T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F T E X A S A T A R L I N G T O N

WednesdayApril 1, 2009

Since 1919

Volume 90, No. 92www.theshorthorn.com

INDEX

Your Day 2News 3Opinion 4Sports 6NEWS | PAGE 3

BY ALI MUSTANSIRThe Shorthorn staff

Human Resources Vice President Jean Hood addressed those who at-tended the Student Congress meeting Tuesday night for feedback on the To-bacco Free Campus Initiative.

The Tobacco Free Campus Initiative committee hosted an online survey for student, faculty and staff opinions on banning tobacco from campus, which ended March 13. Of the 3,198 par-ticipants, 66 percent said the current policy should be enforced or the cam-pus should be made tobacco free.

Hood said the school received com-plaints about smokers not being 50 feet from entrances and ventilation as policy dictates.

“The 50-foot rule is not enough in some areas, she said. The area under the bridge connecting Hammond and Trimble halls collects smoke when smokers are the required distance away.

Hood said some schools have al-ready become tobacco free or found other solutions. University of North Texas has a ‘smoking shack,’ and the University of Arkansas and Indiana

Campus tobacco ban’s fate remains up in air

POLICY

Student Congress meeting yields no final decision after smoking survey results are released.

SMOKING continues on page 3

BY ERIKA RIZOContributor to The Shorthorn

The red flour beetle can be a pest in the 5-pound sack of flour in your kitchen, but it can be an important organism in genetic research.

UTA biology assistant professor Jeff Demuth and professor Mike Wade of Indiana University Bloom-

ington will receive $2 million to study speciation of the grain pest Tribolium castaneum, known as the red flour beetle.

The grant, which begins today and is a continuation of Demuth’s four-year research at Indiana University-Bloomington, where Wade was De-muth’s Ph.D. adviser, was awarded by the National Institute of Health. Half will be distributed to Indiana Univer-sity-Bloomington and half to UTA.

GREEKS OF THE WEEK

Like Olympians of old, modern-day Greeks engaged in combat

on the battlefield for fortune and glory. These Greeks, however, were UT Arlington fraternities and so-rorities, and the combat consisted of a friendly tug-of-war and other games on the Maverick Activities Center west lawn.

The event, part of Greek Week, had teams with names like New York and Austin competing for points by playing games like limbo, three-legged race and pushup con-tests.

Economics freshman Bryce Vradenburg flexed his hands after competing in a tug-of-war match. “I’m alright,” he said, shrugging off a cut on his arm. “Its all for fun.”

Assistant professor receives grant to study beetles’ genetics

FACULTY

The project will investigate why the beetles do not produce healthy offspring in the lab.

BY MARK BAUERThe Shorthorn assistant news editor

Four years ago, Colleen Hurtzig enrolled at the university merely as a stepping-stone to UT-Austin.

The broadcast journalism turned business marketing major said she quickly fell in love with business marketing, and subsequently the university, after completing an in-troduction to marketing class in fall 2005.

Fast-forward to spring 2009, when she received national Ad Man-ager of the Year last week for her work at The Shorthorn. Friends, em-ployees and advisers all say the same thing: Hurtzig is poised for success.

“I was shocked, couldn’t even walk to the stage — I was shaking like crazy,” Hurtzig said about the an-nouncement at the College Newspa-per Business and Advertising Man-agers 37th Annual Convention in Charlotte, N.C. last Friday.

The award is selected after nomi-nees submit an application contain-ing letters of recommendation, a personal essay and work samples. Ad manager of the year entries are judged in two categories: circulation above and under 40,000 per week.

Hurtzig’s application was 14 pages long, and the judge rated her the highest score in all categories: achievement, management, interac-tion, innovation and personal phi-losophy.

“Colleen was able to step up when the paper and staff needed her most,” the selecting judge wrote. “She con-

Ads Up to Success

The Shorthorn student ad

manager receives national award

Economics freshman Bryce Vradenburg of Team New Orleans pulls his weight during the tug-of-war contest, part of the Greek Games event Tuesday nighton the Maverick Activities Center west lawn. The team lost the match, coming in third in the event.

The Shorthorn: Andrew Buckley

Business marketing senior Colleen Hurtzig was named national Ad Manager of the Year at the College Newspaper Business and Advertising Managers 37th Annual Convention last Friday in Charlotte, N.C. Hurtzig’s application was 14 pages long and was rated the highest score in all categories.

For the second consec-utive day, the university’s server had difficulties, leav-ing visitors unable to access the university’s Web site and related sites like MyMav.

Spencer Mabry, Office of Information Technology as-sistant supervisor, said OIT received an official outage report of the damage at 4:28 p.m. The UTA Web site was accessible again at 6:15 p.m.

Mabry said the problem is almost identical to what occurred Monday evening.

The explanation for Mon-day’s difficulties was that the Domain Name Server (DNS) was having issues.

“It’s almost the exact same time, which is very scary,” he said.

Mabry said technicians at the Fort Worth Center, where the servers are locat-ed, worked to fix the prob-lem.

No one was available for comment at the Fort Worth Center.

— Dustin L. Dangli

University server down again for two hours

TECHNOLOGY

COLLEEN continues on page 3

BEETLE continues on page 3

www.theshorthorn.comwww.theshorthorn.com

STORY AND PHOTOS BY MICHAEL RETTIG

Mechanical engineering sophomore Raymond Ouch inches below the limbo bar during 2009 Greek Games on Tues-day on the Maverick Activities Center west lawn. Ouch won second place in the competition.

The Shorthorn: Andrew Buckley

Human Resources Vice President Jean Hood addresses students and faculty during a Student Congress meeting Tuesday in the Student Congress Cham-bers for feedback on the Tobacco Free Campus Initiative. Of the 3,198 par-ticipants in the online survey, 66 percent said that the current policy should be enforced or the campus should become tobacco free.

Do you support the possible smoking ban? Vote at THE SHORTHORN .com

Sustainable Image

Students create wardrobes from recyclable materials and compete in a fasion show.

THREE-DAY FORECAST

CORRECTIONS

Calendar submissions must be made by 4 p.m. two days prior to run date. To enter your event, call 817-272-3661 or log on to www.theshorthorn.com/calendar

CALENDAR

YOURDAY

APRIL

1

The Facebook group UT Ar-lington Spring 2009 Elections will go up next week with each candidate’s photo and platform. The time it will go up was incorrect in Tuesday’s paper.

The Sigma Gamma Rho soror-ity step team Saturday night was the “Pretty Poodles.” Tuesday’s paper misidentified the name.

Page 2 Wednesday, April 1, 2009THE SHORTHORN

TodayWindy• High 78°F• Low 55°F

Thursday20% Chance of Rain• High 68°F• Low 41°F

FridaySunny• High 75°F• Low 53°F

— National Weather Service at www.weather.gov

For the full calendar, visitTHE SHORTHORN .com

CANNON FODDER by Isaac Erickson

This is a part of the daily activity log produced by the university’s Police Department. To report a criminal incident on cam-pus, call 817-272-3381.

POLICE REPORT

MONDAY

Burglary of a vehicleOfficers responded at 7:54 p.m. to take a report

of a vehicle burglary in Lot 25, 1315 S. Fielder Road. The vehicle owner told the responding officer that someone had broken into his vehicle sometime be-tween 6:45 p.m. and 7 p.m. that evening.

TheftPolice responded at 10:07 a.m. to investigate a

theft at Centennial Court apartments, 701 W. Mitch-

ell Circle. A student told the responding officer someone removed the license plate from his vehicle the previous night.

Tuesday

DisturbancePolice responded at 4:09 a.m. to investigate a

loud noise complaint at Forest Glen apartments, 412 S. Cooper St. The officer located the source of the noise – a resident playing loud music – and asked that the volume be kept down.

THE SHORTHORN .com

BY SARAH LUTZThe Shorthorn staff

The fresh ground coffee, teas and lunches are free every day, but many students say they simply enjoy the quiet place to relax or study.

Open 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Free-bucks feeds students at the Christian Campus Center, known as the Tri-C, home of the Mavs 4 Christ student organization.

Tri-C office manager Doris Frazier said she started it as a tearoom three years ago, open two hours a day, two days a week. She was able to expand on March 23, providing food each day with support and donations from the Tri-C’s board of directors.

“The first day we had one custom-er — that was last Monday,” she said. “We just tried to make it a homey place, lots of little corners, cozy places to sit or study.”

Social work graduate student Young Ok said she visited once last week and talked with Doris’s hus-band and Tri-C director Bob Frazier.

“I’m very happy to hear that we have this kind of place,” she said “I thought about that and decided to come visit again, and this is my sec-ond time.”

Ok said she enjoyed the tea and quiet atmosphere of Freebucks.

“I’m so tired of sitting at a monitor, so I thought about this place, getting some rest and reading something,” she said. “So, that’s why I visited here.”

Mechanical engineering freshman Scotty Butler said he loved the quiet environment and considers Doris Frazier the grandmother everyone wants.

“I can disappear off into the library

or the lounge in the back, and I don’t have to worry about anyone disturb-ing me,” he said.

Butler, who Frazier remembers as her second customer, said the conve-nience of the location and the seclud-ed atmospheres have turned Free-bucks into part of his daily routine.

Frazier plans to expand Freebucks to include another dining room. A library and lounge are also in the building.

“We can get the food and the sup-plies. That seems to be no problem.

You just tell us whatever you need,” she said. “I really want to help the students, and now’s kind of a rough time, and it’s a good time to do it.”

Finance graduate student Julio Rivas said he became a regular be-cause the price was right.

“This is a place that I can afford,” he said. “Today we had hotdogs for lunch, because they were free. But the hotdogs were very good.”

SARAH LUTZnews-editor.shorthorn@uta.edu

Tri-C offers coffee, tea, quiet environmentSTUDENT LIFE

Christian Campus Center, near the UC, offers free drinks and solitude to UTA students looking to relax.

News Front Desk ......................... 817-272-3661News after 5 p.m........................ 817-272-3205Advertising ................................. 817-272-3188Fax ............................................. 817-272-5009

UC Lower Level Box 19038, Arlington, TX 76019

Editor in Chief .............................. Joan Khalaf editor.shorthorn@uta.eduManaging Editor........................... Justin Rains

managing-editor.shorthorn@uta.eduNews Editor ................................. Jason Boydnews-editor.shorthorn@uta.eduAssistant News Editor ................ Mark Bauer news-editor.shorthorn@uta.eduDesign Editor .............................. Marissa Hall

design-editor.shorthorn@uta.eduCopy Desk Chief ................... Drew Williamsoncopydesk-editor.shorthorn@uta.eduSports Editor ......................... Stephen Peters

sports-editor.shorthorn@uta.eduScene Editor ................................Emily Toman

features-editor.shorthorn@uta.eduOpinion Editor ................................ Cohe Bolin

opinion-editor.shorthorn@uta.eduPhoto Editor .................................... Rasy Ran

photo-editor.shorthorn@uta.eduOnline Editor ...................... Jennifer Cudmore

online-editor.shorthorn@uta.eduWebmaster ........................... Troy Buchwalter

webmaster.shorthorn@uta.eduNews Clerk ................................ Jeanne Lopezcalendar.shorthorn@uta.eduStudent Ad Manager .............. Colleen Hurtzigadmanager@shorthorn.uta.eduAd Representatives ............ Dondria Bowman,

Shannon Edwards, Mike Love, Pax Salinas, Kasy Tomlinson, Linley Wilson, Anthony Duong, Michael Goad

Ad Artists ............................. Antonina

Doescher, Benira MillerReceptionists ....................... Monica Barbery,

Hillary GreenCourier ................................... Taylor Frizzelle

FIRST COPY FREEADDITIONAL COPIES 25 CENTS

THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT ARLINGTON90TH YEAR, © THE SHORTHORN 2009

All rights reserved. All content is the property of The Shorthorn and may not be reproduced, published or retransmitted in any form without written permission from UTA Student Publications. The Shorthorn is the student newspaper of the University of Texas at Arlington and is published in the UTA Office of Student Publications. Opinions expressed in The Shorthorn are not necessarily those of the university administration.

The Shorthorn: Michael Rettig

Freebucks, located across the street from Starbucks in the Tri-C building, offers coffee and a variety of teas for free Monday-Friday from 10 a.m. until 4:30p.m. Students can also get snacks and occasionally lunch, also for free.

TODAY

Student Alumni T-Shirt Day: all day, campuswide. For information, contact Tega Edwin at 817-272-2594 or saa@uta.edu.

Traffic Modeling in the D/FW Area: 7-8 a.m., 601 Nedderman Hall. Light breakfast provided. Reservations requested. Mem-bers and students free, all oth-ers $5. For information, contact Roger Tuttle at 817-272-3682 or tuttle@uta.edu.

Homerathon: 7-10 a.m., Uni-versity Center mall. Free. For information, contact Charles Chiasson at 817-272-3216 or chiasson@uta.edu.

Annual Glass Art Sale: 9 a.m.-4 p.m., Studio Arts Center glass studios. Proceeds benefit the glass art program and stu-dents. Free.

Art Exhibition — Rimer Cardillo and Darryl Lauster: 10 a.m.-5 p.m., The Gallery at UTA. Free. For information, contact Pa-tricia Healy at 817-272-5658 or phealy@uta.edu.

Focus on Faculty Speakers Series: noon-1 p.m., Central Library sixth floor. Free. For information, contact Tommie Wingfield at 817-272-2658 or wingfield@uta.edu.

Study Abroad Info Session Focus on Language Immersion Programs: noon-1 p.m., UC Blanco Room. Free. For infor-mation, contact Blake Hart at 817-272-1120 or studyabroad@uta.edu.

Drop-In Study Abroad Advis-ing: 1:30-3 p.m., UC between Starbucks and Freshens. Free. For information, contact Blake Hart at 817-272-1120 or bhart@uta.edu.

WHEN AND WHERELocation: The Christian Campus Center is located north of the University Center on West First Street.

Hours: 10 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday

For a crime map, visit

Wednesday, April 1, 2009 Page 3The ShorThorn

Models walked down Bra-zos House’s D ramp strut-ting the latest in old news-paper, paper towel and trash can fashion while dance tunes with lyrics like “Hey, hey, sexy guys” played in the background.

Brazos House hosted the RecycleMania Fashion Show on Tuesday night, where five contestants competed to show off their outfits rather than find out who was a top model.

Some worked with friends, others did it on their own, but they all created and wore their own recyclable dresses.

Erica Burroughs, event organizer and resident as-sistant, said she wanted to host the night in conjunc-tion with RecycleMania, a national event UTA is par-ticipating in.

An audience of about 30 voted on the outfit they en-joyed most.

While most contestants said they worked on their outfits for several hours, Anais Harvey, pageant cham-pion and visual communi-cation sophomore, said she and psychology and painting freshman Alexa Alarcon had been working on their dress since spring break.

Their outfit consisted of a bubble-wrap skirt with a strapless top made of thread-ed-together paper towels with fruit print. Paper towel rolls added to the design and created a corset-like shape. Alarcon strapped together the back of the top with duct tape spray painted gold to accent the outfit.

Alarcon said she believes

they won because their dress was more intricate, and they took the time to make acces-sories like a flower hair clip and a choker-like necklace.

“We took more time,” Harvey said. “We put more effort into it.”

Aside from bragging rights, the winning duo won necessities, like school sup-plies and dorm-room items.

Marketing sophomore Judith Huni and psychol-ogy sophomore Leslie-Ange-la Mack went for, as Mack called it, “high fashion” with items found in the Student Activities office.

Mack said most materi-als used for the dress were recyclable.

Huni modeled a skirt made of used plastic table covers, an old EXCEL Cam-pus Activities frame and a trash-can lid as a hat. Soda cans around the waist and a popcorn-box fan accented the outfit.

“I voted for contestant number two, [Huni] be-cause I like the Oscar-the-Grouch hat,” biology junior Jerome Kirby said.

English freshman Britta-ny Bellgam said she decided to participate because dress-ing up is something she likes to do.

“I know it’s good to recycle and I like fashion,” she said.

She created a short dress made out of a trash bag stuffed with grocery bags to give it a bubbly look. Her team created her top from a number of newspapers held together with a belt.

Bellgam said her friends told her she’s crazy because she could see herself wear-

ing the outfit outside of the competition.

The event consisted of more than just high fashion. While judges tallied votes, Burroughs challenged the audience to recycling trivia

games.Throughout the game,

participants won “college es-sential” prizes and learned sustainability facts, like 1 ton of recycled paper saves 17 trees.

Haute CoutureBrazos House hosts

recyclable fashion show

University allow smoking on campus if it is in your car, with the windows up.

If the campus becomes tobacco-free, Hood said all forms of tobacco would be banned, but it would take 12-18 months to initiate.

Liberal Arts Senator Matt Jones said he grew up in a family of smokers and thinks the 50-foot policy is good enough if the distance is marked.

“I think a lot of it is sensa-tionalized,” Jones said of the complaints the school has re-ceived. “I think it is not as bad as they say it is.”

Liberal Arts Senator Annie Liu said she wants all stu-dents to be healthier and smoking is a type of pollution, which goes against the school effort to go green.

Student Congress Presi-dent Travis Boren said he thinks it’s great that the sub-ject is being discussed but isn’t sure he favors it.

“We need to take a com-prehensive look at solutions to benefit everyone on cam-

pus, to find a solution that doesn’t discount needs of all students,” he said.

Student Congress Parlia-mentarian William Knisley said he was at the committee meeting that moved the des-ignated smoking area from 25 feet to 50 feet. He said he feels the issue is enforcement, which will remain a problem even with the ban.

“In effect we will have a policy that won’t be enforce-able,” Knisley said.

Ali MustAnsirnews-editor.shorthorn@uta.edu

Smokingcontinued from page 1

stantly overcame obstacles and found much success while doing so.”

Mike Love, marketing ju-nior and student advertising representative, said he admires Hurtzig’s approach to sales.

“She’s completely deserving of the award she received,” he said. “She’s just really great at what she does.”

Yale University, UT-Austin, The Ohio State University and Texas Christian University

were among the schools repre-sented at the convention.

Student Publications Di-rector Lloyd Goodman said Hurtzig exhibits “tremendous integrity.”

“She has extremely high standards and pushes herself to meet them,” he said. “She doesn’t seek recognition for just saying these are things she wants to do — she does them.”

Hurtzig completed an in-ternship with MTV Interna-tional in New York City last summer, where she was re-sponsible for making sure Nickelodeon branding re-mained consistent throughout

126 countries.She said she’s unsure

whether she’ll return as ad manager for the summer be-fore she graduates in August, but Tammy Skrehart, Student Publications advertising as-sistant director, said Hurtzig’s shoes would be difficult to fill.

“I try not to think about it,” Skrehart said. “I’m in tears. It will be a huge, huge loss, but the upside is we have a staff who worked under her who can see what it takes to be a top sales manager.”

MArk BAuernews-editor.shorthorn@uta.edu

Colleencontinued from page 1

The grant promises $328,535 in direct costs for the first year of the four-year grant period, according to the UTA Grant and Contract Services.

“The red flour beetle is one of the most important pests of stored products in the home and grocery stores,” Demuth said.

The beetles have chewing mouthparts, but do not bite or sting — they attack stored grain products like flour, ce-reals, pasta, cake mix, dried pet food, seeds and dried mu-seum specimens, according to The University of Florida Food and Agricultural Sci-ences Web site.

The project will investigate the genes that cause beetles from populations in different parts of the world to not pro-duce healthy, flour-chomping offspring when brought to-gether in the laboratory.

“Tribolium castaneum has achieved worldwide distribu-tion thanks to human com-merce,” Demuth said. “The species seems to be evolving before scientists’ eyes, though the process of producing a new species does not yet ap-pear complete.”

Some beetles collected from different parts of the world are genetically incom-patible, unable to reproduce with each other or unable to produce healthy offspring.

Males from one population that mate with females of an-other often produce hybrids with lower viability, lower fer-tility and fewer deformities, Demuth said.

Demuth and Wade will look for genetic causes under-lying the problems observed in hybrid offspring.

Rather than concentrate on single-gene effects, the scientists will look for suites of interacting genes that in-fluence an individual beetle’s fitness.

Their approach is applica-ble to human health research, because the genetic bases of many complex human dis-eases like autism, obesity and diabetes are caused by the interactions among many genes, Demuth said.

“This is a great opportu-nity, because we have to have money to do research,” De-muth said. “It’s hard to do research without funding.”

College of Science Dean Paul Paulus said he thinks this will have a positive im-pact on UTA.

“As dean, it’s very exciting that our young faculty are doing this and being success-ful as we move to a Tier One status,” he said. “Demuth is a great example of the great success of research done at UTA. Getting grants like these shows that research is valued at the top level.”

erikA rizonews-editor.shorthorn@uta.edu

Beetlecontinued from page 1

Above: Visual communication sophomore Anais Harvey struts

in a homemade dress of newspa-per and bubble wrap during the RecycleMania Fashion Show on Tuesday outside Brazos House.

Harvey was crowned the winner of the pageant, receiving bragging

rights and a college essentials package.

Right: Contestants in the Recy-cleMania Fashion Show used re-

cyclable materials like soda cans, newspaper, bubble wrap and

electrical tape to create sustain-able wardrobes Tuesday outside

Brazos House.

An accident involving three vehicles occurred at about 1:40 p.m. Tuesday on the 400 block of South Coo-per Street under the univer-sity’s north bridge.

The officer on the scene said the driver of one vehicle was taken to the hospital and another was escorted off the scene.

There were no serious or life-threatening injuries, and no one was transported to the hospital, said Tiara Ellis, Arlington Police Department media relations coordinator. The police department could provide no further informa-tion at press time.

— Sarah Lutz

No serious injuries in 3-car Cooper Street wreck

Collision

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STORY BY DUSTIN L. DANGLI | PHOTOS BY ANDREW BUCKLEY

OPiniOnabout opinion

Cohe Bolin, editoropinion-editor.shorthorn@uta.edu

Opinion is published Wednesday and Friday.

rememberThe Shorthorn invites students, university

employees and alumni to submit guestcolumns to the Opinion page.

The ShorThorn

Page 4 Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Editor-in-chiEfJoan Khalaf

E-maileditor.shorthorn@uta.edu

The Shorthorn is the official student newspaper of the University of Texas at Arlington and is published four times weekly during fall and spring semesters, and twice weekly during the summer sessions. Unsigned editorials are the opinion of thE Shorthorn Editorial Board and do not necessarily reflect the opin-ions of individual student writers or editors,

Shorthorn advisers or university administration. lEttErS should be limited to 300 words. They may be edited for space, spelling, grammar and malicious or libelous statements. Letters must be the original work of the writer and must be signed. For identification purposes, letters also must include the writer’s full name, address and telephone number, although the address and tele-

phone number will not be published. Students should include their classification, major and their student iD number, which is for identifica-tion purposes. The student iD number will not be published. Signed columns and letters to the editor reflect the opinion of the writer and serve as an open forum for the expression of facts or opinions of interest to The Shorthorn’s readers.

Editorial/our viEw

Don’t Be a Fool Pranks are fun, but don’t ruin

April 1 with irresponsibility

Another April Fool’s Day is upon us, and pranks and hoaxes are sure to be played across the campus. But pranksters should make sure no one is harmed whether inten-tionally or not.

As funny as these hoaxes and pranks are, remember that they can also have con-sequences. Harming someone or wasting resources like food and school supplies like paper and printer ink aren’t going to help anything.

There are many theories about how the day started. The most common theory in-volves the French calendar change in the sixteenth century. They moved new Year’s Day to January 1st instead of April 1st, and those who still celebrated the day from the

old calendar were called fools.

One theory given to the Associated Press for a story that ran in 1983 by Bos-ton University Pro-fessor Joseph Boskin claimed the day started during the rule of Constantine. A group of court jest-ers stated they could run the empire better than him, so Con-

stantine told one of them he could be king for a day — April 1.

The joke was on the AP though — the story was a hoax the professor cooked up.

The Museum of Hoaxes Web site has a list of the top 100 April Fool’s Day hoaxes and states its dedication to sharing knowl-edge about hoaxes.

At the top of the list is the “Swiss Spa-ghetti Harvest,” which appeared in 1957 on a BBC news show, reporting that due to the mild winter, there would be a great spaghetti crop that year. The footage from the broadcast showed Swiss workers taking spaghetti off trees and putting it in baskets. A man on the show was reporting on how great the crop was and that strands of spa-ghetti are so uniform in size and shape due to years of patience.

One hoax from 1933 came from the Madison-Capitol Times when it reported that the capitol building collapsed due to a string of explosions from large amounts of gas after much debate in the “Senate and Assembly chambers.”

in 1996, Taco Bell produced ads saying they were investing in America by purchas-ing the Liberty Bell and would promptly be renaming it the “Taco Liberty Bell.”

So have a fun day — don’t do anything that you couldn’t take back and make sure no one is harmed in the process.

Happy April Fool’s Day!

Editorial rounduPThe issue: It’s April Fool’s Day — historically a day for pranks and trickery.

We suggest:Have fun with the day, but make sure your tricks do not harm any-one or waste needed resources.

• He is secretly Muslim. They ignore the fact that he was a member of the United Church of Christ for two de-cades. if being Muslim makes someone the Antichrist, then all Muslim leaders would fit the bill. islam was not around when Revelation was written — so how could the Bible say this?

• He is black. This makes every black leader in the world an Antichrist, and it has no basis in scripture.

• He talks about peace. name one leader in any world democracy who has not run in part on a peace platform — even John McCain supported a responsible withdrawal from iraq.

• He is charismatic. The Bible does say that the Anti-christ will be given power over everyone whose name was not already in the Lamb’s Book of Life, which was written before creation. (Revelation 13:8)

With a little effort, you can call anyone the Antichrist, es-pecially if you pick and choose the prophecies you want to use.

An equation circulated on-line in the ’90s about a cute purple dinosaur named Bar-ney. if you take “Cute Purple Dinosaur” and convert the Us to Vs, like it would be if writ-ten in Latin, then remove all of the letters that are not Roman numerals — you will be left with C, V, V, L, D, i and V or 100, 5, 5, 50, 500, 1 and 5. if you add them together you get 666.

The Bible says in Revela-tion 13:18 “This calls for wis-dom. if anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man’s number. His number is 666.” (niV)

Barney is also a teacher of children who, grants them wisdom, and they love him. So i guess that makes him charismatic too.

George W. Bush was elected president in 2000. We went to war in iraq in 2003. invading a foreign nation of a different faith on the basis of weapons of mass destruction and “islamic” militants has a scriptural parallel.

The Bible says in Daniel 11:39: “He will attack the mightiest fortresses with the help of a foreign god and will greatly honor those who ac-

knowledge him. He will make them rulers over many people and will distribute the land at a price.” (niV)

Bush is a pro-claimed Christian. He has been seen praying with people at rallies during his campaign for presi-dent and has stated that he believes that it is God’s will that he was president. To the people of iraq, Christianity is for-eign. To them Jesus is not God, nor is he the Son of God.

if these people can be the Antichrist — anyone can. it could be Barack Obama, or one of your parents or a pan-handler under a bridge. it could be me — or even you.

–Ali Mustansir is a journalism junior and a

reporter for The Shorthorn

Beastly Accusations Rumors of Obama being the Antichrist are unfounded

The economy looks the same way to President Obama and the folks in Capitol

Hill. They have not figured it out yet. it’s nice when they come on TV and pretend to have all the answers — as if there was a handbook to building an economy. Former Presi-dent Bush wouldn’t have messed up if this was the case, and the book would be pirated by the Chi-nese and make its way around the world.

i agree with Presi-dent Obama’s message of hope and faith in the future. That’s what is needed now, and it’s what America stands for. The mind-set of faith and hope in a better tomorrow by making sacrifices today will change the economic situation.

The media does a good job investigating stories and telling them as they happen. if you’ve noticed, most headlines on major networks are centered on job cuts or the recession. Over-reporting will create a recession-psycholo-gy, a survival state of mind. not progress, caused by fear of ones economic standing.

There are key economic in-dicators: advance monthly sales for retail trade and food services, manufacturers’ shipments, inven-tories and orders, construction, gross domestic product, whole-sale trade, new residential con-

struction and sales, per-sonal income and out-lays, international trade and international trans-actions. These indicators are made up of millions of uncontrollable vari-ables.

For example, the re-cent hikes in petroleum prices and the subse-quent fall had nothing to do with the Bush ad-ministration. A couple of men sitting at a big

round table with the inscription “OPEC” behind them were re-sponsible for that.

if 3 million Americans decide to reduce spending, there will be a reduction in retail sales and food services, and the economy will suffer.

if there is a reduction in how many international students study in the U.S., it will affect international trade in services, which is also one of the economic

indicators. The complexity of the situation is that the economic variables can’t be controlled with money. We are all responsible for the current state of the economy.

Don’t ever underestimate your power as a consumer, a service provider or a manufacturer. You run the economic indicators and, therefore, the economy. For those who still ask what was the root cause of this economic downturn: Was it the housing meltdown or lack of regulation? nO.

This is not the great depres-sion of 1929 — this is 2009 — there are no gold standards. in an economic system, money is the output. Putting back more output into the system instead of raw materials, well, we live to see the outcome. nobel Prize winning economists Robert Lucas, Jr. and Edward C. Prescott have been more critical of the government spending, saying that the package will increase unemployment and place more debt on future genera-tions. Let’s save our children from debt. America! Sacrifice!

–Humphrey Klobodu is an engineering graduate student

and a columnist for The Shorthorn

discombobulation by Houston Hardaway

Since 1919

The Economy is in Our Hands

What are we going to do about it?

HumPHrEy Klobodu

The Shorthorn: Isaac Erickson

ali mustansir

Many religious nuts call President Obama the Antichrist and present these ridiculous arguments:

Wednesday, April 1, 2009 Page 5

Q: My girlfriend and I have beentogether for about eight years. The firsttwo years, our sex was great and abouttwice a week. But every year after, it'sbecome less and less. It's about once ortwice a month now. She'll say she is tired,but she'll be watching TV tillshe gets tired. She'll say,"Tomorrow, I promise." Thattomorrow never happens. Sheused to say she didn't want theneighbors to hear us -- that'swhen we lived in an apart-ment, but now we have ahouse of our own. There's noway they can hear us. She'llsay she isn't clean enough, butwhen she gets all cleaned upshe's afraid of what she'sgoing to smell like tomorrow.Before I came into the picture,she had been raped I think ontwo occasions. Now, that wasin California, about 10 yearsago. Why wouldn't it affecther more when we first gottogether than now, if that's thereal reason? And half of theTV shows she watches havewomen sexually, physicallyand emotionally violated. Thank you foryour time, and I hope you can give ussome suggestions. I love her; I'm juststarving for her. I shouldn't need to startsubstituting.

A: I can't tell you exactly what isgoing on, though I might take a stab andask you why you two haven't gotten mar-ried yet. Maybe if you made a commit-ment, she'd have fewer doubts. But since

I can't do any more than guess, myadvice is for the two of you to go forsome couples counseling. With the helpof a professional, you should be able tofind out what is going through her mindand then, hopefully, you can fix this situ-

ation.

Q: I would like to try role-playing with my wife, but I'mnot sure how to go aboutintroducing this into our sexlife. Do you have any sugges-tions?

A: Before you try role-playing in your sex life, whynot try it in other, more playfulways? For example, if you areable to imitate a foreignaccent (and if you can't, justpractice a bit, because it's notthat hard), try using it on yourwife. If it's a French accent,maybe get a beret and pretendto be French and say lots ofromantic things to her. Afteryou've done this a few times,and presuming she enjoysyour performance, then try it

out another time, when there's an oppor-tunity for it to lead to sex. If you can con-tinue to play a Frenchman while you'rehaving sex, it will add some variety, andhopefully she'll enjoy the experience. Atthat point you'll have successfully intro-duced role-playing into your sex life.That will make it easier to introduce suchactivities at other times, using differentroles.

CROSSWORD PUZZLEDR. RUTH

Dr. RuthSend your questions to Dr.Ruth Westheimerc/o King Features Syndicate, 235 E.45th St., NewYork, NY 10017

Instructions:Fill in the grid sothat every row,every column andevery 3x3 gridcontains the digits 1through 9 with norepeats. Thatmeans that nonumber is repeatedin any row, column or box.

Solution, tips andcomputer programat www.sudoku.com

Solution

ANNOUNCEMENTSCampus Org.

Donate school supplies to Freshmen Leaders on Cam-pus’ schoolhouse boxes lo-cated around campus. Supplies going to Honduran

school. Call ext. 22293

Vote for diligence and experi-ence. Kent Long and Melanie Johnson will get the job done and know what they’re doing!Vote Marcia Martinez for Liberal Arts Senator! A Mav-erick leader ready to represent you! Ask questions! Be in-formed! Vote smart!Marcia Martinez for liberal arts senator! A proud Maver-ick leader! Motivated, experi-enced, and dedicated to serve you!Vote Marcia Martinez to serve as your liberal arts senator! An experienced can-didate! A Maverick leader since 2007!Knowledgeable, experienced, networked, tenacious. Kent Long for Student Congress President. Ask Questions. Be informed. Vote smart.

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Events

The Shorthorn and UTAproudly present

Housing Fair 2009Wednesday April 810:00AM-3:00PMUniversity CenterPalo Duro Lounge

FREE ADMISSIONOPEN TO THE PUBLICwww.TheShorthorn.com817-272-HORN (4676)

PowerPlay: Hope for Hon-duras- A philanthropic com-petition raising funds for Heifer International April 8th 6 pm to 9 pm at the MAC.

VOTE Hillary G. for Sci-ence Senator! VOTE Hil-lary G. for Ambassador! VOTE Hillary G. for Sci-ence Senator! Vote Hillary G. for Ambassador!

Mavericks you should know! Kent Long and Melanie John-son for Student Congress President and Vice President. They want your vote.

Vote in the upcoming student elections you should! Ques-tions ask you must! Strong with the force are man candi-dates! -Yoda

Freshman Leaders on Cam-pus proudly presents Hope for Honduras. UC Gallery Mon-day through Friday 8 am to 5pm. This week only!

KENT LONG for Student Congress President. Knowl-edgeable, experienced, net-worked, tenacious.

Organizations

COME SUPPORT FRESH-MAN LEADERS ON CAM-PUS! STOP BY THE UC GALLERY THIS WEEK! GET INFORMED ABOUTHONDURAS!

Donate to Heifer International via Freshmen Leaders on Campus. Funds to aid Hon duras families. SGO in UC basement. call ext 22293

PersonalsVote Omar Rosales

for Mr. UTA April 20-21R2-D2 and C3PO are saying VOTE in the UPCOMING STUDENT ELECTIONS! Know your candidates! VOTE April 20th and 21st!Bess Alvarez is voting for Kent Long and Melanie John-son. Do you know your can-didates? Be a Maverick. Vote informed.HEYYY MAVERICKS!!!Student elections are right around corner! Vote Toni A. for Miss UTA! Voting begins April 20th and 21st.

HEY MAVERICKS! Student elections are coming soon! Get involved! Know

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Vote Shannon Leidlein for UTA Ambassador! Be a Shan Fan!! Elections are April 20th and 21st in the UC :)

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sportsabout sports

Stephen Peters, editorsports-editor.shorthorn@uta.edu

Sports publishes Tuesday through Friday.

rememberwww.theshorthorn.com is your home for updated schedules, blogs, standings and

breaking UTA sports news.

The ShorThorn

Page 6 Wednesday, April 1, 2009

By Stephen peterSThe Shorthorn sports editor

Winner of nine of its last 10 — including a sweep over Nicholls state last weekend to move into a first-place tie in conference — the baseball team travels to Fort Worth on Wednesday to face texas Christian in a midweek nonconference game.

this is the second meeting between the Mavericks (15-11, 8-4) and the Horned Frogs (15-9, 3-3). the first was won convincingly by then No. 11 tCU 11-3 at Clay Gould Ball-park on March 3.

Head coach Darin thomas said his team’s pitching has allowed the rest of the players to settle into games and perform well. He said the team has been gaining confidence for midweek games as it con-tinues its suc-cess in weekend series.

“ W e ’ v e played well against some of the best teams in the nation,” thomas said. “the first time against tCU we weren’t mental-ly into it. this game is impor-tant, but we’re more focused on doing well in conference.”

s o p h o m o r e outfielder Michael Choice and senior out-fielders Andrew Kainer and Matt otteman provide a solid middle-of-the-order offen-sive spark for the Mavs.

the trio has combined for a .418 batting average, 26 doubles, nine of the team’s 14 home runs and a .635 slugging percentage.

“I wouldn’t trade those three for any oth-ers in the nation,” thomas said.

otteman leads the southland Conference with 50 base hits and 80 total bases. He ranks third in rBIs, with 35, and leads the team with a .459 batting average.

thomas made a roster move early in the conference season after UtA was swept by sam Houston state, by shifting senior in-fielder Jay pitschka to the leadoff spot.

He said the change has paid dividends

because of pitchska’s ability to get on base and put runners ahead of Choice, otteman and Kainer.

the last two weeks have seen two Mav-erick pitchers named as the conference’s pitcher of the Week, with senior Andy sau-ter earning the award March 23 and senior Nathan Long receiving the award Monday after his 15-strikeout performance against Nicholls state.

“I didn’t think anyone could top Andy’s performance,” thomas said. “sure enough, Nate goes out there and strikes out 15. our pitching has just been going really well for us lately and it just allows the rest of the team — the defense, offense — to play much, much better.”

tCU enters tonight’s contest as the No. 27-ranked team in the UsA today Colle-giate poll, but with a 2-4 re-cord in the last six games, in-cluding losing two games this past weekend to san Diego state.

senior out-fielder Chris Ellington paces

the Frogs with a .354 batting average, four homers and 20 rBIs, and se-

nior infielder Matt Vern leads the team with seven home runs.

As a team, tCU’s pitching holds oppo-nents to a .273 batting average and 5.4 runs a game, while the Horned Frogs’ batting average is .311 and scores 7.2 runs a game.

UtA enters the contest batting .308 as a team and averages 6.2 runs a game.

on the mound, the Mavericks will have sophomore left-handed pitcher Mark picca, who is 0-0 and enters the game with an 18.00 ErA in two appearances this year. picca’s last outing was Feb. 27 against ste-phen F. Austin.

picca pitched one inning but gave up four earned runs on four hits in seven bat-ters faced.

“We’re going to give picca the start, but

we’re going to give several others some looks in this one,” thomas said.

sophomore right-handed pitcher Greg Hollie starts for the Horned Frogs. Hollie is 3-0 this season with a 1.88 ErA and has al-lowed 13 hits in 14.1 innings of work.

tCU has won 11 straight games against the Mavericks and own a 85-53-1 all-time series record against UtA.

thomas knows the importance of these games and what they can mean for the team

as the season continues, but he said his focus for the team is improving in conference.

“this game is winnable,” thomas said. “some teams look to win these mid-week games to help with their at-large bids for regionals. We’re just focused on weekend games. We can become a top tier team if we continue to win conference games.”

Stephen peterSsports-editor.shorthorn@uta.edu

Mavericks hope to croak Frogs Baseball looks to get even with tCU Wednesday

The Shorthorn: Jacob Adkisson

Senior infielder Ryan Davis snatches a ball during practice Tuesday. The Mavs play against TCU at 6:30 tonight at TCU.

The Shorthorn: Jacob Adkisson

The Mavs’ gloves lay on the grass as players warm up for practice Tuesday.