WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 21, 2009
THE UNIVERSITY NIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA’S OKLAHO OMA S INDEPENDENT INDEPENDE STUDENT VOICE
news Check out a progress recap on UOSA Student Congress this year. PAGE 3
Catch a preview for this weekend’s OU-Kansas football game. PAGE 9
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Read about the Neustadt Festival of International Literature and Culture. PAGE 10
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CAMPUS BRIEFS PAPER DIRECTORY PRINTING TO BE DISCONTINUED To reduce paper waste by more than 3 million sheets this year, OU will discontinue the printing of 12,000 paper directories. The 250-sheet directories are released annually and will be replaced with an enhanced online search tool, Information Technology announced Monday. “Moving the phone book totally online is part of our plan to reduce our consumption of paper and other resources, which lessens the need to reuse and recycle,” stated Burr Millsap, Associate Vice President for Administration and Finance in the press release. To access the directory, use the search box on the OU Homepage. -Daily Staff Reports
NORMAN FAIR TRADE WILL OBSERVE GAS-FREE FRIDAY Norman Fair Trade will observe a Gas-Free Friday this week to promote a day without combustion fuel transportation. NFT is encouraging people to ride bicycles or walk on Friday to lower fuel emissions and celebrate sustainable living. People can stop by a refueling station located at Cafe Plaid, 333 W. Boyd St., or Native Roots Market, 132 W. Main St., to receive a free cup of Fair Trade certified coffee provided by Elemental Coffee Roasters and PrimaCafe. The Cafe Plaid refueling station will be open from 8 to 11 a.m. and the Native Roots Market station will be open from 9 to 11 a.m. For more information, visit www.normanfairtrade.org.
Duo cite skill, luck as keys to tournament success SUMMAYAH ANWAR Daily Staff Writer
It’s not often the words “hryvnia” or “za” appear on the board during a normal Scrabble game. However, for classics professor Jeff Purinton, these words aren’t considered obscure. Purinton, the No. 2 Scrabble player in the state, said he was reintroduced to Scrabble about five years ago by doctoral philosophy student Matthew Hodge, the No. 1 Scrabble player in the state. “He used to bring Scrabble into the lounge and he got me hooked on it,” Purinton said. “He had studied ‘the scrabble words’ so he used to slaughter me.” Purinton said he played Scrabble as a child and loved it. “I think it’s the best game because it’s a mix of skill and luck,” Purinton said. Hodge said the luck comes from which tiles are drawn out of the bag, how you strategize, the words you know and having logic to do the math. “There is also the poker element of bluffing: any word I play stays unless it is challenged,” Hodge said. “So there’s always a good proportion you can play a word that doesn’t exist and get away with it.” Hodge said he likes games with skill and strategy and was introduced to online Scrabble. “The more I played it, the more I liked it. So I joined the NASPA, the North American Scrabble Association,” Hodge said. Ho d g e b e ga n p l ay i n g i n Oklahoma Scrabble clubs and started a club that meets every Thursday in Moore. Club members play against each other to help prepare for tournaments, Hodge said. Both Purinton and Hodge said they believe there is much more to Scrabble than just having a huge vocabulary. “The letter Z, if placed properly, can get
JEREMY DICKIE/THE DAILY
Dr. Jeffrey Purinton, an introduction to ethics and history of ancient philosophy professor, and graduate student, Matthew Hodge play a game of scrabble in the Dale Hall Tower philosophy lounge Tuesday morning. you over 60 points in one turn,” explained Dr. Purinton. “You also need to know hooks, letters you can add to complete words to create new words. Like the letter F to the word altering gives you faltering.” Knowing anagrams of words, two letter words and words no longer used in commonly are all helpful, Hodge said. “The level that Jeff and I play at is just memorizing tens of thousands of word organizations. We are put in situations where we have to unscramble words in seconds,” said Hodge. A lot of the words used are so obscure they would never be used in normal conversation, said Hodge. “You have to know very specific words,” Hodge said. “I know a lot of philosophy words that others don’t because this is my field. Part of studying for tournaments is learning words in other fields.” Tournaments are typically Saturdays and
Sundays. Each player pays an entry fee, from which the prize money is awarded, and plays about 11-13 games. There are four divisions, with division one being the top. Whoever wins the most games in a division wins the tournament in that division. With each win, a player’s rating goes up, explained Purinton. Purinton said he plays in three to four tournaments a year, and Hodge said he plays in about seven. Hodge and Purinton both study for tournaments. Using zyzzyva.net, an online program designed to help create words from seven random letters, Dr. Purinton and Hodge have created their own flashcards to help memorize word combinations. “I keep my flashcards in my pocket. I’ll study them on my way to class or whenever I have a minute. I’ll occasionally ask students to give me seven letters and I’ll come up with possible words combinations,” said Purinton. “I have learned a lot of new words, but many times I don’t know what these words mean.”
MISS OU PAGEANT TOOK PLACE TUESDAY NIGHT
-Breia Brissey/The Daily
FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY TO SPONSOR BOOK SALE The annual fall Book Sale sponsored by the Friends of the Norman Library will be held Friday through Monday at 225 N. Webster. The sale will be open to the public from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, from 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday and from 3 to 8 p.m. Monday for the Bag Sale, which will allow patrons to stuff as many books as possible into a bag for $3. General sale books are priced at 50 cents for paperbacks and $1 for large paperbacks and hardback books. Better and collectible books are individually priced, with most between $2 and $5. Proceeds from the book sale are used to provide the library with funds for materials, equipment, books and special projects. -Oluwaseun Ojelade/The Daily
OU IT ACCEPTING OLD COMPUTERS AND EQUIPMENT Old computers, monitors, keyboards, mice, chargers and computer batteries are currently being accepted during OU Information Technology’s fall cleanup which lasts through Oct. 30. For OU-owned equipment, OU IT will wipe data to DoD and HIPAA standards and dispose the equipment in accordance with EPA standards for free, as stated in a press release. Departmentally-owned CRT monitors can be traded in during this fall cleanup to purchase a 19” LCD monitor for $125 or a 22” LCD monitor for $175. For more information and to schedule pickup, e-mail itstore@ ou.edu. -Daily Staff Reports
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Miss OU contestants line up on stage during the opening ceremony of the pageant Tuesday evening in the Oklahoma Memorial Union’s Meacham Auditorium. The pageant contestants placed in the following order: Winner — Bailey Robinson, sophomore; first runner-up — Ostyn Glover, junior; second runner-up — Tiffany Legg, senior; third runner-up — Lydia Gray, junior; fourth runner-up — Sheila Kraft, sophomore. GO ONLINE TO OUDAILY.COM FOR THE FULL STORY.
Health care reform raises issue Norman community members of patient records confidentiality attend church-organized vigil Electronic file storage system safer, cheaper, but difficult to maintain CARA BAILEY Contributing Writer
Editor’s Note: This story is part of a series addressing health care reform. One issue of concern raised in the ongoing health care reform debate is the accessibility of a patients private records. Many of these personal records, which were only available to health care personnel and patients in the past, are being stored electronically. David Kendrick, assistant provost for strategic planning at OU’s Tulsa campus, has been working with technology and medical records since 1998. He said most medical records began being stored electronically in 2001, and the next step is for medical
facilities to become fully electronic, so they can transfer data to other hospitals or clinics for a patient. Kendrick said the technology exists, but the hard part is keeping the information secure and finding a system for all hospitals and clinics to have in common. “The ideas have been there,” Kendrick said. “The technology is old hat. The biggest challenge has been a culture change - you take an industry that has never had to think this way. It takes a lot of convincing to get people to do something new.” President Barack Obama signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 Feb. 17. Bailouts, the “Cash for Clunkers” program, and the expansion of child tax credits are some well-known projects that were passed in the stimulus bill. The Health Information Technology Extension Program also passed through the stimulus program, HEALTH CARE CONTINUES ON PAGE 2
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Gathering to honor those who die without health care each year JARED RADER Daily Staff Writer
Members of local Norman churches along with other members of the community gathered at Andrews Park Tuesday evening to remember those who die each year due to lack of health care. The event is one of several that happened in many states Tuesday inspired by the National Day of Remembrance and Hope, a nationwide event sponsored by Faithful Reform in Health Care. According to its Web site, Faithful Reform in Health Care is an organization committed to expanding support for health care reform within the religious
community. The Rev. Chris Moore, along with other church leaders, helped organize what was supposed to be a candlelight vigil through his church, Norman United Church of Christ. “We were going to stand here tonight and light candles against the darkness, and it may seem for those of us trapped at this point in the health care debate ironic that we can’t even light the candles because of the wind,” Moore said. “But the truth is the candles were only a symbol of our light against the darkness, and the light that really matters is the light within each and every one of us.” Amy Venable, pastor of St. Stephens United Methodist Church, said the vigil was not held to support of any political stance or piece of legislation, VIGIL CONTINUES ON PAGE 2
VOL. 95, NO. 44