Newspapers / Elon University Student Newspaper / Sept. 4, 2003, edition 1 / Page 2
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Page 2 Thursday, September 4, 2003 The Pendulum Ettrablished 137+ Clear the congestion: Parking a problem at Elon This week we have noticed an unusually high number of cars being towed from the different parking lots on campus. These cars are being towed for several reasons, including illegal parking violations and a lack of parking pennits. Tliosc of us who have registered our vehicles are facing another problem; There is no where to park. We have an excellent solution to this mounting problem: Don not allow freshmen to have cars on campus. As a freshman, you really have no need of a car. You are required to live in a residence hall, so everywhere you could need to go is within walking distance. On the off chance you do need to go somewhere off campus, tliere are plenty of upperclassmen who would be willing to take you. All you have to do is ask, which is a got)d way to make new friends. By eliminating freshmen cars on campus, hundreds of parking spaces would be free for those upperclassmen who live on campus, as well as those who don’t. No longer would anyone be late for class because they couldn’t find a parking space. And all of that walking around campus can only help our society, which has been accused of being obese. Banning the cars of freshmen would help everyone and hurt no one. We think that is the key to controlling the parking problems that seem worse this year. And it will be nice to finally have a paiking space and not have to go hunting for one when we need it. The Pendulum Colin Donohue, Editor-in-Chief Lindsay Porter, Managing Editor Stephen Earley, News Editor Matt Belanger, Asst. News Editor Brittlny Dunlap, Opinions Editor Kaltlyn North, A & E Editor Mary-Hayden Britton, Features Editor Nick Palatlello, Sports Editor Jeff Heyer, Photography Editor Tim Rosner, Asst. Photo Editor Ellla hlarman and Jessica Kemp, Copy Editors Annette Randall, Bus. Manager Matt Ford, Online Editor Janna Anderson, Adviser The Pendulum is published each Thursday of the academic year. The advertising and editorial copy deadline is 5 p.m. the Monday before publi cation. Letters to the editor and guest columns are welcome and should be typed, double-spaced, signed and include a telephone number for verifica tion. Submissions are also accepted as Word documents on disk or by e- mail. The Pendulum reserves the right to edit obscene or potentially lit>elous material. Lengthy letters or columns may have to be trimmed to fit. All sub missions become the property of The Pendulum and will not be returned. To reach The Pendulum at 233 Moseley Center, call 278-7247 or fax 278- 7246. Contact The Pendulum by e-mail at pendulum@elon.edu. Visit our Web site at www.elon.edu/pendulum. Each Individual is entitled to one free cx>py. Opinions The Pendulum NASA won’t change faulty ways Leigh Wiley Columnist I wouldn’t have known about it if I had n’t gone running on Tuesday. Glasses off I squinted at the muted television in front of the treadmill and tried to read the CNN headlines. All of the coverage is about the Columbia space shuttle. I shrugged and turn ed my attention back to try ing not to pass out. CNN has a habit of rehashing old stories when nothing really interesting is going on. But when I returned to my room and started checking my e- mail I noticed Columbia pictures everywhere. Curious, I picked a news story and began to read. “In four words, the foam did it,” Columbia Accident Investigation Board member Scott Hubbard said on CNN. As I kept reading I realized that they only now figured out what really went wrong on the Columbia. For those of you who didn’t see CNN while it was being cov ered for all of five minutes, basi Leigh Wiley cally some foam broke off and damaged a wing. But the kicker is that it happened dur ing take-off. Logically, NASA could have done something about that. It was even said that they could have sent another crew up there to fix it. The crew of the Columbia could have waited long enough for help. -But NASA decided the problem was not big enough to worry about. And obviously they were wrong. It seems to always be the little things. And now that it officially has been labeled NASA’s fault, they are doing what any good govern ment organization $hould be doing blaming it on Congress. NASA has been logging com plaints since the 1960s about funding. These science gurus, the little boys and girls who used to be astronauts for Halloween every single year, do not feel like they have enough money to really start expanding their horizons. The investigation board’s report claimed that “NASA is an organi zation straining to do too much with too little.” So the real question now is who’s fault is it? NASA claims it would be able to do more with more money. The government says that NASA should try not to stretch its limits. I personally side with the gov ernment on this one. Give a kid an inch and he’ll try to take it a mile. I think even if NASA’s budget did grow that they would continue to stretch their limits. As was proven with Apollo 1, Apollo 13, the Challenger and now Columbia, you can investigate NASA until the moon hits the Earth, and throw the entire U.S. budget into what they are trying to accomplish, but NASA will never truly change. To these indi viduals on the ground, taking risks is no problem. And as always, they will stretch every dollar every which way except towards safety. Contact Leigh Wiley at pendu- lum@elon.edu or 278-7247. mailbox Solution for online music downloads To the Editor, I have long had an interest in the goings-on between the Recording Industry of America and the music- swappers. I can understand where the pirates are coming from. So much of what is out there today is too much alike, the artists get barely any of the money and the prices are ridiculous. Before you think of me as a pirate-loving wimp or an RIAA- supporting jerk, read on. I don’t think I’ve bought a tape or CD in several years, yet anyone who enters my room will more often than not be as.saulted by thumping bass and strange techno. None of my music was stolen or obtained illegally in any way. There are other ways to get good music besides downloading songs for free. One way is to seek out garage band Web sites, where you can get free mp3s of amateurs playing songs by their favorite bands. After a bit of practice, they can get to be just as good as the original musi cians, and the RIAA can’t touch you if you download and share them. I usually try to find remixes of music that already has been copyrighted. Downloading and sharing altered music is perfecUy legal. I get most of mine from http://remix.over- clocked.org, which is decade-old music from Nintendo (and other makers of early video games) remixed for your listening pleasure. Here’s my perfect solution for all you music pirates who fear the wrath of the mighty RIAA. According to my research, there are several Napster-esque vehicles of software downloading out there. All you do is pay a dollar per song. So just count up all the various songs you have and write down which artist originally made them. Then, for eveiy song you have by Random Artist A, mail them a check for $1 per song. What you just did was perfectly lawful and probably paid the artist more than they would have gotten had you just bought the CD. I mean, you basically paid just as much as someone using legal file- sharing methods, except you chose the mwe complicated route. When the RIAA comes knocking, show them your checkbook and they’ll probably go away. • Rob MarkendorfT ‘05
Elon University Student Newspaper
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