MIT'sOldest and Largest

Newspaper

The WeatherToday: Sunny, 80°F (27°C)

Tonight: Partly cloudy, 56°F (13°C).• ~~. Tomorrow: Partly cloudy, 78°F (26°C)

Details, Page 2

Volume 122, Numb~r 29 Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 Wednesday, July 10,2002

DANIELR, BERSAK-T/lE TECH

Peter R. Russo G leaps to catch a frisbee during a lunchtimegame of Ultimate near Building 66.

.Cambridge ReaffirmsSanctuary City Status

that students only pay travelexpenses. The tradeoff is the com-petition to get in - over 900 stu-dents from the United States applyfor. 50 positions. The successfulapplicants are joined by about 25international students each year. "Ithink they're good people ... Wetry to recruit the best and thebrightest," Dell said ..

Most RSI students have donesome past research or done well inmath competitions; some studentsare already published in theirfields, Dell said. "Definitely thepeople coming here have takenadvantage of educational opportu-nities," and most of them havewell-educated parents. Dell has haddifficulty recruiting minority stu-dents, "though I'm sure they're outthere," he said. He "is proud of anearly half-and-half gender bal-ance, a significant change from themale-dominated early years of theprogram.

Dell's goals are to "ini.tiate[students] into the world ofresearch" and to introduce theminto the scientific community, aswell as to build an RSI communi-ty. In addition to research activi-ties, RSI students go on a numberof off-campus trips, including atrip to the White Mountains.

RSI, Page 7

Admission to RSI competitive.RSI is "well-supported by the

MIT administration," Dell said.Part of that support ,is coveringroom and board costs, which means

Sunday, June 23 and began pro-jects with their mentors t~e follow-ing Friday. Assistant DirectorMatthew S. Cain '02 described theresearch projects as "like a limitedUROP."

Emma Schmidgall, a highschool senior from Minneapolis,Minn., works with Professor ofPhysics Eric Hudson. "I study thelattice structure of high-tempera-ture superconductors," she said. "Iwanted to do research and here Iam do~ng research." .. '

While many work on campus,the Cambridge area is filled withresearch opportunities, and RSIstudents take advantage of these aswell. Cain said that students areworking at MIT, Harvard, BostonUniversity, and MassachusettsGeneral Hospital, among others.

Caitlin Mueller of New Jersey. works on learning and memory inplanaria, or flatworms, at theForsyth Institute. "It's annoyingthat I have to commute a half houreach way," but said she enjoys theopp'ortunity and being at MIT."Now that I'm here I really likeit. "

Young Researchers Explore Science

. STANLEY /lV-THE TECH

Boston's Fourth of July fireworks light up the sky, as seen from the roof of the Green Building..' For,mo~e photos of Boston's Independence Day, see center spread.

Students research varied topicsRSI students arrived on campus

By Natha~ CollinsEXECUTIVE EDITOR

Aleksander Sadowski camefroni Wloclawek, Poland, to writecode that helps analyze the Mars

. polar iceFeature caps for_________ Professor

Maria Zuber's .group in Earth,A~mospheric, and Planetary Sci-ences. "I enjoy doing it," said Sad-owski, who wants to be a scientist.

Sadowski is a high school stu-dent, and along with 75 or so oth-ers he is a participant in theResearch- Science Institute (RSI), aprogram jointly sponsored by MITand the Center for Excellence inEducation.

RSI was founded in Washington,..D.C. eighteen years ago by AdmiralH.G. Rickover, who "wanted .toimprove education in the UnitedStates," RSI Director John Dellsaid. Now at MIT, RSl's 7-5 highschool students perform researchtasks in science and mathematics.

"Students work on math andscience projects and write a paper"about their research, Dell said. TheRSI schedule also includes lecturesfrom MIT professors, in"cludingNobel Prize winner ProfessorPhillip Sharpe.

,Sanctuary, Page .1 ~

Research, Page 16

classified research, and "all thesescan be made public," Friedmansaid. The committee concludedthat this policy was reaso~able, hesaid .

The report also recommendedthat the faculty establish a standing.committee. "to monitor restnctionson access to and disclosure of sci-entific information."

Issues arise in Sept. 11 aftermathThe committee was appointed

by Provost Robert A. Brown in thewake of the terrorist attacks onSept. 11, 200 I and the passage of

, the USA PATRIOT Act, Friedmansaid. The USA PATRIOT Act"raised some important issues"that the committee had to consider,he said.

"Restrictions on access to selectbiological agents, the application

Classified ..ResearchTo Stay Off CampusBy Je~nifer KrishnanEDITOR IN CHIEF

A faculty committee recentlyrecommended that all classifiedresearch condu~ted by members of

. the MIT community be carried 'outoff campus.

"We recorrimend that no classi-fied research should be carried outon campus; that no student, gradu-ate or undergraduate, should berequired to have a security cl~ar-ance t6 perform thesis research;and that no thesis research shouldbe c"arried out in areas requiringaccess to classified materials," thecommittee, chaired by Insti.tut~Professor Sheila E. Widnall '60,wiote... This is an affirmation of MIT' s-~tanding policy, said committee~ember and Institute ProfessorJerome I. .Friedman. Currently, noclassified research is conducted oncampus; no degree depends on.

By Sandra M. Chung. Cambridge originally declaredCHAIRMAN . itself a sanctuary city in 1985, in

The Cambridge City Council response to Federal Bureau of Intel-passed a resolution (5--4) reaffirm- ligence (FBI) treatment of illegaling the city's statu~ as a "sanctuary. Guatemalan, Nicaraguan, and Sal-city," in direct response to the Unit- . vadoran immigrants-"during the Rea-ing and Strengthening America by gan administration. The new resolu-

. Providing Appropriate Tools don, draft~d by the local Human. Required to Intercept and Obstruct Rights Commission' and the Peace

Terrorism Act (USA PATRIOT. and Women's Commissions, reaf-Act). Four MIT students testified firms the. 1985 resolution in pro-before the Council in' favor of the hibiting city employees from partic-resolution: Julia K. Steinberger G, ipating in the investigation, arrest, ,Stephanie W. Wang '04, Aimee L.Smith~, and Mehdi Yahyanejad G.'

OPINIONKris Schnee discusses recentcourt decisions relating to theEstablishment .Clause.

Page 5

Comics

Page 10

THE ARTSMinority Report - a sexy, sleekCruise/Spielberg collaboration.

Page 14

World & Nation ' 2Opinion 4Events Calendar .13Arts 14

July 10, 2002

"the, big lie," a project riddle4 withtechnical and transportation prob-lems tliat wiil not solve the wastestorage problem because spent fuelwill continue to pile up at nuclearpower plants a~ound the countryeven with a 'centralized repository~

"We are being forced to decidethis issue prematurely, without. suf-ficient scientific information,because this administration is doing .the bidding of special interests thatsimply want to make the deadlywaste they have' generated someoneelse's problem," said Senate Majori-ty Leader Tom Daschle (O-S.D.).

While the legislative issueappears settled, the Energy Depart- ,ment still must obtain a license fromthe Nuclear Regulatory Commissionto build and operate the reposito-:,ry-a process that could take four orfive years-and overcome a seriesof la)Vsuits brought by Nevada 'stateofficials.

By relying on a .combination ofgeological barriers and hardenedsteel-alloy storage casks, the admin-istration contends the governmentcould safely' bury the .radioactiverefuse for at least 10,000 years with-out it leaching into undergroundwater or escaping into the. environ-ment in harmful doses.' .-

on their way to passing' ~ore strin-gent measures ..

"Sel(-regulation-is important,'but it's not enough," Bush said.

"Government. can do more to pro-mote transparency and ensure thatrisks are honest." .

His proposals, which Democrats, . condemned as much weaker than

measures they have long had in theworks, beefed up a 10-point planBush issued in March when he wasunder fire for his political connec-tions to the bankrupt Enron Corp.

The' president signed an execu-tive order creating a CorporateFraud Work Force, which he called"a financial crimes SWAT team,overseeing the investigation'of cor-porate abusers. imd bringing them-to account."

overriding Nevada Goy. KennyGuinn's objection to Busl)'s Feb. 15decision endorsing the plan to buryas much as 70,000 metric tons ofradioactive waste in desert tunnels'90 miles northwest of LaS Vegas.

The vote was a victory for Bushand Energy Secretary Spencer Abra-ham, who said the project was criti-cal to their efforts to expand domes-tic energy production. It dealt ablow to Majority Whip 'Harry ReidCD-Nev.), and S~n. John Ensign, (R-Nev.), who led the effort to side-track the project.

The Senate "cast a ve..ryvital andimportant vote in favor of Ameri-ca's national security, in favor ofAmerica's energy security and infavor of this country's environmen-tal security," Abraham said., The vote capped an intense lob- .

bying effort by the nuclear energyindustry and U.S. Chamber of Com-merce, which spent about $72 mil-lion since 1994 lobbying for theproject. Senate supporters said thevote will help assure the future ofthe U.S. nuclear power industry bykeeping it from "choking on its ownwaste/' as Sen. Frank Murkowski,(R-Alaska), put it.

. Reid, Ensign and other oppo-nents called the administration plan

days of cooking the books, sh,adingthe truth and breaking our laws,"Bush told an audience of 60'0 bUsi-ness, academic and religious lead-.ers at a former customs house nextto the New York Stock Exchange."In the long run, there's no capital-ism without conscience. There isno wealth without character."

The accounting crisis hit whenthe' economic recovery already waslooking sickly, handing Busn'a newpolitical challe,nge because he andhis aides have longtime corporateconnections and are champions ofderegulation. He delivered thespee~h amid questions about hisown conduct when he was an 'oifcompany director before runnin'gfor Texas governor, and at a timewhen Senate Democrats are well

WASHINGTON

President Urges Harsher PenaltiesFor Accounting Fraud Criminals

NEW YORK

By Mike AllenTHE WASHINGTON POST

President Bush threatened Tues-day to imprison executives whofalsify financial shitements, appeal-ing to capitalists' self-interest aswell as their consciences as he triesto curtail accounting fraud.

With bookkeeping scandals roil-ing markets and colIapsing majorcompanies, Bush said during a visitto. Wall Street that he wants toenforce "a new ethic of responsibil-ity" in boardrooms by giving moremoney and power to regulators andby doubling the maximum prisonterm for some types of fraud, fromfive years to, 10.

"My administration will doeverything in our power to.end the

By Eric Planln and Helen DewarTHE WASHINGTON POST

The Senate Tuesday approved a'Bush administration plan to storemuch of the nation's nuclear wastebeneath Nevada's 'Yucca Mountain,giving final legislative approval to aproject that has been debated fornearly a quarter century.

Despite strong Qbjections fromNevada officials, gambling industryleaders and many environmentalists,the Senate voted 60 to 39 to affirmPresident .Bush 's finding that' the$58 billion project is "scientificallysound and suitable" and wouldenhance protection against terroristattacks by consolidating the radioac-tive waste underground ..

Fifteen Democrats joined 45Republicans in approving the pro-ject, underscoring widespread con-cern over management of growingnuclear waste piles at power plantsin 39 states.' .

Congress in the late 1980sauthorized the Energy Departmentto consider Yucca Mountain as thesole site to collect and bury nuclearwaste, which remains radioactivefor thousands of years. It gaveNevada veto rights, however. Tues-day, the Senate joined the House in

WORLD & NATIONSenate Permits Nuclear Waste.Storage Within Yucca. Mountain

Carter Effort in Venezuela Fails

Israeli Police Stonn PalestinianUniversity in Jerusalem

TIlE WASl/INGTON POST

Armed Israeli police, with the help of a locksmith and a movingvan, stormed into the administrative offices of the pre-eminent Pales-tinian university in Jerusalem Tuesday, closing the building andaccusing officials there of working for Yasser Arafat's PalestinianAuthority. '

Police sealed the offices of the university president, Sari Nus-seibeh, the senior Palestinian representative in Jerusalem and interna-tionally one of the most recognized voices of moderation amongPalestinians, witnesses said.

"It was really scary," said Dimitri Diliani, director of the universi-ty president's office. "You're sitting in your office doing paperworkand someone with an M-16 asks you to drop everything and showyour 10."

Israeli Public Security Minister Uzi Landau, who ordered theshutdown, told Israel Radio that the university represents the "longarm of the Palestinian Authority, operating against the law."

The closure of administrative offices of the 6,OOO-student AI-Qudsuniversity was the latest in a series of Israeli shutdowns of Palestinianinstitutions. and organizations operating in the mainly Palestinian-inhabited eastern part of Jerusalem, which was captured from Jordanin the 1967 Middle East war and subsequently ~nnexed into Israel.

TIlE WASJ//NGTON POST

Seeking against odds to defuse a swelling crisis, former presidentJimmy Carter failed Tuesday to bring President Hugo' Chavez and ahardening opposition together for talks aimed at resolving a standoffthreatening to engul f Venezuela in fresh violence.

Carter's visit was viewed.by the Bush administration as one of thebest hopes for lowering tensions, which have failed to recede sinceChavez was briefly removed from office after street clashes lastApril. But opposition leaders, suspicious of Carter's intentions fromthe start, refused his invitation to meet with Chavez in a bid to reducetensions and open up the government to a broader range of opinion .

"There is a mix of opinions within the opposition," Carter saidduring an afternoon news conference in the capital, .Caracas. "Thefact that the opposition declined my invitation to meet with the presi-dent directly is dispiriting."

Carter is scheduled to leave Wednesday, the day before a sched-uled anti-Chavez protest that has alarmed the government for itssimilarities to the march on April 11 that ended in Chavez's briefouster.

Some Leading Democrats May PassOn Public Funding in 2004

TIlE WASl/INGTON POST

Leading Democratic presidential hopefuls are contemplating asignificant break with party tradition: Financing bids for the Democ-ratic nomination with private donations rather than public funds.

George W. Bush pioneered the idea two years ago when he wonthe Republican nomination, and several Democrats wonder if theycan follow suit in 2004. They hesitate, however, because Democratshistorically have found far fewer donors willing to give $1,000 or$2,000 each. That will become a crucial funding level once thenation's new campaign finance law takes effect in four months.

Bush's potential Democratic challengers soon will face a difficultchoice. They can accept roughly $15 million in public funding, butthey' would have to abide by spending limits which might leave themstrapped for cash while Bush spends freely in the summer of 2004.Or they can reject the money in hopes of recruiting thousands of new,generous donors who can keep them competitive with Bush through-out the campaign.

Page 2 THE TECH

WEATHER ... •

4QON

25°N

35°N

300N

Weather Systems Weather Fronts Precipitation SymbolsSnow Rain

H HighP=<we - _ TrouZh

*Showen "V "V '"R....................... Warm Front Thundcnlonn

L Low Presoure l.iJ:hl * (X) Har.c~CoIdFronl Moderate ** Compiled by MIT

~ Hurricane ...... Swionary Front Hc:av~ ~Melcorolozy Staff .. and TMT«h

Situation for Noon Eastern Daylight Time, Wednesday, July 10, 20Q2 ..

<.S~ r:j~ ~~ <,J~ o~ b~ ~~ o~ o~ ~~ _~~' "'~~ o~ o~

....'!l ....'1i "v ....' ....'" ....~ ...." O)~ ~ ~ 'tr .\J '\<;) ~ ..,

Today: Mostly sunny and much more comfortable. High near 800F (27°C).Tonight: Partly cloudy. Low near 56°F (l30C).Thursday: Partly cloudy, with the potential of some haze from the Quebec

fires. High near 78°F (26°C). Low near 58°F (l4°C).Friday: Sunny and slightly wanner. High near 830f (28°C) and low near

600F (16°C).Weekend: Partly cloudy both days, with temperatures similar to Friday's .

Extended Forecast

Hazy Days of SummerBy Michael J. RingSTAFF METEOROI.OGIST

While last night's showers have brought us respite from the sticky heat,another meteorological nemesis may return over the next few days-haze fromthe Canadian forest fires.

Since being sparked by lightning on July 2, the fires in northern Quebechave burned over 250,000 acres. Soot particles have coated cars in Montreal,while the fires' smoke plume reached as far south as North Carolina this week-end. The smoke has affected the Maritime Provinces over the past few days.

Why did the smoke come in our direction over the weekend? On Fridayand Saturday a low pressure system slid off the Maine coast. In the wake of thelow, winds aloft shifted from southerly to northerly and brought the haze ourway.

On Monday and Tuesday, winds from the south blocked the smoke fromtraveling in our direction (but brought us the steamy weather instead). Howev-er, with the passage of a cold front last night, winds are again blowing from thenorth, potentially bringing the smoke back our way. However, with better low-level circulation than the relative stagnation seen this weekend, whatever hazewe receive should be more diffuse than Sunday's smoke.

Protesters Drown Out ThompsonAt International AIDS Conference

~ted Afghan:Leader Mourned'While Some Doubt Promise.of JuStice. .

Menopause Study TerminatedAs Health Risks Come to Light

July 10, 2002

By Ridgely OchsNEWSDAY

WASHINGTON

Healthy menopausal womenwho take a combination of estrogenand progestin appear to increasetheir risk of breast cancer, heartattacks, strokes and blood clots,'prompting government-fundedre'searchers to halt a study ofalmost 17,000 women three yearsearly. They pronounced that therisks of such combination hormonetherapy outweigh tJte benefits.

The results, the first major clini-cal trial to look at' healthy post-menopausal women, are sure tohave an impact on the 6 millionwomen who 'take combination hor- 'mone therapy an,d on the millionsmore who are approaching.menopause .. Another 8 millionwomen who have had a hysterecto-

" my take estrogen alone; a sectionof the, trial examining its effect onwomen's health js continuing.

Tuesday's announcement 'is, 'seen as a landmark.

,"My prediction is that this will

By David BrownTHE WASHINGTON POST

BARCELONA, SPAIN

Health and Human Services ~ec-retary Tommy Thompson's addressat the 14th International AIDS Con-ference was drowned out Tuesdayby activists who' were angry that theBush administration had not pledgedmore money to fight the global pan-demic. '

The protesters began blowingwhistles and shouting "Shame!Sha'me!" ~nd "No more lies!" asThompson came to the podium.They continued until he finished hisaddfess, making his speech virtuallyunintelligible to the 'audience. Therewas no violence or attempt 'to stopthe demonstration, and there wer~ noarrests.

For part of the half-hour event, 'about 30 p.eople stool on the stageholding signs accusing'Thompsonand ,President Bush of "murder andneglect" of people with AIDS, anddemanding that the United Statescontribute more to the' Global Fundto fight AIDS, :Tuberculosis andMalaria. A dozen plainclothes secu-

',rity guards and Secret Service agentsstood silent and motionless betweenThompson and the protesters.

Later, the protesters retreated tothe aisles but continued to chant.

By Alissa J. RubinLOS ANGELES TIMES

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN

The Afghan flag flew at half-staff .throughout the country and_radio programs were banned fromplaying, music during a national dayof mourning Tuesday for slain VicePresident Haji Abdul Qadir, asmany,Afghans expressed doubtsthat his, killers will be caught.. In particular, many of Qadir'sfellow ethnic Pashtuns said theythought the case will be treatedmuch as was that of Air Transporta-tion and Tourism Minister AbdulRahman, who was slain Feb. 14.Then, the government pledged tobring the killers to justice and evennamed 'suspects, but none wasarrested.

"They will not find the murder-ers of Haji Qadir," said ShamalHoda, 25, a medical student whoattended the special prayers heldTuesday for Qadir at a mosquehere in central Kabul. "It will bethe same as it was with Minister

indeed change (medical) practice,"said Dr. Jacques Rossouw, actingdirector of the Women's Health'Initiative, in a news conferenceTuesday. If women "do decide totake the therapy, they should do sofor a short time" to relievemenopausal symptoms, not to pre-vent chronic disease such as osteq-porosis or heart disease. However,he conceded, "there's no really safeperiod."

Tuesday's announcement con-cerned one branch of an ongoingfederally funded trial called theWomen's Health Initiative, whichinvolves more than 160,000 po~t-menopausal women at 40 clinicalsites across the country. The estro-gen-progestin section of the studyhas followed 16,608 women, ages50 to 79, who were given either thecombination hormone therapy oraplacebo.

The trial was to continue for 8.5years, until 2005. But the study'sindependent data monitoring safetyboard decided to halt it after only5.2 years when interim results

The demo~stration ended soon afterThompson finished his speech, tooka drink of water, removed h,is glass-es and walked backstage betweenparted curtains.

One of the two co-chairmen ofthe conference, Jose Gatell, an infec-tious diseases physician from a med-

~ ical school in Barcelona, sat quietlyin the front row of the auditoriumduring the protest, talking once Withthe head,ofsecurity.

, "W,ell, it happens," Gatell said,declinmg to comnient further. ' \

Neither of the speakers wh'o fol-lowe'd Thompson -. RichardFeachem, who will become the first

, executive director of the GlobalFund next week, or Gro HarlemBrundtland, the leader of the WorldHealth Organization - made anyreference to the protest in theiraddresses. There was 'no public criti-cism of the prot~sters, 'who later helda news conference in the confer-

, ence's Media Center. 'Speaking to reporters afterward,

Thompson said'he "lmew it w~sgoing to be rough, but I came herebecause I wanted to show that theBush administration is committed tothe fight. .... We have a strong mes-

, sage we're going, to continue 'todeliver despite the jeers, the shouts,the insults."

Abdul Rahman. In that case themurderers are known but they arenot arrested.

"Those who killed Haji Qadirare supported by great powers,"Hoda said. "He was ,killed in themiddle of Kabul."-'. 'Transitional President HamidKarzai, along with hundreds of oth-ers, attended the prayers and said hehad lost "my brother and my righthand." He promised Qadir's familyand friends that the killers would bebrought to justice.

Qadir was slain Saturday by apair of gunmen as he drove awayfrom his office in the Afghan capital.

A close examination of the manypeople who might have killed himreads like a litany of Afghanistan'sproblems and the difficulties facingthe new government as it attemptsto install the rule of law.

Suspect's include ethnic riv<!ls;drug dealers who lost money as aresult of Qadir's policies; outsideprovocateurs, such as former Tal-iban members or warlord Gulbuddin

WORLD & NATION

showed that the rates of heart dis-ease, stroke, blood clots and breastcancer outweighed any benefits.

Women in the study have beeninformed they should ,stop theirpills, researchers said.

A parallel trial examining estro-gen alone in women who have hada hysterectomy is continuingbecause "the balance of risk andbenefits is stilI uncertain," accord-ing tO,a statement from the Nation-al Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute,part of the National Institutes ofHealth and the'lead agency for the'study. _

Specifically, the estrogen-prog-estin study, released a week earlyby the Journal of the AmericanMedical Association, found the fol-lowing:

A 22 percent increase in totalcardiovascular disease, with a 29percent increase in heart attacksand a 41 percent increase instrokes. For heart attacks, theincreased risk began in the firstyear and went up in the second. Itpersisted throughout the study.

Protests by AIDS activists are aregular part of international AIDSconferences. Scientists and publicofficials were the original targets,but in the past two conferences (inDurban, South Africa, two years agoand in Geneva four years ago) phar-maceutical companies were the morecommon ones. Protests there includ-ed spray painting and vandalismdirected against the elaborate corpo-rate displays (many larger thanhouses) in the' commercial venue of

, the conference. ', Thompson noted that he was the

first U.S. secretary of health andhuman services to attend an interna-tional AIDS conference since LouisSullivan - who held the post during

, the administration of PresidentGeorge H.W. Bush - was shouteddown at' one a decade ago. ''No othersecretary has had the courage tocome," he said.

'At the news conference, AsiaRussell of ACT -UP Philadelphiawas asked why the thousand or morepeople In-the hall weren't allowed tohear Thompson speak ..

"It's unacceptable to allow him, to continue to use his power andface-time here to tell lies ... andthat's why we did not allow_him tospeak, as people of conscience fight-ing this epidemic."

Hekmatyar; and members of theethnic Tajik-dominated NorthernAlliance, who helped oust the Tal-iban from Kabul last year and pre-ferred in positions of authority otherfigures from Qadir's home turf ineastern Afghanistan.

The Afghan police authorities,which are dominated by Tajiks, saythey are pursuing the case, but it ishard to get any specifics about whatthey are doing. Police quicklyarrested 10 security guards posted atthe Ministry of Public Works, whichwas near the site of the assassina-tion, but few people think they are'the culprits. Two other men werearrested later and little is knownabout them.

Police Chief Gen. Abdul Basir,a former Northern Alliance com-mander, said his investigation isfocusing on Hekmatyar and on thefamily of Commander Shomali, alocal warlord in. easternAfghanistan. Basir saiCl he is lean-ing toward the theory that the for-mer is responsible.

THE TECH Page 3

Florida Court Halts Execution,As Death Penalty Is Reviewed

LOS ANGELES TIMES

Linroy Bottoson, a' convicted murderer, had eaten what mighthave been his final meal of seafood, fried chicken, apple pie and but-ter-pecan ice cream. But six hours before the 63-year-old was sup-posed to die by lethal injection, Florida's Supreme Court ~alted hisexecution.

The justices wanted to reconsider whether the state's death penal-ty is constitutional, in light of a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling.Their action Monday threw capital cases across Florida into uncer-tainty and raised the possibility that all 371 inmates on the state'sdeath row could have their sentences overturned. It also could havenational repercussions.

"It's going to produce a lot of litigation and the need for a lot ofhearings and legal work to get to the point where it's all clarified,"predicted Nancy Daniels, a public defender in Tallahassee.

The surprise 6-1 decision by Florida's highest court to temporari-ly stay the executions of Bottoson and 47-year-old Amos Lee KingJr. - another killer who was scheduled to die Wednesday - wasmotivated by the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in an Arizona case.

In Ring v. Arizona, the high court said that only a jury, and not ajudge alone, can impose a death sentence. The justices' decisionthrew out the death penalty laws in Arizona and four other states -Colorado, Idaho, Montana and Nebraska. Legal scholars said it stillwas ul1:certain how the ruling applies to Florida Alabama, Delawareand Indiana - where juries make recommendations on whether acriminal should live or die, but the judge makes the final decision.

Small Biotech Finn Has Big PlansFor Production of Antibodies

LOS ANGELES TlMt;".';

A small California biotech company said Tuesday it has exclusiverights to a new patent on a technique for producing therapeutic anti-bodies from com and other farm crops. Epicyte Pharmaceuticals ofSan Diego claimed the patent gives it a leadership position in anemerging industry, potentially worth millions, with competitorsincluding such agricultural giants as Monsanto Co.

The patent was granted to Scripps Research Institute, where thetechnology was developed by Epicyte's founders in 1989. Epicytesaid the patent applies to all plants and all antibodies - whetherhuman or animal. .

Antibodies are proteins naturally made by white blood cells thatdefend the body against disease. They can target specific invaderswithout disturbing other cells.

Drug makers produce antibodies for cancer and other diseasesusing conventional genetic engineering techniques. Of the I I anti-body-based drugs on the market, none are made in plants.

Most therapeutic antibodies are manufactured in hamster ovarycells, an intricate process that requires sterile factories with fermenta-tion tanks and sophisticated purification equipment.

But 90 antibody-based drugs are in various stages of developmentat biotechnology companies. That has ignited a search for cost-effec-tive ways to produce large quantities of antibodies, valued becausethey can target disease while causing few side effects.

Giuliani's Divorce May Go to CourtNEWSDAY

If they fail to smooth o,ut their considerable differences in privatenegotiation by Wednesday morning, former Mayor Rudolph Giulianiand his estranged wife, Donna Hanover, could go to trial immediatelyto fight out the terms of their acrimonious divorce.

Though they have had lengthy negotiations behind closed doorsduring the past week, it was unclear late Tuesday whether the spar-ring spouses would be able to come to a settlement. Their feud hasbeen complicated by Giuliani's windfall of speaking and writing feessince leaving office, having steadied the city in argua~ly its darkesthour - on and after Sept. II.

Court records show Giuliani expects to take in $8 million forspeeches alone this year, a far cry from his $ I95,000 annual salary asmayor.

Giuliani, 57, filed for divorce in October 2000, charging Hanoverwith "cruel and inhuman" treatment during their 16-year marriage.

Hanover, 52, rejected that claim, but filed her own divorce actionlast month on grounds of cruelty stemming from what her lawyercalled "Rudy's open and notorious adultery." The still-married Giu-liani paraded his new companion, Judith Nathan, 47, at public eventswhile he/was mayor and a candidate. for U.S. Senate .

Gateway to Offer' ClassesOn Downloading Music Legally

LOS ANGELES TIMES

Rip, mix, learn?Computer retailer Gateway Inc. plans to provide free classes to

consumers on the dos and don'ts of online music, showing how todownload music and bum CDs without violating copyrights.

The three-:-hour classes - to be held at all 274 Gateway Countryretail stores - may help deflect criticism from record-label execu-tives, who argue that companies like Gateway encourage consumersto pirate music and movies online to boost sales of their computers,CD recorders and related gear.

Some music and movie industry leaders back a bill in the Senateto mandate anti-piracy technology in computers and other digitaldevices, a proposal Gateway opposes. Other groups want lawmakersto slap a special tax' on the sale of computers, Internet connectionsand blank CDs to compensate copyright holders for piracy.

Other computer firms, including Apple Computer, have infuriatedthe entertainment industry over the last several years, as hardware mak-ers tout the power of using their equipment to swap music and movies.

Gateway spokesman Brad Williams said the way to fight piracy isby offering consumers, a compelling legitimate alternative. Althoughthe music industry has "some very legitimate grievances~' about pira-cy? he.said, "we haven't seen much from the major labels in terms ofeducating consumers."

Page 4 THE TECH

OPINIONJuly 10, 2002

ChairmanSandra M. Chung '04

Editor in ChiefJennifer Krishnan '04

Business ManagerIan Lai '02

Managing EditorJoy Forsythe '04Executive EditorNathan Collins G

,VEU:vFf.:4 TURES STAFF

News and Features Director: Kevin R. Lang G;News Editors: Keith J. Winstein '03, BrianLoux '04, Christine R. Fry '05; Features Edi-tor: Eun J. Lee '04; Staff: Harold Fox G, VijayShilpiekandula G, Naveen Sunkavally G, DanCho '02, Dana Levine '02, Helana Kadyszewski'03, Jeffrey Greenbaum '04, Vicky Hsu '04,Richa Maheshwari '04, Flora Amwayi '05, Vin-cent Chen '05, Jennifer DeBoer 'OS, Aaron Du'05, Sam Hwang 'OS, Tom Kilpatrick '05,Amerson Lin 'OS, Jing-Helen Tang '05, QianWang '05; Meteorologists: Robert Korty G,Greg Lawson G, Nikki Prive G, William Ram-strom G, Michael J. Ring G, Efren Gutierrez '03.

PRODUCT/OS STAFF

Editors: Joel Corbo '04, David Carpenter '05;Associate Editors: Anju Kanumalla '03, AndrewMamo '04, Shefali Oza '04; Staff: Gayani Tillek-eratne '03, Eric Tung '04, Hangyul Chung '05,Jeimifer Fang '05, James Harvey '05, Nicholas R.Hoff '05, Jean Lu 'OS, Mandy Yeung '05, EdHill, Nur Aida Abdul Rahim.

OPINION STAFF

Editors: Roy Esaki '04, Jyoti R. Tibrewala '04;Columnists: Daniel L. Tortorice '02, Philip Bur-rowes '04, Akshay Patil '04, Stephanie W. Wang'04; Staff: Basil Enwegbara G, Brice Smith G,Michael Borucke '01, Matt Craighead '02, KrisSchnee '02, Christen M. Gray '04, Ken Nesmith'04, Andrew C. Thomas '04, Tao Vue '04, VivekRao '05, Maral Shamloo, Khoon Tee Tan.

OUR COrfANY lS~U",S~\W\N EVE~ ...

SPORTS STAFF

Editor: Helana Kadyszewski '03; Staff: RobertAronstam '02, Adeline Kuo '02, Rory Pheiffer'02 ..

ARTS STAFF

Editors: Jeremy Baskin '04, Daniel S. Robey'04; Associate Editors: Fred Choi '02; Staff:Erik Blankinship G, Lance Nathan G, Bence P.Olveczky G, Sonja Sharpe G, Amandeep Loom-ba '02, Bess Rouse '02, Veena Thomas '02,Winnie Yang '02, Daniel J. Katz '03, JaneMaduram '03, Amy Meadows '03, ChaitraChandrasekhar '04, Jed Horne '04, Pey-HuaHwang '04, Izzat Jarudi '04, Allison C. Lewis'04, Devdoot Majumdar '04, Atif Z. Qadir '04,Chad Serrant '04, Eric Chemi 'OS, Annie Ding'05, Patrick Hereford 'OS, Jorge Padilla '05,Ricky Rivera 'OS, Joseph Graham.

PHOTOGRAPHY STAFF

Editors: Aaron D. Mihalik G, Wendy Gu '03;Associate Editor: Jonathan Wang '05; Staff:Erika Brown G, James Camp G, KrzysztofGajos G, Wan Yusof Wan Morshidi G,Michelle Povinelli G, Samudra Vijay G, StanleyHu '00, Kailas Narendran '0 I, MatthewMishrikey '02, Yi Xie '02, Scott Johnston '03,Ekaterina Ossikine '03, Pedro L. Arrechea '04,Miguel A. Calles '04, Brian Hemond '04, DaltonCheng '05, Annie Ding '05, Roger Li '05, MichaelLin 'OS, Timothy Suen '05, Amy L. Wong '05, E-won Yoon '05, Jason LaPenta.

CARTooNI.ITS

Aaron Isaksen SM '0 I, Solar Olugebefola G,Xixi D'Moon '01, Bao-Yi Chang '02, JumaaneJeffries '02, Lara Kirkham '03, Duane Tanaka'03, Alison Wong '03, Sean Liu '04, Tina Shih'04, Nancy Phan '05, Josie Sung '05.

BUSINI:."SS STAFF

Advertising Manager: Aye Moah '05; Staff:Kedra Newsom '02, Huanne T. Thomas '02,Dashonn Graves '03, Joey Plum '03.

TECHNOLOGY STAFF

Director: Ming- Tai Huh '02; Staff: FrankDabek G, Kevin Atkinson '02, Daniel Leeds '05.

EDITORS AT LARGE

Senior Editors: Errc J. Cholankeril G, RimaAmaout '02; Contributing Editors: RoshanBaliga '03, Annie S. Choi.

ADVISORY BOARD

Paul E. Schindler, Jr. '74, V. Michael Bove '83,Barry Surman '84, Robert E. Malchman '85,Jonathan Richmond PhD '91, Vladimir V.Zelevinsky '95, Anders Hove '96, Saul Blumen-thal '98, Eric J. Plosky '99, Joel Rosenberg '99,Ryan Ochylski '0 I, B. D. Colen.

PRODUCTION STAFF FOR TillS ISSUE

Night Editors: Joy Forsythe '04, David Carpen-ter 'OS; Associate Editor: Andrew Mamo '04,Nicholas R. Hoff '05; Staff: Tim Heidel '05.

11M,,.-It {tSSN OI4'9f,O'1).~""", ~ t.....-,.. ... f~""" ~ .,..(~ .....\.tIT ....-.eM_I ..... tdIww.,.. .... '-" ..t .....". u. __ ... ""5 00 ~ ,... n..d(~.".nwr«1L " __ ~l.IW~""A C~."" 021)9 T1wda...~pa..t. "'--. ~ ,.."., No I "WT"'~.: ""-w _I '" ~ ~ to __ ......

kbn6. ,-." .. It.P'O Elo-.J91O'2'9.c~.""- 021 1'O'.l9 r _1617)1'}.IS4I.~.,61T) Z'.-U2'9.~. 1611) lSA-1116. ~ -.J~ ___.,. f __ ~ 0.-2 .,....TtdI. ""'--'_~" ~", ~ ~ 1"vM ....

Opinion PolicyEditorials are the official opinion of The Tech. They are written

by the editorial board, which consists of the chainnan, editor inchief, managing editor, executive editor, news editors, features edi-tor, and opinion editors.

Dissents are the opinions of the signee! members of the editorialboard choosing to publish their disagreement with the editorial.

Columns and editorial cartoons are written by individuals andrepresent the opinion of the author, not necessarily that of the news-paper.

Letters to the 'editor are welcome. Electronic submissions are'encouraged and should be sent to letters@the-tech.mit.edu. Hardcopy submissions should be addressed to The Tech, P.O. Box397029, Cambridge, Mass. 02139-7029, or sent by interdepartmen-tal mail to Room W20-483. All sub~issions are due by 4:30 p.m.

en...-II.o~a.

~.

two days before the date of publication:Letters and cartoons must bear the authors' signatures, address-

es, and phone numbers. Unsigned letters will not be accepted. No let-ter or cartoon will be printed anonymously without the express priorapproval of The Tech. The Tech reserves the right to edit or condenseletters; shorter letterS will be given higher priority. Once submitted,all letters become property of The Tech, and will not be returned.The Tech makes no commitment. to publish all the letters received.

To Reach UsThe Tech's telephone number is (617) 253-1541. E-mail is the

easiest way to reach any member of our staff. If you are unsurewhom to contact, send mail to general@the-tech.mit.edu, and it willbe directed to the appropriate person. The Tech can be found on theWorld Wide Web at http://the-tech.mit.edu.

Liber~ or the USA Patriot Act?

Two. Constitutionally Correct.. Decisions.'

OPINION

Philip Burrowes

THE TECH Page 5

Who'sOn First?

This past month alone has seen severalevents which iJ1'and of themselves could be

."stories of the year." From the religious to thesecular, the corporate to the individual, it seemsthe media have been less captivated than schiz-ophrenic. It's almost as if the world wereengaging in its own sweeps week, and oneshow had to lose out to another. Like prime-time television, however, the prominence of anyone event is as much a product of timing as it iscontent, and the truly interesting tales can getlost in the shuffle.

Hands down the event of the season was thefootball World Cup - unless, of course, youlive in the United States and/or call it "soccer."Here, the footsie WorldCom had played with itsaccounting was capturing the imagination of theAmerican public, bringing financial mishaps tothe headlines in a way not seen since, well,Eoron. As anyone who has seen The PhantomMenace knows, however, finance makes for aboring story. People want action, suspense, andromance, like Pearl Harbor. Okay, maybe not- but who honestly follows the WoridCommess besides Michael Jordan (who so far hasnot been implicated)?

We like things to get biblical so we turn tofire and floods. How else do you explain theattention given to the recent antithetical "acts ofGod" in the southwest? Yes, it's a warning tothe residents of the area that their very liveli-hood is in danger, but most viewers or readerswIll not be concerned for their own safety. For-tunately for Arizona, because it lies within theNinth U.S. Circuit, it can probably have thedamage overturned as an unconstitutional infu-sion of religion into residents' daily lives. Texasand Colorado are in separate circuits so we maysee conflicting decisions, but given the SupremeCourt's voucher decision, Divine Interventionwould likely be upheld on appeal.

Satan's still reportedly set to file an amicuscuriae for pinko atheists as practice for theremake of "The Devlt and Daniel Webster."Religion's always been a touchy subject in thiscountry, however, and if people liked beinguncomfortabl~ then Fear Factor would be alltoo easy. Yet somehow stories about missingpeople still have legs. One could argue that thewhole Chandra Levy affair was only intriguingbecause of political connections, but what of theconcern over Elizabeth Smart? Some arguebecause of the nature of Smart's abduction, ithaunts people as a possibility they could notprotect themselves from. Why all this arguing?Don't you have better things'to worry about?

No Americans died in the explosion outsidethe consulate in Karachi, supporting the theorythat the West is - and forever will be - invin-cible within the confines of Asia. Journalists aretherefore free to put that much less effort intoreporting on the latest invasions or other silli-ness, but there are diplomatic concerns outsidethe continent (Yao Ming or no).

At the latest G8 summit, !he world's mostridiculously rich countries (and, get this, Rus-sia) vowed to help the world's most ridiculouslypoor countries (and, get this, South Africa)under the so-called "African Action Plan."Some of the novel points of the plan include"Promoting Peace" and "Expanding Knowl-edge," a hard sell to the New Partnership forAfrica's Development.

Comparisons to the Marshall Plan have beenfrequent, and ridiculous for any number of rea-soJ¥i. For one, the Marshall Plan was undertak-en by one country in an attempt to put a.smallerset of nations back on their feet. In comparisonthe Democratic Republic of Congo alone isaround the size of all Western Europe and thereare eight countries expected to coordinate theirresources and make states of such size workwhen they never had before. Nor do the G8have the same fervor in their task that the Tru-man Administration possessed, as PresidentBush hasn't exactly gone stumping in supportof the plan. In his mind, "As to Africa, all of usare doing as much as we possibly can" already ...

At least he has an opinion, however ridicu-lous it may be. In fact, President Bush has letfew of these events pass him by without gracingus with his in-depth analysis. WorldCom's mis-accounting was "outrageous;" he admitted to

. U.S. World Cup coach Bruce Arena the he did-n't know "anything about soccer." Utilizing hismanagement training, Bush reprimanded theNinth Circuit Court's decision as "out of step,"relished the Supreme Court's as "a great victo-ry," and told firefighters in Arizona he was"here to say, on behalf of the American people,God bless you." You may say it's just part ofhis job, but how many of you caD claim to be ason top of things as this bumbling fool? Blamethe media, Isuppose.

don't now have them.The schools getting voucher money will

face serious temptation to abuse their position,though, and may decide after all that the pro-

'gram is more trouble than it's worth. Thevoucher program puts religious groups with ahistory of mutual hatred - Jewish, Christianand Muslim, Catholic and Protestant etc. -into direct financial competition. Economicswill force religious groups to squabble for dol-lars, raising tension between;them. By takingstate money, religious schools will also leashthemselves to greater state control. of their cur-ricula. This control means more than having toteach science in fundamentalist classrooms; itmeans taxpayers objecting to the social agendasof each school and possibly forcing them towater down their religious instruction to keeptheir funding. Not all religious schools willwant to enter the crusade for dollars and acceptthe attached strings. Vouchers will bringincreased competition to education and, whilethe program's drawbacks will be difficult toavoid, competition will mean more freedom forparents and better education for children.

At the same time we have a court ruling. rejecting religious favoritism in the nationalPledge, and another supporting govemment-funded religious education. These rulings go inopposite directions but are both constitutionallycorrect, protecting the neutrality of governmentfrom theological issues best left to individuals.Unfortunately the Pledge ruling will probablybe struck down, preserving the wedge of biastoward monotheism in our laws, but the "underGod" is a fairly minor problem and we will sur-vive it. Vouchers will bring new ideas t9 ourschool system, possibly even good ideas, andimprove educational freedom without hurting'neutrality. In judging religion-related laws andrulings, we must try to stay neutral ourselvesand not let an atmosphere of enforced patrio-tism - like that in the 1950s when "underGod" surfaced - force any theological deci-sions on' Americans. We can handle theseissues; in the Constitution we trust.

the fourth unarmed African-American man shotby New York police in under a year. I remem-ber Vincent Chin, who was beaten to death witha bat when two auto workers in Detroit angry atthe Japanese auto industry's success mistookhim for a Japanese person. Neither perpetratorreceived any jail time and only had to pay a fineof a few thousand dollars for the hateful homi-cide. I wonder really how far we have reallycome from the days of the Chinese ExclusionAct and other xenophobic legislation more thana century ago. I begin to understand the para-noia and fear as, I have come to understand whatthe USA PATRIOT Act really means.

The USA PATRIOT Act destroys the visionof America I had longed for: the land of immi-grants that embraces rather than rejects, cele-brates opinions rather than suppresses voices,gives everyone the chance to build a life withliberty rather than fear, and does not excludeanyone~ from truly being part of and co~tribut-ing to this diverse community. I now fear anAmerica of unsubstantiated finger-pointing,criminal acts driven by uninformed hate, and anunstoppable wave of scapegoating that historywill condemn far too late. At least one story ofan individual detained indefinitely based on aminor violation and unsubstantiated suspicionof "terrorist activities" has already emerged.

Cambridge has taken one step towardsrejecting the violations of civil liberties in theUSA PATRIOT Act, but will all of you take thenext. step to s'tand up for the basic rightspromised in the Constitution? Is it un-Americanto condemn a person or a group to guilt untilproven innocent while stripping away rightsfrom people "just in case"?

atheist, Hindu, Buddhist, Wiccan, and Zoroas-trian out there. We can't eliminate all of our,predecessors' mistakes iri making the govern-ment endorse monotheism, but we can avoid,~ting those mistakes. The Pledge is fixable:the pre-1954 version was neutral, fair, and legal,and it can be restored.

The Pledge is not the worst example ofchurch-state alliance in this country. It wouldhave made more sen'se to attack the ,use ofspecifically Christian equipment in state cere-monies; for'instance, the posting of the TenCommandments ~ schools and co~ouses andthe swearing of oaths on Christian Bibles.While on~ can defend the Pledge's "God" as a

'generic deity, these other symbols pay homagedirectly to Yahweh 'Qf the Divine Right ofKings. Our athletes endorse Nike sneakers bywearing th'em in public, and oui government',endorses Christianity above all other religionsin the same way. Some states go so far as toignore the First Amendment altogether, forinstance in South Carol~a's Constitution: "Noperson who denies' the existence of a SupremeBeing shall hold any office under this Constitu-tion." (Article XVII, Section 6) Practices likeour court oaths are blatantly unconstitutional,and will be "first against the wall when the rev-olution comes." But that revolution in legalmaturity is just wishful thinking for now, since _Christian voters won't feel threatened until theyhave to swear oaths on a copy of Dianetics.

School vouchers are a very different story, areligious program which is constitutionally safeand wisely so ruled by the Supreme Court. Inthis case what the government is doing -allowing parents to choose where to send theirkids to school - is11religiously neu~ action.Vouchers caD be used at accredited schools withor without any religious affiliation, so that gov-ernment take~ no stance on who's right andlooks only at whether each school can meet cur- .riculum standards. In theory, vouchers mayeven promote religious diversity by increasingthe size of the private education market, leadingto the &I:owth of schools serving groups that

cal parties to non-governmental organizations'could all be susceptible to such a designation.The act now gives the law-enforcement and

-intelligence agencies much greater access toinformation transmitted through various modesof cOl)lIllunication, including the Internet, with-out the burden of probable cause. Such powersof surveillance certainly threaten our cherishedFirst Amendment that grants th'e freedom ofexpression. Even more frightening is that theseand many other powers granted to separatebranches of our government without properchecks and balances just reek of potential abuse.

What is my greatest fear regarding the USAPATRIOT Act? It is the latest pretext for legal-ized persecution and oppression with completedisregard for the very freedoms that have builtAmerica into the unique nation it is today. Ihave often heard stories about people senrto jailwithout any cause just because another person,out of fear of persecution, identified them.as acounterrevolutionary. I have h~ard of peoplecommitting suicide before they could be wrong-lyaccused and exiled to faraway places. 'I haveheard of children and adults harassed andabused not because of wh.at they done, butbecause of their supposed background. H<?wev-er, I always tell myself that it was another timeand another phlce; after all, what could be moredifferent than the United States of America atthe start of the 21st century and the People'sRepublic of China during the Cultural Revolu--tion in the 1960s? I laughed at and dismissedthe paranoia of my parents' generation wholived through that time and reminded. myself

. that I am lucky to have freedoms and choices.Then I remember the internment camps dur-

ing World War ll.I learn about thecommunismwitch hunts dur-ing the McCarthyera. I become,aware of theracial profilingand hate crimes'that have plaguedand continue toplague America. Ithink of PatrickDorismond, anunarmed, off-dutysecurity guard,shot by an under-cover New Yorkdetective. He was

'Kris Schne~

Congress shall make no law respecting the_'establishment of religion, or prohibiting the freeexercise thereof .._ And there the trouble began. We've justseen two controversial newrullngs in our'mition's courts-as judges attempt simultaiteous-ly. to strengthen and weaken ties between thefederal government and religion. Surprisingly,

,both rulings are constitutionally, correct, inter-pretinR the First Amendment to mean that gov-ernment may not play favorites or take an offi-cial position on our many religions. '

The liberal Ninth Circuit Court of Appealsissued a ruling on .disestablishmentarianism,finding it unconstitutional to lead public school-children in the Pledge of Allegiance. The pitfallisn't in the original Pledge, but in the words"under God" inserted bya Red-scared Congressin 1954 specifically to link patriotism withbelief in a single perfect God. The present Con-gress immediately reSponded with a spinelessresolution thl;lt, because past Pres!dents have-invoked the Christian GOd with a generic label,establishing "under God" and pressuring chil-dren into worship doesn't count as establishingreligion. '

This ruling will fall even though it supportsa straightforward reading of the Constitution,'because it defies a long tradition of hypocrisy.Because most Americans are Christians, theyencourage government to endorse Christianityas much as possible - at least invoking a singlesupreme God.as the correct belief. WouldChristians .consider it fair, and neutral for thePledge to read "one nation under many gods,"or is only monotheism acceptable? Unfortunate-ly this bias can't be dug out completely,-"God" is even in the Declaration of Indepen-

,dence - but technically it doesn't belong at all. 'It'is simply not the government's business totake any position on the existence: nature orworship of any God, gods, spirits, etc., and tofavor one term over another is to insult every

July 10, 2002

Stephame W Wang

You may have heard of the Uniting andStrerigthening America by Providing Appropri-ate Tools Required to Intercept and ObstructTerrorism Act (USA PATRIOT Act) of 2001,but the Cambridge City Council passed a farmore courageous resolution on June 17, reaf-firm~g Cambridge as a "sanctuary city" thatprotects civil rights and liberties. While the for-mer can only profess patriotism with the con-trived acronym as a title, the latter upholds whatdefines the essence of America: the Constitutionand the Bill of Rights.

The USA PATRIOT Act expands the gov-ernment's ability to conduct searches withoutwarrants by allowing for delayed notificationunder broadly defined conditions. Just in casethe 356 represen~tives and 98 senators whovoted for the act have forgotten, the FourthAmendment clearly states that "the right of thepeople to be secure 'in their persons, houses,papers,. and effects, against unreasonablesearches and seizures, shall not be violated ... "

The USA PATRIOT Act gives the AttorneyGeneral the power to hold a noli-citizen indetention indefinitely if he has "reasonable

.grounds to believe that the alien" is engaged inany "activity that endangers the national securi-

- ty of the United States" without any criminalconviction. Here is a reminder for the draftersof this act and the 454 representatives in Con-gress "upholding the rights of their. con-stituents" who must have forgotten. The FifthAmendment states that no person should be"deprived of life, .liberty; or property, withoutdue process of law," the Sixth Amendment'guarantees that "in all criminal prosecutions, theaccused shall enjoy the right'to. a speedy andpublic trial," and the FoUI1eenth Amendmentreaffirms the right of people to due process of..law. Since the, rulings by the Supreme Courthave extended these rights unequivocally tonon-citizens in America.

The USA PATRIOT Act gives an ambigu-ous'defuiition to the crime of "domestic terror-ism" that could be conveniently interpreted toencompass civil disobedience. Was MartinLuther King a "terrorist"; Only the defenders ofan unjust ~tanis quo that is only favorable' to

,them would find the movements for change ter-rifying. The SecretarY of State is now empow- '

, ered,to designate groups as "terrorist groups" orengaged ~ "terrorist activities" with such.vagueparameters tha~ groups from churches to politi-

Page 6 THE TECH OPINION

The Great DivideJuly 10, 2002

Ken Nesmith

This year's Fourth of July, summer'strademark holiday, came and went calmlyenough. The patriotism amassed over the lastmonths found a supportive and appropriateoutlet, and the terrorists were kind enough tolet us celebrate without interruption. Thefireworks were all of the planned variety, andrevelers were apparently as mesmerized asever by the flashes of light and loud noises,myself completely included. The massivecrowds indicated that no one was afraid towalk the streets and join the celebration.Everyone - families, teens, old folks, thestylishly young - staked out their tradition'alspots and performed the customary rites ofpatriotic merriment, be they barbecues, pic-nics, bar crawls, or some other summerymainstay.

This nation's laws regarding the point ina citizen's life in which it becomes permissi-ble to purchase alcohol mean that at thesomewhat random age of 21 the nature ofcelebration shifts completely. Massivenational parties such as the Fourth of Julydivide the party-going public neatly into twocategories, the underage who wish theyweren't and the old people who either wishthey weren't or will wish they weren't after

a few more years and just a few more hoursto sober up.

Both groups envy the green grass on theother side of the legal fence. For the under-age, there is nothing worse than the feelingsof disempowerment, irrelevance, immaturity,and exclusion that accompany the curtail-ment of freedom to partake in activities soci-ety and culture grant an unassailable aura of"in"-ness. Like the early teen barred from theR-rated movie who has watched the adver-tisements, read the reviews, and been told byall his friends how damned cool it is, theunderage just know that what awaits on theother side of those velvet ropes and verylarge men is the place they want to be.

Perhaps they've even been there a fewtimes, after a dramatic, adrenaline-filledmaneuver into a party of age. The very act ofgetting in and slipping underneath the radarof the authorities brings a rush that sufficesas an evening's entertainment. A good fake10, a friend wtro knows this guy who knowsthe bouncer, or an establishment with occa-sionally lax age enforcement all provide pas-sage across the mysterious boundary to themystical region of dim lighting, loud music,and crowds whose import, derived purelyfrom their numbers, would appear depress-ingly impotent and laughably silly strippedof the various numbings of th'e senses that

generally characterize nightlife.Yet the powerful mystique of the forbid-

den and unknown is not easily disarmed. Ifthere's one nearly universal human trait, it'sthe need to know and experience for ,our-selves; even the biblical first people, Adamand Eve, abandoned paradise and munchedtheir forbidden apples, an action said to be acultural codeword for ~'had a drink", simplyfor the sake of experience, despite divineadmonition not to.

Adam and Eve, having gone from heav-enly paradise to worldly strife, regretted theirdecision after a few hours of fun with apples.They wished more than anything to return totheir innocent paradise. After birthday num-ber 21 falls irretrievably into history alongwith every other passing day of ever shorten-ing lives, it's only a matter of time before thenewly christened non-minors (shouldn't theybe-called "majors"?) realize that they'vepassed the final point for some time at whichthey're granted new societal privilege, hav-ing been given in the last five years the rightto drive, vote, and now drink. The n,ext timethe government grants them new priVIlegesthanks to their age will find them collectingsocial security checks. I imagine it's notquite as exciting a transition as _gaining theright to drink.

It doesn't take long until the majors

begin to envy the minors for their youth andwould gladly trade their drinking privil~gesjust to jump back a few years to more youth-ful days, berore more of the life's magicrubbed off into cold realities. The circle ofenvy is complete, but for the minors, theobject of their envy is obtainable with mere-ly a bit of patience. The majors don't have itso easy: watching the nervous minors stam-mer at the doorway reciting their false birthdate and address for skeptical bouncers andlonging for the good old days of doing thesame, the only salve for their envy is yetanother drink to stunt thoughts of their lostyouth.

At some point in grade school, I madeNew Year's resolution to believe in SantaClaus again. The attempt at self-deceptiondidn't quite work out as well as I'd hoped,but it was worth a shot. Don't worry; I am bynow quite comfortable with Santa Claus'failure to exist, and I'm sure I'll becomequite comfortable with losing minor status aswell. We minors, though, can make a pur-poseful effort to replace our envy and resent-ment with cherishment of our impermanentyouth while we have it. Soon, instead of 'wishing time forwaId, we'll be wishing itback. '

Also, if anyone can make a good fake ID,drop me an e-mail.

Don't Blindly Trust the DOEBrice Smith

Time is running out. In May the Housevoted to override Nevada's veto of the YuccaMountain high level nuclear waste reposito-ry. The Senate is expected to vote within thenext few weeks. If they override the veto,then the Department of Energy will be free toapply to the Nuclear Regulatory Commissionfor a license which, if granted, will give thego ahead to eventually ship up to 77,000 tonsof spent nuclear fuel through as many as 44states to Yucca Mountain, where it will sup-posedly remain secure for the next 10,000years. (You might ask yourself how thewords "Danger. Keep Out'" will be writtenin the year 12,000 AD, but I digress). Muchhas been said about this issue, and untan-gling the arguments is no simple task giventhe enormous uncertainties inherent in allsuch long time-scale predictions.

As scientists we are trained to questionevery assumption within an analysis. Inherentin that examination must also be a question-ing of who is conaucting the research, whattheir track record is, and what potential con-flicts of interest they might have. When deal-ing with a decision that could potentiallydestroy the lives of millions of people andimpact the environment for hundreds of thou-sands of years, these questions become all themore important.

One does not have to look very hard torealize that the DOE has one of the worstenvironmental and safety records in theworld. The Environmental Protection Agencyeven once barred its employees from visitinga uranium processing facility because of thehigh risk of exposure to radioactivity. TheDOE acknowledges 155 instances of serious

contamination spread across all 16 of itsweapons facili'ties. Many of these leaks havethreatened the public water supply. The mostheavily polluted site is at Hanford, Wash~, butthe most dangerous is Rocky Flats given thatit is only 16 miles from Denver. The GeneralAccounting Office found a pervasive attitude 'of laxness towards safety at this site (includ~ing faulty radiation monitors and fire alarms).During its operation, Rocky Flats sufferedhundreds of small fires and two major firesstarted by the spontaneous ignition of pluto-nium. As a result, the DOE had to buy $9million worth of land that had been danger-ously contaminated and the 40 acre reservoirfeeding Broomfield, Colorado was blanketedby plutonium, requiring drinking water to betrucked in each week. In 1989' Rockwell,which ran the plant for the DOE, sued thegovernment, cla.iming that the DOE knew the'plant could not be operated in compliancewith environmental laws, but insisted thatRockwell keep it running. After an investiga-tion, the FBI charged that senior executives atthe DOE knew of the dangers, but lied to con-ceal the violations. Eventually Rockwell shutdown the plant and was hit with an $18.5 mil-lion criminal fine, but they had received $27million in bonuses from the DOE during justtheir last three years of operation.

Comp~unding their ineptitude and care-lessness, the DOE, and its predecessors,intentionally exposed tens of thousands ofunsuspecting and uninformed Americans toradiation, including the release of radioactiveiodine at Hanford in 1949 which contaminat-ed the surrounding communities. To this daythe true scale and consequences. of theseexperiments are unknown. Finally, the DOE'straditional role as an advocate for the nuclearindustry presents a significant conflict of

interest, which is compounded by the fact thatthey are facing a multi-billion dollar courtordered fine for not opening the repository in1998 as planned. One of the major issues indetermining the damages is the scheduleunder which the DOE will begin acceptingthe spent fuel, thus adding further pressure tofind a quick solution no matter what th~ con-cerns.

If you are putting your faith in regulationto mitigate all this, then even a tertiary exam-ination of the NRC will reveal that it is oftenlittle more ,than an industry spokespersonwith a rUbber stamp. Time' and again thesenior management at the NRC has overruledits own investigators :and scuttled inquires;For example, NRC managers interfered witha criminal investigation of industry officialswho had knowingly lied about the readinessof the Watts Bar reactor, other mangers cutshort an investigation of an accidental chainreaction at the Fermi 2 reactor which was stillapplying for a license, and a panel in D.C.overrode the findings of investigators in Cali-fornia who questioned ,the safety of the trou-bled Diablo Canyon plant. This last incident,combined with many others, prompted asenior NRC engineer to resign in protest anda House subcommittee to find that the NRChad probably violated federal law during itsdeliberations. To make matters worse, theNRC is allowing plant owners to furtherincrease risks by cutting back on inspectionsof critical safety equipment. As for Yuccaitself, the NRC raised 293 serious questionsabout its suitability and despite havingreceived responses to less than 50 of th~se, itrulee! that enough information is available fora license application.

If you are putting your faith in regulationto mitigate all this, then even a tertiary exam-

ination of the NRC will reveal that it is oftenlittle more than an indl;lstry spokespersonwith a rubber stamp. Time and again thesenior management at the NRC has overruledits own- investigators and, scuttle,d inquires.For example, NRC managers interfered witha criminal investigation of industry officialswho had knowingly lied about the readinessof the Watts Bar reactor, other managers cutshorf. an investigation of 'an accidental chainreaction at the Fermi "2 reactor which was stillapplying for a license, and a panel in Wash-ington' D.C. overrode the findings of investi-gators in California who questioned the safetyof the troubled Diablo Canyon plant. This last'incident, combined. with many others,prompted a senior NRC engineer to resign inprotest and a House subcommittee to find thatthe, NRC had probably violated federal lawwhile considering the ability of the. reactor to 'withstand an earthquake. According to theUnion of Concerned Scientists, these reduc-tions are approved based on the results ofincomplete and inaccurate accident probabili-ty assessments. A~ for Yucca itself, the NRCraised 293 serious 'questions about its suit-ability ang despite having received responsesto less than 50 of these to date, it has ruledthat enough information is available for alicense application.

Neither of these organizations has earnedthe biind faith that so many currently have inthem. Given the enormous risks of pushingYucca Mountain through and greatly expand-ing the, waste stored around the country byrevitalizing a failing industry, it is unbeliev-able that so many seem willing to overlookthe disastrous and often de~eitful past ofthese agencies. Trust must be earned,. an~ tothe determent of us all, the DOE and the NRChave failed mi~erably in that taSk.

Top" 5 Ways to Make'"'the Front Page' of, The 'Te~ch':

Send your EXECUTIVE SUMMARY toMITolans{a)ntven.com.

Our Partner in Technolog)':ORAPIR _ The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory. Inc ......._~ .. An Independe~t Research Laboratory

Located inKendallSquare, Navigator Technology Ventures (NTV).has stronglinkstoMIT and Draper Laboratories,and works withinnovatorstoturntheirtechnologiesintosuccessfulcompanies.Weprovidea unique combinationofventurefunding,technologicalexpertise,services,and experience.

An Early Stage FundAddressing theUnique Needs ofTechnology Startups

THE TECH Page 7

ENGINEER/STUDENTWANTED FORINDEPENDENT

PRQJECT. FEE TO BENEGOTIATED.

CONTACT: GABRIELRU IZ (617) 640-4189

OR GARY DORNFELD(732) 238-6660,

Solution to Crosswordfrom page 13

ASPSITAAWL SL I TN C A A A E R lET 0 D 0G A I N R A I S A E TONS P R I N G PEE piE RT E S T E E A E S o P

I_A U T U M N clR o C U SSMART. S U I TIS.A T A

CAR YMFI S T S. T R E T

ORE. P E N C E. BEE R SWI N T E R G A R D E NL A T E R I N T A C T

S U M M E R L E A G U EII ETA L A U R A L C A R EII L Ell A U N I T E l I E NIrF ADS L I N E R E N D S

~NaVigator. "Technology<-.:::::::s V B n t u reG. www.ntven.com

RSI, from Page I

ARE YOU AN ENTREPRENEUR?ARE YOU STARTING A COMPANY BASED ON

AN INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY?IF YOU ARE, CONTACT Us.

ProgramIncludesOutingsSchmidgall said she is learningballroom dancing and, from herfellow students, such talents asjazz violin.

By the. time they leave onAugust 3rd, Schmidgall, Mueller,and their fellow students will havecompleted short research projects,written research papers, and pre-sented their research in sessionsheld Aug. I and 2. Top paperswill be selected and published in a'compendium along with abstracts

..of all the RSI research.Students said they were enjoy-

ing the RSI introduction toresearch. "You're discoveringthings," Schmidgall said. "Nor-mally they don't give projects likethese to high school students."

. SCOTT JOHNSTON-THE TECH

On mid-June Friday, MIT, said goodbye to Toscanlni's Ice Cream, which has been a fixture in the.. Student Center for several years. Top: By lunchtime', ttie line for free ice cream reaches out the

.door. Bottom: Employees demonstrate how free ice cream means .blgger tips.

July 10, 2002

COMPUTERS HI TECH HAM RAD.IO

/

. '~~

.~~ .. ' ... -NOW t-heTHIRD SUNDAY 0f EACH MONTH ALL SUMMERBARGAIN'ELECTRONICS COMPUTERS RADIO PARTS

SOFTWARE - HARDWARE

Su'n.dayJuly 21st-Buy Sell Swap - 9 AM to 2 PM

Albany and Main, Streets,Cambridge.TAlLGATEROOM FOR OVER 200 SELLERSRain or Shine ~ Garage Avai'able

BUYERS '$ 5$1 oR with NITm

SELLERS $2,0per space metodes 1 admission

FREE!Buyers Parking

.VENDORSfrom"aDo'

New England

Come earl~forBEST ~ABGAIN~.Sponsored by: W1 MX, the MIT Electronics Research Society, W1 XM/R

THE TECH Page 9INDEPENDANCE DAY

(Below left) Fireworks - an end-less stream of fireworks accompa-nied by dramatic music and aninterlude featuring excerpts from aspeech by President George W.Bush - explode over the CharlesRiver.

celebra esthe'\

-Bosto'\

(Far right) Mil Police SergeantCheryl Vossmer (right) dances witha friend as Manilow sings.

(Below right) Spectators wave

(Right) Barry Manilow sings hisclassic "Copa Cabana."

(Above)FourF-15fighter jets perform flags and red, white, and blue glow-a flyoverin formationon July4. sticks Manilow performs a patriotic

tribute.

SI:~"'Ln liU- T/It: TECf{

(Above) Massachusetts~State Police divers

search and patrol the. Charles River nearJheHatch Shell in prepara-

tion for Boston's Fourthof July festivities. In addi-

tion to concerns aboutattacks, the river patrols

kept back swimmersattempting to get a good

seats on the Esplanadeand enforced special

boating rules.

(Left) Jackie the Dog,also from the Massachu-setts State Police,helped out by searchingthe area for bombs.

Page 8 TH E TECH

TheTech

Page10

July 10,2002

uS"~,.,t; c.U.SST~tt£ASu~EH£~rS A""OTlfE ~T..Nc:r."L.E S ofTHE TIMESPHfRE,E. RATOS1J.lfJJES,~\4-TH OTl1ER.s J:UEAIiL. Y TV1ES HADcrf.e L- E D THE L-~A~ D s.PHERED f"A~7lt SFLAT THINC,)' .

...ce~o.z"G To TII~ ~eVOLono~r'\' THE~'\', E;#tCHS~DE OF TliE EAl»1'.s Tr~E SPfffiflE %S 'ITS

0 ... .., UA/lltE'RSAL DXr-tEN.SZOM

Dilbert@ by Scott Adams

THIS 15 ROBOB055.HE'LL HANDLE ALL OFMY TRIVIAL TA5K5.

I'M TOTALLY IN5UL TED iTHAT YOU THINK YOUCAN MANAGE U5 WITHA MACHINE!

I'LL DELEGATEIT TO MYA55I5TANT, -PLYWOOD B055 .

I'M IN A BATIlE OFWILL5 WITH A GUYWHO LET5 ALL OFHI5 CALL5 ROLL OVERTO VOICE MAIL.

I DO THAT TOO,50 ALL DAY LONGWE TRADE ME55AGE55AYING ''CALL ME ,"AND THEN WE IGNORETHE INCOMING

CALL5.

~ MAYBEHE'5'OUTOF THE ..OFFICE.

NO, I CANHEAR HIM.HE'50NE.CUBE OVERFROM ME.

')

SURE. IT'S ...HA HA HAlJUST KIDDING.

~ CAN YOU TELL ME.~ WHI\ T _OUR COMP~N,(~ 5TRATEGY I5? '

. .NO, BECAU5E ~THEN YOU'D ~KNOW WHAT sTHE BUDGET :15.

E~ CAN YOU TELL ME .; WHEN I'M OVER1- BUDGET?

iII

I CAN'T TELL YOUHOW MUCH YOURBUDGET 15, BECAU5EIF I DID, YOU'D fRY

TO 5PENDALL OF IT.

HIGHFIVE!

50 ... AREYOU5EEINGANYONE?

THAT 15 THE M05T5HALLOW COMPLIMENTI HAVE EVER HEARD.BUT IT 5TILL MADE

ME FEEL GOOD .

o

I AI"'\ ROBOB055.YOUARE A VALUABLEA55ET. KEEP UP THE

GOOD WORK.

ONCE .',WHENYOUFLAREDYOURN05TRIl5.

HAVEYOU EVER5EENMONKEYBRAINS?

AND 5HOOT ASMUCH OF IT ASPOSSI BLE FROMTHE .WINDOlJ OFAN 5UV.

I'LL BE TAKING MYVACATION INAFRICA 50 I CANENJOY NATURE'5

WONDER-5.

5TOP ...DON'T MAKEME LOVEYOU.

j YOU'RE~ GIVING~ 110%.

."~oo..~":i

AND YOU'RE A50ULLE55 MACHINEDE5IGNED TO GIVE5HALLOW COMPLIMENTSTO EI"'\PLOYEE5.

(

E

ROBO{}055, CAN THI5 ~RELATION5HIP WORK? !AFTER ALL, I'M A ~iHUMAN ... I

THI5 5URVEY WILLHELP U5 IMPROVEMORALE.

I

I MI5JUDGED YOU.I THOUGHT YOU WEREAN EVIL DIRECTOROF H.R .• BUT YOUCARE ABOUT MORALE.

WHEN WE FIRE THI5DISGRUNTLED GUY,MY MORALE WILL GOWAY UP.

ALICE, YOU 5HOULDACT A5 IF YOU'REYOUR OWN B05S.

E8 MY HAIR 15 POINTY! AND I'M CONFUSED.

'! 5UDDENLY I HAVEI NO RE5PECT FORII . MYSELF.

Eout::t):e

i

MU5T .GOLF .NOW.

THATIS 50-0-0NOTFUNNY.

\

~,HEY,GUY,CHEER 0UP. YOU CAN CH005E .;TO HAVE A GOOD iATTITUDE! ~

Eout::~

i

I JU5T FOUND OUTI HAVE SIX MONTHSTO LIVE.

MAYBE I'M 5AYINGIT WRONG. TRYREADING THE 'BOOKYOURSELF.

PROCUREMENT

I NEED TO ORDER ASPECIAL CABLE FORMY COMPUTER.

E

~ NO, THAT'5 A PIECE.; OF ROPE. YES, I! KNOlJ IT'5.I CHEAPER.

LJELL • MAYBE IT ~SA MI5TAKE TO 5IGNAN EXCLU5IVE CON-TRACT WITH A 'ROPE

DISTRIBUTOR :.

July 10, 2002

Dilbert@ by Scott Adams

MY TECHNOLOGY TESTWAS A HUGE FAILUREBECAUSE I HAD TOUSE ROPE AS M,(ELECTRONIC CABLE.

EI CALL MY IDEA ~''COFFEE WITH THE !BOSS." EACH EMPLOY- £EE WILL GET ONE ~HOUR OF QUALITY ~TIME- WITH ME.

OUR PROCUREMENT.MANAGER IS AMONKEY WHO SIGNEDAN EXCLUSIVE CABLECONTRACT WITF\ AROPE VENDOR.

)

I'D RATHER STAPLEA SKUNK TO MY •FOREHEAD AND GOTO A TRADE SHOWFOR BANJO MAKERS.

I'D RATHER NOTTAKE SIDES UNTILI HEAR THE MONKEY'SVERSION.

~ AND YET, IT'S STILLBETTER THAN WORKING,SO COUNT ME IN.

E

I'M HAVING THESE 1COFFEE MEETINGS •TO FIND OUT HOW iI CAN IMPROVE ~MORALE. II

WALL y, IT'S YOURTURN TO BE INCHARGE WHILE I'MON VACATION.

MY ONLY PROBLEMWAS THAT I WASN'TDRINKING ENOUGHCOFFEE WITH YOU.SO NOW I'M GOOD,THANKS.

BUT WHATEVERYOU DO, DO NOTSIT IN MY CHAIR.IT WOULDN'T BERIGHT.

PROMISE ME YOU'LLNEVER LEAVE THISTABLE. I CAN'TGO BACK TO THEWAY THINGS WERE.

OOH-BABY! YOUWANT SOME OFTHIS. YES, YOUDO.

E ~ ~YOU'RE THE FIRST ~ FEEL F~EE TO SAY MY CAROL. I'M FILLING 1 AM AN I WILL MAKE YOU'0

CHAIR '(OU ~RIn"E- "0EMPLOYEE FOR MY 8 WHATEVER IS ON IN FOR THE POINTY- @ ~Ot\lNISTRAnVE PAY DEARLY FOR"COFFEE WITH THE ! YOUR. MIND. DON'T HAS A fUL WHINY HAIRED BOSS, SO i YOUR ARR.OGANCE IBOSS" PROGRAM. ti HOLD BACK. GIVE, SQUEAK. WRElCH~" THAT MAKES YOU MY i AS515\ANT1 yOU

li IT TO ME STRAIGHT. \//SECRETARY. STINKIN', BABOON!

11/

l -FoxTrot by Bill Amend

SoME I'L'TURE WHO tcNEW'HIICETHIS SU8uR8&A

TU~l) OUT WAS So;ro BE. LIFELESS?

I I

lAM SoHOT.I

I WANTED To COME FACETo FACE WITH WILD ANI- •,MALS! AA.'fTLiS/WCES!GRIZZLY BEARS!SNAa,,*, IS SoME-

MOUNT ....... ' mNG 01'1LIONS! M'( ELBow?

\ '-

BuRNING'. HoT.

I

oUR \(11)5 ~ THEFuNNY PAGES.

/ So?

'-.-!Jv~

8I.AZING;FLAMING,oN-FIRE

HOT.I.

So SIT INTHE St-W>E.

I

NiVER M\NO.IT'S :JUST

DIRT •,.J l

HoW CAN YouNOT GET THISPuNCHLINE??

YoU Do ''''''ow

OK, ole, MY MUCH BEmR.SToMACH HERE,HAvE

WILL \MPl.oOE. A CARRoT.• I

'-~~...-

WHY 00YOU

TH\NlC HEwANTED To?

WtiATARE YOUM/JClNG?

EGGS. FRIED oR I'LL LET, SCRAM8LED? . you !Qolow

IN A SECOfoI).I

ooPS.I

IF THE. FooDNETWo~

EvER WANTSA COMEDY

SERlES_

wELcoME,ANDYFOX2't73!

MESSAGE #1:YoU HAvE 25,000 AAsSE :JASoN'S ALLowNlCE1 IF I EVER MEETNiW MESSAGES! MES5A&E #2: THE. GENIUS WHo

IlAI5E ;JASoN'S AU.owANCE! THoU&HT uP

~SrE #JIIL' SPAM-MA'L

It

FoxTrot by B ill Amend

I'LL QETJ IT.

IlINQ! '-R\NQ!IlINQ!

;~;~~;:-:'::;''':'::::;';:~~::;::'::':;~;:~«;~:;:::;''i';:;~:~::;:::::=::-:':";:;:::::::~::f.'-~'.'.'.'.

RoGER. DoTHESE PANTS NoT AT

MAleE ME ALL.LootC HiAVY? \

~D"0ca~ <t:3~~ -

~'-'

~,.:.'.:."'"wr

FouR BITES.I THREE BITES.

\

IT WAS YOU1lMoTHER'S IOU.

~ ;~

A coRN DoG WELL. IT SHoUW BE.ISN'T CoRN IN HERE - TRY IT WITH

SoME MUSTARD.

of cOURSE ARE You SURE WHYMoM. IS IT IS. IT WASN'T woULD

THIS REALLY I M\S\A8ELED YOUWATER- .r-J oR SoMETHING? lliINlC

MUt? '" ';V~ C~""'-:0~" fGJ hJ .~-~

IF RoGER Fox eM SINICTHIS PUTT. HE'LL MAKE

HIS FIRST PAR IN SIXWEEleS •

IT'S A SIMPLE TWo-FooTER. uPHILL.

No BREAI<. \(TAP)

~\. ,r==4~~~I~~1 JASoN. BE PATIENT.I THEY SAID You COUlDI ~ PlAY THE w\l'IINiR. Do yoUSE[ A• ~\. './- / WI~R oN TH,t.T~rnrd~:Mm~~I1L~

loW I RECOVERED Youll FUMBLE!- \ HA! I REcoVERED YOUR FUMBLE! ,

HA! I REcoVERED YoUR FUM8LE! I\ HA! 1 REcoVERED youtl FUMBLE!

.[1~~f?~.~ ~~~

Tl-£ CHARcOAL'S I WHAT ABouT1lEAD'f. Wt£RE ARE FoR<:>oT CHlCleEN oR WE'RE ouTTl-£~? WE'RE HOT DoGS? Of THOSE.

" , Too.

' •• :j, ~. " l -, '",;, ~ ~-• .:,. - 'l - :~~ '~

~~6 .:0: 66(~ 4~ ~~6 ~'.w<> G\, :i/l G (,G ~M-, ~ G (,(,

~ 1M ~~ Q I _'.#t*tt'~r_ 1t. ,

I THI* .,S PUN IS ToM£LD HER SUPiR-WQMAN

WAYS WITH .,5 0""AREAS of EllPERTlS£.

\~"e....Lt1

I MOWED THIS EJomRELAWN \oto'ttl£ MoM WAS ATTHE GRocERY SToRE, JUST

LI\C£ SHE AstCEI>. ANDIT'S QROWN RIGHT BACk!

~~

~~

~~,.:' •• 'iJ~A""ll

JASoN. YOU'RE IF MAATHA STEWART &I)S

A LUNAnc. I.lP GoING To 1l£ SLAMMER." SoMEONE HAS To TAICI

AM I? " f""'\..' oVER HER ZILLloN-DoLLAR~ .... ~ EMPIRE.\~t]"~I L -==- IVf --- ,.~

@' 10 : I '\~n,.,,, A

• NO. -1'10.THAT'S Too-~

,r11,,;;

'},t

YOU WRoTE THISWEB BRoWSER

FROM SCRATo(?! 8(-

WHEH?! fotlE£~i"~d~

(CHIIHfI) (f)rCHSlEvents. Calendar Events Calendar appears in each issue of The Tech and features events for members of the Mil community. The

Tech makes no guarantees as to the accuracy of this information, and The Tech shall not be held liable for any loss-es, including, but not limited to, damages resulting from attendance of an event .

. Contact information for all events is available from the Events Calendar web page.

Friday, July 17

Friday, July 12

Tuesday, July 16

Monday, July 15

Saturday, July 13

10:00 a.m. - Admissions Information Session.10:45 a.m. - CampusTour.12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. - Artist Behind the Desk Concert. BJ Magoon and DrivingSideways. A dance inspiring mix of Blues, Swing and R&B with Dave Broderick,senior audio visual specialist and BJ Magoon, audio visual technician, MIT AudioVisual Services. free. Room: .Stratton Student Center Pavilion. Sponsor: WorkingGroup on Support Staff Is~ues.12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. - TSM (ADSM) Backup Software Quick.Start. Learn how todownloLad,install, and configure TSM (formerly ADSM), a program for backing up yourfiles to a secure server over the network. Discuss your TSM questions with technicalstaff .. Room: N42 Demo. Sponsor: Information Systems .2:QOp.m. - Admissions Information Session.2:45 p.m. - Campus Tour.8:00 p.m. -10:00 p.m. -IFILM Film Seminar.

10:00 a.m. - Admissions Information Session., -10:45 a.m: -' Campus Tour..12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. - Dreamweaver Quick Start. Dreamweaver 4 is a powerfultool for creating and managing complex web sites. This session introduces users tothe Dreamweaver interface and gives a brief overview of web publishing practices atMIT.'.Room: N42 Demo. Sponsor: Information Systems.2:00 p.m. - Admissions Information Session.2:45 p.m. - CampusTour.6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. -.Toastmasters@MIT Evening Meetings. 77 Mass. Avenue,Cambridge, Building 2, Room 2-131. free. Sponsor: Toastmasters.

8:00 p.m. - U:OO p.m. - Patrol. Shoot your friends! Travel to strange, new class-rooms; meet interesting, unusual people; and kill them. A team game of shoot-em-up; guns provided.. free. Room: Building 36, Rrst Roor. Sponsor: Assassins' Guild,MIT.

10:00 a.m. - Admissions Information Session.10:45 a.m. - CampusTour.2:00 p.m. - Admissions Information Session.2:45 p.m. - CampusTour.

10:00 a.m. - Admissions Information Session.10:45 a.m. - CampusTour.12:00 p.m. -1:00 p.m. - BrioQuery Quick Start. Learn how to download, install, andset up BrioQuery on your desktop. Learn how to download and process a standardreport. An overview of the features and capabilities of BrioQuerywill be given.. Room:N42 Demo. Sponsor: Information Systems.2:00 p.m. - Admissions Information Session.2:45 p.m. - CampusTour.

Visit and add events to Events Calendar online at http://events.mit.eduWednesday,July 10 .12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. - Eudora Quick Start. This session shows how to configure

Eudora, create messages and address lists, send and receive attachments, and sortincoming email.. Room: N42 Demo. Sponsor: Information Systems.1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. - ConversationalEnglish Class.Join us for a free conversationalEnglishclass for international students and spouses at MIT. Most attendees are womenable to speak freely who desire to increase their English skills. Class covers a variety oftopics including American culture and holiday descriptions .. Free. Room: W11 BoardRoom.Sponsor: Baptist Campus Ministry.1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. - Weight Watchers at Work meetings at MIT. New and'returning members are always welcome at this weekly meeting on weight control.Friendly, relaxed lunch hour meetings. More info: tpriest@mit.edu. Room: Building 8-219. Spon~or: Information Center.2:00 p.m. - Admissions Information Session.2:45 p.m. - CampusTour.

. Thursday,July 11

10:00 a.m. - ..Admissions Information Session.10:45 a.m. - Campus'Tour..

10:00 a.m. - AdmissionsInformationSession(Followedby the Campus Tour). following.the Admissions Information Session is a Student Led Campus Tour which begins in theTransitions Loungeroom which is located on the first floor of the Stratton Student Center,84 Massachusetts Ave, which is the building located directly across from the 77Masachu~etts Ave main entrance building. Groups over 15 people need to make specialreservations.. Room: Meet in Transitions Lounge,Stratton Student Center, Bldg. W20,first floor. Sponsor: InformationCenter.10:45 a.m. - Campus Tour. Student led tours are approximately 90 minutes long

,and provide a general overview of the main campus. Please note that campus toursdo not visit laboratories, living groups or buildings under construction. Groups over15 people need to make special reserva,tions. Campus tours start at the conclusionof the Admissions Informations Session which is given in the Transitions Lounge,first floor of the Stratton Student Center, 84 Massachusetts Ave, which is located.across the street from the 77 Massachusetts Ave main entrance building. free.

~Room: Transitions Lounge roo~, first floor, Stratton Student Center (Bldg. W20).Sponsor: Infqrmation Center.

'12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. - Laser Surgery or Glasses? An MIT staff optometrist dis-cusses everything you wanted to know about laser refractivesurgery for nearsight-edness, including indications,the procequre, results, complications, recentimprovements, and new lasers~ free. Room: Bush Room (10-105). Sponsor: MITMedical.12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. -:-PowerPoint Quick Start. PowerPoint makes it easy to jazzup y,Qurpresentations. Get an introduction to what PowerPoint can do. Find out ~owto create slide shows. Learn how to use drawing tools, graphics, and create hand-outs .. Room: N42.Demo. Sponsor: Information Systems.'2:00.p.m. - Admissions Information Session.2:45 p.m.';" CampusTour..3:00 p.m.-- 5:00 p.m•.- spouseS&partners@mit,-Summer meeting. Call 617-253-.

, 1614 or email reck@med.mit.edu for meeting .details: free. Sponsor: spouses&part- .ners@mit. ' , q"

6:00 p.m. - Gamelan Galak Tika Outdoor Concert. Program includes traditional'music and dance, featuring a showcase of the intricate and compelling Balinese

- dance style with both solo and ensemble dance pieces. New works composed by.GGTmembers, includin~ the grouPls artistic directo.r Prof. Evan Ziporyn, will also' beperformed.Gamelan 'Galak Tika begins its 10th concert season with a presentation of the game-Ian experience in its preferred environment:. 'the outdoors. For centuries, the:'shim-meringsound of the gamelan has carried through evenings of work and play in Bali,and now GGT is pleased to bring this authentic, dazzling atmosphere to the peopleof Boston.~6:00p.m. - 9:00 p.m. - Start-up Clinic ...Discover how to pre~ent a plan to potential investors af the MIT Enterpdse Forum ofCambridgels Start-up Clinic. Two pre-selected companies- present their Qusinessplans and receive feedback from a. panel' of experts and.the audience over an infor-mal dihner. The key learning points i,ncludehow plans and presentations.are evaluat-ed.;what investors and evaluators look for, and how to fi'ne-tune plans and presenta-tions ..The event will be held at 6 PM the MIT Faculty Club, .50 Memorial Drive, 6thFloor, Cambridge, MA. Wheelchair Accessible. Registration fee is $35 for ForumMembers' and $45 for Non Members and includes dinner. Pre-Registrati.0n isRequired. For more information or .to register, visit: www~mitforumcambridge.org orcall 617-253-8240. - ,.$35/Members $45/Non Members. Room: MIT Faculty Club, 50 Memorial Drive, 6thRoor. Sponsor: MIT Enterprise Forum of C~mbridge, Inc..7:30 p.m. - Of the Glamorous Lives 'of Cool Stars. Dr. Huenemoerder .conductsresearch using the Chandra X-ray Observatory gratings (shown to t~e left duringassembly). to get th~ X-ray spectra of coor stars: He will describe what X-ray spectraare, and what they tell us a~out the unique features of our Sun ~nd other stars.:free. Room: Marlar Lounge (37-252). Sponsor:. LSC. MIT Center f<;>rSpac~ Research.,8:00 p.m.. - 10:00 p.m. - IFILM Film Seminar. Screening of an internationalmovie accompanied by a discussion about it .. free. Sponsor: International FilmClub. ,

Q) ,- ACROSS 42 Pieces of pounds 6 Harvest 43 Nota

N 1 Venomous vipers 43 Malt beverages 7 1997 Indy winner 45 Magnetic flux~ Fish by dragging , 44 Former Broadway Luyendyk' density units

N a net theater 8 Sagacious 46 Comic Phyllis

::I 10 Narrow cut 47 Subsequent 9 'Jump 49 One more tir:ne14 March Madness 48 Unaltered 1Q Speakers' sound 50 Healed

a. letters 52 Off-season 11 Destiny 51 Adolescents~ 15 Eagle's nest basketball 12 Wedding vow 53 Sledgehammer

16 Hubbub 57 Lat. Iist-ender 13 Heavy weight 54 Oscar-winner of& 17 Make headway . 60 Acoustic 21 Neither tem. nor 1936

~'! 18 Mrs. Gorbachev 61 TLC part masc. 55 Actress Moran

19 Harrow rival 62 Han Solo's 22 Listening devices 56 Unit cost.... 20 Tree frog princess 25 Frighten 57 Keebler's Ernie,c:0 .2 23 Examination 63 Form a bond 26 Peripheral e.Q..... subject 64 Claim on income. 27 H.S. j[.'s exams 58 Sn Lankan export.a- Q 24 Fables writer 65 Crazes 29 Manipulating 59 Help out

U) 28 Fall flower 66 Cruise ship 30 Fly constellation33 Impertinent 67 Terminates 31 Saltpeteren 36.Hearts and 32 $ rcercentages

en diamonds DOWN 33 Gower37 U.S. airline: abbr. 1 Feeling of dread 34 Shriver or Callas.e 38 Actor Grant 2 Land's end? 35 we all?39 Hand weapons? 3 Couples 39 --de-lance40 Waste allowance 4 Germ-free _40 Octopus arm

CJ 41 Lode load 5 Bull's-eye 42 Lima's land

\Page 14 THE TECH July 10,2002

THE ARTS

The new album fr'Om K's Choice is a delightful musicalromp through th.e amazing talen~ possessed by the Belgian ,

, band. While lacking some of the .emotion an~ punch -ofprevious albums, Almost Happy is full of soul-sear~hing

and bitter love songs, all set to soothing melodies and the sweetvoice of lead singer Sarah Bettens ..

For fans, Almost Happy may be best marked as the album that- finally contains the studio version of the title track. Knowing it

well as a live song, we finally are able to~hear a fully polishedv~rsion of the song that does not fail to please.

"Almost Happy" sets the tone of the album as a softer produc-tion. Previous albums included such stand-outs as "EverythingFor Free" and "Not an Addict" with harder guitar tracks' andemphasis on issues other than the all-too-common love song."Almost Happy," on the other hand, embraces a theme of bitterlove which permeates the tracks and manifests itself in such titlesas "Busy," "Almost Happy," and "Tired."

The songs of Almost Happy form a cohesive album, which isrefreshing in a time when emphasis seems to be placed more onsingles than on albums. That being said, the album doesn't haveany real direction. It serves as an exploration of the emotions thatsurround and envelop us at the end of a relationship, but there is.no ending message, no moral or philosophical' conclusion to theadventure we embark on with the band. The closest we get tosuch an ending is a final bonus song in the last track called"Already There." Here we hear a quiet tribute to a dead lovedone, admitting all things come to an end.

The album is deceptive; at first listen it seems like an albumwithout singles. No songs truly stand out on their own to merit

• l

death of her parents and having to adjust to almost alw<tys accompanied by the warmher older sister as guardian. The scene in Hallmark refrain, "Nobody gets left behind."which Lilo and Nani (sensitively voiced by Stitch also comes across the story of "TheWayne's World's'Tia Carrere) argue and Ugly Duckling," which prompts him to won-eventually reconcile achieves a realism and der if there are more like him, and alsoemotional charge rarely' seen in popular film begins to seek out more occupations than hisor theater, let alone in a Disney movie. penchant towards wanton destruction.

The opening of the movie is certainly The emotional loneliness of Stitch andworth seeing, with its sci-fi scenes filled his eventual desperation to be part of a fami-with smooth, fast action complemented by ly, matched only by Lilo"s desperation for athe emotion in the scenes with Lilo and companion, is never fully realized, which isNani. Unfortunately the movie refuses to go a pity because of the bizarre wackiness offar enough in the latter realm and instead the flashy, madcap final sequence. Thesealmost immediately returns to more familiar fantastic scenes, in which the familiar ,realityground. Nani is vis'ited by a burly Man In of the Hawaiians collides with the sd-fiBlack-esque social worker (Ving Rhames) world of the aliens, leave an odd aftertastewho tells her she has three days to prove that that would have been more effective ifshe is able to provide the care that Lilo accompanied by a grittier realism' in therequires. other s~enes" -

Experiment 626 see~s refuge in a pound Still, despite these shortcomings and theand is taken home by Lilo, who thinks he is too-humanoid depiction of the aliens, amerely a funny-looking dog and names him plethora of details make Lilo and Stitch aStitch. The rest of the movie is set up for welcome change and a pleasant reminderplot twists reminiscent of E. T. Lilo and that classic two-dimensional animation stillStitch become friends and Lilo shares her has much to offer: Energetic and sometimeslove for Elvis as Nani desperately attempts emotional scenes, a lack of formulaic "Whatto prove herself,-her efforts thwarted regu- 1 Want" and "1 Love You So Much" songs, alarly by Stitch's sadistic bend towards chaos more realistic yisual depiction of femalesand destruction and his attempts to elude his (although the solidness of their tree trunk-would-be captors. like legs goes a little too far in the other

Despite the glibness of the majority of direction), an exploration of sibling relation-the film, there are several key scenes which ships, and a worthwhile incorporation ofmanage to give it some saving substance. Elvis tunes, not to mention a nicely put-Echoing A.I., Stitch learns new emotions. together Flash website and an only peripher-from Lilo, including a regard for the movie's 'al inclusion of a romantic relationship, leave'buzzword, the Hawaiian value of "ohana," us only to wonder how much longer it willthat is, "family,".a word in the movie that is be before'Disney ups the ante again.

Ulo tries to teach Stitch to be a model citizen like The King.

ALBUM REVIEW

By Akshay PatJlSTAFF WRITER

K's ChoiceAlmost HappyMay 7,2002

K'sChoiceAZrrwst HaP'PU

FILM REVIEW

By Fred ChoiSTAFF WRITER

Written and directed by Chris Sanders andDean Deblois.Voices by Chris Sanders, Daveigh Chase,Tia Carrere, Ving Rhames, David OgdenStiers, Jason Scott Lee, and Zoe Caldwell.Rated PG.

Likeahle Disney Fare

There were many reasons to anticipateDisney's latest animated release, Liloand Stitch. After a long string ofdecidedly dull traditionally animated

movies, Lilo and Stitch looked like some-thing new and unique. The PG rating, a rari-ty among Disney animated movies, suggest-ed the possibility the movie would featuremore substance than so many recent onesrelying solely on a formulaic plot, snappyone-liners, slapstick comedy, and pop cul-ture allusions.

Despite some truly admirable intentions,however, Lilo and Stitch disappoints by' onlyhinting at the movie it could have been. Themovie opens with a few adroit minutes ofexposition in the form of a sci-fi scene inwhich a rotund mad scientist (voiced by theversatile Disney'veteran, David OgdenStiers, with a Russian accent) is tried beforethe Grand Council, led by the Grand Coun-cilwoman (authoritatively voiced by ZoeCaldwell). The scientist has broken lawsgoverning genetic experimentation and hiscreation, "Experiment 626," is a virtuallyindestructible, powerful, and highly intelli-gent six-legged and antennaed blue beast.Experiment 626 (given a memorably manicvoice by Chris Sanders to match freneticanimation by Alex Kupershmidt) is pro-grammed to destroy everything in sight, andthe scientist is sentenced to imprisonmentand the animal to termination. Experiment626 escapes, and crash-lands 'on Earth,prompting the Grand Councilwoman to sendthe scientist and another alien to retrievehim.

The film moves quickly through the restof the colorful opening sequence, whichshows Lilo (pronounced "LEE-Ioh"), themovie's young heroine, and her failed inter-actions with her peers and her older sisterNani. Lilo (voiced by the very talented,eleven-year-old Daveigh Chase) is alternatelyviolent, sullen, purposefully uncooperative,and quietly sad and we soon learn that herbehavior is due to difficulties dealing with the

Lito & Stitch

Minority Report's Darkand Intriguing FutureBy Amy MeadowsSTAFF WRITER

Minority ReportDirected by Steven Spielberg.Produced by Gerald R. Molen, Bonnie Curtis,Walter F. Parkes, and Jan Bont.Starring Tom Cmise, Colin Farrell, SamanthaMorton, and Lois Smith.Rated PC-13, 140 minutes.

FILM REVIEW

CanYouSee?

Can you see?" Can you see a futurewhere clairvoyants decide who willcommit a crime and who won't? Canyou see a future driven by the assump-

tion of guilt and the absence of innocence? Thefilmmakers ask throughout Minority Report,"Can you see?"

Tom Cruise stars as futuristic police chiefJohn Anderton. In 2054, there is no crime;there is only intent to commit crime. With thehelp of clairvoyants called "precogs," the pre-crime division of police captures criminalsbefore they even are able to commit theircrime. And the precogs are never wrong.

Imagine, then, Anderton's horror when theprecogs pin a murder on him, to be committedin 36 hours. Unwilling to believe that he can begui Ity, he sets out on a desperate search touncover the truth about himself and pre-crime.He runs; as the trailer claims, "Everybodyruns."

Anderton is searching for a little-known"minority report," the rare occasion when oneof the three precogs will disagree with the othertwo. The copies of the reports are destroyed,

. the only record remaining in the mind of theprecog.

Cmise carries the movie by himself. In fact,if some movies are star vehicles, MinorityReport is Tom Cruise's Humvee limousine.The camera zooms in on Cruise's face for allbut perhaps fifteen minutes out of the one hun-dred and forty. Yet, Cruise is not the unblem-ished action star of Mission Impossible, but atroubled leader, with secrets and a past hestrains to hold onto.

For their brief appearances, some of thesupporting actors show a subtlety that Cruisecannot risk. Samantha Morton plays Agatha, atormented precog. When she is pulled from herconstant electrolyte bath by a frantic Anderton,and away from her constant visions of thefuture, she can hardly believe that what shesees is the present. Wanting someone to knowwhat she sees and experiences, Agatha con-stantly asks Anderton, "Can you see?"

As a reclusive scientist who switched fromtaking care of drug babies who became precogsto engineering humanoid plants, Lois Smithadds to the dark undercurrent of MinorityReport. She alerts Anderton to the possibilitythat the precogs have been wrong, a territyingpossibility for Anderton, considering the hun-dreds of people who were jailed on the assump-tion of guilt.

,\;finority Report is an incredibly sleekmovie; Steven Spielberg, the director, couldprobably make a milk commercial seem sexyand intriguing. The special effects, includingcars that travel vertically and police equippedwith rocket packs, add to the gripping drama.The editing is fast-paced and engaging, and thesets are themselves a frightening view of thefuture, with a contrast between the sterile crimelab and the seedy underworld that thrives inspite of government invasion and intervention.

Although Minority Report deals with per-plexing ethical issues, s~veral remaining issuesin the filmmaking make it difficult to fullygrasp the significance and meaning. One is theconstant stream of. product placement. Everycompany from Gap to Nokia has a plug some-where in the movie. Used to emphasize the1984-like invasion of privacy by public institu-tions, the constant stream is annoying anddetracts from the movie. The other problem isthat: in classic Spielberg fashion, the ending isuplifting. Not that this is a problem in and ofitself, but the ethical questions are simplyanswered by the ending. Relatively few Ameri":cans will go home to ponder the implications ofpre-crime and a society without due process.

Minority Report is a sleek, futuristic TomCruise and Steven Spielberg tag-team. Withdark undercurrents but a happy ending, the twocinematic forces are forced to compromise.

July 10, 2002

GAMEREVIEWTHE ARTS

GAME REVIEW

THE TECH Page 15

Morrowind Neverwinter NightsD&D on the PC Never Looked so GoodBy Chad Serrant the temple for healing and supplies. Diablo IISTAFF WRITER anyone? Admittedly, it's a bit difficult to playNeverwinter Nights as a single character. They should make thePublished by Atari game a little easier for one character to goFor the PC through, or allow the player to hire more than$54.99 one henchman. While they're at it, they should

make the AI better so they don't try to castspells right in front of the enemy (provokes ~attack of opportunity).

Of course there are other parts of D&Dthat Neverwinter Nights does not implement atall. There is no concept of multiple heights,making jumping and flying impossible. Soaerial combat is out the window. There is nomounted combat either, so paladins lose their

-i1

Dungeons and Dragons has entertainedfor several decades, and hasn't changedmuch from its pen-and-paper applica-tion. Many computer games have tried

to create games that use D&D rules. Neverwin-ter Nights manages to create a very enjoyablegame, but it is not flexible enough to satisfy thehardcoie D&D addicts .

Because NeverwinterNights uses D&D's thirdedition rules, charactercreation is very flexible.Each race has an advan-tage, even the humans.

.Character classes can beeasily mixed and matched,too. Magic blasting, trapfiilding wizard/rogue? Noproblem. Fighting andhealing fighter/cleric?Easy. Of course, just beinga monk or a paladin isfine.

The game's interface iseasy to navigate. Right-clicking the mouse bringsup context-s~nsitivemenus that let you talk, CHADSERRANT-TIJE TECH

unlock, examine, or A Neverwinter avatar faces off with a mammoth opponent.attack. To reduce the number of clicks, one can mount (in exchange for more remove diseasesset commands to the function keys. If that's still spells.) Transformations and summons arenot enough, holding down shift or control limited to specific creatures. Power Attack isreveals another twenty-four commands avail- limited to either +5 or + I0 bonuses (you needable. Great for spellcasters. Maps are easy to . a feat for each of them). My personal gripe islook at, although I would like to move the map the inability to play monster races as playerview around the screen. Sometimes the map characters. Hardcore D&D fans will noticeblocks part of the action. details missing from the game, so don't expect

Luckily, the game's graphics engine is this to replace the pen and paper experience,strong enough to avoid this problem. The game anytime soon ..uses 3D all the way and allows camera rotation The multiplayer aspects are great. Game-and zooming options. The view always points Spy's game matching lists current games andtq'Y~r~ ~he.g~oun~, .s9 .vie~i,ng. the. ~e~\i!1g i~, . le~ Y9u se~rch through them. People put inimpossible. But besides that minor point, the . their custom areas and let play~r characterscamera couldn't be better. h~ve fun. I entered several areas that weren't, , The game does a decent job ~th the graph- complete but were gradually improved on a

ics. The shadow effects are great, as multiple day-ta-day basis. The multiplayer aspects formlights will create multiple shadows that stretch a nice community for everyone. As for cheat-and fade with distance. The models are a .bit on ing, well, boosting stats is ridiculously easy ifthe low detail' side, but they get the job done. you're the DM, so there's no fun in cheating~The requirements aren't too steep, so I'm not and it isn't very wide spread..complaining. The Aurora Toolset. is included with the

-The sound is fantastic. The music definitely game. It is very powerful, as it allows you tofits the fantasy setting, and battle music starts use the built-in game art to draw your ownand ends at the appropriate moments. The voice worlds. To do anything complicated, though,acting is very good. While they couldn't cover people have to know the scripting language,'every line of text, they cover a lot. The monster which is in C. Luckily, there is a huge develop-sound effects are sparse, though. er community that roams the forums, so infor-

The single-player experience is a bit mis"- mation spreads quickly.leading and betrays the spirit ofD&D. A plague Nevelwinter Nights manages to prove some-spreads through the city ofNeverwinter, and it's thing: Some things shouldn't change. Hardcoreup to the player to find a cure. There are a few D&D fans who thought that this game wouldturns here and there, and the story is very satis- end pen-and-paper RPGs are wrong, as .it does-fying. The gameplay has a few flaws, however. n't implement all the rules. But for those whoFirst of all, the mission is played as a single don't mind not playing the mind flayer psionic,character. D&D is usually played in parties ofar or those who don't even care about D&D, this

. least tliree._Next, the player can hire a henc~- game provides a highly enjoyable experienceman and can use a stone of recall to teleport to that should last for quite a while.

Hardcore, But Not Like Before'By Chad Serrant obsessive Diablo-style clicking (not DiabloSTAFF WRITER II-style; you can hold down the mouse but-Morrowind ton.)Published by Bethesda Magic users get to choose from a varietyFor the PC, Microsoft XBox of spells they have prepared, and have to$49.99 click a lot less often. Magic guilds and tem- .

pIes sell spells. Once a spell is learned it canbe used to create custom spells. Enchantingweapons and armor becomes possible as well,although the process is a bit expensive.

This game has some flaws, though. Not allskills are created equally, and poorly chosenskills can lead to poor characters, forcingpeople to restart. The conversation system

.with the island's residents has problems aswell. You can speak to thousands of charac-ters, but most of what they say is the same.Trying to convince people to say more is sup-posed to depend on the speechcraft skill.

Those are a few of the gameplay prob-lems. The software itself is rather buggy.Making Morrowin.d crash is as simple as

.pressing two keys at the .same time. Some-times even mouse clicks can disable theBethesda Behemoth. Even the XBox versionhas problems with people and creatures slow-ly drifting away. On a console system these'kinds of bugs are" simply unacceptable. How _.will XBox owners get a patch? The XBoxisn't a PC (no, really, it isn't). I hope Bethes-da will h~lVean add-on disc with the p~tcheson it.

Morrowind requires a powerful computerto run its amazing graphics. Shadows arecast, draw distances are far, and the rain actu-ally lands on ground, making a splash texture.But some .of the character animations arestiff, and several monster models areoverused (if I see another Cliff Racer. .. ).Speaking of overused, Morrowind needsmore than 2 music tracks. Regardless of howmany tracks the collector edition's music CD '

.clai~ to have, only a few songs will stick inyour head. It's a good thing music can easilybe imported into Morrowind ...

Morrowind promises at least 100 hours ofgameplay. But this is only for those who arepatient enough. to .withstand the bugs and lookover (or abuse) the broken skill system. Thisgame is. open e~ough to allow you to do.

. almost whatever you want.

OM ~rrowind has little in commonwith other RPGs. This game is for

. the patient, as' it offers a lot of con-trol and freedom not found in other

games of this genre.Morrowind uses the first few minutes of

the game to make character creation easy.The player starts as a recently released pris-oner. At first, the player is locked into first-person view and can't even walk. The intro-ductory sequence gives instructions on basictravel. It also gets to the character generator.There are several races to play, each with its .own advantages and disadvantages ..

The real decisions arise when it's time tochoose a class. There are 21 predefined class-

. es that range from the brutish warrior to the. intelligent mage. The predefined classes getthe job done, but hardcore fans use the cus-

_tomized class option, which, sets up t~e char-acter's skills, defining how the charactershould play the rest of the game.

Thirty skills are divided into three cate-gories: Strength, Magic and Stealth. Eachclass specializes in a particular skill category.The character places the skills into major,.minor and miscellaneous categories.' Improv~ing skill is as simple as using the skill - the.more times it is used the more it improves.

The island of Vvardenfell is filled withpolitical intrigue. The player can join the.fighter, mage, and thief guilds and politicalhouses to work for them. Each has its own .'jobs, pitfalls, and rewards, an'd as the playergains favor with one group he loses favorwith another. The 'game is morally ambigu-ous; as every major player in the game has itsgood side and bad side, and there is no defini-tive "good'~ way. 0 •

Most of the many side quests in the gameinv'olve escorting, delivering, and searchingfor Items . .A few of. them are assassinations.Regardless of the type of mission, theyalmost always' involve some combat.

Ironically,combat is one ofthe most. boringparts of Mor-

. rowind. Whilethere are differentways to attack anenemy (chop, stabor slash,) theyrely on clickingthe mouse button

'wbile moving.This motion hasto be performedseveral times perbattle, and it gets ,annoying veryquickly .. " The"Always use bestattack" optiontakes care of this,b'ut the battle CHADSERRANT-THETECH

degrades into Morrowlnd boasts rich graphics, including shado.ws and falling rain.

o GAME REVIEW

Tactics Ogre.-TheKnight of LodisThe Calm. Before the StormBy Chad SerrantSTAFF WRITER

Tactics Ogre: The Knight of LodisPublished by Atlis .For th~ Nintendo Game Boy Advance$39.99

As the remaining members 'of gamedeveloper Quest have joined Square-soft, I am left wondering about thefuture. Quest has developed the excel-

lent" Ogre Battle and Tactics Ogre series, yet.only Squaresoft's clone, Final Fantasy Tactics,receives any recognition. If Quest can keep up .the same gameplay found in Tactics Ogre: TheKnight of Lodis, they should do just fine. Hope-fully Squaresoft can give them some money toupdate the gameplay, though ..

The game re'volves around turn-based tacti-cat combat Use a squad of eight characters andbattle other teams consisting of bandits, beasts,.

nobility, and otherworldly creatures. This gamerequires more than just higIt-ievel characters inorder to Win. Unlike other role-playing games,positioning- phiys a very important role in thegame.

Different character classes have differentmovement rates. Heavy armor me~ that theknights can't travel very far. Ninjas can travelvery far and. are good at jumping up and fallingdown cliffs. Wizards are pretty clumsy, cannottravel far and have trouble jumping. So if theninjas charge ahead and the knights jump up thesteep cliff, the wizards are left behind and aresitting ducks.' .

Attacking is also important. Becauseattacked people automatically counterattack, itis wise to attack from behind. Ranged spells canhit multiple opponents, but the caster mustmake sure none of his allies are hit in the blast.Everyone generates ten m'agic pointS duringtheir turn, so.those with pow~rful spells can cast

them indefinitely during a qIatch, provided they. wait long enough.

Every human starts off as a lowly soldierand changes classes when his stats are highenough. Knights, Valkyries and dragoons arethe brute force types. Ninjas and swordmastersare the fast fighters. Archers are good at snipingfar-away foes. Wizards and sirens depend onmagic to blast their opponents, while clerics usetheir magic to heal. Beast masters and dragontamers- find it easier to recruit beasts and' drag-ons. Fin,ally, the warlock and witch classes usesupport magic to aid their allies and confusetheir enemies. The large choice of classes givesplayers several possibilities for their army.

There are also several races. Fairies are use-ful in this game, as they cure status ailments andallow characters to move twice per round.Hawkmen and angel knights can fly, givingthem a great tactical advantage. Mermaids aregreat while submerged in water. There are alsobeasts and dragons that can grow stronger andeven transform.' The problem with the otherraces is that they can't gain class levels likehumans can. - 0 •

The story features Alphonse Loeher, aknight sent to the island of Ovis to help thesouthern part of the island fight the northernarmy. Any Ogre Battle fan knows that the con-flict is much greater than that; the story haspolitical and religious conflict, and the player'sdecisions affect the story (I?uch more than

Golden Sun's decisions affected the story, mindyou). The stoty is shorter than Ogre Battle 64'smassive encyclopedia of a story.

Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis adds anemblem system. Your characters get emblemsfor performing certain tasks. Some are easy toget, like Knight's Certificate, while otheremblems like Relix's Emblem (when onehuman has been in all 0 14 classes) are prettytough to get. Overall you won't notice them ..Perhaps you'll use them for the two-player tradeoption, as there are some emblems you can onlyget by fighting another human opponent.

The graphics for this game seem a bit dated.Few colors are used, and the units still use awalking animation in-between rounds. Thereare no shadows or lighting, and most area affectspells are animated to hit one spot at a time.There are no options to skip the summon ani-mations, so I had hoped they would be prettier.The sounds are above average, but the GameBoy Advance has much better music capabili-ties.. This game will last at least 30 hours, andthat's if you rush to see the story. You'll have toplay again to see the other endings. And againfor the other unique characters you couldn't findbefore. And again to train your army so you canbeat your friend's army. So maybe it will take abit more than 30 hours. Let's hope the nextOgr~ game has more options, more colorfulgraphics and less.chocobos.

Page 16 THE TECH

Act expanded federal powersAmong other ch.anges, the USA'

PATRIOT Act expanded federi:l1power establishe"d in \the Foreign

_Intelligence Sm:veillance Act of1978 to se~ze and monitor any infor-

"mation or exchanges of informationdeemed potentially related to terror-ism. It.s amendments to the Immi-gration and Nationality Act and theAntiterrorism and Effective DeathPenalty Act of 1996 broadly defineterrorist activity and terrorist organi-zations and' enable the Secretary of 'State to designate activity or groupsas such.

Under the act, the detentiqn ofsuspected terrorists and FBI accessto medical, financial and education-al records, can occur' in the absen~eof official charges against the indi-viduals: The act limits the power ofcourts, to review the legaFty and,constitutionality of such actionsthrough habeas corpus law and judi-cial review.

The act also expanded the juris-diction 'of the Foreign Student VisaMonitoring Program (FSVMP)described' in the Illegal Immigra-tion Reform and. Immigrant,Responsibility Act of 199~, toinclude "any air flight'school; lan-guage training school, or vocation-al schoo'l" in addition to estab-lished elementary and high.schools, conservatories, seminar-ies, universities and colleges. :t'heFSVMP affects internatiqnal stu-dents," some of whom have beencalled horne or have' faced difficul-ty renewing visas~~fter the Sept. 11tragedy ..- The protection of the federal

government as ,described in th'e'USA PATRIOT Act extends to U.S.citizens. The text of the act statesthat "the civil rights and civil liber-ties of all Americans, includingArab Americans, Muslim Ameri~cans, and Americans from SouthAsia, must be protected, and thatevery effort must be taken to pre-serve their safety."

However, the Cambridge CityCouncil resolution states that "theBill 'of Rights an~ the Constitutionof Massachusetts guarantee thoseliving in the United States," citizensand non-citizens, the same civilrights ..

Got news?<news@the-,tech.mit.edu>

or deportation of refugees accused"of violating immigration laws.

The new resolution also askslocal, federal and state law enforce-ment to avoid "racial profiling ordetention without charges," andrequests that the U.S. Attorney'sOffice and the Office of the FBIreport to the Cambridge HumanRights Commission on their actionsunder the USA PATRIOT Act, apiece of antiterrori~t legislationsigned into law by President Bushon Oct. 26, 2001.

Since the resolution cannot forceany citizens to break existing laws,it serves largely to protest the actand relate9 Federal ExecutiveOrders issued since the act's pas-sage. Several Massachusetts townshave also passed similar resolutions.The act was passed by the Senate bya vote of 98-1 and by the House ofRepresentatives by a. vote of356-66. Four of the 66 Representa-tives who voted against the act arefrom Massachusetts.

Sanctuary, from Page 1

July 10, 2002

CouncilProtestsFederalPolicies

- "Because there is no consistentunderstanding or definition of'what would constitute 'sensitive'information, MIT should continueits policy of not agreeing to anysponsor's contractual request thatresearch results ... be reviewed forthe inadvertent disclosure of 'sen-sitive' information." Additionally,MIT should "not restrict any stu-

'dents from access to any course,on-campus seminar, 'Or other simi-lar forum."

The committee included Wid-nail, Friedman, Director of theLaboratory .for Information a'ndDecision Systems Vincent W.S.Chan '71, Chair of the FacultyStephen C. Graves, and Director ofthe Security Studies Program Har-vey M. Sapolsky.

tens."Sudbury said that while several

students are involved with researchat the Lincoln Lab, "we are verycareful to make sure" that none ofthe thesis work is classified.

MIT also has ties to severalother facilities where classifiedresearch can be carried out, includ-ing the Charles Stark Draper Labo-ratory in Cambridge.

The report also hinted at thepossible establishment of a newfacility for biological research.

"It is not too hard to imagine afuture Lincoln Laboratory-likeentity conducting classified biolog-ically related research in theBoston area," the panel wrote.

The committee also took up thesubject of "sensitive" information

research and other scholarly activi-ties, service to the nation, and ser-vice to humanity," the authors ofthe report wrote.

"If we compromised [educationand openness], we would be doinga disservice" to the community,"Friedman said. "Educating thefuture of the nation" is itself a ser-vice to the nation, he said.

The report calls for MIT to con-tinue to provide access for facultyto off-campus facilities for classi-fied research, such as the LincolnLaboratory, which is managed bythe Institute.

Roger W. Sudbury SM '63,Assistant to the Director of theLincoln Laboratory, said the num-ber of faculty conducting researchat the facility was small, "in the

Report establishes values for MIT"The fundamental mission of

MIT rests upon four values: unfet-tered transmission of knowledgethrough educational activities, cre-ation of new knowledge through

Boston GlobeJazz and Blues Festival

Research, from Page I

Faculty Panel Establishes Values for MIT

The Boston Globe Jazz. and Blues Festival fea-tured 20 bands at locations around BostonJune 15-23. Top left: Project Logic saxophon-ist Casey Benjamin rips a sweet solo as (bot-tom right) OJ Logic works the crowd. Bottomleft: Cambridge native and five-time Grammynominee Nnenna Freelon performs a tribute toStevie Wonder at the Hatch Shell on Saturday.Top Right: Several thousand people gatheredto hear the final concert on the Esplanade.Right: Grammy winning artist BranfordMarsalis and his band headlined at the freeconcert that culminated the week of music.Photography by Daniel R. Bersak

of export control provisions to uni-versity researchers, and a growingpressure to treat research results assensitive create a new landscapefor faculty, students, and MIT asan institution," according to thereport, entitled "In the PublicInterest. "

"The Provost was really look-ing into the future" when he calledfor the formation of this commit-tee, Friedman said.