Poised for Launch, SIRTF to StudyPlanetary Systems, Dusty Galaxies

]ust...elected House PresidentsBring Array of14eas to Table

By JENNY: IOFINOVA andARTID SRINIVA,$AN

During the last tenn, new presi- also feels that the current debatesdents were elected in each of the about: how rotation is handledseven houses. Each brings his or her should" be addressed .by the IHC.own special qualifications and in- "There 'are pluses and minuses. to'terests to the Interhouse Commit- the way things are, we should looktee and each has exciting plans for at and respond to the changeshis or her house for the upcoming people feel there need to be," sheyear. said about the issue.

Natalia Deligne '04, the new Kneeland brings many qualifica-Ricketts president, presents her tions to the job as president, hav­main goal for the hovse as finding ing served as Dabney's Captain

- a solution to the ongoing problems Planet her freshman year and asbetween Ricketts and the adminis- CRC co-chair last year. "I got totration. "Right now, we're trying to know a lot ofadministrators, whichget a handle on the situation regard- is convenient now that I'm in a po­ing the fine and the possibility of sition as president; I also have a lotclosing Ricketts down," she re- of knowledge about the workingsmarked. Deligne then added that of ASCIT and the mc."maintaining communication with Kristin Zortman '05, the newthe administration to ensure that this Lloyd president, describes the up­doesn't happen again would be a coming year as a busy one forcrucial aspect of her presidency. Lloyd. The upcoming tasks includeAlthough Ricketts has no more pro- a lot of physical improvementstests planned, Deligne is pleased by within the house and focusing ontheenthusiasm ofher house. "Right social activities. "I want to make thenow, we're pretty active, we're feel- house more of a house and have asing kind of [robbed]." many spirit activities as possible

Having served as food represen- and get people involved," Zortmantative. her freshman year and was quoted as saying.Ricketts vice president last year, Zortman also mentioned thatDeligne is intent on continuing her Lloyd will most likely need to pickrole as student leader, stating that a new RA for the upcoming year,"it's my duty as a student leader to as their current ones are leavingmake sure our voices are heard." Caltech. According to Zortman, the

Jessie Kneeland '04, the president house will pick a new RA from can­ofDabney House, has ideas for sev- didates deemed qualified by Stu­eral new activities apart from the dent Affairs.standard house events. According Similar to Zortman, when askedto Kneeland, Dabney has many about his plans for the upcominghouse offices named after alumni year, Page's new president, Mikethat most of the house has never Lammers '04, described manymet. Kneeland is planning to con- house improvement projects, suchtact these alums and invite them as building a new deck. He alsoback to the house so the current mentioned Page's idea of having amembers can meet them and learn party third term, similar tothe stories behind the offices. She Interhouse, but involving all the

Continued on Page 2, Column 2

D. KortalThe California Tech

The ''Voice of the Dragon" performers blend martial arts, dance, theater and music to present a 17thcentury legend about the betrayal by a nun who allies with the Manchu to destroy her temple.

MARCH 17, 2003

NewsAnalysis

PASADENA, CALIFORNIA

Stunts, Music, Choreography BringIVoice of the Dragon Show to Life

you should take that with a grain of than with the plot of this perfor­your condiment of choice. mance. The show was a celebration

What it did have, though, was a of action, power, grace, color, mu­delightful blend of extraordinary sic and voice-overs; it had juststunts, skillful choreography, an enough actual tradition, in my esti­exuberant narrator and a top-notch mation as an expert.

percussion-heavy orchestra. Anyway, the music was bright,Whether these elements are tight and loud; all of which are fmeenough to make up for the tru- by me. I could've used more brassant dragon is hard to say, but instruments, but then again I saidI'm defmitely glad I went. that about Hamlet. There was a time

As it turns out, Voice of the or two where the rhythm sectionDragon was sufficiently western- combined with the elaborate cho­ized that I shouldn't have to be as reography felt more than a little likecareful about it as I was in review- West Side Story, but with more flipsing the Lunar New Year event a and kicks and stuff. The differencemonth ago. In fact, this perfor- in a fight scene and a dance can bemance made enough lighthearted subtle and in some places I thoughtfun of itself that I probably should they really could have used somerefrain from critiquing it, but I don't Batman-style onomatopoeias pro­have that kind of will power. jected on the backdrop and timed

The plot of the show seemed perfectly with the crunch chords­eerily familiar: a sect of kung-fu that one was unintentional I swear.fighting monks living out their days Among the highlights of the per­in a mountain temple, guarding a fonnance was the introduction ofsecret scroll persecutes a sassy the squad of five rogue fightersfemonk--Dr monkette, whichever . hand-chosen by the Cinderella char­was politically correct in that dy- - acter to recapture the temple ornasty-to the point of starting a war whatever. Each of these warriorswith her. I can barely remember the had his own color, fighting style,names of the characters and element and animal in a schemewouldn't be able to spell them any- probably stolen from the Powerway if I tried, so that's about as Rangers. Fortunately, all of themuch plot as I'm going to go into. voice acting was done by the ca-

If we've learned anything from pable and entertaining narrator inLinkin Park, though, it's that in the this case, so the warriors could con­end it doesn't even matter and no- centrate on their acrobatics.where does that proverb hold truer I'm afraid I haven't done the

physical acting justice, though, andI'm in danger of turning a farce ofa review into a review of a farce­okay, that one was deliberate. Theperformers spent the entire showtirelessly jumping, kicking, punch­ing, swinging things, flipping ev­ery which way and otherwise per­forming superhuman contortionsfor the audience's enjoyment.

The temple itself, however, was,like the AWOL dragon, left to theimagination of the audience. As Idon't have much imagination left,I'm going to play the same trick onyou and let you figure out what thetemple looks like: Or you can justrent Crouching Tiger, HiddenDragon. Or Fiddler on the Roof Ithad a temple, I think.

Since I've forgotten the ending ofthe play, I won't spoil it. I definitelyremember a conflict being resolvedtriumphantly by one side or anotherand whichever side winning livinghappily ever after, if that helps.

By O.J. CARLTON

The only thing that really buggedme about the Performing Arts Se­ries' "Voice of the Dragon" perfor­mance the Friday before last wasthe complete lack of drag­ons: fire-breathing, wish­granting, princess-steal­ing, pot-smoking or oth­erwise. I never quite man­aged to catch the significance of thetitle, but then again I had the sameproblem with Romeo & Juliet, so

sized though, that "good sciencethat can be done on SIRTF will bedone on SIRTF."

The fmal SIRTF design masses950 kilograms, down from 5700kilograms in an initial 1990 plan.The satellite will be launched in aDelta 7920H ELV rocket. The fmalcost was around $450 million,much less than the estimated $2 bil­lion in 1990. The satellite will becarrying 360 liters of liquid heliumas a coolant, a massive reductionfrom the originally planned 3800liters, made possible by innovativecooling ideas.

ourtesy 0

After 30 years of planning, SIRTF will rmaUy be launched on April15 from Cape Canaveral.

goal of SIRTF.Dusty galaxies are another major

object of interest for SIRTF. Thesegalaxies have lots of stars, blackholes and active galactic nuclei, butthey are hidden from the opticalregion by interstellar dust. The en­ergy, however, is reradiated in theinfrared spectrum, which will bedetected by SIRTF. The dusty, gas­rich galaxies seem to be very im­portant to the development processof galaxies, so it will be an impor­tant achievement to understand therole of these galaxies in that pro­cess.

Besides these two goals, time onSIRTF will be available by ~he

usual process of competing appli­cations. After 90 days of calibra­tion, SIRTF will be available foruse for (esearch. After that, the firstsix months will be split betweenGuaranteed Time Observationsand the SIRTF Legacy ScienceProgram. After that, the time willbe split between these two groupsand General Observer Investiga­tions.

The Legacy program is six largeprojects that were selected by theSIRTF Science Center. Theseprojects will be major observationprojects, "with the goal of creatinga substantial and coherent databaseof archived observations that can beutilized by subsequent SIRTF re­searchers," according to the SSCWeb site. A few of the Legacyprojects investigate the above-men­tioned points. Dr. Soifer empha-

VOLUME CIY, NUMBER 20

By MATTHEW WALKER

On April 15, NASA's last greatobservatory will be launched fromCape Canaveral. The launch of theSpace Infrared Telescope Facility,whose construction was managedby the Jet Propulsion Laboratory,represents the culmination of 19years of labor. The original team ofastronomers was selected by NASAin 1984 to design and constructSIRTF. Studies were done for theproject as early as the 1970s. Con­struction of SIRTF began in 1997.Said Tom Soifer, Director of theSIRTF Science Center (SSe), "It'sgetting real."

SIRTF contains an 85-centimetertelescope that will operate at fiveKelvins to reduce the effects of thedevice's own thennal energy on itsobservations. This telescope willhave the sensitivity of a 30-metertelescope based on Earth. SIRTFwill be acquiring images of energyradiated in the wavelength range ofthree to 180 microns during its two­and-a-half-year mission.

A major point of study for SIRTFwill be about star fonnation and thedevelopment of planetary systems.Of particular interest are how starsevolve into planetary debris disksand how the central star causes thedebris to condense into planets."We know now that planets arecommon around nearby stars," saidDr. Soifer. The process of how theplanets fonn is not well understood,which is why this study is a major

2 THE CALIFORNIA TECH NEWS MARCH 17, 2003

Jason Schadewald '04Ruddock President

"I really want to push "I was very happyfor that [new third- / with the house when 1term] party and to ran for president andmake it the way I'm very happy with itInterhouse used to now."be."

Mike Lammers '04Page President

"We're apretty solidgroup as a whole; wesupport each other alot, but we also don'tget out of Fleming alot."

Tom Vanderslice '04Fleming President

"[I want to] make sureother people enjoythemselves and haverelief from work andclasses."

Mike Davenport '04Blacker President

I

-"Right now, we're try­ing to get a handle onthe situation regard­ing the fine and thepossibility of closingRicketts down."

Natalia Deligne '04Ricketts President

Ride Piques Girls' Science Interests

TearsheetsTun T11TCU

CirculationChris Crabbe

VOLUME elY, NUMBER 20

Kevin Carl BartzNews Director

LeoC SteinCommentary Editor

The Tech is published weekly except dur­ing vacation and examination periods by theAssociated Students of the California Insti­lute of Technology, Inc. The opinions ex­pressed herein are strictly those of the authorsand advertisers.

Letters and submissions are welcome; e­mail submissions to tech@ugcs.caltech.eduas plain-text attachments, including theauthor's name, by Friday of the week beforepublication. Sorry, the Tech does not acceptanonymous contributions. The editors reservethe right to edit and abridge all submissionsfor any reason. All written work remains prop­erty of its author.

The advertising deadline is five p.m. Fri­day; all advertising should be submitted elec­tronically or as camera-ready art. but the Techcan also do simple typesetting and arrange­ment. All advertising inquiries should be di­rected to the business manager atbusiness@tech.caltech.edu. For subscriptioninformation, please send mail to "Subscrip­tions" or call (626)-395-6154.

Tammy Yee Wmg Ma Vi Thong TranMiJlUJging Editor Business MiJlUJge

~be QCaItfornia ~ecbCaltech 40-58, Pasadena, CA 91125

editorial desk: (626) 395-6153advertising desk: (626) 395-6154

editorial e-mail: tech@ugcs.caltech.eduadvertising e-mail: business@tech.caltech.edu

design and create a toy or game; andthe Sally Ride Science Club, a na­tional club created to keep middleschool girls engaged in science ad­ventures by connecting them topeople, information and attitudesthat will nurture their relationshipwith science at a critical time intheir lives.

The Los Angeles Festival is pre­sented in association with Caltechand the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.The event's sponsors includeNorthrop Grumman, Raytheon, theAerospace Corporation andCaltech.

"I want to make thehouse more ofa houseand have as manyspirit activities as pos­sible and get peopleinvolved."

Kristen Zortman '05Lloyd President

possible."Another general concern among

the house presidents was that manyof their members tend to isolatethemselves within their house.Davenport noted that "people tendto have a tendency not to extendthemselves much beyondBlacker." Similarly, Lammerscommented that there are groupsof people in Page who "are verymuch against doing things withother houses," citing this as a bigmotivator for holding a truly inter­house party.

Whether such an Interhouse isindeed, created or whether the planwill be shot down in yet anotherconflict with the administration, allsigns point towards a year of fineleadership in each of the sevenhouses.

From the Lab to the Patient"; "Mak­ing Friendly Robots"; "Exploringthe Seas: Antarctica and Beyond";"ATumble through Time: How YouDeveloped from a Single Cell"; and"The Mars 2003 Rover Mission:Exploring the Red Planet."

For adults, the workshop topicswill be "Hands on Family Sci­ence"; "Nurturing Their Inquisi­tiveness: Exploring the ScienceExperience"; "The 'Trek' to Gen­der Equity: How Are We Doing?";and "Facing the Music: Collegeand Finances!"

Ride, a member of the CaltechBoard ofTrustees, became the firstAmerican woman to orbit Earthwhen she flew aboard the spaceshuttle Challenger in 1983. Her sec­ond flight- was also aboard Chal­lenger in 1984 and she was train­ing for a third mission when thespaceship exploded shortly afterliftoff in 1986.

Ride was a member of the teamchosen to investigate the 'Chal­lenger explosion and this monthwas also appointed a member ofthe NASA investigative board forthe recent explosion of the spaceshuttle Columbia. She is the onlyperson to have been named to bothpanels.

In 1987 Ride left the astronautcorps and is currently a professorofphysics at the University ofCali­fornia, San Diego. She is also thefounder, president and CEO ofImaginary Lines, Inc., which cre­ated the festival and is intended toprovide support for the large num­bers ofgirls and young women whoare or might become, interested inscience, math, engineering andtechnology. Programs include theSally Ride Science Festivals; TOYChallenge, where teams of children

By MARK WHEELER

remarked that it was of particularconcern to Page, since they typi­cally have such a large fraction ofthe CRC cases. "The way [Ricketts]was treated is not the way disciplin­ary actions have been taken on thiscampus in the past; it's been veryprecedent-setting."

Zortman also sympathized withthe problems that Ricketts is cur­rently having, noting that last year,Lloyd had several alcohol policyviolations and had to comply withstrict guidelines set by the admin­istration.

Other house presidents such asSchadewald also commented onimproving communication betweenthe administration and the studentsin general, saying, "I want to makeall the political and administrativestuff have as much of a positiveimpact on my house members as

Sally Ride says women make uponly 19 percent of the science, en­gineering and technology work forc

The roots for this, shesays, run deep: the physicist andAmerica's first female astronautsays that in the fourth grade, thenumber of girls and boys who likemath and science is about the same.But by eighth grade, twice as manyboys as girls show an interest inthese subjects.

Ride has devoted a good portionofher life to improving the percent­age of women in science. One ofher efforts, the Los Angeles SallyRide Science Festival, will be heldon Saturday, March 29, on theCaltech campus.

While all are welcome, the festi­val is directed at girls in grades fivethrough eight, their parents andtheir educators.

This will be the second year thefestival takes place at Caltech andis one of a number of such festivalsthat occur around the country. Thefestivals are designed to pique theinterest of middle-school girls, agroup that for a variety of reasonsbegins to drift from its natural in­terests in science and math.

The Los Angeles festival will fea­ture keynote speeches by Sally Rideand Los Angeles Times sciencewriter K.e. Cole; workshops willbe led by local female scientists andengineers; there will be a street fairwith booths, exhibits, food, musicand a raffle. There is also a specialadult track ofworkshops for parentsand educators.

The children's workshops willinclude such topics as "AnimalFriends: What a Vet Knows andDoes"; "Medical Researchers:

New Presidents Seek House, StudentUni~Resolution to Ricketts Tensions

Continuedfrom Page 1, Column 2other houses in the design and con­struction. "I really want to push forthat party and to make it the wayInterhouse used to be. Right now,things are too factionalized betweenthe 'houses and to me, that's ab­surd," said Lammers.

Mike Davenport '04, the presi­dent ofBlacker House, talked aboutBlacker's upcoming inter-houseparty third term as the next bigevent. However, his main goal dur­ing his presidency is to "make sureother people enjoy themselves andhave relief from work and classes."Davenport seemed enthusiasticabout the upcoming year and de­scribed the creativity of the peoplein his house and "the variety of re­ally interesting ways people fmd touse their free time" as one of thethings he loved about Blacker.

Fleming also has big plans to im­prove their house with extra moneythey have this year, according tonew Fleming President TomVanderslice '04. He seemed happywith his house just as it was, notingthat "we're a pretty solid group asa whole; we support each other a"lot, but we also don't get out ofFleming a lot."

Jason Schadewald '04, the presi­dent of Ruddock, talked about thestrong sense of community withinRuddock and commented that "ev­eryone in the house got involved inbuilding OP!." He noted the successof the Ruddock OPI construction,saying, "There's been some talk inthe mc about using the colosseumfor different events."

Although Schadewald had noconcrete plans for new Ruddockevents, he noted, "I was very happywith the house when I ran for presi­dent and I'm very happy with itnow."

One ofthe main roles ofthe housepresidents is their role on the me.An of the house presidents, alongwith the IHC chairman, JeremyPitts '04, seem to agree that the IRCgets along extremely well this year."When you get the seven of us andJeremy together we're very laid­back and relaxed; we've had somefairly serious discussions but ingeneral we're very comfortable,"commented Davenport.

For his part, Pitts values his roleas a liaison to the administration."I'm going to take on issues thatcome up and try to get the adminis­tration to listen to us," he said, "andsee our side of the issue on as manythings as possible." He also ac­knowledged that while both themc and the BoD are working forthe same basic goals, they will buttheads over issues, as both groupswill see different sides of issues.

Lammers and others commentedon the seriousness of the Rickettssituation and their trouble with theCaltech administration. Lammers

AWARD FINANCES STUDY ABROAD

Plan Excursions To

Achill Island,

Moscow

MEDWOOD '04,WELGE '04 WINBISHOP PRIZE

By LAUREN STOLPERKirsten Welge '04 of Blacker

House and Rachel Medwood '04 ofRicketts House have been desig­nated as the 2003 Bishop Prize re­cipients.

Welge, whose option is history,will travel to Achill Island, in theRepublic of Ireland, to do a six­week archaeological field camp.She will travel both before and af­ter the program to sites in Irelandof importance to Irish medieval his­tory. Welge intends to pursue a ca­reer in history.

Medwood, who has been study­ing Russian language and literatureat Occidental College for severalyears, will travel to Moscow tostudy Russian with the AmericanCollege Teachers of Russian pro­gram. She will also travel to a num­ber of cities in the Russian Federa­tion and especially to Kiev whereher family original comes from.Medwood has a double option ineconomics and computer scienceand is interested in internationalaffairs.

In 2000, the Bishop family agreed ­to honor the memory of AmasaBishop, who graduated from CaltechContinued on Page 7, Column 5

"There are pluses andminuses to the waythings are; we shouldlook at and respond tothe changes peoplefeel there need to be."

Jessie Kneeland '04Dabney President

THE CALIFORNIA TECH COMMENTARY MARCH 17,2003 3

DebateDoughnut TraditionASCIT doughnuts seems perfectlyplausible.

Against Doughnuts

Although doughnuts are a popu­lar tradition amongst Caltech stu­dents, as seen by the turnout thispast Thursday for midnight dough­nuts, doughnuts do not necessarilyfallintoASCIT's ball park. The pur­pose of our student government, asI grasp it best, is to represent thestudents and act as a liaison be­tween the students and administra­tion. ASCIT is supposed to repre­sent the voice of the students toserve us in the bureaucracy of ad­ministration. Where in this role dodoughnuts come in? Why do wespend five thousand dollars a yearon doughnuts for which most of usare not awake? I, for one, have beenawake only once this past term forFriday morning doughnuts.

Doughnuts certainly taste deli-

Continued on Page 5, Column 1

For Dougllnults

By LEO STEIN

P. Dormiani/The Cqlifornia Tech

Students struggle to devour and BoD members hustle to replenish the ever-shrinking doughnut supplylast Thursday at the end of the term's midnight doughnut session. ASCIT Secretary Anna Sczaniecka,lower left, hands over an empty box of coveted strawberry doughnuts.

the E_..111.11-'-"

Benefits, Drawbacks of Upholdinga doughnut as breakfast on the way.To end this term, ASCIT purchased$645 worth of doughnuts for mid­night doughnuts on the Olive Walkon Thursday. Clearly, doughnuts area Caltech tradition if people per­petuate their distribution every year.From what I have learned, a MOSHstarted the tradition about ten yearsago. For some students, Fridaymorning doughnuts are the light atthe end of a long night of sets. Tra­ditions have a great role for studentshere because it connects them topast Techers and leaves a legacy forfuture Techers. Tradition is the driv­ing force behind Dabney's murals,our tunnel art, Ditch Day, theRicketts fire pot and ASCIT dough­nuts. IfTechers continue somethingmore than twice, people are proneto believe it is a tradition. We areafraid of and accepting ofsetting things stone, despite thefact that we as scientists are sup­posed to be open-minded to change.For these reasons, continuing

Lately, there has been a lot of de­bate about doughnuts in student life.When I talk about campus politicsto friends at other prestigious uni­versities, I am ashamed to tell themthat doughnuts are considered amajor campus issue at our schooLAt a school of this caliber, I wouldexpect students to make a distinc­tion between political issues andtrivialities. However, doughnutsseem to be important enough tosome students that they have re­cently become an issue. Therefore,I am taking this opportunity to trymy hand at my first editoriaL

I tasted my first strawberrydoughnut when I visited Caltechlast year during prefrosh weekend.Last term, when I had to wake upearly on Fridays to trudge to Meadfor chemistry lab, I would pick up

and less opinion amongst the fac­ulty and the administration that thehonor code is falling apart. As Presi­dent, I'd like to thank both of themq for their hard work on this.

Anyway, most of the facultyat the meeting were very en­thusiastic about this and wereeager to try it out next term,

especially Professor Lester; look forthe cover sheet next term in Bi 1,frosh! If the collaboration coversheet is a success, it will become amandatory part of every syllabusnext

I had another withMatthew Brewer a.k.a. Matt fromFinance. He's Joanna and Iget a grip on money: findout how much we have and spend,how much we earn on our endow­ment and how we do paythe Donut Man... Last week at mid-

doughnuts, he simply handedme dozens of boxes of doughnutsand drove off!

The only other meeting as Presi­dent I had this week was withBecky Oskin from the PasadenaStar-News. She was interested inhearing about the Ricketts contro­versy and how the students werecoping with it. She talked to bothNatalia Deligne, Ricketts President,and I. Her article is posted on-linehere: http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/Stories/0,1413,206%257E22097%257E1245310,00.html. For anyone that's been read­ing the Tech, it's a lot of old news,but hey, you might still care.

Margo Marshak was out of the of­fice this week. Therefore, I did nothave my weekly meeting with her.

lyko"",.IIII."iDI..1>.JI'

SweetBy TOM FLETCHER

ulces,

There was a faculty board meet-ing last Monday. For the most part, Towards Baghdadthe only course changes were tograduate-level courses-BE 200, Last week's peace rally went offspecifically-but at the end of the really wen and the discussion it hasmeeting, Galen presented his and spurred on campus has hopefullyHarris' new idea to cut down on been informative to us all. ThisBoC cases. have prepared a week, there are a number of letterscollaboration cover sheet that at- responding to the pro-war positiontaches to a professor's syllabus and taken in an article last week. I knowshould make the collaboration that I have an opinion on this issue,policy for the course much clearer. but I'll let the other students speakIn so doing, we should hopefully for me. One thing that I am sadhave fewer accidental BoC cases about regarding this war, other than

Continued on Page 5, Column 4

Club Survey is Up!

Whom did I meet with this week?

The club survey was posted ondonut on Friday night. I apologizefor any trouble anyone had ini­tially with the survey notopening until 2010... I fixedthat embarrassing glitchquickly, but again, sorry to allwho tried to fill it out and could not.

The survey runs until the Thurs­day of the first week of third term.You have of time to fill it outand it take ten minutesor so. I you to fill it out,as it also some importantqUl~stiom about ASCIT Formal and

we can afeel

issues from survey.Also, some of you have asked

club is not on the list. Ifill';t n~gistered your it is a

new club. can't really have "ac-tive members" and when ap-ply for funding, you will tosubmit a list of all the members. Theclub survey exists to inform usabout existing clubs and see howmany people are still interested inparticipating in them.

Lastly, if for no other reason, I en­courage you to check out the clubsurvey for the few buried Eastereggs. I got a little bored making itand made sure to add some humorhere and there, so I wouldn'tfall asleep. Anyway, think you getthe point: please fill the survey out.Without it, your voice won't beheard.

ase forBy MATTHEW WALKER

In recent weeks, it has becomeincreasingly clear that France andRussia will use their veto in theSecurity Council to keep the UnitedNations from sanctioning war onIraq. The United States has alsomade it clear that it will go to warwith or without UN approval. Theconsequences for Iraq have beenthoroughly examined. But the ef­fects on the United Nations andother participants in this little epi­sode of international one­upmanship have not been consid­ered.

Imagine this scenario: France ve­toes any resolution that sends theUN to war against Iraq. It's not toofarfetched. America and the UnitedKingdom execute their battle planson Iraq.

The effects on the United Nationsare disastrous. The hasbeen lost as two of the UN's mostpuwelrfuJ members a de-

There ,.,_ "CO,,",of nations re,;ohltiC)nS,but none the stature of the USor UK; think Israel and Turkey, forinstance, the number-one and num­ber-two ignorers ofUN resolutions.Without respect, decisions made bythe UN will quickly become mean­ingless. Any attempts to punish theUS and UK would cause furtherdamage, by alienating the two na-

tions.It has been suggested that if

France uses its veto, the US willseek to have France removed as apermanent member of the SecurityCounciL This scenario is unlikely.First, the attempt would probablyfaiL Second, the attempt wouldopen the door for action to get theUS removed from the SecurityCounciL The level of anti-Ameri­can sentiment makes it a disturb­ingly real possibility. If successful,the UN would once again be in theposition of alienating its most pow­erful member.

"Without respect, deci­

sions made by UN

The League of Nations was aworldwide alliance, similar to theUN, after World War I,based on Woodrow Wilson's 14points. Though it was founded withgood intentions, its lack of powercaused its failure. This lack ofpower has generally been attributedto the United States' failure to jointhe League. Should the UnitedStates leave the United Nations, it

would be in danger of succumbingto a similar fate.

The situation can be avoided. Theproblem is that either the UnitedStates or France will have to backdown. If the United States backsdown, it loses the use of one of itsmajor leverages, military strength.The threat of military would not beas effective anymore if there wasany sort of international resistance.This hurts both US diplomacy andUN military threats.If France backs down, they also

lose international stature, for notsticking to their position. Frenchdiplomats, however, have alreadyadmitted that war is necessary, butthat France doesn't think the timeis right yet. It would not be such abig step to abstain from voting onthe resolution waragainst With France

it much easier for theto convince to abstain

as well.One should remember that the

current attitude of the US adminis-tration eliminates the pos-sibility that US will back off.Though this stubbornness probablycaused the current diplomatic cri­sis, it will be up to the French toprevent the failure of the UnitedNations. With France's reputationfor being able to compromise withits opponents, it's likely that the cri­sis will be averted.

By SWAROOP MISHRAI am writing in response to the does not imply that the actions of

column by Mr. Olsen, Mr. Quinn its government are necessarily re­and Mr. Wasem which advocates sponsible or righteous. Supposinginvading Iraq. The authors provide that we accept the authors' initialand unfortunately juxtapose two description of a justifiable war, thejustifications for this war: the tyran- United States might be able to iden­nical reign of Saddam Hussein and tify quite a few regimes at least asthe threat posed by purported Iraqi tyrannical as Iraq's. Burma, Northdevelopment of weapons of mass Korea and Tibet are glaring ex­destruction. Under the authors' own amples. The people ofCuba, south­reasoning, it is unclear why Iraq in em Sudan and Zimbabwe sufferparticular should be targeted. Fur- under undemocratic and restrictivether, the column's conclusion is rule. Iran's democratically electedweak because it relies on question- leaders are not the supreme author­able assumptions and statements. ity. Do the authors propose that the

The authors begin by comparing U.S. continue its charitable inva­the proposed invasion to the "just sions by toppling these regimes aswars" waged by Lincoln, Roosevelt well? Where does this campaignand Churchill, but Iraq does not rep- end?resent a "similar evil" as the authors Whether or not the authors preferclaim. In neither of those cases was to limit their charitable invasions tothe military conflict initiated by the their column specifically ad-United States. The authors skirt this vocates an invasion of Theissue that "war is authors claim it is a andtifiable will prevent the becausedeath or of aggression anda tyrannical of weaponsthe authors that of mass To supportStates is-or that the authors them- their argument, the authors mentionselves are-responsible for deter- the discoveries of UN inspectorsmining when a regime is suffi- and "Colin Powell's speech to theciently tyrannical that it should be UN Security Council." Perhaps theoverthrown by a military invasion. most egregious transgression pub­The fact that the United States is a licly uncovered by the UN inspec­democracy with many freedoms tions is a large stockpile of Al

Continued on Page 4, Column 1

4 THE CALIFORNIA TECH COMMENTARY MARCH 17,2003

Clearly, now that

Democracy has elected

me, it would do well to

shut the hell up and

listen to what I think.

will be taken down Friday, April 4th. It will ask students avaIiety of questions; including which ASCIT social eventsthey prefer; whether they think ASCIT should keep holdingits meetings on the Olive Walk and what their opinions ondonuts are. The club survey questions are also part of thissurvey. Club interviews will take place Friday, April 4th fromseven p.m. to 12 a.m. The budget meeting will take placefollowing weekend. Vote: Should the BoD go to Capra? 5 infavor. Note: after the meeting, Tom Mannion said that Caprais not available the 2nd weekend of 3rd term. Alternativeplans will have to be made.

3. Officer Reports/Weekly To-Do ListTom still needs a new Excomm. Jeremy says that the IHC

does not believe that each house needs to have a representa­tive. Jeremy thinks that students are unaware of what theASCIT Excomm does and hence may be reluctant to sign up.As a former ASCIT Excomm member, Liz thinks that theBoD should not appoint the Excomm, because it's theExcomm's job to make sure that the BoD follows the by­laws. On another note, over twenty students volunteered toserve on the Moore Committee. Right now there is no proce­dure for selecting students for such committees and appli­cants will have to be narrowed down somehow. Some stu­dents have also expressed concern about the manner in whichstudents were appointed for the Dean of Education Commit­tee. As a result, Kathryn Hsu and Matt Walker will continueto serve on the committee until interviews have been com­pleted for these positions.

Galen is still swamped with BoC cases. He drafted the col­laboration policy sheet and took it to the faculty board onMonday, March 10th. It was met with overwhelming ap­proval. Among other things, the sheets will inform studentsabout what texts and calculation aids that they are permittedto use on exams and homework sets. Galen says that the col­laboration sheets will be handed out with the syllabi in un­dergraduate classes next term. Galen hopes the sheet will beimplemented in all undergraduate and graduate classes 1stterm of next year. Dean Revel thinks that it would be a goodidea to hand out an additional copy with [mal exams in casestudents misplaced the fIrst copy. Also, Janet is in the pro­cess of ordering the BoC laptop.

Anna will put new BoD info in the ASCIT display caseand ask Jonathan Dama to update the BoD info online. Theseminutes take forever to write up...

Kathryn still needs an ARC Rep from Page. Joanna saysthat Page will probably choose an ARC Rep Thursday night.Kathryn is also hoping to increase student interest in the Stu­dent Faculty Conference by distributing two-page brochuresin the student mailboxes.

Joanna will work with Tom Fletcher and Matt Brewer, "Mattfrom Finances," on Friday afternoon to craft the Memo ofUnderstanding.

Kim needs to advertise Midnight Donuts and look into pos­sible places for formal. There will be a BBQ during lunch onthe Friday of Prefrosh Weekend. Tom Mannion says thatstudents will get a discount. Joanna would also like to havethe a cappella group perform at the BBQ. Most prefrosh areleaving really early on Saturday morning. Note: None of theMidnight Donut flyers that the BoD put up were offensivetowards any of the student houses.

Jeremy wants to clarify: ASC1T is not giving money toCDS. On another note, Page and Ruddock have an interest­ing idea for an inter-house event: "American Gladiator"-stylejousting in the Ruddock Coliseum.

Andrea needs to interview new publications editors. Tomadds that the administrators feel that there aren't enough cop­ies of the Tech to go around. He thinks it would be a goodidea to relocate some of the extra copies to people who wantto read them.

Corinna says that clubs are currently registering. Registra­tion will come down Friday, March 14th. Budget proposalforms will go up on Friday, March 14th and stay open untilTuesday, April 1. Ten copies of the form must be turned intothe ASCIT mailbox in the SAC. Note: sign-ups for fIve minutetime slots for club interviews on Friday, April 4th will beincluded on this form. All registered clubs must give a five­minute presentation in order to request funding.

4. Other: Chelsea Chang wants to take Professor Rutledgeout to lunch. Vote: 7-0-1 Approved. Kylara Martin asks forfunding for the figure skating team, which has a 75% chanceof going to nationals. Nationals are going to take place inDenver over spring break and they need approximately $500dollars to cover travel expenses. Tom suggests looking intoother possible sources for funding - Burger Continental maybe willing to subsidize them. Should ASCIT allocate $100 tothe fIgure skating team if they make nationals? Vote: 7-0-1Approved.

Meeting adjoumed at 12:51 p.m.Respectfully Submitted,Anna SczanieckaASCIT Secretary

Week 2

Week 1

\

~j

THER'E'j,.~ BE j..E5STIME TO MESS

WITH HlelR HEADS,

"

<sorta 'Witty punchline>

\

DH WEUo.TUER'15'5 A~WA'I'5

NEXT TER'M",~~~

/STtweNT M<mA~e

IS AT ~N A/.-J. TIME J-OW,

/

ri

the BoD meeting.

Clearly, some of the things

that ASCIT has traditionally

spent its money on may need/P=;&--_

to be rethought, and

we should poll the

members so we can

make an informed

deciSion.

NIIM

\

MAYSE TUE'l"1+I>EIW OWl PeTITION,

~/

At:TUA~~Y, a.AS5E5ENf7!!I> YESTE""AY,

IT'S TIME FOe F'NA.S,

I "ON'T U"""eA'STANPwow TUEY t:AN "0 TWI:S

WAVING 3'UST

ee,cAUSE AI-~ THeHOUSE 50.c!A~

EVENTS AR'E GONNAGET MESSED UP?

/

~_'/I

,~'....<'"

<last unpopular administration decision>.

Did I mention that I was on the

old BoD? In fact, despite most of

the new BoD's members running on

what could be termed a reform platform.

everything the old BoD did was right.

In fact, everything is right, and nothing

should change. ASCIT Should not evolve

because it was intelligently designed by

an infallible higher being.

ASCIT MinutesMarch 12th, 2003, 12:00 p.m., Olive WalkPresent: Joanna Cohen, Tom Fletcher, Manuel Garcia, Kim

Hiscox, Kathryn Hsu, Galen Loram, Jeremy Pitts, AnnaSczaniecka, Andrea Vasconcellos, & Corinna Zygourakis.

Guests: Matt Brewer, Ryan Cable, Andre Mallie, TomMannion, Kylara Martin, Jean-Paul Revel, Gunnar Ristroph,Elizabeth Stameshkin, Parsa Dormiani Tabatabaei, & Oth­ers.

Agenda1. Call to Order2. Announcements: There will be Midnight Donuts on

Thursday and Tom will look into getting milk from CDS.There will be 150 strawberry donuts. Also, a large surveywill go up on donut.caltech.edu on Friday, March 14th that

NAN

\

5,cREW GRADUATlNG,,,S,cR'EWMY J'OB".I'M GOING TO MAI<E

MONEY DRAWING ,cOMI,c5!!

/

WE've FINA/.-~Y HIT THE BIGTIME!! I'M SURe THEY'1-/.- 5'fNPI,cATeU5 NEKT WEEK!! AND S'fNDI,cAT10N

IS WHeRE THe SIG ~m C.OMt=!!!

I CAN'T eElo1EVE< unpopular administration decision>!

/

YSAW,WIIAT WEQE

TIolEY TWINMING?!

~ ~

THAT "I!A~~Y

:SUiCK5,

\

UH...NOTHING??

AWI//!HTfTIJPIlY'$ TH/! 17m

W/!","H/N/! &NAI//!/!$!

/

I

~

eREATE YOUR()MI TIME"'YeR,pp""PlG

t:1EPRE661()P16TRIP!

THEY'R'E SHORTENINGPREFRO:SH WEEHENO

TO THR'EE DAYS!

~001< AT US!! WE'R'E BEINGPRINTED IN THE

PA5!1f7ENA 6TAP NEWS!!DO YOU HNOW WHAT

THAT MEANS??

3'tJ6T PI"''''IPI THE B"'APlH6!

tentioned US intervention in Soma­lia provides yet another example.One might further argue that the his­tory of the establishment of demo­cratic states does not support thenotion that democracy can necessar­ily be imposed upon removal of theexisting regime by an external force.

We may all agree that democracyin Iraq is desirable, but an invasionto topple Hussein may well bringas much democracy to Iraq as the1991 Gulf War brought to Kuwait.Instead, there are increasing signsthat, as in the examples above, thepower vacuum created by Hussein'sfall would lead to severe instabilityin Iraq. There are numerous reportsof Shiite militants currently mov­ing into Iraq from Iran and ofKurdish militia forces establishingpositions along Iraq's northern bor­der to repel an expected incursionby the Turkish military. It seemscomical to assign a great deal ofpredictability to the eventual out­come of an invasion of Iraq, letalone to believe that Hussein's re­gime would be replaced by "free­dom and democracy."

Under the authors' original asser­tion that "war is justifiable if it willprevent the further death or suffer­ing ofpeoples under a tyrannical re­gime," an invasion of Iraq is notjustified because there is no guar­antee that further such death or suf­fering will be prevented. The au­thors write that attacking Iraqwould constitute committing "our­selves to the defense ofliberty" andwould help to build "a just and en­during peace." A "peace" in whichthe United States unilaterally en­forces its will and protects its inter­ests through instigation of militaryconflict is not a just peace, it is sim­ply tyranny on a different scale.

Youth Director WantedlNative English speaker.

also fluent in Mandarin or Taiwanese.Jr. & Sr. High youth group. .

Friday night & Sunday morning-paidIFi...'l- Tb.iwo. e:s.e

Pre$brf.e""iQ,h c...........c of Pa.So.etehC\Interested? Call Chris (323) 72 1-81 74

Iraq Invasion' otJustified'Continuedfrom Page 3, Column 5

Samoud 2 missiles, which errati­cally exceed the permitted range;Iraq is now acceding to pressure todestroy the missiles.

As for Mr. Powell's speech, per­haps the authors fail to realize thatindependent observers as well asthe International Atomic EnergyAgency have refuted two of Mr.Powell's major claims. The FBI iscurrently investigating how the USgovernment could have been fooledso easily. It would appear that in therush to war, the US government isnot placing sufficient importance onthe' ;gitimacy of its evidence or itsclaims.

The authors assert that Iraq's pur­ported development of weapons ofmass destruction threatens "thesafety of millions around theworld." The US government, eas­ily the world's preeminent devel­oper and possessor of weapons ofmass destruction, is not assertingthat there is an inherent risk in suchweapons. Rather, the US govern­ment asserts that the world shouldtrust comfortably in the Americanpossession of such weapons, but themere possibility that SaddamHussein may acquire such weaponsposes a threat so great that Iraq mustbe invaded.

In accepting this idea and by im­plying that the US should over­throw tyrannical regimes whichpose a threat to "the world," theauthors go beyond their originalassertion ofjustifiable war. Even ifwe accept this new argument, it isstill not clear that Iraq should be ourfirst target among such regimes.North Korea and Iran have moreadvanced weapons programs. Paki­stan is a declared nuclear state, isruled by a general who took powervia coup and has delayed presiden­tial elections until 2007 and is hometo a strong movement of Islamicradicals. China is obviously aheavily armed nation with an un­democratic and oppressive govern­ment. The US never invaded Libyadespite the many years in whichQaddafi ruled as a tyrant, sought todevelop weapons programs and hadclear ties to terrorists, refusing toextradite the Lockerbie bombingsuspects. Why is there now suchfervor for an invasion of Iraq?

Incredibly, Mr. Olsen, Mr. Quinnand Mr. Wasem go on to assume thatending "Hussein's power-hungrymadness" would free the Iraqi"people from tyranny and bring thelight of freedom and democracy tothe Middle East." Many recent ex­amples demonstrate that the fall ofan oppressive regime does not nec­essarily lead to freedom and democ­racy, but instead to instability andperhaps further oppression. The au­thors state that the Cold War "freedmillions of people from tyrannicalregimes across the Iron Curtain."Unfortunately, this is not true for themillions of people in Georgia, inKazakhstan and the neighboringcentralAsian republics or in Belarus.In these former Soviet states, onetyrannical regime has been replacedby others and millions there mayactually long for the Soviet era.Mobutu Sese Seko's tyrannical re­gime in Zaire, which was supportedby the US for decades, was followedby years of warfare, an equally un­democratic regime under LaurentKabila and a collapsed state. TheUS-initiated overthrow of theTaliban has left Afghanistan simi­larly fractured; its purported leaderHamid Karzai is unable to exercisepower across large parts ofthe coun­try. This situation clearly demon­strates that even the United Statescannot necessarily invade a nation,topple its government and installstable democratic rule; the well-in-

THE CALIFORNIA TECH COMMENTARY MARCH 17,2003 5

Your Moment of Zeu

BAMBOO TEA HOUSETea as a way of life

700 E. Colorado Blvd.Pasadena

Across from Vroman's Books(626) 577-0707

P.S.: Thank <chosen deity or otherreceptacle for your spoken wishes>second term is almost over. It's al­ways the worst. .. looking forwardto pre-frosh weekend!

To honor midnight donuts, Ithought I'd throw out this little gemfrom the OED to close out on alaugh. It's the first citation of theword "doughnut" ever appearing inwritten English. The next citationis actually in 1847 from Thoreau,in regard to a window that re­sembled a donut in size and opac­ity ... pretty ridiculous. Still, thefirst citation, from Washington Irv­ing is even better...

1809 W. IRVING Knickerb.(1861) 90 An enormous dish ofballs of sweetened dough, fried inhog's fat and called doughnuts orolykoeks.

Olykoeks? olykoek.caltech.edu?Midnight Olykoeks? StrawberryOlykoeks? It's a good thing thecountry wised up and didn't listento those upstate New Yorkers ...Homer just wouldn't have been asfunny lustily yearning for anolykoek.

Have a great spring breakCaltech,

Tom Fletcher

My friend, you would not talkwith such high zest

To children ardent for some des­perate glory,

The old Lie: Dulce et decorum estPro patria mori.

If you caught it, the title is a ref­erence to "Things Fall Apart" byWilliam Yeats, both the inspirationfor a classic novel by ChinuaAchebe and an excellent poem inits own right. Seeing as to howspring break is coming up, perhapswe could all benefit from a littlepoetry.

1g North Mentor AvenuePasaclena,eatifornia 91106

(626) 577-2077

Fine Hand WovenJewelryJewelry Repairs and Special Orders

Yami/!y (Emil!y) 5autLsta-Navarro"Deslgner

(626) 58-HONDA 584-6632 FAX (626) 792-555526 North Hill Avenue, Pasadena, California 91106

Debbie LeungPostdoctoral Scholar

Honda, Acura, Nissan,& Toyota SpecialistsServing the Caltech community since 1994

tors were not kicked out byHussein. The UN chief inspectorRichard Butler ordered the evacu­ation, with the official reason thatIraq failed to cooperate, but cer­tainly to clear the way for the sub­sequent US attack. Butler did notobtain the approval from the UNsecurity council. Curious enough,all major news media altered theirinitial 1998 statements by 2002.

Third, the 1991 Gulf war killed150,000 Iraqis, followed by trag­edies due to water-born diseasesdue to the destruction of the elec­trical, sewage and water facilities.Over a million Iraqis, mostly chil­dren, died of malnutrition and lackof medication due to the sanctions.I wonder how are these numberscompare to the number killed by thetyranny of Hussein.

An excerpt from Dulce et Deco­rum Est by Wilfred Owen

Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!- An ec­stasy of fumbling,

Fitting the clumsy helmets just intime;

But someone still was yelling outand stumbling, .

And flound'ring like a man in fireor lime ...

Dim, through the misty panes andthick green light,

As under a green sea, I saw himdrowning.

In all my dreams, before my help­less sight,

He plunges at me, guttering,choking, drowning.Ifin sonic smothering dreams you

too could paceBehind the wagon that we flung

him in,And watch the white eyes writh­

ing in his face,His hanging face, like a devil's

sick of sin;If you could hear, at every jolt,

the bloodCome gargling from the froth-cor­

rupted lungs,Obscene as cancer, bitter as the

cudOf vile, incurable sores on inno­

cent tongues,-

the void of debate, is the absenceof a thoughtful response from thehumanities-folk of this country. Iguess there's no improving on"Blowing in the Wind" but I stillhope that our artists will help uscome to terms with the reality weare approaching. Along those lines,I've dug up an excerpt from an oldpoem I read as a senior in highschool. Maybe Mr. Hagar was clair­voyant in making me read thispoem or he just picked from ourpoetry book, but either way, I thinkit'll make you feel something:

camFUNDRAISER

Your Trusted Source for College Fundraising.

Multiple fundraising optionsavailable. No carwashes. Noraffles. Just success! Fundraisingdates are filling qUickly. Getwith the programs that work!

Earn $1 vOOO m $2vOOOfor your Student

J hours!

Dear editors,

M. Ollenburger '05

My comments on "The Case forWar: Why America Should Enterthe Middle East" by Olsen, Quinnand Wasem:

I hope to draw the authors' atten­tion to the following facts pertain­ing to three of their statements:

First, to "save a nation of 24 mil­lion people and bring the light offreedom and democracy to theMiddle East" does not follow auto­matically from "challengingHussein." In particular, no chal­lenge should be carried out with­out a plan to achieve the final goal.

Second, back in 1998, the inspec-

P. Dorrniani/The California TechMembers of Ruddock House gather on the Olive Walk an hour inadvance of Midnight Doughnuts to demonstrate against flyers putup proposing to eat all the strawberry doughnuts before Ruddock.

The Debate

Dear editors,

Letters: Responses to Pro...war ArticleIraq: Just the Facts on the following day the US started allow for differences of opinion.

bombing Iraq." However, arguments based on falseBy refusing to consider lifting assertions do their cause nothing

crippling sanctions, even in the but harm.event of full disarmament, the Sincerely,United States removed the mainincentive for Iraq to cooperate withiLspectors. In addition, Iraq allegedthat the United States was using its Three Problems in 'Case'inspectors for illegal intelligencegathering. This allegation was sup­ported by reports in The Washing­ton Post, The New York Times andothers. See, for example, "U.S.Spied On Iraqi Military Via U.N."in The Washington Post of March2, 1999. It is hard to see why anynation would continue to cooperatewith inspectors under these circum­stances.

The authors also state that "dur­ing the time while the inspectorswere in Iraq, his stockpiles ofweap­ons remained nearly undiminished."This, too, is false. Scott Ritter,former head of UN inspectors, saidduring his talk at Caltech this fall thatby the end ofthe inspections in 1998,about 90 to 95% of Iraq's weaponsof mass destruction had beenverifiably destroyed. He said thatIraq was "qualitatively. eliminated"as a threat. In addition, Ritter notedthat this disarmament had occurredwithout complete Iraqi cooperationand had high expectations that thissuccess could be repeated or im­proved upon with a second inspec­tions regime. There was not perfectdisarmament, but to claim that Iraq'sstockpiles were "undiminished" ismisleading and wrong.

I'm sure most people are familiarwith the arguments against war:they have been stated quite elo­quently on the streets, in print andon the web. I'm also familiar withthe arguments for war, as elaboratedby the President and others on adaily basis. I'm perfectly willing to

Leave

I believe the latest doughnut de­bate started with Tom Fletcher'selection as ASCIT president. Tomsuggested at his first BoD meetingon March 5th that rather than driv­ing to the Donut Man, ASCIT couldinvest in a closer donut supplier,Winchell's and also offer bagels inthe morning. This suggestion wasmet with harsh criticism from An­drea Vasconcellos, the only mem­ber of this year's BoD who alsoserved on the previous one. Stu­dents are very fearful of altering tra­ditions. The debate likely wouldhave not been expanded to the pro­portions we saw if some chanceoccurrences had not taken place.Specifically, Tom's first Fridaymorning doughnuts as presidentwere met with displeasure. Tomdelivered the doughnuts an hourearly after staying up all night andconsequently there were not manystrawberry doughnuts remaining ateight when the regulars arrived. Atthe end of the term, ASCIT adver­tised midnight doughnuts around

I'm writing in response to the ar­ticle in last week's Tech entitled"The Case for War: Why AmericaShould Enter the Middle East."There are two assertions made inthe article which are simply nottrue.

The authors state, "Iraq had UNweapons inspectors in the countryfrom the end of the first Gulf Waruntil 1998, when Hussein forciblyexpelled them." Saddam Husseinnever expelled the weapons inspec­tors. Richard Butler, then head ofUNSCOM, withdrew the weaponsinspectors at the request of Presi­dent Clinton on the eve ofClinton's1998 bombardment of Iraq. As re­ported in October 8, 2002 issue ofThe Manchester Guardian:

"On October 30, 1998, the US re­jected a UN proposal by again re­fusing to lift the oil embargo if Iraqdisarmed. On the following day, theIraqi government announced that itwould cease to cooperate with theinspectors. In fact it permitted themto continue working and over thenext six weeks they completedaround 300 operations. On Decem­ber 14, Richard Butler, the head ofthe inspection team, published a cu­riously contradictory report. Thebody of the report recorded thatover the past month "the majorityof the inspections of facilities andsites under the ongoing monitoringsystem were carried out with Iraq'scooperation," but his well-publi­cized conclusion was that "noprogress" had been made. Russiaand China accused Butler of bias.On December 15th, the US ambas­sador to the UN warned him thathis team should leave Iraq for itsown safety. Butler pulled out and

oughnuts' Fate to Students War, Peace, DoughnutsContinuedfrom Page 3, Column 5 campus and an independent party tion of replacing doughnuts withadD I Et D E tcious on a Friday morning after posted flyers saying "F- Rud- cheaper or healthier alternative. n u ce ecorum sstaying up for twenty hours with- dock" and proposing to eat all the Should we sheepishly revert to our Continuedfrom Page 3, Column 2out rest, but five thousand dollars strawberry doughnuts before mem- previous actions rather than inde­can be better spent upon for the stu- bers of Ruddock house could reach pendently proposing a new solutiondent body. After seeing how the them. This action provoked Rud- to the debate? As scientists, we canDonut Man makes the strawberry dock house to organize and dem- not allow ourselves to throw out adoughnuts, I no longer want to put onstrate by waiting on the Olive IJossible solution on a feeling. Weone in my body at eight in the morn- Walk an hour in advance. In re- cannot take only our personal feel­ing. Oatmeal, bagels with lox or sponse, members of Page, Fleming ings into consideration, but shouldgranola and fruit would be far more and Ricketts, amongst others at-consider the benefit to the entire stu­nutritious to our bodies than dough- tacked the Ruddock members with dent body. Therefore, the only sci­nuts after the torture we put our water balloons. The issue of pre- entific conclusion we can drawbodies through. ASCIT could buy serving the doughnut tradition has from this argument is that we must22,000 cups of food to fight hun- quickly escalated from a debate to let the students as a whole decideger if we forewent doughnuts. For an inter-house attack. The immature upon the future of Friday morningall of these reasons, doughnuts are action ofone independent party was doughnuts. If you think doughnutsnot an issue that ASCIT needs to met with the immature actions of should stay, you should vote on theconcern itself with. Rather, ASCIT many. latestASCIT online poll and say so.should be focusing on student is- If you have a better idea forsues that will influence future stu- The Past and Future ASCIT's money or just think thatdents such as the length of prefrosh you are not deriving any benefitweekend or the preservation of the This is not the first time dough- from ASCIT spending five thou-fire pot. nuts have incited such disagree- sand dollars on a few select dough­

ment. Last year, when Ted Jou "ex- nut eaters, vote online and say so.perimented" for a term without Fri- Either way, participate in the demo­day morning doughnuts, several cratic process. It's the only way tostudents protested enough to re- have your views represented andverse his decision. Once again, stu- that is the sole purpose of ASCIT.dents are protesting at the sugges-

uP'.... ",,,,,,,r.o n

want to reiterate that oil-I mean, theworthless, smelly, black liquid­plays no role in our decision to pur­sue war with Iraq." In other news,OPEC changed its name to Produc­ers of American Life Serum(PALS), reflecting the friendly na­ture of current PALS-American re­lations.

On a related note, Rand McNallyreleased the newest version of itsatlas. Sympathizing with nationalsentiments, China, France, Ger­many and Russia, have been re­placed by The Sea of Security. An­other change in the atlas was thatthe states of W,lshin~~tolil, '-"!c'i"Vl',

Ca1lt(XllJa, New Mexico,sota, Iowa, Wisconsin,Illinois, Maine, Vermont, NewYork, Massachusetts, Rhode Is-"land, COlt1necti(;ut, Perll1svlvania.New Delaware Mary­land all seemed to be swallowedby large lakes. A simultaneousElectoral College press releaseannounced just afterwards that theelectoral votes would be redistrib­uted among the states not affectedby the so-called "terrible floodingmishap."

Unfortunately, all the recentredesignations have led to at leastone death. A 64-year-old man wasbeaten to death yesterday in Texasafter trying to order "French" friesat his local McDonalds. GregoryJameson apparently walked in to

Paris, Texas McDonald's andordered a medium "French" fries.Three young men, whose nameswere not available, took offense andwhen Mr. Jameson refused toapologize, they dragged him out­side and beat him. Police have thesuspects in custody, with assaultand battery charges pending.

Courtesy of R. McNalry

Responding to American sentiments, the newest version of RandMcNally's map has China, France, Germany and Russia replaced bythe Sea of Security.

sauerkraut,come into popu.larJlty.the country, tagsChina" were rqlla<;edacross the Ocean III

SweatThe Administration hopes

that these measures will help per­suade dissenting nations that theUnited States means business ongoing to war with Iraq. Said Con­gressman Bob Ney (R-Ohio), "Thisaction is a small but symboliceffort to the strong displea-sure of many on Capitol Hill withthe actions of our so-called ally,France."

In response, French PresidentJacques Chirac called for "all trueFrenchmen to forego patronizingthe warmongering Americantheme park known as 'DisneylandParis'" to which Disney replied,"French people were cominghere?"

Bush, fonowing up on the successof Freedom Fries, has changed thefuel formerly known as oil toWorthless, smelly, black liquid. ABush spokesperson said, "We just

MARCH 17,2003

Opposition to War onMysteriously Disappearing

By MATTHEW WALKER

In a wave of national solidaritythis week, hundreds of classicproduct names have been changed,following the House of Represen­tatives' lead, having changed theword French to Freedom in FrenchFries and French Toast. In retribu­tion for lack of support for the Iraqwar effort, references to variousnations are being removedthroughout the country. Caviar wasrenamed Security Fish Eggs.Vodka has become Vision of SafetyDrink. Pacific dumpling is the newname for Chinese won tons. Remi­niscent of World War II, the termsSalisb1ury Steak and Cab­

and

silly weapons of mass destruction.The dying age of romanticism isembodied in the British spy RobertBaden-Powell who operated aroundthe turn of the century; I mean 1900,mind you, not 2000. One assign­ment was to determine the strengthof some Austrian fortifications;Wearing thick spectacles and car­rying a butterfly net, he pretendedto be a befuddled lepidopterist seek­ing rare butterfly specimens. In thispose, he wandered close to defensepositions and scurried about wav­ing his net wildly, while the guardslooked on in amusement. In myspare time, I used to practice whatmoves he might have made to actthe most silly.

Baden-Powell quickly drew tal­ented sketches of the fortifications,which were undetected by Austriancensors since he cleverly con­cealed the drawings inside largersketches of butterflies. His espio­nage work became very importantto British intelligence. Later, Rob­ert Baden-Powell founded the BoyScouts, the American branches ofwhich are valiant defenders of thefree world against sin. Sadly, theglorious old days have vanished,while those ofns who still remem­ber are looked upon as babblingold men.

I recognize a lot ofmyself in LordBaden-Powell. We are bothcognoscenti of butterflies, eccen-trics in a He workedaround while Iwork around forthe good motherland.

watercoloufs are unex­cer1tional and cannot hide as muchrntormatrclll as Baden-Powell'ssketches, I always remembermy grade school teacher used tosay: "fa pratique rendparfait." Thatmeans "practice makes perfect," bythe way, a piece of useful advicethat transcends generations.

A bientot!

in the current 50 state quarters pro­gram; Just the other day, I found anIllinois quarter with the picture ofLincoln. Using the powers of theWorld Wide Web, I learned thatoriginally the Mexican dollars weredivided into eight slices for smallchange, or eight "bits." Each bitwould be worth 12.5 cents, so twobits =25 cents. Very clever, n'est­ce pas? Before the current Wash­ington design, quarter dollars had apicture of a standing female Libertyon the obverse-the "heads" side,as opposed to the "tails" side. Theoriginal 1916 Standing Liberty de­sign featured very prominent, howyou say it, knockers. Unfortunately,a design change a year later cov­ered those supple and delectablebreasts.

Seriously though, homelessness isan important issue inAmerica. Withour current economic downturn,more and more people are beingevicted from their homes. I'veheard people speculate that a lot ofhomeless people consume illicitdrugs. I wonder where the home­less get the money for that from? Iused to think academia is higher

paying than panhandling, butmaybe I've been wrong allalong. My dean's salary canbarely afford any crack co­caine of a reasonable quality.Researching biological gapjUllctiorlS is interesting and re­warding, but it is not lu­crative and does notmany fordrug marmfacturing.have been ain myStrasbourg days.

Ah, my younger years,when men were men, sheepwere sheep and English­speaking cretins did not try toboss the francophone world.Wars were fought with chiv­alry and sportsmanship, not

6 THE CALIFORNIA TECH FEATURES

Spy SATELLITES UNCOVER MAPO S OF MASS ESTRUCTIO

By LIBIN ZHANG

I viewed with curiosity the recentRicketts experiment withhomelessness. The Scurves wereimplying that the Administration'sthreat to disband Ricketts wouldforce them onto the streets, but Iassure everyone that that scenariowill not be the case. They will sim­ply be moved into the other houses,where a number of rooms are cur­rently at less than maximum capac­ity, while we rent out the Rickettsliving space to fill the budget defi­cit. The Scurves were so convinc­ing as the homeless, much more sothan the Darb 'homeless' duringtheir infamous Ruddock visit, thatfor a moment there I thought Ishould donate a few quarters. How­ever, like real homeless people, theywould probably spend the moneyto consume alcohol by buyingListerine from the conveniencestore, so I hesitated.

Just the other day, I was struck byhow our two-bit quarter coins havehad so many design changes overthe years ever since the AmericanWar of Independence, culminating

Courtesy of Co PowellThis just in! This Tech document reveals injfm'm:ation about a newly uncovered scientifichotbed. The U.S. Government calls community, with unharnessed knowle(l~e

and danger." Unnamed sources reveal was taken with a Web camera fmm under theLibin Zhang '05. It remains to how the world and the United Nations win

respond.

THE CALIFORNIA TECH NEWS MARCH 17,2003 7

So. Cal. Offers Range ofSummer Fun-Teams Post More Losses

D. KortalThe California Tech

ACM 95 Professor Niles Pierce is this year's Feynman Prize winnerfor excellent teaching.

With 'Dedication, Charisma,'Pierce Wins Feynman Prize

By !RAM PARVEEN-BILAL

QUIPFTO

6.Mil

AZUSA PACIFICUNIVERSITY

For specific degreeprogram information,call (800) 825-5278

or emailgraduatecenter@apu.edu.Azusa Pacific University

901 E. Alosta Ave.POBox 7000

Azusa, CA 91702-7000

Caltech 0SCHREINER 7

Caltech 2SCHREINER 7

Women's Tennis

Caltech (0-11) 0OCCIDENTAL 9

Men's Tennis

Caltech (6-4) 3OCCIDENTAL 4

PER BISHOP'SLEGAC~ PRIZEFUNDS TRAVELContinuedfrom Page 2, Column 1

with his B.S. in physics in 1943. Byestablishing theAmasa Bishop Sum­mer Study Abroad prize, he offerstoday's students an exciting oppor­tunity for summer study abroad.

Bishop served as Chiefof the U.S.Atomic Energy Commission's Con­trolled Thermonuclear Branch andwent on to become the AtomicEnergy's European ScientifIc rep­resentative. Due to Bishop's under­standing of the need for scientistsand engineers to gain exposure tointernational issues and cultures, theBishop family generously agreed tofund two prizes in the amount of$6,000 each to allow two juniors tostudy abroad during the summer.

The prize covers round trip airfare and all tuition fees and livingexpenses up to $6,000. Within thisbudget, applicants can requestfunds for travel in the country oftheir study program or to countriesin the same general region. Travelcan be done before or after the studyprogram which has to be a mini­mum of six weeks long.

• Monday, March 24, 3:30 p.m.• Monday, April 7, 7 p.m.

Men's Baseball

Caltech (1-12) 4OCCIDENTAL 15

By REGER BRENTON

The Beavers played well thisweek but struggled with people inscoring position. The guys wereleading the fIrst game four to twoin the fIfth inning before giving upeight runs to fall behind.

Pitchers for the week were IsaacGremmer '05, Andy Conner '03and David McKeen '04.

Track & Field

Caltech 2OCCIDENTAL 10

Caltech 0.OCCIDENTAL 14

Tamara Becher '04 from women'strack and fIeld, also this week's ath­lete of the week, scored the mostpoints for the track team this week­end running in the 4xl00, 4x400,400, 1500 and 800. Individually shetook frrst in the 1500-meter, secondin the 8oo-meter and fourth in the4oo-meter. Her scores helped theBeavers claim victory over Cal.Lutheran, 101.5 to 97.5, and a nar­row loss to Occidental, 95 to 98.The team takes the weekend off andreturns to competition at Northridgeon the 22nd

•

Azusa Pacific University offers education andpsychology degree programs in the following areas:

Education• Accelerated bachelor's degree • Master's degrees • Doctorate• State credentials • State certificate

Information meetingsAaelerated bachelor's degree: Call (626) 815-5301 for meeting dates.Doctorate: Call for meeting dates.All other education programs: Tuesday, April 1,7 p.m.

PsychologyMarriage and Family Therapy:• Wednesday, March 12, 7 p.m.• Wednesday, April 2, 7 p.m.

plenty of hands-on exhibits.Ifyou need a break from the sun,

there is a plethora of movies slatedfor release in the summer months.For the action-loving bad boys, "2Fast 2 Furious" will come out inearly June, unfortunately withoutthe star ofits prequel, ''The Fast andFurious," Vm Diesel.

Meanwhile, another action­packed sequel, "Charlie's Angels:Full Throttle," also returns withmost of its original cast of goodgirls, Drew Barrymore, CameronDiaz and Lucy Liu, but missing BillMurray as the original mastermind,Charlie.

Another highly anticipated fIlm,"The Hulk," will be released inearly summer, starring Eric Bana asthe scientist Bruce Banner, who af­ter being pelted with gamma rays,transforms into The Incredible Hulkwhen angered.

And if you want your heartstringsplucked, try seeing "Northfork," thestory of a local priest who takes careof a dying nine-year-old orphanwhose only wish is to be adopted.

Another movie, "Whale Rider,"promises to captivate its audiencewith stunning scenery, as the 11­year~old Pai sets out to prove her­self worthy of being the new chiefof a New Zealand tribe.

Also, keep in mind that theCaltech Y offers discounted movietickets to the members of theCaltech community.If all else fails, do what everyone

else eventually does: go toDisneyland! Disneyland is onlyabout 30 minutes away and nowalso features California Adventureand Downtown Disney. Althoughyou just can't pass up a ride in theTeacups, the "Happiest Place onEarth" does now offer other entic­ing options, such as the House ofBlues, the ESPN Zone, an AMCTheatre and plenty of shops.If you're wanting more heart­

pounding, stomach-flipping, rollercoaster action and fewer cartooncharacters, try Magic Mountain,located about 45 minutes away insunny Valencia. If you'd ratherspend the day playing in water in­stead Qf waiting in lines in the hot

Continued on Page 8, Column 2

with tide pools and the PointVincente Interpretive Center, anideal spot for whale-watching.

To get the full effect of SouthernCalifornia and its legendarybeaches, .go further north to SantaMonica Beach, a popular ftlm lo­cation, with its very own amuse­ment park. An added bonus, SantaMonica also features the ThirdStreet Promenade, one of the mostfamous shopping districts in LosAngeles County.If you're looking for a quieter

beach, Malibu Beach has no beachside shops or entertainers, but you'llbe dazzled all the same by the rowsof gorgeous beachfront celebrityhomes.If you're willing to make the

drive, Long Beach is the southern­most of all the Los Angelesbeaches, but is the largest, featur­ing trips to nearby Catalina Islandand the legendary Queen Mary.Long Beach Aquarium is a greateducational spot for children of allages, featuring short films and

in a manner that emphasizes boththe how and the why of the prob­lem. He teaches without oversim­plifying and without intimidating,making the material accessible tothe diverse group of students. Hepossesses an uncanny ability to an­ticipate the frustrations and chal­lenges of the students and has beenable to hold the students' attentionand attendance, throughout thequarter."

Dr. Pierce has been teaching theCourse's fIrst half for the past twoyears. "Niles' interactive teachingstyle and smashing good looksmake it a pleasure to attend class!"exclaimed student WilliamVandewater '05. A few of hisformer students also nominated himfor the ASCIT best teaching award,which he received in 2002.

The Feynman Prize serves as amotivator to inspire professors toprepare engaging classes. All pro­fessorial faculties are eligible. Thisprize is made possible by a gift ofendowment by lone and Robert E.Paradise, with additional contribu­tions from Mr. and Mrs. William H.Hurt, in appreciation of RichardFeynman's contributions to excel­lent teaching. It is a cash award of$3,500, matched by an equivalentraise in the annual salary of theawardee.

The selection of the recipient ismade by a committee appointed bythe provost. The committee chairand members are rotated frequentlyto reflect all segments of the Insti­tute and the committee consists ofthree professorial faculty and onerepresentative each from the under­graduate student body and thegraduate student body.

ByVITRAN

Come Friday, June 13, the onlything you'll want to do is sleep. Butif you're SURFing or working oncampus or you're just hangingaround, you'll find that you­gasp!-Actually have free time!What to do with all this free time?Well, don't waste it in front of yourcomputer playing Generals! Takeadvantage of the beautiful Califor­nia weather and get outside!

Of course, since Pasadena getspretty hot in the summer, you'llwant to hit the beach. The nearestbeaches are 30 to 45 minutes awayin Manhattan Beach, just south ofthe Los Angeles International Air­port. Manhattan State Beach offerspretty much everything you couldwant in a beach: volleyball nets,surfmg, outdoor showers, a board­walk, lifeguards, restaurants andeven public transportation.

Located farther south, RanchosPalos Verdes hosts the AbaloneCove Ecological Reserve complete

This year's Feynman Prize win­ner is Applied Math Professor NilesPierce, a clear favorite among un­dergraduates and graduates forteaching the fIrst term and a half ofACM95.

Having just received his Ph.D. in1997, Dr. Pierce is below the aver­age age of the faculty at Caltech."On the very fIrst day, I rememberstanding outside the lecture hallsurrounded by students waiting forthe previous class to let out," hereminisced. "Amidst the din ofcon­versation, I gradually realized thatI had not been identifIed as the pro­fessor. My only previous teachingexperience was two small graduatecourses so I stood there anony-.mously, overdosing on adrenalineand thinking 'I guess this is themajor leagues.",

Teaching such a notoriouslytough course as ACM 95, however,Dr. Pierce had to fIne-tune his skillsas an instructor to reach the major­ity of his students. ''95 has a repu­tation as a tough course-and notjust with students!" he said. "It tooksome convincing to get me to teachit the fIrst time because I'd heard alot of stories about how much ittakesoutof1heprofessocAsittumsout,though, a big class can be a lot offun. Straight off I discovered thatwriting on nine sliding chalk boardsin the correct order is not as easy asit might look when 200 people aresupervising!"

The award cited Dr. Pierce's "en­thusiasm, dedication and charismain teaching both undergraduates andgraduates the foundations of ap­plied mathematics through ACM95. Professor Pierce's lectures arecarefully organized and presented

8 THE CALIFORNIA TECH NEWS MARCH 17, 2003

Twenty-eight former Fellowshave received Nobel prizes. "It is aterrific honor to receive this awardand to be a part of such a tremen­dous tradition of excellence withinthe Sloan foundation," said Dr.Brian Stoltz.

Candidates for the fellowships arenominated by department chairsand other senior scholars familiarwith their talents. More than 500nomiriations for the 2003 awardswere reviewed by a committee ofdistinguished scientists, includingProfessor David Anderson ofCaltech.

Each Sloan Fellow receives agrant of$40,000 for a two-year pe­riod administered by each Fellow'sinstitution. Once chosen, Fellowsare given the flexibility to pursuewhatever line of inquiry that is mostinteresting to them. This is done sothat these young scientists can havefreedom while in this pivotal stageof establishing their own indepen­dent research projects.

Dr. Asimow commented that hewill use his Sloan fellowship to"support further investigation intothe presence oftrace concentrationsof water in the deep earth and itseffects on mantle melting andphysical properties... I'm pleasedbecause funds that are unattachedto any particular grant are enor­mously useful for seeding new andhigh-risk projects that are not quiteready to tum into proposals."

On his research, Dr. Jonas Peterssaid, "The Sloan award will provideinvaluable seed money for workwe've initiated in the past fewmonths regarding nitrogen reduc­tion using molecular iron sys­tems ... Ideally, our work in thisarea will help to guide mechanisticpostulates concerning nitrogen re­duction at iron by nitrogenase en­zymes, a family of enzymes stud­ied by the Rees group here atCaltech."

It's hard work being a scientistand as Dr. Calegari added, "It's niceto get approbation from one's peers.I feel that this award certifies tosome small degree the interest andscientific merit of my work and itencourages me to continue to pur­sue it."

ByTAMMYMA

Six Caltech ProfessorsAwarded Sloan Fellows

A LITTLE SKEPTICAL

I~ .j

t jD. Kort:J!The California Tech

Skeptics of the Skeptics Society ponder ''Free Will, Determinism andEvolution" before univ.ersity professor Daniel Dennett.

Six Caltech professors were re­cently selected to beAlfred P. SloanResearch Fellows for 2003.

117 young scientists and econo­mists from 50 different colleges anduniversities in the United States andCanada were selected to receive aSloan Research Fellowship. TheSloan Fellows are described as fac­ulty members engaged in researchat the fron,tiers-of chemistry, com­

_putational and evolutionary mo­lecular biology, computer science,economics, mathematics, neuro':science and physics.

From Calt~ch, there were fourrecipients involved in chemistryresearch. They are Paul DavidAsimow, Assistant Professor ofGeology and Geochemistry; LindaC. Hsieh-Wilson, Assistant Profes-sor of Chemistry; Jonas C. Peters,Assistant Professor of Chemistry;and Brian M. Stoltz, Assistant Pro­fessor of Chemistry. Fellowshipswere also awarded in the fields ofmathematics and neuroscience, re­spectively, to Danny Calegari, As­sociate Professor of Mathematicsand Athanassios G. Siapas, Asso­ciate Professor ofComputation andNeural Systems.

These six Sloan Research Fellowswere selected from among hun­dreds of highly qualified scientistsin the early stages of their careerson the basis of "their exceptionalpromise to contribute to the ad­vancement of knowledge."

Clubs, Parks Among Area Attractions·Continuedfrom Page 1, Column 5 out there!-Club 1 7 in Hollywood ment. Dodger Stadium is just 15sun, take advantage of the huge is for partiers strictly above 17 and minutes away, tickets start at $6 andnearby water park, Raging Waters, under 21. Meanwhile, for those pre- there are usually some nifty knick­at the intersection of the 10, 210 and fer sitting down and listening to a knacks like bobbleheads and foam60 freeways. There's always good comedy show, the Ice House fingers to collect. There are greatKnott's Berry Farm and Universal in Pasadena is open to those 18 and discounts and packages available,Studios to try as well. Tickets for over and has a two-drink minimum. like the Dodger Coca-Cola Familyall these places, except for Raging Los Angeles also features a huge Pack: four tickets, four Cokes, fourWaters, are also available at dis- collection of concert venues. The Farmer John Dodger Dogs andcounted prices through the Caltech Los Angeles Philharmonic per- parking for $39. If baseball's justY. forms regularly at the Hollywood not for you, the Los Angeles Gal-

When the sun sets, the fun doesn't Bowl. Between these shows, you'll axy plays Major League Soccer inhave to stop. Like any large city, find other great performers, from its new stadium, the Home DepotLos Angeles also offers plenty of Yanni to Coldplay to Santana, at the Center, in Carson.interesting night life and clubs. A Hollywood Bowl this summer. If all else fails, I would suggestnon-Techer, Tokuma Nakazawa The Staples Center in downtown stocking up on those hours of sleepfrom the University of California, Los Angeles also offers a wide before the new school year starts.Irvine, recommends Sky Sushi in range of shows, including Match- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Santa Monica for hip-hop music box 20, ChristinaAguilera and Jus­and Arena, also in Santa Monica, tin Timberlake, Fleetwood Mac andfor trance on Friday nights and hip- the Dixie Chicks. If you misshop on Saturday nights. Fleetwood Mac and the Dixie

The Mayan in Hollywood fea- Chicks at the Staples Center, they'lltures world-class deejays spinning also be performing at the Arrow­trance, while the Circus Disco in head Pond in Ap.aheim in July,Santa Monica features Spundae on while Bon Jovi, featuring specialSaturday nights with trance and guests the Goo Goo Dolls and Torihouse. Apparently, if you go to Amos will perform in April.Spundae, you will become familiar If you're willing to make thewith Cole who works the front hour-long drive down to Irvine,ticket area and will shake your hand Pearl Jam will be performing at theif you are male and kiss your cheek Verizon Wireless Amphitheater inif you are female, so be warned. early June. Grammy award winner

All of these aforementioned clubs Norah Jones will be performing atare for partiers 21 and over. For the Santa Barbara Bowl and thethose of us not yet quite 21, The Greek Theatre in late July. In allPalace in Hollywood features honesty, you will be able to [md the

. KROQ 106.7 FM on Thursday music you like somewhere in Losnights, KITS 102.7 FM on Saturday Ange~es.

nights and POWER 106 after three Lastly, as the summer days anda.m. in the wee hours of Friday your bank account starts to wane,morning. For those of us not even you can always rely on the great na­18-1 know there are some of you tional pastime for cheap entertain-

By ROBERTLI

P. Dormiani/The California Tech

Caltech and the L.A. Philharmonic play host to,a "conversation" between the creators of''El Nino" lastSaturday. ''EI Nino" is the story of the birth of Christ told from a multicultural perspective. '

lEI Nino'Turns Secular Eye,to Christthe miracle of Christ's birth but' The music of "El Nino" has beenfrom a secular and biological rather described as "sort ofocean of soundthan religious sense. Sellars de- in which all the elements-of the ora­scribed childbirth as "being in 'a torio live" and "powerful and af­room with four people and suddenly fecting and sublimely assured mu­there are five." It is also for the sic." During its creation, composersecular reason that only women JohnAdams said that his model wastruly understand what childbirth is Handel's "Messiah" and that hethat Adams and Sellars decided to wanted to recreate the mosaic-likeuse poetry from female poets in "El approach to the narrative.Nino" to express the moment of The L.A. Times also reviewed theChrist's birth. event.

The Saturday before last, Caltechin conjunction with the Los Ange­les Philharmonic Association pre­sented a "conversation" betweenthe creators of the recently per­formed oratorio, "El Nino."

Attending the event were JohnAdams, the award-winning com­poser of "The Death ofKlinghoffer"; Esa-Pekka Salonen,conductor of the Los Angeles Phil­harmonic for the past decade; andPeter Sellars, a director whose over100 works have included the fa­mous opera "Nixon in China."Moderating the discussion was JackMiles, a Pulitzer-wining author anda visiting professor of humanitiesat Caltech.

The event was held as a part of aseries of promotional activitiesleading up to the performance of"El Nino" by the Los Angeles Phil­harmonic last Wednesday, Fridayand Saturday. Around 200 peoplewere in attendance at BeckmanAu­ditorium.

The event started with Jack Milesgiving a lengthy introduction to theoratorio. In short, "El Nino" is thestory of the birth ofChrist told froma multicultural perspective that car­ries with it a message for uniting adivided world.

The presentation is entirely mod­em and multimedia. In the back­ground of the performance, a silentfJ.J.m ofL.A. street life is shown andthe performers, consisting of threevocal soloists, three countertenorsand three dancers are dressed incasual clothes and barefoot.

Primary source texts for the li­bretto include the Bible-both theKing James and the Gnostic-theWakefield Mystery Plays, Spanishpoems by prominent Hispanicwcm:namtlrm::dievalCOOlJXRfllild:gar

von Bingen."El Nino" debuted in Paris in De­

cember of2000 and one month latermade its North American debut inSan Francisco.

The message of"EI Nino," as dis­cussed by Adams and Sellars dur­ing the subsequent conversation, is

t Oh Yeh! Bent on outpunning the world, I make my grand,timeless Leep into the wanton world ofCrippling Depres­sion. But, seriously: big congratulations, guys, on the presscoverage. When you're syndicated, remember the Tech!

'm:be ~alifornia 'm:ecbCaltech 40-58

Pasadena, CA 91126

-+.The River Niles: The master of branch cuts has Piercedhis way into the annals of history. To a feyn man: con­gratulations!

Doughnut: I was bushed and shoved like Iraq by the U.S.,shocked and awed by falling projectiles from Page andall along, I dough not even get a doughnut. Perhaps moredoughnuts can be part of the next Somalian aid package.