FEATURES
Five favorites
Every week, The State News presents five things going on in the world of pop culture that might make your life a little bit better.
BASKETBALL
Spartans having fun while sharing the basketball
Slowly but surely the Spartans are coming around. Riding a three-game winning streak, MSU has made a name for itself sharing the ball. And it's not just the point guard who has been the main distributor.
FEATURES
Number puzzle gains popularity
Crossword puzzles across campus are feeling spurned as more and more people turn to the number game Sudoku to tease their brains. The game that requires no math has become a staple in newspapers around the country, including The State News. It was reintroduced to the nation last spring, according to an article about the game in the current issue of American Scientist. Some students, such as accounting junior Sean Brennan, imported the game after spending the summer abroad. "I went to Ireland over the summer and they had that all over the newspapers," Brennan said, who now has a Sudoku day calendar and completes about two puzzles a day. Sudoku puzzles can usually take between 10 minutes and a half hour, depending on the puzzle's difficulty and player's skill, according to www.sudoku.com.
FEATURES
Jazz redefined
When you hear the word "jazz," what comes to mind? Smoky clubs in Chicago in the '50s?
FEATURES
Online dating won't work; Internet sites provide daters with false sense of status
A sick feeling hit my stomach all of a sudden. While sitting at my desk in my dorm room surfing the Web and eating an evening sandwich, I couldn't help but feel rather repulsed. The fact that I blew off studying for a test — MacGyver marathons get me every time — did not have an overall effect in deterring my appetite. I had just received a pop-up from www.AdultFriendFinder.com, the popular Web site with its home page indicating that it is in fact "the world's largest sex & swinger personals site." After nearly regurgitating the sandwich, I was caught off guard by the (ahem) revealing shots in the member profiles. Being a self-described rugged bachelor, I curiously decided to take a gander at what the site had to offer. Filled with thousands upon thousands of "sexually liberated members" with such names as "2HoT4u" or "BuTtErCup420," these swingers were more than willing to "hook up" or allow access to their "sexy webcam videos." Long walks on the beach need not apply.
COMMENTARY
Man's work revered, not sins in his past
I read David Garlock's letter, "Historical man not worth vast attention" (SN 1/19), with a distinct sense of déjà vu. Nothing he had to say was anything I hadn't heard before, usually from some "conservative" pundit with nothing else to write about when Martin Luther King Jr.
COMMENTARY
Capitol idea
For a long time, the State News editorial board has said that ASMSU needs to find a good way to get students' opinions on issues and get them involved. In fact, in "Unresolved issues," (SN 1/9), we said getting students involved with college funding and getting them to show up when their presence is needed was going to be a tough goal.
FEATURES
February usually brings film slump
It's that time of year again — the quality of new motion picture releases has been progressively dropping, and it's about to hit the low point.
ICE HOCKEY
MSU faces Ferris; Lerg named goalie of the week
After splitting a road series against Nebraska-Omaha last weekend, the No. 16 Spartans are back on home ice tonight against another run-and-gun, up-tempo team in Ferris State. "They skate very well.
MSU
Disabilities focus of IM project
Laura Hall looked around the myriad of athletic equipment in motion at IM Sports-West's fitness center Saturday afternoon. The second-year social work graduate student, who uses a wheelchair, had never exercised using the center's facilities before. "I never thought they were accessible," she said.
NEWS
Beer pong on city's table
East Lansing officials want to stamp out disruptive drinking games in city neighborhoods. "It's one thing for these games to be played in bars; it's another thing to have them going on in the front lawns of residential neighborhoods," Deputy City Manager Jean Golden said. The city's police have noticed an increase in the number of drinking games being played outdoors this year, and those games create noise problems, police Chief Tom Wibert said.
COMMENTARY
Stating their rights
Most of us entered life with help from the nimble and licensed hands of medical professionals. Oregon voters believe that medical assistance for patients who desire suicide should be available as well, despite attempts by the federal government to outlaw the practice. And it should be the voters' choice, not the federal government's. The state approved the Death with Dignity Act in 1994 and affirmed it in 1997.
MICHIGAN
Coalition works to gain school funds
A proposal which would guarantee yearly funding increases equal to inflation for all public schools, including community colleges and Michigan's public universities, has received significant support from voters across the state. The K-16 Coalition for Michigan's Future has collected about 300,000 signatures supporting its proposal, according to the group's spokesman Ken MacGregor. The number of signatures required for a proposal to appear on the November ballot as a ballot initiative is 254,206.
MSU
MSU prof returns to India for quail project
By Erin Atkinson Special for The State News MSU professor Sam Varghese will return to South India on Friday to study the effects of his educational work with tsunami victims. Varghese, an animal science professor, has been aiding tsunami victims since learning his hometown of Kerala, South India, was affected by the 2004 storm.
FEATURES
'Muslim World' surprises; falls short with humor, intelligence
The title sums up the whole plot — "Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World" is about just that.
COMMENTARY
Lazy analysis of scandal, government spending gives narrow view
Big debates are often inspired by simple and fundamental questions. What is the purpose of government?
NEWS
Spartans serve as surrogate siblings
Ten-year-old Fatae Beasley held a neon orange bowling ball in his hand and shuffled down the lane at a Lansing bowling alley. He watched as his ball knocked down all 10 pins and celebrated his first-ever strike by high-fiving his mentor, zoology senior Bryan Voss. "How does it feel?" Voss asked. "Fun," Fatae said, smiling. Fatae and Voss spent Sunday evening bowling and shooting pool together at Holiday Lanes, 3101 E.
MICHIGAN
Cell phone collection event rescheduled
Liberty Tax Service offices in the Lansing area canceled last Saturday's event to collect old cell phones due to bad weather conditions. The company will trade in the donated cell phones for cash, which will pay for 60-minute calling cards for soldiers in Iraq.
NEWS
Alliance announces minority program
A new four-university alliance will provide summer study and undergraduate research opportunities to increase the role minority students play in Michigan's engineering and science fields. The schools — including MSU, the University of Michigan, Wayne State University and Western Michigan University — announced the formation of a Michigan-based Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation program at a press conference Monday in Detroit. To achieve its goal, the alliance will make new opportunities available for students before their first year of college, said Levi Thompson, a chemical engineering professor at U-M. The universities will hold summer pre-first-year programs for students enrolled in the alliance.
MICHIGAN
Bandit arrested, linked to 6 Mich. robberies
Local police and FBI agents are investigating to see if the man who robbed an Okemos bank Friday is the "Michael Moore bandit." An armed man drove away in a gray 1990s BMW after robbing National City Bank, 2260 Jolly Oak Road, at about 1 p.m.