really don't think anyone wants to see THAT.

In all seriousness, this is one of those watershed events for the subject of free speech. Today, it's Don Imus.

Tomorrow, it's you and me. Where does it end?

Darfur and Iraq: Why Are the Liberals Against One and For the Other?

2007-05-09T22:19:00.000-07:00

Section: Opinion/Editorial
Published: Waubonsee Insight, May 2007 Issue

Hypocrisy always amazes me. It makes me shake my head when people who consider themselves intelligent say things that are just so absurd and hypocritical that I can barely debate the topic without having this insane urge to shove a pair of rusty nails in my ears to stop the pain.

My newest issue? Darfur. Oh yes, we all know about Darfur. Genocide, slaughter, time to donate money, blah blah, whine, whine. We know the facts (well, I shouldn't say that; I know the facts, for sure, but I think a lot of the pro-Darfur crowd are sorely misinformed): the Janjaweed militia is killing a lot of people, and the Sudanese government is supporting them.

Now, the part I don't get is why are the lives of those victims in Darfur more important than those same kind of victims in Iraq? Apparently, they are, at least according to the liberal activists of this country.

Saddam Hussein gassed 100,000s of Kurds in the '90s, and his Baath party persecuted and ethnically cleansed anyone that he felt like pointing a finger at. That's the same kind of thing that's happening in Sudan, but the same people who are screaming for us to go into Darfur are the same ones demanding we pull out of Iraq. What gives?

Faster than Ted Kennedy can down a bottle of scotch (and that's pretty damn fast), liberals usually come back at me when I say this with the argument of, “It was none of our business to go to Iraq.”

Why, then, is it our business to go to Darfur? It's a simple question, but the answer isn't nearly as simple. If you want to say that nothing is our business, than we should go back to pre-WWII isolationism, and we can pull our foreign aid from the hundreds of countries we are supporting and just bury our heads in the sand. Or, we can continue to stick our noses into situations that need to be fixed, such as Iraq and Darfur.

The problem is that a lot of the people who are clamoring for us to invade Darfur (and yes, it would be an invasion) don't understand that by doing so, we are obligating ourselves to go fight every human rights violation in the world.
It's terrible what's happening in Sudan, I agree, but what was happening in Iraq was terrible, what's happening in North Korea is terrible, and what's happening in China is terrible.

If we are going to be the world's police, than we must take care of the other human rights violations on the planet. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it. You cannot be selective here; just because it's vogue to bash one and support the other doesn't mean that that course of action is right. In my experience, what's vogue is usually the polar opposite of what's right, but that's just my personal cynicism.
People who think that we can make any sort of difference in Sudan by just dropping humanitarian aid are kidding themselves. Does anyone remember how badly we screwed up Somalia by doing just that? If we give the defenseless villagers supplies, the second we leave (or sooner), the army will run out of the jungle, slaughter the people and pick up the supplies.

What would end up happening is we would have to fight off these militants in order to protect the populace, and it would turn into a bloody fight through the jungles and harsh terrain of Sudan as our troops tried to fight insurgents who know the area far better. Sound familiar? You bet it does; we would be in a similar situation to Iraq, and within a few months, the people who staged hunger strikes to get us to go to Darfur would be gorging themselves to make us come back.

I guess I'm just tired of the double standards. If you slap a “Save Darfur” sticker on your car, you are a hero, but if you put one saying “Win in Iraq,” you would probably get run off the road by a ravenous pack of Prius-driving activists. It's vogue to walk around 'supporting' Darfur, or to donate a dollar here and there to some random Darfur charity, but in reality, all that kind of stuff does is bump up the self-esteem of those who are doing it. No one should actually believe that wearing a sticker is going to help those people over there.

Darfur is not strictly a poverty situation that can be fixed by throwing money at it; Darfur will need a military response to have any sort of positive resolution, and the anti-war activists protesting Iraq and demanding action in Darfur need to realize this.

A Limit on Capitalism is a Limit on the Very Foundation of America

2007-05-09T22:16:00.000-07:00

Section: Opinion/Editorial
Published: Waubonsee Insight, May 2007 Issue

Note: This article was written as part of a 2vs2 HeadtoHead set of opinion articles (two pro and two con, answering the question of "Should There be Limits on Capitalism?") I wrote on the "con" side.

Setting any sort of artificial “cap” on capitalism completely takes away the very foundation of what America is. Capitalism is freedom; if you restrict capitalism, you are restricting freedom. People and businesses should have the right to own property, invest their money and expand their livelihood.
When you are talking about setting some sort of monetary cap, who would decide this cap?

Who is the one that can say, well, you're making too much money, but you're not making enough? You wouldn't be able to just set some sort of arbitrary number, because different businesses and different people have different costs and needs, and what is an acceptable income for person or business may result in a catastrophically low income for someone else.

We are killing our country already by squashing the free market (which, to be honest, would regulate itself a lot better than most people give it credit for). Our country grew to where it is today by utilizing the massive industrial base and tremendous national resources that a country as big as the U.S. has at its disposal, but now we are losing ground in the worldwide market. Why? Because the restrictions being put on business are making it cost prohibitive to operate in this country. Now, we're supposed to limit capitalism even more? While we're at it, let's just drop the 'A' from U.S.A. and add a S.R. on the end. We all know how successful THAT country was.

Right now, we are forcing businesses (well, at least businesses that want to make a profit) to either outsource or start breaking themselves apart with layoffs or by closing down parts of the company. That is hideously wrong, and terribly damaging to our country.

There's no reason that a business or person who is successful should be stopped in their tracks and made to conform to a standard that some socialist activist came up with. The only, and I mean only, restrictions on capitalism I can tolerate are ones that protect the health and safety of the workers. After all, hurt workers don't produce much product, do they?

Besides, regardless of that business part of the equation, without free capitalism, where is the drive to do better? In a more socialist scheme, no matter how hard you work, you're going to get your “fair share.” There's no point in working harder or doing something outside the box if you are going to be shut down for exceeding your lot in life, as decided by the good old government. Innovation will be crushed, and the country would never rise above U.S.S.R.-style mediocrity.

Capitalism means that the country and the economy are ruled by money, and thus, by the individual. Socialism means a state-imposed rule, and personally, I already think the government is too nosy. Now we want to let them dictate our money and livelihood as well? Please.

I'm sorry if this comes as some sort of synapse collapsing shock to anyone, but a capitalist system is actually more fair than a socialist system.
Do you know why? Because in a capitalist economy, you get what you put in. If you sit on your butt watching T.V. collecting welfare, that's your problem, and you're not going to get as far as someone that is out working hard.

None of the supposed “crooks” and “evil” people in this country, such as Donald Trump or Bill Gates, got there with government handouts. They got there by working hard, in a capitalist economy that did not restrict their freedom.

Capitalism obviously works; America would not have risen to be the most powerful country in the history of the world in just over 230 years if we had a flaw as huge as using capitalism over socialism, and right now, capitalism is widely considered the dominant form of economic system in the world.

Businesses and individuals will just stop trying to improve themselves if capitalism is restricted too much. After all, if they know that once they reach a certain level the government will reach in and shut them down, why even bother? Hello socialism, and good-bye prosperity.

Amazing Grace A Sweet Sound

2007-04-06T22:54:00.000-07:00

Section: Arts and Entertainment
Published: Waubonsee Insight, April 2007 Issue

After the American Revolution, Britain was not exactly the most economically stable place on earth. The slave trade was heralded as a major source of income and the lifeblood of coastal towns, and those who stood up against slavery were called anti-establishment at best and traitors to the crown at worst. Outspoken British abolitionist William Wilberforce was one of those men.

Amazing Grace chronicles Wilberforce's 18-year struggle in the British Parliament, as he introduced bill after bill to abolish the slave trade, only to watch them fail spectacularly.

The title for the movie comes from the song, of course, and the connection to the movie is that the author of the hymn, John Newton, was actually Wilberforce's mentor of many years. The evangelical leader helps Wilberforce when the latter is at a very sharp crossroads in his life, and appears several times in the movie, at different points in Wilberforce's life.

Newton is basically the moral compass and advisor to Wilberforce as he goes through troubling times where he doubts not only himself, but also his faith.
For a movie about the British parliamentary process, Amazing Grace does not drag at all. The movie clocks in at nearly two hours, but you won't be checking your watch. The movie balances out time spent in the Parliament room with time spent in Wilberforce's home or time spent with his activist group, the Clapham Sect.
Wilberforce delves very deeply into the abolitionist movement, and while he does things to learn for himself how slaves are treated (such as walling himself into a box the size of a berth in a slave ship), the viewers are also exposed to the horrors of slavery first hand.

There's nothing graphic enough to scare away a weak stomach, but seeing the actual shackles, living conditions and how slaves were treated makes it more personal for both Wilberforce and the viewers he is taking with him on his journey.

Frequent jumps through time also help with the pace of the movie. When the movie starts off in the present day and quickly jumps back in time fifteen years, you can easily see the contrast between the old and young Wilberforce, and you really want to sit back and see just what happened to him in the past to put him in the position he is now in.

That said, the transitions between time periods can be rough. It's nothing as confusing as a predestination paradox in a time travel movie, but you do have to be on your toes with some of the jumps, as a few of them leave you scrambling for a few seconds to figure out if it's past or present.

The cast is very solid; Ioan Gruffudd (Fantastic Four, King Arthur) turns in a spectacular performance as William Wilberforce. The character goes through many changes over the course of the movie, from stalwart abolitionist, to a man unsure of his place in the world and more beyond that, but Gruffudd seemed very comfortable in each position.

I have to try very hard to think of a scene that he seemed awkward in, and the best I could come up with is a scene where he sings, but even that is excused because the song he's singing is the name of the movie.

Another notable performance is Rufus Sewell (I think he's best known for his portrayal of the arrogant love-to-hate character of Count Adhemar in A Knight's Tale, but he also played Armand in The Legend of Zorro). He plays Thomas Clarkson, a noted anti-slavery advocate who had a huge influence on the historical Wilberforce.

In Amazing Grace, Clarkson at times plays the role of Wilberforce's emotions; it almost seems like an internal struggle of emotion versus logic during some of the scenes they share.

Clarkson is around to remind Wilberforce about the stark side of the human element involved in slavery, and he helps to drive the legislation into Parliament through his hard work and determination behind the scenes of the abolitionist movement.

Wilberforce's love interest, Barbara (relative unknown Romola Garai, Vanity Fair), could have been developed further, and if the movie had been about a lighter topic than slavery I would say that this is definitely a flaw, but I feel that it fits.

The romance plays second fiddle to the story of putting forward the bills and feeling out the issue of slavery, and the trade-off is nice.

I think it would have seemed trite to have a steamy on-screen romance when the protagonist is trying to free an entire race from servitude, and the writers did a good job of using the romance to further the plot (instead of having the plot stop while the characters delve into their feelings).

In fact, almost every subplot in the movie feeds into the overarching challenge of taking down the slave trade, and it all culminates in the final few minutes of the movie. For a movie about the British political process, the final climax drags you to the edge of your seat, so sticking through some of the down parts is completely worth it.

Another well-done performance was Michael Gambon (Open Range, The Omen) as Lord Charles Fox, a savvy British politician who sides with the abolitionists.

The parliamentary process was very well done, and the historical accuracy of the movie was passable; considering Hollywood's track record for rewriting in the name of drama, it could have been much worse.

Obviously, there are some issues, especially with how some of the characters were used, but overall, the story is presented well.

The ending scene of Amazing Grace was very fitting and nicely done; after two hours of serious buildup, an ending that was too pedestrian would have severely damaged the movie, but instead, it really ties everything up and leaves the audience saying, 'wow.'

In all, Amazing Grace does a good job portraying the hellacious uphill battle faced by abolitionists in 18th century England, and along the way, takes viewers on an unforgettable tour of religion, morality, and human rights.

U.S. Prison System Redux: The Cushy Life Is Not For Cons

2007-03-08T21:25:00.000-08:00

Section: Opinion/Editorial
Published: Waubonsee Insight, March 2007 Issue

In my oh-so-humble opinion, the prison system in America needs a significant overhaul.

Annually, the state prison system alone expends $30 billion on its prisons and prisoners, and the Bureau of Prisons blew $5 billion in 2006 on just 182,000 federal inmates.

With the United States sitting on the title of “highest incarceration rate in the world” (in December 2006, 1 out of every 32 adults was either behind bars, on probation or on parole), these exorbitant amounts of money are only bound to increase.

I am not a big fan of giving free money to anyone, but honestly, if our welfare state of a government is going to throw money at a certain group of people, why should the criminals be getting it?

We could just lower taxes and let the people who earned the money keep it, or we could use it to do things like, say, defend our borders or crack down on terrorists or gangs.

But that's beside the point; I really don't care where the money goes right now, except that I don't believe it should go to a bunch of convicts.

We spend so much money feeding, clothing and entertaining the worst denizens of society that people who don't understand our convoluted style of prisoner management would probably think that those angry fellas locked up behind bars are our version of royalty. After all, in this country, being a convict gets you better treatment than being jobless and/or homeless. Free food , free lodging, free entertainment...pretty comfy for a criminal.

Therefore, I have decided that it's time for a change. What follows is my grand plan for prisoners. Be warned: even though I did (regretfully) scrap my plan for staging gladiatorial-style matches between prisoners, human rights activists may still be offended.

Give me credit, though; I DID remove the script notes for the first episode of my prisoner reality show: Five Inmates, One Parachute: Survivor at 15,000 Feet.
Now, on to the plan: first, living conditions.

Instead of sitting inside, in air-conditioned rooms, convicts should be outside slaving away like it's a Georgia chain gang.

Now, originally, my plan was for these prisoners to break rocks (a nod back to the glory days of 1930s prisons), however, nothing is really accomplished here, other than tiring out the criminals.

And, what do you do when a prisoner flat out won't work? You can throw him in solitary for a month, but in the end, you can't force them to break rocks without resorting to things like cattle prods and Britney Spears music.

In order to combat this eventuality, my new plan has the prisoners doing something else with their precious time: agriculture work.

But not just any agriculture work; the prisoners will cultivate crops, grow trees and harvest fruits…and then they'll eat the fruits of their labor.

If they don't work hard, they don't eat. It's that simple. We stop draining the taxpayer's resources to feed their sorry butts, and the criminals learn the value of a hard day's work.

Also, the prisoners will be put in groups. That way, if one con begins to slack, mob justice will slap him into line; after all, if one member of a group slows down, everyone gets less food, and no one will be happy with that.

With regard to heat and electricity and all those sorts of things, prisoners can (and will) contribute in that regard as well. Each group will have to use stationary bicycles to store up energy in their cellblock's batteries, and this energy can be used for heating, cooling or entertainment.

Seeing the advantages of this? Prisoners have to sweat a bit to get their amenities, instead of all of us working our tails off so that the government can take our money to pay for said amenities; it's almost as good as the prison system in Mexico, where cons have to pay the jail for food, rent and clothing.

Criminals should also not be allowed access to uncensored news. News should be filtered through an agency and then transmitted to the prisoners. Prisons should have a television network like the Armed Forces Network. Censored news, G-rated movies and educational programs are what the criminals need to be watching. After all, this is prison, not the “Happy-happy-joy-joy-let's-watch-movies-while-we-shank-Vinny” Resort.

A perfect example of why this is needed is the situation that arose with Agent Ramos, the former Border Patrol agent who is now behind bars for doing his job (he shot a drug smuggler in the butt, however, he then made the rookie mistake of cleaning up the scene before investigators showed up, and our victim-friendly justice system promptly threw him in the slammer faster than Barack Obama can say, “Look at me, I've been in politics only 18 months but somehow I'm qualified to be president!”).

Anyway, a few weeks ago, Agent Ramos was assaulted in his prison cell after fellow inmates, who he suspected were illegal immigrants, saw his photo on television, identifying him as a BP agent who shot a Mexican smuggler. The assault would have been completely avoided by censoring the news before the criminals saw it.
Now, in a stunningly left-wing statement for me to make, I'm also abolishing the death penalty.

Yes, yes, I know; believe me, it pains me to say that I agree with something that emanates from the gaping abyss of liberalism, but honestly, it costs a heck of a lot more money to execute someone than it does to have them break rocks or plant trees.
Sorry to get your hopes up, but I'm not going to dance through the halls of Waubonsee with daisies in-hand and a Che Guevara beret on my head; I'm just a heartless Republican that wants to save some money.

Besides, it's a lot easier on the cons to get an arm full of chemicals than it is to spend the next fifty years in hard labor.

And I don't think criminals deserve anything 'easy.'

Insight to Insight: The How's and Why's of Waubonsee's Most Active Student Organization

2007-03-08T21:22:00.000-08:00

Section: Features
Published: Waubonsee Insight, March 2007 Issue

Editor In Chief Ian Essling takes Insight readers on a behind-the-scenes look at Insight and the rumors that abound about the paper. Find out what's fact, what's fiction, and what is the deep dark secret behind Von Ohlen 230.

Another semester is upon us, and another round of tall tales are again floating through the halls of Waubonsee. The tides of the rumor mill are cyclical, it appears.

Regardless of their origins, I am here to dispel the mist and mystery around as many of them as I can in the space I have.

Some of these are pretty simple, but others are quite involved. I hope that you will hang with me through them all, and that you can finish this article with a better understanding of where Insight comes from and where it's going.

Have a question about Insight that I missed? I'd love to hear about it and include it in the next issue: insight@waubonsee.edu.

Fiction:
The Opinion of A Writer is
Synonymous With That of the
Paper As A Whole

I felt that this deserved a top-slot in my list because it is probably one of the most hotly contested and least understood aspects of the paper.
It is a common misconception that by printing something, we are endorsing it. That is simply not the case. As stated on our opinion pages, the editorials are the opinions of the writers and should not be taken as the opinion of the Insight staff as a whole.

Fiction:
Waubonsee Administration Controls What Insight Publishes

In reality, Insight student editors are the ONLY people who decide what material is published in the newspaper. There's not an administrative body on campus that has oversight over this publication. The student editors are the people making the decisions about what gets printed; after all, it IS a student newspaper.
Personally, I think that there are some people in the Waubonsee administration who wish they could control what we publish, but thankfully, freedom of speech remains intact. Sometimes I think that some difficulties Insight faces stem from this situation (such as being stuffed into a utility closet for over a year), but of course, that's just speculation on my part.

Complaining to Waubonsee, the Career Services Center or the scholarship foundation committee (all of which have been done this past year) is really not going to have much of an effect on us.

Even complaining to your teacher is not going to do it. Believe me, I know there are some sympathetic ears on campus for those that want to rag on the paper.

I can even provide you a list if that's the route you want to take, but honestly, why not just come to the source? If someone wants to voice their opinion about something we printed, they need to come directly to us.

Unfortunately, I have heard a number of stories of people sending information to Waubonsee itself that was intended for the newspaper, equally unfortunate is the fact that Waubonsee does not usually pass this sort of misdirected communication on to us.

For example, one of our editors recently heard a student trash the paper for not printing a letter to the editor that she delivered…to the admissions and records desk.

Fiction:
Faculty Advisors Have Prior Review of Articles

For years, people called Insight “Gary's paper” because of how dedicated Gary Clark, our faculty advisor, is to the paper, People just assumed that he was in charge of it.

In all honestly, if this paper really was “Gary's paper,” it would not be a student newspaper anymore, it would be a faculty newspaper.

That is why the Insight staff is grateful for the freedom we are allowed. Our advisors never read our opinion pieces before they are published. Insight editors make the determination as to what opinion pieces we print.

Our advisors will sometimes help with proofreading of non-controversial news or features pieces, but our opinion section is a haven of free speech.

Fiction:
Insight Does Not Publish
Articles We Receive If The Editors Disagree With The Topic

The views of the “editors” of the paper vary across a wide spectrum.
An article that one editor agrees with, another may disagree with, and vice versa. therefore, this misconception makes no sense at all.

Rest assured that denying publishing rights to articles that I disagree with is not an action I engage in, nor is it something I allow my editors to do.
Any unbiased glance at our opinion section from a few months worth of papers pretty much proves that point.

As an Editor In Chief, my goal is to build a quality newspaper.

Throwing out articles does not move us closer to that goal, so why would we do it ? After all, we can't print a bunch of blank pages.

The vast majority of articles make it past the preliminary phases of editing without a problem and are then subject to the whims of timeliness, space, and layout.
In all honesty, those are the attributes that have the largest effect on whether or not an opinion is printed, not the view expressed.

Now, that's not to say that every opinion piece that we receive is printed; that would be inaccurate and misleading, and the whole intention of this article is to clear up all the inaccurate and misleading things others are saying about this organization.

I can count on my hands the number of opinion articles Insight has not printed in the past three years for reasons other than time and space constraint. There are only seven or so of them, out of a total pool of hundreds of submitted articles.

Fiction:
Insight Is Conservative (Or Liberal, or Socialist, or [insert ideology here])

Insight itself is none of these things; Insight is an organization, not a person. Granted, it is the sum of those involved, but it's not a one person or cabal-style dictatorship, despite what some would have you believe.

The fact that our opinion pages have recently appeared to be slanted to the conservative side is only a testament to one thing: conservative writers are penning pieces and submitting them, while liberals are not. It is that simple of an equation.

If no one writes the other side of an argument, then the opinion section might appear biased. Ironically, Insight has a history of being liberal; in all the years that I've been at Waubonsee (both as a reader and a staff member), Insight has normally only had a token conservative or two on staff, with the entire editorial council falling left of center.

Strangely, no one complained about THAT situation, but as soon as we have some conservative voices, you would think that the sky is falling with how serious of a “problem” some people consider it.

It is wrong for Insight as an organization to deny freedom of speech to a writer simply because no one is writing against the first writer's opinion. That, ladies and gentlemen, is censorship.

The only reason that Insight's opinion section can be considered 'conservative' or 'liberal' is because the 'other' side is simply is not writing articles or letters to the editor.

Something that I've noticed over the past few years is that often, the most vocal opponents of the paper and our writers are usually the last ones to pick up a pen and respond in kind.

It is much easier for a student to insult a faceless writer, or for a teacher to give a speech to an entire class about the 'terrible things' that exist in the pages of the paper, than it is for them to stand up and put their opinion in print. It takes guts to put your name on your opinion and put it out there for the world to see. Some people have those guts, and some do not.

Fiction:
Letters to the Editor are edited

A number of “letter to the editor” debates have circled around Insight over the past few years; they edit too much, they don't edit enough, they try to make people look stupid, those sorts of things.

Once and for all, I am clearing this up. For the record, we do not ever edit letters to the editor for anything other than profanity. If someone who writes in to us does not take the time to grammar check his or her own piece, then so be it.

Fiction:
Editors Change Opinion Articles Significantly

Our heavy-duty editing only applies to non-opinion articles. At Insight, we make every effort to preserve the writer's message in opinion articles. We will edit these articles for spelling, grammar, clarity, brevity and other similar factors, but we never make edits that undermine or change the meaning of the author's work.

Fiction:
Insight Asked to be Moved to Von Ohlen 230 (or, a variant: Insight was offered a “better” office this semester and declined it)

We were moved out of our old office, Von Ohlen 100, before the spring 2006 semester, and we were moved completely against our will.

Honestly, no one in their right mind would ask to be moved or agree with a move from such an awesome location (complete with windows and a chalkboard) to a room that has served as a storage closet for something like the last ten years.

Now, with regard to the “new office” for this semester. We were in discussions with our dean, Cindy Fisher, and the dean of social sciences, Jill Wold, to find us a new office. Unfortunately for us, the location that was presented to us was Weigel 107, an old, dirty and defunct science laboratory in a lower traffic building on the wrong side of campus for an English-discipline group.

Obviously, that location makes so sense at all, and we were somewhat upset that it was even considered and shown to us. It is already an adventure to find our current office, and Weigel 107 is even further off the beaten path.

No one would suggest that an active science club that recruited 90% of its members from science classes relocate its permanent office to Von Ohlen or Bodie, and by the same token, having an English group in an old science building made no sense.
Putting the newspaper into Weigel 107 would have been devastating to this publication.

Hopefully, the staff that takes over in fall 2007 will have a better location. With the opening of the Academic and Professional Center, there will be a lot of empty space in Bodie and Von Ohlen; keep your fingers crossed.

Fiction:
Insight Staff Members Are Paid

Years ago, a proposal was put forward to get the Insight editors paid, and it was summarily dismissed. Thus, this myth is cut and dried: we do not get paid, at all, ever.

Logically, since most other college paper staffs ARE paid, many people just assume that this is true here as well. However, as I have learned from dealing with some members of Waubonsee administration, logic is not something you can count on.
I personally think that my editors SHOULD be paid, because many of the staffers on this paper put in as many (if not more) hours than a full-time job, but for now, it's not a happening thing.

Fact:
Insight Pays for Printing Costs From Its Own Budget

This, ladies and gentlemen, is one of the most important in this list. You see, on top of writing the stories and laying out the paper, the staff of Insight also has to raise thousands of dollars to pay for printing costs.

Occasionally, we are able to get some funding from Student Senate to use for special purchases, but our day-to-day spending comes from our own hard earned money.
That's why it's rough on us when people throw away our papers for no reason. When an art student uses the paper to catch paint, they are crumpling up our money.
When maintenance takes it upon themselves to “clean out” our paper rack because the papers are “old,” they are tossing away hard earned money.

Fact:
Insight Is Always Accepting New Members

Insight always, always accepts new writers and columnists. The only positions that we do not have perpetual open slots in are editorial positions. So, if you are interested in writing, don't think that you have to wait for an “opening.” Join up today!

Fact:
You Don't Have to Be A Journalism Major to Write for Insight

This misconception is one of those little things that isn't malicious, but just the result of Insight not doing the best that we can to make sure students are aware of these things.

Anyone, in any discipline, is eligible to write for Insight. For example, right now our editorial council is made up of the following majors: a business, two journalisms, an aerospace engineering, a sociology and an undecided.
And that's just the editors! Our general staff exhibits even more variety in majors.

Fact:
Insight Has Been Around Forty Years (In Some Form Or Another)

We have a plaque that sits on the desk in our office that shows all the Editor In Chiefs of the paper between 1967 and 1994 (the last year it was updated). We keep this around to remind us that we are but a ripple in the pond of this organization.
Thanks to the hard work and dedication of hundreds of student editors and writers, faculty advisors who care about their students, and the loyal readers, Insight has prospered for forty years. It is my sincere hope that it is around for another forty and forty beyond that.

I hope that I have given you a glimpse at what Insight is all about, and a new appreciation for what we do.

You see, we are students, just like many of you. On top of our homework and jobs, we also build a newspaper.

By no means have I addressed all the issues that have been brought up about Insight. If you have a question about Insight that I didn't cover, please, feel free to email us and we will do our best to answer it.

Cutting Through The Pain: Dispelling Migraine Myths

2007-03-08T21:19:00.000-08:00

Section: Features
Published: Waubonsee Insight, March 2007 Issue

For years, the term “Migraine” has been evolving. Once, it was only applied to a distinct vascular attack that often affected heart patients.

Because a headache was part of the migraine symptoms, it soon began to be used to describe simple headaches, and from there it was only a matter of time until the real meaning of the word was completely lost.

According to the International Headache Society, Migraines must include at least four of the following symptoms: nausea, extreme sensitivity to light or sound, pulsing or throbbing pain on one side of the head (the pain must also be considered moderate to severe) and the condition must be worsened significantly by everyday activities such as climbing stairs.

In addition to all the above criteria, at least four or five such attacks must occur before a doctor may diagnose the patient as a migraine sufferer.
Migraines are far more than a headache; they affect nearly every aspect of the body.

On top of the above listed symptoms, migraines often affect eyesight and mental clarity.

Most Migraine sufferers also experience severe nausea, extreme sensitivity to light, chest pain, blurred vision, fatigue and other symptoms along with the headache.
This definition itself shows why people claiming to suffer migraines while going about their daily lives are simply not informed correctly.

In fact, the vast majority of people who claim to suffer migraines are actually falling prey to the much less severe tension headache, a headache brought on by muscle tightness.

Migraines have nothing to do with muscles; they are caused by blood flow and blood vessel dilation (hence the connection to heart patients).

Migraines are actually much more than just a quick headache.

They consist of four phases: the Prodrome, the Aura, the Headache, and the Postdrome.

During the Prodrome, the victim encounters a number of unpleasant symptoms. Often, these symptoms can serve as a warning that a migraine is coming; however, this phase varies in length from minutes to hours, making prediction of an imminent migraine attack less than an exact science.

Some symptoms that the sufferer may endure during this phase are irritability, fatigue and tightness of the neck and chest.

Also, a victim's extremities will feel cold, as his or her blood leaves the hands and feet and moves to the head.

The Aura phase comes next, and is usually the most obvious pre-pain phase. The distortions and disorientation experienced during this phase are often overwhelming, especially to first time sufferers.

The aura can consist of flashing lights, spots or lines in the vision, blurred vision, hearing loss, dizziness, confusion, numbness and loss of sight.
This phase can again last either minutes or hours, and is the last warning a migraine sufferer has before the actual attack hits.

While most people associate “Migraine” with “headache,” the Headache phase of a migraine actually affects the entire body.

The pain that is endured during this portion is often impossible to understand for those that have never experienced a Migraine.

Many times, the sheer pain alone will sideline even the most stout of individuals.
True migraine sufferers, even with high-powered prescription medications coursing through their veins, are often unable to talk, think or even move while enduring a Migraine.

Migraineurs experience a wide range of ailments on top of the pain itself.
These can include extreme sensitivity to light and sound, nausea and vomiting, severe anxiety or disorientation, loss of memory, confusion, dizziness and chills.
On top of this, any sort of physical activity (even walking to the kitchen or bathroom) will vastly worsen these symptoms.

Studies have shown that the most common time for the Headache phase onset is 6 a.m., which is why many Migraineurs wake up with the Migraine, without warning, as they experienced the warning signs while sleeping and did not notice them.
A wide range of prescription medications are available for treating migraines, however, none of them are end-all-cure-alls.

Migraines often become resistant to prescription medications; I have personally gone through three different prescriptions in the past eight years alone, and my current one barely takes the edge off the attack, even if I get it on time.

Usually, people who experience Migraines on a regular basis never consider using over-the-counter medications for anything except taking the edge off of a rebound headache or to dull any residual pain after the prescription medication is used.
Migraines can last between one and 72 hours, even with the prescriptions mentioned above.

Usually, the pain does not abate until the very end of the Migraine
At that time, the Postdrome phase takes over.

Even though the pain subsides, most Migraine sufferers will experience symptoms ranging from lack of concentration, depression, poor intellect and fatigue, for up to 24 hours after the actual migraine.

Victims often describe the condition as feeling like a zombie, and abnormal cerebral blood flow can also cause strange EEG readings.

Business Ethics is NOT an Oxymoron: NIU Professor Explains Why

2007-03-08T21:17:00.000-08:00

Section: News
Published: Waubonsee Insight, March 2007 Issue

Northern Illinois University Professor David Sinason has a tremendous amount of experience to draw on when it comes to speaking on ethics. After all, with 35 publications to his name, Sinason is not a lightweight in the field of accountancy and business.

Hosted by the Waubonsee Business Club, Sinason gave a presentation on business ethics to an audience filled with business and accounting students, as well as numerous other guests who were interested in the subject. The presentation ran the gamut from employee behavior, executive policies, unethical clients and company regulations, to personal ethical decisions and moral values.

According to Sinason, “You really only own two things in your life: your education, and your values. Once you learn something, it's yours, [and] if you draw the line, and stick to it, no one can take your values from you. But you can still lose it.” That is where morals and ethics comes into play, which is what the majority of the presentation centered around.

One of the major tenants of his presentation was what Sinason described as the “top-down” theory of company ethics, which states that employees are only as ethical as their employers.

“The tone at the top is the most important,” Sinason explained, since ethics cascade down through a company or organization. As he stated, if the president is doing something unethical, it just makes it that much easier for someone else to break moral boundaries and justify it. If the management of a company is not obeying ethical standards, then rank and file employees will see no reason to do so.
One example he used was about employee parking. “If [a manager] tells an employee they have to park far away from a building in an 'employee parking' area, but they park right next to the building, how long will it be before the employees start emulating the manager and parking right up close?”

He went on to elaborate that this mantra is appropriate in many different settings both in and out of the workplace. The president of a company or college needs to give a positive ethical example to everyone working beneath them, and the same holds true for student-led organizations as well.

An important distinction he made was the scope of an ethical problem. Just because an ethical violation is small doesn't mean it should be ignored or forgiven easily.
According to Sinason, “Behind every small ethical program is a larger ethical problem waiting to happen.” Ethical problems will only grow, and if an employee or manager's unethical behavior is not handled at a low level, it can quickly escalate into a large-scale problem.

Sinason said that it is very important to get ethical policies on paper. He said that often, companies have “informal policies,” which he says will lead to “informal results.”

“Talk is cheap; you have to get it in writing; put your code of ethics or code of conduct in the break room where people will see it every day,” he explained. “Repetition is the mother of significance.”

Employees who are deluged with company ethics on a non-stop basis will be less likely to commit unethical acts. Of course, while creating and posting company policies are important, the executives of the company have to “practice what they preach,” or risk influencing their employees to follow in their footsteps.
During his presentation, Sinason also emphasized the importance of getting involved in student clubs and activities. “There is an awful lot of experiences that are not in the classroom,” he said, “Corporations are looking for leadership and involvement, not just a good GPA.”

Sinason's educational background includes a bachelor's degree in engineering from the University of Illinois, a bachelor's and master's degree in business administration from North Florida University, and a Ph.D in accountancy from Florida State.

Dan Gibbons, Assistant Professor of Accounting at Waubonsee, attended the program and thought that it was “terrific.”

“He [Sinason] is a great presenter; I've never seen him do a bad job,” he added.Gibbons also explained why ethics are extremely important for accounting and business majors. “When you get into your career, you will face ethical dilemmas. With a good foundation [in ethics], it makes it easier to make the right choice.”
According to Gibbons, accountancy majors have ever more reasons to focus on ethics, because the newest CPA (Certified Public Accountant) exams have an ethics portion in the test.

An Online Role-Playing Fix That Won’t Deplete Your Bank Account...or Your Patience

2007-02-07T16:06:00.000-08:00

Section: Arts and Entertainment
Published: Waubonsee Insight, February 2007 Issue

Massively Multiplayer gaming has exploded in the past few years. Games such as World of Warcraft shot the genre into the mainstream of society. The ability to play in the same world as literally thousands of other players appealed to many gamers, and there are now dozens of MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games) to choose from.

One of the major caveats to this style of gameplay, however, is the monthly fee. Most casual gamers (including this writer) balk at paying a subscription for a game that they may play for only a few hours that month.

ArenaNet, a company formed of ex-Blizzard (Diablo, Starcraft,Warcraft) employees, turned the industry on its ear with the release of Guild Wars in 2005, an online multiplayer role playing game without a monthly fee. Instead, they offer additional chapters to the game, available every few months for purchase by players. While the extra chapters add a huge wealth of content, they are also standalone, meaning that someone can enter the game by purchasing either the first edition, Prophecies, or one of the expansions, Factions or Nightfall.

Players who only buy one chapter can continue to play the campaign in that game and can play in the Player vs Player arenas as long as they like.

No one is forced to buy the expansions, however, ArenaNet's theory that gamers will be willing to purchase the extra content has been proven mostly true.
From a purely numerical standpoint, even if you buy the expansions the day they come out, you are paying $50.00 every six months or so, which divides out to far less than the normal $14.95 per month that MMORPGs charge.

Aside from the unique fees and expansions, Guild Wars introduced a number of revolutionary gameplay features that sent shockwaves through the gaming world. Gone were MMORPG staples such as spawn farming (sitting with a party in the area that enemies spawn and wiping them out over and over again).

Instead, Guild Wars creates a unique 'instance' of an area every time a party enters it, and thus takes away the monotonous aspect of spawn farming, and also eliminates problems such as player killing.

Guild Wars also walks the fine line of a game being accessible to casual players, while leaving open options for hardcore gamers.

Because of the way its missions are run, a player can pop online for half an hour and actually accomplish something, whereas other MMORPGs often require many hours of straight-through game playing to make a difference, leaving casual gamers far behind.

Another aspect that appeals to many players is the way skills are handled in Guild Wars.

Instead of simply letting characters draw from their entire pool of skills during a mission, players are forced to choose only eight skills to take into battle. Once out of a town, the player cannot change their skill choices.

This completely changes up the “normal” procedure for skills, and brings strategy and decision making to the forefront of the battle.

This approach helps, again, both the casual and the dedicated; casual gamers are not intimidated by players who have unlocked every skill in the game, because when it all comes down to it, everyone is taking the same number of skills into combat.

Even then, two players bringing the same skills into battle may play very differently; many skills work best in combination, and it is up to the savvy player to use them correctly.

Veteran gamers will tweak every skill and attribute point down to the most minute detail, of course, and this is just another example of how the game caters to all players.

On top of that, the game allows you to alter your character’s attributes as many times as you like. Once you earn your 200 stat points, you can redistribute them to different areas and save each 'build' as a template. Basically, you can have different versions of a character and swap between these builds with just a couple clicks.

For example, you could have a Warrior who focuses on sword skills, but also has a skill set that uses party-friendy “Tactics” or a high-damage, boss-killing hammer, and effortlessly switch between the three depending on what the mission requires.
Add in the ability to have a secondary profession (which you can also switch later in the game), and Guild Wars offers one of the most unique and customizable character palettes in existence.

The ability to change so many attributes of your character grant another mode of freedom; if you decide halfway through the game you don't want to be a Warrior/Necromancer and instead want to be a Warrior/Mesmer, you can simply pay gold or do a quest (depending on which game you created the character in) and change your profession.

The normal RPG mold locks characters into their classes and stats when they are created, although some new games have begun to allow more flexibility, perhaps spawned by Guild Wars' success.

The latest incarnation of Guild Wars, Nightfall, adds even more revolutionary features to already stellar game.

In an effort to promote community and player cooperation, nearly every quest in Prophecies and Factions was impossible to complete without teammates. Guild Wars did allow human players to take AI controlled 'henchmen' along on missions, but these characters were weak and often very stupid; their tactical decision making skills rivaled those of an algae-covered rock or a brain damaged millipede.

As a result, players were often forced to wait in outposts or towns until other humans working on the same quests joined the party. This sort of dependence on other humans to advance through any area of the game turned off some players. Obviously, the point of playing an RPG online is to play with other humans, but sometimes a player just wants to go hunting or exploring on their own, and in the first two episodes of Guild Wars, this was rather difficult; henchmen died far too easily and building an entire party of like-minded players was something that sometimes required an insane amount of patience.

In Nightfall, ArenaNet introduced AI characters called “heroes,” fully customizable companions that are earned through various quests. These characters are much more powerful than henchmen; they can be outfitted with weapons from your inventory, and can use any skills that your account has unlocked.

The inclusion of this option opened up the world to even more players. By utilizing these powerful heroes (whose AI was considerably better than the rank and file henchmen), players could complete quests and even missions without relying on another player.

In fact, I was able to take a new character all the way through the first stage of the game (to level 20) by only using heroes. Normally in mission areas, finding a group of players is not difficult, however, I wanted to see if it was possible to play through with heroes. Aside from one sticky situation in a major mission where you attain level 20, the heroes performed quite admirably.

Players are limited to only three heroes per party, however. To level the playing field somewhat, players can fill out the rest of his or her party with henchmen if necessary.

The first time I joined a human party was on a hunting quest to destroy a unique monster, and ironically, when the human-filled party failed miserably, I grabbed my trusty heroes and took down the beast much faster.

Part of that, of course, is that heroes are not afraid of dying, and quite frankly, a lot of human players don't follow that “stand your ground or die trying” edict.
Since this isn't technically a 'review' article (it's more of a 'feature,') I am not really obliged to say anything bad about the game. Since it's quite difficult to actually find something, I just won't; editor's prerogative.

Guild Wars is a spectacular game; with an innovative gameplay system and a much smaller monetary investment required, it appeals to a much wider range of gamers than most MMORPGs and opens the door for players who might never have tried an online role playing game.

Holiday Technology Survival Guide

2006-12-11T23:30:00.000-08:00

Section: Features
Published: Waubonsee Insight, December 2006 Issue

Technological devices have become one of the most popular gifts of the holiday season. Instead of getting the pair of socks you didn't want, you're more likely to get a jump drive that doesn't have the hard drive space that you need or a digital camera that is only six megapixels, which is so 2005.

With all the valuable computing components that will be changing hands this season, now is the time to learn the best ways to take care of the new and fancy devices.
Often overlooked as something that can affect the performance and longevity of your computer, dust can be a major factor in determining whether your computer can play the latest 3D game, or if it will become a pile of smoking, molten slag.

Check the intake fans of your computer often for dust buildup. Using your hands or a soft cloth, wipe off any dust and fuzz from the back of the computer. Dust can prevent cool air from entering the computer, thus overheating it.

Try to store the computer in an environment that is as dust free as possible. If the area will have a lot of dust and other particles in the air (such as a workshop or garage), turn the computer off when you're not using it and cover it with dust clothes. When the computer is not running, the fans will not be pulling in dust and other foreign particles.

Many computer stores offer a cleaning service. Professionals will clean each component thoroughly and make sure all your fans are in working order. It is recommended that you do this at least twice a year, either by opening the case yourself if you are tech-savvy enough or taking it to said professionals.
Heat is one of the leading causes of computer failures, period. As previously mentioned, dust can lead to heat buildup inside your computer, either by blocking air intakes or clogging up fans.

There are many ways for computers and other electronics to overheat. Placing a computer inside a cabinets and other such pieces of furniture that puts the computer inside an enclosed space is asking for disaster. Just like you and I, computers need air to breathe.

You should not leave your computer running if you are leaving it in an enclosed space.

Heat can also buildup inside your computer when you are putting it under enough stress. Don’t leave high-level programs running when you leave your computer unattended for a long period of time.

Next, I will mention what is otherwise known as the “computers don't mix well with a tile floor,” rule. This may seem like a no-brainer, but most people would be surprised to hear how many shock-related failures are reported each year. The smaller the object, usually, the more durable it will be.

Your cell phone will probably react better than your brand new Dell Dimension Desktop will to being dropped on the floor. However, you should always make an effort to avoid that sort of damage in the first place. Never place computers or other devices in high-traffic areas where people are liable to run into them.
The other issue to mention is that it is difficult sometimes to know how much shock is really necessary to damage a computer.

A computer sitting on the floor that is knocked onto its side might not physically break any component, but the shock of falling can cause damage to the hard drive cylinders, and can ruin your data and your operating system, rendering the computer useless until a new drive is installed.

Of course, these rules go for “intended” shock attacks as well.

As a lifelong user of computers, I know firsthand that they can be insanely frustrating at times, especially when you, perish the thought, actually ask them to work a little bit instead of just sitting there, humming contently, while non-stressful programs such as Internet Explorer and Microsoft Word happily coexist.

At least once in your life (and probably many times), you will feel the overwhelming urge to belt your computer as hard as possible, because that smug little dialog box gave you another smarmy, arrogant message that was phrased more like an evil overlord talking down to his minions than a helpful operating system trying to let its users frolic in error-free bliss.

Striking, kicking, spitting on or otherwise maiming a computer or other technological device is never the best idea, despite how good it may feel.

It never does any good (despite what your uncle who repeatedly slaps the TV every Thanksgiving says), and can usually cause damage to the component in question.

Semester in Review: The Top-10 Waubonsee News Stories of Fall 2006

2006-12-11T23:02:00.000-08:00

Section: News
Published: Waubonsee Insight, December 2006 Issue

A lot of major news outlets do a “year in review” type of feature, but often these features either pick irrelevant stories for their lists, or they lack focus.
Why rehash what has already been said? Instead, I am focusing on Waubonsee and only Waubonsee; what follows are my picks for the top news stories of the Waubonsee fall 2006 semester. Instead of fluttering around the national and local news scene, I have zeroed in on specific events that occurred on campus. Some items present on (or missing from) this list may surprise you; without further posturing or prognosticating, I present to you my picks for the top Waubonsee news stories of the year.

10) Stoplight Constructed at South Entrance
After three years of planning, approving and building, a much-requested stoplight at Waubonsee's south entrance was finally enabled by late November. Full details available on page 3.

9) Insight Breaks Records, Continues Growth
Building on a successful spring 2006 semester, Insight broke a number of records this fall, including producing a twenty-four page paper for two months straight, both of which are larger than any issue of Insight in history.
In addition, Insight expanded from just two full-time staff members at the start of the fall semester to over twenty-five by finals week.

8) Snow Closes Area Schools, but Waubonsee Stays Open
The first big snowstorm of the winter led to nearly eight inches of snow on the ground in the area, but Waubonsee administration, claiming that at 4:30 in the morning the snow was just “slush,” did not close its doors and instead attempted to hold classes.

Many teachers either were not able to make it to campus or they sent students home as soon as they arrived.

7) Waubonsee Announces Plan for Athletic Hall of Fame
Coinciding with Waubonsee's 40th Anniversary, a Chief's Hall of Fame will be established. The first group of inductees will be honored at the May 4, 2007 Athletic Banquet, and will cover athletes from the first decade of the college's existence, 1966 to 1976.

6) New Kiln Created by Students, Instructor
Waubonsee students, working with Ceramics Instructor Doug Jeppesen and ceramics expert Simon Levin, created a rare Anagama pottery kiln on WCC's Sugar Grove Campus.

The kiln can reach temperatures higher than 2400 degrees Fahrenheit, according to Jeppesen, who also mentioned that Waubonsee is the only community college in the state with such a kiln.

5) Science Building Opens
On Aug. 25, Waubonsee kicked off their 40th Anniversary Celebration with the opening and dedication of the new Science Building.

The nearly 47,000 square foot building contains a number of high-tech labs and devices, including camera systems for anatomy labs and a seismograph.

4) New Registration System Online
Along with a new package that offers many more registration and course planning options, Waubonsee also moved away from using student's social security numbers by implementing “X numbers,” new nine-digit ID numbers issued to students.

3) Parking Runs Out
For the first week of classes this semester, Waubonsee students had an adventurous time finding a parking space, as contractors failed to finish a new parking lot on the west side of campus in time.

Blame was thrown around as to who exactly was at fault. Students voiced displeasure at the administration, which in turn pointed at the contractors.
Regardless of fault, as a result of the massive construction taking place on campus, enough parking spots had been taken away that students and faculty ended up parking on every available square foot of land on campus.

This included medians, shoulders, and a hill.

2) WCC Students Win IDOT Video Contest
Students won the 2006 Illinois Department of Transportation college video challenge with a video entitled “Reasons.”

The 30-second public service announcement featured various Waubonsee students and was an anti-drunk driving ad. The PSA aired on local network and cable channels around Halloween.

More details on this student accomplishment are available in our November 2006 issue.

1) Student Senate President Passes Away After Car Accident
Unfortunately, the most important story on my list is also the most tragic.
Jennifer Wesson, a student at Waubonsee and student senate President, was killed in a car accident Thanksgiving weekend.

Other features about Wesson in this issue include a news story on the front page, and a tribute on the back page.

Jennifer touched many people in her time here at Waubonsee, and she will be missed by them for more than her title of President.

The Top 11 Signs That The Democrats Have Taken Control of Congress

2006-11-17T19:11:00.000-08:00

Section: Opinion/Editorial
Published: Waubonsee Insight, November 2006 Issue

11. Practicing capitalism and using the word “God” are declared Federal crimes.

10. Ted Kennedy legalizes the murder of hookers and adds “365 Bottles of Scotch” to his yearly salary.

9. Michael Moore is appointed head of the US Department of Health. Within six weeks, average life expectancy of an American citizen drops to 30.

8. Nancy Pelosi bans all video games and movies rated higher than “E.” Anyone caught watching a forbidden movie will be forced to discuss the meaning of the word “plan” with John Kerry.

7. The national anthem is changed from “The Star Spangled Banner” to “Sunshine Lollipops and Rainbows.”

6. Democrats pass a law abolishing national borders. Crime rises by 320% as illegal immigration reaches an all-time high. Mexico also gains veto power over all U.S. actions.

5. Al Qaeda establishes a firebase on the Capitol steps; Capitol Hill apologizes for existing.

4. Kim Jong Il nukes China, Japan, Taiwan and Russia, but the U.S. does not intervene because the United Nations has determined that a military retaliation is too “provocative.” Canada is then taken over by militant forces from Honduras when the Democrats refuse to come to their aid without U.N. permission.

3. After pulling troops out of Iraq and watching the government of the country crumble, Congress is surprised when Iraq changes its name to “Terrorists 'R Us: No Group is Too Radical.”

2. Al Gore tries to install “An Inconvenient Truth” as the new constitution of the country. When he fails, he tears his suit to ribbons, eats it, and runs out the door alternately yelling “in-her-net” and making some sort of bestial roar.

1. Osama Bin Laden comes out of hiding, proclaiming, “Finally! I no longer have to worry about being killed by the U.S.!”

Waubonsee Brings New Registration System Online

2006-11-17T17:13:00.000-08:00

Section: News
Published: Waubonsee Insight, November 2006 Issue

Coinciding with the opening of spring 2007 class registration, Waubonsee has unveiled a brand new online registration system and brand new student identification numbers.

Waubonsee issued the new “X numbers” a few weeks before spring registration opened in November. The new ID numbers will replace the current Social Security number identification system. Students have long been lobbying for student IDs to be used instead of Social Security numbers, and the nine-digit “X number” is the Waubonsee response.

The new registration system allows much more flexibility than the old registration process. Students can now register for classes simultaneously instead of putting in one course number at a time, and the system also allows students to view midterm and final grades, student information, and a copy of the course catalog.

The interactive course catalog lets students search for classes based on section, class name and credit hours, and also provides detailed descriptions and prerequisites for all classes.

Students often voiced security as a reason to abandon the use of Social Security numbers; on top of the new student numbers, security in the new system is further enhanced by students' creating a PIN number and a “secret question” that they can use to recover their account information if it is lost.

Instant Gratification

2006-11-17T13:13:00.000-08:00

Section: Opinion/Editorial
Published: Waubonsee Insight, November 2006 Issue

Americans love fast results. The quicker we can get something, the better. Our culture has become so obsessed with speed that it is often the deciding factor when making a decision. Who cares how shoddy a product is if we can get it fast?

After the 2006 midterm election, it appears that Americans have let their obsession with fast results cloud their judgment. Voters all over the country abandoned reason and fact and fell for false promises and insults.

Democrats used the campaign strategy of “we're not the Republicans” to take over the House and Senate; however, it's no secret that the Republican seats were mostly lost due to the Iraq war.

Most voters agreed that the Iraq war was a primary concern for them at the polls, but the problem is, most voters also don't understand the facts and implications of pulling out of the Iraq war.

They don't realize that a long-term engagement against terrorism is not going to be over tomorrow.

Anyone that thought we were going to go into Iraq, knock Saddam off his Kurd-slaughtering pedestal and then leave within a couple of days is in need of a serious reality check.

Fighting terrorism is an ongoing process; Iraq is only a front in the war.
Most of the insurgents we are fighting in Iraq are not even Iraqi. They're Syrian, Iranian, and yes, members of Al Qaeda.

Abandoning Iraq, as the Party of Cut and Run has promised to do, will lead to the collapse of society in that country, and the subsequent takeover of that country by radical Islamifascists.

Iraq is a microcosm of the entire war on terror. If we lose Iraq, terrorism will be allowed to flourish and our country will be in far more danger than it is now.

Insight Debuts New Logo

2006-11-17T13:11:00.000-08:00

Section: News
Published: Waubonsee Insight, November 2006 Issue

As regular readers will notice, Insight sports a different look at the top of our front page this month.

The Waubonsee Chief logo, which, as we reported in September, was removed as Waubonsee Community College's logo, has also been retired from the Insight masthead.

Insight continued to use the Chief logo through the first two issues of this semester, until a suitable alternative logo could be created. After going through a dozen different designs, Insight editors chose the current logo, which features a medieval shield crossed with a pen and quill.

The new logo was created by Samuel Essling, a graphic designer who has also worked on the Insight website, developing the new site design placed online this semester.

We welcome any feedback on our new look; please email us at insight@waubonsee.edu.

Democrats Oust GOP, Take Control of Congress

2006-11-17T13:09:00.000-08:00

Section: News
Published: Waubonsee Insight, November 2006 Issue

With embattled Republicans facing issues ranging from scandal and corruption to charges of mishandling the Iraq war, the Democratic party took full advantage of rampant anti-Bush and anti-Republican sentiment among voters, and gained control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate for the first time in twelve years.

Democrats briefly held the Senate between 2001 and 2002 when Jim Jeffords (I-Vt) switched his party affiliation from the GOP to independent.

All but a few House races were decided within two days of the elections, and when the smoke cleared, Democrats had gained 28 seats in the House, enough to take the majority.

Several key Senate races also fell in the Democrats’ favor.

Early in the evening, Democrat Bob Casey, Pennsylvania State Treasurer, defeated incumbent firebrand Rick Santorum (R-Pa), a strong proponent of the Iraq war.

Jim Talent (R-Mo) was also knocked out of his seat, in a tight race with Democrat Claire McCaskill. The Missouri race attracted national attention after a campaign ad featuring Michael J. Fox aired supporting McCaskill. The ad was called into question by some conservatives who accused Fox of making his Parkinson's Disease symptoms seem worse than they were. Fox has denied these allegations.

Vote counts went late into the night, but in the end, McCaskill pulled out a 49-47 percent victory over the incumbent Republican.

Montana incumbent Conrad Burns (R-Mt) also lost his seat to Democrat Jon Tester, by a margin of around 3000 votes. Libertarian Stan Jones picked up around 10,000 votes, leading some to speculate that his presence in the race had a significant effect on the outcome. Tester was declared the winner the day after the election, solidifying the Democrat's bid for the Senate majority.

The most controversial and pivotal race turned out to be Virginia. George Allen (R-Va) was trying to hold off the attack of James Webb, a former Navy secretary who served during the Ronald Reagan administration. Virginia law called for an automatic recount when Webb won by only 7000 votes, but by Thursday afternoon Allen had conceded the seat.

Of the four main power players in the Senate race, only Tennessee was held by the GOP, where Bob Corker (R-Tn) staved off the challenge of Harold Ford 51-48 percent.

Day 331 of Our Exile

2006-11-17T13:05:00.000-08:00

Section: Opinion/Editorial
Published: Waubonsee Insight, November 2006 Issue

Many months ago, I penned a piece that detailed the plight my band of wayward scribes was facing.

As you may know, we were forcefully moved from our home within the castle walls into the inhospitable environment from which we now publish our monthly musings and prattlings.

Since then, the make-up of our band has changed dramatically; gone are some legendary figures, and gone are some troublesome malcontents. I now speak as the leader of this group, and despite the horrific conditions imposed on us by the rulers of this nation; our band has grown into a huge force of talented scribes, artists and anthologists.

So large, in fact, that we have vastly outgrown the cave that we are confined to. I am proud to say that our troop now boasts some of the most talented wordsmiths in the land, but we are often limited by our surroundings.

What has not changed, however, is the deplorable and inhuman existence we were forced into by the rulers of the kingdom.

As I wrote about last season, our band had once been members of the nation; embraced by the rulers of the kingdom, the subjects and scholars alike. Soon, though, our spot in the castle was taken from us and we were exiled into the mountains, to live in poverty in whatever caves and shelters we could find.

We were promised a spot in the kingdom if we went along with the kingdom's plans and did not cause a commotion; “endure a few seasons” we were told, “wait until the kingdom has a space for you.”

We were supplicated by these claims; lured in by the sweet words of the Queen of the Court who sits on the throne, we believed that after a few rough seasons in our cave, we would be allowed back into the kingdom.

As you can see, three hundred and thirty-one days later, we still sit in our cave. We continue to provide our services to the citizens of the kingdom, but we no longer believe that we will be allowed back, or that it was ever in the plan to let us back.
We offered the rulers of the kingdom many choices for our re-entry into the kingdom, only to have members of the court scream in our ears that we would, “never, never,” get the residence we requested.

This leads me to my point. The Queen rules from her throne, much like the Egyptian god she takes her name from, but she does not care anymore about her subjects. Other members of her royal court share the same thoughts.
Yes, there are those that would like to see the subjects treated fairly, but for the rest, the number of gold coins you contribute to the kingdom has become the deciding factor to your importance among the elite.

To be sure, there are still nobles who care. Believe me, I draw a sharp line between the nobles and the throne-sitter's court.

These nobles are brave and true artisans who teach their craft to willing pupils; whether it is the written word, theatre or pottery skills, these wise men and women share their vast knowledge with a populace forgotten by the rulers.

They are among the ordinary citizens, and unlike the castle's rulers, they are still in touch with the common folk.

These individuals teach and instruct with a passion and a fire that the rulers of the land are no longer able or willing to exert. In fact, the rulers of the kingdom are sometimes just as meddlesome and conniving when dealing with the nobles as they are with us.

I tip my cap to the nobles for their service, and they should be commended for succeeding where the rulers have failed.

The question my band must ask now is why? Have our fiery thoughts and words, often contradictory to the socially acceptable opinion, relegated us to this existence? Or have we simply been forgotten in our uninhabitable cave, while the rulers calmly sit in their spacious throne rooms making their plans?

Or, as I suspect, is the kingdom now more concerned with fame and fortune: the accolades of other rulers, the gifts brought by visitors of far off lands, and the coin piling up within the castle walls far outweigh the importance of the kingdom's subjects.

Fire Alarm Leads to Student Evacuation

2006-10-12T19:22:00.000-07:00

Section: News
Published: Waubonsee Insight, October 2006 Issue

SUGAR GROVE, Illinois - Waubonsee students received a chance to practice their fire evacuation skills on Friday, October 6th, when the campus fire alarm interrupted classes and forced students outside.

“The administration office in Bodie smelled smoke, and called campus police,” Joe Monstwillo, Campus Police Chief, stated. “Upon arriving, campus police confirmed the smoke, and I pulled the [fire] alarm to initiate the call.”

Kane County dispatch received the call at 9:32 a.m., and units from the Sugar Grove fire department arrived on scene at 9:37 a.m., and entered the building to determine the cause of the smoke. Eventually, firefighters from both Sugar Grove and Elburn arrived to answer the alarm. The department personnel used a heat-imaging device and located the hottest item in the office where the smoke was reported, which was the large photocopier. “Once they determined that [the copier] was the hottest thing in the room, we went on the assumption [that the copier had overheated] and moved the machine outside,” Monstwillo explained.

Several students commented on what they felt was the tardiness of the fire department's response, but Monstwillo explained that he felt the response was timely. “With situations like this, you never hear people say 'how'd you get here so quick?' because time just seems to go in slow motion. I thought the response was timely, and if you would have put a stopwatch to it, I don't think it was more than ten minutes,” Monstwillo said. As shown above, the first units did arrive on the scene within five minutes.

Students evacuated their classrooms, then moved outside for safety reasons. While Monstwillo said the evacuation went “very well,” there will be some fine tuning to the plan next time. “We kept people a bit too close to the building; had it been a real fire, there may have been some injuries,” Monstwillo stated, “We also need to make sure there is a clear path for emergency vehicles.”

“We appreciated the students' cooperation today; the evacuation went well, and it was a good practice exercise,” Monstwillo explained.

No injuries were reported, and students were able to re-enter the buildings in time for their 10:00 a.m. classes.

FBI Profiler Speaks At Waubonsee

2006-10-12T17:17:00.000-07:00

Section: News
Published: Waubonsee Insight, October 2006 Issue

SUGAR GROVE, Illinois - Roy Hazelwood, a veteran of both the military and the FBI, spoke at Waubonsee Community College on September 19. Hazelwood served as an elite FBI profiler for a number of years, and now serves as the Vice President of Academy Group, Inc, a Forensic Behavioral Science Company that provides consultation and training.

Hazelwood's lecture covered a number of topics about criminals, predators and FBI profiling, but he was quick to point out the difference between real profilers and so-called FBI profilers portrayed in movies and books.

“Silence of the Lambs has an FBI profiler [as a main character],” Hazelwood said, “The only thing that was realistic in that movie was the elevator; if you go to Quantico, you can see that elevator, and that's about it.”

“People often ask if Hannibal Lecter was a real person, and the answer is no,” Hazelwood explained, “The character was a composite of a number of different of serial killers. Thomas Harris [author of Silence of the Lambs] met with us to develop the character.”

Hazelwood went on to describe the three primary jobs of an FBI profiler: conducting research, consulting on cases, and education and training.

For research, profilers like Hazelwood often interview serial killers and offenders, but they also interview wives and girlfriends of those offenders. Hazelwood said that the significant-other interviews were often much more interesting, because they had a different perspective of the offenders. The wives and girlfriends could give insight into actions taken by killers that the killers themselves could not provide.
“We are after predators,” Hazelwood stated, adding that the term 'predator' is thrown around so much that it doesn't mean much to people anymore, but explained that “sexual sadists are the true predators.”

Hazelwood, throughout his career, consulted on a number of high-profile cases involving such killers and offenders.

He was retained by the United Nations to examine statements of rape victims in the Bosnian War Crimes case in the 1990s. This case involved a number of heinous crimes committed against women and children, and was the first international war crimes trial since World War II.

Hazelwood also took part in the hunt for the infamous Bind-Torture-Kill (BTK) killer three times.

The BTK case was Hazelwood's longest active case, spanning over 31 years, and Hazelwood considers the BTK case his most frustrating case professionally, because, as he said, the killer was “seemingly invisible;” he would appear and disappear so quickly that it was extremely hard to pursue him.

The BTK case also had a number of very interesting surprises (which Hazelwood did not elaborate on), that makes it one of the profiler's most interesting cases.
Project CARE, a Royal Canadian Mounted Police initiative that involved 33 investigators, was another case that Hazelwood consulted on.

The project revolved around the murder of seven prostitutes in Canada. “Prostitutes used to be 'throw-away' victims, [they were] considered not worth the time,” Hazelwood explained. “It shows how far law enforcement has come, [because] now we are investigating the murders of prostitutes.”

Hazelwood went on to explain the three principles that have guided him in his job.
First, he says that common sense, what he calls “practical intelligence,” is extremely important. Hazelwood said that while a college education is extremely important, people should never “let education get in the way of common sense.”
Another principle is that in all cases there are no absolutes.

“There are exceptions to every single thing,” Hazelwood said. He explained that making assumptions or letting personal bias enter into profiling a killer are the makings of a failed case. Hazelwood elaborated further when he listed words such as “sick,” “pervert,” “weirdo,” and “psycho,” that are banned from FBI profiler terminology when talking about an offenders.

“What does a 'weirdo' look like?” Hazelwood asked, continuing, “How do you find a 'weirdo'? How do you define 'weirdo'?”

He mentioned a number of serial killers he pursued over the years that looked and acted completely normal when they had to interact with the world.

A study that Hazelwood took part in profiled 20 sadistic killers in an attempt to find commonality that would assist in apprehending future criminals.

The shocking part of the study was how “normal” many of the killers appeared.
“Seventy-five percent had stable employment, 50% were married, only 35% had arrest histories, and just one was actually psychotic,” Hazelwood said, “When they had to, these people could walk down the street just like you or I.”

The final principle Hazelwood adheres to is one he learned in the military. “K-I-S-S. Keep it simple, stupid!” he said with a laugh.

Hazelwood closed his presentation by mentioning a few myths about FBI profiling. For example, he said that profiling is actually a “very small part” of what FBI profilers do, about 10% of their work. “We only profile when other means of investigation have run dry.”

Another myth is that sexual sadists and other predators are psychotics. In fact, nearly none of the serial offenders Hazelwood worked to catch were true psychotics (psychotics are out of touch with reality; they exist in their own sphere of existence and have an extremely hard time comprehending the normal flow of the world).

“Only 3% of serial offenders are true psychotics,” Hazelwood explained.
Hazelwood also talked about confusion as to what causes violence. “Poverty, brain damage, drugs, mental illness, music, video games, TV, chemical imbalances. These are all things you hear about that 'cause' violence. In reality, none of them do,” Hazelwood said, adding that while none of the above cause violence, some of them can have an impact.

“In the end each person reacts differently to different things; it's all about culture and values,” he said. “Our society is making this worse, because we have lost important brakes on behavior. We've lost our sense of responsibility and our sense of shame. We've moved from explaining behavior to excusing it.”
An interesting point of interest is how Hazelwood started to work in law enforcement.

After starting in college majoring in business, Hazelwood gave up on that major when he got stumped on an accounting class.

“I switched to sociology at that point,” Hazelwood said with a chuckle.
When he went to join the ROTC, Hazelwood said he wasn't sure which branch of the military to go into, until he watched demonstrations by each group.
“The army guys were just covered in mud, and I was thinking, 'well that's sure not for me,'” Hazelwood said, continuing that neither the tankers who drove “steel coffins” nor artillery officers who were “deaf” offered the right choice for him.
When the Military Police unit came out, however, Hazelwood was immediately interested in the “shiny white boots.”

“Honest to God, that's why I joined [the military police],” he said.
Hazelwood served a two year contract as an MP with the U.S. Army. He enjoyed his time in the Army so much, he continued to serve for a total of 11 years.
After leaving the Army, Hazelwood served 22 years in the FBI. Sixteen of those years were spent in the Behavioral Science Unit at the FBI Academy.
Hazelwood has published more than 40 articles and has co-authored five books.
He served as an Affiliate Professor of Administration of Justice at George Mason University, an Adjunct Faculty member of the University of Virginia, a member of the Associated Faculty with the University of Pennsylvania, a faculty member of the FBI Academy and the U.S. Army Military Police CID School, and the Technical Faculty of the Southern Police Institute.

Conspiracy Theorists Pervert 9/11 Anniversary

2006-10-12T15:15:00.000-07:00

Section: Opinion/Editorial
Published: Waubonsee Insight, October 2006 Issue

Every year it gets worse. It started off as a bunch of crack-addicted malcontents who were too stupid and too lazy to get real jobs making a bunch of ludicrous claims about what happened on September 11th.

These sad people were still upset about Al Gore losing the 2000 Election, still wishing for Bill “I Lie Under Oath” Clinton to be back in office, and too hung up on how “evil” Americans are to ever even consider that Islamic Jihadists killing 3000 Americans because we are not their same religion is an extremely viable and plausible scenario.

These people decided to get back at god knows who by creating some far fetched dreamscapes that they could play out in their sick, twisted minds.

It's been five years now, and unfortunately, the conspiracy theories have not evaporated; instead, these fringe radicals are starting to filter into our daily lives. People who consider themselves “mainstream” are now grabbing a hold of these twisted theories and claiming them to be truth.

I, for one, am quite sick of it. Conspiracy theories are nothing new; alien cover-ups in Roswell comes to my mind as one of the longest living and most popular conspiracy theories in existence.

It is my sincere hope that the disgusting 9/11 conspiracy theories never attain such notoriety. Due to a bunch of shrill Leftists, however, that hope is fading as fast as the Democrat's chance to win the House and Senate next month.

Public personalities such as David Ray Griffin and Cynthia McKinney have been hailing certain 9/11 theories as fact, which aside from being depraved, is also hideously ignorant and self-absorbed.

One of the things that makes these conspiracy theories so stupid is the fact that most of them use such sketchy data and such broad assumptions that you really have to be grasping at straws to consider them real.

One of the dumbest (and thus most popular) of these things is the “controlled demolition,” theory, the twisted and half-baked conglomeration of random facts that supposedly explains how the “Zionist” Bush Administration murdered 3000 American citizens as a pre-text and justification for going to war. The preposterousness of this grand theory becomes easily discernable by anyone who takes the time and makes an honest effort to conduct research, and not just take what they hear on the evening news as gospel.

I could argue all day long that the Bush Administration would never do such a thing on legal and moral grounds, however, that line of reasoning is not the most solid (not because I think that they would do it, but because morals are subjective, and there apparently ARE many people who think they would); I tend to prefer facts and numbers as backup for my arguments, so that is where I will head.

What I just love about conspiracy theorists is the “facts” that they use. You see, these fringe radicals are masters of taking things out of context.

Take controlled demolition theory for example. One of the cornerstones of this thing is the “fact” that jet fuel would not burn hot enough to melt the steel girders in the WTC, and thus could not have brought down the building.

Conspiracy theorists like to point out two numbers: 2750 and 2012. The first is the temperature that steel generally melts at, and the second is the temperature that commercial airline jet fuel burns at, both in Fahrenheit.

Anyone can see that the jet fuel could not have been burning hot enough to melt the steel. This is the point where radicals stop. They take those two numbers and make entire websites about them. Michael Moore probably has these numbers framed in his kitchen, and Ted Kennedy has them printed on his daily bottle of Scotch.

Much to their horror, however, I am going to go a step further. You see, steel does not have to actually be liquid before it stops bearing weight. At 700 degrees Fahrenheit, steel begins to lose strength. Let me repeat that in case anyone missed it: seven-hundred degrees.

Steel loses half its strength at just over 1100 degrees Fahrenheit, and at 1800 degrees Fahrenheit, it retains less than 10 percent of its strength, this according to Farid Alfawakhiri, a senior engineer of construction codes and standards at the American Iron and Steel Institute, and research conducted by Popular Mechanics.
Now, a NIST (National Institute of Science and Technology) report on the WTC collapse stated that pockets of fuel were burning as hot as 1832 degrees Fahrenheit.

The math isn't hard; the fires were burning hot enough to bring steel to 10 percent of its strength, making it impossible for the load-bearing columns to support the tremendous weight of the building. At 10 percent strength, we're talking about massive steel columns that were about as strong as rubber.

The puffs of smoke and dust that came out of the buildings as they collapsed? The untrained eye may view those puffs as explosions, but they are actually due to a process called 'pancaking' that happens when floors of a building fall onto one another and the air has nowhere else to go, according to FEMA and NIST reports, as well as a NIST lead investigator Shyam Sunder, who detailed the entire process for Popular Mechanics' book on the 9/11 myths.

What is my point here? Well, I could sit at my desk all day and refute claim after claim that these conspiracy theorists have published, but that's not what I'm here to do. If you want that, check out Popular Mechanics' study, which takes apart pretty much every popular theory.

The above facts are simply an example of how insanely stupid these theories are and why their perversion of the 9/11 Anniversary is so disgusting.

September 11th was a terrible day for our country. Thousands of innocent people died, and our nation will never be the same. What we must do is everything in our power to make sure it doesn't happen again, and we must honor those that died that day. Regardless of your politics, you know deep down that those people jumping out of a burning 110 story building did not deserve the fate that was dealt to them.

The sad and deranged people that continue to spout hate and misinformation in an attempt to sway public opinion on the current administration should be ashamed of themselves. The information I used in this article is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg when it comes to downing conspiracy theories. For every crazed madman who publishes some ridiculous claim about 9/11, there are ten facts to refute that claim.

These crazed people are stomping on the deaths of everyone who died that day; using other people's suffering as a cudgel to be wielded for political agendas is something that I have come to expect from the left, but enough is enough.

Waubonsee Unveils New Brand, Tagline

2006-09-12T19:37:00.000-07:00

Section: Features
Published: Waubonsee Insight, September 2006 Issue

A new sight greeted students when they showed up for classes this semester; Waubonsee Community College had a new logo.

Gone was the famous “Chief” symbol; instead, a new design featuring a sunrise and collegiate shield design adorned the various buildings, books and posters around campus.

I recently sat down with Paula Amenta, the Director of Marketing & Communications for Waubonsee, to discuss the new logo, the process involved in creating it, and the future of Waubonsee's “brand identity.”

Beginning in September 2005, Waubonsee Community College started a project to “reassess the brand identity of the college,” Amenta explained. “There was a lot of inconsistency in our current designs.”

These inconsistencies manifested themselves in a variety of ways, including a vast array of different colors being used on books and flyers, as well as variations of the original “Chief” logo.

This branding process sought to consolidate all the different designs into one coherent standard; along with the new logo and tagline, the project also developed a 'color palette' that will be used as a standard for creating new material, to insure consistency across the board.

For years, Waubonsee has been represented by the “Chief” logo, a design that has been synonymous with “Waubonsee” since 1967.

Shortly after the college was founded in 1966, a design for the logo was created and finalized in time for the first day of classes on September 11th, 1967.
In 2003, another change to Waubonsee's branding was made when the institutional initiative called “Learning First!” began.

The mark first appeared on WCC correspondence and flyers in spring of 2004.
The purpose of the “Learning First!” tagline was to strengthen and bring additional focus to the college's effort to become more “learning-centered.”
While not a complete logo, the “Learning First!” design was used as a supplementary design to the main Waubonsee logo and tagline.

The Learning First! graphical element will be retired, however, the tagline and mission remain unchanged, and Learning First! will appear in place of the “Where Futures Take Shape,” subheading on some Waubonsee publications (similar to how the “Community Education” heading is used).

Waubonsee's program to develop this new brand was multi-layered; first, a Brand Identity Commission (BIC) was formed to oversee the entire process.
This committee included 15 members, ranging from faculty and administrators to staff and student representatives.

Scientific Verdicts, a strategic communication and research company, was hired to conduct interviews and gather opinions from a wide variety of sources, including students, graduates, community residents and local employers.

Thirty-one in-depth interviews were conducted to establish common themes, and then these concepts were tested on over 700 people; included in this second test were 122 mall-intercept surveys, 250 online staff/faculty questionnaires, as well as nearly 400 Waubonsee students.

The BIC chose Scientific Verdicts because of their vast experience in the area of community college branding.

“[They had] worked with virtually every community college in northeastern Illinois,” Amenta explained, “We recommended them because they have a level of knowledge, insight and expertise that can not be found anywhere else, and this proved to be very important [to] our process.”

At this point, another company specializing in implementing branding strategies was contracted to produce actual mockups of possible designs and then study student and faculty reaction.

Moveo Integrated Branding worked with WCC's Institutional Research Department to survey 500 students (chosen from a cross-section of transfer classes, adult education and vocational classes), as well as 325 staff, faculty and administrators.
“The majority of those surveyed preferred the [sunrise design],” Amenta stated. “The [shield and fire design] was also popular because of the strong shield design, so we combined the two designs for the best of both worlds.”

The entire branding process cost roughly $125,000, with $40,000 being spent on Scientific Verdicts' analysis and the other $85,000 going towards Moveo's strategy for implementing the design, as well as the actual, physical implementation and distribution of the design on tangible items such as books, catalogs and the Waubonsee website.

Amenta says that it is important to note that “no new dollars were spent on the brand identity project,” because the existing Marketing and Communications budget was modified to accommodate the new project.

As shown, each part of the logo represents a different area, from the strong collegiate shape of the shield to the “early dawn” of the sunrise.
The latter pays homage to the college's namesake, Pottawatamie Indian Chief Wah-bahn-se, as Wah-bahn-se's name means “early dawn.”

Terrorists Attack California Post Office

2006-09-12T19:35:00.000-07:00

Section: Opinion
Published: Waubonsee Insight, September 2006 Issue

It's not a big surprise that most people have not heard about this story; in this day and age, the sensationalist mainstream news would normally pounce on a story about terrorism on American soil, if it involved any group of people other than the group that it actually did.

No, the media gave this story essentially no coverage, because this attack did not involve Al Qaida. Nor did it involve Hezbollah, the IRA, Hamas or one of those crazy “liberation front” groups.

Instead, a sect of society that we meet in our everyday travels mounted this attack; the terribly unlawful and disrespectful actions that took place on August 26th were the workings of illegal immigrants and their supporters; specifically, Mexican illegal immigrants.

You know, one of the reasons I like to be a journalist is because I love to spark discussion. I love to bring up issues for debate, and I love to bring to light issues that are hiding in darkness. I think it's insane that so many people have not heard about this issue; the media has done a good job covering the butts of the racists attacking the very fabric of our nation.

Of course, I consider it my duty to inform the readers of this paper of said issues, so here I am, bringing to light one of the most despicable incidents of racism in recent memory.

On August 26th, Minutemen, the citizen project for legal immigration, staged a peaceful rally against the City of Maywood for the latter's choice to become an illegal alien stronghold.

Not to be outdone, illegal aliens and their allies poured onto the streets to “protest the racists.”

The illegals and citizens were kept apart by a number of barriers, but often, videos caught illegals running out into the no man's land to scream explicatives at American citizens before retreating back behind their signs. The criminals, not satisfied with simply yelling back and forth, decided to attack a Federal post office, and removed the American flag from the flagpole. If that wasn't bad enough, they then raised a Mexican flag in its place.

Last I checked, foreign nationals removing the symbol of our country from a Federal installation was something pretty bad. Let me see if I can remember, oh right, it's an act of war!

Who do these people think they are? I mean, honestly, if I marched my white butt down to Mexico and tore the Mexican flag of a government building and put the Stars and Stripes up there, how do you think THAT would go over?

Pretty badly, I think; about as well as if I went down there and demanded that English be the official language of the country.

I should point out, however, that not all of the people who participated in this attack were illegals. Some were legal immigrants who, for some reason or another, decided to throw in their lot with a bunch of criminals.

I have watched a number of home videos taken of the attack, and I was disgusted at what I saw.

After tearing down the American flag and hoisting the Mexican flag, the terrorists chanted and shouted and swore at the Americans who were out there to protest the city's decision to make itself a haven for illegals.

Now, I'm no expert on Spanish, unless I'm being sworn at in it, so I can't understand most of the chants that these criminals are saying. However, they helpfully wrote a number of their slogans on giant poster boards, and savvy photographers captured the blatant racism quite nicely.

Actually, I thought it was pretty funny that they were chanting their “death to U.S. citizens” malarkey in Spanish. Cause I have this crazy idea that they were about the only people in the area that understood what they were saying, so what exactly does that accomplish? I know I would have been laughing my butt off when they were doing that, had I been there. I mean, if you're trying to make a point, wouldn't you want your opposition to understand what you are saying?

Anyway, I am getting off topic; back to the depraved insults these criminals were hurling. Video at the scene captured a number of illegals saying that they were going to “kill Americans,” and also caught them calling Americans “blue eyed devils.” Ain't that nice and neighborly.

Other signs proclaimed intelligent phrases such as “Illegal European invaders go back to Europe,” “Deport white supremacists,” and “Minuteklan Go Home.”

Wow, quite original, aren't they? And this is coming from people who claim to want to join our country? Become citizens? Wear baseball caps and eat apple pie?
Uh huh…well, they could have fooled me. I would think, but maybe I'm way off base here, that if your goal is to meld into a country, you would probably not want to run around calling the current citizens of the country “devils” and telling them to evict the continent. I mean, maybe that's just me, but it sure seems like a big no-no.

I also saw video and read eyewitness accounts of manhandling at the hands of the illegals. American citizens, trying to get around the barricades placed in the street, were shoved, heckled and struck; one women had her shirt ripped and her hair pulled, while an elderly man was literally knocked to the ground by the rowdy illegals.

As I was watching some of this video, I was screaming, 'where are the police?' and maybe you are too.

Oh, the police were there; unfortunately, the police were protecting the criminals instead of the citizens.

After repeated calls by the citizens protesters, police eventually tried to pull down the shameful Mexican flag, but the flag ended up tangled in the rope, and the cops were hassled by illegals at the base of the flag pole, turning the matter into a long, drawn out process.

Now, I know that someone, somewhere is going to take offense at me calling these people terrorists. I understand that me calling illegal immigrants terrorists might sound a little shocking, so, since I am a reasonable person, and also a fair debater, I will explain my use of that terminology.

The U.S. State Department defines terrorism as "premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents, usually intended to influence an audience."

So let's get this straight; premeditated (check), politically motivated (double check), violence (check), against noncombatant targets (check), by subnational groups (say, illegals?).

It also says it is to influence an audience. Well, heck, that was quite the goal of this little stunt, wouldn't you think? These criminals are out here to say, 'hey, citizens of America, we hate your guts, we hate your flag, we hate your laws, and we hate how you are trying to make us obey said laws.'

So apparently, the solution is simple; you break a law, the way to fix it is to break more laws.

Makes sense, right? Yes? No? Ok, forget about it, it's never going to make sense. Moving on.

After watching a number of the videos of this event, and reading some of the disgusting literature posted on websites such as “The Mexican Movement,” “Aztlan Separatist Movement,” and the Communistic “Answer LA,” I am more convinced then ever that if most Americans do not see the depth and scope of the illegal immigration problem, something must be done very quickly to insure that every American citizen knows the facts. If these sites are a representation of illegal immigrants policies and modes of operations, then this attack was only the beginning.

These sites are filled with hate; pure, unadulterated hate. It seeps from every pixel on the screen.

People can discuss why illegals come to the U.S. until they are blue in the face, and they can defend these criminals' “right” to better jobs until the sun goes down, but while these disillusioned people are living in their dream world, the rest of us need to realize that this is a serious issue this country is facing.

This latest stunt is evidence that illegals are not the teddy bears the media would like us to think they are; while I do not think every illegal immigrant is like the ones who declared war on our country on August the 26th, there are enough bad ones to cause significant problems for our country.

If it were up to me, I would sit every American down and make them watch every video clip from this attack.

Regardless of your politics, no American can watch illegal immigrants tear the Stars and Stripes off a building and hoist a Mexican flag without feeling angry, upset and betrayed; betrayed by our politicians, who have let this situation run unchecked for so long.

Respect The Military

2006-09-12T19:33:00.000-07:00

Section: Opinion/Editorial
Published: Waubonsee Insight, September 2006

People sometimes forget who has made it possible for us to have the awesome freedoms we have in this country.

Just a hint: the politician you voted for? He didn't do it. The activist waving a sign or putting tape over their mouth and a bag over their head? They didn't do it either.

It's the soldiers, plain and simple. The soldiers that fight for our country, the brave men and women who spend each day protecting our freedoms, they are ones who are to thank for the rights we enjoy.

I have the utmost respect for every person who serves in our armed forces. In fact, I have so much respect for them, that I thank every military man or women I meet for their service. I shake their hand, look them in the eye, and say, “Thank you. Thank you for protecting my right to say or write whatever I want. Thank you for protecting my right to worship whatever religion I wish to worship. Thank you for protecting our way of life.”

Unfortunately, too many people have lost sight of this basic fact. I see protesters cursing our military, and I shake my head in disbelief. Don't these people realize that the very people they condemn are the ones that made it possible for them to condemn?

I get so frustrated when people take out their anger at politicians on the military. I am a staunch Conservative, and will be until I die, so my support of the Bush Administration and the military is extremely strong and solid.

However, I often see Liberals who attack the soldiers themselves because they dislike the President. I ask how much sense does that make? Regardless of your political affiliation, you should be thanking and respecting the soldiers.

You see, Freedom of Speech is only a right in our country because brave men and women sacrificed their lives to preserve it. And for that, they deserve our lasting and steadfast respect.

Pluto Loses ‘Planet’ Status

2006-09-12T19:31:00.000-07:00

Section: News
Published: Waubonsee Insight, September 2006 Issue

PRAGUE, Czech Republic - The solar system as we know it received an overall August 24th, when the International Astronomical Union voted to remove Pluto from the nine major planets in the solar system.

Under historic new guidelines presented and adopted by the Union, Pluto has been downgraded to a 'dwarf planet,' a smaller type of celestial body. Joining Pluto as dwarf planets are two other objects from the solar system, objects that nearly made the cut as full-fledged planets, until the new standards were put in place.

2003 UB313, an icy object almost the same size as Pluto, was also placed into the dwarf planet category, along with the asteroid Ceres, which is the largest object in the mid-solar system asteroid belt that cuts off the inner and outer planets.

Ceres was discovered at beginning of the 19th century, and was considered a planet for a number of years, until scientists reclassified it as an asteroid.

The original draft that the International Astronomical Union created called for Ceres and Charon, Pluto's largest moon, to be classified as planets, however, opposition to this plan led to the creation of the second and final draft, which established the 'dwarf planets.'

Charon, under the new classifications, receives no further upgrade in status.
The definitions set out by the Union call for a three-tier system to classifying the solar system: planets, dwarf planets, and “small solar system bodies,” a term that will be applied to a number of celestial bodies that orbit the Sun but do not fit the requirements for either of the higher level categories.

One requirement that must be met to be considered a “planet” is that the body in question must have an orbit is large enough to be nearly circle, and must also “clear the neighborhood around its orbit.”

These new rules disqualified Pluto, whose orbit intersects with Neptune's, from planet status.

Twenty-five hundred astronomers from 75 nations attended the conference, however, only 300 actually voted on the proposals.

Scientists have argued and debated over a universal definition for planets since the time of Copernicus, and many scientists were overjoyed at a set of guidelines finally making their way into the history books.

Clyde W. Tombaugh, an American astronomer, originally discovered Pluto in 1930.
The departure from nine planets in the solar system also led to some hurried restructuring of curriculum at schools across the country.

Parking Woes Plague First Week of Classes

2006-09-12T19:29:00.000-07:00

Section: News
Published: Waubonsee Insight, September 2006

SUGAR GROVE, IL - Veteran students know, and new students will soon find out, that parking is a challenge at Waubonsee Community College. Everyone knows that, especially at the beginning of a semester, you have to get to campus early, and you have to be willing to either walk, or claw and fight for prime parking spots.
A number of theories have emerged as to how to best avoid parking incidents and how to maximize your chances at getting a parking spot somewhere within 300 miles of the front door.

These strategies play out every semester, however, no one was prepared for the debacle that awaited students the first day of class.

Waubonsee lost a number of parking spots this semester due to a variety of construction projects around campus. To combat this problem, a new West parking lot was built to hold additional cars.

The only problem was that the West lot was not finished on time. Instead, the entrance was still blocked off as the contractor struggled to complete the work. Waubonsee students were faced with a daunting task; find a parking place where none existed.

Waubonsee students, faculty and staff literally used up every parking spot on campus.

Cars began to appear on grassy medians, parked in no parking zones, and even, comically so, on a hill that leads into the side of a maintenance building on the north side of campus.

To their credit, campus police helped alleviate the stress by suspending the issuing of parking tickets for the duration of the parking issues.

Many students voiced their displeasure over the situation.

Most students interviewed for this article gave a resounding “terrible” as their answer for how parking was the first week of class.

The overwhelming majority also gave comments that were a variant on the theme of “it sucks,” “it can't possibly be worse,” and “are you kidding me?”

Amanda Selk, a Waubonsee student, began carpooling this semester in an effort to avoid the parking situation. “It's ridiculous,” she said, stating further she often had cars following her waiting for her to leave so they could take her place.

Most students seem to agree; Marisella Urbina said that parking has been “pretty difficult […] I have to come here at least twenty minutes before I would if parking were semi-decent.”

Waubonsee has experienced tremendous growth in the past few years, leading some students to question whether or not Waubonsee administration has been paying attention to those figures.

“They know what volume of students [attend WCC], and they should have had the new parking ready,” Leslie Moore, Waubonsee student, stated.

Campus Operations did not return calls seeking comment.

Celebrating 40 Years of Success: 40th Anniversary Kick-Off and Science Building Grand Opening

2006-09-12T19:28:00.000-07:00

Section: News
Published: Waubonsee Insight, September 2006 Issue

Waubonsee Community College officially kicked off their 40th Anniversary Celebration on Friday August 25th, with the dedication of the new Science Building.

The 46,590 square foot building, located in the center of Waubonsee's Sugar Grove Campus, is a cornerstone of Waubonsee's 2020 Plan and the second building to be completed.

The dedication ceremony featured an hour of self-guided tours for guests, as well as a formal ceremony.

Guests were welcome to explore the various labs and areas of the new building; most of the science labs featured displays and exhibits, and were open to the guests, while a number of science faculty demonstrated and explained the various disciplines.

Tracy Dosch, a biology instructor, took samples from participants to isolate their DNA, and numerous other instructors were on hand to explain the various facets of the new labs.

Waubonsee's new Science Building offers many significant upgrades and opportunities for students and faculty alike.

Some of the special features include an overhead camera system in the anatomy labs that can be used for in-depth study of cadavers, a fossil preparation lab that contains more than 100 unique mineral, rock and fossil samples, a weather station that gives students the chance to view real-time weather information, and a seismograph for students to view earthquake data.

Another event taking place at the Science Building Dedication and 40th Anniversary Kick Off was the internment of the Waubonsee time capsule, a project that will preserve this date in history.

Waubonsee's time capsule was filled with a variety of items: various science faculty members placed flora and fauna samples from on-campus into the capsule, and a number of other science related materials such as textbooks, air and water samples, Mastodon Dig DVDs and brochures, and groundbreaking photos of the Science Building were placed in the capsule.

Additionally, copies of current Waubonsee publications were placed in the capsule, including Fall 2006 class schedules, staff newsletters, and a copy of this very publication, Insight.

The time capsule is scheduled to be opened in precisely 40 years, which will be August 25th, 2046.

In conjunction with Waubonsee's 40th. Anniversary, WCC began a recognition program called the “Fabulous 40,” an elite group that will honor 40 alumni and students from Waubonsee Community College who embody the mission, ideals and vision of the college. These chosen few will be recognized over the next year.

The first such candidate was Dr. Jose Magana, a physician working for Dreyer Medical Clinic. Magana graduated from Waubonsee in 1986 with an Associate in Applied Science degree, and continued on in his education to earn a Bachelor's degree in physics and a medical degree.

The theme for Waubonsee’s 40th Anniversary is Celebrating 40 Years of Student Success.” Special events are planned for the next year, including the grand opening of the Academic and Professional Center in August 2007.

‘Croc Hunter’ Dies at 44

2006-09-12T19:26:00.000-07:00

Section: News
Published: Waubonsee Insight, September 2006 Issue

AUSTRALIA - Steve Irwin, known worldwide as the exuberant and khaki-clad Australian with a love for nature, died September 4th after being stung in the heart by a stingray. He was 44.

Irwin was filming material on-location at the Great Barrier Reef off Australia's northeast coast for a number of television segments, including “The Ocean's Deadliest.”

When the waters proved to be too cloudy to effectively tape that footage, Irwin decided to use the time to film a school of stingrays for his daughter Bindi's Discovery Channel wildlife show.

While swimming in shallow water no more then 10 feet deep, Irwin swam over a large bull ray, which, while docile, can grow up to seven feet wide. Inexplicably, the ray whipped its razor-sharp tail into Irwin's chest, puncturing his heart.
Irwin pulled the barb out just seconds before the crew of his ship, Croc One, pulled him back onboard. They tried to stem the bleeding, but Irwin died before the rescue chopper could arrive.

Stingrays rarely kill humans; most often, any deaths from stingrays are due to allergic reactions to the venom, rather than any sort of trauma.

Irwin was known across the world for his wild antics and conservation projects as the Crocodile Hunter. His television shows have been seen in over 100 countries.
Irwin is survived by his American wife Terri, an eight-year-old daughter Bindi and three-year-old son Robert.

Dateline NBC Stages NASCAR “Racism Sting”

2006-05-15T14:07:00.000-07:00

Section: News
Published: Waubonsee Insight, May 2006 Issue

Dateline NBC, in what most news outlets have considered an attempt to portray NASCAR fans as racist, staged an operation to insert Muslim-looking men into a NASCAR event while using video cameras to record fans' reactions.

NBC claims in a statement released shortly after the operation became public knowledge that “We were intrigued by the results of a recent Washington Post/ABC News poll and other articles regarding increasing anti-Muslim sentiments in the United States.”

NBC contacted a man named Tarek El-Messidi, and that man sent out a press release asking for Muslim-looking men to volunteer for the project, men who were successful and spoke fluent English. Their requirements did not even list actually being Muslim as a requirement; instead, the volunteers needed only “look Muslim.”

These men would be sent to NASCAR races and marched through the stands and infield, while cameras captured the discrimination and racist remarks directed at them. Or so Dateline hoped.

Michelle Malkin, a popular conservative columnist, first posted the story on her blog on April 4th. By then, Dateline had already staged the first of its 'stings'; they sent some of their Muslim-looking recruits to the NASCAR Nextel Cup event at Martinsville, Va. on April 2nd, accompanied by an NBC camera crew.

To Dateline's dismay, these men did not even cause a ripple in the stands. Ramsey Poston, NASCAR's managing director of corporate communications, stated that there were “no incidents” reported at the track, and various fans that this writer spoke to noticed the Muslim men as an oddity only because they were constantly trailed by an NBC camera entourage.

Martinsville's director of public relations, Mike Smith, says that NBC's camera crew wasn't as unnoticed as they thought. “Our security knew immediately that they were here,” Smith explained, “They were not disturbed [by any fans].”

Not to be discouraged, Dateline planned to send their crew to the race the next weekend in Richmond. It was only at the last minute that they realized that the race was actually in Texas, but by then so many journalists and fans knew of the planned event that Dateline cancelled their visit to the races.

NBC and Dateline have been the subject of scornful remarks from fans, news media and journalists across the country for this stunt.

"It's hard to even call it journalism," Poston said, “Any legitimate journalist should be ashamed."

Waubonsee Grad Pens Sci-Fi Novel

2006-05-15T13:00:00.000-07:00

Section: Features
Published: Waubonsee Insight, May 2006 Issue

Twilight of the Past, a science fiction thrill ride from Waubonsee graduate Michael Parziale, takes the reader on a journey into the world of Newl Rift.
Rift, the leader of the powerful nation of Gutra De, must survive assassination attempts, a world on the brink of global war and traitorous allies as he struggles to recover his lost past and unite the warring factions.

I had the honor of interviewing the author of this book, Michael Parziale, about his time at Waubonsee and his future writing projects.

Ian: What was your inspiration for writing this book?
Michael: I always wanted to create my own "world,” so after thinking up some ideas and putting it all together I finally wrote it into a novel!

Are any of the characters in the book based on people you know in real life?
A couple minor character names are a variation of names from real life, but other than that no other names or personalities came from anyone I know.

Did you base any technologies on current sci fi classics? I think I might have seen some lightsabers.

One of the characters, Efil H. Taed, uses a heat sword, which could be said to be similar to a lightsaber (but it has a non-retractable solid blade, it does glow though!). But I did try very hard to create unique technology for the world of Aldurea.

How did you approach the dilemma of introducing your audience to the level of technology present in this universe?

I tried to explain what I thought needed explaining and not bog down the story with useless techno-babble. If I described it, I felt it was important to know.

When did you first start writing the book and how long did it take you to complete?
I started writing the book over two years ago, but once I got most of the ideas and plotting down on paper it took around 6 months to write. Editing took a couple more months after that.

What was your major at Waubonsee?
I pursued an associates of science (general science emphasis) at Waubonsee.

Any favorite classes and/or teachers at Waubonsee?
Although I don't think I did to well in the class, Biology 2, taught by Mr. Ward, was by far one of my favorites. I also enjoyed my English classes taught by Mr. Funchion.

You mentioned the Waubonsee writing center in your book; how much help were you able to get from them and do you recommend other students utilize the service?

One word describes the Waubonsee Writing Center: Awesome! They helped me an unbelievable amount (WCC Writing Center was also thanked in the novel if you don't believe me). Most of my help came from Char Landmeier, what a great, great help.

What was the hardest part of writing this book?
Actually sitting down and writing it. Once it was done though, editing it was a pain too. And now that it's released, marketing it is a pain too. Really it's all a pain, but also amazingly rewarding and fun.

What was your favorite part of writing the book?
I enjoyed all the action. I love fight scenes!

Did you have anyone working with you or helping you edit the book?
Friends and family helped with the editing. And of course WCC Writing Center helped tremendously with getting me going with the first novel.

One of the challenges of writing a book in a "new universe," as opposed to an already established one such as Star Wars or Star Trek is technology (which we have already discussed), and names. You did a great job (in my opinion) on creating names of people and places that were interesting and appropriate, but not crazy enough that they were impossible to read. Care to share your secret?

I wanted to make the world, Aldurea, very unique, yet realistic. Nothing in the story is completely 'way out there' or anything like that. I tried to give the characters realistic dialogue and the problems in their lives genuine ones that anyone could relate to.

You have a sequel planned for the book. Did you always intend on making the story span multiple books, or did that change while you were writing it?

I knew that one novel wouldn't be enough to encompass the story. As of now it's planned to be a trilogy (although that could change since the third novel isn't plotted). The second installment (Twilight of the Past: A Slave of Sorrow) is about 1/4 done.

Ryan Guilty On All Charges

2006-05-15T12:59:00.000-07:00

Section: News
Published: Waubonsee Insight, May 2006 Issue

George Ryan, former Illinois governor and Secretary of State, was convicted on April 17 of all 18 charges leveled against him; the most serious of these being a racketeering charge that could land him in jail for 20 years on its own, with the 72 year old Ryan facing a possible grand total of 95 years in prison for all charges.
He may also receive up to $4.5 million in fines.

Ryan's co-defendant, lobbyist Larry Warner, was also convicted of 12 charges.
Ryan is perhaps best known for the infamous “License for Bribes” scandal, a long-running ordeal that involved the illegal selling of government licenses and contracts by state employees to unqualified drivers.

The scheme was revealed when a Federal investigation into the deaths of six children in a Wisconsin crash showed that the truck driver who caused the crash had obtained his license illegally while Ryan was the Secretary of State.

A total of 76 officials, truck drivers and lobbyists have now been charged and convicted in the investigation, with Ryan and Warner being the latest.
Ryan served as governor of Illinois from 1999 to 2003, when political pressure from mounting corruption charges led to him declining to run for another term.

Neither Ryan nor Warner took the stand during the trial, citing that nothing they did was illegal. The trial was often hampered by jury problems, including two jurors being dismissed after they lied on their questionnaires, and another juror who says she was intimidated and coerced into reaching the verdict.

Defense lawyers made every effort to stop the trial and declare a mistrial due to the jury issues. Sentencing will take place in August, and Ryan has announced he will appeal the verdict.

Student Leads Push for Curriculum Change

2006-03-02T16:24:00.000-08:00

Section: News
Published: Waubonsee Insight, February 2006 Issue

When the Fall 2006 schedule for Waubonsee comes out in a few months, students are going to notice a brand new section of classes available for their learning pleasure: Japanese.

The interesting thing about this curriculum addition is that no one on the board of directors proposed or seconded this motion. No teachers spoke to their deans about it.

In fact, the person who spearheaded the effort to add Japanese to Waubonsee's classroom offerings was none other then your fellow student, Bethany Meadows.
After months of hard work, Meadows succeeded in a project she started last November.

As of the fall 2006 semester, Japanese will be added to the growing list of foreign language classes offered at Waubonsee.

Meadows, who attended Oswego High School and is currently in her freshman year at Waubonsee, compiled a list of people who were interested in the course, and circulated a petition to add the class that garnered approximately 40 signatures.

She began this effort as a leadership project for Gustafson scholars, and she worked closely with the Liberal Arts department during the whole process.

Meadows' inspiration for adding Japanese to Waubonsee came from her interest in Japanese culture. “It's one of my main interests,” she explains. Meadows is a huge fan of Japanese animation and comics, otherwise known as 'anime.'

Meadows expressed how she would love to go to Japan sometime in the future: “Tokyo, Okinawa, Kyoto, I'd love to see them all,” she says.

Meadows interest in anime may also prove to be a possible career. She would like to go into animation and illustration, and she is hoping that she can eventually work in that field.

“I'd love to work on illustration and maybe storyboarding,” she stated. “I'd prefer to work in animation as opposed to comics because there's much more output and it's more widely viewed.”

Meadows gave the Liberal Arts department much of the credit for the success of the project. “Dr. Marzano and his secretary Sue [Baier] were very, very helpful…everyone was willing to put forth some extra work,” she explains.

Dr. Marzano said this project is a great indication of Waubonsee's “Learning First” ideology.

Meadows will be taking Japanese next semester, and plans to transfer to North Michigan, Northern Illinois or University of Illinois when she finishes her studies at Waubonsee.

Day 42 of Our Exile: An Allegory

2006-02-03T17:21:00.000-08:00

Section: Features
Published: Waubonsee Insight, January 2006 Issue

A new day is dawning; I, however, cannot see it. My prison is very hot and the sun does not lend me the light of its rays. You see, the barriers across the mouth of the tomb prevent anything from reaching me.

I sit in a dark corner of this tomb and ponder my situation. How has it come to this, I ask myself. I am occupying this dark and cramped prison with fifteen of my fellow scribes, staring at the barren walls and stagnant pools of water in desperation. My eyes have become those of a troglyte; I cannot remember what the sun looks like.

Once before, it was not like this. Although this cave may be all that future members of our guild ever know as our home, we were once respected members of the kingdom, granted residence in the castle itself.

Members of the community frequented our residence, and great bay windows provided us with a spectacular view of the countryside.

For many years we had served the populace faithfully as the scribes of the kingdom. As a voice of the people, we recorded the events of the land as they happened, spurred passionate discussions of worldly issues, and even organized events and festivals for the townsfolk to attend.

Our reward appears to be unrepresentative of the services we have performed for this commonwealth. The sun cannot even reach the deepest sections of our tomb, and simple petitions for needed amenities have gone unanswered.

Many villagers have no idea where we are. Moved from our home while the town celebrated the end of Week de Finals, many of our most faithful readers will be shocked to see our former abode now occupied by an artist and her disciples, who were, ironically, also evicted from their home by masons deeming their former place of study uninhabitable.

A shaft of light suddenly penetrates the gloom as someone slides aside the barriers at the entrance of our prison. Perhaps some townsman has graciously ventured up the mountain to speak with us!

Alas, it is not true; it is a member of our wayward band of exiles returning from yet another fruitless quest to persuade the royalty to allow us back into the kingdom, or perhaps a quest to bring more supplies for our scribes
A sudden burst of clicks and snaps beside me remind me that I'm not alone; another poor creature labors beside me in the ever-deepening darkness, struggling to complete our monthly publication amid the cramped darkness of our residence.

Our entire band was exiled to this forsaken tomb. We pleaded our case before every magistrate in the land, only to be thwarted at every turn. Our belongings were dragged from our humble dwelling and cast into the blackness in which I now sit.

But through all of this, our guild has retained the unbreakable resolve for which we have become famous. We may be locked away from civilization in our overcrowded and stifling warren, but we will not be deterred.

No amount of political maneuvering, forgotten work orders and bureaucratic nonsense can silence us.

We will continue to provide the populace of this fair kingdom with the best possible service; we will write and publish important news, entertaining features and fiery opinions. We are, and always will be, a voice of the people.

Beige offices reduce morale and productivity

2006-02-03T17:18:00.000-08:00

Section: News
Published: Waubonsee Insight, January 2006 Issue

The colors of your workspace can have a profound affect on the quality of your work, experts say.

Studies have shown that a person's heartbeat is slower in a more colorful room. A slower heartbeat means a person is more relaxed, and able to think more clearly.
The best colors for an office include blue and green. Blue promotes creativity and stability, while Green brings a sense of vigor and tranquility.

Among the worst colors for an office are the neutral colors; shades of gray, white and beige, which are considered “dull” environments.

These colors can cause people to become restless and irritated, as well as making concentration difficult.

Beige is considered a “non-color;” when placed alongside other colors, beige will take on the attributes of those colors.

However, beige on its own is a very boring color, which can sap energy and dampen spirits. Workers are more likely to take longer breaks and leave a beige office than an office painted a brighter color.

Alito headed for Confirmation; Senators split on party lines.

2006-02-03T15:16:00.000-08:00

Section: News
Published: Waubonsee Insight, January 2006 Issue

Samuel Alito, President Bush's nominee to replace retiring justice Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court, has won the support of just over half the US Senate, and was confirmed early Tuesday afternoon.

Alito, who is often called a “mainstream conservative,” will become the nation's 110th Supreme Court Justice.

The Senate Judiciary committee voted along straight party lines to send Alito's nomination to the full senate, with 10 Republicans voting for confirmation and 8 Democrats voting against.

A party line vote was expected for the full Senate as well, a development that Judiciary committee chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA) said he would be “sorry” to see, but given the current political atmosphere in Washington, it would not be not a surprising turn of events.

Supreme Court nominees normally receive strong bi-partisan support, however, most Senate Democrats have aggressively opposed President Bush's nominees.

It was almost guaranteed that all 55 Republicans would vote for Alito’s confirmation, meaning that Democrats will be forced to take drastic measures if they are to slow or halt the appointment. The word filibuster has been floating around for the past few days, but most experts agree that it will not change this situation. Alito enjoyed the support of about 58 Senators, making the confirmation one of the closest in history.

Alito's confirmation will be historic; he will join fellow Catholic Justices John Roberts, Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy, to create the first Catholic majority ever seen on the Supreme Court.

While this has many liberal activist groups opposed to this development, others hail the appointment (and possible right-ward shift of the Court) as evidence that America is continuing to become more conservative.

Polls conducted around the 2004 Presidential race showed that many Americans are more concerned with moral issues then in years past.

Approximately 25% of the US population is Catholic, making it the largest single religion in the country.

Catholics have traditionally been unsuccessful in political arenas; John F. Kennedy was the only Catholic elected to President.

Alito has made it clear that while he may be personally opposed to an issue, he will not let his views cloud legal judgement.

AED Helps Staff Save a Life

2005-12-02T20:00:00.001-08:00

Section: News
Published: Waubonsee Insight, December 2005 Issue

Early morning on Tuesday Nov. 22nd, modern technology was put to the test when a man collapsed in the fitness center. Swift action by staff members using an AED (Automatic External Defibrillator, as pictured below) saved his life.

Fitness Center staff used the AED as soon as they determined that the man had no heartbeat. Following the audio prompts, the staff shocked the man's heart and administered CPR.

They quickly reestablished a heartbeat and pulse in the man, and stabilized him by the time the paramedics arrived.

“The cadets were here right away, and the paramedics were here [within] ten minutes,” the staff explained. “We are grateful that both the paramedics and [the cadets] responded so fast.”

Having access to the AED also helped. Waubonsee has never had to employ the life-saving features of the AED in the past, but all the fitness center staff are trained in both AED operation and CPR, a set called Heartsaver CPR.

The AED can help even untrained personnel save lives. Following visual and audio prompts, users can administer a life-saving shock to victims suffering from sudden cardiac arrest.

Waubonsee's Sugar Grove Campus has two AEDs; one is stored in a fixed location in the Fitness Center, and campus police keep another one mobile. The Aurora campus has one AED in the lobby, while the Copley Campus, given its proximity to the hospital, does not have one on site.

Although there are currently no plans to put an AED in every building on campus having an AED available at all times and having people certifited to use it can be the difference between life and death.

File Sharing: Just Because You Use a Computer Doesn’t Mean it’s OK to Steal From the Artists That Created Your Favorite Song.

2005-12-02T20:00:00.000-08:00

Section: Opinion/Editorial
Published: Waubonsee Insight, December 2005 Issue

Ten years ago, if you wanted to get some new music, you went to the store and bought it. You handed the clerk some money, and walked out of the store physically holding your CD.

Now that we're well into the Digital Age of the 21st century, it's more likely to find someone illegally downloading a "free" copy of a song off of a peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing network, then it is to find them in the local Borders. Buying a CD is now a novelty; over 278 million people download over 2.6 billion copyrighted files each month from P2P programs.

The legal ramifications of these actions cannot be taken lightly. Since you're downloading a file that is copyrighted by the original artist without compensating them in anyway, you are instantly guilty of a violation of Titles 17 and 18 of the U.S. Code. These sections protect copyright owners from the "unauthorized reproduction, adaptation or distribution of sound recordings, as well as certain digital performances to the public," according to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) official website.

The penalties for violations of these codes range from fines up to $150,000 and/or ten years jail time...for EACH song. While the RIAA and others are usually pursuing large-scale distributors of illegal music, the "little people" are not immune. As we give away more and more of our privacy to the government and corporations, it becomes easier and easier for everyone and his brother to see exactly what files you have downloaded to your computer, and whether or not you paid for them. You think paying for college and textbooks is putting a dent in your wallet?

Try settling a fine with the RIAA. They might fine you a couple million dollars, but hey, they are generous souls; they usually settle cases for under $20,000. Wow, how unbelievably spectacular! You saved a few hundred bucks by not buying the CDs, and now you owe ten times what you saved in fines!

On top of prosecuting individuals, the recording industry and national governments have initiated major crackdowns on the programs and organizations responsible for providing the backbone of the illegal P2P market.

On November 7th, P2P giant Grokster was finally defeated in their ongoing copyright violation case. They were ordered to shut down their site, and pay a $50 million fine to the recording industry, by order of the U.S. Supreme Court. MP3.com and the old Napster are other examples of illegal P2P sites that were torn down based on their disregard for copyright laws.

Another downside of getting your music from these less-than-legal sources is the possibility of infecting your computer with spyware. Spyware, nefarious programs that can damage your computer and steal your data, often come bundled with the music downloading programs. For example, the most popular program, Kazaa, installs some of the most ruthless and damaging software known to man. These programs pop up ads, log your keystrokes and transmit other personal data. Keyloggers are perhaps the most underrated spyware tools in existence. It's hard to fathom sometimes, but they literally log EVERYTHING that is typed into the computer. Passwords, account names, credit card numbers...it's all fair game.

On top of the spyware installed by the downloading program itself, most of these programs give no guarantee as to what exactly you are downloading; just because the user named RockFan291 says that the file they uploaded is the latest song by Three Doors Down doesn't mean it is actually that file. It could just as easily be some sort of virulent and invasive virus.

These programs, if left unchecked, will eventually require professional intervention. You'll end up calling in a computer repair expert and paying them an exorbitant fee to clean up the infestation on your computer, if it can even be fixed. I have personally repaired dozens of spyware infections in the last few years, and 75% of them began with a music-downloading program like Kazaa or Grokster being installed.

The effect of all this on the recording industry, while perhaps not immediately apparent through the factless and biased articles floating around on the Net, is easily discernible with a little solid research.

Between 2003 and 2004, sales of CD Singles in the U.S. dropped 62%. During that same time, the number of people downloading illegal music doubled, according to a study conducted by BigChampagne.com, an Internet monitoring firm.

As of June of this year, full track CD sales in the U.S are down by 6% compared to this time last year, and the sales of CD singles are down another 37%.

Not all of this drop can be attributed to illegal downloading; legitimate pay-per-song sites such as ITunes and Wal-Mart.com are taking a small part of the revenue from traditional CD sales (around 5%), but most experts agree that piracy is still having an effect on sales.

Speaking of sales, people have defended their illegal downloading habits by saying that "CDs are too expensive." While I'm not a big fan of paying $20.00 for a CD, what these people don't realize is that while CD prices have risen in past years, they are rising less then they technically should be, were they to stay in proportion with the Consumer Price Index and inflation rate of the country. If CD prices had risen at the correct proportion, then in 1996 they should have been around $33.00 a piece. Instead, they were a measly $12.00. This trend has continued today, although there is less of a gap between the two possible CD prices as there was in '96.

Another reason why some people consider it OK to illegally download music is that it’s not “really” stealing.

Now, I understand that different people have different ideas when it comes to what is moral and what is not, but it is safe to say that most of the civilized world believes that stealing, in and of itself, is wrong. Downloading music from a P2P program, without paying the original artist, is theft.

My question is this; if you would not walk into a store and tuck a CD in your jacket, why is it considered OK to download the same music?

The cold, hard truth is that illegal downloading is not OK, and never will be. People like to hide behind the digital aspect of the way they acquire the music. "Well, it's just a download, not like I light-fingered a CD."

Unfortunately, it's the same thing; just because the computer monitor offers supposed anominity to downloaders does not make it right.

I would challenge anyone, and I mean anyone, to come up with some sort of logical argument on how stealing a song online is different then stealing one from a store in real life, other then the fact that they are less likely to be caught online, which, in my opinion, is why so many people do it.

If someone wouldn't have the guts (or stupidity) to walk into Coconuts and walk out with an armload of CDs, then they have no business doing the same thing in a digital format. There are alternatives: pay for your songs one at a time from Wal-Mart.com or ITunes, or, perish the thought, buy the CD at a music store. After all, if you do that, then you get the fancy album artwork too.

The only good use of P2P music networks, in my opinion, is for small bands that have limited exposure to get their music heard. If they are not charging money for it somewhere else, I see no problem with their songs being spread via P2P. In fact, this can help the growth of these bands quite cost effectively.

With all the problems and dark clouds surrounding illegal P2P file sharing, it's a wonder that some people still swear by it. When you are faced with the possibility of thousands of dollars worth of fines, irreparable damage to your computer, jail time, and compromising your personal integrity, those $.99 songs from Wal-Mart or ITunes are starting to look really inviting, aren't they?

Ad Hominem Arguments Aside...

2005-12-02T19:55:00.000-08:00

Section: Opinion/Editorial
Published: Waubonsee Insight, December 2005 Issue

I want to thank everyone who wrote into Insight regarding my article. I am very happy that we have received such a response from the student body. Any time you have the chance to voice and defend your opinion and you take the opportunity to do so, you strengthen and define your own personal convictions. It is heartening to see that we have students who are willing to take the time to sit down and write a response to something they feel strongly about.

However, I am disappointed by the manner in which some of you addressed the Insight staff and me personally. The shocking array of flagrant personal attacks and profanity-laden messages were only matched by two Hispanic students entering the Insight office the Monday after the paper was released claiming that the writer of the article “needed to be shot” and that they were “going to kill [the author].”
It appears as if many detractors of my article have misunderstood key parts of my argument.

To begin with, the article was NOT a news article. As you can see on page 7 of the last issue, it is clearly listed under the heading of “opinion,” thus it is an editorial. The First Amendment guarantees myself and the other staff members of Insight Freedom of the Press. We can essentially write about anything and everything we want, and we are free to publish it.

I am not a racist, nor is my article an attack on any ethnic group. My article was born from many frustrations dealing with non-English speaking employees being unable to serve English-speaking customers. I am not attacking immigrants or Spanish speakers. I do not place all the blame on the employees themselves, either. Where are the managers? If they know someone has a difficulty speaking English, why would they put that person on the front lines or put them in a position that could have very serious consequences?

There are many food allergies and other serious reactions that can be triggered by the most innocent of ingredients, and a miscommunication at the counter could cause the sickness or even the death of a customer. People who cannot speak English should not be serving customers, in any industry.

I imagine that it must also be frustrating for these people as well, when they are being put into a situation where they are completely unable to understand the questions posed to them by customers. They should find employment opportunities where they will not have to interact with customers, until they have developed a solid understanding of English.

As I stated in my article (paragraphs 17, 18 and 19), I am more tolerant of people unable to speak the language of the country working jobs that do not cause ill effects to English-speaking customers, like cooking the food in the backroom.
But when someone's job is to provide service to the public, they are being paid to give them the highest quality service possible, and that means speaking English well enough to communicate effectively with the general public. The majority of the population uses English as their primary language; this is not debatable. Congress holds their meetings in English, the Constitution was written in English, and the 2000 Census reported that only 18% of the total population aged 5 and over spoke a language other then English at home.

A few emails suggested that Waubonsee disallow articles such as mine from being posted in the newspaper, and I refer you back to the First Amendment and our Opinion page byline. Waubonsee faculty and administration has nothing to do with what articles we print and which ones we do not. The administration and our faculty advisors actually encourage us to speak out on whatever issue we would like to write about. Ironically, this freedom extends to you, the reader, as well. The same freedom you seek to squelch allows you the option of voicing your own opinion in the same manner that I have voiced mine.

Other responses to my article wandered very far off topic, talking about everything from my ancestors to NAFTA. My article is an account about an experience I had. My article is not meant to address global issues, foreign labor or my personal heritage.

In fact, if you want to open that can of worms, I have first-hand information about an immigrant having to learn English at an older age. My grandma, Paulette Kain (nee Bodet), was born in France and came to the United States right after WWII, when she was twenty years old.

I questioned her about this experience, and she told me that as soon as she was settled in with her friends, the “first thing she did,” before anything else, was learn to speak English fluently. “It was the only thing TO do…if you don’t learn English, you’re stuck. You are not going to get anywhere,” she explained.

To this day, you can clearly hear the French accent in her voice, but she made the effort to focus on learning English and it paid off for her. So, it’s not an impossible thing to accomplish. She knew that that in order to succeed in this country, she needed to speak the native language, especially if she was going to be interacting with the general population on a day to day basis.

The bottom line is that my article, while being “politically incorrect” and unpopular with some readers, is exactly what some of you complained that it is: the view of one person.

Just as you are free to express your views in your letters and emails to the staff, I am free to express mine.

The Good, the Bad and the Steroids

2005-05-18T20:56:00.000-07:00

Section: Sports/Opinion/Editorial
Published: Waubonsee Insight, May 2005 Issue

Where have America’s pastimes gone to? What has happened to the world of professional sports? Did I miss the giant headline that said, “Newsflash: America’s Sports are now Required to be Corrupt and ablaze with Scandal?” I think not.

Every major sport in the United States has had some sort of scandal within the last two years or so, and the spread of this problem is both sickening and dismally sad.
While the famed ‘Wardrobe Malfunction’ of the 2004 Super Bowl was caused by idiotic entertainers and not by players, it still shows us how moral fiber and dignity have been sucked out of our society, and cast aside like a bug-ridden jacket. Janet Jackson’s little stunt set off a firestorm, and led to massive crackdowns by the FCC, which, for better or worse, have instituted a Nazi-like stranglehold on the airwaves.

Professional basketball, however, cannot push off its problems on a half-time show. The Indiana Pacers and Detroit Pistons showed the pinnacle of the destructive immorality that has gripped professional sports in this country. Players attacking fans, all justifications aside, is the absolute bottom of the barrel. I don’t care if the guy threw his beer at you, or called you some derogatory name, you don’t fly into the stands and take out the fans! Don’t these greedy endorsement-machines realize that they are playing the game for the fans, not for themselves? How moronic is it then, to physically attack the very people who you’re supposed to be putting on the show for? How enjoyable would it be to go to the next big action movie, and during the show the cast pummels you? I don’t think they’d be in the movie business much longer.

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the last few months, you know that the National Hockey League canceled their entire season due to a strike by players. These sorry saps are whining and complaining that they don’t get paid enough money. Last I checked, contracts for NHL players were in the millions. Not enough money eh? These lazy asses need to get all their cash and endorsements taken away and work a blue-collar construction job for a few months. THEN they’ll have a right to complain about not getting enough money.

Even America’s ‘favorite pastime,’ baseball, is now afire with scandal and finger pointing. Superstars are admitting to using steroids (or being caught using them) over and over. I’m not talking about little fish; big names like McGwire, Bonds, Canseco are the ones in the limelight. These men are accepted stars, MVPs, yet they all have admitted to or are suspected to have violated every principle and hallowed tradition of the sport to simply further their own career. These men have ruined the integrity of a hundred year old tradition, just so they could hit a few more home runs. Pathetic? You betcha.

We now live in a world where we hear who tested positive for steroids before we hear the highlights of the game. We hear who got charged with sexual assault, instead of who is going to the playoffs. Sports ‘superstars’ are no longer the pearly white role models that they once were. In fact, they are probably better examples now of what NOT to do. These men long ago forgot what it means to be a “superstar.” They forgot that the game is for the fans. It’s not for them to build up their stats, or run their mouths off, or make mountains of money; it’s entertainment for the fans.

Professional sports stars have become money grubbing, selfish, immoral and arrogant jackals…and they’re not worth our time.

Speedweeks Wrap-up

2005-03-16T13:24:00.000-08:00

Section: Sports
Published: Waubonsee Insight, March 2005 Issue

Continuing to show that he is a championship contender, Jeff Gordon won the Daytona 500 in stunning fashion, finishing a car length ahead of reigning Nextel Cup Champion Kurt Busch and defending Daytona champion Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

Second year driver Scott Riggs finished fourth, while Gordon's teammate Jimmie Johnson rounded out the top-5.

Dale Earnhardt Inc had a poor showing at the beginning of this year's Speedweeks, causing many people to claim that their reign of superspeedways had come to an end.

However, Michael Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt, Jr finished 1-2 in the first Gatorade race and silenced their critics, albeit temporarily. Waltrip led for the early part of the Daytona 500, and seemed to be headed for a good finish, possibly even a win, when his motor unexpectedly expired. Junior did not lead the race until at the very end of the race, and those pair of laps was not enough to hold back the drafting-duo of Gordon and Johnson.

After winning the second Gatorade Duel, Tony Stewart started up front and led the most laps of the Daytona 500 for the second year in the row, but his teammates were not strong enough to stay with him at the front (Leffler wrecked out while Labonte exploded his engine).

With no teammates to help him, Hendrick Motorsports was able to power by in the final laps and relegated Stewart to a seventh place finish.

One of the biggest surprises of the week was the lack of competition from Kevin Harvick. The 29 team was very strong in all the restrictor plate races last year, but after an accident in the Thursday Gatorade Duel qualifying race, Harvick was forced to go to a backup car when his primary machine was demolished. Starting at the back of the pack, Harvick remained mired in the high 30s most of the race. Near the end of the race, his car finally came to life and began to pick off positions, but he was collected in an accident with 20 laps to go and finished 28th.

Next up on the schedule is the 500 mile event at California Speedway, the 2 mile oval where fuel mileage is the key to victory.