Sure the Sox's amazing postseason is old news now, but it's never too soon to start planning postseason celebrations for next year ... or 2090.
By now everyone knows the big news from Tuesday's election: President Bush will continue to be our president for the next four years. What we must not overlook in the process of analyzing the minutiae of the election is the 11 anti-gay marriage amendments that passed by state referenda across the country.
After the real-life ups and downs of World Series Wednesday and Election Tuesday, it's finally time for the kitschy fakeness of "O.C." Thursday.
No student can deny that it is not fun to have to get up, get dressed, and trek all the way across campus for an 8:25 a.m. class. Imagine how easy life would be if all it took was the click of a mouse to get there.
Rachel Geylin is a freshman who has not declared a major. She became interested in photography during her senior year of high school, when she was yearbook editor-in-chief. This photo was taken Columbus Day Weekend at the Union Square Farmers' Market in New York City.
A journey back to ancient China now requires a trip no farther than a stone's throw away to Salem, where two recent exhibits allow visitors to step back in time to the days of the Qing dynasty.
After pouring hours, sleepless nights, and nonstop months into the 2004 presidential campaign, I sit back and ponder ... Why did Kerry lose?
Let me tell you what Marcus Banks looks like running an offense in person: Even faster, even more out of control, and even more confused than he looks on TV. I know this because last year my roommate and I spent $25 to go to a Boston Celtics game, where we sat in the upper deck and steadily made our way down to the good seats. The closer we got to the court, the easier it was to see that Banks was dribbling the ball at chest level like a seventh grader as he raced down the court with absolutely no clue of what to do or how to run an offense.
The Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate and the Green Cab Association are finalizing an agreement to give Tufts students a flat rate for rides to the airport this December.
Just because our country didn't elect a new President doesn't mean that Tufts shouldn't. While Larry Bacow hasn't done a horrible job as President, he hasn't done a great one either. During his short tenure at Tufts, Bacow has ruined the Naked Quad Run, cancelled last year's Spring Fling, failed to improve Tufts' national ranking in "U.S. World News and Report," killed our social life, never told us a funny joke and, most damningly, refused to give a thumbs up to the crowds outside his house after the Red Sox won the World Series and the ALCS.
In a campaign marked by countless awareness campaigns and registration drives, including P. Diddy's "Vote or Die" crusade, young voters responded in force Tuesday.
The Dean of Student's Office announced yesterday that Tufts has joined a pilot program with CDigix, a company that allows students to legally download music onto their computers for the duration of the school year. Music will be available for download starting today but CDigix follows a "subscription model," meaning the songs students download onto their computers will expire when the school year ends. Students "renting" songs for free through the CDigix service will not be able to download them onto portable devices, like MP3 players, or to burn them onto CDs. "The service allows students to download the songs on up to three computers, which must be either a desktop or laptop," Dean of Students Bruce Reitman said. "There are some pretty small laptops out there, though, so portability is still possible." In order to have ownership of songs, students will have to pay $0.89 per song. Students who purchase songs will be able to put them on MP3 players and on burn them on CDs. Reitman said song prices would fluctuate according to supply and demand. "We looked at a lot of services and this seems like a good market rate," he said. The popular iTunes music downloading service currently charges $0.99 per song. More than 20 universities currently have downloading contracts, about half of them with Napster. Wake Forest, Duke, and Yale are among the other universities enlisted with CDigix. "The catalogues of available music were very similar among the different services and they now number over 900,000 [songs]," Reitman said. "We looked at a lot of companies and what it comes down to is that CDigix is the best deal." The University began looking at music downloading services at the beginning of the summer and the final subscription deal was made possible by an anonymous donor. The details of the donation are unavailable at this time, but Reitman said the University will share some of the program's cost. "The University does have some costs, but we are [beneficiaries] of this donor and we are very grateful," Reitman said. Tufts has set up subscriptions to the service for 6,900 students, including all students in School of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering on the Medford/Somerville campus, both undergraduate and graduate. Because the service is tied to access through University identification numbers and e-mail addresses, students do not have to live or be on campus in order to use the service. But some students will still be left out of the deal. As senior Andrew Bonaventure pointed out in an e-mail to Reitman, students using Apple computers cannot access CDigix. "The fact that I am a Mac user excludes me from this service since it requires Windows-exclusive versions of Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player," Bonaventure's e-mail said. Reitman's e-mail to the student body addressed this issue. "I am sorry to say that there are no services that serve both Windows and Apple platforms - so we had to choose one platform and went with Windows since more than 80 percent of you use PCs," he wrote. Bonaventure proposed the iTunes Campus service, which he claims is supported by both Macs and PCs. He also warned CDigix requires using the Internet Explorer browser, which the University warned last spring leaves users open to viruses. Reitman said Tufts looked into iTunes Campus but found that it was not a financially feasible option for Tufts. "[While] iTunes is certainly attractive, it would cost a fortune," Reitman said. "It is not even in the same ballpark." Reitman also said iTunes offered the University no special deal, as other downloading programs did. "You could call up iTunes and get the exact same rate individually that we would get as a university." The University's agreement with CDigix allows for a pilot period lasting through the academic year, "with the option of extending service through the summer," Reitman said. At the end of this pilot period, the University will decide whether to continue the service, depending on any changes in the recording industry and music technology. "It is hard to predict what this industry will be like at the end of the pilot period," Reitman said. "This stuff is changing so fast." According to an article on Businesswire.com, the service is extremely popular at Purdue University, which recently joined CDigix. "Roughly 150,000 songs were downloaded in the first week that the [CDigix] service was launched with more than 2,000 subscription sign ups thus far. This translates into nearly 20,000 songs per day from Purdue students," the article said. But students at Wake Forest have hardly used their subscriptions to CDigix. Freshman Tom Haberstro said he was not aware of the program's existence. "If it is available for students, I have never seen it in use," he said. Starting this month, CDigix will be available to any student with an ".edu" e-mail address, BusinessWire reported. Students not enrolled in a CDigix school must pay $5.99 per month and $0.89 per download. The movement toward university file-sharing deals was spurred mostly by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), by which schools can be held legally responsible for students who repeatedly download files without paying for them. A report issued by the Joint Committee of Higher Education and the Entertainment Committee to Congress said students at more than 35 universities have been sued for illegal downloading. Reitman said Tufts has disciplined students for engaging in illegal file sharing but has not received any subpoenas from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), which monitors illegal downloads. "TCCS [Tufts Computing and Communications Services] uses a system that can pursue complaints given to the school by the RIAA," leading to hundreds of cases a year, Reitman said. First-time offenders are given a warning and second-time offenders lose their Tufts Internet accounts, limiting their use of the Tufts network to public places, such as the library, and excluding them from residential access. There are "about two dozen" instances of this disciplinary action every year, Reitman said. "The University is in the business of promoting ethical behavior among our students," he said. "This service protects the Tufts networks and gives us an opportunity to teach ethical behavior." According Samuel Haldman, assistant to the associate vice provost at Pennsylvania State, his university signed onto Napster's refurbished subscription service because "the best way [to combat the problem] is to give [students] an alternative in an indirect manner, let them see this is better," he said. "Everybody's getting royalties." But some Tufts students doubt the University's subscription to CDigix will curb illegal downloads. "I honestly think people are going to download illegally anyway, and the fact that it gets erased after you're not in school anymore makes people lazier in downloading music," sophomore Stacy Davidowitz said.
Maureen Dowd and the latest presidential subject of her writing, George W. Bush, share an uncanny ability to polarize large groups of Americans. Readers either love The New York Times columnist or they hate her. In order to get a taste of this polarization, one need only cruise over to the Maureen Dowd online discussion board at the Time's homepage. What once was a slingshot battle of words has escalated into an all out war zone with its own collection of spamming looters, brave Dowdist foot soldiers, and even braver Times insurgents. It's a rough, rugged world in the midst of cyberspace, unmatched by any other columnist's discussion board. People are being kicked off and essentially picked off by the invisible hand of the almighty New York Times moderator. So why all the fuss? Dowd - the somewhat controversial winner of a Pulitzer for her work on the Bill Clinton sexcapades - writes an entertaining and oftentimes intriguing column for the Times. She's responsible for such fine lines as "Bubba eye for the Brahmin guy" and "Iraq is a vision of hell, and the Republicans act as if it's a model kitchen." Recently, she authored her first book, "Bushworld," about her experiences covering both Bush presidencies. Because her columns are so deliciously readable, Dowd commands an enormous audience - as evidenced by the new home "Bushworld" has found amidst the cuddly confines of the NY Times bestseller list. And in recent months, her columns may have even caught one John Kerry's eye. After weeks and weeks of Dowd pounding the point home that Kerry should fight off third party threats to his Vietnam record, the presidential nominee - finally awakening from his swift boat slumber - shot back at his opponent with some censure of his own. While her observations are undeniably astute and witty, Dowd is often accused of writing some frighteningly light pieces on foreign policy and homeland security - issues that might not merit such trivializing commentary. According to a number of her critics, Dowd's cute catchphrases and movie metaphors, while adding color to issues that typically appear in shades of gray, are often insufficient surrogates for the facts. Still others scorn Dowd for refusing to recognize the consequences of her barbs; they claim that the writer has served as an unwitting missile for Democratic Party targets. Both of these criticisms caught up with Dowd during last week's "A Conversation with Maureen Dowd" at the JFK Library. Three-quarters of the way through the event, a man approached the microphone and asked whether Dowd had entertained any second thoughts about some petty remarks that she had made about Al Gore during his bid for the presidency in 2000. The man was alluding to the charge that by concentrating on Gore's personality flaws rather than the merits of his policies, Dowd had contributed to the electoral success of George W. Bush. Dowd, who offered the man a sensible defense, was correct in responding, "I don't see it as my job to build up politicians." And as George W. Bush will certainly attest, the columnist attacks Democrats and Republicans with equal fervor. However, I would take a slightly different approach and argue that although it isn't Dowd's job to worship the current occupant of the presidential throne, she does have an obligation to be coherent and sensible in her arguments. In other words, she shouldn't jibe just for the sake of jibing. Yet, time and time again, that's exactly what Dowd does. Take her May 27 commentary "Marquis de Bush?" on a speech that Al Gore gave at New York University, in which the former vice president called for the resignations of six major players in the Bush administration (including Donald Rumsfeld and Condoleezza Rice). In it, Dowd casually dismisses Gore and Howard Dean as members of the "wackadoo wing of the Democratic Party." To be sure, Gore has certainly had his share of disingenuous moments in the past. However, this particular speech of his was a stirring denunciation of the Bush administration. If anyone, it should have been Dowd to defend Gore's boldness, which in fact was a source of fresh air in the midst of the stale, dead heat of this 2004 presidential campaign. But Dowd did not stop there. After dismantling Gore, she then took it upon herself to attack the Kerry Democrats, claiming that the Democratic nominee would be better off skipping out on his own campaign acceptance speech because conventioneers would be "dulled to distraction by Kerry." Dowd, who never seems satisfied without a Dubya diss somewhere in the middle of her prose, caps off the column with: "Mr. Bush's speech about the Iraqi makeover, as he wore all that makeup, couldn't even pre-empt the more convincing makeovers on "The Swan" on Fox." At the time, a good portion of these remarks (except of course the line about Bush) did indeed serve as Republican fodder for President Bush's campaign. However, this didn't bother me as much as the fact that the writer had reduced the most important election of my lifetime into a mere exercise in vanity. I guess the question that I would pose to Ms. Dowd is this: if Gore, Kerry, Bush and Dean are all wrong; then who is right? Somehow, I think that in the columnist's heavily editorialized world, it doesn't make a whiff of difference.Ian Sands is a senior majoring in political science.
The fall intramural season is coming to a close, but the fun is hardly over as the playoffs are rapidly approaching. Playoffs for most intramural sports will take place this week and next. Determining eligibility for playoffs varies by league and sport from a minimum of five to two wins per team. So far, the intramural season has been successful. With over 70 different teams playing in eight leagues in four sports, it is clear that intramural sports are popular with Tufts students. Additions like open soccer nights on the turf field, softball tournaments and new sports are testaments to the fact that the program is expanding successfully. The season has also been a learning experience in determining the intramural wants of the community. Intramural coordinator Cheryl Milligan said there are areas that could use improvement. "We are trying to continue making IM a legitimate competitive outlet," Milligan said. "And there are certainly bumps." The biggest problem fall sports teams have faced is forfeits. Forfeits involve either one or both teams not showing up to a game or simply giving up in the middle of the match. Forfeits are "a big drag for everyone involved," Milligan said. Many teams achieve their wins through forfeits and this counts the same as a hard fought battle in the standings. In flag football, 11 out of 33 games were decided by forfeit. In basketball only eight games were decided by forfeit, but soccer experienced almost a quarter of games ending in forfeit. As an incentive to discourage forfeiting in intramural sports, in upcoming seasons teams may be cut after their first forfeit. The only other issue is the difficulty in getting referees for the games. "We struggle with getting and keeping good refs," Milligan said. "[This is] something we are looking to alleviate with some programming going on now." All the basketball games have been refereed, while fewer than half the football games have had referees. Soccer and volleyball games are not refereed, but it has not been detrimental to the success of the games. The standings are as follows: In flag football, the Sunday Grass League playoffs will take place this Sunday, while the Tuesday Turf League playoffs will occur some time after Nov. 16. In the grass league Dyno-mite Dental is currently in first with a 5-1-0 record. The Kings of Sowee and the Odontoblasts are tied for second with records of 4-1. The Winthrop Convicts and Shiites are in third at 3-2. Dun nun nunt and T3 are currently fourth in the standings with two wins each and the Apples are currently fifth with one win. In the turf league, The Franchise and E-Men United have 3-0 records as of Tuesday and they both share the top seed in the turf league with three sets of games still to play until the playoffs. The Pretty Ponies are next at 2-1. The Veterans and Dem Apples are heading to the playoffs Nov. 8 in the Monday indoor soccer league. Both teams share a perfect 5-0 record. In second are FC International and Jug A Wines with one win each. On Nov. 2 the playoffs for the Tuesday indoor soccer league will be held. The Tufts Guys and FC International will play each other in game one and Simon from England and Rufio will play each other in game two. The winner of each game will play in the championship. The winners were unknown at press time. The teams that qualified for the playoffs in the Wednesday indoor soccer league have not been announced but currently Burdlobster and Dearborn are in first place with a perfect 4-0 record. Everton FC and Schuster round out second with 3-2 records. There still remain two sets of games to play until playoffs. Playoffs for the Monday Recreational Basketball League will be held Nov. 8 and School Bus is dominating the competition with a 5-0 record. Zeta Psi, Fletcher 2, and Geezers+1 are in second with 3-2 records. By Nov. 18, participants in the Wednesday Competitive Basketball League will know if they made playoffs, but it looks like Too Easy is a shoe-in for the championship with a perfect 4-0 record. Tufts Baseball and SPF are closing in, however, with two wins apiece. In Volleyball, two sets of games remain until playoffs are held on Nov. 16. So far, Big Freshie, Isotopes and the E-Men are in first with 4-0 records. In second is Olmo, 3-1 and in third are Puerto Rican DT, Giannattsio and Huang each with two wins.
Bryan McDavitt, Football Sophomore Bryan McDavitt formed the cornerstone of a Tufts defense that shut down the undefeated Amherst Lord Jeffs 10-3 in Amherst on Saturday. The defensive back and punter had six total tackles on the day, two of which counted for losses of 13 yards. He recorded a sack for a loss of 11 yards that resulted in a fumble and Jumbo field goal to open the day's scoring, as well as defending three passes on the day. Late in fourth quarter action with Tufts protecting a 10-3 lead, McDavitt broke up an Amherst pass on the Tufts 15 yard line that would have tied the game had the Lord Jeffs completed the play. Amherst, which had averaged 33.8 points and 421 yards a game entering the clash, was limited to just 221 yards on offense in its second consecutive loss in two seasons to the Jumbos. With his foot, McDavitt also averaged 37.1 yards per kick in nine punts. The Holden, Mass. native has seen limited action on the defensive side this fall, with six of his 18 total tackles coming in Saturday's game. For his efforts, McDavitt was named NESCAC Defensive Player of the Week.Lea Napolitano, Field Hockey Junior tri-captain Lea Napolitano got it done offensively for the field hockey team yesterday.In the opening round of the NESCAC Tournament at Wesleyan, Napolitano scored both goals in the Jumbos' 2-0 shutout of the Wesleyan Cardinals, leading Tufts to a semifinal appearance next weekend at Middlebury. At 18:30 into the first half, Napolitano scored what turned out to be the game winner, receiving a cross from senior tri-captain Dana Panzer to the left and hammering it home for the goal. Just 1:03 later, the Waltham, Mass. native found the back of the cage again, this time rushing solo from midfield to the circle and beating out Wesleyan goalie Caitlin Kelly for the second time in as many tries. The two goals give Napolitano six on the season, second to Panzer's 12. She is also second on the Jumbo roster with five assists, giving her 17 total points. Napolitano led the Jumbos with six goals last fall, while she scored one during her freshman campaign in 2002. The Jumbos will be hoping for similar offensive contributions this Saturday against a high-powered 14-0 Middlebury team that has allowed just 14 goals against all season, compared to 69 goals for.
At 10 p.m. last night, it was d?©j? vu all over again for the 34th Middlesex District when newly elected state representative Carl Sciortino ran into Orleans in Davis Square, stood on top of a chair and announced his victory to cheers from the crowd. Less than two months before, Sciortino claimed victory over 16-year incumbent Vincent Ciampa in the same way, but a write-in challenge from Ciampa made Sciortino's win in the general election yesterday uncertain. "I just have to say thank you, from the bottom of my heart," Sciortino told an overwhelmingly supportive crowd that moments earlier had booed live news footage of President George W. Bush and cheered whenever states were declared for John Kerry. "We have a lot to be proud of," Sciortino said. "I hope I make you proud." Sciortino said the final vote tally was uncertain as of last night, but that the victory was "overwhelming." Ciampa's write-in campaign had been characterized by a number of mailings that said Sciortino was an "anti-Catholic extremist" and "militant homosexual activist." The mailings were sponsored by the conservative Parents Rights Group. Sciortino told the Daily last week that he considered the mailings "despicable hate mail." "We stayed positive, we stayed focused every step of the way," Sciortino said to the crowd gathered at Orleans. "We ran a respectful campaign." "I look forward to working with [Medford] Mayor [Michael McGlynn] and [Somerville] Mayor [Joe] Curtatone," and all levels of local government, Sciortino said. He pledged to make sure that "every family in Massachusetts is protected, fought for, and defended." Earlier in the day, supporters of both Sciortino and Ciampa held signs at polling places in Medford and Somerville. Ciampa's signs urged voters to "stick with" him, in a nod to the stickers he sent to voters in hopes they would be placed in the write-in space on the ballot. On their way into the polls, some voters could be seen holding the sticker books Ciampa had sent out. Before stepping down from his makeshift stage, Sciortino urged bar patrons to stay at Orleans and cheer on Kerry. Sciortino won the Sept. 14 primary by 93 votes.
This weekend was possibly the best yet for college football fans: Five teams in the top 25 were upset, while other top teams barely squeaked by in order to keep their dreams of a bowl game alive. BIG GAME BREAKDOWN: The biggest shocker of the weekend occurred when the unranked North Carolina Tarheels stunned the undefeated and third-ranked Miami Hurricanes, by a count of 31-28. With a record of just 3-4 coming into the game, no one thought that the Tarheels would have a shot against the third best team in the country. With the scoring going back and forth throughout the game, UNC pulled ahead 28-21, with less than 11 minutes remaining. Many didn't think that Miami would be able to respond, but with 2:25 left the Hurricanes' Devin Hester, the one who has been known for pulling the 'Canes back into games throughout the season, ran for an 11-yard touchdown. It looked as though the game would go to overtime. But UNC pulled off a great two minute drill, driving 65 yards on nine plays and setting up field goal kicker Connor Barth with a perfect opportunity to win it. Barth set up for a 42-yard field goal, kicked, and, as time expired, UNC began the celebration. A main factor in UNC's success was the fact that its offense was running on all cylinders. The Tarheels balanced both its air and land attacks, amassing 266 passing yards and 279 rushing yards for a total of 545 yards, a solid 130 better than the Hurricanes. The key difference in the contest, though, was the running game. UNC tailback Chad Scott tooled on the Miami D, putting up 175 rushing yards on 25 carries, to go with his two touchdowns. Miami on the other hand, only had 77 yards on the ground, with no single rusher gaining more than 30. With this devastating loss, Miami is most likely out of the hunt for the BCS title game, and drops to number ten in the rankings. Elsewhere, the second-ranked Oklahoma Sooners were helped by an Oklahoma State field goal miss as time expired, holding on by a count of 38-35. No. 5 Florida State succumbed to unranked opponent Maryland, 20-17, suffering its second loss of the season. The No. 11 Michigan Wolverines overcame a 17 point fourth quarter deficit to defeat Michigan State in three overtimes, 45-37. With only a few games remaining in the season, the top five teams in the standings are now USC, Oklahoma, Auburn, Wisconsin, and Georgia. The remaining undefeated squads in the top 25 are No. 8 Utah and No. 15 Boise State. FLORIDA FLUKE: Considered by most experts to be among the elite football programs in the country, Miami, Florida, and Florida State did something almost unheard of on Saturday: They all lost on the same day. In addition to Miami's loss to UNC, Florida fell to Georgia and Florida State was knocked off by Maryland. The last time all three teams lost on the same day? Oct. 14, 1978.PLATINUM PLAYAS OF THE WEEK: The offensive platinum ball goes to Michigan freshman quarterback Chad Henne. Henne completed 24 of 35 passes for 273 yards and four touchdowns, three of which were thrown to his favorite target, Braylon Edwards. Henne and the Wolverines came back and defeated in-state rival Michigan State in three overtimes. Instead of a defensive platinum ball this week, I'm going to give it to the ballsiest call of the week. With his Baylor team down 34-33 in overtime against the number 17 Texas A&M Aggies, coach Guy Morriss did something almost no coach would do: He decided to go for the do-or-die two-point conversion. And do he did. Baylor converted the two points and upset the Aggies, 35-34. "I had a gut feeling that it was the right thing to do at that point to drive the nail in the coffin," Morriss said. "We wanted to teach our kids how to drop the hammer on someone."@jump:see CFBALL, page ??
"Dance Dance Revolution" may be the most recognizable arcade series ever. It's hard to ignore the spectacle of someone dancing on a giant controller to vicious staccato rhythm. Game developer Konami has turned this game into a huge franchise, with more than 40 incarnations at the arcade and at home. It's fast and frenetic - an aerobic workout with a scoreboard. And at long last, it isn't the only kid on the block. Nintendo has come out with its own rhythm game for the GameCube: "Donkey Konga." Combining the familiar match-the-rhythm-of-popular-songs theme with Donkey Kong and a clever controller, Nintendo has come up with a winner. As the music plays, symbols advance from right to left across the screen. As they hit your target, you must play the appropriate note by drumming or clapping to the music (the drums have a built-in microphone to hear your claps). On screen, Donkey Kong mirrors your drums and claps. The game and graphics are simple, but after seeing one person play, you can't help but want to try it out yourself. And it's fun. Surprisingly fun. As anyone who's played other rhythm games can attest, it's much more entertaining than it sounds. The game boasts a wide variety of music, from Blink 182's "All the Small Things" and Santana's "Oye Como Va" to "Hungarian Dance No. 5 in G Minor" and the theme music from Super Mario Brothers. But Nintendo saved substantial money by recording covers rather than getting the rights to the original recordings . Regardless, the selection of 33 different songs is fantastic. Some-one deserves a promotion for putting the Crystal Method's "Busy Child" alongside The Supreme's "You Can't Hurry Love." There are five separate modes: Street Performance, DK Arcade, Battle, Challenge and Jam Session. Street Performance is the main single-player game in which you choose what song you want to play and try to earn a passing score. Players can choose among three difficulty levels (Monkey, Chimp and Gorilla) and high scores here earn coins that can be used to unlock higher difficulty levels, special sound sets, and mini games in the DK Arcade. The mini games are nothing special - one, for example, is a simple Whack-A-Mole game - but they offer a break from the constant musical barrage. There's also a special Jam version in which the note symbols are hidden; players can only pass each song by memorizing the notes from the regular mode. This feature will seem unnecessary to all but the most committed drummers, but it does ensure that there are always challenges left to conquer. However, "Donkey Konga" sells itself best in the multiplayer mode: you might feel goofy slapping a pair of plastic drums by yourself, particularly on some of the sillier songs that incorporate kid-friendly fare like "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" and "Bingo." What better way is there to reassure yourself that this is a normal, healthy activity than to drag some friends with you? The best multiplayer option is the Battle mode, in which you take on a human opponent to see who can score the most points during a single song. Rather than giving each player the same notes to play, however, the game switches the rhythm back and forth between you and your opponent, forcing you to pay attention to each other throughout the match. There are various opportunities to punish your opponent and reduce their score, leading to plenty of close matches and howling losses. The Challenge and Jam Session modes are available for single or multiple players, but they're likely to be the least popular parts of the game. The game doesn't include a tournament option, but it's easy to organize one yourself. With two sets of bongos and a roomful of friends, the Battle mode can keep you entertained for quite a while. The obvious limiting factor to the game is the number of songs. If you become sick of the game's 33 songs, you won't want to play anymore. A sequel to the game is already available in Japan. If it does well here, expect a low-priced follow-up that has more songs. The real problem here is cost. At $50 for the game and a set of bongos, "Donkey Konga" is priced like any other new game. However, as the game truly shines with some friends, which requires extra bongos going for $30, you're looking at an $80 investment to set up your own "Donkey Konga" tournament. That may be a bit steep for many gamers, particularly since the bongos do not work with any other games on the market (the forthcoming "Donkey Kong Jungle Beat" won't be out in the U.S. until next year). If you already own and enjoy "Dance Dance Revolution," the expense may not be justified. But if you've never owned a rhythm game, this is a great one to pick up.
Most, if not all, Tufts students have downloaded music onto their computer. Napster came onto the internet scene nearly six years ago and transformed the way college students listen to music. New music can be discovered more cheaply and easily, and the emergence of mp3 players allows students to have even more portable music. Downloading legally, however, has not always been so easy. Legal avenues to download music are fairly recent, and have yet to become as widespread as Kazaa or Napster originally were in their day. The University issues warning to students sharing illegal material, and can revoke a student's internet account after a second offence. But, students only stop sharing their music and continue to download illegally. Students who download files typically don't think of it as an illegal act. It's simply the easiest -- and cheapest -- way to listen to new music or rediscover songs long forgotten about. Illegal downloading continues because there is no viable, free alternative. The University's new partnership with CDigix, announced yesterday by Dean of Students Bruce Reitman, is a welcome change for students. It is constructive progress made by the University. Instead of simply punishing students for downloading music, it gives them a legal alternative. CDigix is far from perfect. Its incompatibility with Mac computers leaves out nearly 20 percent of the student body. Macs are rising in popularity with students, and the administration should take this into account when choosing new technology for the campus. The program does not allow students to burn mp3s onto CDs or to mp3 players, either. Playing music on the computer is convenient, but many now expect to listen to songs on portable mp3 players, like the iPod. Students must now change their listening habits -- they can download as many songs as they like, but only buy the ones they want to hear all the time. It's a bit of a setback to the pre-mp3 age, but still gives the breadth of music genres students expect. If students do decide to purchase a song, how much money will actually go to the artist? A common argument for illegal downloading says that most of the money made from record sales goes to the record label. If CDigix is to allow students to find new artists via downloading, it should ensure that any proceeds benefit the artists themselves and not a corporation. CDigix's experience with other universities lends hope that it will succeed on the Tufts campus. Students may initially be wary of the fact that they can access, but not own, songs. But, college students can adapt quickly and a free, legal rental program will probably not be easy to turn down. If Tufts wants to stop all illegal downloading, however, it should find a database of movies and television shows for students to download as well. Video downloads have greatly increased in popularity, even though some files are bootlegs of poor quality. Others, of DVD quality, allow some students to avoid paying high movie ticket prices or from buying their own copies. It will probably be a while until we see a video download site akin to iTunes. Until then, students who are interested in staying legitimate should use CDigix. It allows for easy downloading, without the threat of disciplinary action by the University or outside legal authorities. Congratulations to the University for putting in the time and effort to find students an alternative for their music downloads.
I like to work out, and consider myself a fairly knowledgeable person when it comes to exercise. But one thing about which I willingly admit my ignorance is why girls refuse to lift weights.Not to be conceited, but I definitely have one of the better female bodies in the gym. I have more muscle tone than most girls, but I am also pretty cut. So it drives me nuts when another female gym-goer comes up to me and asks me how much cardio I do to maintain my low body fat. When I tell her I don't do cardio that often, and that I prefer the weights to the treadmills, she looks at me like I just tried to put a hex on her sick aunt. Please tell girls that weights are good. - Frustrated Junior on Emory St. Yes, I too am fed-up with females thinking that picking up a weight will result in a comic-book like transformation from femininity to a raging green behemoth. So, on that note, I'm going to comment on a couple of mistakes people make when going to the gym to burn fat. Want more information? E-mail me at ian.asaff@tufts.edu or pick up a TPPP card in the gym and e-mail francis.otting@tufts.edu. Ok, here we go ... Lifting weights is okay for females to do. You ladies (and I shudder to imagine the number of times this same thought has appeared in this column) do not have the hormone levels to get "hyooooge." In fact, your levels are a fraction of what males walking around the gym possess ... and look at them. The vast majority of guys you see in the gym aren't even close to "hyoooooge," even though they are trying their damndest to get there. So, weight lifting will not result in a bulky, blockified look. Instead, it will increase your metabolism, which will result in more calories burned throughout the day, which can lead to fat loss. Weight lifting will also increase your energy levels, maybe even allowing you to stay awake in that boring art history class which punctually puts you to sleep every Monday and Wednesday at two. Bottom line is, if you're serious about getting in shape and losing weight/toning up/just getting healthy, then you need to incorporate weight training into your fitness routine. A phenomenon I've seen lately is something I'll call "cardio hopping." Basically, a person will go from Stairmaster to treadmill to elliptical to treadmill and back, combining all these different machines for a total of 37 hours of cardio in a single sitting. First of all, this is excessive. A cardio session needn't last more than an hour, and even an hour is pushing the limits of your body's ability to combat overuse injuries (stress fractures, shin splints, joint problems, frayed ligaments, etc.). Obviously, there are exceptions. But marathons and other endurance events are infrequent for this very reason. Secondly, it's no wonder you are able to spend all this time on the machines when your form is bad. Yes, amazingly enough, people have found ways to cheat when doing cardio. How? Well, they do pretty much the same thing that people do when cheating while lifting weights. First of all, try making sure you go through the entire range of motion (this applies primarily to the stair-steppers, whose tiny little up-down-up-down steps on the Stairmaster would make a gnome's stride look like Yao Ming's). It's called a Stairmaster because it's supposed to simulate climbing the STAIRS. So move your feet as if you're climbing them, not as if you are stepping over anthills. The second thing I see is called "the drape." This happens when you are so tired, so beat, so dead to the freakin' world that you drape yourself over the cardio apparatus in order to keep from collapsing. So, while your lower body pedals/steps/elliptisizes at a frantic pace, your upper body is comfortably lounging on the handles, perhaps reading a magazine, or maybe even taking that nice little nap you missed since you were awake during all of art history earlier that day. Needless to say, you are taking half your body out of the exercise. Half your body: a half which would be helping to burn more calories by stabilizing, by swinging arms, by using little muscles you don't know you have during the exercise. So guys and girls, remember that the machines in the gym are not chaise lounges. Stand up when you are doing your cardio, and if you are so tired that you must lean on the equipment to get through your workout, guess what? End the workout, since you are probably over-training at that point anyway.
