Vida

LIVE ND LET A LIVE

N A O I T D I V I SPRING ED

V IDA

VIDA S

PRING, 2009

TABLE OF CONTENTS

2.

CURRENT PAGE

3.

BIOGRAPHIES

4.

JOURNEY OF A LIFETIME

6.

VIETNAM TIMELINE

8.

LOST ONES

9.

RANDOM HOW-TO(S)

10.

CROSS COUNTRY IN A SUBCOMPACT

12.

THE JUNGLE AND BACK AGAIN

14.

WANTED: PIRATES

15.

WHO WATCHES THE WATCHMEN?

16.

SOMETHINGS ARE JUST BETTER LEGAL

17.

WHY IS IT ILLEGAL IN THE FIRST PLACE?

18.

ARE VIDEO GAMES DESTROYING YOUTHS?

19.

HISTORY OF MEMES

20.

TOP EIGHT EXTINCT ANIMALS

21.

TOP TEN DISASTERS OF 2008

22.

CANCER’S DAMAGE

23.

HURRICANES: DAMAGE TOLL

25.

POST EXPERIENCES

14 18

16

20 15

2

B I O G R A P I H Y

Kat J.

have so many experiences that it makes this hard to write.

I can’t choose between getting lost in a Venice market or riding a gondola around the canals. Maybe I should write about the time my brothers and I stayed in a hostel in Switzerland. Maybe a story from one of my many trips to Mexico, or to Colorado, or maybe when I went skiing in Montana, or white water rafting in New Mexico, or that time my family went to Punta Minta and stayed in this magnificent house by the beach. Or just one of the many experiences I’ve had right here in Texas. You see how hard it is for me to choose, so I challenge you to this. If you want to know about one of my many experiences just come hunt me down and ask about them. It shouldn’t be that hard.

Xavier D.

I

moved to America at a young age, I was raised in Austin, in a multilingual environment. Spending more time talking in French than in English I developed tastes different than those of the average American. My experiences are diverse, from scuba diving to skiing. I have also been hospitalized several times. I enjoy time on the sea sailing, however being in storms is the most fun. I have learned many things over years of sailing, from how to fix a surfboard, driving a quad, repairing boats, and teaching sailing to seven year olds. Every year however I continue to build on my past experiences.

Vincent N.

M

y family was from Vietnam. They all (not in-laws for the most part) escaped safely from the time the Communists took over. Today, a large part of my family is located right here in Austin. I’m pretty sure my life would be a lot different if my family were spread apart. Every year my family celebrates the birthdays of all the kids. Every special occassion most of family gets together. I enjoy spending time with my family and it is enjoyable and fun. We play various games each time we get together. I am very close with my family and I hope to still be so in the future.

3

Jackson B.

I

began rowing when I was only six. My parents would take me out to Lake Travis and help me learn and practice.

Being on the lake was just great, and I loved it. One day I was motorboating with my uncle and we hit a wave. We went under the water a few feet in the middle of the lake.

My lifejacket had fallen off and it was hard for me to get up.

I couldn’t get up, but luckily my uncle helped me get above the water’s surface again. It was a scary thing, but I was happy to make it out safely. Even though I was close to drowning, my uncle and I continued to motorboat without much worry.

VIDA S

Journey of a Lifetime

PRING, 2009

By: Vincent N.

“

I still remember the exact date, April 30, 1975, when I just graduated from ninth grade. I was playing pool with my friends and then we hear a loud sound. We see a bunch of guys with guns just cheering and yelling in big Jeeps (Humvees); they were just real excited. We didn’t know what was going on, but it seemed like they were having fun so we cheered and yelled also,” Hoang says with a grin on his face.

But for Hoang, he didn’t know those guys would change his life completely.

“Trying to escape was a gambleyour entire life was at stake” The Communists had just taken over Vietnam and life for Hoang Ngo was just about to get worse.

Hoang’s father, Gia, was a retailer and when the Communists took over, he was told to move his property and go to a farm to work.

Hoang’s mother, father, and sister, went to go work over there for a couple months, before they decided to escape. It was after three years under their rule that Hoang decided to try and escape from Vietnam.

“I knew if I escaped from the Communists it would change my entire life and more importantly my children’s,” he says, knowing if he hadn’t tried to leave, his children would be stuck in Vietnam without as many opportunities in education, work, and money.

Before the Communists took over, the family had saved a lot of gold and sold some of it, which helped pay for food later, but also helped the family escape after they knew gold couldn’t last them the whole time without an income. He was going to escape, but first he needed

to plan everything out and get some trustworthy people to get him out. One of his father’s brothers, Toan, was just person Hoang needed. Toan had helped other people escape for a while, but only family and their relatives for safety. All Hoang needed to do now was wait until he was called to go.

“I didn’t know when we were going to go. One night he just woke me up, and told me to hurry up and go.” Toan had picked a night without the moon because he would need to move people far your out into the South China Sea and once they got out of government waters they would be a bit safer.

Even though Toan could trust Hoang, Toan was still very cautious because if Communists heard about it, Toan could easily get arrested. Toan had bought the boat two years back, but did not immediately start to help people get out, because Communists were always on watch for new boat buyers. Toan would go out and fish. Toan even hired a North Vietnamese to help him in order to not raise suspicion from the Communists. Once he thought the government believed they would not watch him so closely anymore, he started to help people escape.

“He [Toan] took me to a strange village [that night]. It took maybe about an hour to get there on his motorcycle. He led me to the beach and put me in a small house,” Hoang said. “I was the first one there, but after awhile, many people started to come. It was eventually with

so many people the house was packed.”

Once the house was full Toan and some other men started to gather people and lead them outside where they would board small boats. These boats, maybe larger than a canoe, were able to hold about 10 to 15 people at a time.

“There were about three or four of those small boats. The boats took us out to sea. It kept going for about 30 minutes, maybe an hour.” The fishing boat, Toan’s boat, gave a signal, which was a flashlight going on and off, helping to direct the smaller boats (canoes) towards them. Once the small boats were close enough, everyone boarded the bigger boat, which still was packed for about 50 or 60 people.

Hoang knew that now the most dangerous part of escaping was probably the next step, from what he heard from Toan.

The refugees had to take the minimum two-night ride, depending on the driver and their luck, to a Malaysian island for Vietnam refugees. Possible bad weather could end up destroying their boat or getting them lost, and they could end up dying from hunger or thirst.

Another big threat was pirates.

Pirates often attacked refugee boats by boarding them, killing, raping, and stealing jewelry and everything valuable the passengers had.

“Trying to escape was a gamble – your entire life was at stake,” said Hoang as he remembered the fear that wracked the passengers each day. Often, people on Hoang’s boat brandished knives if boats got too close to warn them to stay back.

4

Hoang remembers the hours before they arrived on land. “I sat at the front of the boat and when I saw tons of fish starting to follow the boat, I was very excited. After being stuck on the boat for a couple days and only seeing water all around you, the only thing I wished for was to see land again,” Hoang said. The driver was skillful, and they arrived on the island in three days and two nights.

Now that Hoang had finally reached safety, the next step was to wait until he could get off the island. The United States, Canada, Australia, France, Britain, Switzerland, and a few other countries, would interview the refugees and if they seemed like they could contribute, they would help them come into their country. For younger refugees, like Hoang, the countries were not as hard on them, as long as they were educated and well mannered. While the refugees – ranging from a few years younger than Hoang, some who were alone like him, to families or seniors – waited for their opportunity to get off.

They would have to live on the island, without much help from others.

“You make your bed from wood from the trees that you cut.

The bed was uncomfortable.”

Everyone would gather wood from the forest by cutting trees down whenever they needed it for a fire or to build. To get this done easily, instead of dragging all those logs to the camp, which was fifteen minutes to an hour away, depending on how deep they went, they used the river that flowed down to the camp to bring it back by placing the logs onto the river. Shower

5

curtains were made from sewn together rice bags and the runoff water helped them grow vegetables, mostly water spinach. The Red Cross would give them their meals each day, breakfast and dinner, which were mainly rice and a side of meat. In their free time they would go on the beach and swim or play soccer. “It was fun now that I look back.

There were no worries, except to get off the island.”

After a year of the routine camp life, both the United States and Australia were going to interview him.

“The interviews were very informal. The representative would look at a few papers describing your education and other important information and ask a couple of questions.

There was nothing much else done in the interview.” Hoang had been accepted by the United States, but not Australia – they were known for being picky; the only way to get in usually was if you had relatives there.

Hoang was given an eight hour ride to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s capital, and from there he took a plane to Austin where he would start his life anew.

A year would pass and Hoang would be reunited with his mother and father. “I was really happy when I saw them again.

We had dinner for the first time together in a while and we caught up.”

Hoang’s sisters would also eventually arrive in the United States. Two of them were accepted into Canada first, but after their parents found out, his sisters in Canada were sponsored over into the United States. All the others went to

the U.S. first. Today, all of Hoang’s family is in Austin.

“I am glad that I was accepted into the United States,” he says, now as a working middle-class citizen at Freescale with two children. The four years Hoang went through from when the Communists arrived, until he got to the United States, was not what he had imagined would happen after his freshman graduation, but it taught him a lot and in the end, it was all for the better, both for him, and his family.

“The most important thing is that after going through all those hard times and coming to America, I learned to not take anything for granted and appreciate how lucky I was.”

Hoang Ngo, right, along with his wife, Alice Ngo, left.

Vincent N. coombs.anu.edu.au

Viet Cong flag

Ho Chi Minh and Viet Minh establish a Communist government in the North

Ho Chi Minh declares Vietnam’s independence

1945

Hanoi creates the Viet Cong Guerilla warfare revived

1954 1954 Vietnam divided into two zones at the 17th parallel

1954

1960

coombs.anu.edu.au

Ngo Dinh Diem establishes an anti-Communist state: the Republic of Vietnam (RVN)

www.history.navy.mil

RVN flag

6

Vincent N.

Hoang’s family: Mom and Dad in bottom row, center Hoang was the only boy in his whole family of sisters

Saigon falls to the Communists

Hoang reaches the United States

April 29 1975 1968 Communists try to overwhelm the South in a major military offensive on most cities

Dec. 1978 April 1978

Hoang escapes from Vietnam

The 2nd Communist offensive on various Vietnam cities

7

Hoang’s family starts coming to the U.S. and reunite

Known as the Tet Offensive

19801982 Jan. 1 1979 Hoang starts his senior year in high school

t

Lost Ones

Kat J. For five days, Mary Hernandez heard nothing from her son. She received no letters and got no calls. Mary knew something was terribly wrong when she saw the white van drive up to her house and the two uniformed, gravefaced men walk to her door. Even though she always knew this could happen, it did not make it any easier for her to accept.

“They told me that he had died in line of duty just like hundreds before him,” she informed me. “My son, my mijo was gone.”

Mary’s story is just one of many. Everyday there is a new story about the war in the newspaper. In March of 2009, an article came out in the Austin Chronicle about fallen soldiers, including some information about their deaths and who they were. There are people out there who still are hurting and feeling the pain of the losses mentioned in the paper even long after we throw it away.

People get caught up in the budget crisis or when the soldiers are pulling out of Iraq but most people forget about the families behind the stories--the people who had to get that letter or see the men at their door.

Tiffany Smalls, a member of the US Army, expected to see her

uncle one more time before she was deployed to Iraq. Instead, she received a phone call: “I’m sorry to inform you but your uncle has been injured by an IED [improvised explosive device],” and about a week later, the recruiters came up at her door to hand her the letter that informed her of his death. The army paid for his funeral and gave them the flag.

“The army was involved in the funeral service. They shot their guns, gave us a flag, and paid for the service. In fact, that flag sits above my bed today,” Tiffany said.

“They also gave us his uniform and combat boots. However, they were not involved after that. They could do no more; they had done all they could.”

Each year hundreds of people see these grave faced men and get that flag. They receive that uniform starched and clean, no lasting smell of their loved ones.

“I sat by the door waiting for that package, the one that contained his belonging just waiting to smell him one more time. But, when it finally did arrive each item had been bleached and cleaned.

His clothes smelled like a Laundromat instead of his delicious scent,” Mary said.

Each and every person was brave enough to tie themself to someone that may never come back.

Yet they get no reward, no medal, just a check and a flag. Then they are forgotten and ignored.

The men and women who serve over in Iraq are honored and remembered forever. They served our country putting themselves at risk each day. Moreover, when someone dies, the army pays for their funeral, gives the family a flag and the armies’ members’ possessions.

David Lutz’s son, Arin, living in Austin, was a member of a sniper team in Iraq. Arin volunteered three times before he was finally deployed in Iraq. He had just started at Georgia State, when they let him know. He even had every excuse not to go, but he said, “I can’t let my friends go without watching their backs.

However, he did not do it just for his friends. He did it for the people of Iraq, Afghanistan, and our country, as well as the people of the world.”

Mr. Lutz will never forget the day he got the news. “I was in the kitchen and heard a knock at the door. David answered it and said, ‘Dad, there are three Marines standing on the front porch. They want to talk to you.’ All I could think was ‘No, no, don’t tell me that. You do not have three Marines standing on your front porch for nothing.’ I was already crying. I looked at them and noticed one was a chaplain. I said, ‘No, no, not my baby. Not my baby.’ I pushed the door open, took two steps, and my knees buckled. They told me he had been killed in action in Iraq,” Lutz said.

Lutz was the third in a long line of soldiers and his son was the fourth.

His son had so much more to give to life but instead he lost it serving our country, being a hero. until the day I received the information that my son had died in the war.”

8

for Italy or 1Head Greece, the Rock

still and queit, 3 Be Rock Partridges are

Partridge’s native habitat for a 4-6 in.

2 Look brown body, white

your lie. A rehearsed lie will 1 Plan sound more fluid and beleiveble

known for their skittishness

than an ad-libbed one. Just remember, don’t sound too smooth, or you’ll sound like a con

throat, and black streak on the face

touch your face, blink 2 Don’t excessivley, or sweat. These are all

HOW TO RECOGNIZE A ROCK PARTRIDGE 1

2

3

signs of stress and will give away your lie.

iPod

them in the eye.

3 Look Eye aversion is a dead give

5

6

Save Yourself a Click

HOW TO TIE A TIE

(HALF WINDSOR STYLE)

hit the .123 button,drag over to the next letter and release.

away. This is one really important factor. But make sure you don’t stare them down. Don’t stutter.

HOW TO LIE

To recover music:

4

Copter Zombieville Pocket God Pocket Tanks Payback Metal Gear Solid Time-Crisis

http://www.kennettnet.co.uk/musicrescue/

Killer Apps: Games

Random HOW TO...

OUR SOLUTION TO LIFE’S RANDOM PROBLEMS simple backgrounds with 1 Find no distracting elements

background elements to 3 Use draw attention to your subject

9

HOW TO FRAME A SHOT

2

Never place your subject in the center of the photo

as many photos as you can.

4 Take Choose the best of the bunch.

JACKSON BECKETT (http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31TzScjZ4sL._SL500_AA280_.jpg)

Cross Country a Subcom Cross Country in aInSubcompact

I

n the summer of ‘87, Robert Beckett and his school friend, Morgan Miller went on the trip of a lifetime. Having just finished their freshman year in college, the duo decided to have some fun before once again returning to academia. For better or worse, the ensuing journey would take them all over America.

Over the course of roughly one month, Robert Beckett and Morgan Miller visited New Mexico, Colorado, South Dakota, Montana, Vancouver, Canada, and California.

According to Robert, Morgan came up with the plan.

“He said it would be great fun and wouldn’t cost a lot of money, which

was good cause we didn’t have a lot of money.”Robert says that if he could have

changed one thing about the trip, it would have been his penny-pinching habits.

“In retrospect, I could have made the trip better if I hadn’t been such a tightwad with our money. I was so concerned with saving money; I sort of made the trip less fun than it could have been. We still had a good time, though.”

During the entire trip, Robert and Morgan spent no more than a few hundred dollars.

Trying to save money, they only bought two meals a day, mostly from a 25-cent hamburger chain. But all their penny pinching paid off when they arrived in California three weeks into their trip.

“California was pretty amazing. There were tons of cheap restaurants and motels. The best part of it all was going to Disneyworld. We had tons of fun,” says Robert.

“It was my first time ever in Disneyworld and Morgan and I really enjoyed it.”

Hungry and tired after arriving in Colorado, the duo

decided to bunk with some of Morgan’s friends. Robert describes the stay as “interesting”, and seems reluctant to go into more detail.

“They just dressed weird, and also acted weird. They had a huge dog that lived in their tiny apartment and never went outside. It wasn’t really a pleasant experience.”

Robert explains that he and Morgan left after a few days and took to sleeping in their car: a tiny Dotson B2-10 subcompact, “which really didn’t work cause we were two big guys,” says Robert. “I really liked Colorado. Morgan and I climbed Pike’s Peak, which is a mountain you can drive your car right up. I almost fainted from oxygen deprivation. We had gotten out of the car and I just started to feel really dizzy.

We also went to Red Rocks Monument; that was cool. I remember that’s where U2 recorded the video for their song “Sunday Bloody Sunday”.

After Colorado, Morgan and Robert drove to Canada. They really wanted to visit Quebec, but had to settle for somewhere a little closer. They ended up agreeing to Vancouver. Robert recalls his stay in Vancouver as very eventful.

“I remember that we got to go into this cool revolving restaurant. It was kind of like the Space Needle, but we could see snowy mountains all around us. And we got to drink, because the drinking age was 20 in Canada.

We didn’t actually eat in the restaurant, it was much too expensive. I think we ate at a Denny’s or something after we left.”

Robert remembers that the traffic leaving Vancouver was

10

mpact horrible. “It took us forever to leave the city, then we drove for a while and got to the border.

And the border official asked us if we ‘had anything to declare’, and we said ‘no’, so we got to cross after showing him some papers. That’s when I think we decided we’d had enough snow, so we headed back to the West Coast.”

According to Robert, the best part of the trip was when he and Morgan stayed with the latter’s grandparents in their beach house. The elderly couple seemed glad to see their grandson whom they hadn’t had a chance to visit since high school. Morgan and Robert spent most of their time at the beach house relaxing and swimming and even a little surfing.

Everything was going great until to pair realized they had lost track of time.

“One morning, Morgan and I were eating breakfast, looking at a calendar Morgan’s grandmother had left out on the table. All the sudden, Morgan is saying ‘Robert, look,’” Robert mimes his friend pointing to a date on a calendar. “I looked at the calendar, and I realize that we’d only got a couple of weeks

11

Jackson B. left until we’re scheduled to return to Texas.” It was necessary for the duo to return home because Robert was signed up for summer school. If they didn’t make it in time, Robert would not be able to attend the course, and would lose all the money he spent on it.

“At that point we had to drive straight home. We went through southern California, Arizona and New Mexico without stopping to see anything, no Grand Canyon, no Las Vegas no nothing.” Robert says with a hint of disappointment in his voice. Not one to see a glass half empty, Robert says that he’ll always savor the good times he had during the trip. “I’ll never forget the sight of the endless clouds from atop Pike’s Peak, or the view of the Pacific from the beach house.

The Jungle and Back Again By: Xavier D. “ I was happy to do it,” says Laurence Denis mother of four and an retired doctor, as she describes to me her story of a trip in the jungle.

“It didn’t help with my studies, it was on the side,” she explained giving a reason to why she had herself sent off into the middle of the jungle for several weeks. “I

“That’s when you realize that you are in That’s when you realize a totally different setting.” couldn’t stay I had my studies,” Excusing herself without reason. “It wasn’t that I didn’t want to.”

In 1984 Laurence, a medical student was flown into the middle of the jungle to help a priest doctor similar to Dr. Schweitzer. “The best thing was that on the first floor of the hospital there was every one of the latest journals: The New England Journal, Harvard Medical,” she says as she describes the hospital. “American Universities would send him all of the journals.”

The building itself wasn’t that up to date. “It was just a wooden building.” The sanitation was primitive “I think that we had to get water from a well.”

In many modern hospitals you would not find these conditions such as low sanitation and flimsy construction, but when you are in the middle of the Amazonian jungle you have no other choice.

“I flew in Ecuador. I stayed a little while in Quito,” Laurence says when she talks about her trip to the jungle. “I went there to stay with my

aunt and my uncle.” After living in South America for a few years, she came back to visit. “Then I got an offer to go work with a physician.”

For medical students offers such as this one were not uncommon, though much less common when it happens in the middle of the jungle.

“You know people there, when they would end up at the hospital meant that the traditional treatment would not have worked.” The main patients in this hospital were the Jivaros, and Chuarez indians. In the middle of the jungle many things were lacking that were common in Europe, or in nearly any other part of the world. From money to time the amount of things was plenty.

“You would think that when people have no money,[...] You would give them free treatment and that would be the right thing to do but it was not.” Giving free treatment to these indigenous Indians caused them to not follow the medication since to them no actual importance was attached to this and they thought it wouldn’t matter.

“Money did not exist. They would have to pay for it in another way. They would have to for example depending on their ailments, sweep the floor of the surroundings […] just little, little things, but they would have to do something for the doctor so that respect was in the deal.” In the jungle the people of the tribes would only be at the hospital in desperate cases, yet if they weren’t forced to give something in exchange for the treatment they didn’t follow it and didn’t respect it.

So the reason that the hospital had

to charge that was to make sure that the treatment was followed.

“At one point the military had offered to help educate some tribes in health. What we had done was we had gone to the military base because there was a large room and you needed to have a translator, from Spanish to Juarez.

What they were trying to do was to educate on person per tribe to understand the basic concepts of medicine.”

When this was going on there was one large problem that ceased their efforts. “No clocks.” During one of the sessions where they were training tribe members, when they had arrived to the treatment procedure, which was supposed to be for 3 times a day. The tribe members couldn’t understand. In the jungle time is a very distant concept because the people of the jungle have no access to clocks.

“That’s when you realize that you are in a totally different setting,” she says. Stuck in the middle of the jungle nearly isolated from the rest of the world, “And usually to come in meant that they had sometimes walked for three days and three nights.”

These people were the kind of desperate last measure cases, where any medical student would have been interested in studying. There are many different tropical diseases that aren’t well known, making this hospital the perfect place to collect examples and pictures from this. “When I left, I had my camera stolen; I had many interesting pictures.” From this she lost memories from a trip that happens once in a lifetime and not to everyone.

12

Though she was sad from having lost the pictures Laurence said that there was something important to notice. “There is something that you don’t know especially when you have been living in Europe or in other civilized places. You’re not used to very, very, very strong noise all night long, but deep in the Amazon the noise is incredible.” Inside the rain forest the climate is such that there are always animals that are awake and that are chirping away, when one group goes to sleep the next wakes up and takes up the shift.

The noise level inside the Amazon was disturbing to Laurence for the first few days, being alone, and surrounded with so many animals making so much sound bothered her and stuck with her.

Upon returning from this trip she had gathered many stories, and much experience from the people and from the forest. She went on to continue her studies in France. In the forest an important relationship is flipped, man no longer dominates over nature in the rain forest, man has to live by nature’s terms, he cannot control everything any more for once, he loses the battle. .

For once the jungle wins.

13

OPINION

X a v i e r D.

WANTED : PiAnrOpiates nion on The PirateBay

From within the recess of the PirateBay members and visitors come together in a series of tight networks, sharing and stealing information from each other.

Taking the caskets of Photoshop and giving back Flash, members of the PirateBay share most anything that they come across.

Recently however, ships of British soldiers have, just like in all the movies being traded here, unloaded to take control of the island. The difference from the soldiers however is that these “ soldiers” are actually lawyers from record companies. However this is a bit as if they are stepping intentionally in a tavern full of drunken swashbucklers while they’re having a swordfight. We can see some of the letters that have been sent back to them, as a result of their approaches: “it is the opinion of us and our lawyers that you are ……. Morons and that you should please go sodomize yourself with retractable batons.” “ We suggest that you motion for a change of Swedish and/or for the European Supreme Court to clarify the interpretation of the directive, which should take no more than 3-7 years. Patience is a virtue! ” “At least now I’m sure you’re not Pinochio, because if you were, your nose would’ve crashed into your monitor by now.“ We can also view the response. However although all of this has been happening some of them have managed to take the PirateBay to court. The question is why do you take a group to court when they are in a country which doesn’t forbid what they have been doing? These companies were largely unsuccessful

until in 2006 they performed a raid on the installations of the Pirate Bay, taking all equipment that they encountered. However a few days later information leaked out that proved that the raid was based off of illegal information and actions. The result of this the entire IFPI(international federation of phonographic industries) was sued by the PirateBay. We also, however, should look at the PirateBay through the eyes of the IFPI, to who the PirateBay is a large loss of revenue. Attacking the PirateBay is a much easier and more practical solution than tryubg ti get the governments of the world to all take action. The IFPI isn’t attacking to scure 10 percent of it’s typical funding, but enough for them to continue getting by. I believe that, if you are going to try to attack your customer there is one word of advice , don’t. Instead you should make a stronger competition and hence, effectively, cancel their ability to do you damage. Maybe another thing you can do is lower your prices. Also if you haven’t noticed this has been going on for years, and yet you haven’t sunk, maybe because sale aren’t so badly affected?

however much I sympathize with it, in an obscure way at the back of my head I would find it funny how they could try to find a way to stop 25+ million people. How do you do that?

Seriously, if you kill the PirateBay then a “piratecove” will appear and 50 more websites will to. When on a forum or any online gathering someone closes a thread, then many more threads will appear with the same subject and so on, closing the piratebay wouldn’t help assuming that they even get close to doing that.

Though the PirateBay has been historically untouchable a recent change in the law has permitted Swedish law groups to put charges against the PirateBay, for “aiding in copyright infringements”. Recently the court came to a conclusion, that the PirateBay was guilty as a result the PirateBay is appealing to higher courts.

I wonder, how much does a link, a 160-bit hash code, a randomly generated string of characters and a torrent tracker a little but of information used to start the download have anything to do with say: Photoshop. The files are directly spread from the computers between the groups nothing is spread by the website. A similar wording in court caused half the charges to be dropped within the second day of the PirateBay trial. However illegal the website be,

14

OPINION

JACKSON BECKETT

WHO WATCHES THE WATCHMEN? W

e’ve all heard of Alan Moore’s 1986 graphic novel, Watchmen one way or another (those not in sync with the comics community have surely heard of the big Hollywood film adaptation). The critically acclaimed comic was written during a tense time when the possibility of nuclear war hung over the America’s head, and the result was a gritty tale of crime and violence. Superheroes the way Moore thought they’d really be. What many enthusiastic moviegoers don’t know is that Moore is vehemently against the Watchmen movie.

Moore has no faith in Hollywood to be true to the original material’s graphic quality and elegant subplots. “[The film] spoon-feeds us, which has the effect of watering down our collective cultural imagination. It is as if we are freshly hatched birds looking up with our mouths open waiting for Hollywood to feed us more regurgitated worms,” said Moore during an interview with the Los Angeles Times.

You’ve got to feel sorry for Zach Snyder, the film’s director…and an avid fan of Moore’s work.

While Moore might not approve of the film, millions of Watchmen fans are anxious to see it. Not to mention DC (the owner of Watchmen) and Fox (the producer of the film). If Moore were to take some kind of legal action and the film were cancelled, some might argue, Fox and DC would have thrown away millions. And really, Moore has (legally) no say over what DC does with Watchmen, since he (and Dave Gibbons) created the story for the company. Plus, the movie isn’t all bad for Moore. I’ve seen more than a few people walking around with the Watchmen book tucked under their arm in the past few months.

Nevertheless, there will always be those who after seeing the movie won’t bother reading the book.

This way, DC and Moore lose while Fox wins. This is what really burns my bacon. As a comics fan, I think people need to respect the original literature instead of just watching the movies. So many comics are made into movies, and the masses never get a chance to appreciate the real deal: the Honest-to-God comic books themselves. I think if people went down to their local comics store before picking

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up the latest Spiderman DVD from Blockbuster A.) the comics industry would make more money B.) the writers, the pencilers, the inkers, the colorists would make more money and C.) more people would be exposed to great comics!

Although I know DC technically owns the rights to Watchmen, I believe Moore should have some say in what happens to it. It’s better for both parties that way: Moore gets more control over his material, and DC gets Moore’s advice. If he’s got them this far, doesn’t he know The Watchmen cast left to right: best? More like a king/ Malin Akerman, Billy Crudup, Patrick Wilson, Jeffery Morgan, Matthew Goode, Jackie Haley, advisor relationship than a tyrant/peasant one. It’s an unfortunate fact that the only way for many comics-people to get their work distributed is to sign on to one of these big brand companies which end up destroying their work.

Another problem with the Watchmen movie, of course is the graphic violence and explicit sexual content. While the film is rated “R” now, it will come out on DVD in a few months, and hundreds of thousands of little kids will be watching it thinking it’s just another superhero movie, like Superfriends and Astroboy! . This wasn’t a problem with the book mainly because of the large amount of text on each page (what kind of comic book reading seven-year-old wants to sift through 9 panels of dialogue on each page?) and the dull earth-tones colorist John Higgins used. Movies, though, have to be exciting to capture such a large audience. Kids will flock to the DVD like Rorschach to bank robber.

My question is: if you’re reallyso interested in Watchmen, why don’t you just go crack open a copy and read it?

OPINION Kat Jones Somethings are Just Better Legal Marijuana, Pot, Weed, Aunt Mary, Chronic, Grass, Mary Jane, these are just a few names for this illegal drug. Marijuana as its formal name is the most commonly used illegal drug in the United States, according to the National institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). It is also probably one of the most misunderstood drugs. So I’m going to try and clear up some of those misunderstanding or myths, as I will be calling them.

Here is one myth; marijuana is highly addictive or addictive at all. But in reality, almost everyone who smokes marijuana smokes it occasionally.

According to NIDA, small minorities of Americans -less than 1 percentsmoke marijuana on a daily basis.

An even smaller minority develops a dependence on marijuana reads the statistics of the U.S Department of Health (U.S DH). Marijuana does not cause physical dependence. If people experience withdrawal symptoms at all, they are remarkably mild, says the U.S DH.

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Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSD). The theory is just a casual explanation of the relationship statistic between common and uncommon drugs- the association that changes over time with in the Another myth is that, marijuana availability of a drug. Marijuana is is worse than tobacco. When The the most popular illegal drug in the American Thoracic Society says that smoking of marijuana appears to pose United States today. Therefore, people who have used less popular minimal danger to the lungs. There drugs such as heroin, cocaine, and are also no reported cases of mariLSD, are likely to have also used juana related lung cancer. Also in a large study presented to the American marijuana. Most marijuana users Thoracic Society in 2006, even heavy never use any other illegal drug.

Indeed, for the large majority of users of marijuana were found not people, marijuana is the end point to have any increased risk of lung rather than a gateway drug. cancer. Just like tobacco smoke, marijuana smoke contains a number of irritants and carcinogens. But marijua- Marijuana causes crime, that’s an interesting myth where in real life na users typically smokes much less often than tobacco smokers, and over the relationship between marijuana use and crime is like a horrible time, inhale much less smoke. As a result, the risk of serious lung damage break up. There is no association at should be lower in marijuana smokers. all. The majority of marijuana users Unlike heavy tobacco smokers, heavy do not commit crimes other than marijuana smokers exhibit no obstruc- the crime of possessing marijuana (Which is what we are trying to tion of the lung’s small airway. That indicates that people will not probably change). Among marijuana users who do commit crimes, marijuana develop emphysema from smoking plays no causal role, and almost marijuana. all human and animal studies

A commonly believed myth is marijua- preformed by Tinklenberg, J.R. na can lead to harder drugs. Marijuana (you can find all of his results in the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs) actually does not cause people to marijuana decreases rather than use hard drugs, says the National increases aggression. So people,

who do use marijuana, are actually less likely to commit crimes because of its mellowing effects.

So in conclusion marijuana is safer then tobacco with tiny chance of lung cancer or at least that’s what the NHSD says. Yet tobacco is still legal and marijuana is not. The U.S DH has proved that marijuana is not a highly addictive substance like everyone believes, yet it is still not legal. More than 25 million people use marijuana annually and that number is still growing the U.S DH also says. Even our justice system cannot show that marijuana is affecting the crime rate that much. Marijuana will be legalized someday. So why not today? Why not this year?

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Vincent N.

www.envirosax.com

Why’s it illegal in the first place?

Tensions between small farmers and large farms using cheap Mexican labor in early 1900s Mexicans smoked marijuana and brought the plant with them California passed 1st state marijuana law, outlawing preparations of hemp In 1927, a Texas senator said, “All Mexicans are crazy, and this stuff [marijuana] is what makes them crazy.”

Reason 2 In the east, marijuana was attributed to Latin Americans and black jazz musicians Marijuana traveled from New Orleans, to Chicago, then to Harlem Newspapers in 1934 editorialized: “Marihuana influences Negroes to look at white people in the eye, step on white men’s shadows and look at a white woman twice.”

Marijuana started being linked to violent behavior

Information and quotes from DrugWarRant.com

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Inspira Tex tiles

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Reason 1

in

Recreational drug in 1900s

us

The Plant was well known in 1600s

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Marijuana Uses go back to 7000 BC Hemp has many uses: 1. Woven fabric 2. Food 3. Incense 4. Cloth 5. Rope

tion

Background

Paper

l ue

F

od

Fo

Oil

Reason 3

Reason 4

Harry J. Anslinger-director of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics in 1930 “...the primary reason to outlaw marijuana is its effect on the degenerate races.”

William Randolph Hearst was an owner of a huge chain of newspapers

“Reefer makes darkies think they’re as good as white men.”

“You smoke a joint and you’re likely to kill your brother.”

“Marijuana is an addictive drug which produces in its users insanity, criminality, and death.”

We do not share the views of any quotes in this page

Invested heavily in timber industry Did not want to see hemp paper as competitor

OPINION Vincent Ngo Are Video Games Destroying Youths?

Halo 2 Screenshot

J

ack Thompson, a Florida attorney, who is a well-known opponent of violent video games jumped to the immediate conclusion that video games caused the Virginia Tech massacre.

Thompson claims that the simulated violence exposed to kids makes them think of it as socially acceptable and they try to copy it out in the real-world.

Professor Christopher Ferguson at the Texas A&M International University says that violent acts, such as school shootings, are caused mainly by athome problems and mental stability, not video game violence exposure, and I agree with this 100%. In an FBI publication, “The School Shooter: A Threat Assessment Perspective,” there were 27 other traits, besides fascination in video games, that were common amongst school shooters.

It wasn’t even certain that Cho, the VT shooter, played video games. A report by the Washington Post quoted several Korean youths having seen Cho play Counterstrike, but this article was taken down without reason. In the warrant it should also be noted that there were no games found, but there still was the possibility of games on the laptop, hard drive, or CDs. It should also be noted that Cho was never seen playing video games by his roommates, so it is probable Cho was not an avid gamer.

So if Cho was not seen playing violent video games often, what prompted him to attack Virginia Tech? In 2005, Cho was deemed “mentally ill and in need of hospitalization,” by New River Valley Community Services Board.

In the Columbine shootings in 1999,

versity of Rochester found out first-person shooters (FPS) could actually be beneficial to a person’s health by making our brains process visuals quicker by pushing it to the limits, and the brain adapts. This adaptation improves the ability to see small, compact objects -- a good example is words. They also improve the ability to track fast moving objects and raises efficiency of processing fast-changing visuals. This learning can be used in everyday life and other activities that require quick processing of images, such as the job of a policeman or even driving. FPS could be helpful with rehabilitation for people with vision problems, such as lazy eye and even aging effects.

I am an avid gamer myself, playing FPS and violent role-playing games, such as Fallout 3, Fable 2, and Mass Effect. I don’t both shooters, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were known to have played Doom have spontaneous urges to hit people; I often, which led to an easy link of violence don’t even want to really hit people when they mess with me. On the occasion, I and video games. But, in the fifth anniversary of the Columbine shooting, the punch someone in the shoulder or try to get FBI’s lead Columbine investigator along them to leave me alone, just a bit of roughwith several other psychiatrists published housing, but I don’t want to make people scream or cry. I would never want to kill a news article that argued Harris was someone; the thought of it is just shocking. a clinical psychopath and Klebold was I know for a fact the people around me play depressed. violent video games also and they are not Along with mental stability, at-home problems, such as child abuse, have been very violent either. Honestly, do you believe shown to increase youth violence. From a that after playing a violent shooter game, study conducted by the Office of Juvenile such as Halo 3, kids would go out and start Justice and Delinquency Prevention Of- shooting others? If that were the case, the fice of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency world would be in shambles or video games would’ve been banned by now. Violent Prevention, exposure to multiple forms of violence, including domestic violence, video games are exciting, but I don’t play them just for the pure thrill of killing. It adds child abuse, and general family hostila kick, but if the aim of the game was to ity, doubles the risk of reported youthshoot as many things as possible without violence. Data also shows that children living with violent families are more likely a main goal or story line, the video game would suck. to engage in youth violence.

Violent video games are not bad influences To prevent their children from engaging and can be beneficial; children just need to in violence, parents need to look at the be taught what is right and what is wrong. rating because it’s there for a reason. I believe that the ‘M’ rating (mature—17+) With parental—and adult— influence and is too broad because Halo 3, a future sci-fi control (of playing time), video games can fantasy that involves killing aliens, differs be a pleasant part of everyone’s life without negative effects. Parents shape their kids greatly from Grand Theft Auto, a much into what they are going to be like in adultmore plausible, and more violent game that involves killing other humans and it in- hood for the most part, and if they blame corporates many other features designed video games, which they allowed them to for an older audience. Therefore, parents play, it’s their fault. should watch what their kids are playing, or even join them, and it’s up to them if they think it’s too inappropriate. They Xbox 360 Controller should either educate their kids on what is correct and incorrect in society, or just put the game up.

Now a study from researchers at the Uni-

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History Of Memes ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US

A

ll your basea re belong to us, originally came from the the super mega drive game Zero Wing. It is the result of a wish to get the game in production and therefore overlooking the translation. Originally this game came from Japan and was made by Toaplan. The errors in the translation caused a series of flash movies that were made popular due to the forums of a website known as SomethingAwful of SA. Although in recent times it has fallen from popularity ‘ All your base are belong to us ‘ has remained on the internet.

Reappearing at strange moments, such as when in 2006 Youtube was shut down for maintainence work, the host of the side displayed “All your videos are belong to us” under the logo of the site.

LOLCATZ

L

OLCATZ , is a meme, which has beened ranked # 1 meme by Squidoo.This meme is relatively recent and is believed to come from the 4chan imageboards. The images consist of a genreally seemingly random images of cats, and an also seemingly random quote written in lolspeak. lolspeak is an internet language based around the word lol and has the letter z is added at random ends of words. The quotes will sometimes have other memes within them.

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THIS IS SPARTA! SHOOP DA WHOOP T HIS IS SPARTA started in the year that the movie 300 came out. It was caused by the dialogue between King Leonidas and a Persian Messenger which he kicks in a well shouting, THIS IS SPARTA! However it has maintained a staedy poularity and ranks #5 of the top ten internet memes on Squidoo. It has found many variations and has been applied ot real life. (Example to the Right) It is a more recent meme, and has attfained great popularity, producing many movies and images in the dedication of teh movie.

S

hoop da whoop originated from the dark depths of the fiery internet. During the month of July 2006, a forum known as /b/ from the notorious image board 4chan which is known for causing problems and that is partially believed to have cancer was taken over by the shoop da whoop. Images of the Dragon Ball Z character cell, started appearing phothsooped, to have his faced covered in back, his mouth and eyes drawn over his face. One of three quotes was added, “SHOOP DA WHOOP!”, “IMMA CHARGIN MAH LAZER,” and “IMMA FIRING MAH LAZER.” These pictures became rapidly popular and the phrase has continued to exist since then, being applied to the pictures of anyone who seems mad, threatening or to cute, examples include: politicians, kittens and nearly any other kind of person.

LOGGERHEAD TURTLE

SIBERIAN TIGERS

Top 8 Endangered Species Jackass Penguins

As of 2008 there are an estimated 5 to 30 million species, and of those ~16,900 are endangered.This number has come mostly from the past 100 years.

Great Apes

Some of the most common causes of endangerment are: the destruction of their habitats, overexploitation and the introduction of fogeign species.

Greater Horseshoe Bat

Black Rhinoceros

THERE ARE 869 EXTINCT SPECIES

All species of animals contribute to the diverse assortment of species on the earth, we must counter act the damage that we have caused to them to maintain ecosystems

Riverine Rabbit

In recent years however, several species that were believed to be extinct have reappeared and the percentage of new endangered species has gone down.

Yangtze River Dolphi n

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Top Ten Disasters Of 2008 1. 88,000 Deaths

LA’s Wild fire

4. 1,000 Deaths

Pakistan Earthquakes

7. 635 Deaths

India, Nepal, Bangladesh Floods

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2. ~78,000 Deaths

Myanmar Cyclone Nargis

5. 805 Deaths

Sinking of Philippines ferry

8. 557 Deaths

China Typhoon Fengshen

10. 262 Deaths

Mudslide Taoshi, China

3. 25,000 deaths

.Afghanistan, Tajikistan Cold wave

6. 800 Deaths

Hurricanes hit Haiti

9. 277 Deaths

China Landslide

Cancer’s damage

1/2

1500 Americans die from cancer each year

Lifetime risk of men developing cancer

Risk Factors

1/3

1 Growing Older

Cancer ocurrs in most people over 65

2 Tobacco

185,000 die from cancer related to tobacco use

3 UV Radiation

Causes early skin aging and skin damage Avoid mid-morning to late-afternoon sun Wear clothes that cover your skin Use sunscreen Avoid sunlamps and tanning booths

Lifetime risk of women developing cancer *Lifetime risk is the probability of developing cancer as an individual, not as a whole population

4 Ionizing Radiation

1/4

Radioactive fallout, radon, gas, and X-rays

5 Chemicals

Asbestos, benzene, benzidine, cadmium, nickel, or vinyl chloride Painters, construction workers, and those in the chemical industry at risk

6 Viruses and Bacteria HPV, Hepatitis B and C, and HIV are just a few known to increase risk of cancer

7 Family History More than 2 drinks each day for many years may increase the risk of developing cancer No more than 1 drink per day for women No more than 2 drinks per day for men

Male

Lung and bronchus

90,810 (31%)

Prostate

28,660 (10%)

Colon and rectum

24,260 (8%)

Pancreas

17,500 (6%)

Liver and intraheptic 12,570 (4%) bile duct Leukemia

12,460 (4%)

Esophagus

11,250 (4%)

Urinary bladder

9,950 (3%)

Non-Hodgkin lymphoma

9,790 (3%)

Kidney and renal pelvis

8,100 (3%)

All sites

294,120 (100%)

Female

Cancer accounts for a fourth of all American deaths

71,030 (26%)

Breast

40,480 (15%)

Colon and rectum

25,700 (9%)

Pancreas

16,790 (6%)

Ovary

15,520 (6%)

565,650

Non-Hodgkin lymphoma

9,370 (3%)

Leukemia

9,250 (3%)

Uterine corpus

7,470 (3%)

9 Poor Diet, Lack of Physical Activity, Being Overweight Eat well Be active and maintain a healthy weight

*Actual deaths are still being accounted for

Lung and bronchus

5% of all cancers are strongly heriditary

8 Alcohol

Estimated 2008 Cancer Deaths

Estimated 2008 deaths

*Actual deaths are still being accounted for

All statistics according to the American Cancer Society; Risks according to the National Cancer Institute

Vincent N.

Liver and intraheptic 5,840 (2%) bile duct Brain and other ner- 5,650 (2%) vous sytems All sites

272,530 (100%)

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HURRICANES

:

Damage Toll HURRICANES

OVER 1000 MILES

IN DANGER OF HURRICANE DAMAGE

CAN BE UP TO

158

1000 MILES WIDE

DEATHS OR SERIOUS UNJURIES CAUSED BY US HURRICANES ANNUALLY

$15

1.2

BILLION SPENT ON

BILLION

OF PROPERTY

DAMAGED

HURRICANE PROTECTION ANNUALLY

ANNUALLY 36% of all hurricanes to hit the US hit Florida. 76% of all US hurricanes hit Florida or Texas.

About 2 Major (level 3-5) hurricanes strike the USevery three years.

Hurricane related deaths have decreased each year since the 50’s. This drop in deaths is attributed to a better understanding of hurricanes by the general population.

40-50 HURRICANES FORM ANNUALLY

All hurricanes can be classifed into one of five intensity categories

CATEGORY ONE*

Hurricane Andrew, the costliest hurricane - Winds 74-95 ever recorded, struck Southeast Florida - A storm surge 4-5 feet tall - May cause no real damage and Louisiana in 1992. It caused $26.5 to small or large structures billion in damage.

CATEGORY THREE - Winds 111-130 mph

The deadliest recorded hurricane in the US struck Galveston, Texas.

8,000 people were reported dead, with billions of dollars in property damage.

- A storm surge 9-12 feet tall - May destroy small structures near coast

CATEGORY TWO - Winds 96-110 mph

- A storm surge 6-8 feet tall - May cause signfigant damage to small structures

CATEGORY FOUR - Winds 131-155 mph

- A storm surge 13-18 feet tall - May cause damage to large structures

CATEGORY FIVE - Winds over 155 mph - A storm surge above 18 feet tall - May cause signifigant damage or destroy large structures

JACKSON BECKETT

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*As measured by the Saffir-Simpson Scale

All hurricanes are consist of four main physical features, the eye, the eye wall, the body, and the spiral rainbands.

The eye, which is usually 20-30 mi. wide, is a, warm, windless, area in the middle of the storm.

The eyewall is an area of intense storm and winds immediatly outside the eye.

The body of the hurricane is the large area of feirce rotating winds. The body can be between 40-1000 miles wide.

The spiral rainbands are large arms of rainclouds radiating from the body of the hurricane.

Storm surges, not actually considered part of the hurricane are giant walls of water (up to 18 feet tall), that the storms create before coming ashore.

Post Experiences

by Kat

I met

I got the idea for post experiences when my favorite websites called post secret.

Frank Warren as he was leaving college of ideas for my magazine I thought of p zine is based off other peoples experien have people I know and people I don’t t riences to be posted in our magazine.

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-Emma

-Emma

n I was looking at one of Post secret was started by e. So when I was thinking post experience. Our magances in life so I decided to to send me their own expe-

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T E E V LI AND L LIVE

A D I V

D N E E H T 26