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4 FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2008 Sophomores celebrate their sth birthdays BY ABBEY CALDWELL STAFF WRITER Today is a big day for sophomore Afehin Humayun. It's his fifth birthday. Born Feb. 29. 1988, Humayun is one of the rare few bom on the leap year day. Because of celestial movements, people born on that day only have tme birthdays every four years. “Kids used to try to make fun of me and say that 1 should be sad that I don’t have a birthday," Humayun said. To make him feel better. Humayun said, his family had ways of making his birthday special when he was growing up. “When 1 turned 8. instead of having eight candles on the cake, they had two," he said. He also said his parents put two and a half candles on his birthday cake when he turned 10 years old. Though hard numbers are hard to come by. about 187,000 people in the United States call this anom aly their birthday. Leap years are caused by the imperfection of the Gregorian cal endar used by most countries. It takes 365.2422 days for Earth to rotate around the sun. Because the calendar year only hits 365 days, even year would experience a loss of about one-fourth of a day. M jt JmSIL B NOW HIRING: SERVERS 56.50/HR PLUS TIPS; HOSTESS/CASHIER $8 9/HR; LINE & PREP COOKS JB-12/HR We we currently locking for enthusiastic self-motivated crew members for Calc Bistro, on the upper level of Nordstrom. Streets at Southpoint Mall, to fill the positions of Restaurant Servers. Hostesses. Line Cooks, and Prep Cooks Qualified candidates with 1-2 years of full service restaurant experience highly preferred We offer: • A professional and fun work environment • Above average hourly wage, great tips! • Comprehensive benefits package including 40l(k). company funded profit sharing. Medical. Dental, life insurance, and complimcntars employer meals • Employee discount at all Nordstrom stores • Hours of operation Mon Sat. 11-Spm. Sun 12-6 pm Interested candidates, please slop bv and lill out an application or email resume to Tcrcsa A.Spigelmvcror Nordstrom.com We are an K)f committed to providing a diverse work environment NO R DST ROM I SPRING CLEARANCE EMTIHE tVEKTOm c Duus Qniu Biduy. fcb. 29th 7am-7pm Bday. March Ist 9um~spm Buy. Nurch 2nd 12pm-spm Currently accepting consignment appointments An extra day is added every four years to make up for the fraction of the day lost by each rotation. Humayun said he never feels short-changed by his irregular birthday. “I guess you could think about it like my birthday doesn’t exist, but 1 would like to think about it like there’s actually two days to celebrate it," he said. “1 can do it on Feb. 29 or March 1 or both if 1 wanted to." Corey Johnson, a sophomore with a February 29 birthday, said the concept of a leap year was hard for him to understand as a child. “I don't think 1 really knew what it was until l was 12." he said. “That was when I first realized that it didn’t come every year for real." He said that because he used to get jealous of other children and their regularly occurring birthdays, his family let him celebrate on Feb. 28 and March 1 until he was about 10 years old. But now he gets to catch up on old childhood birthdays. Johnson said he plans to go with his parents to the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh to cel ebrate his 20th birthday. “It’s kind of like a 5-year-old birthday party type thing." he said. Contact the Features Editor at unc.edu. Knights of Columbus, that hurt UTTT ; now watch as m/%/ weird Daily Tar Heel T ▼ guy goes to fence." Thus spoke David Winer, mem ber of the UNC fencing team. Yes, UNC has a fencing team. And yes, I, “weird Daily Tar Heel guy," went to fence. Tuesday afternoon. I called fenc ing coach Ron Miller and asked if I could fence with the team. An hour later. I waltzed into Fetzer Gym and looked around. I saw fencers lined up in pairs, going at it like starved Frenchmen fight ing over the last bite of a crepe. When they spotted me. their faces all said the same thing: Weird Daily Tar Heel guy is toast. It took a couple tries to simply get my jacket on correctly (with assistance, no less). Next, they pulled a glove onto my sword hand so that my opponent’s blade couldn't travel up my sleeve and puncture my lung. Terrific! Then 1 learned that fencing involves three weapon classes sabers, foils and epees. Horrific! “How much does it hurt?" I asked Winer, a freshman (and a seasoned saber-ist like mvself). Lawson s status questionable for BC Deon Thompson also may not play BY GREGG FOUND SENIOR WRITER Ty Lawson could return to the court for the first time in seven games Saturday it’ll just happen about 700 miles away. Lawson practiced lightly Wednesday and Thursday anil could be a go for minimal minutes in Chestnut Hill. Mass., against Boston College. “Ty yesterday in practice went up and down the court in three-on zero and five-on-zero situations," coach Roy Williams said in his news conference Thursday. “Nothing where there was a defense. He did Free Tree for Arbor Day Mail a request to: Free Tree, 6778 McPherson Clay. Liberty, NC 27298 www cdr3 com/arborday Ads by Google* 1 st Annual Fraternity Cup Cookout Sponsored by the Interfraternity Council Open to all students $5 per plate Featuring the Palominos -a vintage southern roots rock band from Richmond, Virgina 11-3 pm March Ist 2008 Big Fraternity Court Proceeds benefit Nourish International Congratulations to the following organizations for making an impact on our Campus and Global community: • Phi Gamma Delta - Leaders in the Greek initiative to go Green. • Phi Delta Theta - $250,000 donation to the Millennium Village Project. The Interfraternity Council is the largest men’s organization at UNC and consists of 21 men’s general Fraternities. IFC fraternities are a home away from home where lasting friendships are made and networks with thousands of alumni are found. News m SAM ROSENTHAL A GARDEN STATE Of MIND “It depends who's hitting you." he said. Who would be hitting me? Will Randolph, a senior who started fencing at age 10. Looks like former PhLsh frontman Tftry Anastasia but built like a Volvo no questions about his safety. As for mine... “You're gonna get killed," said freshman Dylan Hubbard. But I couldn't die honorably until I learned the basics. “If you can't pick it up, you’re not as smart as some 6-year-olds I've coached," Randolph said. Sam Rosenthal: Are you smart er than a first-grader? Randolph taught me in 30 min utes what usually takes a few hours a day for a few days to learn like a fencing Maymester. First, we covered movement: advancing, retreating, lunging some shooting, and that was it." Williams said he would try to give I-awson some practice time today in more game-like situations. “If that goes well, well perhaps ‘ r > to P ,a > him for a few min utes a g;ainst Boston College," Williams said, “But that decision will not be made until ONLINE . The prediction for UNC s game against BC. See dailytarheel. com for story. Saturday morning." If he can’t play, the Tar Heels will still be lead by the same steady hand in senior Quentin Thomas. UNC is 5-1 in the ACC with Lawson available and has been 6-1 in the conference since his injury. “The kids take ownership when I say, ‘We re not going to have TV, so you’ve got to play better,’" Williams said. While some players might be and tripping (not a usual fencing movement). Then we touched on basic parry positions for the saber. Parrying means, basically, “Stop the pointy metal thing from hitting you." A lesson in attacking followed, and Randolph let me hit him repeatedly while questioning the masculinity of my blows. Ultimately, the lesson on attack ing proved pointless, as did the one on parrying. But the lesson on butt-whipping left an impression. Actually, many impressions. See. after my brief tutorial, Randolph suggested that we fence each other, like Muhammad Ali challenging Steve Urkel in boxing. I handed my recorder to Winer and Hubbard (wanting to docu ment my final minutes on Earth). Will Randolph ... Weird Daily Tar Heel guy... En garde! 1 lunged: he dodged. He lunged: I cringed. I struck; he parried. He struck; I cried. And the peanut gallery loved every minute of it. “He's scared to hit Will, and I’m pretty sure he's afraid of getting hit," Winer said. You got that right. “Someone in this normal posl tempted to make up for Lawson’s absence by hoisting more shots, it's the all-around effort Williams has been pleased with. “Guys have been willing to try to do more —and do more within the framework of what we want" The Tar Heels might need more of that come Saturday. Deon Thompson could miss the Boston College game if hi.s knee and back injuries continue to bother him. “If he is not considerably bet ter today and tomorrow than he was yesterday, 1 might just hold him out completely," Williams said Thursday. Even Thomas can't escape the eves of the trainers. “Quentin Thomas, on the inju ry report it said, 'watch closely,’’ Williams joked. "That's what the crap 1 do every day out there, is watch everybody closely. So I don't know what that means, but we’ve got to ‘watch him closely.’" Williams has maintained all along that the UNC can't drastical- ahr Bailil ear Hrrl tion wouldn't be fencing right away,’ Winer said. “The average person can’t just go in and fence." This average person tried to “just go in and fence." This aver age person looked, as Hubbard put it, “like a stupid fish." Winer added, “A fish out of water aka you don’t belong here.’ However, for a single, glimmer ing moment, 1 belonged. Somehow, on one pass, my saber touched Randolph before his contacted me. Score one for the Samster! That was it Final score: 20-1. “But you had that one beautiful touch," Randolph consoled me. Removing my mask and jacket felt like exiting a sauna 1 collapsed onto a chair and asked Miller if he watched our bout “I did a little bit. You were moving pretty well," the coach said. “It’s hard to grasp the concepts of the sport in a few minutes.... (Fencing) is chess at the speed of boxing. I saw he was nice he didn’t hurt you.” No offense. Coach, but my arms and back want a rebuttal. Or, as we fencers say, a repose. Contact Sam Rosenthal at xamrose(a email.unc.edu. A A Sophomore guard Ty Lawson could log some minutes against Boston College. ly change its style of play because of an injury or two. But the Lawson absence has given them time to get a lot of work done when they’re forced to slow down. “What we’ve tried to do is do a bet ter job within our half-court offense." he said. “We have not one day failed to work on a half-court offense." Practice has changed a little bit, too. Some of the injured players who can't run sprints ride exercise bikes for conditioning. “Yesterday we didn’t have enough bicycles," Williams said. “It felt like a M.A.S.H. unit out there." Contact the Sports Editor at sportsfu unc.edu.
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Feb. 29, 2008, edition 1
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