Technique (June 18, 2010)

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Friday, June 18, 2010 • Volume 96, Issue 2 • nique.net Vingt années

Tech Square Waffle House opens

Photo by Joey Cerone / Student Publications

The Waffle House at Tech Square opened last Wednesday, June 9 with a packed crowd. The restaurant, which is Tech themed, includes an internet lounge and pictures of Tech alumni.

By Hahnming LeeEditor-in-Chief

Tech students will have a new option for fast food with the opening of the late-night breakfast chain, Waffle House. The location, inside of Tech Square, opened on June 9 at 9 a.m. There were several pa-trons waiting to get in right before business was set to open for the very first time.

The restaurant chain had announced the opening of a new location at the beginning of last year.

While the chain has over 1.600 locations, there are several things that make this location unique to Tech. A buzz statue dressed as a Waffle House server was placed at the entrance. The walls are lined with photos of different Waffle Houses through the years, and they also include Tech-related pictures like portraits of Tech athletes.

Another area on the wall is dedicated to famous gradu-ates. Some of the faces include Jimmy Carter, Wayne Clough and Bobby Jones.

To further reinforce the Tech-centric feelings the res-taurant already evokes, this Waffle House will be man-aged by Travis Bell, a former Tech football player. He is also overseeing another store in Underground Atlanta. These two Waffle Houses are unique

House unique to Tech, there are still several features that can be found at any Waffle House. There is the jukebox and the standard menu. It will also be open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It will be one of the few 24-hour restaurants open on and around Tech’s campus.

While the Tech Square lo-

cation is only opening now, Tech has a past connection to Waffle House. Joe Rogers, Jr., son of co-founder Joe Rogers Sr., is a Tech alum and is the current CEO of the company.

The new Waffle House lo-cation was formerly occupied by an American Apparel that

See Waffle, page 3

Two students burned in explosion

By Matt HoffmanNews Editor

A thermite explosion just after midnight on June 2 at the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity house on Sixth St. sent two Tech students to the hospital. Third-year AE Tommy Keen and third-year MSE Paul Grzybowski re-ceived burns on 30 percent and 20 percent of their upper bodies, respectively. Both stu-dents were admitted to the hospital in stable condition, received surgery and are expected to make a full recovery.

While the exact chemicals that caused the explosion are unknown, a person famil-iar with Grzybowski told the officer at the scene that the student mixed the chemicals together in a two-liter soda bottle that had been cut in half. Keen them lit the chemi-cals, which caused the ensuing explosion. Bystanders noticed and called 911.

Once the police were on scene it was de-termined that there were more chemicals in-side the house that were used to cause the explosion. The fraternity house was then evacuated, and a hazardous materials team was called in to remove the remaining sub-stances from the site.

The person familiar with the situation also stated that Grzybowski had a similar in-cident in the past when he would try to mix chemicals for pyrotechnics.

The incident was strictly recreational and was not a part of fraternity related activity nor an assignment for any class.

The incident is still under investigation, but a source familiar with the situation says the incident is being treated as an accident.

The brotherhood of Zeta Beta Tau re-leased an official statement saying, “Our thoughts and prayers go out to Tommy, Paul, and their families as they overcome this un-fortunate accident.”

“We are impressed by the level of care they received and the progress they have al-ready made in such short time, thanks to the expertise of the doctors and nurses at Grady Memorial Hospital’s Burn Unit. Both men are expected to make a full recovery with time. The brothers of ZBT, along with Tom-my and Paul’s families, wish to thank Dean Stein and the rest of the Georgia Tech com-munity for the unabated support, prayers and resources they have provided,” the state-ment said.

Both students are expected to be out of the hospital by next week.

Firms hired for AMC renovation studyBy Matt Hoffman

News Editor

Construction firm Whit-ing-Turner and architecture firm Populous (formally HOK Sports) have been awarded the bid to help move the renova-tion of Alexander Memorial Coliseum forward. In a pre-sentation given by Athletic Di-rector Dan Radakovich earlier in the year, the project cost was estimated to be around $45 million.

“Our goal for that facility [is] fairly simple: we want to make sure we give our fans the best experience we can inside that building,” Radakovich said in his 2010 State of Ath-letics address.

A donation of $15 million by the McCamish family al-lowed the extensive renovation to get off the ground. Under the current time frame, the renovation is planned to start after the 2010-2011 basketball season and finished by Oc-tober of 2012 in time for the start of the 2012-2013 season.

“We hesitate to call it a renovation because it’s really going to be a replacement fa-cility,” Radakovich said.

According to the Request for Qualifications (RFQ) sent out late last year by the Geor-gia Tech Athletic Association, compiled design flaws from previous renovations rules out the possibility of another mi-nor renovation to the facility. Radakovich also stated that building a new facility would cost nearly $100 million.

“We want to extend the life of that Coliseum. There are

not a whole lot of other places we can put a convocation cen-ter on our campus. [AMC] is the site that we have, and we want to make it better,” Rada-kovich said.

According to the RFQ the goal of the renovation is not to increase the quantity of seat at AMC, but the quality of the game experience. The request calls for the capacity to be be-tween 9,000 and 9,400, but to

change the seating from most-ly bleacher style to all chair-backed seating. The current capacity is 9,191. The RFQ does state that desire to have the suites in the renovated AMC to be at mid-level. Cur-rently the suites are along the top of the facility. LEED Gold Certification is also desired.

“We are building this building from midcourt out. The dollars that are going to be spent are going to be on the inside seating area. New lights, new seats, it will look differ-ent,” Radakovich said.

Before any work can com-mence on the renovation of the Coliseum, the Board of Regents must approve the project. AMC is the property of Tech and the Board must approve all major renovations.

Whiting-Turner and Popu-lous have both conducted work for Tech in the past. Whiting-Turner recently com-pleted the Marcus Nanotech-nology building. Populous was previously involved with the north end zone expansion to Bobby Dodd Stadium, the Russ Chandler Stadium reno-vation and a previous renova-tion of AMC.

Photo by Jason Ossey / Student Publications

The renovation of AMC would be focused on improving the quality of the seating area instead of the quantity of seats.

Photo by Josh Sandler / Student Publications

The ZBT house on Sixth St. was the site of the explosion that injured two students.

W.H. first of many new dinning options for Tech campus

because of their locations in-side of a greater retail space. Another restaurant is being planned for Georgia State.

This particular location also has an outside patio with out-door seating, a Wi-Fi lounge area and a waiting room for all take-out orders.

Still, even with all the fea-tures that make this Waffle

2 • June 18, 2010 • Technique NEWS

Founded in 1911, the Technique is the student newspaper of the Georgia Institute of Technology, and is an official publication of the Georgia Tech Board of Student Publications. The Technique publishes on Fridays weekly during the fall and spring and biweekly during the summer.

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Copyright © 2010, Hahnming Lee, Editor-in-Chief, and by the Georgia Tech Board of Student Publications. No part of this paper may be reproduced in any manner without written permission from the Editor-in-Chief or from the Board of Student Publications. The ideas expressed herein are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Board of Student Publications, the students, staff, or faculty of the Georgia Institute of Technology or the University System of Georgia.

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Statics first ask questions laterNot so long ago, I too was an idealistic freshman. But I have put down, over worked, and too many times had a blind eye turned to me. Coming here made me a pessimist.oh biebes...Every time you think Gaga has peaked, she just gets weirder.why does DiffEQ have to be taught in Chinese-English?ready to see the joy dissipate from the faces of first-years (with respect to time)Russ got me through CalcIII as I’m sure he did to all of you out there.Who is this Paul and why does he understand my mathematical needs so well?Slivering at work...I can drink more coffee than you can beer.Im not addicted to coffee, I can stop whenever I want.idk my bff jillOdd, more hours = higher GPA?I nique, therefore I amCome play Volleyball!Meanwhile at GT...Hola, Mundo.Your Mom is so dumb that she tried to minimize a 12 variable function to a minimal sum of products expression using a kar-naugh map instead of the Quine-McCluskey Algorithm.summer = sexy sand volleyballers... where do they come from? hard to believe they’re tech students girl playing doubles at peter parker deck tennis courts what’s your name?Anyone ever notice that the huge posters outside the student cen-ter perfectly show the ratio? Check it out. I’m just saying.helloHooters: You’re wasting money advertising for waitresses in the niqueif we’re so sustainable, how come the faucet in howey L1 has been leaking for years and years?a student of arabic...and construction takes over more of campus. it is like a cancer :OMale ninja seeking female counterpartI just lost the gameI miss you :(I hope you are thinking about me all the way in Korea99 bottles of beer on the wall...9x-7i > 3(3x-7u) :DIt’s raining it’s pouring, dynamics class is boring!

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By Alex MitchellSports Editor

From the files of the GTPD...

Campus Crime

Cracking me upOn May 30, at around 11 p.m.,

a police officer responded to a re-port of a suspicious male pulling on the doors of the Sigma Chi fra-ternity house. The officer located the suspect at the intersection of Techwood Drive and Fifth Street. The suspect initially denied being near the fraternity house, stating he was only looking for something to eat. The suspect stated that he had AIDS, was going to die soon and he needed food. Eventually, the suspect admitted to having tried to gain access to the frater-nity in order to get some food and alcohol. The suspect then became

agitated with the officer. Upon searching the suspect, the officer found a crack pipe. The suspect was taken to Fulton County Jail.

Time to wake upOn June 5, at approximately

4 a.m., a police officer noticed a parked car with its doors open. Upon inspection of the vehicle, it was discovered that a white male was behind the wheel and ap-peared to be asleep. Once the sus-pect woke up, the officer noticed a strong smell of alcohol on the suspect. At that point, an ambu-lance was requested. The suspect was transported to Grady EMS

and was then released.

T.A. (too aggressive)On June 7, at about 10:30 a.m.,

a victim reported that a Tech teacher’s assistant had harassed her. The suspect and the victim were friends, but then the victim claimed that the suspect wanted to pursue a romantic relationship. The victim claimed that a few weeks prior, the suspect had been following her. On the week of May 24, the suspect approached the victim in Peters Parking Deck. The suspect began to speak to the victim, but the victim said that she did not want to talk. The victim continued to walk to her car when the suspect grabbed her shoulder, knocking her purse to the ground. The suspect then grabbed the vic-tim’s leg, and the victim fell to the ground. The victim’s sister then arrived on the scene, and the sus-pect left.

Technique • June 18, 2010 • 3 NEWS

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closed back in December of 2008. Auxiliary Services sought to put a new facility in there related to late-night dining and Waffle House contacted them through the Department of Real Estate. The deal was finalized in the sum-mer of 2009.

Waffle from page 1 This Waffle House is one of several new branded eateries that is coming to campus. Subway and Taco Bell are slated to open this fall, replacing Pandini’s on the first floor of the student center. A Chick-Fil-A location with an ex-panded menu will also be opening in that space, allowing new op-tions in the food court.

Photo by Joey Cerone / Student Publications

Tech students look over the menu at the newly opened Waffle House at Tech Square. Like all Waffle Houses, it will be open 24/7.

News Briefs

Third Provost finalist announced

Rafael L. Bras was announced as the third finalist for the Pro-vost position. Bras is currently the Dean of the Henry Samu-eli School of Engineering at the University of California, Irvine. He also serves as a professor in the department of Civil and En-vironmental Engineering at U.C., Irvine, as well as a professor in Earth Systems Science. He has been at U.C., Irvine since 2008.

Prior to joining the faculty at U.C., Irvine, Bras was a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he was head of the Civil and Environmental En-gineering department.

Bras visited the Tech campus on Tuesday, June 15 and gave a presentation to members of the campus community about his ideas for Tech and the provost po-sition.

The other two announced fi-nalists are Gary May, ECE Chair, and Susan Hackwood, the Direc-tor of the California Council on Science and Technology.

Riggle named WRC director

Colleen Riggle was named the new Assistant Dean of Students/ Director of the Women’s Resource Center. Prior to being appointed to her new position Riggle was the director of the center. Before coming to Tech in 2006, Riggle helped to develop the Women’s Resource Center at the University of Tampa. Riggle hopes to broad-en the programing initiative of the center, which was established in 1998, and work more actively with the recruitment and reten-tion of female students at Tech.

A lot of things went on outside the bubble of Tech

in the past week. Here are a few important events taking place throughout the nation and the world.

Breaking theubble

Vuvuzelas make a buzz at World Cup

Before the World Cup kicked off a week ago, not many people could identify a vuvuzela. That has changed in just a couple of days. The horns, which are favorites of fans at this year’s tournament, have caused much angst for fans watching the games at home who are not familiar with the buzzing the horns produce. FIFA, the in-ternational governing body of the sport and the organization behind the World Cup, has not denounced the use of the horns.

E3 gives gamers a glimpse into future

The annual Electronic En-tertainment Expo, or E3, kicked off on June 15 at the Los Angeles Convention Cen-ter, and for three days game developers from around the world highlighted their upcom-ing games, hardware and other projects. Among the highlights were extensions of popular fran-chises, such as Halo: Reach, Gears of War 3, Portal 2 and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. Nintendo promoted a pair of remakes for the Wii, air-ing a debut trailer for Golden-

eye 007 and new footage from NBA Jam. As always, future game systems were in focus, and three-dimensional technology was a talking point for all three of the major game developers. Nintendo unveiled plans for its 3DS, a new hand-held device capable of projecting 3-D imag-es on its own. Sony, meanwhile, will begin producing 3-D games for the Playstation 3 that can be used with the company’s new 3-D TV sets, and both Sony and Microsoft announced plans for motion-sensing technology.

Pressure on and from Iran continues to increase

The debate surrounding Iran’s growing uranium en-richment program heated up on Wednesday, June 16 when Iran announced that it planned to expand its atomic research programs—despite a round of sanctions by the United Na-tions (UN) a week earlier—and the U.S. government responded with sanctions of its own. Ira-nian President Mahmoud Ah-madinejad expressed his desire to punish Western nations for attempting to limit his nation’s capabilities. He added that he would soon announce new con-ditions for talks on the subject. In response, President Obama announced plans for a new round of sanctions that would target Iran’s financial and mari-time industries.

B

CorreCtionThe graphic on the front page of the May 28 incorrectly described a $250 Academic Excellence Fee increase. The fee, which was a $100 last fall, was increased to $200 for the spring semester. The fee will actually be slightly reduced for the coming fall semester, down to $196.

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OpinionsTechnique

4Friday,

June 18, 2010

If computers get too powerful, we can organize them into a committee-that will outdo them. —Bradley’s Bromide

Opinions Editor: Matt Schrichte

“”OUR VIEWS Consensus opinion

Recession RenovationsImprovements for more than the bricks and mortar

The ongoing planning by the Athletic Association for the $45 million that will be invested to renovate the Alexander Memorial Coliseum has been met with questions as to the cost and nature of the large project. Although the construction will not add seating to the arena, the hope is to make the current seats more attractive to fans through the addition of chair backs on all seats and improved suites and boxes.

While the Athletic Association should keep in mind that it is not seats alone that draw fans to games, there is much about this renovation that is exciting. The quest to improve the box seats will increase corporate attendance at events and can play upon Tech’s presence not only as a college team, but as an Atlanta and national team.

A renovated stadium will also be a more attractive recruiting tool, hopefully improving our already stellar athletic classes, play quality and aesthetics. The

building will also be brought into line with Tech’s sustainable focus, as the renovation is planned to meet LEED Gold certification.

As has been proven in many other athletic facilities, if you build it, they will come, and hopefully this renovation will draw more students and alumni to home games.

This renovation should not, however, be a reasonable excuse for an increase in Athletic Fees or the institution of home-game paid ticketing for students. This renovation has the opportunity to be something that students and alumni enjoy in the years to come without becoming a cost that cash-strapped students have to pay for right now. Charitable gifts and trusts, like the one made by the McCamish family, and corporate sponsorships and naming opportunities should be sought out whenever possible so that fans can be drawn into a great facility with a great team playing.

EDITORIAL CARTOON By MAThEW hOffMAN

The signs are everywhere. With hundreds of thousands of gallons of crude oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico each day, coal miners being buried alive in West Virgin-ia and the first new nuclear power plant begun in the United States in 30 years losing a lawsuit over the safety of its design, dirty ener-gy sources are giving us a glimpse of our future if we continue to rely on them. These are not the first signs, nor will they be the last, but many of us have been able to ig-nore them until now.

As one of the worst oil spills in our nation’s history begins to wash ashore along the coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, the wildlife and people whose lives and livelihoods depend on the Gulf ’s coastal eco-systems await their fate. Unfortu-nately they are not the only ones suffering from dependence on fossil fuels. From rapidly increas-ing rates of asthma, cancer and other pollution-related diseases to soldiers’ lives and trillions of dol-lars lost in pursuit of foreign oil, the consequences of our wasteful energy habits are often forgotten or ignored.

But there are other signs,

which offer hope for a just and sustainable future. Cape Cod per-mitting the country’s first offshore wind farm, for example. And tre-mendous opportunities exist to create jobs in efficiency and do-mestic clean energy production. By beginning to transition to 100 percent clean, renewable energy now, we can improve our health, environment and economy. Or we can wait for the next disaster.

Carly QueenBS ME ‘09

yOUR VIEWS Letters to the editor

Spill offers chance for energy revolution

Write to us: [email protected]

We welcome your letters in response to Technique content as well as topics relevant to campus. We will print letters on a timely and space-available basis.

Letters should not exceed 400 words and should be submitted by Tuesday at 7 p.m. in order to be printed in the following Friday’s issue. Include your full name, year (1st, 2nd, etc.) and major. We re-serve the right to edit for style and length. Only one submission per person will be printed per term.

The Consensus Opinion reflects the majority opinion of the Editorial Board of the Technique, but not necessarily the opinions of individual editors.

Technique Editorial BoardHahnming Lee, Editor-in-Chief

Kate Comstock, Business Manager

Jennifer Aldoretta, Entertainment EditorKamna Bohra, Focus EditorMatt Hoffman, News EditorEric Mansfield, Photography Editor

Alex Mitchell, Sports EditorMatt Schrichte, Opinions EditorNishant Prasadh, Online Sports Editor

Joshua Lee (Daily Texan, U. Texas)—Earlier this year, Google made a valiant stand against Chi-na’s Internet policies, encouraging other corporations and govern-ments to join its fight against the superpower’s human rights viola-tions and its use of censorship. Google’s tenacity is praisewor-thy—in this instance. However, before we credit the multinational corporation for its visionary work, we should realize that even Google is not infallible.

Google sold various search terms to BP as sponsored links on its search engine, including “oil spill” and “volunteer” in order “to help direct Internet users to its website as it attempts to control the worst oil spill in U.S. history.”

While it’s not unusual for search engines to sell terms to companies for better ad place-ment, what separates Google from other search engines is that it claims to care about “the integrity of its results.” The company claims it “sell[s] advertising, not search results, [and presents] information as objectively as possible.” Yet, be-cause of the ads’ prime placement, users will see these results before any of the other search results.

It seems contradictory that last March, the company’s co-founder Sergey Brin rejected “the notion that any company should make any sort of decision other than to maximize profit,” adding, “I would hope that larger companies

would not put profit ahead of all else.” Yet, Google’s recent trans-actions with BP seem to stand in stark contrast with one of their fundamental ethical values: “You can make money without doing evil.”

It’s obvious that one of Google’s main motives in challenging Chi-na’s censorship policies is to end those limits on fair trade online. This restriction hurts companies such as Google and Microsoft, which are trying to expand their businesses into the country’s blos-soming Internet economy. Sub-jecting China to the same fair trade rules followed in the U.S. would only help with these com-panies’ expansions.

My point is that profiteering corporations can’t be trusted at their word—not even Google. With corporations, we must never stop asking, “What’s your mo-tive?” As Enron and other cases have taught us, corporate rhetoric can rarely be taken at face value.

While I agree that free-market systems are best, much emphasis needs to be placed on stronger ethics in business. Companies (especially those with the power to influence global politics) must be held to a higher standard and held responsible for their actions. BP must be held accountable and deserves all of the anger that a ca-tastrophe of this scale should fos-ter. And Google deserves criticism for helping BP skew the facts.

Google’s moral compass lost in spill

Technique • June 18, 2010 • 5 OPINIONS

So there I am; the day has arrived. It’s our best friend Jacqui’s 21st birthday, which means months of anticipation and planning have finally led up to this day. A day that has ended in me running late for the over-priced and perfectly coordinated limo that is pick-ing us all up at her house to take us to dinner and a night out on the town. It’s going to be a great night. All I have to do now is pick up Jacqui’s 21st birthday present, a six-pack of Strongbow Cider, her favorite drink.

I make it to Kroger. I should have been at Jacqui’s ten minutes ago. I call and make some lame excuse about needing to get money out for the night and that’s why I’m running late. The truth is that I had procrastinated on some-thing worse than homework or studying. I’d procrastinated on friendship. I’m just kid-ding. Neither this story nor I is that emo. I was really just run-ning late that night. And like always, I can partially blame it on Atlanta traffic.

Back inside of Kroger, I power my way back to the beer aisle. I can’t remember ever seeing Strongbow at this specific Kroger, but I assume that like all of the others, it too will have Strongbow. I’m scanning the aisle. I see the “lesser” ciders, but no Strong-bow. There’s only a cold, emp-ty space in the oversize fridge

where the Strongbow should be. Only it’s sold out. I’m dead in the water.

I feel like the dad who for-got to go Christmas shopping until Christmas Eve. I’ve been hyping up this birthday pres-ent to Jacqui for the past few months, not to mention the fact that I am already running way too late to go by another Kroger.

My last hope is the make your own six-pack that Kroger offers. You know, the one that lets you pay three dollars more for six beers that are missing the box. Not normally some-thing I spend money on, but this is an exceptional situation. I rush down to the appropriate section. I’m scanning the selec-tion like a book—left to right, top to bottom. “Strongbow…Strongbow…Strongbow,” I repeat in my head. Halfway down, all the way on the left, I see it. I grab it. Thankfully, an-other one appears behind the first, followed by four more. A full six-pack, other than the mixed-up box, it seems like

the birthday present has been saved. I slide all six of them, one-by-one into the cardboard container. I have the last six Strongbows in the Sugarloaf Kroger.

I make an about face to start my march to the check-out counter, my one, or six de-pending on your point of view, purchases in hand. Then, di-saster strikes. I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to explain what happens next or my reaction afterwards.

Like I said, I’ve turned around and am beginning to walk away when my right hand suddenly decides that it no longer cares to carry what for all intents and purposes might as well be the last six Strongbows in Georgia. Hol-lywood slow-motion ensues and I watch this small card-board gift filled with six black and gold bottles crash, shatter and bleed out on the floor.

The next logical step is to look around. Clearly everyone as far away as the pet-food aisle heard the commotion, but I

don’t think anyone saw. So I pulled a Fogell (or a McLo-vin) from Superbad and de-nied having anything to do with the broken bottles and mess. I make my way to the front of the store, pick out the closest bagger and let them know that “someone” spilled my friend’s birthday present all over their floor.

I felt bad about leaving the mess for someone else, and worse for not getting Jacqui her cider, but I had to go. I guess in my mind, being late for a good friend’s party is even worse than showing up for a good friend without a present. I can only hope Jac-qui agrees.

I book it out of the parking lot and pull back into that At-lanta traffic I am blaming my tardiness on. A few seconds later I have made it to Jacqui’s. It turns out that I’m not even the latest of all of our friends, although the limo has arrived on time. Go figure.

While we waited for the last two stragglers (you know who you are) I filled the time with the same story you just read. After a few dozen repeti-tions, a few heartfelt apologies and multiple expressions of disbelief at my rudeness, the situation seemed saved. In fact, I’m pretty sure she en-joyed the story of my failure and rudeness more than she would have enjoyed those six Strongbows.

When procrastinating hits a new low“I’m dead in the water. I feel

like the dad who forgot to go Christmas shopping until

Christmas Eve.”

Matt SchrichteOpinions Editor

Adam WeissFifth-year AE/INTA

“For a campus that’s active 24 hours, its nice to have something that’s open 24

hours.”

Amanda McNameeMGT alum

“Nom.. Nom... Nom...”

Brian BerryFourth-year CM

“The food was good.”

Hudson CarpenterFifth-year CS

“I haven’t checked it out yet, but I would like to.”

What do you think of the Waffle House?

BUZZAround Campus

The University of Texas just missed the opportunity of a lifetime. Texas was in position to become the most influential team in the most influential conference in the nation, but at the last second abandoned the plan because it was convinced a depleted Big XII conference will be able to generate as much revenue as a super Pac-10.

That may be true…for now.So where does this leave the

rest of the college sports world? The ACC, SEC and Big East will continue to go about their business like nothing really happened.

The Mountain West will most likely receive an auto-matic bid either next year or the following year for a BCS bowl game, where the big money is. The Big Ten and the Pac-10 will most likely start playing a conference champi-onship game, which will be a major financial windfall for both conferences. The Big Ten Network will continue to grow and produce more money than most people ever thought pos-sible just two years ago.

Texas basically just hand-ed the largest paycheck ever imagined to the Big Ten, and time will show that the Long-horns decision to not move and claim its own stake was wrong. Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany will not sit tight just because the Pac-10 failed to deliver; he will continue to pursue all options to generate

more money for his confer-ence. In a matter of six months Delany brought the college football world to the edge of revolution, and he still has the power to follow through on this massive upheaval.

He could literally destroy the Big East with two phone calls and force Notre Dame’s hand. Regardless of how com-mitted the Big XII teams are to each other, if any of them received an invitation to join the Big Ten, they would jump ship so quickly it would make Nebraska’s departure seem drawn out.

What all this means is that the Big Ten is the most power-ful conference in America, and Texas missed the opportunity to check its power by aligning itself with the Pac-10. A “Pac-16” would be able to compete financially and athletically with the new Big Ten. No con-ference in the nation can now say that, including the SEC, whose weakness in terms of national appeal became all too apparent through this expan-sion process.

But I am not in the contin-gency that thinks Texas has magically stopped the whole expansion process with its de-cision. Instead, everything is where it was two weeks ago prior to the Pac-10’s aggressive move, except that some domi-nos have already fallen.

The Big Ten will go through another round of ex-pansion because Nebraska was not Delany’s endgame; Notre Dame is. Delany will not rest until Notre Dame joins the Big Ten or is isolated to the point where it will cease to be a major football program. Notre Dame has flirted with Delany too many times, and he is, rightfully, angry that the Irish keep leaving him hanging.

Notre Dame realizes that its days as a independent are coming to an end. The confer-ences no longer treat the Irish as an equal when they go to the negotiating table, which can be seen by the newly re-vamped BCS deal with Irish only getting a fraction of the normal BCS payout if they qualify for one of the marquee

bowls. Notre Dame is not what it used to be and even people in South Bend would be willing to say that behind closed doors. But the Irish still bring the most to the table for the Big Ten.

The Big Ten will pick up a contingency of Big East teams in about a year and move to a 16-team conference with Notre Dame. However, the conference will now be able to finish the process the way it wanted to go through with it all along.

The Big Ten never wanted the lead story on SportsCenter to be college expansion ru-mors. Rather, the conference will be quiet yet deliberate over the next year in its quest to find more members. I doubt the Big Ten’s next move will be hastily forced by another con-ference, as it was this time.

When that happens, other conferences will be forced to follow suit into 16-team con-ferences whether they want to or not. The Pac-10 will even-tually get what it wants out of the state of Texas, and the SEC will most likely stir things up in this part of the country.

The Big XII’s days are still numbered, and in due time, no mysterious coalition will be able to save the depleted conference from extinction as has apparently happened this time. What unfolded this week was a Band-Aid on a stabbing wound, not a long-term solution.

Even Texas will not stop the Big Ten“The ACC, SEC and Big East

will continue to go about their business like nothing really

happened.”

Matt HoffmanNews Editor

Photos by Eric Mansfield

6 • June 18, 2010 • Technique OPINIONS

Oxford in Italy a lesson in romance, culture and screaming

I am a part of the Oxford Sum-mer Program.

What I initially did not guess, or at least did not want to ac-knowledge, was that traveling abroad while taking classes is a grueling double life. You want to see the city and be able to live the life of a Berliner or Czech Re-publican, an Austrian, Roman, Florentine or Parisian. But at the same time, school calls you and HOPE incessantly nags you.

However, despite the home-work load, I have been able to fo-cus on the city at hand. I am now in Venice, the city of romance, food and gondolas. It is also a city overtaken with World Cup soccer madness. Whether you are a fan of the Italian team or not, soccer (or football to most of the rest of the world) is the topic of the day everyday. This sport has the in-nate ability to bring people from all over together.

It is an enormous honor to be chosen as the host nation. This year, it is South Africa’s turn. Many were worried that South Af-rica would not be able to rise to the challenge and the Cup would have to be moved to Australia. Now, with attendance figures coming in, it seems the country has beaten the odds. Over 97 percent of the tickets for all of the matches have been sold. Over the course of the next few weeks, almost two bil-lion people will watch.

South Africa has been taken over by football more than any-where else in the world, but the countries in Europe are not far behind. FIFA has set up “fanfests” in different cities. For any want-ing to watch the Cup games on a big screen in Rome, it was in Villa Bourgese, a place comparable to

Central Park in New York City, In Venice, while there is no “fan-fest” in the tech-nical sense, you are able to duck into any restau-rant, pub or bar to catch even a portion of the game surrounded by other pas-sionate football fans.

Last night was the first Ital-ian game, Italy vs. Paraguay. For those of you that don’t keep up with the World Cup, Italy is the defending World Cup champion. This makes any move by Italy a memorable one. It was said that if Italy won, there would be riots in the street. And if Italy lost, there would be riots in the street.

The first round matches are not played as single elimination so a win or loss does not kick you out of the competition. But the glory of a win is coveted.

Before Italy’s first match, two of the most heavily watched games, England vs. U.S. and the opening match for the host coun-try, South Africa vs. Mexico, had both ended in 1-1 scores. This was Italy’s chance to bring home the first win of the competition.

Paraguay scored the first goal within the first ten minutes of the game. Things were not looking good for the Italian team. Half-time came and went without Italy scoring a goal and the tension in the room was palpable.

But in the second half, Italy came back and scored a goal. The room went absolutely mad. Being at the front of the room, the en-thusiasm was intense. There was jumping. There was screaming.

There was hugging. And there was even some thanking of God. It felt as if every male fan in the room was now bouncing up and down in pure joy. It seemed as if every female was yelling and hugging one another. I could feel the floor shaking beneath my feet.

It was fantastic. This celebra-tion of the goal was definitely comparable to a Tech sporting event. To feel this sort of pleasure while surrounded by these fans in another country was a new world.

Earlier, I mentioned something about riots. Though we were ex-pecting chaos for a win or loss, we did not know what was going to happen if there was a tie.

As the match progressed, the tension began building again. Many choice words were hurled at the screen when the ball was stolen by Paraguay. Cheers were called when favorites were put on the field. In the final few minutes, the cheers, jeers and the general roar were at their peaks.

Though the game ended with another 1-1 score, the match was an eventful one. The excitement was contagious, the crowds were rowdy and there was pure joy from watching a football game on television with like-minded indi-viduals. All in all, it was a great introduction to true soccer mad-ness.

OUR VIEWS hot or not

Late late-night diningAfter months of waiting

patiently for that first order of hash browns, the Waffle House on Fifth Street has fi-nally opened. This late-night dining option within the safe-ty of the GTPD patrol area showed up just in time for late summer nights, pool parties, Flicks on Fifth and bathing suits. So remember, indulge your waffle and hash browns fix in moderation.

HOT– or –NOT“It was said that is Italy won, there would be riots in the street. And if

Italy lost, there would be riots in the street.”

Nancy ThankyColumnist

End of playWith baseball’s disappoint-

ing end-of-season loss, spring sports have drawn to a close. While baseball in itself had an enjoyable season, the loom-ing summer without sports to watch will make summer classes that much harder for the students stuck on campus and further builds the antici-pation for the beginning of the fall season and the return of sports like football.

Resourceful womanColleen Riggle was recent-

ly named the new Director of Women’s Resources. This crucial position on campus, charged with caring for and serving the most talked-about minority on campus (the ra-tio ring a bell to anyone?) will be re-invigorated under her leadership with expanded pro-gramming and we congratu-late her on the promotion.

Flash fireNo injury on campus is

good, but injuries involving serious burns all over multiple students are particularly hor-rific. Not to mention the fact that the fire was not a real fire, but an out-of-control chemical reaction. Hopefully the two students involved will make a speedy recovery and an in-cident like this won’t happen again.

www.nique.net

sliver

Tosh.0 is back!Top hat, junk shot and top kill all sound like failIt’s bill nye the petroleum guyI&L >> DEVAstros FTWJust admit that you’re wrong...gimbelCan’t Wait for the G-Spot to open!G-Spot is the best nickname since The Shaft!Wafflehous opens 6/9 WOOHOOOI want my TacoBell!To the gorgeous blonde on the Tech Trolley today: You look amazingly stunning. Ur white flower embroidered dress, the sil-ver hand bracelet, and the matching bag. But I don’t think you’re suppose to wear a pair of vintage Converse with the rest of the outflove ya boo!online cataloginggoodness gracious great balls of fireTo the boy in LCC 3226- you’re hot ;)English please! Only 10% of grad students are American!!! Can’t learn any Eng-lish this way!!!this construction is just like The Blob--it keeps mindlessly grow-ing and consuming more of campusyes, i do like you :)2-1 2-1I’m a girl looking for a girl, I sure as hell went to the wrong school for that!I’m a PC and Windows 7 was Mac’s ideaACRONYM = Abbreviated Coded Rendition Of Name Yielding MeaningMilk and cereal! Cereal and milk!Just resorted to watching jaws 3d as opposed to doing work. WowAl Franken will always be Stuart smaley to meCan I get a what what? For all my slivers who get no love

[email protected] Editor:Kamna Bohra

Organization Spotlight: Bowling ClubThe Bowling Club provides a platform for uniting bowling enthusiasts of all levels and compete against other collegiate teams.Contact: http://jacketpages.collegiatelink.net/

Technique

7Friday,

June 18, 2010

GTL still adding programs, students after 20 years

By Andrew NelsonStaff Writer

Tech’s first and largest satellite campus, Georgia Tech Lorraine (GTL) in Metz, France, has pro-vided its students an international campus-away-from-campus for 20 years this week.

Hundreds of people attended celebrations in Metz, includ-ing, for the first time, Institute President G.P. “Bud” Peterson. A representative from the Georgia Department of Economic Devel-opment, CEO of Coca-Cola En-terprises, President of Coca-Cola France and the French Consul General were also present. Geor-gia and local French education officials agreed to commence ex-changes of faculty, students and ideas, and the former Mayor of Metz, Jean-Marie Rausch, re-ceived an Honorary Alumnus Award from the Georgia Tech Alumni Association.

One of the long-term initiatives undertaken at this institutional milestone is the France-Atlanta: Together Toward Innovation project. The most notable of the project’s points was the signing of a letter of intent between Tech, GTL and French government rep-resentatives to officially create the Lafayette Institute. Its mission is to develop commercialization of research at GTL, especially opto-electronics–technology that com-bines electronics and light, like solar cells. The French institutions intend to provide 25,000 square feet of lab space and offices and €10 million (over $12 million) worth of equipment.

Metz and Atlanta will both host workshops related to the France-Atlanta project for fields such as drugs, medical devices, high-speed trains, water manage-ment and recycling.

Peterson said GTL comple-ments the recently-drafted 25-year strategic vision for the insti-tute, and Tech is “committed to fostering international alliances to enhance learning experiences, build research collaborations and promote economic development.”

Lorraine is one of 26 admin-istrative régions of France, with Metz as its capital, comparable to upstate New York in terms of economy, geography and blend of cultures. Tech established its campus in Metz, near French engineering research universi-ties. In the following years, GTL partnered closely with those uni-versities, and in 2006 established the first joint research center in France, UMI GT-CNRS 2958, which specializes in secure net-works, new materials, robotics

and intelligent environment plat-forms.

“GTL meets my expectations in terms of research-oriented courses, with very good teachers that make me eager to go further in the topic and work on my own, not just attend classes and learn just for the exams like I did in my French school,” said Nordine Seb-khi, a French ECE grad student. Sebkhi is in the double diploma program with GTL and a French engineering university.

“Also, the content of the class was very clear and well explained, which helped me to be more concentrated dur-ing classes and to be more effective,” Sebhki said.

“When I see the transfor-mation of our students as they combine their rigorous Georgia Tech education with a cultural experience of a lifetime, living abroad, discovering Europe or the United States, making last-

ing international friendships, be-ing challenged with internships or research in a truly global environ-ment, I know we are indeed pre-paring our students for the 21st century,” said Yves H. Berthelot, GTL President, in a message on the campus’s website.

“I came to GTL thinking that I was just going to be able to study abroad and see some cool places, which is true; however, what I did not expect was to have the experi-ence of a lifetime. I have already been to seven countries, and I have learned so much about the culture. I have been able to see some of the most historic parts of the planet, and I have been able to absorb the culture,” said Hunter Hammond, second-year MGT major. He noted that his most memorable experience was meet-ing and discussing international issues with Coca-Cola CEO as part of the 20-year celebration.

Academics, both undergradu-ate and graduate, at GTL are still expanding for the five hundred students who study there each year. What started as an electrical and computer engineering mas-ter’s degree program has expanded to include mechanical engineer-ing and computer science. Euro-pean students can attend GTL as part of its dual degree program, in partnership with the local institu-tions Supélec, UTC and Arts et Métiers Paris Tech.

“I decided to join Tech, be-cause it is the best program we have with my school and...I would like to work in the US because of the great opportunity and experi-ence I will have,” Sebkhi said.

“I think that having two diplo-mas from France and the US will help me to get a better position in a company, in terms of responsi-bility, salary and management,” Sebkhi said.

The program offers undergrad-uate students a balance of classes in engineering, French language, management and social sciences.

“The campus of GTL amounts to one building which contains all the amenities and activities you would expect at GT [in Atlanta] but in one place. The one thing I liked more than anything else about GTL was class size,” said Joshua Tuttle, a fifth-year EE ma-jor.

“Because my largest class con-tained 16 students, the relation-ship between [the] professor and student was much closer and therefore any question that arose could easily be asked of the profes-sor. Most of the classes at GTL try to incorporate some aspect of the school’s location into the mate-rial, therefore providing a unique aspect of classes that can not be received elsewhere,” Tuttle said.

Admission requirements are good academic standing, a minimum 2.3 GPA and mini-mum credit hours taken at GTL depending on the term. GTL also has a special cost of tuition: Georgia residents pay a reduced amount, and non-residents pay the same reduced amount plus $2,000.

Classes are taught in English, but learning basic French is highly recommended. A significant un-dertaking by both GTL student organizations and the school itself is to immerse students in their new locale and learning the local language will aid this process.

“As globalization makes our world smaller, it is important to be accustomed to interacting and living in a culture not our own. This importance lies not only within future careers but also in our personal...lives. GTL allows for easy travel to many different cultures and locales over just a few weekends. GTL has changed my life entirely, after spending two long semesters at GTL I have realized how alike and different not only the French culture is but also European culture in general. I feel like I have actually lived in another country rather then just studying abroad,” Tuttle said.

Student organizations like GTL’s own student government Bureau des Étudiants, of which Tuttle is Vice President and Seb-khi is Communications Manager, host activities on campus, the Metz area and beyond.

“One of the most interesting parts of working for GTL’s Stu-dent Government was the fact that we interacted with other schools in the city to provide unique ac-tivities with local students,” Tuttle said.

Images courtesy of Georgia Tech Communications and Marketing

Top-left: St. Stephen’s Cathedral, one of the sights in Metz, France. Bottom-left: A bridge in Metz. Right: The train station in Metz, one of the many hubs enabling students to travel through Europe.

8 • June 18, 2010 • Technique FOCUS

Wall encourages students to expand horizonsBy Kamna Bohra

Focus Editor

Originally from Seattle, Wash., traveling long distances for his passion for engineering is no stranger to Thomas Wall, who recently won the prestigious J. William Fulbright Foreign Schol-arship to spend a total of nine months studying and researching at the University of Amsterdam and Oxford University.

Wall is currently a Ph.D stu-dent in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering and plans to conduct research on trans-portation policy in Europe, focus-ing on retrofitting infrastructure based on climate change.

According to Wall, modern infrastructure designs are for a cli-mate that is normalized, but now, with the suggestion that there will be an increase in the frequency and impact of storms, engineers must selectively fix old infrastruc-ture and develop new design plans for new ones, all while properly managing budget.

As such, Wall plans to study infrastructure management at Oxford and transportation plan-ning at Amsterdam.

Wall places heavy importance on establishing an interest in en-gineering early on, as he is active in the Tech chapter of Engineers Without Borders, in which he fo-cuses on promoting high school research efforts.

“I think it’s really important to get out to people in the high schools, even if it’s just to generate a bit of interest in engineering,”

Wall said. He emphasized a need for more engineers in the future.

For the past two summers, Wall and other members of the CE department have worked with a teacher from Westlake High School, immersing him in the CE research to develop a transporta-tion planning teaching model for his introduction to engineering course.

Wall describes his own en-trance into the field of civil en-gineering as largely an influence of the people around him. His time at the University of Oregon shaped his views.

“My grandpa was a civil engi-neer, so the idea was sort of com-fortable. I switched [from ME] to CE after my freshman year. The people in the program were like my family,” Wall said.

“[But] it’s not like I’ve always had this vision of doing CE. When I joined, I hadn’t even thought of transportation initially,” Wall said. He mentioned a previous ex-perience in which an interviewer asked him if he liked cars, planes and boats, as a credential for en-joying engineering.

Wall chose to come to Tech, over University of California, Berkeley, for his postgraduate work because of the Institute’s nationally competitive program in transportation engineering and once again, because of the friend-liness of the faculty and students in the program.

Wall plans to pursue a career as a college professor.

“[It’s] not only for the research aspect…but also the teaching as-

pect, [which] would be extremely rewarding and important,” Wall said.

Wall is also considering careers in consultancy and work in the public sector with the federal gov-ernment or the state Department of Transportation.

“[Tech’s] Fulbright recipients are not just going to learn in an-other country. They are also con-tributing their own knowledge,” said Karen Adams, interim direc-tor of Tech’s Fellowship Com-munication Program, in a press release.

As advice for students who aspire to the Fulbright, Wall rec-ommends having two to three months to produce a personal statement and a statement of grant purpose, but cannot underscore how helpful the support of his ad-visors and professors.

His process was initiated when he learned that the Fulbright ap-plies to engineering students, along with science students.

Wall believes the most reward-ing aspect of the Fulbright is that it is a vehicle for international re-search.

“It’s not just a one-way street of benefits for the US. It’s meant to be a two-way exchange between research in the US and research abroad. I think [many] of the EU’s policies can be applied with some reworking to the US, and there are good infrastructural management methods in the US that could be brought to the EU,” Wall said.

The board also offered Ful-bright scholarships to two other Tech students. Alice Wang, EE

‘10, and Hunter Causey, MS CE were recognized for their accom-plishments and aspirations for work in international research.

The youngest of the three Tech Fulbright Scholars, Wang plans to study computer applications to conflict resolution, creating a cul-mination of her engineering de-gree and her minors in Economics

and Law, Science and Technology.Meanwhile, Causey plans to

spend 10 months in Mongolia to study the effects of climate change on the Tuul River and its people, as his global outdoor adventures have allowed him to develop an appreciative desire to protect “one of the world’s most pristine river systems.”

Images courtesy of Georgia Tech Communications and Marketing

Thomas Wall is a Ph.D candidate in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering. One of his interests is infrastructure.

[email protected] Editor:Jennifer Aldoretta

Technique

9Friday,

June 18, 2010

By Robert SolomonStaff Writer

Like many who had seen the original, I was skeptical of this remake. Seriously, the origi-nal The Karate Kid is one of the great cheesy underdog movies of the 1980’s, largely due to the performances managing to perfectly straddle the line between over-the-top and sincere. Many attempts at duplicating this have failed, primarily due to the bet hedging in Hollywood these days. Thankfully, I can report that somehow, this remake manages this balance.

The new The Karate Kid tells a simple story about a newcomer being bullied by kids from a local dojo who works hard to learn martial arts from an unexpected teacher: the mainte-nance man in his local apartment building. After a long period of training where the kid learns the true meaning of martial arts, he faces his bullies at a big tournament, where he earns their respect by facing them.

Anyone seeing the original will not be sur-prised by a single plot point in this remake, for it is fundamentally identical. How it dif-fers in how the conflict is amplified by the combination of the altered setting (California to Beijing) and younger protagonist (who is 12, rather than 16). Seeing high school kids fighting in the original never seemed very be-lievable, but seeing 12-year-olds fight is noth-ing new, even if they are engaging in brutal displays of kung-fu.

From the very beginning, this version makes Dre’s plight clear by having him be completely decimated by the rival kung-fu school. The bruises are larger, the hits are

The Karate Kid

CITY SCENEPhoto by Chris Gooley/ Student Publications

Located at MODA (Museum of Design At-lanta), ON YOU 2 is an exhibition based on Clint Zeagler and Thad Starner’s Tech research in wearable technology. Garments on display were designed by both students and Zeagler and Tif-fany Teague. The exhibition focuses on fabric ma-nipulation interfaces and conductive thread em-broidery. Of the many designs, one that you can check out on YouTube is a pair of trousers that is pleated down the sides. The pleats are able to con-trol things such as mp3 player volume and website scrolling depending on which way the user pushes the pleats. For more info, visit gvu.gatech.edu.

ON YOU 2 exhibition

By Jennifer AldorettaEntertainment Editor

Little House at the FoxFor the remainder of the weekend, the long-

running television show Little House on the Prairie will be at the Fox Theatre in musical form. Little House on the Prairie: The Musical welcomes Melis-sa Gilbert (Laura in the original television series) making her come-back as “Ma” Ingalls. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the series, Little House on the Prairie is the story of a family that has newly-settled in the heart of a young America. It follows the family’s hardships and triumphs in their strange new home. The show will also star Steve Blanchard as “Pa” and Kara Lindsay as Lau-ra. Visit foxtheatre.org for more show info.

Aguilera reinvents with Bionic

By Chris ErnstStaff Writer

Bionic is Christina Aguilera’s fourth full-length English lan-guage album and her first in four years since 2006’s blast from the past, Back to Basics. At the time of its release, Back to Basics was completely different than anything Aguilera had done. Similarly, Bi-onic is just as reinventing. Running either 59 minutes or over 80 (de-pending on the different versions), Aguilera neither waffles nor wavers in her commitment to bringing a new side of herself to the world.

This is not just a concept she flirts with; she fully threw herself into it. She wanted to make some-thing she has passion for, some-thing she genuinely wants to do and wants to do well.

Bionic is completely different than any other album Aguilera has put out in the past. Less than half of the songs are inspired by R&B. The majority of the album is a tech-nological dancehall.

Think reggaeton as described by a computer. The album is like a sonic wall of sounds, which can definitely be overwhelming and disorienting for some. But after the initial shock wears off, there are so many details and lay-ers to hear. Even within one song, there are many riffs and instruments that make a quick appearance and then, just when the listener realizes it’s there, it’s gone. Listen to five seconds of “Bionic.”

This is such a great break to hear from a mainstream artist. So much music is so similar that by the end of a listen, it is easy to be singing along. This album is the opposite. It con-stantly moves within itself, making it hard to predict exactly what is next, but easy to recognize it when it comes.

Generally, when people imagine Christina Aguilera, most people pro-duce a picture of her pointing to the heavens while her sound of her voice is blasting through.

She is well known for her vocal gymnastics, something she does not completely break away from on Bionic but successfully keeps under control. She almost sounds uneasy singing such “easy” hooks.

However, there are a few songs where Aguilera lets a little loose. These are the R&B songs which are outnum-bered by the faster electronic songs. This handful of songs actually comes as a refreshing interlude.

They breathe a little humanity into an album otherwise filled with a very accompanied voice. The simplicity of these R&B songs juxtaposed with the computational chaos gives the listener a chance to breathe before the beat

machine cranks up again.People throw around the word

“reinvention,” but Aguilera really does it here, at least musically.

This album is totally different than any other music she has put out, aside from the material lead-ing up to it. It may not be wholly original, but this music done on the scale of such a huge artist is absolutely fantastic. Aurally, simi-lar sounds are floating around, but getting this variety and polish is re-ally quite unique.

The deluxe version of Bionic should be the only version released. Half of the good stuff is in the de-luxe version, including “Monday Morning,” “Bobblehead,” “Birds of Prey” and “Stronger than Ever.” These tracks along, with “Bionic” and “Elastic Love,” are the stand-out tracks. There are plenty of other good songs, and in fact, there are only a few misses, like the high-concept, low-execution “Sex for Breakfast.”

Bionic is one of the best albums to come along in a while from one of the best singers of this genera-tion. Did Whitney Houston ever explore this much? The album is controlled chaos and full of energy.

There is so much in this album because of the time and care with which it was produced. There are several writing perspectives it en-compasses, including Aguilera her-self, Sia, M.I.A. and Le Tigre. Bi-onic is a great listen and challenges other artists to rethink their sound, just as Aguilera did and does con-tinually.

MUSIC

Christina AguileraBionic

LABEL: RCA

GENRE: Pop, electro-pop

TRACK PICKS: “Bionic,” “Monday Morning” and “Bobblehead”

OUR TAKE: «««« ««

more painful and numerous, and there are few tears spared.

Dre’s rebellion is also amplified, with the natural rebellion of a 12-year-old culminat-ing in this film’s riff on the “wax-on, wax-off” motif. While less convincing from a physical standpoint, this film’s take is more clearly in-tegrated with the central theme of the movie, which is the learning of martial arts for per-sonal betterment, not to fight others.

Of all the actors in the movie, Jackie Chan probably has the toughest act to follow, as Pat Morita was the highlight of the original. Like Morita, Chan is known as a comedian, which makes his bumbling ineptitude more believ-able, even through the inevitable fight where Chan’s Mr. Han reveals his kung-fu skills. Even if Chan is not as effective, he certainly does not drag the film down.

Is the movie fun? Yes. Did the preview crowd I watched it with break into uproari-ous applause as Dre bettered his opponents during the kung-fu tournament? Yes, yes, yes. Despite this version’s 140 minute running time, The Karate Kid delivers best where it matters most.

It doesn’t hurt that Dre is much more con-vincing as a martial artist than you would ex-pect, primarily through his ability to perform physical feats that cannot be easily faked.

My suggestion is that if you watch this film, be prepared to accept it for what it is: an underdog summer movie, not an impar-tial examination of one boy’s plight in a for-eign land. Just roll with the narrative leaps, and enjoy it. There is far more to like than the cynical laughter of other summer action movies which shall remain nameless.

Jaden Smith plays “Dre” in this fun, summer-movie remake of the beloved ‘80s original

Images courtesy of Sony Pictures

10 • June 18, 2010 • Technique COMICS

NoN Sequitur by WileyPiled HigHer & deePer by Jorge Cham

Technique • June 18, 2010 • 11 COMICS

dilBert ® by SCott adamSNoN Sequitur by Wiley

[email protected] Editor:Alex Mitchell

Kid leaps into theaters Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan star in

a remake of the 1980’s cult-classic movie. Did it live up to the hype?49

Technique

12Friday,

June 18, 2010

Golf ends season with loss at NCAA Tournament

Photo by Joey Cerone / Student Publications

Kyle Scott hits a tee shot in the NCAA Finals. Scott shot a 69 on the tournament’s second day of play.

By Alex MitchellSports Editor

Following its third place finish at the Southeast Regional, the Tech golf team entered the NCAA finals as the No. 14 seed. The Jackets started slowly on Tues-day, June 1, and ended the tournament’s first day tied for No. 10. However, Tech played well enough on the tournament’s final two days to earn a spot in Friday’s match play. There, though, Tech ulti-mately fell to eventual national cham-pion Augusta State, 3-2.

The Jackets, making their No. 24 NCAA appearance since 1985, shot a two-over 290 on the first day, seven strokes behind the leaders.

Tech started off on the wrong foot, ending the first day at six-over-par. Tech was able to rebound on the back nine with low scores from juniors Paul Haley and John-Tyler Griffin.

Following a double bogey, Haley played the last 12 holes at four-under-par, including a six-hole stretch on the

front in which he ran off four birdies.Griffin, two-over after nine, was also

impressive on his back nine, posting three birdies to shoot a 71.

Haley continued his strong play on Wednesday by shooting a three-under 69, leading Tech into third place. The Jackets shot a six-under 282, but they were still ten strokes behind Florida State after two days.

On the final day of the tourna-ment, Tech shot a two-under 286, good enough to hold up third place for the tournament.

The Jackets started fast, recording four birdies at the first hole and got its tournament score to eight-under-par at one point on the front nine. However, Tech went six-over over for the tourna-ment’s final nine holes, and finished as the third-best team in stroke play, two shots ahead of Washington.

By virtue of finishing the stroke-play tournament in the top eight, Tech earned a spot in the match-play tourna-ment taking place that weekend to de-

termine the national champion. Tech, the No. 3 seed for match play, drew No. 6 Augusta State in the first round but fell to the Jaguars 3-2.

Haley was three holes down with seven to play, but he made two birdies to get within one stroke. However, Hal-ey was only able to halve the final hole, giving Newman a 1-up victory.

Tech junior Kyle Scott overcame a three-hole deficit with six to play, win-ning the final three holes to score a 1-up victory. Sophomore James White also won his match 2 and 1 to give the Jack-ets a 2-1 lead.

Senior Chesson Hadley’s match came down to the final hole, with Had-ley needing a win on the last hole to stay alive. Hadley canned a 30-foot putt for birdie to put the pressure on Patrick Reed. Reed would not falter and made his 15-foot birdie putt to halve the hole and have the match.

Griffin was defeated by his opponent 1-down, and with that the Jackets end-ed their season.

by Kyle ConarroStaff Writer

Three members of Tech’s track team competed in the NCAA Outdoor Championships this past week, traveling to Eugene, Ore. on June 9 to kick-off the four-day event. Seniors Alphonso Jordan and Steve Marcelle finished out their careers with quality performances, with Jordan finishing eighth overall in the triple jump and Marcelle coming in at No. 13 in the shot put. Sophomore Bianca Stew-art was also competing for the Jackets, finishing No. 15 in the high jump.

Jordan, who qualified for the event with a jump of 54 feet and four inches in the NCAA East Re-gion Championships, earned All-American honors for his eighth place finish.

“We are very proud of Alphonso, not only for what he accomplished this afternoon, but for all that he has accomplished during his career,” men’s Head Coach Grover Hinsdale said in an interview with ramblinwreck.com.

Marcelle’s No. 13 place finish came on a throw of 58 feet,6.75 inches, over a foot shorter than his qualifying throw of 59 feet, 10.5 inches. The senior ends his career as Tech’s all-time leader in shot put.

Stewart’s finish was also just short of her quali-fying performance, as she posted a mark of five feet, 7.75 inches to share the No. 13 spot. Her qualifying effort, a jump of five feet, 10 inches, was a career-best.

Baseball falls in NCAA regional

Photo by Joey Cerone / Student Publications

Alphonso Jordan finishes off a triple-jump in the sand at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.

Photo by Tim Nowack / Student Publications

Jacob Esch throws out a runner at first base in Monday’s elimination game against Alabama. Esch had three hits in five at-bats including an RBI single.

By Nishant PrasasdhOnline Sports Editor

Tech baseball’s hopes of reaching the College World Series came to an end in the first round of the postseason. Host-ing the Atlanta Regional for the second straight season, the Jackets won their first two games but dropped back-to-back contests against Alabama, falling in the double-elimination tournament that took place June 4-7.

The Jackets were the top seed in a four-team field that included No. 2 seed Alabama, No. 3 Elon and No. 4 Mercer.

After Alabama defeated Elon 11-2 in the opener on June 4, Tech took on a Mercer squad that was making its first NCAA Tournament appearance after winning the Atlantic Sun title. The Jackets had no trouble picking up the victory, performing well in all aspects of the game en route to a 10-0 victory.

Leading the way was sophomore

pitcher Mark Pope, who pitched the first complete-game shutout of his ca-reer. Pope needed just 110 pitches in go-ing the distance, allowing five hits and two walks while striking out 10.

“I never dreamed [Pope] would be able to go nine innings…but he kept his pitch count down and…[had] an outstanding performance,” said Head Coach Danny Hall.

At the plate, senior first baseman Tony Plagman had a stellar perfor-mance, going 5-for-5 with a pair of home runs and three RBI. His two homers gave him 55 for his career. Red-shirt senior left fielder Jay Dantzler and sophomore second baseman Jacob Esch also added home runs as Tech took its opener easily.

The following day began with an elimination game between Elon and Mercer, and the lower-seeded Mercer squad rode its lineup to a 13-7 victory, eliminating Elon from the field. That

evening, Tech and Alabama faced off, and the Jackets won 5-2 in one of the lowest-scoring contests of the weekend.

The key for Tech was once again a strong performance on the mound. This one came from junior right-hander Deck McGuire; the team’s longtime Friday starter pitched eight innings, al-lowing two runs on eight hits and two walks while striking out six.

Junior right fielder Chase Burnette went 3-for-4 with a solo homer, and Esch had another strong game, going 2-for-3 with three RBI.

“Many times in postseason play, it’s the guy you least expect to do the dam-age who comes up there and gets a big hit,” Hall said.

Alabama survived an elimination game against Mercer the following day, holding off the Bears 5-3 to eliminate Mercer from the tournament. That set up an evening rematch between the Tide and the Jackets, but this time it was Alabama that came out on top, 8-1.

The Tide jumped on Tech junior right-hander Brandon Cumpton in the first inning, scoring five runs.

“[Cumpton] wasn’t missing by a whole lot; the problem is when he was missing, he was missing high,” said ju-nior catcher Cole Leonida.

Meanwhile, the Tide got a strong pitching performance to key the victory. Left-hander Adam Morgan, a native of Marietta, Ga., pitched a complete game, allowing five hits and one walk while striking out nine. Tech’s only run came on a solo homer by sophomore third baseman Matt Skole.

With both teams facing elimination, it came down to a winner-take-all bat-tle on the night of Monday, June 7. In a game that was a shootout for several innings, Alabama rode a superb relief performance by junior right-hander Na-than Kilcrease to a 10-8 victory and a berth in the Super Regional round.

After allowing six early runs, the Tide turned to the 5-foot-6 Kilcrease. Working on two days’ rest, Kilcrease en-tered the game in the fourth inning and went the rest of the way for Alabama. Kilcrease threw 107 pitches, and despite allowing ten Tech baserunners he held the Jackets scoreless through the final five innings.

Three Jackets place at NCAA Championship