February 5, 2015

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The University of Maryland’s Independent Student Newspaper

T H U R S DAY, F E B R UA R Y 5 , 2 015

Hogan details reform plans in first State of State Governor announces better business climate, economic competition will be a high priority By Jon Banister @J_Banister Senior staff writer Gov. Larry Hogan gave his first State of the State address Wednesday afternoon, revealing the specifics of his plans to reduce taxes and introduce reforms. The new Republican governor said

his administration’s priority will be to improve the state’s business climate and economic competitiveness. “Maryland’s anti-business attitude, combined with our onerous tax and regulatory policies, have rendered our state unable to compete with any of the states in our region,” Hogan said. “It’s the reason that businesses, jobs and taxpayers have been fleeing our state

at an alarming rate.” While Hogan echoed the themes of reining in spending and cutting taxes that got him elected, he laid out his specific plans to reduce taxes for the first time. He said he would introduce legislation to repeal the “rain tax,” a fee on stormwater runoff former Gov. Martin O’Malley signed into law to protect the Chesapeake Bay from pollutants. See state, Page 3 Gov. Larry Hogan gives his first State of the State address yesterday. phot0 courtesy of the office of the governor

SGA votes to condemn DBK dept of advertising Legislature unanimously approves bill asking for apology for FLAME ads By Taylor Swaak @tswaak27 Staff writer

Julia, the cooking robot, stirs a mixing bowl of tomatoes while preparing a salad in the A.V. Williams Building. Julia can also prepare a cup of coffee and serve drinks.

josh loock/the diamondback

cooking with science University robot learns to cook using library of instructional YouTube videos By Joe Zimmermann @JoeMacZim Senior staff writer For a time, the lab looked like the set of a cooking show from the future. At the center was Julia, standing behind a table stocked with uten-

sils and ingredients. An audience gathered around in a semicircle to see her prepare her next dish. Julia might seem like a celebrity chef, but she has hulking scarlet arms and is made of metal and plastic. Julia is an industrial robot. “I am looking for the toma-

toes,” Julia, a Baxter robot built by Rethink Robotics, said in her Siri-esque voice, like a very thorough Cooking Channel host who announces even the smallest details to the audience. Julia, named after the famous chef Julia Child, then grasped a plastic container of tomatoes, lifted it over

See SGA, Page 3

the salad bowl and dumped in the contents. For this demonstration, Julia made a fairly minimalist salad — simply tomatoes stirred in the bowl — and she only mimed pouring the dressing so the bowl wouldn’t need cleaning afterward. See chef, Page 2

Student receives Good Samaritan help on college loans When financial trouble hit, stranger helped Josh Deese return to school By Lexie Schapitl @lexieschapitl Staff writer A fter w ithd raw ing from th is university in May for financial reasons, sophomore Josh Deese was able to return to school this semester thanks to a stranger’s help. As an out-of-state student from Florida, Deese, a government and politics major, relied heavily on student loans from Sallie Mae to fund his education. His uncle originally co-signed the loans, but then experienced financial problems that made him ineligible to co-sign. No one else in Deese’s family was able to co-sign his loans at the time, so Deese withdrew from school. “I was stuck with the burden of having to pay for school myself,”

met and talked for hours before Schwei agreed to cosign his loans. “I read that article, and it just sounded like [Josh] had a lot of potential,” said Schwei, an information technology project manager from Baltimore. “It just sounded like he could use some help, and I was in a position to do that.” Deese returned to school after a semester. Though he had experience in politics — he previously interned for U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack (D-Iowa) and volunteered for the Florida Democratic Party Josh Deese, a sophomore government and politics major, poses in Knight Hall. After financial trouble, he was able and Obama For America — he to return to the university this semester when a stranger offered to co-sign his loans. josh loock/the diamondback struggled to find a job without a said Deese, 21. “Forty-four grand a Friends of Lesbians and Gays — in degree, so he worked full time at year isn’t something that someone November. Baltimore OUTloud, an FedEx as an assistant manager. “It’s sobering — it’s a huge without a college education can LGBT news outlet, wrote about the do, so it was quite tough for me.” event and detailed Deese’s story, wake-up call,” Deese said. “And W hile not enrolled in school, although he didn’t expect much seeing all my friends passing me and getting closer to their Deese, who is gay and an LGBTQ to come of it. But Steve Schwei, a reader, saw degrees just made me want to go activist, spoke at a meeting for H o w a r d C o u n t y ’s c h a p t e r o f Deese’s story and wanted to help. PFLAG — Parents, Families and He reached out to him, and the two See DEESE, Page 3

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The SGA unanimously passed a resolution Wednesday condemning The Diamondback’s advertising department for publishing advertisements the governing body deems harmful to students at this university. The final vote was 20-0 in favor, with no abstentions. T he resolut ion focu ses specifically on advertisements from FLAME — Facts & Logic About the Middle East — an interest group that “perpetrates Islamophobia and anti-Arab sentiment,” according to the Student Government Association resolution.

Study finds code as unique as handwriting Naming style, structure can identify author By Joe Zimmermann @JoeMacZim Senior staff writer Though computer code might seem less unique than handwriting, researchers have shown that programmers each have their own style, so much so that a code’s author can be recognized just by the code he or she writes. A study from Drexel University, co-authored by a student at this university, analyzed the code of 250 programmers and found code could be matched to its author with high accuracy based on inline variations such as naming style and deep structural differences. The researchers used publicly accessible code from the 2014 Google Code Jam for analysis. They looked specifically at code in the C++ language, and they had about 650 lines from each author. They then examined surface-level features as well as more structural qualities, such See PROGRAM, Page 2

SPORTS

OPINION

SENIORS LEAD TERPS PAST PSU

STAFF EDITORIAL: Budget cuts and development

Guard Dez Wells scored 23 points and forward Jon Graham added 16 in the Terps’ win over Penn State last night P. 8

Students should be aware of construction plan changes P. 4 DIVERSIONS

Becoming yourself on screen Is it ethical to make a biopic against a family’s wishes? P. 6


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February 5, 2015 by The Diamondback - Issuu