page 2 The Fourth Wall MICHAELA CONDON In the 2008 movie Step Broth- ers, Will Ferrell’s character, Brennan Huff, bursts through the door in his therapist’s fantasy, and he says to her, “I have trav- eled five-hundred miles to give you my seed!” While the urge to spread one’s seed can be great, and sometimes daunting, it can be a good thing for the ge- netic variability of our popula- tion. However, there can be a problem for the gene pool when one man fathers one-hundred- fifty children... to different mothers. This is a growing prob- lem in our country that was re- cently highlighted by The New York Times. According to New York Times journalist Jacqueline Mroz, there are “negative consequences of having so many children fa- thered by the same donors.” One of the biggest threats to the gene pool is “the possibility that genes for rare diseases could be spread more widely through the population,” says Mroz. Some of you may be thinking, “Don’t sperm banks screen for genetic disorders and diseases?” Ac- cording to Cappy Rothman, MD, a blogger for fertilityauthori- ty.com, they do so only if they deem it necessary, after “a three- generation family history evalu- ation by a trained professional,” who can “identify risks for in- herited disease.” This leaves the question of what happens if the donor has no family history of genetic disorders or diseases, and discovers he has developed a previously-undetectable dis- ease only after donating. Another problem that Mroz highlights that could become more frequent, as donations con- tinue, is that with each birth that sprouts from the same donor there are “increased odds of ac- cidental incest between half sis- ters and half brothers, who often live close to one another.” She says, “Mothers of donor children are asked to report a child’s birth to the sperm bank voluntarily, but just 20 to 40 percent of them do so.” Does this mean that do- nor children, who are on dates with other donor children, need to ask for their potential part- ner’s donor number? What if that they were the product of War Games MICHAEL ALAN The United States Army is spending approximately $57 million to create virtual reality games to train soldiers, accord- ing to GamePro. Dismounted Soldier Training System (DSTS), Crytek's new simula- tion design, will allow the sol- dier to train with stunning real- ism. By replicating weather con- ditions, amazing 360 degree sur- round sound, set squad for- mations and towns in Iraq and Afghanistan, the system will allow the soldiers to feel as though their training is real. A helmet-mounted display will allow the soldier to see the virtu- al world, leaving enough room for the soldier to see their squad members so they don’t bump into them. The soldier will also don a backpack which carries a laptop attached to the helmet. This will allow the soldiers to move freely around the 10 by 10 foot training room. However, with two major wars already spending so many vital tax dollars, one has to wonder if this is a waste of money. The U.S. Army has already been us- ing lesser simulations to train soldiers for several years now. Speaking from personal experi- ence, I would argue that these simulations are vital to training the new Army. Using virtual reality is a great way to practice live situations while leaving room for error. In 2008 I was stationed in Fort Knox, Kentucky in Basic Train- ing. Our platoon was in a virtual reality training building, learn- ing about escalation of force. Our mission was to make sure we eliminated enemy threats without harming innocent civil- ians. The unit was looking up at a simulation of a checkpoint in Iraq, and we were all equipped with M4 Carbines attached to a computer to determine where our shots hit. A rush of enemies stormed the gate, and many of us opened fire. Unfortunately, there was a civilian running away who was hit. The simulation immedi- ately stopped, and the Sergeant in charge of the simulation asked what we did wrong. After a mo- ment, one of our soldiers stated that we shot an unarmed man. He was correct. Luckily, this was a simulation, and we learned from it. Had this incident been in Iraq, a civilian would have been killed. Simula- tions thought us to think ration- ally under difficult circumstanc- es, which in turn saved innocent should come in the way of sav- ing lives. sperm donation? Does this mean that one needs to be worried about getting down and dirty with their half sibling? It’s not only the mothers and the children who are suffering, but many sperm donors them- selves do not want to father an extreme number of children. In fact, cryobanks are lying to do- nors about how many kids might come from their loins. A sperm donor from Texas talked. to Mroz and said that he inquired about the number of kids he may end up producing, and they told him, “Nobody knows for sure but. that five would be a safe estimate... it would be very rare for a donor to have more than 10 children.” If that is the case, then why has Mroz found many cas- - es, such as those found on do- norsiblingregistry.com, of groups of “50 or more half sib- lings”? Why do sperm banks perpetu- ate these potential problems? Mroz reveals, “Critics say that fertility clinics and sperm banks are earning huge profits by al- lowing too many children to be conceived with sperm from pop- ular donors.”Also, there are no laws in the United States that control the number of times a donor’s sperm can be used to create a child. Britain, France, and Sweden have regulations that outline how many times a baby can be born from the same donor’s sperm, and it is time that America followed suit. 717.655.5347 4 E. Main Street SUJAY Recently, Netflix decided to raise their prices and change their pricing model. While they might have expected some cus- tomers to unsubscribe, they had no idea to what extent the users would drop. This is the second time in twelve years that Netflix has lost subscribers from one quarter to the next, the last be- ing in 2007. Netflix shares have been drop- 8160 Anthony Highway Quincy, PA Only minutes from campus! % urchas : 2 10% piscount with P Sun Thur 2 e $10 oF th psu student x Fri&Sat 11- ping consistently since the an- nouncement, and their stock prices are almost half what they were prior. It could get worse. The new price increase was to - develop their high-speed inter- net video-streaming services, even while taking the chance of hurting the DVD-by-mail rent- als that use to be part of their main business. Subscribers must the two options, either by receiving physical DVDs in the mail, or streaming videos online. Netflix believes that internet videos have been their main success, due largely to the con- venience. When the service took off, video distributors such as Starz began demanding higher fees. Many people are choosing either the DVD-by-mail option or the stream videos online op- tion since customers must now pay separately for each option. Others have decided to protest and unsubscribe to Netflix, a particularly likely decision in the current economy. This could be a good time for would-be rivals to attack Netflix and rise up with alternate internet video streaming services.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers