2007-03-16

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THE BG NEWS Friday

March 16, 2007

Volume 101, Issue 117 WWW.BGNEWS.COM

CAMPUS

Rec is center of St. Patty’s triathlon race

Students, faculty and staff compete in a healthy alternative to partying | Page 3

Curling teams go national Two BGSU teams to compete in the Chicago Curling Club tournament | Page 3

OPINION

Students learn to find facts in a world of lies The Amazing Randi encourages people to think before believing something | Page 4

ESTABLISHED 1920 A daily independent student press serving the campus and surrounding community

SUNSHINE WEEK | PART FOUR OF FOUR

Clear promises of transparency Gov. Strickland opens budget, government records to Ohio public

By Alaina Buzas Reporter

dering what that even means. ency and my goal is to make state budget. Not only did Strickland disIn his speech given to the sure that the people of this Akron Press Club in January, state understand as clearly as I cuss revenue projection before When Gov. Ted Strickland was the governor explained that his can explain it the choices con- its introduction yesterday, running for office this past fall, transparency policy includes fronting us,” Strickland said in Strickland talked about poshe promised transparency to being open and honest with the his speech. sible problems with revenue. the media as well as the average public about any issues he deals The governor’s press secreStrickland has already put his citizen in Ohio. But some citi- with in office. transparency policy into effect tary Keith Daily said Strickland zens may find themselves won“I have promised transpar- in the way he’s dealt with the discussed the negative as well

Can you trust it?

PULSE

See SUNSHINE | Page 6

Police to call in backup for St. Patrick’s Day By Erin Rechin Reporter

Gambling laws are maddening

Although spring break is over for students, March brings another reason to celebrate — St. Patrick’s Day. March 17 has been recognized for centuries as the feast day of St. Patrick. For years, Irish families observed their patron saint by attending church in the morning and partaking in a traditional Irish feast at night. But times have changed. After waves of the Irish immigrated to the United States, they began to have parades to honor St. Patrick and to reconnect with their roots. The traditional Irish feast eventually evolved into a feast of alcoholic beverages — which may be why the holiday is so heavily celebrated by college students. This year, St. Patrick’s Day is on Saturday so the bars are expecting a big turnout... and so are the police. “We are planning for some extra activity,” said Lt. Ken Fortney of the Bowling Green Police Department. BGPD is calling in some extra officers to be on duty tomorrow.

If state anti-gambling laws aren’t enforced, then why have them? | Page 4

Sex toys: the new Tupperware

Parties selling sex toys and lubricants are growing in popularity | Page 7

Taking it one step at a time

SPORTS

as the positive. “[He] outlined expected shortfalls in revenue since we’re finishing very difficult budget circumstances,” Daily said. Strickland’s discussion of the budget prior to its release

Women’s basketball team works like mad to make it past the first round | Page 9

See ST.PATRICK | Page 2

WEB EXCLUSIVE

RACHEL GREENFIELD | THE BG NEWS

Hearing and head shape connected Speakers reveal a link between the size of animals’ heads and their ability to hear high frequencies

WEATHER

PEOPLE ON THE STREET

Read more online: www.bgnews.com

What are your St. Patrick’s Day plans?

DAVID MILLER, Freshman, Undecided

“Party.” | Page 4

TODAY Partly Cloudy High: 40, Low: 22

Wikipedia could threaten credibility of Internet research By Jessica Spies Reporter

The Internet revolution has drastically changed the way students research. While students used to dig through books and newspapers in the library, the Internet makes relevant information only a click away. One of the most popular sources for fast information is Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia. A “wiki” is a Web site which allows people to contribute content. “Wiki” also refers to the collaborative software itself that makes the operation of Wikipedia possible. “Wiki” is derived from the phrase “WikiWiki,” the Hawaiian word for “quick.” Because Wikipedia is a Web site that allows the users to edit the site’s content, the articles are not always 100 percent accurate, said Kat Walsh member of the board of trustees at the Wikimedia foundation. “The accuracy varies from article to article,” said Mark Pelligrini of the Wikipedia press committee. “Some articles are highly accurate because people keep it up. For the computer science field, there is a high level of accuracy.” Although articles are not completely

See WIKIPEDIA| Page 6

TOMORROW Partly Cloudy High: 39, Low: 21

HOW TO CREATE A WIKIPEDIA ARTICLE: 1. Register as a Wikipedia member by providing a user name and password. 2. New users are shown introductory Web pages that explain the site’s posting guidelines. 3. Type in the title of your article and wait for the site to search for similar articles that may already exist. 4. Enter the text of your article. Links to other Wikipedia articles can be created simply by selecting sections of text and letting the site find URL’s for the articles they represent. 5. Write a brief “edit summary” that tells other Wikipedia users why you created the entry. 6. Preview the article, save it and get ready for others to edit it. The new article should appear on the site quickly, but it could be removed almost as quickly under Wikipedia’s “speedy deletion” policy, which states: “Wikipedia administrators may delete Wikipedia pages or media ‘on sight’ without further debate, as in the cases of patent nonsense or pure vandalism.”

Facebook posts may jeopardize students’ future By Tim Sampson Reporter

Facebook isn’t just online anymore. More and more students are finding out that the popular social networking site is now being viewed by University officials, potential employers and other people they never thought would see their profiles. When freshman Rosann Fought applied for transfer to another college, she was surprised when the advisor at her new school questioned her about a picture she had posted on her profile. “I had a picture that looked like I was drinking, but it was just a bottle of water,” Fought said. Along with schools, potential employers will also view applicants’ profiles. In her teacher-prep classes, education professor Cindy Hendricks advises her students to be wary of what they post on Facebook when it comes time to find a job. “I tell students that you put whatever you want on there — that’s your business,” Hendricks said. “But you have to be willing to deal with the consequences.” According to Hendricks, some students in the education department have lost teaching positions as a result of photos and other items posted online. She said

See FACEBOOK | Page 2

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