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(07/08/04 4:00am)
There are two things that a majority of film critics have failed to acknowledge about "Fahrenheit 9/11." One: that no work of art exists in a vacuum. Two: that a documentary is not a panoramic view of fact. Loyalists to Michael Moore's cause, and rebels against it, both hide behind the very form of film in order to promote political convictions. But this fault is trapped in the impossibility of viewing "Fahrenheit" simply as a film in its initial release.\n The critical reaction to "Fahrenheit" has pussyfooted around the idea that the film is primarily aimed at a political audience that is willing to accept Moore's ideas without question. Moviegoers pretty much know whether or not they'll like the film before they even walk in the theater. Is that a fault? No, it's politics. Rush Limbaugh has his ditto-heads, and Moore has his. In such a politically polarized time, the film's intended goal of information and entertainment has been sidelined, and has become a source of ideological reinforcement.\n The movie's biggest critical supporters use the film to show their political agenda while simultaneously trying to mask themselves behind a veil of critic-speak, selling the movie simply as "a brilliant film." Only a handful acknowledge their own personal politics influencing their decision as Roger Ebert does in his review: "opinions are my stock in trade, and is it not more honest to declare my politics than to conceal them?" The movie's biggest critical enemies claim the film is not a documentary, rather propaganda or fiction; that Michael Moore unfairly takes one side, strings together unrelated facts and uses the piece to promote an agenda.\n Every film carries with it the cultural beliefs of those who make it, and those who view it can reject or accept its philosophical conclusions. To deny that, is to define the art of filmmaking as a simple, technical exercise. The very beauty of film's form comes from its ability to blend image, sound and idea into a tangible creation that elicits intangible reaction.\n The truth is that documentaries and traditional fictitious narrative films are not as far away from each other as we'd like to believe. They both have character and story arcs, beginnings, ends and most importantly, they are both controlled by purpose.\n "The Shawshank Redemption" doesn't attempt to explore the warden's reasons to keep Andy Dufresne in jail when he knows he is innocent. Why should it? It has no business with the antagonist, because that's not its purpose. Likewise, Moore has no reasons to side with Bush because he has no desire to. Moore's dogmatic documentaries are unfairly lumped together with the public's generic idea that documentaries are only nature shows and the History Channel retrospectives, a tragic by-product of perceived generic constraint that serves to overlook the fact that, by Moore's own admission, "Fahrenheit" is an op-ed piece.\n The filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard said, "The cinema is truth at 24 frames a second, and every cut is a lie." Just like a narrative film, a documentary chooses what is and what isn't shown in order to reach its own climax, which sometimes is not an event, but a conclusion. Moore's linking of seemingly unrelated facts is not a gimmick or a lie; it is the basis of editorializing. It is not the aforementioned panoramic view of fact, rather a strategically placed window of perception. He cannot be faulted for the conclusions his film lends to his absolute ideology, but he can be faulted for his views that lead to it.\n Anyone crafting an editorial response has one responsibility: to engage the facts; to take what they know and what they believe and synthesize them into a forward idea. There are those who will question the integrity of the editorialist, and there are those will praise him.\n Regardless, both bring a lifetime of political and social upbringing to the table that creates a formula for successful persuasion. Along with other Moore supporters, I cannot deny that I believe "Fahrenheit" to be an amazing expression of craft. Like "Triumph of the Will," I want to believe that it is a documentary whose formal elements are undeniably precise and can exist independently from its principles.\nBut I can't.\n My views and emotions are so far invested in Moore's journey that I cannot distance myself from his destination. But the other side is invested in this just as well … so much so that neither of us flinch at a moment of conflict. Moore's supporters and detractors cannot hide behind the very form of film in order to coyly push their agenda. It's impossible. Moore's opponents see the film as propaganda, and they're right. It is. But as one who sides with Moore, I have no problem with that, which further proves their point.\n "Fahrenheit," like "The Passion of the Christ" or "JFK," is a film hindered by the slow passage of time. Any film shrouded in political controversy cannot elicit a pure reaction upon initial release, because it sadly carries with it the weight of society's dependence on arguing its purpose. To judge "Fahrenheit 9/11" as simply a film can only come with time, when its agenda and hype cools. It could take four, eight or even 12 years … maybe more. Then and only then, will it be "just a movie."\nAnd to think … all of this from the guy who made "Canadian Bacon"
(07/08/04 2:27am)
There are two things that a majority of film critics have failed to acknowledge about "Fahrenheit 9/11." One: that no work of art exists in a vacuum. Two: that a documentary is not a panoramic view of fact. Loyalists to Michael Moore's cause, and rebels against it, both hide behind the very form of film in order to promote political convictions. But this fault is trapped in the impossibility of viewing "Fahrenheit" simply as a film in its initial release.\n The critical reaction to "Fahrenheit" has pussyfooted around the idea that the film is primarily aimed at a political audience that is willing to accept Moore's ideas without question. Moviegoers pretty much know whether or not they'll like the film before they even walk in the theater. Is that a fault? No, it's politics. Rush Limbaugh has his ditto-heads, and Moore has his. In such a politically polarized time, the film's intended goal of information and entertainment has been sidelined, and has become a source of ideological reinforcement.\n The movie's biggest critical supporters use the film to show their political agenda while simultaneously trying to mask themselves behind a veil of critic-speak, selling the movie simply as "a brilliant film." Only a handful acknowledge their own personal politics influencing their decision as Roger Ebert does in his review: "opinions are my stock in trade, and is it not more honest to declare my politics than to conceal them?" The movie's biggest critical enemies claim the film is not a documentary, rather propaganda or fiction; that Michael Moore unfairly takes one side, strings together unrelated facts and uses the piece to promote an agenda.\n Every film carries with it the cultural beliefs of those who make it, and those who view it can reject or accept its philosophical conclusions. To deny that, is to define the art of filmmaking as a simple, technical exercise. The very beauty of film's form comes from its ability to blend image, sound and idea into a tangible creation that elicits intangible reaction.\n The truth is that documentaries and traditional fictitious narrative films are not as far away from each other as we'd like to believe. They both have character and story arcs, beginnings, ends and most importantly, they are both controlled by purpose.\n "The Shawshank Redemption" doesn't attempt to explore the warden's reasons to keep Andy Dufresne in jail when he knows he is innocent. Why should it? It has no business with the antagonist, because that's not its purpose. Likewise, Moore has no reasons to side with Bush because he has no desire to. Moore's dogmatic documentaries are unfairly lumped together with the public's generic idea that documentaries are only nature shows and the History Channel retrospectives, a tragic by-product of perceived generic constraint that serves to overlook the fact that, by Moore's own admission, "Fahrenheit" is an op-ed piece.\n The filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard said, "The cinema is truth at 24 frames a second, and every cut is a lie." Just like a narrative film, a documentary chooses what is and what isn't shown in order to reach its own climax, which sometimes is not an event, but a conclusion. Moore's linking of seemingly unrelated facts is not a gimmick or a lie; it is the basis of editorializing. It is not the aforementioned panoramic view of fact, rather a strategically placed window of perception. He cannot be faulted for the conclusions his film lends to his absolute ideology, but he can be faulted for his views that lead to it.\n Anyone crafting an editorial response has one responsibility: to engage the facts; to take what they know and what they believe and synthesize them into a forward idea. There are those who will question the integrity of the editorialist, and there are those will praise him.\n Regardless, both bring a lifetime of political and social upbringing to the table that creates a formula for successful persuasion. Along with other Moore supporters, I cannot deny that I believe "Fahrenheit" to be an amazing expression of craft. Like "Triumph of the Will," I want to believe that it is a documentary whose formal elements are undeniably precise and can exist independently from its principles.\nBut I can't.\n My views and emotions are so far invested in Moore's journey that I cannot distance myself from his destination. But the other side is invested in this just as well … so much so that neither of us flinch at a moment of conflict. Moore's supporters and detractors cannot hide behind the very form of film in order to coyly push their agenda. It's impossible. Moore's opponents see the film as propaganda, and they're right. It is. But as one who sides with Moore, I have no problem with that, which further proves their point.\n "Fahrenheit," like "The Passion of the Christ" or "JFK," is a film hindered by the slow passage of time. Any film shrouded in political controversy cannot elicit a pure reaction upon initial release, because it sadly carries with it the weight of society's dependence on arguing its purpose. To judge "Fahrenheit 9/11" as simply a film can only come with time, when its agenda and hype cools. It could take four, eight or even 12 years … maybe more. Then and only then, will it be "just a movie."\nAnd to think … all of this from the guy who made "Canadian Bacon"
(04/28/04 4:30am)
I'll remember spending my first night in Forest-B11 sleeping on top of my covers, watching a kid down an entire fifth of 151 at my first college party, jumping in the air after being cast in "Boy In the Bubble," dancing to the Chili Peppers' "Airplane" and kissing on the grassy hill at Ninth and Fess, running down Fee Lane and ending up at President Brand's house to watch effigies burned in front of the riot police, standing in Dunn Meadow to watch Bob Knight tearfully wave goodbye, being wowed by Dr. Fred McElroy in my African-American literature class, watching my roommate come home drunk, pour beer on my TV and wrestle the other Phil across the hall, getting trashed and screaming the lyrics to AC\DC's "Thunderstruck" during the almost-weekly "Forest Fiestas," coming home at 3 a.m. and watching the snow fall from my 11th-floor window, spending spring break in Daytona, "Sandstorm" and becoming desensitized to the sight of breasts, hearing O.A.R. and Shaggy every day of freshman year, seeing U2, Coldplay, Oasis and Radiohead all in one summer …\nI'll remember getting high for the first time, watching "101 Dalmatians" and eating a block of cheese, dressing up as the Beastie Boys from the "Sabotage" video for Halloween, walking around campus Sept. 11 in total awe, my first relationship (at 20!), going on a spring break cruise, smoking Cuban cigars, frequenting nude beaches and hearing the worst\best\most bizarre pick-up line ever ("show me some pink"), listening to Andy Hollinden talk about music in rock class, the Chicago Bears' best season since '85, sitting in a living room on Jefferson with 30 people watching the IU basketball team upset Duke, A.J. Moye, running to Kirkwood after making it to the National Championship to see people hanging from streetlights …\nI'll remember celebrating my 21st birthday at Sports, dancing to a band playing a roaring version of "Let's Get It On," and experiencing the Vid and its now extinct bathroom graffiti ("Sting cannot possibly be the same guy from the police!"), any class with Professor Robert Terrill, asking a girl out after finding her school ID (and succeeding … lasted four months, actually), partying at the Villas, driving to Purdue to party with my friends from home at Sigma Chi and B9, getting an A for my movie about urine for Jon Kraszewski's production as criticism class, spending St. Patrick's Day at an Irish bar in Boston, talking to an Irish guy named Dennis about music and life for the whole night, drinking scorpion bowls at a Chinese restaurant at 1 a.m., sitting in total darkness in Glen Gass' Beatles class and listening to a "Day in the Life"…\nI'll remember throwing my first house party, getting on top of the bar and leading everyone in a scream-along of DJ Kool's "Let Me Clear My Throat," throwing a schoolgirls/schoolboys party, dressing up as Optimus Prime for a Ninjas/Pirates/Robots party, "Hey Ya!," "Summer of '69," JP making me a better writer, Matt making me a better comedian, St. Patrick's Day in Costa Maya, human sexuality class, the Cubs coming so close, realizing I talk to the police really well, my neighbors banging pots and pans at 4 a.m., "I love you" on my roof…\nI'll remember the fall in Bloomington, that feeling of being back and free, the student section at IU basketball games, being on stage and making a room full of people laugh so hard they cry, Tom from TD's CDs and LPs, pointlessly arguing about movies and music, the people I met at parties and never saw again …\nI'll remember not having enough time …\nI'll remember leaving not knowing where I'm going -- only knowing where I've been … the place that brought me four years closer to discovering who I really am.
(04/23/04 6:17am)
For the Indiana Public Interest Research Group, Thursday's rain may have affected the turn out for the Earth Day celebration in Dunn Meadow. But the rain did not dampen the spirits of many INPIRG volunteers, who continued to celebrate the event while educating passers-by about this year's list of environmental issues. \nWorking out of INPIRG's fourth floor office in the Indiana Memorial Union, seniors Melanie Thomas and Jen Foster finished last-minute posters using the natural sunlight beaming through the office windows. \n"We've been planning this for a month-and-a-half," Thomas said. \nAfter a series of tabling sessions and volunteer recruitment, Thomas and Foster hauled a month's worth of decorations out to a damp Dunn Meadow. Bright letters of acrylic paint read: "In case you're wondering, we are not hypocrites. Our signs are made out of re-used materials."\nThe Forest Alliances and Student Environment Action Coalition paraded from the Monroe County Courthouse to Dunn Meadow at about 11 a.m. to kick off the event. \n"That was really kind of the success of the day," said Kate Mobley, entertainment coordinator and junior INPIRG volunteer.\nMobley said because of the rain, the Earth Day celebration faced problems with attendance and scheduled sponsors. Junior INPIRG volunteer Ben James said sponsors like the Sahara Mart left early due to lack of attendees.\n"Our sound guy pulled out, too," said Lauren Fischer, senior coordinator and INPIRG volunteer. \nScheduled bands like the Undefeatable Beats also reneged. \n"I've been calling all my friends who play acoustic instruments to come out and play," Fischer said.\nDespite the change in plans, senior Sarah Graub serenaded onlookers spread out on blankets with melodic tunes from her acoustic guitar, singing: "Live our dream/ Our future's not in electricity." \nVolunteer Mike Englert also successfully led a group of five students in a tree-planting campaign around Bloomington's Sycamore Land Trust. Together, the students managed to plant about 40 new trees. \n"This is the 34th anniversary of a national holiday," Fischer said. \nThough INPIRG has always promoted Earth Day, she said this is the first year they have sponsored an event. Fischer said she hopes this will be the beginning of an annual celebration. \n"There's lots of things happening right now," Thomas said. \nThis year's environmental issues have included mercury poisoning in Indiana waters and the controversial construction of the I-69 Interstate highway. Concerning campus issues, Thomas referenced INPIRG's year-long campaign to enforce double-sided printing in campus computer labs. \nThe turnout also included graduate students from the School of Public and Environmental Affairs. Graduate students Blake Weathers, Taylor Aldridge and Wendy Freeman came in hopes of setting up a table for SPEA, but the rain was too heavy.\nGraub ended her live performance in ode to the downpour, asking people not to be discouraged by the gloomy weather. \n"Thanks so much, and thanks to the rain," she said. "Remember, it's what makes the world grow."\n-- Contact staff writer Amber Kerezman at akerezma@indiana.edu.
(04/22/04 4:36am)
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- A suicide bomber attacked a security police building in the Saudi capital Wednesday, killing at least four other people and wounding 148, just days after the United States warned of a terrorist attack.\nFacades were torn off buildings revealing rooms still ablaze. Cars parked nearby were smashed by debris. Clouds of dust and black smoke rose from the seven-story building and settled over the neighborhood.\nA U.S. counterterrorism official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the attack had the hallmarks of al Qaeda. Osama bin Laden's terror group has used car bombs to carry out previous attacks in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.\nA Saudi Interior Ministry statement said attackers tried to drive one vehicle into the General Security building, which housed the headquarters of Riyadh's traffic department in addition to some security police officials.\nThe driver exploded the car 100 feet from the gate, the Interior Ministry official said.\nThe Interior Ministry put the death toll at four: two police officers, an adult and an 11-year-old Syrian girl. The ministry statement did not include the suicide bomber, whose death was reported to The Associated Press by a security official.\nEarlier, officials from the three hospitals said nine people were killed.\nThe ministry statement said 148 people were wounded, according to the official Saudi Press Agency.\nA Saudi official told The Associated Press Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage met with Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal about 30 minutes after the attack. The meeting was at the Foreign Ministry, which is close to the damaged General Security building in al-Nassiriyah, a central Riyadh neighborhood.\nSaudi Crown Prince Abdullah visited the wounded, one of them a young man who was unconscious and on a respirator. The prince stopped at the bedside of another young man who appeared alert and had no obvious injuries. A third wounded man wore camouflage.\n"Your duty is our pride. God will help us to defeat these people," Abdullah told one of the injured.\nThe General Security building, the administrative headquarters of the Saudi domestic security service, was severely damaged as were a number of homes in the neighborhood.\nGeneral Security oversees officers who investigate burglaries and murders, direct traffic and perform other basic police duties in the kingdom. Such officers have been on the front lines in a Saudi crackdown on Islamic militants, manning checkpoints as part of stepped-up security and occasionally engaging in fire fights with suspects.\nLast month, a purported al Qaeda message appeared on the Internet threatening Saudi police, members of the intelligence forces and other security agents. The message said targeting Saudi security agents "in their homes or workplace is a very easy matter."\nThe explosion, which occurred at about 2 p.m., hit when workers would have been leaving for the Saudi weekend.\nSaudi TV showed the General Security building, about seven floors, with its glass facade shattered and severe damage inside. Firefighters worked to extinguish the blazes, and more than 20 ambulances had arrived. Two helicopters flew above the site. Police blocked the area and evacuated the surrounding buildings.\nHanan Batteesha, an Egyptian woman, was with her two children, ages 11 and 14, when she heard a "big blast."\n"We heard wails and cries, then saw our neighbors running down the stairs," she said.\nBy the time they reached the ground floor, "the gate was damaged, windows started shattering and glass fell all over us," she said. "The fronts of the buildings around us were damaged, the air conditioners mangled and there was smoke everywhere."\nThe blast was heard and felt more than three miles away.\nIn an interview with the Saudi TV station Al-Ekhbaria, a leading Saudi cleric called the bombing "a dastardly criminal act."\n"How can they make these dastardly acts bring them closer to God?" Sheik Abdullah Al-Mutlaq said, apparently alluding to Islamic militants who are blamed for terrorist strikes in the kingdom.\nThe explosion came only days after Saudi authorities announced they had seized three booby-trapped SUVs loaded with a total of more than four tons of explosives that had apparently been abandoned by militants involved in a shootout with security forces.
(04/20/04 2:31am)
A man jumped off the eighth floor of Ballantine Hall Monday around 11:40 a.m.\nIU Police Department Lt. Jerry Minger said the man is still alive. Minger said, although he could not confirm, that the man is a student, though he may not be enlisted in classes this semester. \nAn IUPD Officer at the scene said he thought the man broke a glass window with a chair and jumped off, landing on the awning above the front entrance to the building. \nCheck back at www.idsnews.com for updates or see tomorrow's paper.
(04/16/04 5:16am)
The United Presbyterian Church will look like a nursery center Saturday as students and community members are encouraged to "shower" the location with diapers, baby formula, pacifiers, toys and other essential baby items.\nCircle K, an IU community service club with the mission to serve Bloomington through various programs and activities, will host the "community baby shower" from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the United Presbyterian Church, 1701 E. Second St. The baby items will eventually be given to Healthy Families, a national organization that provides support for parents.\nCircle K is a club found at 14 college campuses in Indiana. At IU, the 30 student members hold weekly meetings at 8 p.m. Tuesday nights in the Psychology Building. \n"Circle K provides the opportunity to get to know the community of Bloomington," said sophomore Elizabeth Ralph, vice president of IU's Circle K. "I know so much about this town because I've been out serving in the community."\nMembers pay $32 in dues each year, though students are not required to pay the dues to participate in the service activities. Nine students serve on the club board, which organizes projects ranging from food and clothing drives to a talent show at a local nursing home.\n"It's especially great for freshman to get out off campus and do something besides stare out their dorm room window," Ralph said. "Circle K has really helped me to make Bloomington my second home."\nSaturday's community baby shower is part of a series of projects this year called "Protecting Our Future, The Children of Indiana," created by Indiana Circle K Governor, senior Melissa Schmidt. Delegates from each Circle K chapter in the state elected Schmidt to the position of governor last spring. Her term of service ended March 31.\n"For the community baby shower to be a success in my book, it will raise awareness of Healthy Families' mission and leave the agency with additional resources with which to provide families," Schmidt said.\nOther Circle K chapters, including Ball State, Butler and the University of Indianapolis, have held community baby showers to benefit various shelters and organizations in their own communities. \n"This event is important because it helps us be able to give out resources to the families we serve. It's especially nice that the donated items will be new," said Vicky Sorensen, program manager at Monroe County's Healthy Families. "It's thrilling for a parent to get a new outfit for their child." \nHealthy Families provides free services to families that are expecting a child, ranging from providing the families with information, connecting them to needed resources and support, teaching them positive parenting skills or providing developmental screening for their children. Any family, regardless of income, wishing to partake of these resources is free to do so until their child reaches the age of five.\nIndiana is one of just a few states with a Healthy Families site in each county. In Monroe County, Healthy Families' 15 staff members currently serve 134 families.\n"We're looking forward to the shower on Saturday," Sorensen said. "We'll be happy with whatever turnout we get."\n-- Contact staff writer Jennifer Gunnels at jgunnels@indiana.edu.
(04/07/04 12:53am)
Be it the croak of a frog or the twill of a toad, it's hard to drive anywhere with the car windows down nowadays without hearing the call of some amphibious creature.\nBloomington Parks and Recreation is sponsoring "Frogs and Dogs," a nature program offering participants a chance to identify frogs by sound and sight as well as try to catch some on their own April 16 and 17.\n"But best of all," said naturalist instructor Skitz Evrard, who is leading the program for the second year in a row, "we're going to roast hotdogs over an open fire and have a treat a frog would love for dessert."\nEvrard has many activities planned so far to help participants learn about frogs and get to know what's going on in the world around them. She plans to bring 35 mm picture slides and recordings of frog sounds. She also plans to bring live frogs and toads as well as their eggs. There will be an exploration time when participants will use the nets provided to try to catch frogs in the stream at Lower Cascades Park. \nEvrard said during this time of year, frogs are really concentrated around wetlands for their mating season. They need to lay their eggs before the pools of spring rain dry up.\n"It's spring fever for amphibians right now," she said.\nIn Indiana, about six to seven species of frogs call and two species of toads call, Evrard said. "Calling" is the name for the noises they produce from a vocal sac under their mouth that acts as a huge chamber for acoustics.\n"You can hear it for up to a mile," Evrard said.\nShe said male frogs call for four reasons: to establish territory, to attract females for mating, to warn others or free themselves from predators or to let other frogs know they don't want to mate with them. \nVicky Meretsky, an associate professor of conservation biology at IU, is currently working with students who are monitoring frog populations at two nearby wetland areas. She said bullfrogs, leopard frogs and spring peepers are the most common types of frogs in Indiana. Most breed between late March and June, she said, so during that time, there is always some kind of frogs calling. The sounds have many connotations for different people.\n"Spring peepers are the sound of spring for many people. The evening choruses of thousands of them together sound a bit like distant silvery bells," she said. "Bullfrogs are the sound of approaching summer." \nFrogs can also be useful to humans because they provide an early warning system for environmental damage. Meretsky said due to their life history, a frog spends part of its life in the water, as an egg and tadpole, and part of its life on land. Since their skin readily absorbs chemicals, if chemicals are building up on land or in the water, they are among the first to be affected. \nBecky Barrick, the parks and recreation community events manager, said the purpose of the program is to provide both education and recreation and give participants a chance to have fun outdoors. \n"It's also a good chance to experience one of the parks in the Bloomington park system that people may never have been to before," she said. \n"Frogs and Dogs" is part of a larger series of programs called "Great Outdoors," which holds two outdoor programs a month. The next program, scheduled for April 25, is "Spring Poppers," all about wildflowers. Summer programs include night hikes, fishing programs and woods survival. \nThis year, "Frogs and Dogs" is back by popular demand. \n"We get a lot of input from residents to see what programs they want to see," Barrick said.\n"Frogs and Dogs" is being held at the north shelter in Lower Cascades Park from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. April 16 and from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. April 17. The cost of the program is $5 and pre-registration is required by April 12. \n-- Contact staff writer Hannah Schroeder at schrode@indiana.edu.
(03/29/04 6:09am)
Georgia Tech 79, Kansas 71, OT\nST. LOUIS -- When the final buzzer sounded, the entire Georgia Tech team rushed together to pile into a group hug on the floor.\nHow fitting.\nWith top-scorer B.J. Elder hobbled by a badly sprained ankle, someone else had to step up. Jarrett Jack and the rest of the Yellow Jackets did better than that, beating Kansas 79-71 in overtime Sunday to advance to their first Final Four since 1990.\n"A lot was on the line," said Jack, who scored eight of his career-high 29 points in overtime. "B.J. being out, we all knew we had to step up. I just really got it going and kept attacking until the game was over."\nNo team had more tight games on its road to the Final Four than the third-seeded Yellow Jackets. Their first three games in the St. Louis Regional were decided by a total of 13 points.\nBut Georgia Tech (27-9) has been unflappable all season, beating Connecticut when the Huskies were ranked No. 1 and winning at Duke and Wake Forest. So facing the favored Jayhawks, even without Elder, was no big deal. Even when the game went to overtime.\nAfter little Will Bynum hit a big three-pointer to break a 71-all tie, Jack went 4 for 4 from the line in the last 47 seconds to seal the win.\nJack finished 8 of 12 from the floor, and had nine rebounds and six assists. Luke Schenscher added 15 points, and Clarence Moore matched his season high with 14 for the Yellow Jackets.\nAs the final seconds ticked off the clock, coach Paul Hewitt threw his hands in the air in triumph and a wide grin spread across his face. The Yellow Jackets poured onto the court and into a pile when the buzzer sounded. Elder's teammates tried to lift him up, but they couldn't get him off the ground as the impromptu mosh pit bopped around.\nThe Yellow Jackets will now face second-seeded Oklahoma State Saturday in San Antonio.\n"A lot of basketball teams across the country are close on the court, but off the court, they go their separate ways," said Isma'il Muhammad, who took the charge in overtime that gave Keith Langford has fifth foul. "This team, we all stick together and do things together.\n"We're very close on the court and off the court, and I think that contributes to our success."\nFourth-seeded Kansas (24-9) could do little but watch the Georgia Tech lovefest with disappointment, denied a third straight trip to the Final Four.\nBut these Jayhawks didn't play like a Final Four team. They shot 40 percent from the floor and turned the ball over 15 times. Wayne Simien, who'd been averaging 20 points in the tournament, was held to 11 on 4 of 14 shooting. Langford scored 15 on 4 of 11.\nIt was the Jayhawks' first loss in a regional final since March 26, 1996, when they lost to Syracuse.\n"It's disappointing, but that's how it is," Langford said. "We knew they don't automatically put you in there. We'll go back, take care of our wounds and get ready for next year."\nThough Georgia Tech was seeded one spot better, it came into the game as an underdog. The Jayhawks had the experience and the momentum, having won their first three tournament games by 22 points.\nThey even had a domeful of fans, playing just five hours away from their campus in Lawrence, Kan.\nAs if that wasn't enough, the Yellow Jackets were playing with a gimpy Elder. Elder, who averaged a team-high 15.8 points, severely sprained an ankle in Friday night's regional.\nHe started but was limping and couldn't run close to full speed.\n"I felt in warmups that I wouldn't be able to go very long," said Elder, who played only 12 minutes and had one assist. "I did what I could. I made a couple of passes. I got a couple of rebounds. I just had to leave it up to the other guys."\nAnd they got it done.\nThe Yellow Jackets had their way with the Jayhawks early, smothering them defensively and holding Simien and Langford to a combined four points on 0 for 10 shooting. The Yellow Jackets led by as much as 11 in the first half and were up 40-33 with 16:39 left in regulation.\n"They really came with the doubles really quick most of the night," Simien said. "I felt good. It just wasn't falling for me."\nBut Simien and Langford finally broke loose, and Kansas came roaring back.\nLangford scored on a driving layup -- his first field goal of the day -- and Simien ran off five quick points to give Kansas a 43-42 lead, its first, with 13:04 to play. The pro-Kansas crowd went wild, and the Jayhawks' bench sprinted onto the floor when a timeout was called seconds later.\nJack was fouled by Aaron Miles with 39 seconds left, and he made the front end of a one-and-one to put the Yellow Jackets up 66-63. But he missed the second, and Simien grabbed the rebound.\nSimien missed a short hook at the other end, but Jeff Graves came up with the ball in the scramble and kicked it out to freshman J.R. Giddens, who calmly drilled a three-pointer to tie the game at 66 with 16 seconds left.\nThe Yellow Jackets had a chance to win it in regulation, but Lewis missed a layup and Bynum couldn't get the tip to fall.\n"We had momentum," Miles said. "It was like we had a little breath of fresh air. We had second life."\nIt didn't last. After Michael Lee scored on a layup to tie the game at 71, Bynum put Georgia Tech ahead for good by drilling a three-pointer.\nNow Georgia Tech is on its way to San Antonio, where Bynum will match up with high school teammate Tony Allen of Oklahoma State.\n"I take my hat off to Georgia Tech," Miles said. "Jarrett Jack made a lot of plays for them. Every time they needed something, boom! He was there for them."
(03/05/04 5:57am)
A gold-spotted black stin-gray lazily ripples across a stack of algae-covered rocks to 36-year-old Tom Meador's food-laden fist, which looks small, pink and vulnerable poised in the water as the ray glides closer and envelopes it. It hovers there only a moment as Meador strokes the 28-inch ray's underside and then glides away as he laughs.\n"She's not really interested in this food," he says, tossing the brown pellet food to the other fish in the small pond. "She'd rather have some frozen fish or shrimp." \nMeador shakes the water off his fist and seals up his bag of fish food, glancing around at his other pets. Rather than cats or dogs, gold-flecked piranhas leer out at him, tiny rainbow-colored tetras dart past and an African sultana turtle lurks under a dark deck hidden beneath strands of green vines, a 15-foot palm tree and several orchids. \nThese pets and plants live in a room that is half jungle and half underwater adventure. The room serves as the showplace for Meador's mail-order fish business, Rainforest Farms International, of which he is the founder, manager and sole employee. It's also his basement, but hardly the sort of basement that's typically found in southern Indiana.\nRather than a dark, damp storage place, this basement teems with light and life. An 18-by-11-foot pond with bright blue tile and a gentle waterfall occupies the front corner of the room, and a smaller eight-by-eight-foot pond is fitted in the back. Several 150-gallon fish tanks line the walls, one holding seven piranhas and a school of gold tetras, another holding striped Brazilian angelfish -- the largest type of angelfish in the world. Amid the tropical plants surrounding the tanks and\nponds, Meador keeps about a dozen geckos (his house cats ate the 40 he used to keep) as well as tiny red-eyed tree frogs.\n"It's neat to be here at night because you can hear the frogs calling when it gets dark," says Meador.\nThis bright showroom is fully Meador's creation, work and world. He pays close attention to any of the drama going on inside his tanks and ponds -- if two fish are breeding, he knows, or if a fish is getting sick, he knows why and how to help it. He talks to his favorites in a low murmur and points out their unique colors and personality traits. And in the summer, when the water temperature in his larger pond is around 84 degrees, he jumps in and snorkels with his three stingrays in their 5,000-gallon home.\nThe upstairs of Meador's house completely obscures the vivacious world below. The house is a few blocks outside of downtown Bloomington in the midst of a mainly student area, and no signs of Meador's work are visible from the outside. A calculator, well-used notebook and several phones pushed into a pile on Meador's dining room table give off a slight aura of business. And only a few telltale details betray Meador's fish passion, such as a faded breeder sticker on his front window, an empty fish tank pushed into the corner of his brick porch and various fish statues, posters and rugs scattered casually throughout the house. \nMeador's backyard is similar -- nothing but a few empty tanks give any indication of his work. But stepping into Meador's white "garage" is a different story, as the occupants aren't cars. Instead, the garage holds the majority of Meador's 220 fish tanks (50 55-gallon, 110 29-gallon, 40 15-gallon, one 120-gallon, 12 125-gallom, four 150-gallon and three 75-gallon tanks). This is Meador's discus hatchery, the main money-maker of Rainforest Farms, Intl. \nDiscus are rounded, tropical fish that grow up to four inches and are usually spotted, striped or solid in a wide array of bright colors. Meador's hatchery boasts around 100 breeding pairs at the moment, 64 of which he keeps in 32 tanks against one wall of the hatchery fondly referred to as "Motel 6." Inside their fish motels, breeding pairs drift around the tank, sometimes spawning tiny black eggs on the red bricks placed inside the tank. The entire hatchery is a discus paradise: the temperature is kept in the mid-to-high 80s, which causes the to fish grow more quickly and keeps their metabolism high, as well as mimics the temperatures typical of Singapore and Malaysia, the natural habitat of many lines of discus. Water circulates constantly, and Meador cleans the tanks every two days to keep their environment ideal. And he constantly tries to cross different types of discus in order to create new colors and patterns on the fish, as many of his customers are seeking a specific fish. Among his current population are several types of Snakeskin discus, a few Red Dragons and some Solid Turquoise discus, all of which drift around the tanks like shiny orbs of color. \nMeador ships fish all over the United States and beyond -- he even sent some discus to Aruba just a few days ago. Locally, though, Meador only is known to a select few. He chose the fish and setup of the 250-gallon saltwater tank at Uncle Fester's Jungle Room, which he maintains constantly and to which he constantly adds fish. Currently, he's waiting for a new shipment of powder blue Tangs, an emperada Angelfish and some colorful purple and blue clams, which he'll add to the tank this week. Additionally, the Jungle Room includes another 30 gallon saltwater tank and two 55 gallon freshwater tanks -- all maintained by Meador.\nThe big saltwater tank near the bar and the door is the main attraction, though, but it's not without its problems. Though Meador carefully researched a good combination of compatible fish and coral for the tank, several fish have had to be removed for tearing up the tank or being too aggressive. Additionally, Meador told Fester's owner Aaron Steele the small pufferfish inside the tank would be toxic to the tank environment if it died, which it did.\n"We watched it really closely all the time," Steele said. "When we saw it hit the bottom, I yelled, 'Get the net!' and we got it out really fast."\nIn addition to the four tanks at the Jungle Room, Meador estimates he's set up around 75 tanks for individuals around Bloomington. In the future, he plans to put together a book on his practice, expand his saltwater fish collection with seven new tanks in his basement, try to add a new strain of discus every two months (Meador plans to add 15 new lines to his current 40) and possibly even open a pet store, if he can find an investor. In the meantime, he's living quite comfortably because, many times, a fish he's paid merely nine dollars for can be resold for $75. Unique breeding pairs can go for $600 up to $1,000, and some of his customers order several thousand dollars worth of fish at a time. \n"I'm not rich, but my business took in over $100,000 last year," Meador said. "I invested most of it back into the business." \nMeador's business is strictly mail-order at the moment, so he doesn't invite passersby into his home as a normal business might. However, Bloomington does have several options for residents who want to start a fresh or saltwater tank immediately -- most notably, A Glimpse of Nature, PETsMART and Wal-Mart.\nTerri Stillions, the manager and owner of A Glimpse of Nature, spends most of her time each day answering questions about setting up tanks, and though she sells both saltwater and freshwater tropical fish, she said saltwater fish are easily the most popular.\nLike Meador, Stillions sets up tanks for customers and tries to find compatible fish and tank setups for them. She enjoys her work and setting up saltwater tanks in particular because of the "live" sand and rocks teeming with microorganisms, which tanks must have in order for the fish to survive. \n"When people use live sand and rock, things develop," Stillion said. "There's always something new to see." \nSince only a few places in Bloomington sell saltwater and freshwater tropical fish, Stillion is supportive of Meador or others starting pet stores with fish. She believes the market is wide open in Bloomington. \nMeador's store front is just a distant goal, though. He actually has a business degree from IU, and though he hardly went the corporate route for which the Kelley School of Business is often known, his entrepreneurial skills have come through in his breeding business. After 10 years on the job, Meador, like Stillions, is doing what he loves and has no plans to stop.\n"Of course, if I could make $50,000 more a year, I'd be happy," he says wryly. \nAnd if things go as he plans, that just may happen. \n-- Contact Weekend editor Kelly Phillips at kephilli@indiana.edu.
(03/03/04 5:59am)
The Registrar's office mistakenly released student identification numbers, many of them identical to social security numbers, in a computer-glitched e-mail Monday afternoon.\nThe e-mail was sent to 99 students whose summer schedule of classes could not be delivered because of incorrect local addresses.\nRegistrar Roland Coté said that the e-mail itself is a normal response to student address problems.\n"When we learn of a bad address, we contact the student by e-mail and ask them to update through Insite," he said. "However, in this case the ID numbers, some of which are social security numbers and others which are not, of all of the students to who the e-mail was sent were printed within the body of the message."\nIndiana Daily Student staff writer Andy Welfle received the e-mail, which included his social security numbers.\n"At first, I wasn't sure what the numbers were for," Welfle said. "Then I saw mine, and it was kind of surprising. I'm a little angry, but I'm not really sure what I can do about it. I realize it was a mistake, but it was such a big one that I really hope it doesn't happen again. "\nThe glitch occurred because of computer operating system updates at the Registrar's office.\n"We've been in the process of updating our operating systems to Windows 2003 and XP," Coté said. "There is a default setting in the Outlook e-mail program in Windows 2003 that we were not totally aware of. Not only were we not aware of the default setting, but we were also not aware that it would have the effect that it did on our e-mails."\nThe Registrar's office uses a Dynamic Distribution System, which is a massive e-mail distribution system. When a collection of ID numbers is put into the system, the corresponding e-mail addresses are found and the attached message is e-mailed out to those students. \n"Because of the transition to the different operating system, the DDS did not know how to respond to the task," Coté said. "The message was formatted in HTML instead of normally being in plain text. The system did not know what to do with the numbers and, in turn, just added them to the e-mail."\nThe Registrar's office was not aware of the mistake until they received a reply e-mail containing the original text of its e-mail.\n"We discovered the error at about 11 a.m. on Monday when a student responded back," Coté said. "The person who received that e-mail looked at the part of the original one we sent and saw the mistake."\nThe distribution of these numbers alone, without any matching names or information, means it would be difficult to create identity theft problems, said IU Police Department Lt. Jerry Minger. \n"Without a name to associate it with, the chances of using it as a means to get information is small," Minger said. "However, students should always be wary. Everyone should always be conscious of any activity on credit cards or anywhere else that does not look valid."\nStudent IDs are used to login to Insite, and the last four digits are the pin number, unless a student decides to change it. The release of student IDs then could grant access to grades, scheduling information, financial aid and other personal information.\nThe Registrar's office is replying to effected students with an apology letter explaining the problem in some detail.\nCoté said this glitch further reinforces the University's decision to discontinue the use of social security numbers as the primary student identifier and to randomly assign 10-digit numbers as student IDs.\n"The e-mail and that those numbers were there was unfortunate," Coté said. "It just should not have happened."\n-- Contact staff writer Mallory Simon at mgsimon@indiana.edu.
(02/23/04 4:16am)
JERUSALEM -- A Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up on a crowded Jerusalem bus Sunday, killing eight passengers one day before the world court was to begin hearings on Israel's disputed West Bank barrier.\n"This terror attack (proves) the absolute necessity of the fence as a lifesaving instrument," Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said.\nIsraeli officials said the suicide bombing -- the 110th in more than three years of violence -- proved the need to continue building the barrier to keep out future bombers.\n"Today there are more funerals, more suffering, more proof that there's no end to the hatred of Israelis," Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said. "We will continue to take all necessary measures to provide security for our citizens, including the security fence."\nThe Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a militant group loosely affiliated with Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, claimed responsibility for the attack and identified the bomber as Mohammed Zool, 23, from the village of Hussan near Bethlehem.\nPrime Minister Ariel Sharon, addressing a tourism conference Sunday evening, said, "Today in Jerusalem, we received a painful reminder of the cruelty of Palestinian terrorism."\nHe did not indicate what Israel's response would be, but Mofaz met with top security officials Sunday to discuss the possibilities.\nThe blast went off about 8:30 a.m., the peak of rush hour, as the packed public bus drove past a gas station in downtown Jerusalem. Several high school students were on the bus, and at least two of the dead were teenagers. Sunday is a regular weekday in Israel.\n"I felt blood on my head. I saw terrible things. I tried not to look," said Moshe Salama, 56, whose glasses were cracked by a piece of flying debris.\nThe bomb, laced with pieces of iron, killed eight people, in addition to the bomber, and wounded 59 others, rescue officials said.\nIt occurred near a meeting of American Jewish leaders.\n"The closeness reminds (us) that everyone can be a victim of terror," said Malcolm Hoenlein, executive director of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.\nThe explosion ripped apart the back of the green bus and scattered body parts and shattered glass across a two-block radius. The windows were blown out, the windshield splintered and the roof buckled.\nThe bomber's family said they could not believe Zool, who had a child and a pregnant wife, was involved. Hours after the bombing, his mother was still waiting for him to return home from his construction job in Jerusalem. Israeli authorities detained several of Zool's relatives for questioning, Israeli security sources said.\nPalestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia condemned the bombing, saying it hurt his people's effort to mobilize international opposition to the West Bank barrier a day before hearings on the issue at the International Court of Justice at the Hague.\n"We look with anger at what happened today, especially its timing and place. There is an attempt to harm the mission to the Hague," he said.\nHowever, Palestinian U.N. Ambassador Nasser Al-Kidwa, chief of the Palestinian delegation to the court, said in The Hague he did not believe the attack would have an impact on the hearings about the barrier, which dips into Palestinian territory.\n"It is a legitimate argument for any state to argue that they have to take certain measures to protect its citizens," Al-Kidwa said. "This is not the case with regard to the wall. If it was, Israel could have built this wall on its own territory."\nIsraeli officials said the attack never would have happened had the section of the barrier being built around Jerusalem already been completed. They claimed other areas where the barrier is finished have seen a sharp decrease in attacks.\nThe Palestinians say the barrier disrupts the lives of thousands of people and amounts to an Israeli effort to take land they want for a future state.\nJust before the blast, Israel began removing a particularly contentious 5-mile section that isolated the Palestinian town of Baka al-Sharkia from the rest of the West Bank.\nIsrael's Defense Ministry said that section was unnecessary since a new section has replaced it.\nIsrael has come under increasing pressure to reroute the barrier to lessen the impact on the lives of Palestinians. The removal of the section Sunday appeared aimed at softening criticism ahead of the Hague hearing, though Israeli officials denied any such link.\nMeanwhile, Palestinian students across the West Bank heard descriptions about how the barrier separates farmers from their land, students from their schools and divides families.\n"There is no future for my people with this fence ... we will be like birds in a cage," said Ikram Abu Aish, a 16-year-old student whose sister carried out a suicide bombing that wounded three policemen.\nSunday's attack was the first since a suicide bomber blew himself up on a bus near Sharon's house Jan. 29, killing 11 passengers.\nNir Barkat, a former Jerusalem mayoral candidate, was driving near the bus when it exploded and ran to help the wounded.\n"It's horrible what happened here, and the world has to know this," Barkat told Channel Two TV, his hands, pants and shoes still covered in blood.
(02/16/04 4:06am)
I belong to a dwindling minority of students who successfully attend class, organize a work schedule and conduct an active social life ... all without the aid of a cell phone. There are many people (probably reading this while on their phones) who cannot identify with this lifestyle and have probably moved on to another column now. \nFor those of you still reading, this is our chance to address a very serious medical issue -- one that might be affecting the people around you right now.\nStudies have indicated extended cell phone use doesn't cause brain tumors, but my theory is there's a tiny gland located in the brain just behind the ear which, when bombarded with cell phone radio waves for extended periods of time, releases a devastating neurotransmitter called assholanine. \nA distressing number of citizens are unknowingly at risk for developing cell phone addiction from excessive amounts of assholanine. Supposedly, 70.5 million cell phones were sold in 2003 alone (Chicago Tribune, Jan. 11). Since this isn't a new trend, and many people have had their phones for much longer, it's safe to say cell phones are insanely popular.\nThe effects of assholanine vary greatly from person to person. Some manage to live a normal, non-disruptive life with excessive amounts of it, completely avoiding the trap of cell phone addiction. For others, it can cause the voice to become abnormally loud or the walking pace to slow to a crawl. \nStill others exhibit lapses in judgment -- choosing to chat on the phone while navigating two-ton vehicles through the town of Bloomington -- where the pedestrians enjoy leaping mischievously into traffic without warning.\nThe most pitiable sufferers experience delusions that their phone has a little privacy booth attached, when clearly, it does not. On the airport shuttle, I once sat by a girl who had a dramatic, tear-filled fight with her boyfriend via cell phone. Even my headphones couldn't drown out this poor victim of excessive assholanine. If this had continued much longer, I would have asked for some popcorn. Perhaps the phrase "There is a time for everything" should be printed in the Nokia owner's manual. Heck, maybe it is printed there. Does anyone really read those things? \nThe best form of treatment for this disorder is at least one hour of silence per day. For some, this may prove to be very difficult. Recently, a classmate of mine exhibited near-horror at the idea of enduring a ten-minute bus ride from her sorority to Ballantine Hall in silence. Lacking a travel companion, she will whip out her phone to distract herself for the short trip. It's a crying shame -- reading the paper, people-watching out the window or taking a short snooze before class all lose their appeal for cell-phone addicts. Their attitude seems to be "If there is no noise, it's not worth doing." \n Cell phone possession and use does not necessarily create this problem. They are valuable tools of communication, when used properly, can save time, cut down on confusion and even help save lives in emergency situations.\n Keep an eye on your cell phone habits, though. If you find yourself consistently leaving it on and getting calls during class, in the library or in computer labs, you might want to take note. The moment you catch yourself accidentally sharing personal information (like the intimate details of last night's wicked little hook-up -- names and locations included) with a crowd of giggling eavesdroppers, you need to take a little technology hiatus ASAP. Remember, the key is moderation.\nFeel free to test out my assholanine theory, discuss it with your friends … just don't perform any experiments on animals in your endeavor to disprove me. I'm not a doctor. I just play one in the Indiana Daily Student.
(02/11/04 5:53am)
Spring semester has just begun, but it's already time to think about houses, apartments, leasing contracts and where to live next year. First-time renters can look to an abundance of resources at IU as well as in Bloomington.\nFor students who don't know where to begin, Student Legal Services is working to inform them of their rights when it comes to renting.\nStacee Evans, a staff attorney at SLS, said seeking legal advice is important when it comes to renting because Indiana law is not very "tenant friendly."\n"Tenants in Indiana don't have a lot of rights compared to more urban areas," Evans said.\nBecause of the lack of tenant protection laws, Evans has been spending the beginning of spring semester speaking at residence halls about issues students need to keep in mind when signing a lease.\nEvans said the most important thing to keep in mind is once the lease is signed there is no way to back out.\n"When you sign a lease in Indiana, it's a contract," she said. "You're bound as soon as you sign."\nTo prevent any post-signing regret, Evans offers a list of tips potential renters should keep in mind before they sign.\nWith all of the construction happening in Bloomington, Evans said a major problem with renting is making sure the unit will be ready when the tenant is ready to move in.\n"A lot of times students will sign a lease on an apartment that hasn't been built yet. It seems like a great prospect, so they sign the lease. Then, sometimes, when they arrive on move-in day, the unit still isn't completed," Evans said.\nOne way to prevent this is to see the actual unit before signing the lease. If the leasing agent is upfront about the unit's need for completion, Evans said it is essential to outline the completion date in the lease.\nSeeing the unit will also give the tenant an idea of what he or she is actually renting. Evans said most "show units" are just that -- units for show -- and it's important a tenant knows what the unit looks like after the wear and tear of previous tenants.\nSophomore Chelsa Tinkham also said seeing a show unit can cause problems when planning furniture arrangements. \n"We thought that we would have more wall space, but we ended up having more windows than the model, so we had to figure out a different way to arrange the furniture," Tinkham said. "We couldn't really put a big TV in front of a window."\nEvans said it's also essential for renters to check out the leasing companies from which they are planning to rent. Bloomington's Housing and Neighborhood Development Department keeps files on every leasing agent in the city, and any complaints made by former tenants are public record, said Evans. \nMany people are not aware of this service.\nSophomore Tristan Mathews was unaware he could check with HAND before signing a lease. \n"We've had a lot of problems this semester," he said, "and if I would have seen that somebody had as many problems as we've had, I probably would have looked at more houses before signing the lease."\nEvans said students should also take extra care in cleaning when it comes time to move out of rented properties. She suggests tenants "leave it better than they found it."\n"Landlords are very careful when doing move-out inspections, but they don't care so much at move-in inspections because, in their minds, the property is ready to move into," said Evans.\nIn order to avoid losing a big chunk of the security deposit, Evans said it's important to thoroughly check everything and fill out the inspection form in detail, noting each and every problem the landlord may notice during move-out. She also suggests taking pictures or video of the property before moving in.\n"It sounds really picky, but you'll be glad you did it," Evans said.\nLinda Brown, property manager for CS Property Management which leases apartments in Stadium View Apartments as well as 11 other locations, notes the importance of cleaning before moving out and removing all personal belongings.\nThe condition of the carpet and walls is also important during move-out inspections, Brown said.\n"(We check for) burn holes or candle wax on carpets," she said. "We do allow our residents to hang pictures on the wall, as long as they don't leave a hole as big as a quarter they're not charged for that."\nEvans said a good way to avoid high damage costs at move-out time is to keep communication lines open with landlords and to inform them immediately of any maintenance issues.\nFinally, Evans notes the importance of knowing the other tenants on the lease well enough to trust them -- not only because living together is a big step, but also because all tenants are usually responsible for one another in Bloomington.\n"Consider carefully who you're choosing because when you sign a lease in Bloomington 90 percent of the time each of you is responsible for each other," Evans said. "If you sign a lease with people who are responsible, they'll be more likely to find a subletter or continue to pay rent in the event that they need to move out."\nEvans said choosing roommates carefully is essential because a bad roommate match can spoil even the most perfect housing conditions.\n"If you pick the wrong people it can be a disaster," Evans said. "You never really know anyone until you live with them"
(02/04/04 5:48am)
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A white powder found in Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's office tested Tuesday as an "active" form of the deadly poison, ricin, forcing cancellation of most Senate business in the second such scare from a lethal toxin to hit the capital.\nBetween 40 and 50 capitol employees were quarantined briefly and decontaminated, said Senate aides who spoke on condition of anonymity.\nBut officials have found no evidence anyone was significantly exposed to the poison enough "to make them sick," said Dr. John Eisold, the capitol physician. However, he urged employees to be alert for symptoms over the next 48 to 72 hours.\nFrist said tests confirmed the powder was ricin, "It is active -- how active, we don't know," meaning it could potentially sicken people. But he said he was confident everyone who was at risk has been identified.\nU.S. capitol police chief, Terrance Gainer, said everything in the 4th floor mailroom in Frist's Dirksen Senate Office Building office has been seized, but authorities have not yet analyzed all of the mail.\nSen. Tom Daschle, the Democratic leader, likened the events to the 2001 incident in which his office received letters containing potentially deadly anthrax.\n"Terrorist acts, criminal attacks of this kind, will not stop the work of the Senate or the Congress," Daschle said at a news briefing.\nEisold said there were no apparent cases of poisoning among those working in the affected building, but said health officials are following closely any employees who report flu-like symptoms, to be sure.\n"We remain vigilant," Daschle said. "People should err on the caution side. If there is a question they should see us."\nThe discovery forced the Senate to cancel much of its business Tuesday, although the chamber's leaders initially made a show of going forward. Senate office buildings where 6,200 people work, were closed and much of the Capitol Hill area were eerily quiet. Sen. Robert Bennett, R-Utah, said it would be four or five days before the buildings would be reopened.\nPolice told lawmakers not to open mail. As a precaution, the Postal Service closed its facility that handles government mail. Gainer said investigators were "working through the Capitol complex" to make sure there is no ricin anywhere else.\nMark Saunders, spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service, said, "Out of an abundance of caution," officials, late Monday, closed the facility that handles congressional mail after preliminary tests showed a suspicious powdery substance.\nFrist told senators at their weekly luncheon Tuesday the powder apparently came from a stack of 40 letters being opened by a machine, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, told reporters.\nAll three Senate office buildings were closed to permit inspection even though the powder found Monday was only in the Dirksen building.\nBut federal health officials said it was good news none of them had become ill.\n"As each minute ticks by, we are less and less concerned about the health effects," said Dr. Julie Gerberding, director for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. If the ricin were pure, she said, "We would expect very early onset. The fact that we haven't seen that is reassuring."\nPresident Bush was briefed on the situation, and the Administration established an interagency team to investigate what Frist told colleagues was a chilling crime.\nThe tense atmosphere brought back for lawmakers and staff the realization of life in the era of terrorism -- the Capitol has effectively had its guard up since the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.\nIn this instance, police told lawmakers not to open any mail. Mail to congressional offices has been irradiated since the 2001 anthrax attack, but radiation would not have an effect on ricin, Frist said.\nA simple "Closed" sign was tacked onto one of the main, ornate doors of the Dirksen Senate Office Building housing Frist's office. Through a window of that building, a pile of red, plastic bags could be seen in the hallway. Yellow sheets were erected to cordon off areas of the hall.\nFrist said he had been told "the definitive test" on the powder "said it was ricin, for sure." Frist said he was referring to a type of testing known as PCR, or polymerase chain reaction, that detects a gene from the castor plant from which ricin is made.\nThe CDC planned additional PCR tests to confirm if the powder contained ricin. Also, Army scientists were to inject samples of the powder found in Frist's office into laboratory animals to see if they become ill, said a federal health official, speaking on condition of anonymity.\nThat federal law enforcement official, said no threatening letter or note linked to the powder has been found.\nFrist told colleagues at the opening of the Senate session, "Somebody in all likelihood manufactured this with intent to harm."\nSome senators opened temporary work areas in the Capitol.\n"There's sort of an odd sense of deja vu with the anthrax and that this is happening again," said Tessa Hafen, a spokeswoman for Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, the senate's No. 2 Democrat.\nIn 2001, an anthrax-laced letter shut down Congress briefly and closed the Hart Senate Office Building for months of expensive cleaning. Five people were killed and 17 sickened nationwide after coming into contact with letters containing anthrax. An investigation continues.\nA clue to ricin poisoning is a suddenly developed fever, cough and excess fluid in the lungs, a fact sheet from CDC says. These symptoms could be followed by severe breathing problems and possibly death, it said. There is no known antidote.
(01/12/04 5:41am)
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Hundreds of Iraqis hurled stones at British soldiers who waded into the crowd wielding batons in the southeastern town of Amarah on Sunday, witnesses said, a day after clashes that killed six protesters and wounded at least 11.\nProtesters demanding jobs tried to rush the troops guarding the city hall, but the British drove them back from the compound, which also houses the offices of the U.S.-led occupation force and the 1st Battalion of Britain's Light Infantry.\nAlso Sunday, U.S. forces arrested a Saddam Hussein loyalist suspected in last month's shooting of an American soldier who was saved by his flak jacket, the Army said.\nThe soldier whom the Iraqi allegedly shot, Sgt. Jeffrey Allen of Leitchfield, Ky., made the arrest, said Lt. Col. Steve Russell.\nThe troops arrested the man in a raid on his home in Tikrit, acting on a neighbor's tip, said Russell, commander of the 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment of the Army's 4th Infantry Division. He said the arrested Iraqi was a member of Saddam's former Fedayeen paramilitary fighters.\nAllen was shot twice in the back on Dec. 30 during a patrol in Tikrit. He was saved by the protective back plate in his flak jacket, Russell said.\nSoldiers also seized an AK-47 assault rifle, ammunition and several photos of the detained man posing with Saddam and the deposed Iraqi dictator's late sons, Odai and Qusai.\nThe trouble in Amarah, 200 miles southeast of Baghdad, started Saturday when hundreds of Iraqis gathered to protest that authorities had not kept a promise to give them jobs.\nThey stoned the town hall, shattering windows. Shots rang out, makeshift bombs were thrown and the British and Iraqi police opened fire. Hospital officials said six people were killed. The British put the death toll at five -- with no casualties among soldiers or police.\nOn Sunday, demonstrators sent a representative to talk to British and Iraqi officials, who promised them 8,000 jobs, according to witnesses. But protesters said a similar promise made weeks before had not been fulfilled, and the clash ensued. No Iraqi police were visible at the scene Sunday.\nThe Navy also said Sunday that fighter jets from the USS Enterprise dropped a 1,000-pound bomb on "an enemy mortar position" near Balad, in northern Iraq. It said Friday's attack was the first use of precision-guided munitions this year from the carrier, which is in the Gulf.\nOn Saturday, the Danish military said Danish engineering troops and Icelandic de-miners found artillery shells near Quarnah, north of Basra, which may contain chemical blister agents. The shells were wrapped in plastic but some had leaked, and they appeared to have been buried for at least 10 years, the statement said.\nThe shells were sent for further testing to determine if they were chemical weapons, banned in Iraq under U.N. resolutions.\nBefore the war, the United States alleged Iraq still had stockpiles of mustard gas, a World War I-era blister agent, stored in liquid form. U.S. intelligence officials also claimed Iraq had sarin, cyclosarin and VX, which are extremely deadly nerve agents.\nLack of evidence in a nine-month search since then has led critics to suggest the Bush administration either mishandled or exaggerated its knowledge of Iraq's alleged arsenal.\nSaddam's regime used chemical weapons against Iranian soldiers and killed an estimated 5,000 Kurdish civilians in a chemical attack on the northern city of Halabja in 1988.
(01/09/04 5:22am)
The State House in Indianapolis is a good building. It's not particularly spectacular in its architecture. In some ways it's just a larger and more elaborate typical Midwestern county courthouse, like Bloomington's or Fort Wayne's, only grander. \nIt is a good building because its architecture resonates with its purpose. The building is the home of the Indiana state government, and it is meant to express the solemnity, permanence and grandeur of democratic rule. It succeeds at that goal.\nOther buildings closer to home express a similar institutional sense of purpose. The serious and formidable-looking limestone churches along Kirkwood evoke the old hymn "A Mighty Fortress is Our God." And Collins looks like a college dorm should, with its handsome buildings opening onto a central lawn.\nBut as one moves out from the older parts of campus, the architecture becomes less attractive. Read Quad, where I lived for nearly four years, is home to a fine community, but the building itself is 'Well, if it were to be razed, and a Collins-like structure built in its place, would anyone complain?' Most of the newer dorms, like Foster and McNutt, are just as unloved.\nOther postwar campus buildings fail to distinguish themselves. The Geology Building is a massive block of stone, and Ballantine Hall is a monstrosity. Ballantine is especially terrible. The building's bulky, ugly exterior is matched by its plain and sometimes puzzling interior (i.e., why is that map on the first floor?).\nWhat made these buildings so awful? They were built rapidly during what critic James Kunstler (www.kunstler.com) calls America's "Soviet Period" in architecture. After the war, architects stopped designing buildings to express old-fashioned values like "grandeur" in favor of the International Style. The intellectual guiding lights of this movement were convinced that history was irrelevant and that social harmony required creating buildings without ornamentation like the gargoyles of Maxwell Hall or the Greek-inspired design of the Auditorium.\nArchitects' rejection of older building styles coincided with the explosive growth of universities around the United States, IU included. Buildings without decoration are cheap and fit into stretched university budgets well. The Main Library is a perfect example of what this combination of fashion and finances led to: two boxes without windows.\nIn case you haven't noticed, the International Style never brought about world peace. It just left us with a lot of ugly buildings. Lots and lots of ugly buildings, in fact. Kunstler writes that 80 percent of everything built in America was built within the last 50 years, and those buildings will be around for a long time because we can't afford to replace that many buildings.\nMost people never fell in love with postwar architecture. They continued to prefer the more decorative styles of the past. Until 9/11, most New Yorkers thought the World Trade Center was undistinguished and preferred older landmarks like the Empire State Building, just as most IU students hate Ballantine Hall.\n Architecture is slowly recovering. The education building isn't perfect (for one thing, it's too far away from campus), but it is more visually stimulating than Geology. Other new buildings, like the Neal-Marshall Education Center and the planned multidisciplinary science building, are welcome additions to one of the country's most beautiful campuses.\nBut this recovery isn't inevitable. When we travel to Europe, Americans marvel at Paris, Rome and London. We never ask how we could build cities like that at home. We lack the vocabulary to demand better places to live. And since good buildings express their purpose, our failure to articulate a purpose for our buildings means that we end up living in an endless sprawl of concrete.
(11/21/03 6:00am)
It's hard to believe that one of the most famous trophies in college football came from a farm in southern Indiana.\nBut that farm, between Kent and Hanover, Ind., is where the Old Oaken Bucket called home before becoming the winner's prize in the IU-Purdue football game. The bucket's inaugural appearance came in the 1925 game, which ended in a 0-0 tie.\nPurdue's Fritz Ernst and IU's Wiley J. Huddle were given the job of finding the trophy. The pair found what they were looking for at the old Bruner Farm. \nThe Bruner family settled the area in the 1840s, meaning the bucket you'll see at Memorial Stadium Saturday is over a century old.\nWhen the pair found it, the bucket wasn't in the best condition. Repair\nwork was necessary in cleaning moss and mold off and bolstering areas showing signs of decay.\nWhy were they looking for a bucket as a trophy anyway, you ask?\nIn 1925, the IU and Purdue Alumni Clubs of Chicago met. The schools had been playing each other since 1891 and Dr. Clarence Jones felt the creation of a football trophy was in order.\nAt another meeting, Jones and Purdue's Russel Gray recommended an old oaken bucket because it was the most typical Hoosier form of trophy. They also said the bucket should come from a well in Indiana and a chain of bronze "I" and "P" letters be provided. The winning team's responsibility each year was to attach their respective block letter to the chain.\nSeventy-eight years later, the bucket holds more "P's" than "I's" as the Boilermakers lead the all-time series 64-35-6.\nHeisman runner-up Anthony Thompson went 2-2 against Purdue from 1986 to his runner-up year in 1989. Thompson said he'll never forget the battles with the Boilermakers.\n"It's Purdue; it's state bragging rights," Thompson said. "The stands are full. If you're doing well you want to finish with a bang. Purdue is a rival that goes deeper than records. You can throw the records out the window. It's a nasty rivalry. If it's a blowout, you don't stop."\nThompson remembers his last game at IU in 1989. The Hoosiers were 5-5 and needed to beat Purdue to go to a bowl game.\nWith time winding down, IU's Scott Bonell lined up for a chip shot field goal to win the game. Thompson said he and his teammates were sure that Bonell would make it and they would go on to a bowl game.\nBonell missed and Thompson's Heisman campaign was cut short as well.\n"That's one of my not-so-fond memories of Purdue," Thompson said.\nIU senior Joe Gonzalez only has one fond memory of beating the Boilermakers and capturing the Bucket. That came in Gonzalez's sophomore year when the former Hoosier Antwaan Randle-El lead IU past Purdue 13-7 in a monsoon in Bloomington.\nGonzalez said he'll be ready to put on the cream and crimson one more time to battle the Boilermakers for the Bucket.\n"This Purdue game is always a special game no matter what, if we had no wins this year or if we were 11-0 right now," Gonzalez said. "This is our trophy game. A rivalry is a game you can always get up for, no matter what. And plus it means a little extra for me because it's my last game."\nLast season against Purdue, IU never threatened as the Boilers rolled to a 34-10 victory, adding another "P" to the chain. That game was coach Gerry DiNardo's first Bucket matchup.\nDiNardo said that how you prepare yourself mentally and physically should change for a rivalry game.\nFormer IU coach Bill Mallory certainly changed his approach. Thompson said Mallory, who went 7-6 against Purdue as coach from 1984 to 1996, would wear a Purdue cap all week long and would talk during practice about how Purdue wanted to take possession of Memorial Stadium.\nIn the end, it was all for that Old Oaken Bucket that came from the Bruner farm in southern Indiana. If IU plays its spoiler role well, the Bucket might be coming back to Bloomington.\n"This could be IU's bowl game," Thompson said. "I'm sure some of those kids are thinking that now that IU could spoil their season."\n-- Contact staff writer John Rodgers at
(11/21/03 5:32am)
ISTANBUL, Turkey -- Trucks packed with explosives blew up at a London-based bank and the British consulate Thursday, killing at least 27 people and wounding nearly 450.\nSecurity forces were put on highest alert after the blasts at the high-rise headquarters of the HSBC bank and the British consulate occurred five minutes apart at about 11 a.m.\nAmong the dead was British Consul-General Roger Short, London's highest-ranking diplomat in Istanbul, the Turkish foreign minister said.\nThe blasts followed two synagogue bombings Saturday that killed 23 people, plus the two bombers.\nBush, at a news conference with Prime Minister Tony Blair, said Thursday's bombings showed terrorists' "utter contempt for innocent life."\n"The terrorists hope to intimidate. They hope to demoralize. They particularly want to intimidate and demoralize the free nations. They're not going to succeed," Bush said.\nBritish Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who was scheduled to arrive in Istanbul on Thursday evening, described the attacks as "clearly appalling acts of terrorism" and suggested a link to the al Qaeda network. "I'm afraid it has all the hallmarks of international terrorism practiced by al Qaeda," he said in London.\nA man calling the Anatolia news agency said al Qaeda and the militant Islamic Great Eastern Raiders' Front, or IBDA-C, jointly claimed responsibility for attacks.\nIn Washington, a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the United States was not yet willing to put the blame directly on al Qaeda. Although al Qaeda involvement was still a possibility, it could be the work of groups that share a similar philosophy.\nIt was the worst single-day toll from terrorism in Turkey since 1977, when gunmen opened fire on leftists celebrating May Day, killing 37 people.\nTurkish Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to defeat the terrorists and deplored the timing of the attacks during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.\n"Those who bloodied this holy day and massacred innocent people will account for it in both worlds," he said. "They will be damned until eternity."\nInterior Minister Abdulkadir Aksu said Thursday's blasts were "most probably" the work of suicide bombers.\nAt about the same time Thursday, in Iraq, a deadly truck bomb exploded in front of a U.S.-backed Kurdish political party in the northern city of Kirkuk. Officials pointed to an al Qaeda-linked militant group, Ansar al-Islam, as being behind that blast.\nThe first Istanbul blast was at the Turkish headquarters of HSBC, the world's second-largest bank, shearing off the facade of the 18-story building and shattering the windows of nearby high-rises.\nBody parts, the charred shells of cars and broken glass were scattered around a 9-foot-deep crater in the streets outside the bank. Water gushed from the top floors of the building.\nBystanders bloodied and covered in dust looked dazed as they walked past lines of ambulances. Several people helped carry the limp bodies of victims.\nTurkish army troops made a brief appearance on the streets in Istanbul, deploying on a major highway and standing guard beside police. Military ambulances were also seen.\nAt least a dozen Turkish soldiers, wearing helmets and camouflage uniforms and armed with G-3 assault rifles, stood by their jeeps near the HSBC headquarters. Troops later were withdrawn.\nThe second bomb, detonated about five minutes later and five miles away, ripped off the wall surrounding the garden of the British consulate in the Beyoglu district downtown.\nAt least 27 people were killed and nearly 450 wounded, Aksu said. TV reports initially said there were up to five blasts, but authorities later confirmed only two.\nStraw said three or four British employees from the consulate had not reported to a roll call after the blasts.\nConsulate chaplain Ian Sherwood told the BBC that Short was killed immediately by the blast. "Quite a few people have been killed -- Turkish staff and some British staff. But I'm not able to say just yet who has been killed, other than the consul general," he added.\nShort, 58, served as consul general in Istanbul since 2001, was Britain's ambassador to Bulgaria from 1994-98, and oversaw peace-building efforts in Bosnia-Herzegovina between 1999-2000.
(11/18/03 6:22am)
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- A jury convicted John Allen Muhammad of capital murder Monday, concluding he used a rifle, a beat-up car and a teenager who idolized him to kill randomly and terrorize the Washington, D.C. area during last year's sniper spree.\nThe jury will now decide whether the Army veteran should be sentenced to death or life in prison. The penalty phase was to begin in the afternoon.\nMuhammad, 42, stood impassively as the verdict was read, looking forward. Two jurors held hands, and two others were crying.\nThe jury deliberated for 6 1/2 hours before convicting Muhammad of two counts of capital murder. One accused him of taking part in multiple murders, the other -- the result of a post-Sept. 11 terrorism law -- alleged the killings were designed to terrorize the population. Muhammad is the first person to be tried under the Virginia law.\nMuhammad was found guilty of killing Dean Harold Meyers, a Vietnam veteran who was cut down by a single bullet that hit him in the head Oct. 9, 2002, as he filled his tank at a Manassas gas station. He was also found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder and use of a firearm in a felony.\nThe victim's brother, Robert, said he believes Muhammad deserves the death penalty. \n"I must say that I can't think of too many more heinous crimes than this one," Meyers said.\nFellow suspect Lee Boyd Malvo, 18, is on trial separately in nearby Chesapeake for the killing of Linda Franklin at a Home Depot in Falls Church. He also could get the death penalty. Malvo's attorneys are pursuing an insanity defense, arguing that the young man had been "indoctrinated" by Muhammad.\nIn all, the two men were accused of shooting 19 people -- killing 13 and wounding six -- in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., in what prosecutors said was an attempt to extort $10 million from the government.\nThe verdict came after three weeks of testimony in which a series of victims and other witnesses graphically -- and often tearfully -- recalled the horror that gripped the Washington area during the sniper attacks.\nTen people were killed in the region and three were wounded, many of them shot as they went about their daily tasks: shopping at a crafts store, buying groceries, mowing the lawn, going to school.\nAt the height of the killings, the area was so terrified that sports teams were forced to practice indoors, people kept their heads down as they pumped gas and teachers drew the blinds on their classroom windows.\nAt one point during the spree, a handwritten letter was found tacked to a tree near the Virginia restaurant where a man was shot, and it included the chilling postscript: "Your children are not safe anywhere at any time." A tarot card left near a shooting outside a school declared: "Call me God."\n"Hopefully, the jury's decision will help bring some comfort to the families whose lives were senselessly taken and those who were injured," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said in Washington.\nProsecutors presented no direct evidence that Muhammad fired the .223-caliber Bushmaster rifle used in the killings, but said it didn't matter. They described Muhammad as the "captain of a killing team" and portrayed him as Malvo's father figure, a stern and controlling man who trained the teenager to do his bidding.\n"That is a young man he molded and made an instrument of death and destruction," Prince William County Commonwealth's Attorney Paul Ebert said in closing arguments.\nEbert said Muhammad came off as a polite man, but his calm demeanor masked a calculating and sinister side: "He's the kind of man who could pat you on the back and cut your throat."\nThe defense said the evidence did not prove Muhammad directed the shootings or fired the gun in the Meyers slaying. Attorney Peter Greenspun said in his closing statement that prosecutors had "pounded" jurors with gory photos and heartbreaking witness testimony to persuade them to make an emotional decision.\nThe prosecution provided several key pieces of evidence linking Muhammad to the shootings, including ballistics tests that linked the rifle found in his car to nearly all the shootings and testimony that his DNA was on the weapon. Prosecutors also presented a stolen laptop discovered in the beat-up blue 1990 Chevrolet Caprice that contained maps of six shooting scenes, each marked with skull-and-crossbones icons.\nProsecutors said the car had been adapted so someone concealed inside the vehicle could fire a rifle through a hole in the trunk.\nThe case took a strange twist on the first day of the trial when Muhammad fired his court-appointed attorneys and began representing himself. He delivered a rambling opening statement and cross-examined witnesses for one day before handing the defense back to his lawyers.\nFor the next three weeks, witness after witness recounted the effects of the attacks in chilling detail. William Franklin recalled being splattered with his wife's blood outside a Home Depot. A retiree described seeing a woman slumped over on a bench, blood pouring from her head. The only child shot during the spree testified: "I put my book bag down, and I got shot."\nVirginia Attorney General Jerry W. Kilgore said the verdicts validate Virginia's law that subjects terrorists to the death penalty.\n"The anti-terrorism law worked. It was written in response to and in the aftermath of 9-11, but it was written broadly enough to include individuals who terrorize a community," said Kilgore, a Republican who presented the legislation, passed in 2002. "The snipers terrorized an entire state. People were afraid to go to the mall, afraid to take their kids to school, afraid to pump gas."\nAt Malvo's trial Monday, an FBI agent testified that the suspect refused to identify himself and was defiantly silent when he and Muhammad were arrested in October 2002 at a highway rest stop.\nFBI agent Charles Pierce, leader of the team that arrested the pair, described how agents took Malvo and Muhammad by surprise at the rest stop in Maryland, smashing two of the windows in their car. Malvo was asleep in the front seat and Muhammad was in the back, Pierce said.\nPierce said he asked Malvo four times to give his name, and Malvo refused.\n"I would characterize it as defiant silence," Pierce said.
