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NEWS 4/22/10 7:00pm

On-campus housing numbers drop

By Hallie Jordan

Extra space - previously a rare phenomenon in terms of on campus housing - is apparently abundant for the fall of 2010.McMurtry College and Duncan College are still not filled to capacity, even with a high number of freshmen assigned to them for next year, Associate Dean of Undergraduates Matt Taylor said. The colleges should be fully occupied for the fall of 2012, he said.

NEWS 4/22/10 7:00pm

Serveries enact welcome new focus on health

By Staff Editorial

Rice Dining Services has slowly but steadily been reducing salt, saturated fat and added sugar in our servery food for the last half of the semester (see story, page 10). Although the shift has been all but imperceptible in terms of taste, it represents a drastic change for student health.We at the Thresher will readily admit that as students, we all eat poorly. We drink too much, snack too much and gorge ourselves late at night on junk food. Although we all know we should eat better, our general eating habits are not likely to change any time soon.

NEWS 4/22/10 7:00pm

Relish: A convenient contingency

By Drew Berger and Emily Salomon

You score a dinner date with that hottie from your D-II psych class, but when you slide into your 1989 Dodge Diplomat, the damned thing doesn't start. It's damage-control time: Dinner's gotta be special but not overbearingly so. You want to keep it private, so the Rice Village is out. Think fast! What do you do?Take charge and suggest a relaxing walk up the beautifully shaded and opulently appointed Mandell Street. Prepare to impress with your knowledge of architecture as you pass by the big houses, discuss how eco-friendly it is to walk to dinner and watch the apprehension on your date's face build as the greasy Lucky Burger comes into view, only to be replaced by grateful relief as you approach and enter the giant palapa-styled patio of Maria Selma.

NEWS 4/22/10 7:00pm

On the Animal that is Ke$ha

By Connor Hayes

When unmarried 40-year-old hip-hop mogul Sean "P. Diddy" Combs gets out of bed every morning, he probably doesn't have much to worry about. After all, Combs made over $30 million last year and employs a staff to take care of his six children, make him breakfast, dress him and most likely bathe him.23-year-old Kesha Rose Sebert, more commonly known by her stage name, Ke$ha, probably has more difficult mornings. Yet, when she uttered the words "Wake up in the mornin'/ Feelin' like P. Diddy," she used Combs' sunrise routine as a muse for her hit single "TiK ToK." The subsequent Facebook statuses and tweets from "look at me, I drink!" females around the world were soon to follow.

NEWS 4/22/10 7:00pm

Women close out regular season with resounding win

By Christopher Pettijohn

After navigating a season filled with peaks and valleys, the women's tennis team reached the finale of its four-month spring schedule in the final week of competition with a match against the University of Alabama-Birmingham. Before the matches started, Rice honored its departing seniors, Julie Chao and Rebecca Lin. Head Coach Elizabeth Schmidt said a few words about them and presented each with a photo album chronicling their years on the team.

NEWS 4/22/10 7:00pm

All the best to the Class of 2010

By Staff Editorial

Incredibly, another year has come and gone, and with it, another group of seniors moves on to life beyond the hedges. We wish all the best to the Class of 2010. Though jobs are still a bit scarce, we are confident that all of your time and hard work at Rice will put you ahead of the rest. We know that you will all make great names for yourselves and for our university.Most importantly, when you head off into the great beyond, don't forget about us. Come back to visit when you're missing the warmth of Houston or the zaniness of your former home. We'll miss you!

NEWS 4/22/10 7:00pm

Photo: Ooh, pretty flowers!

 

Seniors Rebecca Lin (left) and Julie Chao were honored before the team's final regular season match against UAB on Saturday, which the Owls won in decisive fashion, 7-0. Rice will face either Tulane or UAB today in the C-USA tournament.

NEWS 4/22/10 7:00pm

Commentary: Astros come out of the gate whiffing

By Brian Reinhart

We knew it was going to be bad, but we did not expect this. The Houston Astros blasted off with the worst start in baseball, going winless for their first eight games but sitting, as this newspaper went to press, at a nicer record of 5-9. Already four games behind in the National League Central Division, the Astros are looking for answers. What went wrong?

NEWS 4/22/10 7:00pm

More fond farewells

By Staff Editorial

We'd like to take the time to say a special goodbye to some seniors of our own. We're grateful to these Thresher staffers for sticking it out for four long years and helping our paper earn All-American and Best in Show rankings year after year.We wish the best to senior editor Catherine Bratic, who was always willing to do a little bit extra for the Thresher, whether it was going for a Whursday night dessert run or verifying the facts for an article. Catherine's attention to detail and talent for writing made her a valuable member of our staff. We'll miss her passion for French and food (and French food). Bonne chance!

NEWS 4/22/10 7:00pm

Common reading brings focus to Houston

By Jaclyn Youngblood

For next year's incoming class, summer nights might be less about strolling through an arcade and more about turning the pages of a book. This year's common reading, Work Hard. Be Nice.: How Two Inspired Teachers Created the Most Promising Schools in America, by Jay Mathews, will be sent to new students over the summer. The book follows the story of two college graduates as they participate in the Teach for America program and ultimately create the Knowledge is Power Program in Houston.On March 4, Dean of Undergraduates Robin Forman and Associate Dean of Undergraduates Matt Taylor selected Work Hard. Be Nice. from two suggestions made by the Common Reading Program Selection Committee. The other suggestion was Six Months in Sudan: A Young Doctor in a War-torn Village by Dr. James Maskalyk. Taylor said Work Hard. Be Nice. fit the general criteria the committee aims to meet - it is under 400 pages, has paperback availability and relevant subject matter - but had the added benefit of featuring the city of Houston.

NEWS 4/22/10 7:00pm

Is Chatroulette the newest casual thrill, or a viral ill

By Vijay Rajaram

Fun. Entertaining. Unsafe. Crude. Random. When was the last time you heard something described in such a way? Yet this seemingly incoherent set of adjectives perfectly describes the newest web sensation: Chatroulette. Chatroulette is a website that connects you to a random stranger with the help of webcams. The brainchild of a Russian teenager, Chatroulette has already entered the mainstream in terms of Internet memes.

NEWS 4/22/10 7:00pm

Photo: Fighting for a cause

 

Rice University Police Department Officer Ken Nipe sells a shirt to Student Records Analyst Shar-Lee Shandera during an RUPD fundraiser for the Special Olympics at Rice Fest, an annual showcase of the university's benefit providers, Wednesday at the Grand Hall.

NEWS 4/22/10 7:00pm

Eat fresh: Serveries reduce salt, sugar, saturated fat

By Catherine Bratic

French fries may not be off the menu, but they are certainly on notice. With nutrition in mind, Housing and Dining staff at serveries across campus are working to reduce nutrients that are seen as posing the greatest health risks in order to improve student health. Under fire are what Director of Residential Dining David McDonald calls the 3 S's: salt, sugar and saturated fat. All of these elements are over-represented in most American diets, and they are contributing to a growing obesity epidemic. McDonald said the goal is to lower these unhealthy elements, which are omnipresent in prepared and processed foods, by 50 percent. The shift began earlier this semester and has been a gradual progression. So far, McDonald said he has heard no complaints.

NEWS 4/22/10 7:00pm

Tuesday's Sports Update : Baseball defeats Texas State 16-2

By Meghan Hall

After eight days of no baseball due to finals, Rice was back at it at Reckling Park this afternoon, taking on Texas State University in a rescheduled game from Feb. 23. The Owls (27-16, 11-4 Conference USA) were firing on all cylinders today and romped their way to a 16-2 win over the Bobcats (28-15, 18-6 Southland Conference). Senior Jared Rogers (5-1) was on the mound first for Rice and delivered splendidly, tossing five innings with only three hits. He forfeited no runs and walked only one while striking out three.

NEWS 4/22/10 7:00pm

Sunday's Sports Update : Baseball topples Southern Miss to clinch top spot in C-USA tournament

By Meghan Hall

After inclement weather delayed the first two games of this conference series, today's game started as scheduled beneath sunny skies. Rice split yesterday afternoon's doubleheader with the University of Southern Mississippi, and the Owls captured the rubber game today 21-14 to win the series as well as capture the top seed in the upcoming Conference USA tournament.Senior Jared Rogers (6-1) started for Rice (32-19, 15-6 C-USA) while freshman Jay Myrick (3-0) got the ball for the Eagles (30-19, 12-9 C-USA) in his third career start. Neither pitcher lasted long - both forfeited six runs and were gone by the third inning.

NEWS 4/22/10 7:00pm

Slavery still a prominent practice in U.S.

By Sunkyo Lee

What comes to your mind when you hear "fair-trade goods"? You might think of what fair trade works against - the coffee, chocolate and clothing industries that treat workers unfairly. Well, add products like oranges and tomatoes farmed in Florida, right here in the United States, to the list of goods produced through extreme exploitation. Some of those tomato slices you all see and put on your sandwiches are products of modern-day slavery.In fact, the U.S. Supreme Court's most recently tried case of slavery, U.S. v. Navarrete in 2008, found Florida employers guilty of beating, threatening and locking up their workers, and holding them in involuntary servitude. Even in our politcally correct age, it appears there is slavery in Florida. Florida farmworkers are victims of "modern-day slavery," forced to work under sweatshop conditions and deprived of basic labor rights. According to the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a community-based worker organization in Immokalee, Fla., Florida tomato pickers earn about 45 cents per 32-pound bucket of tomatoes. This rate hasn't changed much since 1978. This means that at today's rate, workers have to pick more than 2.5 tons of tomatoes just to earn Florida's minimum wage for a 10-hour work day. Workers can't even afford the time to wash their pesticide-soaked hands before eating lunch - the lunch they packed at 5 a.m. to begin a day where work is not guaranteed, respect is denied and slavery is a reality.

NEWS 4/22/10 7:00pm

Buckyball discovery room named national chemical landmark

By Hallie Jordan

The success of the buckyball at Rice 25 years ago has earned its place of discovery, room 337 in the Space Science Building, renown as a national historic chemical landmark.The buckyball, a 60-carbon structure in the shape of a soccer ball which was initially observed in outer space, was recreated at Rice in 1985 by Nobel Laureate and late physics professor Richard Smalley and colleagues Professors Robert Curl (Rice University) and Harold Kroto (University of Sussex), who won the 1996 Nobel Prize in chemistry for their work. Buckyballs were named after the famous architect Richard Buckminster Fuller, who helped popularize the geodesic dome to which buckyballs bear a resemblance.

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