Collegian Archives

Fair-weather fans of the world unite! A note your way cometh.

…

Someone please send out a memo to our dear friend and colleague,

Joe Scott. It appears he has yet to grasp the fact that a team with

no history, no height and no visible talent can start to put

together an 11-game winning streak against quality teams and start

the season 4-0 in conference play. We would call this resurgence in

Air Force hoops, but shouldn’t there be a surgence before there is

a resurgence? We’re not blowing smoke here ladies and gents, since

becoming part of the now defunct Western Athletic Conference in the

1980-81 college hoops season, the Falcons have never had a winning

conference record. In fact, the best our neighbors to the south

have ever finished in conference play (Mountain West included) was

6-10 in 1988-89. That was also the last season Air Force finished

with a non-losing record (14-14). Their secret? Try an offense so

slow and deliberate that it puts opposing players and fans to

sleep, a group of smart players who can execute such an offense and

a team-first attitude. The team now sits at 13-2 and is two

conference wins shy of matching their school-record six conference

wins, but before we start up the band at Clune Arena, let’s keep in

mind this is Air Force. They may be off to a good start now, but as

soon as those 3s stop dropping and opposing teams start taking Jolt

in place of their Gatorade, things will change. They have to, don’t

they? …

Staying in the MWC our focus now turns to Moby Arena and the

impending Border War with the ‘Pokes of Wyoming. Watching Matt

Nelson limp to the training room Thursday night was painful, yet

our confidence is with the Rams even if the 7-foot junior won’t be.

The reason is simple: for to long the Rams have fallen just short

of defeating the ‘Pokes in the regular season. Last season it was

poor free throw shooting that caused a nail-biting 77-79 loss at

home and a late-game collapse that led to a 60-62 loss in Laramie.

Most of the roster remembers those losses and head coach Dale Layer

and his boys will not let it happen again. Count on J-Rack (Jon

Rackieki), D-Boat (Dwight Boatner), the leaping legend (Micheal

Morris) and the Big Sho (Shelton Johnson) taking Wyoming guard Jay

Straight and company out of their game and coming up with a big

win. … Speaking of Nelson it’s unfortunate he goes through what

he does. When asked how his knee felt the center responded: “It

hurts like hell.” Wincing and wobbling in and out of the training

room is not the way Nelly should be remembered after his tenure

here is done. Here’s hoping a happy, healthy end looms for No. 54.

…

Beyonc� Knowles singing the National Anthem; Janet

Jackson, P-Diddy, Kid Rock and Nelly lip singing at halftime; the

Budweiser twins and the Cat Fight girls; $2.25 million commercials

and a $20 pay-per-view Lingerie Bowl; oh yeah, there might be a

game this week in Houston as well. … The biggest difference

between Super Bowl I and Super Bowl XXXVIII? The outcome of the

game actually mattered.

The Wyomingites are coming.

The CSU men’s basketball team faces border rival Wyoming for the

197th time Saturday at 7 p.m. at Moby Arena. Thousands of Wyoming

fans are expected to travel down to Fort Collins in what is usually

an evenly divided, near-sellout crowd on the Rams’ home floor.

The Rams (10-8 overall, 2-3 Mountain West Conference) will take

on the Cowboys (9-9, 2-3) without the services of their 7-foot

center and leading scorer Matt Nelson. Nelson re-injured a sprained

right knee during Monday’s 89-83 overtime win against Nevada – Las

Vegas. Nelson, who averages 14.8 points a game, also missed time

earlier this season after injuring the knee Jan. 5 at Montana

State. He is out of the CSU lineup indefinitely.

“We will move forward,” CSU head coach Dale Layer said in a

release. “I feel badly for Matt (Nelson) that he was injured. I

know that he will work hard to return as quickly as possible.”

Both teams are not enjoying as much success as they had hoped

this season, but both are coming off conference wins. CSU has won

two straight overtime MWC games against UNLV and San Diego State at

home, while Wyoming had a 79-71 comeback win against SDSU

Monday.

Cowboy point guard Jay Straight scored 21 of a career-high 30

points in the second half against the Aztecs. Straight should have

a great matchup against CSU point guard Micheal Morris.

Morris was held scoreless for the first 20 minutes in his first

game back from his hamstring injury against SDSU Saturday but

exploded for a career-high 24 points in the second half and

overtime in CSU’s 92-82 double-overtime win against the Aztecs.

The guard play of Straight and David Adams leads the Cowboys.

Adams averages 10.6 points and 4.2 rebounds per game.

Without Nelson, 6-10 freshman center Stephen Verwers will have

to again step into a starting role, guarding Cowboy 7-foot center

Alex Dunn. Forward Matt Williams, CSU’s second leading scorer, has

been shooting the ball well of late and will have to pick up the

scoring load along with Morris.

“I got in trouble with my family and my coaches after taking all

those charges at Utah,” Williams said after the SDSU game. “I got

to make people come out and guard me.”

The Rams have broken their all-time record in foul shots

attempted in the past two games. CSU shot 56 foul shots against

UNLV and 53 against SDSU. CSU is shooting 68.7 percent from the

line this season.

Majerus to quit

Longtime Utah head coach Rick Majerus announced Wednesday that

he will resign as the Utes head coach at the end of the season.

Majerus was hospitalized Wednesday with chest pains and said he is

resigning because of continual health problems and to be with his

family. He has a 320-95 record in 15 seasons at Utah and a 422-147

career record as a college head coach. Utes assistant Kerry Rupp

will fill in for Majerus while he is hospitalized.

Probable starting lineups

CSU (10-8, 2-3 MWC)

G #32 Michael Morris 6-3

G #22 Shelton Johnson 6-3

F #13 Freddy Robinson 6-5

F #42 Matt Williams 6-6

C #34 Stephen Verwers 6-10

Wyoming (9-9, 2-3 MWC)

G #3 Jay Straight 5-11

G #23 David Adam 6-2

F #5 Tim Henry 6-5

F #25 Joe Ries 6-8

C #13 Alex Dunn 7-0

I couldn’t help but laugh at the statement in Stacey Schneider’s

article that genetic engineering allows scientists to start taking

on a “God-like” role. It sounded so familiar. When effective forms

of birth control first came out a similar paranoia was expressed.

Selecting conception dates was God’s domain. So are we in Bible

school or college?

Selecting the sex of a child and eliminating major genetic

defects is a far cry from eliminating the “true surprise” that a

child brings. The researcher selects from the parent’s genes. It

isn’t a Frankenstein stitch-job with Arnolds pecks, Bill Gate’s

mind and Madonna’s abs. The child would still have Dad’s squinty

eyes, Mom’s nose and aunt Gertrude’s receding hairline. A normal

child perhaps, but without Down’s syndrome.

Many people who want a sneak peak at their future child already

have a disabled or terminally ill child. Currently, the only other

candidates for genetic engineering are persons who already have

children.

Genetic scientists are not sick puppies who are trying to

undermine the value of human life. They just think that quality of

life matters too.

 

 

Amy Trefethen, second bachelor’s candidate

Did you know the cold war isn’t over?

No, in fact the secret swapping of intelligence and the black

market network it travels on is still dangerously alive today.

On Tuesday, Pakistani investigators concluded investigations

into two senior nuclear scientists who supplied Iran and Libya with

the intelligence and blueprints to manufacture equipment to enrich

uranium.

Last November the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)

reported the construction of a gas centrifuge plant by the Iranian

government, after opponents of the current Islamic government in

Iran revealed the highly guarded secret. It also placed much

international pressure on Iran to open its doors to nuclear

inspectors, which it did last month.

The inspectors have since been able to determine that Iran

received assistance from Pakistani scientists who provided

classified designs and components for uranium-processing gas

centrifuge machines. These complex centrifuges machines are

designed to extract small amounts of fissile material from natural

uranium by spinning it at supersonic speeds.

The fissile material extracted from the centrifuges becomes

enriched uranium, which is used as nuclear fuel for power plants.

It can also be transformed into a more concentrated form known as

highly enriched uranium, which can be used to build nuclear

weapons.

According to the IAEA report, the centrifuge machines found in

Iran are covered with Pakistan’s fingerprints.

In the 1970s a Pakistani nuclear scientist, Abdul Qadeer Khan,

now known as the father of the Pakistan bomb and one of the

scientists suspected of selling top-secret nuclear information,

stole centrifuge designs from the British, Dutch and German

governments.

In the decades following, Khan studied the designs and made

modifications to them constructing the machines to be more stable.

The centrifuge technology found in Iran recently has the same

modifications and capitalizes on the same technology found in

Khan’s designs, and at times even uses old, castoff parts from

outdated Pakistani centrifuge machines.

Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf is investigating Khan

and Mohammed Farooq, a senior scientist and high-ranking manager of

Pakistan’s nuclear weapons laboratory, for trading the nation’s

nuclear secrets for money.

The investigation has determined that real estate holdings along

with millions of dollars were transferred to bank accounts

controlled by the two scientists around the same time Iran was

gaining its nuclear technology.

Khan, who is a national hero among all ideological political

parties in Pakistan, most likely sold top-secret nuclear technology

to Libya and possibly to North Korea also, making himself and

Pakistan one of the world’s leading nuclear proliferators.

Musharraf, who hit politically unstable times after Sept. 11,

2001, has been put into a difficult political position. The Bush

administration has been increasingly reliant on Pakistan to aid in

the war on terror.

It is believed that Osama Bin Laden continues to trek back and

forth between the Pakistan and Afghanistan borders, putting the

administration in desperate need of Pakistan’s help if they want

any chance of capturing him.

Musharraf has been pro-America recently, in hopes of gaining

political favor with Washington and acquiring international aid.

Islamic hard-liners have rallied against Musharraf in defense of

the scientists however, believing that Musharraf is pandering to

the Bush administration and in turn making the scientists a

scapegoat.

These opponents believe the Pakistani government directed the

scientists in the late ’80s and early ’90s, before Musharraf took

office in 1999 after a bloodless coup, to sell the technology.

The protestors are probably correct in believing the Pakistani

government had every intention of selling nuclear technology to

other nations 15 years ago.

However, the fat bank accounts and extensive real estate

holdings of the scientists, almost all of which are not located in

Pakistan, give credence to the Musharraf government’s investigation

and probable indictment of the nuclear scientists.

The cold war has been a fading remnant of an era the world

outgrew and left behind almost 20 years ago. Sept. 11, brought an

awakening to United States, pushing the American agencies away from

cold war operations and has restructured intelligence tactics for a

new type of threat. But is the cold war really over, and is America

really safe from the threats many believe are outdated?

The IAEA has strong evidence supporting the belief that North

Korea leapfrogged many technological hurdles by buying intelligence

from Pakistani scientists. Many in America believe that North

Korea, who does not hide their developing and testing of nuclear

weapons taking place today, is the biggest threat to our

security.

At the very least, North Korea’s nuclear prowess is a major

global concern to the countries of eastern Asia, mainly South Korea

and Japan. If North Korea continues to develop nuclear capability

Japan might begin arguing that it must also go nuclear to protect

itself against the other nuclear powers in the unstable region.

If this occurs, then China, North Korea, India, Pakistan, Russia

and Japan would all have nuclear weapons pointed at each other.

Soon, the uneasiness of the situation would lead to mounting

threats among each country.

It is unlikely that any of them would ever actually use a

nuclear weapon on the others, for fear they would be hit relatively

soon afterward. This paradox has a name – mutually assured

destruction.

It is highly unlikely a shot will ever be fired, but everyone is

still arming themselves just in case. Wow, all of this sounds

eerily familiar. Who exactly was it that said the cold war was

over?

Jason Kosena is the assistance campus editor for The Collegian.

He is a senior majoring in technical journalism.

It seems many have been riding the new wave of low-carbohydrate

diets.

Consumers are encountering images of “Atkins approved,” while

even some beer and bread products are claiming to be low-carb.

Low-carb diets such as the Atkins diet and the South Beach Diet

have people cutting back on the number of carbohydrates in their

diets.

This includes all breads, potatoes, pasta, sugar and even fruit.

These strict eating habits are designed to cause weight loss and

lower the dieter’s cholesterol level, while allowing the person to

consume as much meat, cheese and vegetables as they can handle.

Shirley Perryman, extension specialist at the food science and

human nutrition department, said these diets cause rapid weight

loss because of the limitations on the types of foods people

eat.

“Even though these foods are high fat, in general, they’re

consuming fewer calories because the variety in the diet is so

limited,” Perryman said. “You can only eat so much meat and

cheese.”

Perryman attributes the rapid weight loss at the beginning of

the diet to water weight.

“When you eat carbohydrates, it’s part of the physiological

process to take in water. So when you don’t eat carbohydrates, then

there’s this water weight you’re not going to have,” she said.

The South Beach Diet says that phase one, a strict phase, is

crucial to ridding the body of its carbohydrate and sugar

addictions. In phase one the dieter is required to cut out all

sugar and carbohydrates.

The Atkins diet is similar.

It requires the induction diet, eliminating the intake of

certain milk products, carbohydrates, sugar and fruit, to

kick-start the body into digesting food slower and regulating

insulin levels.

Lisa Malina, a junior biology major, works at a steakhouse in

Fort Collins and said she has noticed many of her customers have

asked her to send the breadbasket away.

“They’ll tell me they’re ‘doing the Atkins’ and then order extra

vegetables, with no potatoes,” she said. “It seems like a lot of

people are on it.”

Elizabeth Harless, a dietician and executive director for Meals

on Wheels in Fort Collins, is concerned about the long-term effects

these eating habits will have on a dieter.

“The concern is that there’s not a lot of research on the

long-term effects,” Harless said. “We know that too much red meat

can lead to certain cancers and lack of fiber in carbohydrates can

raise the risk of heart disease, stroke and cancer.”

Perryman agreed that because these diets are so new, the medical

world does not know what may happen to people’s cholesterol levels

in the future.

“People may think they are getting a quick fix for now, because

of the lower cholesterol, but we don’t know what this means

long-term,” Perryman said.

Lauren Fields, a junior merchandising major, doesn’t buy into

the glamour of these new diets.

“I think it’s just a fad. You can’t just cut things out,” Fields

said. “I know some people that have been on it and they do well for

the first week, but then go back to their old eating habits and

gain the weight back.”

Perryman said the second phase of the low-carb diets,

reintroducing the ‘good carbohydrates’ in smaller portions, is a

good suggestion. This includes eating the refined and complex

grains, such as whole grain pasta and bread.

“If you take away the first two weeks (of these diets) and the

gimmicks, then you’re really back to the same old message, follow

the food guide pyramid,” Perryman said. “You need to enjoy your

food, but eat less of it and really look at portion sizes.”