Rice University’s Student Newspaper — Since 1916
Saturday, July 05, 2025 — Houston, TX

Special Projects

NEWS 10/29/09 7:00pm

RPC announces concerts

By Diane Ramirez

In celebration of Homecoming Weekend in two weeks, the Rice Program Council announced that students will again be able to attend a live concert, featuring Augustana and The Wild Moccasins, in the Central Quad. The free event, which will be held Saturday, Nov. 14, from 7:30-11 p.m., is organized by the RPC.The Wild Moccasins, who will open at 7:30 p.m., are an indie rock band from Houston with a large local following, RPC President Michelle Kerkstra said. In the past, The Wild Moccasins have played at events like the Westheimer Block Party and at Walter's on Washington, a local music venue in The Heights. They will be followed by the nationally acclaimed rock band Augustana at 9 p.m.

NEWS 10/29/09 7:00pm

Rice aims to increase efficiency

By Scott Norgaard

Rice has taken large strides to reduce its overall energy consumption in recent years, and several initiatives have both lessened the environmental impact of the university's appliances and lowered costs across campus.One efficiency measure is the gradual implementation of front-loading washing machines in the residential colleges. The machines were first introduced to Rice five years ago, starting with the masters' houses, Associate Vice President of Housing and Dining Mark Ditman said. The colleges began phasing in these energy-efficient machines at the colleges three years ago.

NEWS 10/29/09 7:00pm

Volleyball falls in road matches with SMU, Tulsa

By Paul Fitzgerald

The volleyball team has struggled all season with closing out matches, and this weekend was no different. Difficult losses on the road to conference foes Southern Methodist University and the University of Tulsa dealt a crushing blow to the Owls' goal of a conference championship. Rice traveled to Dallas to take on SMU (17-7, 7-3 Conference USA) Friday evening, a team the Owls defeated in four sets at Tudor Fieldhouse just a few weeks ago. Yet this match had a vastly different result, as the Mustangs downed Rice (14-8, 6-5 C-USA) in a five-set match (25-23, 21-25, 19-25, 25-22, 15-7).

NEWS 10/29/09 7:00pm

Rights-based development imperfect

By Josh Ozer

Much of the Western world's efforts to promote economic growth and human development in the last 60 years have focused on human rights. All people have a right to life, health and happiness - at least according to the unanimous declaration of human rights by the United Nations in 1948. Upcoming commencement speaker and 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus has even argued that access to financial credit is a human right.These may indeed be human rights, and achieving their universal realization would be a tremendous milestone in human development.

NEWS 10/29/09 7:00pm

With new positions, RPC seeks accessibility

By Sarah Rutledge

In an effort to make the club more open to students, the Rice Program Council is nearly doubling in size as it allows students to join as committee representatives. Last year, RPC boasted the Formals, Socials, Traditions, and Spirit and Morale Committees. This year, the club restructured into Socials, Traditions, Publicity, Concerts, and Arts and Entertainment Committees, RPC Vice President Nicholas Muscara said. Interested students could apply for every committee but Arts and Entertainment, which does not accept members based on applications.

NEWS 10/29/09 7:00pm

Gearbox's Borderlands takes aim at trite RPGs

By Joe Dwyer

What do you get when you mix guns with free-roaming adventure, over-the-top enemies and more loot than you can shake a stick at? Easy: Gearbox's latest video game, Borderlands.Gearbox Software, a developer out of Plano, Tex., has made a name for itself in the first-person shooter genre over the past decade with its plethora of expansions to Half-Life, Valve's legendary 1998 PC shooter, and its numerous console ports of other franchises, including Tony Hawk's Pro Skater and Halo. So when Game Informer magazine revealed the company's ambitious new shooter in the works, Borderlands, to the world two years ago, people were understandably excited.

NEWS 10/29/09 7:00pm

Fondren celebrates 60

By Lawanda Turner

Fondren Library may not see many parties, but as its 60-year anniversary approaches, the storied library will soon be hosting its own shindig. On Wednesday, Fondren's anniversary festivities will include parties for students, staff members and a panel focusing on the library's evolution. The event is sponsored by the Friends of Fondren Library, a supportive branch of the library that funds its collections and facilities.

NEWS 10/29/09 7:00pm

Swimming takes sixth place at SMU Classic

By Floyd Ray

After opening the season with a victory on the first day of competition and a loss on the second at the Phill Hansel Duals on Oct. 9-10 and then placing sixth at the SMU Classic, the swim team feels it has a strong basis on which to build for the rest of the season. Head Coach Seth Huston said he was proud of his team's performance during the two competitions, especially considering the team lost six seniors from last year.

NEWS 10/29/09 7:00pm

Mentoring gives high school students a hand

By Jaclyn Youngblood

Outside of passing AP Chemistry and finding a date to prom, applying to college can be one of the most daunting tasks of a high school student's career. To address this issue, The Mentorship Project, a club formed recently at Rice, held a college workshop in Dell Butcher Hall last Wednesday and Thursday for 125 Houston-area high school juniors and seniors seeking assistance with the college application process, Chair Christina Rojas said. Rojas, a Brown College sophomore, said the workshops were done in collaboration with Project GRAD, a Houston non-profit organization that aims to increase high school graduation and college attendance rates, according to its Web site, www.projectgradhouston.org.

NEWS 10/29/09 7:00pm

Students will sport scruff

By Anant Subramaniam

For those of you who missed Muttonchops March this year, fear not: No Shave November begins Sunday. Participants in the month-long event, sponsored by the Hanszen College Men's Resource Center, are expected to allow their facial hair to grow undisturbed from Nov. 1-30. All proceeds from the campaign will go to support the Sean Kimerling Testicular Cancer Foundation, Hanszen sophomore Josh Herzstein said.

NEWS 10/29/09 7:00pm

Martel maintains clean record

By Ryan Glassman

With just two weekends remaining in the regular season, one cannot help but look forward to the powderpuff playoffs and potential matchups. But as a number of teams jockey for a spot in the semifinals, the past weekend of powderpuff action simply cannot be overlooked. Brown College had a pair of games to get into the playoff hunt, while Sid Richardson College and Wiess College met for the newest chapter in their historic rivalry. But as for selecting the Game of the Week, the decision was not a difficult one. In a battle of undefeated teams, Jones College faced off against Martel College on Sunday afternoon and the two best teams dueled for powderpuff supremacy in our Game of the Week.

NEWS 10/29/09 7:00pm

This Is It wows audiences with true Jackson experience

By Maggie Sulc

This Is It is not a documentary about Michael Jackson's life or the scandals surrounding his death. If a narrative at all, the film shows the process behind putting together a major concert: the auditions, rehearsals and changes that take place before the gates of the stadium are even opened. At its core, This Is It is simply Michael Jackson's last concert tour, miraculously resurrected after the icon's death. Everything about this film is something of a spectacle. Clapping and cheering fans packed the theater, giggling and screaming as the lights went down and the first images flashed onto the screen. It felt like we were all waiting for Michael Jackson to appear right there in front of us. And in many ways, he did. When Jackson arrived on screen, he was energetically singing and dancing as usual, amazing the world with his smooth voice and signature dance moves, as if he had never left.

NEWS 10/29/09 7:00pm

University address requires transparency

By Sarah Rutledge

Each fall since 2005, President David Leebron has outlined the university's progress over the previous year, and its plan for the next, in his State of the University address to faculty and students. The session, which is coordinated by the Faculty Senate, has always been open to the Rice community and a Thresher reporter has always been present to report on Leebron's remarks for a news article the following week.Not this year.

NEWS 10/29/09 7:00pm

Relish: Blue Fish House hooks quality sushi at low price

By Tim Pawul and Mimi Arnold

Sushi: the delicacy that satisfies the stomach and breaks the bank. Couples looking to dine in a qualitysushi restaurant will usually pay $50 for the experience. On the other hand, a venture to a cheaper sushi restaurant will likely result in decreased food quality, a fact thatis not only undesirable but also risky. These realizations about sushi restaurants leave thrifty students with one burning question: Why can't there be a sushi restaurant that combines high-quality sushi with affordable prices? Finally, an answer. After searching long and hard, your intrepid food-reporting duo would like to present the Blue Fish House, a restaurant thatoffers savory sushi at manageable prices and is conveniently located 10 minutes from Rice. We visited the Richmond Avenue location, between Shepherd Drive and Kirby Drive, but there are actually two other locations in Sugar Land and Conroe.Blue Fish House is a small and comfortable eatery sure to quench your sushi cravings without emptying yourwallet.

NEWS 10/29/09 7:00pm

Paleolithic diet adopts primal, evolutionary health approach

By Robert O'Callahan

"If it tastes good, spit it out," was how Jack LaLanne, the so-called "godfather of fitness," put it. This maxim for healthy living has now permeated our culture as indisputable truth. Bacon, doughnuts, chocolate and butter will all kill you. Broccoli, beets and cabbage are what we should be eating instead. Setting aside any deeper reasoning for a moment, we know these to be facts, because we feel it in our gut. Because good can only come from doing things we don't enjoy.This belief makes it easy to believe being a vegetarian or jogging grueling distances every day just has to be healthy. Anyone arguing the contrary fights a brutal uphill battle. Scientists seem to change their minds weekly regarding the healthiness of eggs, but we remain dutifully skeptical of anything that tells us we can eat or do things we enjoy and still be healthy.

NEWS 10/29/09 7:00pm

Dear Denver: Creepy Grad Students or Racist Roomates

By Denver Greene

Dear Denver, Why do undergrads at Rice think that graduate students are automatically creepy? It's clear to a plurality of grad students that at least 72 percent of undergrads are actually creepier than 87 percent of grad students. Are they just transferring their latent creepiness onto the unsuspecting graduate students?

NEWS 10/29/09 7:00pm

President outlines plans

By Hallie Jordan

During the Student Association meeting Monday night, President David Leebron addressed the decreased endowment, concerns about the proposed Rice-Baylor College of Medicine merger and outlined the overall status of the university. After mentioning a short history of student, faculty and financial trends at the university, Leebron presented his plan for current and future campus expansion and said he intends to keep Rice in the running as a competitive research university while maintaining the small size of the school.

NEWS 10/29/09 7:00pm

Sports notebook: Baseball beats Bobcats in fall ball exhibition

By Meghan Hall

Rice fans were granted a respite from this fall's poor performances in both football and soccer when the baseball team took the field at Reckling Park last Sunday. This year, the team's fall schedule was cut to one game, so the exhibition against Texas State University was fans' only chance to catch a glimpse of the Owls until the Feb. 19 season opener at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif. Although the look was limited, it was certainly promising, as Rice came out on top 14-6 in the 14-inning exhibition against the Bobcats. Sophomore southpaw Taylor Wall, who enjoyed a weekend starting job as a freshman last year and will presumably receive the same role next spring, took the hill and allowed two hits and one run over the first two innings.

NEWS 10/29/09 7:00pm

KTRU Corner: No Age presents Losing Feeling

By Scooter Jennings

There is something unique in the dynamics of a music duo. Roles are duly assigned to each of the two - specific instruments played, singing and songwriting credits, auxiliary forms of multi-tasking - all of which can complement, and sometimes even contradict, the tried-and-true adage that less is more.The noise-pop duo No Age is a shining example of the good that can come from such a duo. Drummer Dean Spunt and guitarist Randy Randall both emerged from the Los Angeles hardcore/punk scene and formed the group after their previous band, Wives, parted ways.

Editor's Picks

Most Popular

The Rice Thresher