Friday, November 18, 2005
Peeping Prerogative
Snooping through your partner's stuff is something that we have
all either done or have thought about doing. I've thought about it.
Then I realized that I've never dated anyone who tried to hide things
from me, thus I would have no reason to snoop. Is our want to snoop
innate? Are we born with this sense that we have to know everything
about our partners? As a collective group of people who are either
in relationships or arc about to be, we have this odd desire to want
to know the inner, most secrets of our significant others.
We want to snoop because we arc just a tad insecure. We feel that
we do not know all that there is to know and without that knowl
edge, we are weak. As humans, we are constantly on some endless
quest to know all that there is to know.
Snooping could be some weird defense mechanism. If we suspect
our partners of something, instead of going straight to him or her
about it, we snoop. We search for something that can quench our
suspicions. And once we have that proof, we can rub it is his or her
face and say, "Ha!"
However, if you do not find the proof you were looking for, you
are left feeling like an jack-ass. You just invaded your boy or girl
friend's most personal things and found nothing. That could be the
breaking point. Some people go looking for that drama. Some look
hoping that they find nothing; they are safe with the idea that every
thing is OK and that their boy or girlfriend is not hiding anything.
Say that you do snoop and you do find something that could
incriminate the person whose stuff you're snooping through, then
what? You're stuck knowing this awful truth about someone who
you don't want to know an awful truth about. You have to look at
your boy or girlfriend knowing that he or she is a cross dresser,
pedophile, has a strange fetish for shoelaces or collects his or her
toenails.
What if you get caught snooping? That is one of the worst scenar
ios. You have betrayed your significant other's trust. Unless you
have a really good explanation as to why you were snooping, you
had better be ready to pack your bags.
I've thought about snooping in a couple cases. It was basically
because he seemed perfect and I had to find one flaw, something,
anything to tide my belief that he was not as perfect as he led peo
ple to think. I persevered; I did not snoop, and eventually found that
flaw.
It is OK to want to know more about our significant others. Just
be sure to stop yourself when you are standing in front of his or her
closet, about to reach for that shoebox. You have to be prepared to
handle whatever it is that you find. If it is something like bras and
panties in you: boyfriend's shoebox and shoelaces in your girl
friend's closet, you need to either accept it or be willing to do some
thing about it.
Dell vs. Macintosh
What's the difference?
Dear ASCII,
A friend of mine has a Macintosh laptop, and I have a Dell laptop.
What exactly is the difference between them and why can't he run
programs I send him?
-Friend-of-Mac
Dear Friend,
There are only two things that are different between your laptop
and a Mac: hardware and software. These two differences arc why
Windows programs don't run on Mac OS.
Macintosh OS X is a piece of software, just like Windows. They
arc both a type of program called an Operating System, or OS for
short. The OS is what lets you run more than one program at a time,
lets you plug in a USB key without reconfiguring your computer.
and do other such vital tasks. Windows and Mac OS do these tasks
differently, so Mac OS doesn't know how to tell a program written
for Windows to start, stop, save files, etc.
What's different on hardware is the processor; all the other hard
ware is the same. Your friend's Macintosh and your computer use
the same type of hard drive, memory, video card, etc. The CPU is
the brain of the computer. When you use the calculator to find the
square root of two, it's the CPU that figures out the answer.
Your Windows computer uses an Intel or AMD processor.
Collectively these processors are called xB6 processors, named after
Intel's 386/486 line of processors (from about 15 years ago.)
Programs written for Windows 3.1 on a 386 can run on the latest
Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon 64 processors. The Macintosh uses
something completely different, called a Power PC processor.
You can't run a Windows program (written for an xB6 processor)
on a Power PC processor. The processors speak completely differ
ent languages. It's as though the Power PC speaks Japanese, and the
xB6 speaks French. The game's instructions are in French, so the
poor Japanese kid can't read the instructions.
Neither processor speaks anything resembling English. The
instructions these processors are reading are strings of either thirty
two or sixty-four I's and o's. It's not something most humans can
read. In fact, it's rare for even computer science majors to be able to
read any of it.
All is not lost though! There are special programs called emula
tors which create a fake environment for programs. You can get a
Windows emulator for Mac OS. This emulator fakes out the pro
gram, making it think it's running on an xB6 processor and Windows
OS. Your friend can run Windows programs inside the emulator.
You can also run Macintosh programs on your Windows computer
using a Macintosh emulator.
Unfortunately, emulators slow things down. They are like some
one who reads the French instructions, spends some time with a
French-to-Japanese dictionary, and then tells you what the instruc
tions say.
Emulators will become much faster in the next few months.
Sometime early next year, Macintosh will switch to the Intel xB6
processor. This means emulators will only need to translate the soft
ware, not the hardware which makes them much faster.
Do you have a computer question? Then Ask ASCII! Send an e
mail to ascii@psu.edu with "Ask ASCII" in the subject line, and you
may have it answered in next week's paper.
sir
C.:i
By Jennifer Haight
news editor
nevo,editor@ , psu.edu
By Logan Stack
technology columnist
!IA I I ti(a pstLedu
rn UDENT
Back...and better than ever
Comic fans and children of the 80s alike
will likely be thrilled with the news: The
Transformers are returning to comic print.
Released in October, the new series pre
view issue surprised some and excited
many. The original comics, produced by
Marvel in the 80s and early 90s, were for a
long time some of the most popular and
widely appealing comics available. Dealing
with the original Generation 1 Transformers
storyline, they thrived on the story of the
valiant Autobots fighting their war against
the evil Decepticons. Recent renewed inter
est in the Transformers led to a few short
lived series of new television shows and a
couple short-running comic series featuring
fresh, revised (some say blasphemous) sto
rylines and characters that changed the over
all mood of the franchise. A few succeeded,
most failed. Fans everywhere waited for a
return to the classic epic.
Wait no longer. Transformers #0 has
arrived
Now published by independent publisher
IDW, the Transformers have returned to
their first generation roots and classic plot
line.
Written by Simon Furman, the preview of
the Infiltration series manages to start you at
the beginning and throw you right into the
middle of it all at the same time. The
Transformers aren't coming... they're
One-Act Plays coming soon
By Jenna Gregory
staff writer
Behrend students are prepar
ing for the presentation of this
semester's One Act Plays. The
One Acts will be presented on
Dec. 2 and 3 at the Studio
Theater. The time of the shows
will he announced at a later
The One Acts are all written
by Behrend students and the
plots tie into the Erie area as
well as the Behrend campus.
Eleven Matchbox players and
"The High Cost of Low Prices"
Thousands of people run though Wal-Mart's doors across the coun
try every day for the unbelievably low prices. They pack their carts
full and head to the checkout.
There are always smiles on the
faces of the people who are
leaving because they just got
great deals that they know can
be found nowhere else
What all of these people don't
know is the lengths Wal-Mart
will go to to obtain these prices.
Also, people who are not
directly affected do not see the
destruction of smaller compa
nies and individuals across
America by Wal-Marts policies
and tactics.
In order to unveil the atrocities
of this giant, Robert Greenwald
has directed and produced a
documentary entitled "Wal-
Mart: The High Cost of Low
Prices." The film was released
on Nov. 4 and is now available
for purchase on
WalMartMovie.com. As part of
the premiere week, more than
7000 locations across the coun
try have shown or will be
showing the film free of charge.
The Screen Visions Film Club
here at Behrend heard about the
film and decided to take part. "I
heard about it on CSPAN in
May," said film club president
Chris Hvizdak. The film club
has two main goals: to bring
movies to campus, and to offer Wal-Mart movie bears it's heart on
open discussions about films.
Hvizdak thought that this documentary film fit their criteria. The
film club is willing to entertain any ideas that will promote informa
tion or discussion. He also said, "[The club] agreed on the message
and we wanted to share it." Hvizdak said it is "encouraging to see a
strong and vital movement towards the issue," and he felt it should
be available to the public.
The screening will begin at 6 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 18 in room 117
By Patrick Webber
assistant news editor
newwditoro2`psti.edu
jag464o'psu.edu
By Heidi Weismiller
staff writer
hmwso26@psu.edu
already here, and the human race doesn't
even know about it yet. It starts as a
younger man by the name of Hunter O'nion
picks up a hitchhiking girl. Eventually she
wants to know why he is driving out into the
desert. He states that he is looking for
something. Eventually she weasels what he
is looking for out of him, and of course
laughs at him when he says he's looking for
giant shape shifting robots. He insists that
the Earth is being secretly invaded by
"extraterrestrial mechanoids."
She then asks, "And what, we just haven't
noticed?"
He answers with what may be a highlight
of the comic for all you fans out there:
"They're in disguise!"
The ridicule continues until they do run
into something. Something that doesn't
appreciate their curiosity.
Overall, the art and colors by EJ Su and
John Rauch respectively are clear and vivid.
Artwork of the actual Transformers them
selves are skimpy and rare in this preview
issue, leaving you thirsting for more.
The series will start in early January 2006.
Until then, I suggest you go to a local comic
shop or bookstore and see if there are any
preview issues remaining. If you can find
them, they're only 99 cents, so good luck.
Other Transformers news of interest is the
recent revelation that the Transformers are
coming to the big screen. That's right,
Steven Spielberg himself has proclaimed
that he will be the executive producer of a
new live-action Transformers movie. Tom
two other cast actors are per
forming the five short plays. All
of the plays are comedies, based
on things like robbery, family
dinner, after party effects, going
to the hospital, and an audience
interaction play where they help
a struggling boy through a date.
Each of the one acts range from
six to fifteen minutes in length
and are guaranteed to entertain.
Michelle Vera Suroviec, one of
the directors, said that the
comedic perfomrnaces are "def
initely going to be entertaining."
All of the students involved
have been working since mid
r rl I F,
October on putting together this
performance event. Megan
Whietsel, another director, said
that the "audience will relate a
lot to what goes on on stage,
especially the audience partici
pation act." Whietsel said that
the casts have had a lot of fun
preparing, and she personally
geeing theprogress that
the Matchbox Players group has
made in the past years. Whietsel
went on to say that if you look at
campus you can "compare the
development and involvement
the campus has experienced
from all the hard work coming
of the Reed Union Building, and it is open to the public. There will
be a discussion following the film about Wal-Mart's effect on the
nation and all are encouraged to share their opinions. "We have
invited question and answer sessions in the past and they have
worked out well," said Hvizdak. He believes that the Wal-mart issue
is a heated topic so the audience should be pretty involved.
This film is an in-depth docu
mentary into the lives of many
individuals affected by Wal-
Mart. Greenwald wanted to tell
the stories of the people across
the world who are struggling to
survive because of Wal-Mart.
Greenwald also had the oppor
tunity to speak with current and
former Wal-Mart employees,
managers and executives.
Through these people, the film
reveals the inner workings of
the retail Goliath. The film is
not all heartbreaking stories.
Some are motivational, such as
the story of one California town
that fought against the building
of a Wal-Mart and won!
The film does not completely
bash Wal-Mart, it simply shows
the viewers how it hurts rather
than helps in the struggle to
remain open and competitive.
The film is very informative
and filled with facts. It is 98
minutes long and free to every
one. There are only 200 seats
available so those interested are
encouraged to get there early.
Greenwald believes that
although this film is not an
answer to the Wal-Mart prob-
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO problem. He hopes that with the
it's cover with this graphic portrayal. large amount of people across
America that will experience
this film, they will be encouraged to exercise their rights as a
democracy and help the country fight against Wal-Mart.
Hvizdak also said that the Website is a great place to get more
information about the topic. "It is a grassroots activist kinda
Website," he said. He encouraged those wanting to learn more to
check it out.
The Behrend Beacon I
One of the four limited edition covers
released for the preview Issue #O.
DeSanto of X-Men and X 2 fame will be
producing and Michael Bay will be direct
ing, and the movie will be supported and
distributed by Dreamworks. It isn't being
released until July 4, 2007, so don't hold
your breath.
Until then, Autobots, roll out!
from everyone involved."
Whictscl also said that she has
had an especially good time
working with her cast and get
ting to know each of them.
The next few weeks are going
to be a lot of hard work for the
cast, but they arc energetic and
up for the challenge. Reserve
your Friday or Saturday night
the first week of December and
go check out the comedic per
formances of the Matchbox
Players at Behrend's studio the
ater.
lem, it does shine a light on the
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO