TECHNICIAN
wednesday january
28 2015
Raleigh, North Carolina
technicianonline.com
IN BRIEF Google Fiber coming to Triangle
Moped regulation and possible restrictions to drivers coming to NC Starting in July, moped drivers will be required to have license plates and registration. The state motor vehicles commissioner, Kelly Thomas, recommends that legislation ban automobile drivers who have lost their licenses due to medical problems or impaired driving from being able to drive a moped, require moped operators to have a driver’s license and liability insurance and outlaw mopeds on roads where the speed limit is over 45 mph. Legislators say this will help police with traffic enforcement. There have been 3,812 crashes involving mopeds from 2009 through 2013, authorities report. SOURCE: The News & Observer
Katherine Kehoe News Editor
Google formally announced its plan to lay thousands of miles of fiber-optic cables throughout the Triangle as part of its Google Fiber service, bringing homes and businesses in seven municipalities in the Triangle area internet service up to 100 times faster than a basic broadband connection. Google representatives made the announcement next to Governor
Pat McCrory and representatives from all seven municipalities that will receive the ultra-high-speed internet service in coming years at an event in the NC Museum of History Tuesday afternoon. Though the company hasn’t announced when the service will begin in the Triangle or when it will start construction, Google Fiber will lay cables in Raleigh, Durham, Carrboro, Cary, Chapel Hill, Garner and Morrisville. McCrory said, with these kinds of
investments in technology, North Carolina is on its way to becoming the “21st Century Digital Infrastructure State.” The Google Fiber announcement continues North Carolina’s goal for the Triangle to become part of the “national innovative triangle,” which would also include Silicone Valley in California and the greater Boston area, McCrory said. The advanced technology in Google Fiber and the talent coming out of the universities within the
FIBER continued page 3
PACK LOOKS TO END SKID AGAINST CLEMSON: SEE PAGE 8
Teacher training changes proposed for NC
Due to significant drops in the UNC system’s teacher education enrollment, 27 percent in the past five years and 12 percent last year, the Board of Governors recommended seven proposals that could alter the way teachers are trained at UNC campuses. The recommendations include a longer and more intensive training experience for student teachers, a more selective way to recruit future teachers, stronger partnerships between public schools and universities, providing support and mentoring to new teachers and creating a public dashboard that would collect and show results of teacher education programs of each university. These proposals are likely to be approved in February. SOURCE: The News & Observer
Drone crashes at White House, caused by drunken Intelligence worker
An off-duty government intelligence agent test-flew a friend’s quadcopter drone that mistakenly ended up on White House grounds. Investigators say the man had been drinking at a nearby apartment. This highlighted another vulnerability in the protective shield that the Secret Service is supposed to enforce around the White House. Obama has not commented on this episode. The employee turned himself in on Monday, and the Secret Service is currently verifying his accounts. The drone was allegedly the kind that can be bought at Radio Shack and was not one affiliated with the government. SOURCE: The New York Times
Faculty Senate responds to Ross’ dismissal Staff Report
Atlantic Coast may become drilling land
The Obama administration is considering a 2017-2022 draft plan that would open 14 potential lease sales: 10 in the Gulf of Mexico, three off the coast of Alaska and one in a portion of the Mid and South Atlantic, an area that would cover waters 50 miles off the coast from Virginia to Georgia. This is the first time that the Atlantic Coast has been considered as a spot for drilling. However, the administration designated nearly 10 million acres in Alaska as off limits to any future gas and oil leasing. Interior secretary, Sally Jewell, said this proposal is balanced because the Atlantic Coast is considered a recoverable resource, while the energy rich land in Alaska that is protected is considered an area too special to develop. SOURCE: NPR
Triangle are a selling point to help achieve that goal. “It’s going to be the thing that helps in education, it’s going to be the thing that helps us create jobs, and it’s going to help us gain access to everybody,” McCrory said. This kind of internet connection could have implications for university connectivity and research, as it could allow for researchers to transfer files with huge amounts of data. Internet speeds of this caliber would allow the average user to re-
CHRIS RUPERT/TECHNICIAN
The NC State Faculty Senate met for the first time following the announcement that UNC System President Tom Ross would be stepping down at the end of the year in D.H. Hill Library Tuesday afternoon. Alton Banks, professor of chemistry and a member of the Faculty Senate, praised Ross’ work as president and called him an “outstanding person.” Every member in attendance who spoke expressed dismay with the Board’s decision. After some debate, the Board leaned toward asking as a body for more information regarding Ross’ dismissal as no reason was offered by the Board of Governors’ Jan. 16 decision. Some members of the Board expressed they wanted to thank Ross for his service to North Carolina education and debated forming a resolution ensuring the next president continues to maintain strong ties with faculty members across the entire system. Members also debated whether to come up with a resolution as a body or instead support one drafted by the Faculty Assembly, an unofficial body of faculty members from UNC constituent members calling for the Board of Governors to divulge more information regarding Ross’ dismissal. In the press conference with Ross, Board of Governors Chairman John Fennebresque declined to give a specific reason, citing that it wasn’t Ross’ age and had praised his performance as chair.
Freshman forward Abdul-Malik Abu drives past a Notre Dame defender Sunday Jan. 25 at PNC Arena. The Wolfpack lost to the No. 8 ranked Fighting Irish 81-78.
Talley plays host to electroacoustics Lindsay Smith Staff Writer
More than 100 students and community members gathered in the Talley Student Union Ballroom Tuesday evening to listen to electroacoustic, or computer-made music presented by the Circuit Bridges group. The concert was brought to NC State as a part of the Arts NOW Series and featured a variety of electroacoustic musical pieces from composers in North Carolina and New York. Electronic music has roots in musique concrete, according to Rodney Waschka II, the director of the Arts NOW Series and an interdisciplinary studies professor at NC State. “Musique concrete is music that takes sounds from the world and uses it as material,” said
Waschka. “It doesn’t worry about c sharps, quarter notes and that kind of stuff, but instead, it takes recordings from the world and uses that as compositional material.” At the beginning of the concert, Waschka asked the audience to lose all their preconceptions about what music is or should be. “Just let this stuff come at you, give it the benefit of the doubt and then figure out how to like it,” said Waschka. The pieces that were presented featured a variety of sounds, including that of a train, household objects and computer-synthesized pops and tones. Travis Garrison, composer and performer of electroacoustic music, presented his piece titled “selectric.metal,” which featured sounds from a typewriter, camera and a sewing machine.
“My piece comes directly out of this musique concrete direction,” said Garrison. “I use real world recorded sounds and then spent time processing them, manipulating them and layering them on top of each other to create basically a sound sculpture.” When listening to electroacoustic music the audience has two means of interpreting the sound, according to Garrison. “We have the choice when we hear referential sounds, i.e. sounds that remind us of something in the real world, to respect that reference, or completely ignore it,” said Garrison. Garrison encouraged the audience to ignore what the sounds traditionally stand for and treat them instead as sound objects. “When the sound comes out of the speakers and goes into your ears that kind of really doesn’t
CONCERT continued page 2
insidetechnician OPINION
FEATURES
SPORTS
Queen B won’t share honey
University dining aims to provide healthier options
Renda aims for continued success
See page 5.
See page 6.
See page 8.