7 stentorian 2004
opted
the stentorian | ncssm
Affirmative Action
matic acceptance to any Texas
state school to all high school
seniors in the top ten percent
of their class. Though the
method itself seems too sim
ple, it is efficient and effective
for a variety of reasons. First,
this process does promise
campus diversity. We must
remember, however, that diver
sity comes in many forms.
This program promises stu
dents from all over the state
and from all different types of
schools. Hard-working sen
iors at poor-functioning
schools are given the same
opportunities as hard-working
students at better schools.
Secondly, to be eligible for the
program, students must meet a
certain criteria (top ten per
cent). Therefore, students can-
JT Morgan,
We love you just
the v/ay you are, even
when it's not Valentine's
day!!
Love, Anna and CJ
from page 4
not ride solely on their minori
ty status.
I personally believe pro
grams such as these should at
the least be tried at colleges
throughout the country.
Affirmative action is a risky
yet necessary and integral part
of higher learning. Our goal is
to create a balance in which we
retain diversity, but not at the
expense of deserving appli
cants. The Ten Percent Plan is
certainly not perfect; however,
this method comes closer than
any other I have seen in creat
ing this balance.
Hopefully in the near
future new ways of thinking
about diversity and affirmative
action will create a truly effec
tive system.
to my staff:
thanks for all yoiu* hard
work for this go aroimd.
you all get gold .stars
3 t
What the Republicans Must
Do to Win the 2004 Election
Jonathan Smith
To Morgan R, Kris,
Guiane and V.
I love ya'il so much!!
Morgan Wal!s
Ihe Republicans have
many starting advan
tages coming into the
2004 presidential race. They
have an incumbent, they are
united behind one candidate
(unlike the Democrats), and
Bush has popular support
stemming from the events of
September 11 and the war on
terror. In order to win the
election, and maintain their
lead, the Republicans must
do the following:
•Come clean about Iraq.
Many Americans still
feel animosity toward the
administration for what they
view as lies about the status of
weapons of mass destruction
in Iraq. The administration
needs to admit that perhaps
they were wrong on that fact,
but still maintain that America
had the right to invade because
of the international conse
quences of letting Saddam stay
in power, in addition, to
emphasizing the atrocities that
the Saddam regime committed
against the Iraqi people.
Rally behind Bush's
foreign policy and his idea of
Homeland Security. If the
Linux Myths Debunked
Andrew Higginbotham
W hat is Linux? Linux
is the free operating
system originally
created by Linus Torvald's. It
is distributed under the GNU
Public License, which means
that it is not only free, but open
source. You can download
Linux from many distribu
tors such as Suse, Mandrake,
Debian, and Slackware.
Myth 1: Most people
have no need for open source
products like Linux
My Reply: If you use
the Internet, you're already
using open source. Bind, the
program that translates
domain names into IP address
es is open source, as is apache,
the most popular web server
on the net. Many web pages
are created using the open
source language PHP, and the
open source database MySQL.
The next generation of
Windows products, dubbed
Longhorn, will use a file sys
tem based on MySQL.
Open Source products
that you might want to try
include Open Office, a com
plete office suite that com
pares quite favorably to
Microsoft Office, and
Mozilla's Firebird, a fast cross
platform web browser.
Myth 2: Linux is the same
as Unix
My Reply: WRONG!
Linux is protected under the
GNU Public License. Just in
case you have trouble remem
bering, it GNU stand for
"Gnu's Not Unix". Unix is a
proprietary operating system.
r
If you use the
Internet, you're
already using open
source
_i
that is distributed under licens
es bought from a company
called SCO.
While they may seem
similar, they are anything but.
Most importantly, SCO recent
ly sued IBM for distributing
the Linux operating system,
which they claim contains
code stolen from the Unix
operating system.
Myth 3: Red Hat is the
maker of Linux
My Reply: No. Hearing
some one say this is like hav
ing my spine tickled with a
jackhammer. Red Hat is one of
possibly hundreds of distribu
tors of the Linux operating
system. Red Hat distributes a
particular "flavor" of Linux, as
well as enough support for the
companies who purchase it.
Red Hat no longer even offers
a Linux distribution for home
and small server use.
Myth 4: Linux "looks"
like something
My Reply: If you get any
thing from this article, please
get that Linux doesn't look
like anything. There are a
plethora of available
Graphical User Interfaces
(GUIs) for the Linux operat
ing system. They range from
the ultra usable KDE and
GNOME, to the more bare
bones interfaces like Fluxbox,
Tab Window Manager, and
Ion.
Myth 5: Linux is too hard
for me to use
My Reply: Linux is no
harder to use than Windows.
While Windows should never
be used as a benchmark for
anything, according to a recent
study by Relevantive AG (a
consulting business), if you
can use Windows, you can use
Linux. If you can't use
Windows or Linux, get a Mac.
While you won't be able to use
it either, at least it will look
cool.
Republicans can make it look
like the Democrats do not
want a safer America, and that
they are undermining the
valiant Republicans' efforts to
secure America, then it will
diminish the effect of the
Democrat attack on Bush's
Republicans have a
history of getting the
most money in any
political campaign.
lack of protection of civil lib
erties.
•CATCH A TERRORIST!
The American people are get
ting fed up with the fact that it
has been over two years since
9/11 and the world's hegemony
has still failed to capture those
that helped mastermind the
operation. While capturing
Saddamm helped the moral of
out nation, it did not capture
those who were responsible for
the lives lost in the terrorist
attacks.
when the c-list actors
finally got their revenge
and power,
the voters said "we're
tired of nicole and she
was ugly in the hours."
beihg vicious and tender
for each other has been
fun,
bad for you is the sun.
if anyone ever does wrong
to you with clout
tell me so i can find a
window to throw them
out.
cats smirk and dogs grov
el,
a good short story is bet
ter than a novel,
i bet you don't listen to
floetry,
now you can see why i
don't write poetry,
a lot of crappy books are
published by ballantine,
i consider you to be my
valentine.
my favorite character in
winnie-the-pooh was eey-
ore.
you deserve everything
you have and much more,
momecky,
i love you becky.
2nd Beall,
To
the lovely
ladles of
2nd Beall.
Thanks for
all the memo
ries.
From:
Yolanda
The Economy.
This last quarter in the
US's economy was the best in
over 3 years. Most economists
now agree that the US is com
ing out of the recession. If
Bush can capitalize on this, he
can gain the needed domestic
issue to boost his campaign.
•Money.
Republicans have a his
tory of getting the most
money in any political cam
paign. They will no doubt be
receiving large sums of
money from corporations,
and business owners. Bush
has already denied federal
matching funds, meaning
that he expects to not only
raise, but spend more than the
federal limit. This means that
expectations are high for the
amount of capital that the
Republicans can raise. And, as
we all know, it is name recog
nition and awareness that wins
elections. Obviously, Bush (as
the incumbent) has more name
recognition than any of the
Democratic nominees, but his
status as an incumbent will
also help in his ability to raise
capital.
Kristen and Shay,
1 got very lucky with you
two, the best junior sis
ters a criminally neglect
ful senior bro could ask
for. From Robin Williams
to Rammstein, Hugh
Jackman to Teletubbies, I
hope you'll remember our
conversations fondly. Have
a great senior year. --
Bryan
Ayiesha,
If things were different,
you'd be the one. Still, in
ten years, our children
will be very pretty.
Perhaps slightly confused,
but hey. History debates,
chem webassigns, and
long nights wondering
how to fix things in our
senior year lives-we've
almost gotten through it,
together. Someday when
you cure a disease there
will be a journal
ist taking notes
beside you, and
that will be
; me. I have
/ lots of love
/ for you
and will
/ no matter
/ where we end
up. -Bryan