THE ORACLE: Complaining that the Anteaters do not have a legitimate star athlete in the professional ranks? Your complaints may be availed come next major league baseball season.
THE HYPOTHESIS: One of the best movie lines ever is by Doug E. Doug, who played Sanka Coffie in the 1993 sports film classic "Cool Runnings." I know it's a movie about the Winter Olympics, but stay with me. Sanka, the comic relief on the Jamaican bob-sled team, walks through the snow and into a circle of athletes looking miserable from the cold and with a huge grin says the line, "I am feeling very Olympic today."
California state lawmakers are putting our conversations on hold—well, sort of. If you're one of the unlucky ones stuck in Irvine for summer school or in California, then you've probably heard of the new cell phone policy officially enacted on July 1. According to the new law, drivers must use a hands-free device while on the road (now you have an excuse to use those highly-fashionable star-trek ear pieces). However, if you happen to be under the age of 18, the law states you cannot be on the phone at all.
While Sweden's national television channels stream an unusual amount of terrorism-themed films and series this summer, the Swedish parliament passed a controversial anti-terrorism law—strikingly similar in character to America's Patriot Act. The law legalizes government wire-tapping of international calls, faxes and emails without a court order. In the post-9/11 era, it is increasingly difficult to overlook the exportation of American laws, the modified concept of "democracy" and even the sanctions on civil liberties.
Largely due to a considerable discrepancy between the number of estimated soldiers needed to sustain the battles currently being fought in the Middle East and the actual number of new soldiers being recruited, the United States army has bulked up its number of soldiers "stop-lossed" in recent years.
On May 19, a campus assault alert was issued because someone was sexually battered on the UC Irvine campus. I started thinking about the "Take Back the Night" rally held a while ago to raise consciousness about sexual assault and rape, both of which are an epidemic in American society. I wondered if the event helped to raise consciousness about violence based upon the construction of gender. What does it mean to attend a rally to stop rape and violence while simultaneously 28,000 children, teens and adults view pornography based on scenarios involving rape?
