Thursday, February 16, 2012 - The Daily Cardinal

Rivalry renewed

Fiddlin’ around

The Badgers travel to East Lansing Thursday with Big Ten title hopes on the line.

The Wisconsin Union Theater will welcome folk group Gaelic Storm Friday. +ARTS, page 5 University of Wisconsin-Madison

+SPORTS, page 8

Complete campus coverage since 1892

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Thursday, February 16, 2012

TIBET PROTESTS REACH IOWA In the midst of widespread revolt against Chinese rule in Tibet, UW-Madison’s students joined hundreds of demonstrators from Madison, Minnesota and Chicago to protest the visit of the Chinese vice president in Iowa Wednesday. This is the last of a three-part series exploring the issue.

Story by Alex DiTullio and Scott Girard

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mark kauzlarich/the daily cardinal

UW faces $46 million cut 38 percent of state cuts falls on system

By Sarah Olson The Daily Cardinal

The Joint Finance Committee allocated $123 million in state budget cuts for the coming year along party lines Wednesday, $46 million of which will come from the UW System.

The cuts were approved last year in the state budget plan, but Wednesday’s meeting specified where the money would be cut.

UW System’s $46 million in cuts accounts for 38 percent of the total.

In the 2007-’09 budget cycle, the UW System shouldered 9.9 percent of the state’s $540 million lapse. In the 2009-’11 cycle, upon facing a $509 million lapse, the UW System’s share of the cuts was 8.7 percent.

Sen. Bob Jauch, D-Poplar, argued at Wednesday’s meeting the 38 percent share of the cuts the UW System would suffer under this plan is disproportionate compared to cuts to other government expenditures.

“The University of Wisconsin is no longer a priority for the Republican Party,” Jauch said. “And instead of the Wisconsin Idea, its becoming the Walker nightmare.”

Capitol Police removed four student demonstrators from the meeting after they entered the committee room holding signs in protest to the cuts to the UW System.

“This was not my choice, but it is my problem,” said Damon Terrell, UW-Madison student and protester. “I have to fight to finish my education, not in terms of getting good grades, but getting into the classes I need to graduate. This is because of budget cuts and disproportional lapse

budget page 3

Wednesday morning rally and afternoon march led to passionate tears on the faces of some of the ‘Free Tibet’ supporters from around the Midwest who traveled to Des Moines, Iowa, to protest visiting Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping.

The approximately 500 protesters, inspired by the 24 people who set themselves on fire in the past two years to protest the Chinese government’s alleged human rights violations in Tibet, included UW-Madison students and other members of Madison’s Students for a Free Tibet.

“This [Chinese] occupation [of

Tibet] is wrong, the self-immolations are wrong, [China’s] policies in general are wrong … and it should not be tolerated,” UW-Madison student Louis Martino said.

Jinping traveled to Iowa following a visit with President Barack Obama and the U.S. Congress in Washington, D.C., on his way to California.

Jinping chose to visit Iowa because Gov. Terry Branstad welcomed him to the state in 1985, two years into Branstad’s first term.

The morning rally began at a World War II memorial a block

Student Org Spotlight

stephanie daher/the daily cardinal

Members of the Muslim-Jewish Volunteer Initiative met at Der Rathskeller Wednesday to share ideas for spring community service events.

Muslim and Jewish students connect over community service

President Obama visits Milwaukee factory

By Aarushi Agni

President Barack Obama visited a Master Lock factory in Milwaukee Wednesday where he spoke about bringing outsourced jobs back to America.

Gov. Scott Walker was sick with the stomach flu and could not accompany the president on his tour of the factory as originally planned. He did, however, give the president a Milwaukee Brewers jersey with “Obama” printed on the back when he arrived at General Mitchell International Airport.

The president mentioned Master Lock in his State of Union speech last month as an example of a U.S. company that has

The Muslim-Jewish Volunteer Initiative, a student organization founded last year that uses community service to bridge the gap between the two groups on campus, kicked off their semester with a meeting at Der Rathskeller Wednesday.

Co-presidents Jeremy Levinger and Lamin Manneh explained at the meeting that they hope to create a safe space for connection between students of both religions, where each can learn about the other’s perspectives.

“You always hear that Muslims

brought jobs back from oversees.

“My message to business leaders is simple: Ask yourselves what you can do to bring jobs back to your country, and your country will do everything we can to help you succeed,” Obama said Wednesday.

Walker said in a statement he appreciates the attention the president is giving to the Wisconsin-based company.

“Wisconsin manufacturers are some of the best in the world and this helps us highlight that fact,” said Walker.

Wednesday’s visit was the president’s first since January of last year.

tibet page 4

The Daily Cardinal

hate Jews, or that Jews hate Muslims.

And this relationship has been defined by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,“ Manneh said.

“We are trying to get beyond this— we want to form a relationship between these groups based on something other than conflict. Service can bring us together.”

Islam and Judaism share a similar philosophy of charity, called tzedekah in Hebrew, or zadakat in Arabic.

“It’s charity from the heart,” said Levinger. “You give because you really do care, not out of obligation or

service page 3

“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”

page two The sinister side of small talk tODAY: partly cloudy hi 41º / lo 27º

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Friday: partly cloudy hi 41º / lo 28º

Thursday, February 16, 2012

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Elliot Ignasiak ignastrodamous

F

ew things scare me the way polite conversations do. Public speaking, rock climbing, swimming with stingrays, eating cow tongue—been there done that and didn’t break a sweat. But an awkward social interaction? Few things can be quite so unnerving. There is nothing worse than the sinking feeling that occurs when one hears the phrase, “How are you?” from a person they know just well enough that it would be rude not to acknowledge their presence and engage them in a short dialogue about absolutely nothing.

Pretend you’re texting, pick at your fingernails, fake a mild seizure— doesn’t matter. Once you’ve locked eyes with the acquaintance, strong social conventions necessitate you spend the next five minutes acting as if either of you actually gives a

shit about how the other is doing.

Maybe it’s a co-worker, classmate, friendly cashier or even a cousin whom you see a few times a year at family gatherings, any type of acquaintance will do. The problem is that while you may be superficially familiar with this person, you missed that crucial window of establishing rapport the first few times you met them. You haven’t found out their hobbies, favorite bands or what TV shows they watch. You just know that they are a girl who you had in an intro psychology class last semester or that guy whose father is your uncle.

Not knowing anything of substance about them doesn’t allow you to say, “Hey John, good recleague game last night. But if you guys want to win it all you’re going to have to stop relying on your passing game. You know defense wins championships.” Sure it’s sports, so it’s still kind of boring, but at least it’s not the dreadful, “Hey man, how are you?”

The problem with that particular question is there is not a single

The Dirty Bird

good way to answer it. It’s like playing “Let’s Make a Deal” but behind every door is a degree of social awkwardness that makes you wish there was a lion to end your misery.

Pick door 1 and simply answer good. You’ll now likely find yourself in a prolonged conversation full of more boring questions and uninspired answers. “Did you have a good holiday season?” “What classes are you taking this semester?”

“How are your parents?” You may not realize how terrible this conversation has been going, but in no time you’ll find yourself talking about the weather—the universal sign that you have nothing worth speaking about.

Pick door 2 and say, “Not too well, pretty shitty actually.” Expect a slew of uncomfortable personal questions. Everyone likes to think that their insightful advice really helps others, especially the girl from last semester’s intro psychology class. I’ve never heard, “Aww tell me about it” after my “good” day, but mention you’ve had a bad day and your honesty will get rewarded

with a semi-stranger needlessly prodding you to reveal every detail of your miserable existence.

Neither of these options— though you may look boring or pathetic—is as terrible as the third, because at least the conversation has the potential to end. The worst is people who ask you, “How are you doing?” just so they have an excuse to start talking about themselves nonstop. Somehow these people are socially aware enough to realize that you can’t just go up to any random person and subject them to boring stories about your day-to-day life. However, they feel that preceding such stories with “how are you” completely justifies such behavior. With them it’s best to start talking nonstop about yourself, not allowing them a breath.

They’ll leave you alone soon after.

Sometimes the best defense is a good offense.

Tired of mindless small talk with what’s-his-face while you’re trying to book it to your 8:50? Rant about it to Elliot at eignasiak@wisc.edu, and maybe you can establish some rapport.

sex and the student body

Resetting your orgasm clock: orgasms in tandem Erica andrist sex columnist Erica, My question is about orgasms. I orgasm regularly when I masturbate or when my boyfriend fingers me or gives me oral, and sometimes I orgasm during sex. The thing is that it usually takes me a lot longer than my boyfriend. What I would like to know is if there is any way that I could cum faster so that we could cum together during intercourse. He is great about making sure that I have an orgasm if he cums before I do, but it would be great if we could finish together. (I am a girl, just fyi.)

—Slowpoke While it’s a little ironic that I’m dividing my response to this question into two separate columns, I’m going to continue to respond to Slowpoke’s question today. Last week, we talked about ways female-bodied people can have orgasms more quickly and reliably during penetration.

Today, we’re going to talk about the related but distinct issue of the tandem orgasm.

Having your orgasm at the same time as your partner is all about individual control. Movies would have us believe it’s nothing more than magic, but odds are very good that in real life, it will require some practice. Both partners will need to learn how to speed their own orgasm up and how to slow it down in order to let loose only when they know their partner is ready, too.

To start gaining that kind of control, start solo.

Masturbating allows you to focus entirely on yourself.

You won’t have any outside pressure to last longer or come more quickly as you figure out how to do both.

You also won’t need to worry about where your partner is on their own path to orgasm.

While masturbating, see if you can bring yourself just to the brink of orgasm, then pull yourself back from the edge.

See if you can figure out the exact combination of strokes, pressures and fantasies to give yourself an orgasm in just a few minutes.

A key part of this kind of orgasm training is mental. Our brains are powerful sex organs, and they can help us rein it in or pick up the pace. If we’re focusing on something else— next week’s exam, what to have for dinner or even just our breathing—that can allow us to delay the big moment. On the flip side, if we have a sexy fantasy going on in our minds, then we can help ourselves sprint to the finish.

Physical tricks can help slow things down, too. We talked last week about ways to speed things along, but that’s only half the equation.

If we’re almost there but our partner needs more time, then we have to learn to hold it back if we want to have that big moment together.

Sometimes, slowing down is literal; slow down your hands, turn down the speed on your vibrator or stop allowing yourself to thrust with your hips. However, sometimes just any kind of change will allow us to pull back. Change positions, or switch from oral to manual stimulation. The sudden change-up will allow us to reset our orgasm clocks.

Once you’ve started to master the timing of your own

orgasm, start practicing during partner sex. When you’re with your partner, get loud. From a practical standpoint, it will be difficult to sync your orgasm with your partner’s if you don’t know when they’re going to climax.

Talk to your partner throughout.

Tell them you’re getting close. If you’re getting too close too soon, then try some of your mental or physical techniques for delay. If you’re a little behind, then bring in your favorite techniques from masturbation or conjure up a sexy fantasy for a turbo boost.

As a bonus, hearing your partner enjoy sex is hot.

Listening to your partner’s pleasure—especially the sounds

of their shortly-before-orgasm pleasure—might do a lot to help yours along.

Ultimately, Slowpoke, having orgasms together with your boyfriend isn’t just about helping you to have yours faster.

Hopefully, some of the tips from last week will help you pick up your pace, but have a chat with your partner about your goals.

In reality, this won’t work if it’s just a goal of yours—from start to finish, it needs to be something the two of you shoot for together.

Need more help controlling your fantisizing? Want to learn more tricks of the trade? E-mail Erica at sex@dailycardinal.com and sychronize that big finale.

dailycardinal.com

Thursday, February 16, 2012 3 l

news

Walker requests more time to review recall signatures Gov. Scott Walker asked for another two-week extension Wednesday to review and challenge the approximately 1 million recall petitions signed against him.

The extension, if approved, would move the already extended date of Feb. 27 to March 12. The Government Accountability Board, the group responsible for overseeing the recall elections, has until March 19 to declare a recall election.

This requested extension would prevent the GAB from receiving all information on the signatures until March 21, delaying the GAB’s official decision.

Kathleen Falk, Democratic candidate for governor and former Dane County Executive, said in a statement Walker is intentionally delaying the recall election so he can have more time to raise campaign funds.

“Gov. Walker will keep rais-

ing money to support his extreme, National Tea Party agenda but all the money in the world can’t buy back the trust he has lost from the people of Wisconsin,” Falk said.

Walker’s campaign said it has sufficiently reviewed 25 percent of the recall petitions to date and found 10 to 20 percent of the signatures are invalid. A 50 percent average error would have to be found to prevent a recall election.

Students oppose mediation with adidas

By Ben Siegel The Daily Cardinal

ONline

On dailycardinal.com Associated Students of Madison put membership in a national organization on the ballot for a referendum from the student body Wednesday. + Photo by Grey Satterfield

service from page 1 fear. That’s what it means in Hebrew, and it means exactly the same thing in Arabic.”

The group will resume volunteer work at Savory Sunday this semester, an organization that cooks and serves meals for the homeless, and may also begin working with the Boys and Girls Club.

In previous semesters, efforts to bring the groups together have included trips to the mosque for Jewish students or the synagogue for Muslim students, in an event called the Day of Prayer. The group will also continue to host Coexistence Dinners, with ethnic food and afterdinner dialogues.

Levinger, Manneh, and Ammad Amim, another mem-

ber, believe that the connections and friendships built through cooperation are the only ways to solve the larger conflicts between Muslims and Jews.

“Service can bring us together.”

Lamin Manneh co-president Muslim-Jewish Volunteer Initiative

“In the long run, we try to create an atmosphere where we can agree to disagree,” Levinger said.

Amim agreed. “That’s the only way for us to move forward,” he said.

The Student Labor Action Coalition condemned Chancellor David Ward’s announcement that the university would attempt to repair, rather than sever, relations with Adidas over for labor issues Wednesday.

The group’s statement further solidified their position against UW-Madison’s ties with Adidas.

“Chancellor David Ward’s decision was soundly anti-labor, prioritizes corporate profits over the needs of workers, and tarnishes the image of University of Wisconsin-Madison,” the SLAC said in a statement.

Voices on campus have called for the university to end its contract with Adidas after it was revealed that workers at a contracted Indonesian factory were owed $1.8 million in severance pay after the facility closed in January.

Adidas maintains that it should not be held responsible for compensating workers, as the factory was independently

owned and managed.

Ward affirmed his desire to find a solution in his statement announcing mediations with Adidas Tuesday.

“I’m committed to seeing redress for the impacted workers, and I believe mediation is the most efficient and practical method to reach this goal,” Ward said.

His announcement was considered a surprise after recent reports anticipated he was preparing to terminate the contract after discussions with athletics officials and the UW-Madison Labor Licensing Policy Committee.

“Ward’s actions are not only anti-labor, they are against the very principles this university stands upon and as such warrants his immediate removal,” SLAC member Lingran Kong said in the press release.

Madison will host United Students Against Sweatshops’ national conference this weekend. Entitled “Take Back Our Economy,” the organization’s event will celebrate the past and pres-

ent of student organizing, evoking memories of not only last year’s Capitol protests, but earlier struggles between the university and athletic apparel manufacturers.

Under Ward’s first term as chancellor in February of 1999, students locked themselves into Bascom Hall in protest of sweatshop labor, advocating for greater student involvement in the university’s apparel licensing process.

After nearly 100 hours, Ward ordered police to break up the sit-in. Roughly 50 protestors were arrested, but all charges were later dropped by authorities under public pressure.

Now in his second term, the chancellor is likely to face the familiar sight of determined student protestors once again, according to John Perkins, a member of SLAC and UW-Madison junior.

“We are disappointed, so we will escalate our campaign and continue to apply pressure to the chancellor,” he said. “We have to take violations of our labor code of conduct seriously.”

City delays divisive State Street reconstruction proposal A vote on a controversial proposal for the reconstruction of the 100 block of State Street was postponed Wednesday.

Block 100 Foundation’s $10 million proposal to reconstruct State, West Mifflin and Fairchild Streets includes demolishing or heavily renovating six buildings, two of which are historic, and constructing an open plaza facing the Overture Center.

The Landmarks Commission, a city planning group, referred the proposal Monday to the Urban Design Commission for discussion and a possible vote Wednesday, but City Attorney Michael May said the process violated city protocol.

“It’s sort of an interactive process, and Landmarks was willing to cooperate, but the city attorney seemed to put the kibosh on that,” UDC Chair R. Richard Wagner said.

Wagner supported the referral from Landmarks, so that the proposal would receive further discussion and Landmarks would

be able to vote on any changes to the proposal.

“I was not expecting a vote tonight,” Wagner said. “I was expecting a discussion about what design issues were important both to the UDC and to the applicant.”

Last week, developers Grant and W. Jerome Frautschi and Pleasant Rowland sent a letter to the UDC threatening to sell six properties on State Street if the commission does

budget from page 1

ance our budget, that should be something everyone – Democrat or Republican – can agree, that our budget must be balanced,” Vos said. “This is not a surprise.

These reductions have been planned since the budget was passed in July.”

Rep. Jon Richards, D-Milwaukee, issued a statement

allocations to higher education.”

However, Rep. Robin Vos, R-Burlington, the committee’s co-chair, said Wednesday UW-Madison Chancellor David Ward told him the school could handle the cuts.

“We need to have lapses to bal-

not support their designs, especially the proposed open plaza facing the Overture Center.

“The transformation of this corner is critical to the success of this project in our eyes,” Frautschi and Rowland said in their letter to Wagner.

The Landmarks Commission will take up the Block 100 Foundation’s proposal for a second time on Feb. 27.

—Abby Becker

kyriaki hatzikyriakidou/the daily cardinal

The Block 100 Foundation’s proposal was referred to Madison’s Landmarks Commission, delaying final approval of the plans. following the meeting expressing his disappointment in the allocation of cuts.

“Unfortunately Republicans have decided that giving tax breaks to corporations without any guarantee they will create jobs for Wisconsin families is more of a priority than investing in higher education—a proven job creator,” Richards said.

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Thursday, February 16, 2012

dailycardinal.com

The [Chinese] occupation of Tibet is wrong, the self-immolations are wrong, [China’s] policies in general are wrong ... and it should not be tolerated. Louis martino, UW-Madison student. tibet from page 1 from Iowa’s state Capitol building. Following the rally, the protesters, some wearing traditional Tibetan garments and others wrapped in the Tibetan flag, marched through the heart of the city, aided by police protection at crosswalks.

The group later returned to the Capitol steps where they honored the 13 deceased self-immolators with Tibetan flags draped over symbolic coffins, bringing many to tears.

Emotions intensified as leaders of the Tibetan groups criticized Branstad for meeting with Jinping.

According to Tenzing Jigme, the president of the Tibetan Youth Congress, Branstad was ignoring the communist country’s human rights violations for increased trade opportunities with one of the world’s emerging countries.

“Today, [America is] giving a red carpet welcome to a dictator,” Jigme said. “[Governor Terry Branstad], today you have failed the people of Iowa, you have

failed the people of America, and you have failed the people of the world.”

But as the sun set, protestor’s fiery chants shifted to quiet determination not to leave the Capitol’s steps in spite of their agreement with police to move to a designated area by 5 p.m. to make way for Jinping’s arrival.

As resistance increased, police called for back up to prepare for a possible confrontation. Around 5:45 p.m., approximately 30 officers briskly and deliberately escorted the crowd away from the Capitol.

Although some protesters were briefly detained, police said they made no arrests.

Two UW-Madison students had different reactions to how the police handled the confrontation with protesters.

Martino said he felt “sick to his stomach” after watching police detain fellow activists. “[Police] say ‘to serve and protect’ and they’re not even protecting us,” Martino said over cries of “shame” directed at police. “They’re harassing us for [protecting] human rights and I’m sad that we can’t resist this even more.”

However, Tenzin Dechen commended police for their patience with the crowd that lingered at the Capitol past their deadline.

While tempers cooled between the ‘Free Tibet’ activists and police, Chinese supporters of Jinping gathered on the opposite side of the Capitol lawn, excitedly waiting for his motorcade to arrive.

University of Iowa graduate student Zhao Liu said he believes the desire for an independent Tibet is not as unanimous among Tibetans as the protesters make it seem.

“Some people think they want independence, but in the meantime there are people living in Tibet who don’t,” Liu said.

UW-Madison Chinese Students and Scholars Association Presidents Zhennen Zhao did not return a phone call requesting a comment.

Dechen said the trip was an overall success.

“It’s not like every day you get a chance to protest against another state leader,” he said. “I think he heard us.”

UW-Madison students were among the hundreds of pro-Tibet demonstrators who joined a protest of Chinese Vice President Xi Jingping’s visit to Des Moines, Iowa, Wednesday. The Chinese government has been accused of human rights abuses in the small, mountainous region it has occupied for decades, where some two dozen people have set themselves on fire to protest the occupation. Although some of the demonstrators in Iowa were briefly detained by police, no one was arrested in the peaceful protest. + Photos by Mark Kauzlarich

arts Caught in the eye of the Gaelic Storm dailycardinal.com Thursday, February 16, 2012

By Andy Kerber the daily cardinal

Gaelic Storm is, arguably, the most well-known Celtic Rock band of this age.

In an interview with singer and guitarist Steve Twigger, he talked about the past of both himself and the band.

Even though the group plays Celtic rock, a few of Twigger’s influences come from classic rock, reminiscent of when he was growing up and learning to play the guitar.

“The first song I ever learned on the guitar was a B-side of an old 45 of the [Rolling] Stones that my parents had,” Twigger said. “I think it was ‘Little Red Rooster’ on one side, and ‘Good Times, Bad Times’ on the other.”

Twigger and drummer Shep Lonsdale joined forces with singer/accordion player Pat Murphy and bodhrán player Steve Wehmeyer to form Gaelic Storm.

“It was sort of a default,” Twigger said on the choice of a band name. “[Murphy and Wehmeyer] had done one coffee shop gig and expected nobody to turn up, but people turned up.

They just threw the name down just for the night, and when people turned up, they were like ‘well, we’re stuck with it now.’ The guys wanted something that represented the nature of the traditional music that influenced us.”

Many of the group’s songs come from the band members’ experiences. The one that sticks out the most to Twigger is the night that Murphy, while working as a bartender, punched actor Russell Crowe in the face.

“Patrick is full of stories,” Twigger said. “I’ve got a ‘Top 10’ of Pat stories…I’ve heard him tell that story so many times, eventually I went ‘You know what? I have to see if I can write this into a song.’”

The event became immortalized

in the song “The Night I Punched Russell Crowe.”

Gaelic Storm has a grueling touring schedule, so they’ve played at a lot of venues. Among Twigger’s favorites are the Pabst Theater in Milwaukee and the House of Blues in Chicago. But the one that sticks out the most is the annual Irish Fest in Milwaukee.

“That’s one of the funnest [sic] things we do all year long,” Twigger said. “We look forward to that all year. It’s a big party during the daytime, and all through the night. We have so many friends there in other bands that we get to see only a few times a year when we bump into them at festivals. The crowds for us now are out of control, with the songs and the singing along.”

When you play as many shows as they do, there are bound to be some

things that go wrong. One particular incident that stands out in Twigger’s mind happened at a pub in California.

“We were playing on a stage the size of a postage stamp,” Twigger said. “But after Pat turned around and threw up his Irish stew, you could have landed a helicopter on that stage. We were pressed against the wall, horrified.”

For many people, their first exposure to the band was their appearance in the movie “Titanic,” which has had mixed results for the band.

“The ‘Titanic’ thing has been sort of a blessing and a bane,” Twigger said. “Some people have the perception that we were invented for the movie. But it’s really the exact opposite. We were just banging out folk songs out in the back of a pub. It’s just what we do.”

In his opinion, Twigger believes

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The Skinny Who: Gaelic Storm Where: Wisconsin Union Theater, 800 Langdon St. When: Friday, Feb. 17. at 8 p.m.

Cost: $10 for students, $32 for general public that the band is so successful because it’s not about the money; each of them are in it for the pure enjoyment of music, and that mindset resonates with the fans.

“Honestly, we enjoy ourselves,” Twigger said. “That has been our mantra the whole time. Patrick and I promised each other, way back then, that if we stop enjoying our-

photo courtesy lost again records

Gaelic Storm, a celtic rock group featured in the film “Titanic,” will be performing at the Wisconsin Union Theater this Friday, Feb. 17. The group will be promoting their most recent work, Cabbage.

Broken iPod resurrects lost tunes Jeremy Gartzke artzke gartzke

I

owe the powers that be a great big thank you for my broken iPod screen.

Normally, this would be the bane of my existence, forcing me to turn on the clicker so that I can discern where I am in my list of artists. But lately it has been better at figuring out the perfect tunes for whatever mood I might be in than I am.

For instance, today I got on the number six bus, in a hurry, hoping to get to Johnson Street in time to catch the 80 over to Social Sciences. I left the house listening to Motion City Soundtrack—a left over from my lonely Valentine’s Day playlist—but it really wasn’t doing anything for me. So I started flipping through my iPod, looking for the Hold Steady, when I stopped on Lit. If you aren’t aware, Lit was an alternative rock band in the ’90s, and a damn good one at that. The song “My Own Worst Enemy” was a mainstay of the local Top 40 station when I was a kid, and

my babysitter often played the CD in her car. I don’t think I’ve put this album on of my own volition in months, but today, it was exactly what I needed.

Music is weird like that. It seems that there’s always some melody that will brighten my mood, even if I don’t know myself what it is.

That’s the beauty of my broken iPod: It brings me music choices I’ve all but forgotten about. The bad part is when I find something I like I can’t just flip over to the next album or artist I want to without a ton of clicks. It is especially tiresome to try to figure out what’s playing from the first few seconds of whatever I alight on.

For someone who has as much music as I do, there is a ton that I don’t recognize on the first few notes. Bands whose albums I picked up solely on the strength of a single, bands I listened to perhaps on the recommendation of a friend and bands that I end up coming across months later and being pleasantly surprised by all make their way through shuffle to my headphones.

Most recently I accidentally listened to Cheap Girls, a band I found through the website Punknews.org. The strength

of their single “Ft. Lauderdale” was what made me pick up My Roaring 20s, the band’s latest effort. It was a great complement to the cold weather outside and empty bank account staring back at me from my computer screen.

The band is an indie punk band from Lansing, Mich. who sound an awful lot like the Hold Steady, but carry a little more of an edge. It’s that whiny hipster vibe mixed with the working class punk sentiment that makes this band such a perfect fit for a college audience.

The broken iPod that I can’t afford to replace has helped change my music taste quite a bit, and I’m pleased with that. My college budget has pushed me to discover new music and rediscover old music through sheer coincidence more than once.

It’s been two years since my screen initially broke and in those two years I’ve heard a lot of music that I didn’t initially intend on listening to.

I don’t even know if I really want to fix the screen or get a new one. I don’t know how I’d feel if I had to actually pick out my own music.

Have your own cast-away technology love stories? Holla at Jeremy jgartzke@dailycardinal.com.

opinion No Child Left Behind hurts education 6

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Kate Krebs opinion columnist

D

uring a recent press release, in response to the increasingly unrealistic No Child Left Behind law, President Barak Obama declared, “We can’t wait.” As 2014, the original deadline for full implementation of the law’s requirements, draws nearer, it is becoming incredibly clear that many states will not be able to meet the law’s standards in time. Under No Child Left Behind’s criteria, an unbelievable 48 percent of schools were labeled “failing” in 2011, and even though the need for revisions has apparently been acknowledged and is underway, the realization of any such rewrite is nowhere in the immediate future.

Despite overwhelming bipartisan support during its forma-

tion, No Child Left Behind was flawed from the beginning. It has created a “teach the test” atmosphere in classrooms which forces teachers to skim over the learning process to ensure that students score highly on standardized tests. The law has also mandated strenuous reporting techniques that are both frequent and time consuming; one school testified that “compliance with just one part of No Child Left Behind requires the stafftime equivalent of diverting 82 instructional days away from students each year.” Essentially, students are not actually learning and teachers are spending more time composing reports than lesson plans.

To improve this unsavory learning environment and liberate schools from the looming 2014 deadline, the Obama Administration has announced a new program which allows states another option. In place of No Child Left Behind, states can apply for waivers in order to tailor the education reform

to their schools’ specific needs.

Kentucky was the first of 10 states to apply for and win the waiver. The other nine are New Jersey, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Indiana, Florida, Georgia, and Colorado. Aside from these initial 10 states, another 28 intend on applying, including Wisconsin.

Under No Child Left Behind’s criteria, an unbelievable 48 percent of schools were labeled “failing” in 2011.

Similar to these other states, Wisconsin’s plan for education reform is far better suited for the state than the original No Child Left Behind law.

Wisconsin Knowledge Concept Examination testing will slowly be phased out in place of more relevant test strategies which focus on the following three

PayByPhone good for Madison Ethan Safran opinion columnist

A new plan put forth by the City of Madison may put motor vehicle drivers at ease.

While the feature is not exactly foreign to UW-Madison via a flex parking program created in 2009, the City of Madison plans to reveal a pay-by-phone feature with parking meters that will allow for individuals to add time to their parking meter over the phone with a credit card, incurring a fee of about 45 cents.

The meter, which will be located in the Capitol State Street garage and serve 19 vehicles stalls and 10 motorcycle stalls, is undoubtedly a good idea.

The City of Madison has an initial contract to install 100 multispace meters, the first of which were installed on Sept. 15, 2010 at the Buckeye Lot. The meters allow individuals to pay with most widely accepted credit cards in addition to coins and, so far, 77 of the 100 multispace meters have been installed and are working.

The other 23 are either being tested or wired and will be installed later this year.

While the recently unveiled multispace meters work in much the same way as traditional meters, in that a parker simply enters a credit card to pay for his or her parking space, the new pay-byphone feature will essentially allow an individual to bypass the annoyance of having to leave their location to attend to their parking meter to add more time in trying to avoid getting a ticket.

Some may consider the 45-cent fee as a seedy little way for the city to make money. That may be true, though at the same time, it is truly doing the customer a favor.

Compare that to, say, one of the countless fees that some banks have tried to slap upon a customer for not using their credit card every month or even any of the other countless annoying fees that people encounter on a daily or weekly basis.

Yet, in fairness, UW-Madison and other institutions and cities have been on top of this pesky problem for some time.

PayByPhone, formerly known as Verrus, is a service that allows individuals to pay for parking directly though either a phone call or a mobile app downloadable directly from Apple’s App Store, the Android Market or Blackberry’s App World. Roughly a dozen collegiate schools have implemented the service for parking on their campuses, and a host of major metropolitan cities, including Chicago, Miami, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, New Orleans and Seattle, have all integrated the service with their city’s traditional and other multispace or technologically savvy meters. The service, which accepts such major credit cards as Visa, MasterCard and American Express, is slowly being rolled out

in other countries, too.

It is unclear as to whether the City of Madison will be integrating PayByPhone or some other type of homogenous service, though it appears that PayByPhone has a virtual monopoly in the parking-paying world at this point.

PayByPhone’s service fees typically run anywhere between 25 to 35 cents depending on both the Vendor and whether an individual used the service’s other features, including text message reminders and digital receipts.

Nonetheless, the idea of paying for parking by use of a mobile phone is certainly a good one and is a major convenience for parkers everywhere, regardless of a few extra cents that one will have to pay.

Ethan Safran is a freshman with an undeclared major. Please send all feedback to opinion@ dailycardinal.com.

dailycardinal.com

areas: third grade reading, high school dropout rates and test participation. In addition, high school juniors will no longer have to mindlessly fill in circles on useless standardized tests; Wisconsin’s application for a waiver includes using the ACT as a means of testing proficiency.

By utilizing a test that actually counts toward students’ futures, the state can be sure that teens are actually taking the test seriously, which lends itself to more viable results.

Introduction of the waivers sparked mixed reactions among the public, some concerning educational standards and others politics. Education has been a bipartisan issue in the past, but No Child Left Behind supporters that claim by allowing each state the opportunity to make its own rules, the topic approaches dangerously politi-

cal waters. However, it is clear that the primary concern in this situation is education. No major political party supports hindering education, hence the issue is, as always, bipartisan.

The new waivers are simply a more realistic and effective way to achieve the same goal; perhaps they would have received a kinder welcome had it not been assumed that everything is inherently political.

As it is, the nation has only to wait and see if these waivers actually do yield success, though the prospects are good and schools remain hopeful. Wisconsin’s plan has yet to be approved, but if it is accepted, students can expect a far more effective education system.

Kate is a new writer to the Daily Cardinal Opinion team. Let Kate know how her first article is by sending all feedback to opinion@dailycardinal.com.

comics dailycardinal.com

Better get crackin’! The average person will spend an estimated 20,160 minutes kissing in their lifetime!

Thursday, February 16, 2012 • 7

Huffin’ and puffin’

Today’s Sudoku

Evil Bird

By Caitlin Kirihara kirihara@wisc.edu

© Puzzles by Pappocom

Eatin’ Cake

By Dylan Moriarty EatinCake@gmail.com

Solution, tips and computer program available at www.sudoku.com.

Fill in the grid so that every row, every column and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 through 9.

Tanked Life

By Steven Wishau wishau@wisc.edu

Today’s Crossword Puzzle

Answer key available at www.dailycardinal.com

IMPOSSIBLE WORDPLAY ACROSS 1 Act the informant 5 Wanting everything just so 9 Shoulder wrap 14 Helm position 15 Astor or Jane Grey 16 “Vertigo” actress Kim 17 With 60-Across, Mongolian capital 18 Out yonder 19 Papas of “Zorba the Greek” 20 Electrician’s log?

23 Smoldering coal 24 Flooring wood 25 Mai ___ (tropical drink) 27 Marina del ___, Calif.

28 Manning of the gridiron 31 Play boisterously 34 Combine smoothly 36 Airport screening equipment 37 Things to read with your ears?

40 Chinese or Japanese, e.g.

42 Disorderly outburst 43 Marriage motivation, at times 46 Chinese dynasty name 47 Family girl, familiarly 50 Stitcher’s edge

51 Divining or dowsing instrument 53 Inclined, in London 55 A place only Buzz Lightyear could go?

60 See 17-Across 61 Where the iris is 62 Styptic-pencil ingredient 63 Nonreactive, chemically 64 Shortening 65 Spelling of “Beverly Hills, 90210” 66 Meanies 67 Hazzard County deputy 68 It soars over the coast DOWN 1 China cabinet item 2 Light up, to a poet 3 A stone’s throw away 4 Musical category 5 Word with “medical” or “action” 6 It’s blown up near the water 7 Boise’s state 8 Innumerable 9 Agitated condition 10 Picador’s adversary 11 Secondary meaning 12 Sailor’s cord 13 Just manage (with “out”) 21 Soon, old-style 22 Snow travel facilitator

26 Word with an erroneous apostrophe, sometimes 29 Albania’s monetary unit 30 ___ and outs (particulars) 32 Language from which “safari” comes 33 Smurf elder 34 Vehicle on a trailer, perhaps 35 Play-___ (kids’ art medium) 37 Carbon dioxide measurer 38 When brats want something?

39 Digit 40 Louisville Slugger material 41 “Whole” thing 44 Grecian art object 45 Little bump 47 Certain service man or woman 48 Following the proper order 49 Do some thwarting 52 Chesterfield’s cousin 54 Growing out 56 Knight time 57 Dinner crumbs 58 Fiddling Roman 59 Passing crazes 60 Personal story, for short

Caved In

By Nick Kryshak nkryshak@wisc.edu

First in Twenty

By Angel Lee alee23@wisc.edu

Washington and the Bear

By Derek Sandberg kalarooka@gmail.com

Sports

thursday february 16, 2012 DailyCardinal.com

Men’s Basketball

Badgers renew rivalry with Spartans Wisconsin and Michigan State set to duke it out in East Lansing for positioning atop the Big Ten standings

By Max Sternberg The Daily Cardinal

Last week might have been the border battle, but if you are looking for two schools with a lot of recent history, look no further than Wisconsin and Michigan State.

Looking beyond the memorable battles on the gridiron last fall, the Badgers and Spartans have needed overtime to decide two of their last three meetings on the hardwood, the most recent coming back on Jan. 3 at the Kohl Center when junior forward Ryan Evans’ 3-point shot at the end of overtime was infamously wiped off the board upon video review.

While that tough defeat came during a stretch of three straight early season losses for the Badgers, the rematch is going to be played under far different circumstances.

No. 15/17 Wisconsin (8-4 Big Ten, 19-6 overall) has won eight of 10 since that loss, while Michigan State’s 58-48 defeat of Ohio State Feb. 11 has put the No. 7/8 Spartans (9-3, 20-5) in a virtual tie with the Buckeyes at the top of the Big Ten standings. However, both the Badgers and Michigan State lurk just one game back in the loss column, each controlling their own destiny over the final two and a half weeks of the regular season.

Simply put, there is plenty

on the line Thursday night at the “Its always an emphasis. We Breslin Center. don’t want teams to come down “It’s definitely a good feeling [to and get easy shots,” junior forcontrol our own destiny] but we ward Mike Bruesewitz said. “I kind of knew someone was going think we have some of the best to lose eventually,” sophotransition defense in the more guard Josh Gasser country and that’s somesaid. “We just have to take thing we work on.” it one game at a time and Led by the front line it starts Thursday with a trio of senior Draymond MSU’s points big one against Michigan Green, junior Derrick Nix per game average on State because they are and sophomore Adreian fast break right up there with us.”

Payne, the Spartans have opportuniIn order to maintain dominated both in the ties. control of that destiny, paint and on the glass this Wisconsin will have to seasn. Michigan State has shut down the Spartans’ outscored its opponents Average high-octane transition by over 13 points per number of game. Michigan State has game in the paint while points the UW defense averaged over 10 points posting a rebound margives up per per game on fast break gin of plus 10.2 per game. game on fast opportunities while add“They take a lot of breaks. ing nearly 16 points per pride in doing that,” senior game off turnovers. guard Jordan Taylor said “We’ve been playing of the Spartans’ play in really well in transition,” Gasser the paint. “We definitely want to said. “Anytime you can take away out-rebound them. We know they a couple easy transition baskets are big, but we have guys who can in games like this, where it’s usu- rebound too.” ally decided by one or two posHaving already won in hostile sessions, it’s definitely huge.” environments at Purdue, Illinois But throughout the season, and just last week at Minnesota, the the Badgers have been second Badgers are more than ready for to none on stopping the transi- whatever the “Izzone” has in store. tion game, holding opponents to “We’ve won in some tough under five points per game on road environments this year,” fast break opportunities.

Taylor noted. “We just have to

10.4

4.84

Mark Kauzlarich/cardinal file photo

Josh Gasser and the Badgers head to East Lansing for a game that will have major implications on the Big Ten standings. execute offensively and defensively and do whatever we can to get the win.”

A Badger win on Thursday night would truly shake things up in the Big Ten. With Wisconsin set to face Ohio State yet again in

just over a week’s time, the next 10 days mark just about as pivotal a stretch as any that the Badgers will face this season.

“If the juices aren’t flowing for what we’ve got coming,” head coach Bo Ryan said. “You need help.”

Women’s Basketball

Fresh off of bye week, Wisconsin faces Michigan State

By Ryan Hill The Daily Cardinal

In late January, the Wisconsin women’s basketball team (4-8 Big Ten, 8-16 overall) pulled off a string of quality conference wins against Northwestern, Minnesota and Michigan to pull itself right into the middle of the Big Ten standings.

However, a nail-biting overtime loss at home to Iowa Feb. 2 has since troubled the Badgers. The loss to the Hawkeyes started a three-game

losing streak, two of which were against ranked teams.

The team struggled with poor shooting and turnovers during parts of the losing streak and looks to reverse this trend Thursday against Michigan State (7-5, 15-10) as part of the Play 4Kay Breast Cancer Awareness Initiative in honor of former N.C. State coach Kay Yow. The Badgers are unsurprisingly embracing the week off, as the team hasn’t played since

Mark Kauzlarich/cardinal file photo

Anya Covington and the Badgers welcome Michigan State to the Kohl Center, aiming to snap a three-game losing streak.

last Thursday’s loss to No. 21 Penn State. Wisconsin head coach Bobbie Kelsey said she has stressed to her team the importance of learning from the tape, with not as much physical practicing over the break.

“We’ve been spending a lot of time watching video, just learning stuff, not necessarily team practices,” Kelsey said, while also mentioning she has given the team two days off over the course of the brief break from action.

Senior forward Anya Covington, who sat out a week because of chest pains before returning last Thursday and scoring 20 points, couldn’t agree more about the extra days off.

“It’s nice, it’s been really nice,” she said. “We’ve been getting extra shooting in the gym and just building our chemistry, which we need.”

Wisconsin has turned the ball over an average of 18.6 times during its three-game losing streak and Kelsey has credited this to below-average guard play and not switching well enough on the defensive end.

“The guard play was not good,” Kelsey said of last Thursday’s game. “It’s the same story, just certain people really need to buckle down. It’s not everybody, but we do a lot of switching, so you need to guard anybody. You have to be able to stop everyone or at least make it hard for them to get a clean look [after switching].”

Wisconsin will be required to step it up while switching on

defense Thursday, as Michigan State senior guard Porsche Poole has been unstoppable in her last five games. Poole has torn opposing Big Ten defenses apart recently, scoring 19 or more points in her last five games and averaging 25.8 points per game over the last two weeks.

“We’re just going to have to limit her touches and make it hard for her,” Kelsey said of Poole. “She’s a great player, she

does a lot for her team.”

Poole averages 13.4 points per game on the season.

As the Badgers find themselves in the home stretch Kelsey says simply playing hard these last couple of weeks will get the team where it needs to be and prepare them well enough for the upcoming Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis.

“They have to know that anything is possible,” Kelsey said. “We just continue to give it all you have.”

Six Badgers named to Team USA IIHF initial roster Two current and four former Wisconsin women’s hockey players were among the 27 players named to the U.S. Women’s National Team preliminary roster Wednesday for the 2012 International Ice Hockey Federation Women’s World Championship.

Senior forward Hilary Knight and junior forward Brianna Decker join former Badgers goalie Jessie Vetter (‘05-09), forwards Erika Lawler (‘05-09) and Meghan Duggan (‘06-11) and defenseman Molly Engstrom (‘01-05) among the group of players vying for roster spots to help Team USA defend its world title.

The players will take part in a training camp in Lake Placid, N.Y. from March 25-April 3, with the final roster cutdown to 21 players coming April 3. Team USA will then

Mark KAuzlarich/cardinal file photo

Hilary Knight is one of 27 players hoping to compete for Team USA. play two exhibition matches before the IIHF Women’s World Championship tournament takes place in Burlington, Vt. from April 7-14.

All six Badgers on the preliminary roster have previous experience playing for Team USA on the international stage.

By Ryan Evans / The Daily Cardinal