Special Projects

HedgeHopper expands reach

Thai food, gyros, ice cream, glasses and bicycles are just some of the discounted items students, faculty and staff can purchase with this year's HedgeHopper cards. The cards, organized by the Student Association, were distributed during the first week of classes by the college coordinators.The card offers discounts at all previously featured restaurants, including popular eateries Swirll and Niko Niko's, SA External Vice President Amber Makhani said. She also said additional businesses with more practical services such as Today's Vision and Bike Barn were added this year.

Mike Judge Extracts a winner with latest comedy

When peering into the blue-collar workplace, Mike Judge's Office Space is at the top of the paper heap. Judge brings his comedic intelligence back to the stack in his latest movie, Extract, focusing on the owner of a food extract company in Podunk, U.S.A. in this smart and smarmy satire.While Extract is unable to live up to its iconic predecessor - and may not have the cultural impact of Milton's stapler- that doesn't mean that it is not worth the cost of admission. A strong cast combines with an original and realistic plot, allowing Extract to be the intelligent comedy that will fill the current vacuum.

Online only: This week in photos

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RUPD forced to cut number of officers

Last year, each department at Rice was forced to cut its budget by 5 percent. No area was left untouched, and the Rice University Police Department was no exception. However, RUPD was not simply forced to make cuts in both materiel and personnel - it was forced to scrap plans of expansion, made all the more necessary by the fact that Rice now has the largest student population its campus has ever held.

Despite star power, My One and Only delivers nothing but boredom

The 1950s, or so the stereotype goes, were a time of peaceful picnics and families happily cruising in four-door Cadillacs. Staid and calm, they were borderline uninteresting and often uneventful. With its pearl-necklaced housewives and tweed-suited fathers, My One and Only nails this stereotype just right.Unfortunately, My One and Only also stays true to the high level of boredom wrought by the decade. Aside from a slight dose of feminism, this film contains nothing unique, nothing special and nothing that makes you stop your Cadillac-cruising to go see it.

Swine flu reaches Rice, infects over 120 students

Editor's note: This article has been changed from the printed version.Swine flu has officially hit Rice. The H1N1 flu virus, commonly known as swine flu, has infected over 120 students, Director of Student Health Services Mark Jenkins said.

Photo: Special delivery at the hospital

Sophomore third baseman Anthony Rendon, sophomore outfielder Jeremy Rathjen and junior shortstop Rick Hague stopped by a local hospital to visit Wesley Blomquist, a baseball fan who received an operation last week. The players gave Blomquist a ball signed by the team.

Students attacked on the outer loop

This weekend, eight incidents were reported on or near the Rice campus in which people were attacked with air-propelled pellets from BB guns, airsoft guns or a similar type of weapon. Rice University Police Captain Dianna Marshall said two of the attacks took place Sunday, while the other six cases occurred Monday. Although four of the attacks occurred on the perimeter of campus near entrances 3, 4 and 17, another four cases occurred in the areas surrounding Rice: two similar instances occurred in Rice Village at the intersection of Morningside Drive and University Boulevard, one at 1815 Bissonnet Street and another on Interstate 45 South at Scott Street.

Foreman, Cooper promote courage to students

George Foreman

San Francisco sweep jumpstarts volleyball season

The good times kept rolling for the volleyball team as the Owls thrashed three opponents over the weekend in the University of San Francisco Challenge. The victories improved the Owls' record to 7-1, cementing their status as the Conference USA favorites as the season goes into full tilt. With their impressive record in tow, the Owls now look forward to the second Mizuno Invitational, a tournament they will host at Tudor Fieldhouse this coming weekend. Rice opens today against the University of South Carolina, which comes in with an unblemished 6-0 record. Rice will then start their Saturday against Harvard University (2-2) before facing Wichita State University in the evening.

Even the world's poorest can afford good private education

How can the world's poor educate themselves? The Beautiful Tree: A Personal Journey Into How The World's Poorest People Are Educating Themselves, a recent book by Newcastle University professor James Tooley, recounts how, on a trip to study elite schools in India, he stumbled upon private schools serving poor students in the slums of Hyderabad's Old City.The students' parents often paid $1-2 a month for private schooling. Bear in mind that many of the parents earn around only $25 a month.

Online only: Violent behavior blows professional opportunity for Blount

I don't know LeGarrette Blount. I don't know if he were a Gold Glove champ at 15, or if he slept as a child under posters of Ali, or if his favorite movie consists of the words "Rocky" or "Balboa." (If they have both in the name, shame on him.)I don't know much about him. But I know that I'd want him on my side if I were ever in a brawl. And I also know that I shouldn't know that. If Blount had kept his wits, if he hadn't ransacked Boise State defender Byron Hout's head with his right fist, then I would only know the former University of Oregon running back as a beefy ball-carrier who could potentially bring the Ducks back to a BCS berth.

Friday's Sports Update: Oklahoma State defeats soccer 1-0

The Owls (1-4-1) knew what they were up against with Oklahoma State University (5-2-0) coming into town Friday night. Though the home squad was able to put up quite the battle, the 19th ranked team in the nation narrowly escaped with a 1-0 victory.OSU came out swinging with several scoring chances in the first ten minutes of the game, putting Rice in a defensive role. In the 27th minute, the Owls evaded perhaps the closest near miss of the half when freshman Megan Aultman got beat on the left side of the goalie box. OSU put a strong low cross in for a waiting striker and the ball went sailing into the upper post.

Honor Council changes call for deliberation

Editor's note: This article has been changed from its original version:Along with Willy's Statue and Wayne Graham's stare, the Honor Code is an integral member of Rice's identity. Long a member of the Rice culture, the Honor Code's merits have been ingrained into Rice's bones, holding students to the highest ethical standards that a university of our stature can.

Honor Council working group presents findings

After nearly a year of research, the Working Group on the Honor Council presented its findings on efficiency within the organization this week.The 11-member group - comprised of an assortment of professors, students and a representative from the Office of the President - was charged last October with evaluating the functionality of the Honor Council.

Williams brings sober performance in World's Greatest Dad

Robin Williams has a serious actor's talent trapped in a comedian's brain. Even in his funny movies, he is best when acting with restraint: Witness his subtle performance in the flamboyant romp The Birdcage, or the way his character in Good Morning Vietnam changes as he realizes that war is not a joke.World's Greatest Dad is another comedy in which Williams keeps a straight face. He plays Lance Clayton, an unpopular high school teacher whose poetry class is filled with empty desks, whose novels are rejected by every publisher who reads them and whose son from a long-ago fling is the school's requisite friendless loser.

Choosing majors a personal journey

By now, it has become devastatingly clear that the summer is no more - stacks of books, unending problem sets and dozens of exams and papers remind us that we are in for a long, grueling semester of nonstop academia.For those students still working their way through their first or second years (or a select few in their third, fourth or even fifth), the daunting task of choosing majors must be addressed. Although it seems fairly obvious that students should choose their majors based on their interests, some people, for several reasons, just don't get the message.

Women's Cross Country 2009: Although team's leadership is depleted, women hope strength will lie in record numbers

Typically, a coach jumps for joy at a surplus of talent. Jim Bevan, the women's cross country coach, does not share this sentiment. This year, Rice's women's cross country squad is 22 members strong - the largest in university history - with half the squad new to the team, coming in as either freshmen or first-time runners. With so many runners to choose among, Bevan is still trying to figure things out.

Transition to online journalism inevitable

The world of print journalism is evaporating. The paper versions of The Rocky Mountain News and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer are gone forever; my hometown newspaper in San Antonio, the Express-News, now has a staff roughly the same size as that of The Rice Thresher. Time reports that the Boston Globe is losing $1 million dollars a week, and rumor has it that even the The New York Times is burdened by enormous debts.Many news outlets, like the Post-Intelligencer, are switching to online-only formats. Those print media sources lucky enough to survive write columns about the inferiority of Internet news sites. An April article by Atlantic Monthly reported, "In a poll of prominent members of the national news media, nearly two-thirds say the Internet is hurting journalism more than it is helping." One anonymous respondent told Atlantic that the Internet "has blurred the line between opinion and fact and created a dynamic in which extreme thought flourishes while balanced judgment is imperiled."

Sports Staff Soundboard: Do you think Brett Favre will make it through the full 16-game NFL season