MIT'Olde t and Large t

e spaper

The WeatherToday: hower, 59°F (15° )Tonight: Rain, 52°F (15°C)

Tomorrow: howers, 60°F (9°C)Details, Page 2

Volume 118, umber 24 02139 Tuesday, May 5, 1998

CHUN HUA ZHENG--THE TECH

Rory S. MacKean '00 works on his Design and Manufacturing I(2.007) project In preparation for next week's 2.70competition.

New ASA Leaders StudyFunds, Summer M~

411, Page 14

connections have special restric-tions, Bell Atlantic was unable toresolve how to configure them afterit performed a software upgradeand, therefore, blocked 411 as a fea-ture, she said.

"Part of the problem with thiswas that Bell Atlantic neverinformed MIT's 5ESS service teamthat it would be performing this ser-vice," Keohane said. "Therefore, wecould not inform the community,nor be available during the upgradeto perform our own testing."

The most recent outage started in

Graffiti, Page 13

District Commission, Bankert said.MDC Spokesman Sam Campbell

said that the MDC would try toremove the final traces of the graffitiover the course of the next fewdays. "We are aware of it and veryinterested in getting it off," he said.

Bankert said that the markingson the house had also been erased."We painted over the markings onthe house with gray paint, so it'spretty much gone now."

o legal action taken so farNo complaints have yet been

filed with Massachusetts, Boston, orMIT police, according to represen-

Software update causes outageBell Atlantic, like MIT 5ESS

operations services, performs soft-ware updates all year long. "Eachtime they performed a softwareupgrade, they would knock [out]411 services," Keohane said.

Since most of MIT's telephone

of 5ESS operations services inInformation Systems.

"This was caused by a softwarechange. Since the new software didnot interface with ours, we had toreroute traffic," said Valerie L.Hartt, Supervisor of OperatorServices in Information Systems.

Fraternity bou e al 0 vandalizedLCA President Andrew Bankert

'99 said that the house was alsovandalized. Someone painted"LCGA Y" in purple paint "at thefront of the house on the concrete,right on the sidewalk in front of BayState" Road, he said.

The vandalism was "cowardly,senseless, and very homophobic innature," Bankert said. "The fraterni-ty is very displeased with the inci-dent."

Before LCA brothers couldremove the vandalism on the bridgethemselves, most of the paint wascleaned up by the Metropolitan

Interfraternity Council.

Since September, there havebeen several temporary outages ofthe Bell Atlantic 411 DirectoryService on campus. The last outage,which was the most visible, startedin early February and was notresolved until early April.

The 411 service offers directoryinformation inside the 617 areacode. Normally, Bell Atlanticcharges a small fee for each use of411 from a normal telephone.

The interruption was caused byBell Atlantic in each case, saidLouise T. Keohane, the team leader

By Carina FungASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR

Newly Installed Software CausesOutages in 411 Directory Service

WAN YUSOF WAN MORSHIDI THE TEC/I

Veteran mudwrestler Catalina M. Buttz '98, dresses up as "Fireball" at this year's Steer Roast.Steer Roast was held at Senior House last Friday.

On Friday Morning, brothers ofLambda Chi Alpha were shocked tofind the moot markings on Harvardbridge had been vandalized.

The Smoot markings, a well-known piece of MIT history, dateback to a LCA prank from 1958.The markings, which identify thelength of the bridge as "364.4Smoots + 1 ear," are still maintainedby LCA.

Friday morning, the markingswere marred by graffiti saying"LCGA Y." In addition, "Halfway toHell" was changed to "Halfway toQueersville," said DuaneDreger '99, president of the

By Zareena HussainNEWS EDITOR

Vandals Mar Smoot Marks, LCAHouse with Anti-Gay Graffiti

is whether student groups will, infact, get access to the $300,000released by Provost Joel Moses toincrease funding for student groupsthis year. McGann said that theProvost Joel Moses's decision "hasnot been confirmed."

In addition, the ASA will alsoenter the debate on how to fundactivities containing a mix of under-graduates and graduate students.Currently, any organization withgraduate and undergraduate mem-bers may apply to either theUndergraduate Association FinanceBoard or the Graduate StudentCouncil Funding Board, but notboth.

Although the ASA has no directauthority over this funding, thegroup ''wants to look into the feasi-bility of a central allocations board,"that would address all financialapplications, McGann said.

"Common sense would say thatthere should be a student activitiesboard that would combine the GSCand Finboard," Chu said.

An attempt to create such aboard failed last year. We can't cre-ate the board now, Chu said, but"we do want to look into the feasi-bility of a central allocationsboard."

In addition to regulating studentorganizations throughout the term,the ASA is also in charge of thesummer mailing advertising the stu-

ASA, Page 15

Board will examine funding issuesASA will confront two major

issues in the coming year. The first

The Association of StudentActivities, the student organizationthat governs all student groups oncampus, elected a new executiveboard Thursday.

Van L. Chu '99 was electedpresident of the ASA. Matthew L.McGann '00 was elected treasurer,and Eleanor S. Kane '00 will serveas secretary.

"I am very psyched," Chu said."Though I was reluctant to run atfIrst, I feel like I was the strongestcandidate."

The ASA is in charge of allocat-ing office space, regulating bulletinboard usage throughout the schoolyear, and approving new studentorganizations on campus.

We want "to make ASA moreuser friendly," Kane said. "I thinkthere is a lot of potential for the newboard to be effective at resolvingcomplaints. "

"Improving the efficiency of theexecutive board, and looking to seeif there is something that we can dofor the community at large," aremajor goals for the ASA, Chu said.

"My hope for the year is notonly to improve upon normal ASAadministrative functions, but also todirect ASA" in more long term pro-jects, Chu said.

By Christina Chow

J. Michael Straczynski, creator ofBabylon 5, and noted science fic-tion author Alexander Jablokovspeak about their visions of thefuture.

Page 6

Comics

Page 9

Ali Merchant G successfullydefends his title as the Class AMassachusetts Squash Champion.

Page 16

World & Nation 2Opinion .4Police Log 13Sports .16

•

May 5,1998

ces"By discrediting me personally,

they hope to discredit my politicalideas," he said.

Kaczynski continued, "At a latertime I expect to respond at length tothe sentencing memorandum.Meanwhile, I hope the public willreserve judgment against me and allthe facts about the Unabomb caseuntil another time."

It was unclear whetherKaczyn ki was referring to furtherlegal pleadings in the case, orwhether he plans to issue commu-niques from prison. He is barredfrom receiving payment for his writ-ings.

"I believe in nothing,"Kaczynski wrote in the journalsreleased last week by federal prose-cutors. "I don't even believe in thecult of nature-worshippers orwilderness-worshippers.

Of his killings, Kaczynskiwrote: "My motive for doing what Iam going to do is simply personal.revenge."

Connie Murray, the wife of tim-ber executive Gilbert Murray, whowas killed by a Kaczynski bomb,walked out of the courtroomMonday as Kaczynski spoke. "Iwalked out because there was noth-ing he could say that I wanted tohear," she explained.

Mosser, whose husband ThomasMosser was a public relations exec-utive, walked to the prosecutor'stable and spoke after Kaczynskiread his statement. "Nails," shebegan. "Razor blades. Wire. Pipeand batteries. The recipe for whatcauses pain. Hold it in your hand, asmy husband' Tom did, and you feelunbearaole pain." .

Webster L. Hubbell, anotherArkansan who has figured centrallyin the long-running Whitewaterinvestigation. However, Starr hasanother grand jury in Washingtonthat will continue to hearWhitewater testimony.

Starr's prosecutors have been ~frustrated in their efforts to gain thecooperation of both Hubbell andMcDougal as they investigate realestate dealings involving theClintons and legal work that HillaryRodham Clinton did for theMcDougals' now-defunct savingsand loan, Madison Guaranty, ownedby Susan McDougal and her latehusband, James B. McDougal.

Prosecutors have tried to learnwhether the Clintons told the truthabout those dealings under oath,including President Clinton's video-taped testimony at the McDougals'1996 bank fraud trial. Clinton saidthen he had no role in helping SusanMcDougal obtain a fraudulent$300,000 loan, part of which wentto benefit the WhitewaterDevelopment Corp., which wasjointly owned by the Clintons andthe McDougals. Clinton also testi-fied he never had any loans or finan-cial dealings with MadisonGuaranty.

Included in the indictment is a 4partial transcript of McDougal'sappearance before the grand jurytwo weeks ago, during which prose-cutors questioned her about the$5,081 check, drawn on her then-husband's account and signed overto Madison Guaranty. The memosection of the check had the notation"Payoff Clinton."

Prosecutors told McDougal theywere interested in the check becauseit relates to Clinton's videotapedtrial testimony.

enteoschizophrenic, a de cription herefu ed to allow.

Kaczyn ki pleaded guilty tocharges related to three deaths andthe maiming of two scientists duringa bombing spree that lasted almosttwo decades. The killings endedonly when The Washington Postand the New York Times publishedhi anti-technology manifesto inSeptember 1995 under threat ofmore deaths and his brother, David,recognized Kaczynski's thinkingand tipped off FBI agents whoarrested the bomber at his Montanahideaway.

In Monday's proceedings,Kaczynski, 55, strode up to a podi-um wearing a knit sweater and, con-sulting several sheaths of whitepaper, read out a series of com-plaints accusing the government ofdistorting the meaning of hisactions.

"Two days ago, the governmentfiled a sentencing memorandum, thepurpose of which was clearly politi-cal," containing "false statements,misleading statements," he said.

This referred to excerpts fromKaczynski's journals filed by feder-al prosecutors last week as part oftheir sentencing recommendations.The passages submitted to the courtportrayed Kaczynski not as a princi-pled eco-warrior out to save societyfrom technology - an image thatattached to him during the trial -but as petulant, almost childish mur-derer who killed to extract "personalrevenge" on people who crossedhim - from women who did notrespond to his overtures to camperswho wandered by his Montanacabin to planes filled with "a lot ofbusiness people."

reporters outside the federal court-house in Little Rock that PresidentClinton had "inject[ ed]" himselfinto the feud between McDougaland prosecutors. "The Office ofIndependent Counsel requested thatthe president urge his former busi-ness partner, Mrs. McDougal, to tes-tify truthfully before the grand jury.That request was rejected," saidStarr aide Charles Bakaly, addingthat Starr wrote to the White Housecounsel's office five separate timesafter hearing Clinton refer in inter-views to Starr's efforts to obtainMcDougal's testimony.

But lawyers for Clinton quicklybristled at the suggestion that thepresident had implicitly encouragedMcDougal to stay silent, with WhiteHouse counsel Charles F.C. Ruffcalling that idea "reckless and irre-sponsible."

Some legal experts called theindictment heavy-handed, andMcDougal attorney Mark Geragossaid of Monday's indictment, "Notonly is it unprecedented, it's shame-fu1." Geragos argued that Starr "hasgot no business investigating any-thing to do with Whitewater," citingallegations that the independentcounsel has a conflict of interestrelated to charges that cooperatingwitness David Hale was paid off byconservatives.

Geragos dismissed the hand-written notation Starr's office pro-duced about Clinton as "more oftheir nonsense, I'm sure."

The new charges againstMcDougal come as Starr wraps upthe Arkansas phase of his long-run-ning Whitewater inquiry. The grandjury in Little Rock is scheduled toexpire Thursday, and Monday'saction follows by less than a week anew tax evasion indictment of

By William BoothTHE WASHI GTON POST

SACRAMENTO. CALIF.

UFo

Theodore Kaczynski, the con-victed Unabomber who provedunrepentant to the end, wa formallysentenced to four life terms inprison Monday after his victimsconfronted him in court with decla-ration of pain, pleas for vengeanceand, for some, a desire to see himexecuted.

"Lock him so far down thatwhen he dies he will be closer tohell," said Susan Mosser, whosehusband wa killed by an explodingpackage mailed by Kaczynski.

"May your own eventual deathoccur as you have lived, in a solitarymanner, without compassion orlove," said Lois Epstein, whose hus-band, a professor of pediatrics, hadhis hand mangled by another bomb.

"The defendant committedunspeakable and monstrous crimefor which he hows utterly noremorse," said U.S. District JudgeGarland Burrell Jr. in handing downthe sentence in a crowdedSacramento courtroom.

Burrell said Kaczynski stillposes a grave danger to society andwould mail his bombs again if hecould. The federal bureau of prisonswill decide soon where Kaczynski isto serve his time.

The life sentences, with no pos-sibility of release, were part of pleabargain struck between Kaczynskiand federal prosecutors Jan. 22 afterhis trial was derailed over confusionabout who should represent him incourt. Kaczynski's lawyers insistedon pursuing a. defense that wouldhave characterized their client assuffering from the delusions of a

McDougal Indicted for SilenceOn Whitewater Investigation

Susan McDougal, the formerWhitewater business partner of theClintons who has refused for nearlytwo years to testify before a grandjury about the president's financialdealings, was indicted Monday byindependent counsel Kenneth W.Starr on charges of criminal con-tempt and obstructing his investiga-tion.

The indictment, handed up bythe Little Rock Whitewater grandjury ju t days before it is set toexpire, includes a new allegation:that McDougal obstructed justice byrefusing to answer questions about acryptic handwritten note she wroteon a $5,081 check in 1983 that said"Payoff Clinton." McDougal wasalso charged with two felony countsof contempt for twice refusing totestify - in 1996 and again lastmonth - despite a court-orderedgrant of immunity.

The indictment could meanyears more behind bars for the 43-year-old McDougal. She has alreadyserved 18 months for civil contemptfor refusing to testi fy in Starr'sinvestigation, is just starting a two-year term for a bank fraud convic-tion Starr won against her in 1996and faces a state trial in Californiaon unrelated embezzlement charges.

McDougal has refused to testifyabout the Clintons' financial deal-ings, she has said, because Starr istrying to force her to falsely impli-cate the president and the first lady.If she doesn't do so, McDougalinsists, Starr will charge her withperjury.

Minutes after Monday's indict-ment, Starr's spokesman told

WASHINGTON

By Susan Schmidt and PeterBakerTHE WASHINGTON POST

THE WASHINGTON POST

The tobacco indu try ha tentatively agreed to pay Minne ota $5billion to settle the state' law uit - but the po' ible settlementremained tenuou, ource said Monday.

ettlement talk between major tobacco companie , the state andits partner in the suits, Blue Cro and Blue hield of Minnesota,have intensified in the pa t two weeks as the case has wound down.Barring a ettlement, the case could go to the jury as early asThursday.

While major part of the settlement remained unre olved, theba ic elements include a $5 billion payout to the state over 25 yearsand about $400 million to be paid to Blue Cro s. The companies alsowould con ent to two permanent injunction , enforceable by the stateattorney general, prohibiting tobacco marketing to minor and anti-competitive activity by the industry.

The tentative settlement al 0 calls for the indu try to hut downthe Council for Tobacco Re earch, the indu try's scientific arm and afocu of the state's contention that the industry fraudulently manipu-lated science to keep controver'ies over the link between smokingand disease alive.

A ource familiar with the negotiations confirmed the detail,though some parts could still shift. The industry previously settledthree other state suit - those brought by Mississippi, Florida andTexas - shortly before they went to trial, for about $30 billion.

Inve tors worldwide ignored the shaky start to Europe's new sin-gle currency and poured theIr money into European markets Monday.

It was a surprising conclusion to a tumultuous weekend meetingin which the leaders of Europe chose I I countries to participate in thenew money, called the euro, but also waffled over selecting the headof the new European Central Bank.

Investor credibility was apparent Monday. The Frankfurt,Germany, stock market DAX index ended the day up more than 4percent and the Paris CAC index rose 2.4 percent. Major Europeancurrencies, including the German mark, weakened, but by an insignif-icant amount.

Analysts aid Wall Street's strong showing Friday influencedtraders, but they also said investors had little interest in the EU politi-cal gyrations over the central bank head because the economic foun-dation of the euro is strong.

The euro become a financial instrument on Jan. I. Bank notesand coins will go into circulation in Austria, Belgium, Finland,France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the etherlands,Portugal and Spain at the beginning of 20Q2. Among the other EUmember, Britain, Denmark and Sweden chose not to join the euroand Greece did not qualify.

WASHI GTO

rARls

High COurt Rules on Retaliation

Investors Pour Money Into Europe

Tentative Tobacco AgreementReportedly Reached in Minne ota

By Gerard Roe and Greg LawsonSTAFF METEOROLOGISTS

THE WASHINGTON POST

WEATHERMay-Day: Incoming Rain

.n

The Supreme Court Monday enhanced the ability of people to suepublic officials who retaliate against them for speaking out or other-wise exercising their rights.

By a 5-4 vote, the justices ruled that lawsuits brought by peoplewho allege retaliation cannot be dismissed before trial simplybecause they fail to produce "clear and convincing" evidence thatthey were unfairly targeted.

The case involved a Lorton, Va., prisoner who was transferredout of the area after speaking critically about prison conditions.

Justice John Paul Stevens wrote for the majority that a decisionby the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals against the prisoner "under-mine the very purpose of' federal civil rights law. Stevens observedthat the appeals court was concerned about inmates' frivolous filingsbut said any move to discourage prisoner who principally want a"holiday in court," rather than a legitimate day in court, should comefrom the legislative branch, not the judicial branch.

Convicted murderer Leonard Crawford-EI was a "litigious andoutspoken prisoner," Stevens wrote, noting that interviews he hadwith The Washington Post led to published stories in the late 1980sabout prison crowding. Crawford-EI said prison officials, particularlyPatricia Britton, vowed to get back at him because of the publicity.

Weather i dominated by a cutoff cyclonic circulation in the mid-troposphere, which has the consequence that nothing goes anywherefast. We are left with multiple low pressure systems bringing inter-mittent showers with a few breaks in the clouds in between, basicallya continuation of the pattern of the last few days. We may have towait for an atmospheric blocking pattern over the west coast to breakdown and for the westerly jet to reestablish itself before the currentmiserable conditions will blowout to sea. This does not look like itwill happen any time soon. Our bout of April showers appears to be amonth late. On the upside, conditions are ripe for rainbows.

Today: Good chance of showers and drizzle. Chance of some sunshowing through in between. Light southwesterly winds. High a dis-mal 59°F ( 15°C).

Tonight: Continued chance of rain. Low 52°F ( I 1°C).Wednesday: What to say? More of the same. High 60°F (15°C).

Low 51°F (9°C).Thursday: Some clearing possible. High around 65°F (18°C)

Low 51°F (9°C).

Page 2 THE TECH

Western Digital Corp. said Monday it will team up with IBMCorp. to build new disk drives for personal computers. IBM will sellWestern Digital a series of computer components that read and writedata from the di k and allow the computer' di k drives to store moreinformation than older techniques.

Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. In NewYork Stock Exchange trading, Western Digital stock rose 25 cents,closing at $19.88 a share; IBM shares fell 25 cents to $116.63.

Analysts say the proposed deal allows IBM acce s to new outletsto distribute its products and gives Western Digital ajump on emerg-ing technologies and manufacturing lead-in time.

Western Digital, one of the largest players in the disk-drive mar-ket, has suffered financially for more than seven months as the indus-try has been battered by oversupply and weak demand.

"It's an excellent agreement for both of them," said MatthewRusso, an analyst with Sands Brothers & Co. "It also helps that therewas a pre-existing tie between the two [firms]."

That link is Chuck Haggerty, chief executive of Western Digitaland a former IBM vice president. Haggerty, who worked at Big Bluefor 28 years before joining Western Digital, said he had been'in talkswith IBM staff about the proposed agreement for the past six months.

"This gives us an advantage: to be able to introduce our productsmuch faster - as much as six months faster," said Haggerty, whoexpects the new product line to be introduced in 1999.

Tel AvivMayor to Run for PrimeMinister, Head ew party

JERUSALEM

Tn T cn Page 3

Western Digital to Team Up WithffiM on Hard Drive Project

LOS ANGELES TIMES

Roni Milo, Tel Aviv's mayor and a leading moderate on MiddleE t peace in the Likud Party of Prime Minister Benjamin

etanyahu, announced Monday that he will seek Israel's top office in2000 at the head of a new centrist party.

The announcement by Milo - a contemporary of etanyahu andlong con idered a potential rival to the Likud leader - came as theprime mini ter herd critical talks in London on a U.S. plan to breakthe yearlong talemate in I raeli-Palestinian peacemaking. It alsoappeared timed to take advantage of escalating concerns here overwhat political commentator are calling a "culture war," the wideningrift between religiou and secular Jews in Israel.

An out poken opponent of the growing influence of religious par-tie in the government, Milo, 48, aid his announcement that he willeek the po t of prime minister was triggered in part by continuing

controversy here over a canceled modem dance performance at lastweek' 50th anniver ary gala.

The Batsheva troupe withdrew rather than accede to demands byultra-Orthodox politician to change part of its program in whichdancers, moving to the tune of a religious ong, were to perform inrevealing costume . Although many Israelis, not just the religious,have privately que tioned the propriety of the planned performance,Milo on Monday put himself on the side of the dancers and otherswho have angrily accused religious leader of trying to curtail artisticexpres ion.

LOS A GELES TIMES

Mohammad lashed out at foreigncurrency speculator and threatenedto t ghten market regulation .

While Mahathir has toned downhis strident criticisms of the West inrecent months, the government has'not changed its basic tune. Rafidahsaid Malaysian officials still believethe root cause of last summer'smeltdown was not domestic corrup-tion or fiscal mismanagement butcurrency speculation that sparked acrisis of confidence and massiveoutflows of capital from the region.

As the host of this November'ssummit of the Asia-PacificEconomic Cooperation, or APECforum, Malaysia plans -to focusattention on the need for a globalstrategy to manage currency specu-lation that can destroy "20, 30 yearsof economic development in onemonth," according to Rafidah.

pro ecutor a Thoma Up haw.one of the indi ted enior could be

reached by telephone Monday night.In announcing the indictment,

special pro ecutor Michael . Irvineaid he e p cts the ca e to re ult in

challenge to Virginia' 4 -year-oldhazing law, including whether thecase can proceed even thoughVMI' inve tigation did not con-clud that hazing actually occurred.

e ertheles , he aid, the i uehould be re olved in court.

VM I officials i ued a tatementindicating the chool believes thatit uspen ion of three tudent waa sufficient conclu ion to the. ca e.

"Thi wa a eriou offensewhich warranted the uspension ofthree cadet • but after a thoroughasse sment of the incident, VMIfound no evidence of bodily injuryand did not file hazing charge ,"Col. Mike trickier, VMI'sspoke man, aid in the statement.

oe

order to meet IMF conditions.Malaysia ha felt the repercu -

sions of it neighbors' financial tur-moil, having seen a flood of illegaljob seekers from Indonesia andThailand since last summer's cur-rency and stock market collapsethroughout South Asia. SinceJanuary, the Malaysian governmenthas arrested and deported thousandsof illegal immigrants, arguing that itneeds to keep jobs open for domes-tic workers.

"In Indonesia, now, industry hascome to a halt," said Rafidah, whois visiting Los Angeles, Seattle andSan Jose, Calif., this week to recruithigh-tech investment into her -trou-bled economy. .

Malaysia vigorously resistedturning to the IMF for help, evenwhen its markets tumbled furtherafter Prime Minister Mahathir

time a \ eek from pt. 11 to mid-o tob r.

t ade' reque t, aunderthen a ked a Circuit Court judge toappoint a pecial pro ecutor, whotook the ca e before the grand jury.

The jury' d ci ion to indict i"great. It' all we wanted in thebeginning," Wade' father, GeorgeWade r., aid Monday. 'At 1 a tnow, what happened to George willbe able to come out. And at lea tnow, people will have to beaccountable for what they did."

Wade, who aid the beatings lefthim and other fre hmen with weltsand brui e , dropped out of VMI in

ovember. VM I uspended threetudent after an internal investiga-

tion of Wade' allegation. Two ofthose tudents - identi fied aseniors Charle Clemons' andJonathan Gonzale - were amongthose indicted Monday. The thirdindicted student was identified by

e••azmg,

By Patricia DavisTHE WASHINGTO POST

Three Virginia Military In titutesenior were indicted Monday onhazing charge by a Rockbridge'":ounty, Va., grand jury after a for-

er first-year cadet testified thatthey routinely as aulted him with abelt.

The mi demeanor indictmentcame Ie than two month afterGordon aunder, the common-wealth' attorney in Rockbridge,decided there wa not enough evi-dence to file a sault charges in thecase, in part because the formercadet, George Wade Jr., could beseen as a willing participant in theinitiation ritual at the school.

Wade, 20, of Henrico .County,Va., had alleged that he and fiveother VMI freshlllen were beatenwith a belt - and once with a coathanger - by the seniors about three

Malaysian Finance Chief DefendsBailout of Hobbled CompaniesBy Evelyn IrltanlLOS ANGELES TIMES

LOS A GELES

Malaysia's outspoken trade min-.. ster on Monday defended her gov-~rnment's decision to bailout sever-

al troubled companies such as thepowerful Sime Bank, arguing thatletting them go bankrupt would leadto increased joblessness, socialinstability and a slowdown of thenation's economic recovery.

In an interview, Minister ofInternational Trade and IndustryRafidah Aziz said the tough eco-nomic medicine forced onIndonesia, Thailand and SouthKorea in return for financial aidfrom the International M.onetaryFund was fiscally inappropriate andpolitically explosive. Those coun-tries have closed down do,zens ofbankrupt financial institutions in

lfiIGraduate Student Councilm Walker Memorial. 50-220 'It 253-2195 :,,( gsc-request@mit.edu • www.mit.edu/activities/gsc

Deadline for Institute CommitteeApplications,Academics,Research,& CareersMeeting *Activities Meeting *

General Council nlleetingWednesday, May 6

1. Graduate Housing Briefing2. Institute Committee Reports3. Installation of New Officers

.Institute Comm-tteesGraduate students, get involved in running Mil!!

Do you want to have a say in how certain decisions within the Institute are made?Institute Committees are the way to do it. Applications for graduate representatives

to Institute Committees are now being accepted. Check out the GSC's web page or an. . ation to co escriptions. Contact GSC-Vice-President@mit.edu

pplications are due Friday,. May 8.IC Board • Campus Race Relations • Commencement.

s~',,,opyrightsand Patents • Corporation Joint Advisory •Fari(~ d Work. Foreign Scholarships • Graduate School

rafY'S', tem • Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Planning •~. '''.;\lPr vacy • Radiation Protection • Safety • Shareholder," ....:'$ ortation and Parking • Undergraduate Admissions"'>'a~Experimental Subjects • Women's Advisory Board •

~M AY06 GeneralCouncil Meeting *

08142026 Housing & Community Affairs

Meeting *

:You can participate in the~GSCin other ways as well

We are looking for a Webmasterand a Publication Board Chair.For more information contactgsc-secretary@mit.edu

AlsoDepartmental RepresentafiveLiving Group RepresentativeCommittee Member

Pleasecontact gsc-officers@mit.edufor more information.

* at 5:30pm in Room 50-220.All graduate students are we/come. Food isprovided.

Page 4 H May 5,1998

Letters To The Editor

p ay Paint and ShameOn Friday morning the hundred of pede trian and bicy- involved the defacing of a MIT landmark. Every person at MIT,

cli t who cro the Harvard bridge aw the bridge vandalized and many people el ewhere, have heard the tory of the moot.ith blue, gre n, and purple graffiti. orne time between That the re pon ible party cho e to vandalize uch a visible

Thur day evening and early Friday morning, orne one u ed the ymbol of MIT in the name of hate adds even more hame.Harvard bridge a a platform to This incident ha ubtle echoe of the Tau Ep ilon Phi

E.d" 1 pout ob cene, homophobic graffiti of the Harvard bridge occurred in the fall of 1993. Theltorla rhetoric. We believe that thi action moot were covered with graffiti, uch a smiley-face. A fewi outrageou and intolerable, and member of Lambda Chi Alpha inappropriately retaliated by

that the appropriate party involved hould be puni hed. defacing TEP with anti-homo exual graffiti. Thi mo t recentDerogatory graffiti uch a thi could rea onably be called a defacing sugge t that the problem ha not gone away.

hate crime. The In tit ute should continue to make it clear to Unfortunately, the Institute has taken no actions to informpeople that tho e who brazenly hurt other in thi manner will the MIT community of the incident. While most people do notbe puni hed everely. Thi incident defie all common en e need to hear a lecture about tolerance, the fact that such thingsand all convention of proper, civilized behavior. It hould go are happening, and happe~ing in such a visible way, require awithout aying that, in accordance with today's ocial climate, re pon e of one kind or another. Tolerance training during RIOpeople hould demon trate rea onable tolerance. Tho e who act ha been ugge ted as one possible tactic, and that is worthon their homophobia are living in the past. examining. But nothing can ubstitute for a general atmosphere

It i regrettable that such an embarrassing incident occurred of acceptance, and that is omething only students can create.in such a public place. The Harvard bridge i cros ed by hun- In the interim, we hope that the Interfraternity Council'sdred of people a day, and, after taring at the tatement on the Judicial Committee will manage to track down those responsi-id walk, every single one of them i going to wonder about the ble. The punishment hould be counseling, particularly on toler-

type of in titution that could produce people who would toop ance, an apology, and community service to compensate for theto thi level. thousand of people offended by the yandalization. MIT cannot

What make it doubly embarra in~ i that this incident afford to let such puerile behavior continue.

Chairmanhang-Lin Chuang '9

Editor in ChiefDan McGuire '99

Bu ine anagerJoey Dieckhan '00

anaging Editor10 h Bittker '99

E ecuti e EditorJennifer Lane '98

EWSSTAFF

Editor: Brett Alt chul '99, FrankDabek '00, Dougla E. Heimburger '00,Zareena Hu ain '00; ociate Editor :Carina Fung '99, Jean K. Lee '99, JenniferChung '01, Krista L. iece '01; taff: OrliG. Bahcall '99, hawdee Eshghi '99, Eric

it '99, Aileen Tang '99, May K. Tse '99,Shannin Ghaznavi '00, tuart Jackson '00,Dudley W. Lamming '00, u anBuchman '0 I, Katie Jeffrey '0 I, DalieJimenez '0 I; eteorologi t : Michael C.Morgan PhD '95, Gerard Roe G, Chris E.Fore t, Marek Zebrow ki.

PRODUcno STAFF

Editor: Ryan M. Ochylski '01; ociateEdilors: Moksha Rana inghe '99, Erica .Pfister. '00, Francisco Tanudjaja '00,; ta((:Kevin Fu G, Saul Blumenthal '98, Ja on C.Yang '99, Kevin Chao '0 I, RoxanneLau '01, teve K. Lim '01, Agnes Bor z~ki.

OPINIO STAFF

Editors: Anders Hove G, Dan Dunn '94;s ociate Editor: aveen unkavally'O I,

Michael J. Ring '01; taff: tacey E.Blau '9 , Mitali Dhar '99, Wesley T.Chan '00, Jim J. O'Donnell '00, eth Bisen-Her h '01, Andrew J. Kim '01, Elaine Y.Wan '01.

SPORTS STAFF

Editor: Shao-Fei Moy '98; ta((: WendyYu '98, Chris Brocoum '00.

ARTS STAFF

Editor: Joel M. Rosenberg '99; Staff:Thomas Chen G, Vladimir V. Zelevinsky G,Teresa Esser '95, Teresa Huang '97, DavidV. Rodriguez '97, Mark Huang '99, YaronKoren '99, Steven R. L. Millman G.

PHOTOGRAPHY STAFF

Editors: Gabor Csanyi G, Gregory F.Kuhnen '00; Staff: Rich Fletcher G,Jonathan Li G, Wan Y. W. Morshidi G,Gabriele Migliorini G, Thoma E.Murphy G, Arifur Rahman G, T. LukeYoung G, Tiffany Lin '97, DennisYancey '97, Adriane Chapman '98, AhmedAit-Ghezala '99, Dan Rodriguez '99, DavidTarin '99, Wendy Fan '00, Rita H. Lin '00,Karlene Rosera '00, Cornelia Tang '00,Chun Hua Zheng '00, Ajai Bharadwaj '01,Courtney Clench '01, Ying Lee '01,Rebecca Loh '01, Amy Yen '01, Miodrag

CirkoviC.

FEATURES STAFF

Anthony R. Salas '91, Pawan Sinha SM '92,Hugo M. Ayala G, Calista E. Tait G, KatyKing G, Zachary Emig '98, SolarOlugebefola '99, Jessica Wu '99, JenniferDima e '01.

BUSINESS STAFF

Advertising Manager: JenniferKoo '00; Operations Manager: SatwiksaiSeshasai '0 I; taff: Amy Cai '0 I.

EDITORS AT LARGE

Contributing Editors: David D. Hsu '98,Venkatesh atish '98; Color Editor:Indranath Neogy '98.

ADVISORY BOARD

ResourcesFor the Ignorant

evgi Ertan '98, the author of the letter["Genocide Denied," April 28] denying theTurki h slaughter of 2 million Armenian inthe World War I era, need to review that seg-ment of hi tory. For a more objective accountof the events, I encourage looking to, at least,these ources: the United ations' recognitionof this as an act of genocide in 1986 and R.Rummel' Death by Government. If Ertan istill convinced of Turkey's claimed inno-

cence, perhaps a visit to the ArmenianCultural and Educational Center, located ju toutside of Boston in Watertown, is in order.

Eric 1. Wilhelm '99t.

Card ReadersFor Peace of Mind

After reading Anders Hove's column["Through A Locked Door Ambivalently,"April 28, 1998] on the proposed closure of freeacce from Building 66 to Hayden Libraryand his arguments that the campus is becom-ing less open to the public, a group of friendsand I immediately turned to the Police Log tosee exactly how safe the campus actually is.

It turns out that there were a number of lar-cenies, incidents of trespa sing, and assaultsjust in the past week. Being a graduate studentand mainly confined to a small group of build-ings, I cannot speak to the extent of how manybuildings on campus are open to the generalpublic, even during normal hours, but thereshould be some buildings that are kept out ofthe mainstream of students and visitors.

Over the past few years that I have beenworking in Building 18, there have been anumber of thefts costing the occupants in this"secure" building a great deal of suffering. Itcan be very disturbing working late at nightsor on the weekends and seeing unfamiliarpeople wandering through the hallways, ordancing in the main lobby.

There really is no reason to have this build-ing open to the general public. There are noclassrooms in it, only research laboratories andorne offices. If a student wants to see a profes-

sor, he or she should already have a MIT cardanyway, so there shouldn't be any inconve-nience in opening to door. Besides, the way it

i right now, it really i n't much of a challengeto get into the building from Building 66.

In fact, in tead of getting rid of the cardreader, card r. aders should be installed at eachentry point into the building. Some peoplemight call this a bit extreme, but I call it peaceof mind. This argument has been going on inthe Chemistry Dep~rtment for a lot longerthan I have been here, and only now, due tosome high priced thefts, is any change beingimplemented.

Installation of the card readers is a verygood idea for the primarily lab-only buildingswhere few of the undergraduate population(and fewer unaffiliated individuals) would go.Having the buildings secured would mostlikely result in a rapid decrease in the numberof tbefts from the out-of-the-way places oncampus. For those who would complain aboutit being unfair or a hassle to carry around theMIT Card, I don't see how it differs from car-rying a driver's license or ATM card. It's aresponsibility thing. On this point I fail to seeHove's logic in equating the MIT Card withthe Gestapo and asking for papers, unless heis stating the MIT is actually a police state.

It's too bad that it will take something astragic as a student being assaulted, raped, orkilled in a supposedly "secure" building toprod the administration into making this cam-pus a safer place to work and learn.

Richard P. Kingsborough G

Limit Appeals, SpendMore on the Innocent

aveen Sunkavally painted a very sad pic-ture of the death penalty and those harmed byit ["A Shameful Punishment," April 28, 1998],but his arguments wer characterized by a fun-damental flaw. T.he problem with his argumentis that it assumes unlimited resources to devoteto the housing of these criminals.

In the current system, a death penalty sen-tence will end up costing the state even moreth~n a life sentence, but this is only because ofthe current state of the .appeals process. Bystreamlining the appeal process, and by limit-ing the time under which appeals can belodged, the death penalty could cost signifi-can'tly less than permanent incarceration.

Even the method of death, currently anexpensive lethal injection or electric chair,could be replaced by a single bullet in the

head which would be just as painless for thecriminal, though psychologically more diffi-cult for the rest of us.

This may, and probably will, lead to thekilling of more innocent people than under thecurrent system. Some (myself included) wouldsay that the above argument is rationalizing,cold-blooded, and inhuman; that it C\fgues weshould kill more innocent people to savemoney. Yet that is exactly what I'm arguing.

I hea~d a statistic years ago that it cost$lOO,OOO/year to keep a person in prison. I'msure that this number is much higher today.Now, let's consider again Sunkavally's exam-ple of Angel Breard, an abused alcoholic whowas convicted of (and confessed to) murder

. and attempted rape of a woman in 1992. Nowconsider another person, also an abused alco-holic, but this person is homeless and hasnever killed anyone. The current system givesalmost nothing to this other person; yetSunkavally would hold that Breard deservesto have over $100,000 spent on him everyyear for the rest of his life.

Consider our inner cities, in which youngpeople without the opportunities to succeed canfind themselves in webs of drugs and violence,sometimes killed before they've even reachedthe age to vote. Could we help solve theseproblems better by enforcing a less expensivepunishment for some and using the savedmoney to provide college scholarships for oth-ers? $100,000 a year is a lot of money, andcould help a lot'of people. Why is. the life of amurderer worth more than the life of a child?

Sunkavally argues that the death penalty isinhumane to the people punished, and thatlifetime incarceration in prison is more appro-priate. I submit that spending over $100,000 ayear on convicted murderers is inhumane toinnocent people who could have been saved ifthe money was' used to help them. The deathpenalty is murder, and it is wrong, but I see itas. a necessary evil in a time of limitedresources. We need to streamline the criminaljustice system, and use funds for preventionrather than punishment.

When punishment is necessary, I believethat we should show preference for ~pendingmoney ~m the innocent over spending moneytaking care of the guilty. While this may leadto more wrongful deaths, I hold that notspending the money on situations where itcould clearly save lives will lead to even morewrongful deaths. And that is the real crime.

Aidan N. Low '98

V. Michael Bove '83, Robert E. Malch-man '85, Thomas T. Huang '86, Deborah A.Levinson '91, Reuven M. Lerner '92, JoshHartmann '93, Jeremy Hylton '94, Garlen C.Leung '95.

PRODUCTION STAFF FOR THIS ISSUE

ight Editors: Dan Dunn '94, Josh Bittker'99, Erica S. Pfister '00, Ryan M. Ochylski'01.

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Armenian Genocide Reaffirmed

Getting Barbie orne ew Makeupattel should redresspop culture icon to refled diversity.

Page 5

LivingOr MereSurvival?

Hugo M, Ayala

With the elimination of rent control in1996, the already high housing prices haverisen by an additional $200. This represents$400 more coming out of graduate studentpockets, and that's just to pay the rent. Incomparison, graduate student stipends haverisen by only $60 in the same period.

The average graduate student stipendadds up to a little less than $17,900 a year.According to the financial aid office, theaverage cost of living off-campus, includingrent and utilities, is about $835 a month.Throw in money for food, medical insurance,entertainment on weekends, books, travel,clothes, parking fees, gas, taxes, spendingmoney, and you are left with a deficit of$500.

Sure, you can economize a bit, but is thathaving a life, or merely surviving? The recentannouncement by the Graduate EducationOffice that graduate stipends will increase by$50 starting this summer is welcomed news,but the size of this raise demonstrates theignorance on the administration's parttowards our current situation. The number ofgraduate students who receive stipends andapplied for financial aid has increased sub-stantially in the last two years. This does notinclude Sloan, Architecture, and UrbanStudies and Planni~g students, who do notreceive tuition assistance and have to applyfor financial aid anyway.

This sharp increase in the number of stu-dents asking for aid in addition to theirstipend is indicative of the fact that the realcost of living is increasing at a pace fargreater than the so called cost-of-livingincreases approved by the Institute everyyear. The most important step that theInstitute can take towards improving the qual-ity of life for graduate students is to seek theincrease of graduate student stipends by $500a month.

I know that I will probably will not getany sympathy from those graduate studentswho do not receive tuition assistance. What isa little loan when there are students who areup to their eyeballs in debt? The difference isthat while students who do not receive tuitionassistance are expected to find funding fromvarious sources, we are expected to live onour stipend. Everything would have been fineif the cost of living had kept up with theincreases to the stipend.

The administration is currently consider-ing subsidizing the rent of ftrst year studentswho are displaced from Tang. Why shouldonly first-year students beneftt from this? Bymy calculations, adding $6,000 to the pay-check of every salaried graduate student willcost about $10 minion. Why not subsidize allof the graduate students who live off-cam-pus? The cost of the subsidy could be mademany times oyer by donations of alumniwhose recollection of the Institute is notmarred by memories of dire ftnancial straits.

The problem is that this is not the case.Higher stipends will make the housing

near campus affordable, dinner somethingother than Ramen, and our lives somethingother than mere survival.

((The most important step thatthe Institute can take towardsimproving the quality of life

for graduate students is to seekthe increaseOJgraduate studentstipends by $500 a month,"

There is an old Latin proverb that says"living is not about surviving, but about hav-ing a life." With the recent elimination of dor-mitory space for graduate students, isn't theInstitute asking graduate students to give uptheir life and just survive?

Some will argue that having peanut butterand jelly sandwiches for dinner, pirating soft-ware, and using milk crates for furniture ispart of being a graduate student. But the situa-tion has moved far beyond that. The recentannouncement that undergraduates will dis-place Tang residents means more graduatestudents will be forced out into the Bostonhousing market, one of the priciest ones in thenation.

major powers and neutral observers at thattime, including Turkey's allies: Germany andAustria. The U.S. Ambassador to theOttoman Empire, H. Morgenthau, reported in1919: "When the Turkish authorities gave theorder for these deportations, they were mere-ly giving the death warrant to a whole race ...I am confident that the whole history of thehuman race contains no such horrible episodeas this... The great massacres and persecu-tions of'the past seem almost insignificantwhen compared to the sufferings of theArmenian race."

However, Ertan closes his eyes and,among other inconceivable and absurd allega-tions against the victims of the genocide,writes, "Armenian civilians were not massa-cred. They were deported out of Anatolia ...[and] in these marches some Armenian peo-ple died."

However, 1.5 million people is not"some"! Instead of feeling shame for thecrimes of his ancestors, he tries to misinformby distorting the facts and blaming the vic-tims. According to Ertan, the Armenianswere not massacred. Perhaps, they weremerely offered a vacation trip by the kindTurks, which included many entertaining ser-vices, such as starvation, continuous rapes,slaughter, torture and the beheadings of evenwomen, children, and the elderly. The unfor-tunate few who survived the long trip wereburnt alive in the caves of the Deir ZorSyrian desert.

A "German version" of Ertan's responsedenies the Holocaust and claims that theNazis simply offered the Jews free vacationsto fine European resorts with sauna facilities.Whether you feel anger about Ertan's disre-spect for the victims of the Armenian geno-cide or simply feel sorrow for his ignorance isyour decision.

The writer is a graduate student in theDepartment of Civil and EnvironmentalEngineering.

Eating di orders ar a problem amongyoung people today. Staying trim is healthybut b coming too thin is an eating disorder,anore ia ner osa. With role models likeBarbie, supermodel , and lanky Hollywoodstars, it i no wonder that everyone today isstriving for a trimmer body. I'm not sayingthat being trim is bad: tudies have hownthat slender people live longer than those whoare obese. Health problems like diabetes,hypertension, elevated blood cholesterol lev-els, heart trouble and infertility are more com-mon in heavy people.

In the 18oos, females with full, and widerfigures were considered ideal and beautiful.Conceptions of beauty from different ages canbe compared in the female form in a Reuben'spainting and the cover of Glamour Magazineor by contrasting the mens' physique appear-ing in Body Builder's Magazine with that inGentleman's Quarterly. Today, people withwider figures are not accepted as well in soci-ety as those with trimmer body figures.

one of us wants to be heavy, but obesityis often due to environmental and hereditaryfactors. There are many factors that regulateand control body weight. Overweight parentstend to have overweight children. The amount

of food consumed dependsupon economic status, psy-cho-social behavior plea-

sure, anxiety and stress.Weight loss can be induced by

diets, increasing physi-cal activity or the

use of phar-maceuti-

c a Iaids.

However, modification ofbehavioral patterns are highly dependent uponstress, peer and parental pressure, and selfimage. How can one have the will power toimprove one's self-image if he has' no self-respect or self-worth? This is why it is impor-tant for people who are overweight to realizethat they are respected in society. But theyshould also be encouraged to reduce theirweight so they will have less health problemsin the future.

Barbie dolls can have great impact on adeveloping child's self-conception. MatteIplans to widen Barbie's body size next year toshow that not everybody is thin. The dollwould have a more beneficial effect on youthsif she encouraged children to be physically,socially and intellectually active. The new lineof dolls for the 21st century will hopefullyreflect the cultural, physical and intellectualdiversity in our community today.

OPOOO

"Whether the Armeniangerwcide indeed occurred orwhether 1.5million peaple

happened to be hit by ameteorite is something thateven a child can verify in

any library of anycivilized cauntry. "

suade his fellows that the Jewish' Holocaustwould be tolerated by the world communityasked: "Who after all speaks today of theannihilation of the Armenians?" The rest ofthat story is well known to everyone.

Later, Turkey committed more crimesagainst humanity by ethnically cleansingConstantinople (now called Instanbul) ofGreeks (1955) and, more recently (1974), byinvading and occupying Cyprus for 24 years,against numerous United Nations and otherinternational organizations' resolutions.

A letter in The Tech on, April 24 byVarouj A. Chitilian '98, entitled "ArmenianGenocide Remembered," was published tohonor and inform people about that crime. OnApril 28, Sevgi Ertan '98 replied with a letterentitled "Genocide 'Denied," denying thegenocide committed against Armenians.

Whether the Armenian genocide indeedoccurred or whether 1.5 million people hap-pened to be hit by a meteorite is somethingthat even a primary school child can verify inany library of any civilized country. There areplenty of documents that prove beyond anydoubt the extent of the Armenian holocaust.

The genocide was condemned by all

Barbie working. Although the feminist move-ment has made great headway these past fourdecades, little of that progress is reflected inwhat the toy industry' produces. Will it be asurprise if most girls think that when theygrow up, all they nee~to do is shop, swim,.and date?

additions to the Barbie family include BleadBlast Christie, African-American Barbie,Twirlin' Makeup Teresa, Hi panic Barbie,and ative American Barbie. MatteI consid-ered making a Wheelchair Barbie but d cid dagainst it be ause Barbie wouldn't be able toget in the Barbie Dream House."

Out of forty commercials from the pastfour decade , Otnes noticed th~t only two bad

May 5,199

Is your dream guy tall with short blondehair, blue eyes a muscular build and a gold ntan? Does your dream girl have long blondehair, blue eyes cherry lips, and an hourglassfigure? If you answered yes to th first ques-tion, allow me to introduce you to Ken. If youanswered yes to the second question, let meintroduce you to Barbie. That is, Mattei'sBarbie doll.

I got my first Barbie doll when I was ten. Iforgot her name, but she had silky long blondhair, a perfect figure, sparkling eyes, slenderarms, and ber own dress and pink brush. Ibelieve she came with a cassette tape, too. Ifyou didn't have a Barbie doll when you werea child because 'boys don't play with Barbie"(which is not true), you probably had a G.I.Joe action figure with huge pectoral mus~les.My Barbie doll is probably buried in somelandfill right now.

Why do toy companies make their dolls sothin or so muscular? Are dolls truly a reflec-tion of what we consider an ideal image? Ifso, why is our society today so preoccupiedwith thinness? How can one make an effort toimprove his physical features ifhe is made to feel That hisimage is socially unacceptable?

As one of the world's best-selling toys, Barbie is marketedin over 130 countries.By the end ofthis year,Barbie willbe fortyyears old. Cornelia Otnes, aprofessor who studies the mar-keting of Barbie dolls in the Department ofAdvertising at the University of Illinois, saidon University Wire, "Barbie is a worldwidephenomenon. Barbie was, is and always willbe a material girl. She is an upper-classfemale who doesn't have much to do butshop, swim, and date. Recently, Barbie dollsperform more real and upbeat activities withless emphasis on shopping and dating andmore emphasis on sports."

Many girls today play with Barbie dolls,and these dolls can have a significant impacton what these girls think of themselves andtheir futute. If toys are reflections of whatsociety considers as ideal, then youths who donot look like Barbie or Ken may feel that theyfail to meet expectations and are undervalued.

Fortunately, Barbie dolls have becomemore diverse in their appearance, althoughconsumers are still predominantly white. New

Elaine Y. Wan

Guest ColumnPetros 1. Komodromos

Very often Jewish people and the world,excluding neo-Nazis, remember and honorthe victims of the Holocaust with memorialevents and activities. Imagine how insulting,and provocative it would be if a neo-Nazi hadappeared at such events denying theHolocaust and making blatant claims aboutits victims. Fortunately, most Germans haveacknowledged wrong-doing and regret thosehorrible atrocities, allowing for the healing ofthe wounds of World War II.

Although less publicized, April 24 is thememor:ial day of the Armenian genocide, theworld's ftrst state-organized cleansing of itscitizens in this century. From 1915 to 1917,1.5 million of the 2.1 millions Armenianswere systematically massacred by theOttoman Turkish government. The onlycrimes that the' Armenians had committedwere their ethnicity and Christian religion,and a culture which allowed them to prosper,despite the oppression imposed upon them forhundreds of years by the Ottomans. For thesame reasons, Ottomans had completelydestroyed the Hellenic civilization, burningand destroying for 400 years what took thou-sands of years to create and which constitutedan essential contribution to Western civiliza-tion.

Most countries and international organiza-. tions, except Turkey, have acknowledged theArmenian genocide. However, there was noInternational Court set to punish and con-demn those responsible for that massacre,and, unfortunately, history soon repeateditself On May 11, 1918, Theodore Rooseveltstated (of World War I): "The Armenian mas-sacre was the greatest crime of the war".Thirty years later, Adolf Hitler, inspired bythe Armenian genocide and trying to per-

,

Rings for the Class of 1998 willalso be delivered.

ArtCarved and Balfour Class Rings1-800-972-5398

tency come in under budget, he aid.earing the end of hi pre enta-

tion, Straczynski played several pro-motional equence from hi televi-ion shows. The tapes, howing

montages of special effects shots,with alien creatures, gripping spacebattles, and vast computer-generatedpanoramas, elicited hearty cheerand applau e from the audience.

Independent television predictedStraczynski also predicted that it

would soon be possible for anybodyto produce independent televisionshows.

"I have a digital camera that costme two grand, and it produces high-er-resolution output than most tele-visions can handle," he said. "That'sprofessional quality."

"The prices can only go down,"he said. "Soon, people like you wiJlbe able to make 14 episodes forvery little money and just present itto a network as a one-season show."

It's just like the development ofindependent film that has occurredin recent decades, as the technologyfor that became more inexpensive,Straczynsk' said.

Speakers asked about the futureAfter both of the presentations,

the hosts and the audience asked thetwo men questions about their workand about the evolution of sciencefiction and media.

A number of people asked ques-tions about the issues raised bStraczynski's shows and Jablokov •writing. Jenkins asked them aboutthe issue of memory control in thefuture, a topic both of them hadexamined.

~traczynski said that as ourtechnol,ogy develops, "somebody,probably from MIT," will figure outhow to remove and replace memo-ries. Jablokov took a differentangle. As we introduce more pow-erful technology, 'we are alreadyexerting a tremendous and poorlyunderstood power over memory,and this wilJ only become increasein the future,

In answering several questions,both of the authors emphasized therole of science fiction in helping todefine our future and our identity."Science fiction lets us raise our,eyes to the horizon again, to seewhere we're going," Straczynskisaid. '

"All science fiction is hopeful,"since it predicts that there is a futurefor humanity, "and that we're notgoing to blow ourselves up in 50years," he said.

The new, darker tOile of curreprint science fiction may be largelresponsible for the recent decreasein the genre's popularity,Straczynski 'said. "Everything is sodark and gloomy or Neuromancer,cyberpunk crap; you just know theauthor ended a really bad relation-ship and wants to make everybodyelse feel rotten too."

Many people say that sciencedoes for people today what religiondid in the past, Jablokov said.Science fiction represents a newway of looking at old myths, intoday's language.

Incorporating traditional narra-tive elements into Babylon 5, intro-duces "many things that you maynot put in the consciously," but withwhich people still identify, Jablokovtold Straczynski.

Both men also pointed out thatthe increased power of technologymay offer may new useful op~rtu-nities, but finding the things youwant is difficult. "I just don't havethe time," Jablokov said. "This kindof thing seems to be for people whhave no life."

The Internet and television willbecome more and more connected,Straczynski said. On the WorldWide Web, people will be able toimmerse themselves in the elec-tronic trappings of their favoriteshow.

There will be many options, butlots of work trying to find what youactually want, he said. "I don'tadvocate this kind of thing. It is forp:opl.e wh~ ~.av~ t?0 life.". . .

her friends have begun hunting wildgave with bow and pear. U ing hikilJ at identifying tiny markets,

their on devi es a plan to hide thibizarre community from people likehim elf.

The tale presented a humorousyet cgntemplative look at the cur-rent direction of our culture, whilealso examining age-old que tionsabout marriage, family, and hon-esty.

Old television industry attackedStraczynski harshly critici~ed the

Hollywood establishment's treat-ment of science fiction. The attitudeabout science fiction shows was,"Either you buy into it or you don't. .It doesn't have to maRe sense," hesaid.

"They didn't understand sciencefiction," he said. "It frightenedthem. There was a mindset thatthere are only Trek fans, that sci-ence fiction as a genre doesn'twork."

Executives did not realize thatscience fiction does not have to be .for kids, he said. Most science fic-tion shows have e.xtraneous cutecharacters "We have no cute kidsand robots as regulars on the show,"he said. "We have them as gueststars, and we kill them."

traczyn ki talk on T bu ine sAfter Jablokov's reading,

Jenkins introduced Straczynski.Jenkins identified him as one of thethree most important pioneers inscience fiction television, along withRod Serling, creator of The TwilightZone, and Gene Roddenberry, cre-ator of Star Trek. .

Straczynski began by comparingtwo very different television genres- cop shows and science fiction -and how they are treated byHollywood.

Before Dragnet, police showswere considered low-quality drama,he said. Dragnet changed that byportraying the police as real people,and basing the show around theircharacters. Since then, aU copshows have followed the same lead,and the genre has become an accept-ed fonn of quality television drama,he said.

For science fiction, Star Trekcould have played a similar'roie,but it did not, Straczynski said. Forcop shows, or lawyer shows, oranything else, you hire somebodywith experience, to make it good,he said. In science fiction, that isn'tdone ..

Changing TV shows promisePeople who grew up with the

classic epics of fantasy literature,and quality British science fictionshows, like The Prisoner andDoctor Who, are now making showson their own, Straczynski said. Heincluded himself among the newgeneration who understand sciencefiction.

. "I realized that television has aunique potential for telling long sto-ries," he said. "You often don't geta pay-off at the end of the show, orsometimes even for several years."

"The questions TV asks tend tobe trivial and ephemeral,"Straczynski said. Instead, Babylon 5tries to present real issues like thosewe actuaJly face.

"These are questions that haveno answers," he said. "I put them inthere for you to argue about them. IfI can start a bar fight, I'm happy." .

~oreover, the scripts are allwritten by authors who know theover-arching story line, he said. "Theonly place that's been done before isin soap operas, and they don't havean end In sight; they want to keepgoing forever."

. Combining this idea of a long-term story with ideas about spend-ing money responsibly led to thecreation of Babylon 5, he said.

To save time and money, thereare very strict rules of production,he said: The script is written sixepisodes ahead of shooting, andnobody makes changes on stage, hesaid. Knowing everything well ina$1vance allows the show to .consis-

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applauded Jablokov for hi toriedealing with i ues of nationality,orthodoxy, and the search for ahomeland.

Jablokov's new tory, detailed ayoung profes ional's visit to the i 0-lated country housing developmentwhere hi eccentric parents hadrecently moved. The developmenthad been conceived as a place forfriend who met on the Internet tocome together and live.

The son discovers that his fatherand the rest of the community havebeen cloning extinct animal formany years, and that his mother and

DAIRY

tation.Thi wa the final event in a

erie of reading in cience fictionpon ored by the Lecture erie

Committee, the Film and Mediatudie department, the

Communication Forum, and theWriting and Humani tic tudieDepartment.

J blo ov re d from ne toProfes or of writing and human-

i tic tudie Henry Jenkins firstintroduced Jablokov, calling himone of the most gifted young ci-ence fiction writers. Jenkin

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By Brett ItschulNEWS EDITOR

Ring Delivery for theClass of 2000

Tues, Wed, & Thurs.May 4,5, & 6

10 to 4Lobby 13

FROZE

A crowd of everal hundred peo-ple came to Kre ge AuditoriumMonday evening to hear noted ci-ence fiction auttlOrs AlexanderJablokov and .J. MichaelStraczynski.

Jablokov read one of hi shortstories, and Straczynski, the creatorof the television show Babylon 5,spoke on his experiences with ci-ence fiction and the media.

traczynski also provided everalvideotapes of pecial effects shotsthat were hown during the pre en-

It's not too late to order your officialMIT class of 1998 or 2000 ring!

May 5,199 THE TECH Page 7

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WAN YUSOF WAN MORSHIDI-THE TECH

A militant Junta (Eric R. Traub '99) struggles against the common Thug (Dylan J. McConaghy '00) atSenior House's annual Steer Roast.

WAN YUSOF WAN MORSHIDI-THE TECH

Steer Roast '98 begins with the ceremonial lighting of the pit.

Jennifer E. Grucza '98 playsthe viola in the MITSymphony Orchestra andConcert Choir last Friday inKresge Auditorium.

Music and Theater ArtsLecturer James R.O'Dell directs the MilFestival Jazz Ensemblelast Sunday at KresgeAuditorium.

GABOR CSANYf THE TECH

ay5,1998

TheTech

Page9

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Page10 TheTech ay 5, 1998

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ay 5,1998 The Tech Page 11

Trivia Corner ccidents appe

Freak accidents often claim the lives of

public figures. The abstract e pressioni t

painter Jackson Pollock was kill d in a carcrash while out driving with his mistress.

Keith Relf, the lead singer for The Yardbirds

(the seminal British Rock band which pro-

duced guitar legends Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck,

and Jimmy Page) died from electrocution.

This past winter, Michael Kennedy and onny

Bono were both killed in skiing accid nts.

What Austrian composer wa accid ntally

shot and killed by a soldier in the U. . occu-

pation force near alzburg at the end of

World War II?

This week's winners will each win two L C

movie tickets and one large tub of popcorn,

courtesy of L C.

Showing this weekend:

Friday 7:30 p.m. in Room 10-250Shaft

Friday 7 and 10 p.m., unday 7 p.m.in Room 26-100

The Replacement Killersaturday 7 and 10 p.m., unday 10 p.m.

in Room 26-100Amistad

end your answers to trivia@the-tech.mit.edu

by 3 p.m. Wednesday. Two random drawings

from all of the correct entries will be held todetermine this week's two winners.

Thisfeature was brought to you by the CACProgram Board. Today 'sfactoids are by theMIT Quiz Bowl team. Members of the quizbowl team, LSC, and The Tech are not eligible.

By Anthony R. Salas1

14

17

31

34

37

41

62

65

2 3 4 6 7 8 9 11 12 13

ACROSS'1 Common contraction5 Certain tools10 Popular financial inst.14 Forever, abbr.15 Allen16 Guinness17 Gillette Razor18 Presto!19 Burn quickly20 About 78°F23 Waterman, e.g.24 Metric measure, abbr.25 Female sheep28 Monitor colors30 Poetic Inits.31 Pronoun34 Gas station island37 Ire38 Boob tube39 Reming40 Donald's vamp41 Sword

. 42 Treasure Island author44 Double curve45 Half the sound of

disapproval?47 Wee bit48 Steamy49 Asian holiday50 Nervous twitch52 Jurassic Park author61 It's62 Purple63 Navy's archrival

64 Neison65 Camera brand name66 Mathematician Descartes67 Not moving68 Skiing city69 Classroom play

DOWN1 Letter opener2 Holy Roman Emperor

962-9733 Famous fiddler4 Lady's love5 Retaliation6 Gold, e.g.7 Vessel8 Wan9 Carroll's game10 Ship's poles11 Color of cheese?12 close13 Farm unit21 Short22 Ripen25 First name in

cosmetics26 cries27 Santa's helpers29 Chilly30 Credo31 Rough32 Eskimo abode33 Implied35 Charge36 Large container

37 Printed, as an article40 Doctor43 Location of Sistine Chapel450olong46_Dora49 A spice51 Over cooks52 South Pacific Island53 Common bibliography entry54 Locomotive fuel55 Prevarications56 Trailer57 Speed contest58 Space expedition59 Hawk's arena60 Russian refusal

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POLICE LOGTh following ents were reported to the Campus Police between

April 23 and 29. Information is compiled from the Campus Police'sweeki crime summary andfrom dispatcher logs.

This report does not include alarms, general service calls, or inci-dent not reported to the dispatcher. "Medical Services n includesmedical shuttles, transports, e corts, and other emergency services.

pril23: Delta Upsilon, student problem' Bldg. II, report of sus-piciou activity. DuPont, women's locker room, tote bag and hairdryer stolen, 68; MacGr gor House water cooler stolen, $50.Medical ervice Calls: 6

pril 24: tudent Center, 1 attempted breaking and entering,nothing taken, 2 jacket and cash stolen from Athena Cluster, 100;Bldg. 5, report of su picious person' Bldg. 48, rope fish stolen 20;West Garage, report of suspicious persons, same issued trespasswarnings. Medical ervice Calls: 4

pril 25: Report of missing person, later located; Bldg. E 17, CDplayer stolen, 250; Kresge lot, minor motor vehicle accident.Memorial Drive, report that a non- affiliated per on had fallen intothe Charles River, same rescued and transported to Cambridge CityHospital by Cambridge Rescue; Bexley Hall, report of two beer kegs,ame were empty and in possession by a person over 21, no citation

issued. Medical ervice Calls: 2April 26: Bldg. 12 minor hit and run damage to vehicle; Hayden

Library, indecent exposure. Medical ervice Calls: 2April 27: Bldg. 51, hit and run motor vehicle damage; Bldg.

E17, computer hard drive and cordless phone stolen, unknown value'tudent Center Athena cluster, cellular phone stolen, 250; Bldg.

ElO, TV and VCR stolen, 930; Walker, Ahrnet Isik PhD '94 of 250Kennedy Drive, Malden, arrested for trespassing; power dip whichaffected west side of campus' Random, notification of student to callhome. Medical Service Calls: 7

April 28: Bldg. 7, camera equipment stolen $3,700; StudentCenter, I) bicycle secured with cable stolen from rack, $400, 2)checkbook stolen, later recovered; Bexley, report of larceny of cash,$90; Eastgate, report of someone posing as an employee of theRegistrar's Office trying to solicit personal information; Bldg. 12,report of Biohazard signs stolen, $40. Medical Service Calls: 5

April 29: Edgerton House, missing person, later located; Bldg.E 17, film processor stolen, $500; DuPont weight room, brass ratstolen, $200; New House, malicious destruction of a window; Bldg.E52, annoying phone calls; Briggs Field, demonstration betweenReserve Officer Training Corps and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, andTransgender students; assist Cambridge Police, Vassar Street, multi-ple-vehicle accident; Massachusetts Avenue and Amherst Street,minor motor vehicle accident, Cambridge Police were unavailable toassist; Walker, Ahmet Isik PhD '94 of 250 Kennedy Drive, Malden,arrested for trespassing. Medical Service Calls: 2.

Its i an act of violenc againstmoot ," a opposed to an act of

violenc again t the fraternity,Bankert said.

As far a anctions go, LCwill upport any deci ion made bythe IFC," he said.

Whoe er committed thi van-dalism - and it is vandalism -certainly lacked any semblan e ofintelligent thought, and if the b stthey can do i make a jok abouthow someone 'sucks nuts', thenthey obviously have the maturity ofa third grader," Bankert said.

the moot markings on theHarvard bridge began as a fraternityprank when members of LCA tookfreshman pledge Oliver R.

moot '62 and measured theHarvard Bridge in units of hisheight, by laying him out across thebridge.

Douglas E. Heimburger andDan McGuire contributed to thereporting of this story.

oGratfttl, from Page 1

tative of tho e police departmenBankert said that LCA had not

called the police.A of yet no one ha brought

any charge," Dreger said. however,the IFC Judicial Committee isinvestigating several leads, Dregeraid.

Because of the homophobicnature of th vandalism, if Judcomdoes ftnd a culprit they will likelyprosecute, Dreger said.

, As far as I know they don'thave any hard proof at themoment," he said.

If an IFC member is found guiltyof the vandalism, the punishmentwill likely take the form of a publicapology to LCA and the IFC, aswell as a community service sanc-tion, Dreger said.

LCA is unlikely to bring chargesof its own, instead letting the IFCprosecute the vandals, Bankert said.

CHUN HUA ZHENG-THE TECH

The sidewalk In front of the Lambda Chi Alpha house was vandalizedlast week.

The Technology and Culture Forum at MITreset/Is

On-Line Learning:What Are the "Implications for

Education? ?

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Organizational MeetingNew Team Entries Accepted

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Richard C. LarsonDirector, Ctnter for Adv..nctd ":duc..tion ..1Services, 1\I1T

Sonney TaraginVice I'resident for'li:chnolo!:y, C..IiIM:r"t!lrnina: Network, Inc.

Jack M. WilsonProfessor, Physics and Engineering Science

Acting Dean of the Jo' .. culty, Renssclur Polytechnic Institute

.May 7--7:00p~--MIT Room 6-120

The 'fcchnol0I:Yand Cullurc .'orum at !\iff(617) 2S3.0108---http://web.mil.edult ..dwww/homdltml

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Messages :978-734-3639,.508-877 -~263( h)

411, from Page 1

------e

February and la ted for approxi-mately four weeks. This outagewould have been extended if not forthe MIT's 5E Service team,Keohane aid. Bell Atlantic, whichwas in contact with MIT' 5ESSservice team everyday during theoutage, responded by stating theydid not know how to remedy theproblem, he said.

liS developed a method thatwould allow the problem to be fixedbefore calls left MIT. After comingup with their solution in early April,MIT told Bell Atlantic to remove allblocking from student telephoneconnection~, Keohane said.

The first correction Bell Atlanticmade enabled students to reach 411,but those calls were routed to anautomated' system and most likelyresulted in busy signals. MIT 5ESSoperations services again helpedthem to correct this problem,Keohane said.

"Bell Atlantic was not very help-ful in fixing this problem becaus ,they did not have the technical'-'expertise behind them," Keohanesaid. Once the MIT 5ESS serviceteam figured out why the outageswere occurring and found a solu-'tion, Bell Atlantic began to workwith MIT to make the corrections,he said.

Keohane believed that there weretwo methods available while workingthrough the problem to alert the MITcommunity that 411 was out of ser-vice: students could contact the com-puting help desk via phone or e-mail,or students could have been informedby the operators when students com-plained by phone or e-mail. "No oneexpected it to take as long as it did,and at times, the trunk was opera-tional ~hen dialing 411 ," he said.

MIT covers costs for 411 serviceKeohane said that MIT is allowed

7770 calls per month to 411Directory Service and that MIT'sgenerally exceeds that number.Recent usage figures will probablycome in lower that due to the recentoutages in 411. The number also fluc-tuates at different times -of the yea, ,based on usage, he said. Each callover 7770 costs MIT 35 cents, shesaid.

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The Sloan Subject Prioritization SystemBidding Dates for Fall, 1998 Classes<http://sloanbid.Illit.edu>

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ay 5, 1998 THE TECH Page 15

rING LEE-THE TECH

Van L. Chu '99 Is the new president of the Association of StudentActivities.

ASA, from Page 15

dent organizations to the incomingfreshmen.

This year, because of changes toOrientation, "the administration is

ing to cut down on mailings inneral," McGann said. This may

include restricting the number offlyers in the ASA mailing, he said.

There will also be administrativechanges designed to keep the fresh-men's addresses confidential. ' 0

students will see the [address] label-ings," McGann said.

There will not be a repeat of lastyear's Extropians mass mailing, hesaid. Although student groups wereonly supposed to send mail to fresh-men as part of the official ASA pack-et, the Extropians obtained the a listof addresses and sent a controversialflyer directly to the incoming class.

The ASA punished theExtropians by not allowing them toapply for official recognition untilSeptember, 1998.

"There will definitely be a sum-mer mailing in July [concerning] allthe activities," Chu said.

"We are working in conjunctionwith the deans" so that the ASA can"best represent all the studentgroups," McGann said.

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1-800-USA-NA VY www.navyjobs.com CIA mother is not a person to lean onbut a person to make leaning unnecessary!."

-Dorothy Canfield Fisher

esated with MIT squash," saidCoach Jim Taylor. AlthoughMerchant was not an undergradu-ate at MIT, his game has improvedover the last four years while hehas been here. Merchant workswith the MIT Varsity SquashTeam and with local players whenhe is not engaged in his graduatestudies.

DR. RICHARD G...UGETl-i • 9PT.1 9 DUNSTER Sf. HARVA

(NEXT TO}j.E.fI/E..'S- ~..~0'.. ('

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/: 10-6 • SATURDAY: 10-5

e ethere were a few close game scores,it was plain that Merchant wasgoing to be in command from thetart. His superior hitting pace, bet-

ter court coverage, and clean touchpaid off in a relatively easy victoryfor Merchant.

"Merchant is the best squashplayer that has been at MIT in theforty years that I have been associ-

CONTACT LENSES (ALL TYPES) • GLASSES

KARLENE ROSERA-THE TECH

Satoshi Asarl '94 spikes the ball In last Saturday's doublesvolleyball tournament. Asarl and his partner MikeMargetts '97 came In first place.

(Except professional services; not tobe combined with any other offer, or

health plan. expo 12/31/98)

20% OFFALL GLASSES

sBy Jim TaylorTEAM COACH

S asOn Saturday Ali Merchant G

fought his way into his third straightMassachusetts Squash RacketsAssociation (M RA) A final despitehand and foreann cramps as well asa blister the size of a silver dollar onhis foot. The A's are the top flight inMRSA squash. Merchant is also thedefending champion.

In his semi-final match,Merchant beat Enamullah Khan, aprofessional squash player from theCambridge Racket Club, 3-1.Merchant lost the first game playingquite tentatively. In the final threegames, despite the cramps, heplayed very aggressively andmoved Khan around the court. Thesquash was at a very high level withlots of shot making and very fewerrors by either player. Several verylong points that Merchant wonseemed to take most of the energyfrom Khan. However, Khan foughtvaliantly despite his fatigue.Merchant earned the win with hissuperior shot-making and courtcoverage.

On Sunday Merchant successful-ly defended his State Championshipagainst Jeremey Goulding, a nativeof the United Kingdom and current-ly playing for the Concord ActonSquash Club. Merchant dominatedin the final, winning 3-0. While

Justin Verdirame '00Lacrosse

Age: 19Major: Mechanical EngineeringHometown: Suffolk, Va.Year playing sport: 8Most memorable moment:

The spring break trips toCalifornia

Future plans: Finding a career inmechanical engineering

"It ain't over 'til its over."

Tuesday, May 5th, 1998Johnson Ice Rink3:00p.m-7:00p.m

The MIT Public Service Center in cooperation withthe Canlhridge Public Schools

proudly invites you to the sixth annual

Volunteers needed

Athletes of the WeekThis week' athlete are Tracy adow ki '99 and Justin

Verdirarne '00. adowski, with a team-leading 29 goals, was namedmost valuable player by the women' lacrosse team. he was alsonamed to the All-Conference team. Verdirame recently led the men'lacrosse team to victories over Western ew England College andClark University. His play also earned him All-Conference honors.

The Athletes of the Week feature is sponsored by the MIT VarsityClub.

Tracy Sadowski '99Women's Lacrosse

Age: 20Major: Chemical EngineeringHometown: Toms River, .J.Years playing sport: 3Most memorable moment:

Putting chopped up banana inMaddy Burke's bed duringour spring break trip.

Future plans: To graduate andjoin the real world

"Roll in your banana slime,witch, roiL" - Marilyn Vogel

For more information, call the Public Service Center at 253-0742send e-Inail to expo@mit.edu, or visit our web site: psc.mit.cdu/

Page 16 THE TE H

MIT / CAMBRIDGE SCIENCE EXPOa celebration jor Cambridge 7th and 8th graders

on

Make every dayMother's Day.

1-800-C.OLLECT m