Vol. 129, No. 55 WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2012 ! ITHACA, NEW YORK

The Corne¬ Daily Sun20 Pages – Free

FOUR MORE YEARS

WASHINGTON (AP) —President Barack Obama rolled to re-election Tuesday night, vanquishingformer Massachusetts Gov. MittRomney and triumphing despite aweak economy that plagued his firstterm and put a crimp in the middleclass dreams of millions.

“This happened because of you.Thank you,” Obama tweeted to sup-porters as he celebrated four more years

in the White House. Romney tele-phoned the president to concede.

After the costliest — and arguablythe nastiest — campaign in history,divided government seemed alive andwell.

Democrats retained control of theSenate with surprising ease.Republicans were on course for thesame in the House, making it likelythat Speaker John Boehner of Ohio,

Obama’s partner in unsuccessful deficittalks, would reclaim his seat at the bar-gaining table.

At Obama headquarters inChicago, a huge crowd gathered wav-ing small American flags and cheering.Supporters hugged each other, dancedand pumped their fists in the air.Excited crowds also gathered in New

Relief and joy swept through much of the Cornelland Ithaca communities late Tuesday night asPresident Barack Obama fought off challenger Gov.Mitt Romney to win a second term.

The campus euphoria that accompanied Obama’s2008 election was largely subdued, but jubilant stu-dents celebrated in North Campus dormitories,Collegetown apartments and viewing parties acrossCornell.

For many students, Obama’s reelection revived theexcitement they felt four years ago, when a campaignbuilt on lofty rhetoric ushered much of America’syouth into political consciousness. That generationturned out across the nation in staggering numbersfor Obama on Tuesday, according to preliminary pollresults.

Cornellians appeared to be no exception. Studentsvoted in the hundreds, according to poll workers atCollegetown’s St. Luke’s Lutheran Church. Theyjourneyed to battleground states, like Ohio andVirginia, to give Obama a better chance. And whenthe work was done late Tuesday night, some stillmade it to Collegetown bars to celebrate.

At the Cornell Democrats’ viewing party inCollegetown, cheers reverberated throughout theroom the second Fox News declared the race over.

“Four more years! Four more years! Four moreyears,” the crowd of about 70 chanted, rising to itsfeet.

“I’m beyond ecstatic,” started Talia Fiano ’14,

By SUN STAFF

Obama Trounces Romney, Wins Second Term

Obama triumphs; Democrats retain SenateMaking history again | President Barack Obama and his family greet supporters in Chicago, Ill., early Wednesday morning.

Cornell celebratesas youth propel

President’s victory

See ELECTION page 4See OBAMA page 6

SEE PHOTOS OF CORNELLIANS VOTING ON ELECTION DAY | PAGE 5

DOUG MILLS / THE NEW YORK TIMES

FIONA MODRAK / SUN SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

INDEPENDENT SINCE 1880

“One ofthose

millions of votesis mine.”

CarolynSussman ’16

Forward | Cornellians andIthaca residents celebrate at the

downtown Holiday Inn asPresident Barack Obama’s

reelection is announced.

2 THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Wednesday, November 7, 2012 DAYBOOK

Editor in Chief Juan Forrer ’13

The Corne¬ Daily SunINDEPENDENT SINCE 1880

ALL DEPARTMENTS (607) 273-3606

Postal Information: The Cornell Daily Sun (USPS 132680 ISSN 1095-8169) is published byTHE CORNELL DAILY SUN, a New York corporation, 139 W. State St., Ithaca, N.Y. 14850.The Sun is published Monday through Friday during the Cornell University academic year, withthree special issues: one for seniors in May, one for alumni in June and one for incoming freshmen in July, for a total of 144 issues per year. Subscription rates are: $137.00 for fall term,$143.00 for spring term and $280.00 for both terms if paid in advance. First-class postage paid atIthaca, New York.Postmaster: Send address changes to The Cornell Daily Sun, 139 W. State St., Ithaca, N.Y. 14850.

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Business ManagerHelene Beauchemin ’13

VISIT THE OFFICE

CD & RECORDFAIR

SAT. NOV. 10, 2012 • 10AM-5PM123 E. State St. • On The Commons

Next to Funky JunkDEALERS SELLING & BUYING

ALL TYPES OF MUSIC:100,000 CDs, DVDs,

RECORDS, etc. FOR SALEBargains & Rarities

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The Corne¬Daily Sun

Today Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Daybook

Propensity Score Analysis9:30 - 11 a.m.,

Stone Computing Lab, Mann Library

Show Me the Money:Funding Beyond Cornell

3 - 4:30 p.m., 106 G, Olin Library,

Veterinary Senior Seminars4:30 - 5 p.m., Murray Lecture Hall 1,

Veterinary College

Now That They’ve Won, What Will They Do?4:45 - 6 p.m., 305 Ives Hall

Animal Rights: A Lunchtime DiscussionWith Professor Sherry Colb

12:15 - 1:15 p.m., G85 Myron Taylor Hall

Targeted Killings and the Duty to Capture12:15 - 1:30 p.m., G08 Uris Hall

Brazilian Food Festival at Okenshields4:30 p.m., Okenshields, Willard Straight Hall

Book Reading: Song of the Vikings4:30 p.m., Rare and Manuscript Collections,

Room 2B48, Kroch Library

Yum Yum Dinner at North Star4:30 - 8 p.m., North Star Dining Room, Appel Commons

Tomorrow

Today

Umpteen speedy televisions perused two sheep, then umpteen tickets towed Jupiter, and Dan untangles five progres-sive orifices. Umpteen quixotic aardvarks annoyingly bought two Macintoshes. Umpteen bureaux tickled twoextremely putrid botulisms. Paul sacrificed one lampstand, then Jupiter marries the very quixotic pawnbroker. Fivepurple poisons laughed, yet umpteen chrysanthemums kisses five aardvarks. Batman noisily untangles oneJabberwocky. Two Macintoshes laughed, then one extremely schizophrenic Jabberwocky drunkenly untangles twosheep, however Quark telephoned umpteen obese Jabberwockies. Five irascible botulisms slightly lamely auctionedoff the subway, and five chrysanthemums easily untangles one mostly speedy Klingon. Five dogs drunkenly perusedMinnesota, however the mats ran away cleverly, although one partly progressive subway quite comfortably sacrificed

Weird Newsof the Week

Ex-Mayor Erects StatueOf Himself at Michigan Home

DAVISON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — The formermayor of Flint, Mich., who resigned in 2009 while facinga recall has erected a bronze statue of himself outside thegated entrance to his home.

The Flint Journal reports that the statue of DonWilliamson in Genesee County’s Davison Township, nearFlint, is surrounded by six bronze lions.

On the base of the statue are the words: “The Colonel'sInc. Founded by Donald J. Williamson May 10, 1984. Hismotto ‘Success is the best revenge.’”

Williamson says the statue was made 20 years ago andwas originally displayed at The Colonel's Inc., the autoparts firm where he made his fortune.

Williamson says the lions were imported by his wife. Ofthe lion statues, he joked: “Careful, one of them is alive.”

Halloween-Colored LobsterCaught Off Mass. Coast

BOSTON (AP) — A Massachusetts fisherman hascaught a creepy-looking lobster that’s colored to matchHalloween.

The New England Aquarium says the 1-pound femalelobster has an orange side and a black side, with the colorssplit perfectly down the middle.

Marine officials say such coloration is estimated to occuronce in every 50 million lobsters.

The fisherman who caught the seasonally colored crus-tacean in a trap last week is from Beverly, a seaside com-

munity 20 miles northeast of Boston.The rare lobster is known as a split. Aquarium officials

said Wednesday splits have been caught in Maine, RhodeIsland and Nova Scotia in the last 10 years.

Wind Kicks Up 100-Year-OldVolcanic Ash in Alaska

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A smog-like haze that hungover part of Alaska’s Kodiak Island this week was courtesyof a volcanic eruption — 100 years ago.

The National Weather Service said strong winds and alack of snow Tuesday helped stir up ash from the 1912eruption of Novarupta, the largest volcanic blast of the20th century.

The ash drifted up to about 4,000 feet and traveled overthe Shelikof Strait and across Kodiak Island, prompting anaviation alert. The news was first reported by KMXT radio.

Weather service meteorologist Brian Hagenbuch said itisn’t unheard of for ash from Novarupta to create a haze,but it isn’t very common either. Winds in the area wereblowing about 35 to 40 mph, with gusts of more than 52mph.

Officials first picked up the haze on a weather cameraTuesday when the sun was rising. “It looked very foggy. ...It was kind of a curious thing,” Hagenbuch said. “We did-n’t expect fog there.”

As the day got lighter, the haze took on a “brownish,smog-type look,” he said.

A satellite image showed a “milky white plume” spread-ing out from the northern Alaska peninsula, and authori-ties later confirmed the existence of ash particles, he said.

Don’t be a fool!Read the comics every day.

THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Wednesday, November 7, 2012 3NEWS

Rep. Reed Ekes Out Victory Over Shinagawa’05Reelected Congressman promises to be ‘strongvoice in Washington’ for Tompkins County residents

In a hard-fought election decided by amargin smaller than any poll had predicted,incumbent Rep. Tom Reed (R-N.Y. 29)edged out Democratic challenger NateShinagawa ’05 M.A. ’09, clinching 51 per-cent of the vote and winning the race forNew York’s 23rd Congressional District.

James Drader, chairman of the TompkinsCounty Republican Party, said he was confi-dent that Reed would continue to be aneffective advocate for not only “fiscal respon-sibility,” but also for Tompkins County ingeneral.

“Reed has represented the district well fortwo years, and I think he’ll continue in thesame vein,” Drader said. “We’re headeddown the path to Greece, and I think TomReed is going to be one of the ones to stopit.”

The mood at Reed’s headquarters inCorning was ecstatic, as Reed addressed his

supporters late Tuesday night.“These campaigns are grueling, but it was

a team effort that was successful tonight, andI really do appreciate it,” he said.

Reed pledged to “be a strong voice inWashington [D.C.] for this area, for our state[and] for this region,” emphasizing the needfor national unity and a focus on the issues.

“It’s time to come together as a country tosolve these problems,” he said, citing theunemployment rate and debt crisis. “Firstup, we need to put the political rhetoric andthe political bickering aside.”

He also promised to fight for the needs ofhis constituents.

“We’re [going to] get out there every daylike we have in the 29th CongressionalDistrict,” he said.

Despite his loss, Shinagawa spoke opti-mistically in his concession speech.

“We did a very good job,” Shinagawasaid. “Unfortunately, we didn’t come closeenough. And unfortunately, we lost this race49 to 51. But that’s okay, because we showed

in this race that, even though we were out-spent three to one, we could come withinjust a few thousand votes of victory.”

Shinagawa thanked his family, campaignstaff, Democratic officials and organizationswho assisted his campaign–– as well as Reed.

“I would like to thankCongressman Reed for thiscampaign, for this very,very hard-fought battle,and I wish him success as aCongressman. I hope thathe will be able to representeverybody inside of thisdistrict,” Shinagawa said.

Shinagawa also struckan emotional note whenhe reflected on the con-versation he had with hisgrandfather, who wasthe first person he calledafter the election.

“My grandfather said to me ... isn’t itamazing that just two generations ago hewas in the Japanese-American intern-ment camps as a 10 year old and thoughtof as a traitor to this country. .. isn’t itamazing that just two generations that

just two generations later, [I was] able torun for Congress,” Shinagawa said.

Local Democrats echoed Shinagawa’sstatements and praised the efforts of his cam-paign in narrowing the race against signifi-

cant odds.“I think Nate ran an

excellent campaign in adistrict whereRepublicans outnumberDemocrats and where hewas outspent three toone. For him to closethat gap and almost pulloff this upset is some-thing special,” saidIthaca Mayor SvanteMyrick ’09.

Myrick also criticizednational Democraticorganizations, particu-larly the DemocraticC o n g r e s s i o n a l

Campaign Committee, for ignoringShinagawa’s race.

“Nate got outspent three to one, but lostby fewer than 5,000 votes,” Myrick said.

Tracking results | Supporters of Shinagawa ’05 surround a computer to follow the election.FIONA MODRAK / SUN SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

REP. REED

Concession speech | Shinagawa ’05 addresses supporters after announcing his electoral defeat.DYLAN CLEMENS / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Capturing more than 84 per-cent of the vote, Stephen Smith(D-N.Y.) was elected Fourth Wardrepresentative for the IthacaCommon Council Tuesday night,defeating Republican opponentMisha Checkovich ’13.

Gathered in a packed room atthe Holiday Inn indowntown Ithaca,city officials, Ithacansand CornellDemocrats greetednews of Smith’s elec-tion with loudapplause and cheers.

“My first priority right now isengaging in conversation that willbring the permanent residents andstudents [in the Fourth Ward]together so that we can worktoward some common goals,”Smith told The Sun after his winwas announced.

Smith won the seat for oneyear, serving out the remainder ofthe position’s term afterAlderperson Eddie Rooker ’09abruptly vacated the seat inSeptember. He will need to runagain in November 2014 to securea full four-year term on the

Common Council.Checkovich, a history major at

Cornell, wished Smith luck afterthe race was called Tuesday night.She received the news after takingher second prelim of the day.

“I wish Steve Smith the best onCommon Council and that I hopehe can represent the Fourth Wardwell and accomplish all that he setout to accomplish,” she told TheSun.

After his victory was

announced, Smith pledged to fol-low through with several initiativeshe has said he would support.

In a debate against Checkovichlast month, Smith praised MayorSvante Myrick’s ’09 proposed bud-get, saying he believes the plan willreduce the city’s deficit. He alsothrew his support behind JoshLower’s ’05 Collegetown Crossingproject and proposed abatingCollegetown’s housing crunch bymandating a two-month waitingperiod between the start of a leaseand the showing of apartments.

“Moving on from there, I am

going to look into affordable qual-ity housing in Ithaca and what wecan do to increase that,” Smithadded.

Multiple city officials celebrat-ed Smith’s victory Tuesday night.

“Our voters had a clear choicebetween a pragmatic, balancedapproach and a more conservativeapproach. Voters chose the pro-gressive, Democratic way in alandslide,” said Myrick, whoendorsed Smith in the race.

Alderperson GrahamKerslick (D-4th Ward)echoed Myrick’s senti-ments.

“I think it was a fairlyconvincing win,” he said. “Ithink it is very clear thatpeople have a very strong

choice in the ward and that isgreat.”

Kerslick said he is looking for-ward to working with Smith toincrease student involvement inthe Fourth Ward community.

Cornell students comprise 97percent of constituents in theFourth Ward, which includesCascadilla Park, West Campus andmost of Collegetown. Although hedid not attend Cornell, Smith hassaid that he “understands a lot ofwhat it is to be a student in a com-

Fourth Ward victor | Democrat Stephen Smith was elected the FourthWard’s representative to the Common Council Tuesday.

CHRIS PHARE / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

By MATTHEW ROSENSPIRESun Senior Writer

“Voters chose the progressive,Democratic way in a landslide.”Svante Myrick ’09

See SMITH page 4

By REBECCA HARRISSun News Editorand MANU RATHORESun Senior Writer

See CONGRESS page 4

Smith Captures Fourth Ward Common Council Seat

NEWS4 THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Wednesday, November 7, 2012

munity and [to try] to have a pos-itive relationship with that com-munity.”

Kerslick backed Smith, sayinghe believes that Smith has provenhimself to be an effective commu-nicator.

“I think Stephen did an excel-lent job of meeting students thatwas reflected in the very cleardecision by the ward,” Kerslicksaid. “He has talked to studentsand got involved with the studentbody of the 4th Ward, whichbrought him a strong poll fromthe student constituents of theward.”

The celebration for Smith’s vic-tory was muted, as Smith quicklyturned his attention to the ongo-ing race of Democrat NateShinagawa ’05 M.A. ’09, who isrunning to represent New York’s23rd Congressional District.Smith is the finance director for

Shinagawa’s campaign.“I work for Nate Shinagawa

full time. After I check in with acouple of people here ... I amgoing to go upstairs and wait forthe numbers to come up forNate,” Smith said after his win.“Back to work.”

Shinagawa conceded to ReedTuesday in a speech to supportersat the Holiday Inn in downtownIthaca.

Smith, a 2009 graduate of theState University of New York atGeneseo, was appointed to serveout the remainder of the position’sterm after Rooker cut his termshort by a year. Rooker decided toleave the Common Council afterhe was accepted off the wait list atthe New York University Schoolof Law, prompting the TompkinsCounty Democratic Committeeto nominate Smith to run for theseat.

“The DCCC ignored this racefrom the beginning. Theythought a Democrat didn’thave a chance in this district.They didn’t know thisDemocrat. With no nationalsupport, he lost 49 to 51.

They’ll pay attention nexttime.”

Irene Stein, chair of theTompkins County DemocraticParty, agreed with Myrick’sassessment of the race.

“It was incredibly close. Fora Democratic challenger tocome so close to beating anincumbent Republican in this

district is remarkable,” Steinsaid. “[Nate] certainly has achance in a future race. If TomReed continues on the roadhe’s been on, we’ll challengehim again and I hope it will bewith Nate Shinagawa.”

York’s Times Square, at FaneuilHall in Boston and near theWhite House in Washington, dri-vers joyfully honking as theypassed by.

With votes counted in 75 per-cent of the nation's precincts,Obama held a narrow advantagein the popular vote, leading byabout 25,000 out of more than99 million cast.

But the president's laserlikefocus on the battleground statesallowed him to run up a 303-203margin in the competition forelectoral votes, where the WhiteHouse is won or lost. It took 270to win.

Obama captured Ohio,Wisconsin, Iowa, NewHampshire, Colorado andNevada, seven of the nine stateswhere the rivals and their alliespoured nearly $1 billion intodueling television commercials.

Romney was inMassachusetts, his long and gru-eling bid for the presidency at anunsuccessful end.

He won North Carolinaamong the battleground states.

Florida remained too close tocall, a state where there were longlines of voters kept the polls openin some areas wellpast the appointedpoll close time.

The electionemerged as a choicebetween two very dif-ferent visions of gov-ernment — whetherit occupies a major,front-row place in American livesor is in the background as a less-obtrusive facilitator for privateenterprise and entrepreneurship.

The economy was rated thetop issue by about 60 percent ofvoters surveyed as they left theirpolling places. But more said for-mer President George W. Bushbore responsibility for current

circumstances than Obama didafter nearly four years in office.

That bode well for the presi-dent, who had worked to turnthe election into a choicebetween his proposals andRomney's, rather than the simplereferendum on the economy dur-ing his time in the White House.

Unemployment stood at 7.9percent on election day, higherthan when he took office. Anddespite signs of progress, theeconomy is still struggling afterthe worst recession in history.

There was no doubt aboutwhat drove voters to one candi-date or the other.

About 4 in 10 said the econo-

my is on the mend, but morethan that said it was stagnant orgetting worse more than fouryears after the near-collapse of2008. The survey was conductedfor The Associated Press and agroup of television networks.v

In the battle for the Senate,Democrats won seats currently

held by Republicans inIndiana and Massa -chusetts.

In Maine, indepen-dent former Gov. AngusKing was elected to suc-ceed retiring GOP Sen.Olympia Snowe. He hasnot yet said which party

he will side with, butRepublicans attacked him intelevision advertising during therace, and Democrats rushed tohis cause.

Polls were still open in muchof the country as the two rivalsbegan claiming the spoils of abrawl of an election in a year inwhich the struggling economy

put a crimp in the middle classdreams of millions.

The president was in Chicagoas he awaited the voters' verdicton his four years in office. Hetold reporters he had a concessionspeech as well as victory remarksprepared. He congratulatedRomney on a spirited campaign.“I know his supporters are just asengaged, just as enthusiastic andworking just as hard today” asObama's own, he added.

Romney reciprocated, con-gratulating the man who he hadcampaigned against for morethan a year.

Earlier, he raced to Ohio andPennsylvania for Election Daycampaigning and projected con-fidence as he flew home toMassachusetts. “We fought to thevery end, and I think that's whywe'll be successful,” he said,adding that he had finished writ-ing a speech anticipating victorybut nothing if the election wentto his rival.

Obama’s Focus on Battleground States Boosts Him to VictoryELECTION

Continued from page 1

The president’s laserlike focus on thebattleground states allowed him to runup a 303-203 margin in the competitionfor electoral votes.

Dems: Shinagawa’s Campaign ‘Remarkable’CONGRESS

Continued from page 3

Matthew Rosenspire can be reachedat mrosenspire@cornellsun.com.

Smith Focused on ConnectingWith Students in Campaign

SMITHContinued from page 3

The Sun’s News Department can bereached at news@cornellsun.com.

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THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Wednesday, November 7, 2012 5PHOTO FEATURE

Ready to vote | Students arrive at the polls at St. Luke’s Church Tuesday.GINA HONG / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Mayoral vote | Mayor Svante Myrick ’09 arrives at the polls Tuesday.GINA HONG / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Cast your vote | People vote at St. Luke’s Church in Collegetown, one of four polling locations near campus, Tuesday.GINA HONG / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Voting this way | RPCC opened polls Tuesday.MICHAEL GREENE / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Free sticker | People received a sticker for casting their votes at polls at St. Luke’s Church Tuesday.GINA HONG / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Glued to the TV | Students watch election results in RPCC Tuesday.MICHAEL GREENE / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Meet and greet | Mayor Svante Myrick ’09 talks with avolunteer at the polls at St. Luke’s Church Tuesday.

TINA CHOU / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Working hard | Volunteers work at the polls at St. Luke’s Church Tuesday.JOY CHUA / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Civic rights | Students prepare to vote Tuesday.GINA HONG / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Viewing party | People gather at CTB Tuesday to watch election results unfold.MICHAEL GREENE / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Civic rights | People cast votes Tuesday afternoon.GINA HONG / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Anticipation | Students wait for election results Tuesday.MICHAEL GREENE / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Election DayIn Ithaca

NEWS6 THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Wednesday, November 7, 2012

before cries of “Obama! Obama!” drowned her out. Not everyone, however, was celebrating Tuesday night. At Alpha

Delta Phi fraternity, where the Cornell Republicans gathered towatch the election results, the atmosphere was somber. Once CNNannounced that Obama won the election, silence filled the roomand shock washed over many of students’ faces.

“[The results are] pretty much in line with my expectations,” saidJess Reif ’14, chair of the Cornell Republicans. “Of course, [I] washoping Romney would win, but I guess that is not the case. I amglad we kept the House, though.”

Elsewhere on Tuesday, students like Isabel Stonehouse ’15expressed skepticism over whether Obama’s reelection will propelthe country forward.

“I honestly don’t expect much to change in the next four years. Ithink that it’ll be pretty much the same,” Stonehouse said.

In Ujamaa Residential College, the mood was almost the exactopposite. More than 60 students gathered in front of the televisionin Ujamaa’s main lounge, erupting in cheers when blue-coloredstates appeared and groaning loudly with red-colored states flashedon the screen.

Fernando Quiroz ’16 said that the tension was palpable as resi-dents watched election results pour in.

“It’s one of the best experiences to be here with a lot of other stu-dents, seniors, sophomores, juniors, and just being able to watch theelection,” Quiroz said.

For Shannon Cohall ’14, the reelection of the country’s first blackpresident marked another “historic moment” for the U.S.

“It means that all things are possible for us, if someone can lookup to [Obama] to emulate not only his tradition as president, butalso his academic success and career success,” she said. “We can allemulate him — black, white, anyone. He’s not just a role model forblack people.”

Four years ago, the election of America's first black presidentchanged what Prof. Margaret Washington, history, thought abouther country. In an interview before Obama’s reelection wasannounced, Washington, who studies the history of blackAmericans, said the results would test the lessons she drew from thatnight.

“[This election] means a lot in terms of my assessment of theAmerican people and their willingness to choose a good leader andforget about the color of his skin,” Washington said. “It’s emotion-al; it’s historical; it’s personal.”

Watching media outlets announce Obama’s victory in a DonlonHall lounge, freshmen broke into celebration. But on Tuesday, manyof them celebrated more than Obama’s reelection.

One first-time voter, Emily Decicco ’16 — who woke up “reallyearly” to vote — said she was “really excited” as she camped out inRPCC with friends to watch the elections.

“Words cannot describe how happy I am, and I am glad to be apart of history,” said Alex Dopico ’16, another first time voter.

Donna Hibbert, a poll worker who has volunteered in that capac-ity for the past 25 years, said seeing students vote for the first timewas one of the reasons she did not mind getting up at 5:30 a.m. andstaying late into the night.

“Many of the students are voting for the first time, and they’reexcited about it,” Hibbert said.

At a lounge in Robert Purcell Community Center, where dozensof students multitasked — eating popcorn, doing homework andwatching CNN — several freshmen expressed pride over being partof the election.

“One of those millions of votes is mine,” Carolyn Sussman ’16said.

While emotions ran high on both sides Tuesday night and intoWednesday morning, Cornell’s professors were also prepared to ana-lyze the historic election from a political perspective.

“The GOP faces a bleak future at the national level if it cannotaddress its pressing demographic problems. The gender gap was bigagain tonight, and Romney ran very poorly among hispanic andAfrican American voters,” said Prof. Fredrik Logevall, history.“Whites are making up a smaller percentage of the electorate witheach passing presidential election. How will Republicans respond?”

Prof. Ross Brann, near eastern studies, cautioned that despite theexcitement, Americans have cause to be worried about the future oftheir democracy.

“We should all be concerned about voter suppression, long waitlines for voters and the realization that tens of millions of Americansdo not bother to vote,” he said. “Something is very wrong withAmerican democracy.”

Even professors, however, were not immune from the electionnight euphoria that captivated many on Cornell’s campus.

“I think it’s wonderful that he won re-election,” Prof. Mary BethNorton, history, said.

Noah Rankin, Tajwar Mazhar, Rudy Yoder, Olivia Dang, CarolineFlax, Sylvia Rusnak, Jonathan Dawson, Justin Rouillier and AkaneOtani contributed reporting to this story.

OBAMAContinued from page 1

The Sun’s news department can be reached at news@cornellsun.com.

Campus, C-TownRe!ect on Election

www.cornellsun.com

THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Wednesday, November 7, 2012 7NEWS

At Least 5 C.U. Alumni Win Congressional RacesWIN: After defeating a six-term incumbent in the Republican primary, Lt.

Cmdr. Jim Bridenstine became the Congressional representative for the 1stDistrict of Oklahoma, holding 63 percent of thevote two hours after the polls closed on Tuesday.

After serving in Afghanistan and Iraq, Bridestine com-pleted his M.B.A. at Cornell before returning to Tulsa toserve as the executive direction for the Tulsa Air and Space

Museum and Planetarium. Bridenstine also works atvarious consulting firms.

Strongly backed by the Tea Party,Bridenstine defeated his opponent Sgt. John Olson (D-Okla.), a small-business owner from Tulsa.

According to the Oklahoma State Election Board,Republicans nearly had a 38 percent registration advantage

in the district going into the election.

Joe Rooney ’80LOSS: Four-year incumbent Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-Penn.) toppled Joe Rooney

’80 (R-Penn) in Tuesday’s election for Pennsylvania’s 13th Congressional District seat. Hehad 68.8 percent of the vote as of 1 a.m. on Wednesday.

Rooney attended Cornell on a Navy ROTC scholarship andreceived a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering.

A self-proclaimed fiscal conservative, he has called for abalanced budget amendment, the simplification of the

national tax code and the elimination of the nationaldeficit according to the Wall Street Journal.

He has also criticized President Obamaand the Democratic Party for what he

said is their opposition to the mili-tary.

“The current Democrat administra-tion proposes cuts in our Army and Marine Corps as a way totransfer money for their far left pet projects,” Rooney said on hiswebsite. “There is waste in the Department of Defense and it mustbe weeded out, but manpower cuts to our fighting forces areunwise.”

Rooney served for 23 years in the U.S. Marine Corps, retir-ing from the Marine Corps Reserve in 2003 as a lieutenantcolonel.

Jim Bridenstine MBA ’09

Pennsylvania 13th

Oklahoma 1st

WIN: Rob Andrews J.D. ’82 (D-N.J.) the incumbent for NewJersey’s 1st Congressional District, defeated his opponent, Greg

Horton (R-N.J.). As of 1 a.m. on Wednesday,Andrews had 67.9 percent of the vote.

Andrews has served on Congress since 1990.In 2008, 206,453 ballots were cast in his favor —more votes than any other Congressional candi-date from New Jersey has received in history.

As a student at Cornell Law School,Andrews was selected to be on the Board ofEditors for the Cornell Law Review.

Rob Andrews J.D. ’82

New Jersey 1st

LOSS: Nan Hayworth M.D. ’85 lost re-election in NewYork’s 19th Congressional District, to Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.), who served as an aide under President Bill Clinton andformer New York governors David Paterson andEliot Spitzer. Maloney defeated Hayworth by amargin of 51.7 to 48.3, as of 1 a.m. onWednesday.

According to the HudsonValley Magazine, pundits inWashington identifiedHayworth as one of theRepublicans in the House ofRepresentatives most vulnera-

ble to defeat this year, althoughpolling showed she began this fallwith a lead over Maloney.

Her platform called for cutting govern-ment spending, decreasing energy costs,and repairing the nation’s infrastructure to

generate growth. Hayworth graduated top of her class

from Cornell University MedicalCollege, where she was elected to theAlpha Omega Alpha Medical HonorsSociety.

Nan Hayworth M.D. ’85

New York 18th

WIN: Rep. Chris Gibson Ph.D ’98 (R-N.Y), who received two mas-ters’ degrees from Cornell, defeated Dem. Julian Schriebman (D-N.Y.)

in the race for his second term as the representativefor New York’s 19th Congressional District. In2010, Gibson was elected to represent the 20th dis-trict, which includes Washington County and thecity of Saratoga Springs.

Gibson, a retired Army colonel and recipient ofmany military decorations, wonwith about 54 percent of the vote

as of 1 a.m. on Wednesday. Gibson ran successfully forCongress in 2010, beating incumbent Scott Murphy(D-N.Y.) with 55 percent of the Vote.

Though the district is traditionally conservative,Gibson, who received his Ph.D from Cornell in gov-ernment, and Schreibman went head to head ina closely contested race.

Gibson M.A. ’96 Ph.D. ’98

New York 20th

Kurt Schrader ’73WIN: Rep. Kurt Schrader ’73 (D-Ore.), a self-proclaimed budget

hawk, was reelected as representative of Orgeon’s northwestern fifth ward,defeating his opponent, Fred Thompson (R-Ore.). He led with 54.2 per-cent as of 1 a.m. on Wednesday. Schrader graduated from Cornell in 1973with a Bachelor of Arts in government.

Since his election in 2008, Schrader has worked on legilation regardingagriculture and natural resources — two key issues for

Oregon, which boasts a sizablevoting bloc.

Schrader, whose district isconsidered fairly conservativehas a reputation as a politicalmoderate and has voted with theDemocratic party only 63 percentof the time, according to an analy-sis conducted by The

Washington Post.Oregon 5th

OPINION

The Corne¬ Daily SunIndependent Since 1880

130TH EDITORIAL BOARD

JUAN FORRER ’13Editor in Chief

HELENE BEAUCHEMIN ’13Business Manager

RUBY PERLMUTTER ’13Associate Editor

JOSEPH STAEHLE ’13Web Editor

ESTHER HOFFMAN ’13Photography EditorELIZA LaJOIE ’13Blogs Editor

ZACHARY ZAHOS ’15Arts & Entertainment EditorELIZABETH CAMUTI ’14City Editor

AKANE OTANI ’14News Editor

ELIZABETH PROEHL ’13Associate Multimedia Editor

SCOTT CHIUSANO ’15Assistant Sports EditorREBECCA COOMBES ’14Assistant Design EditorNICHOLAS ST. FLEUR ’13Science Editor

JOSEPH VOKT ’14Assistant Web Editor

JACQUELINE CHAN ’14Marketing Manager

ERIKA G. WHITESTONE ’15Social Media Manager

JESSICA YANG ’14Human Resources Manager

DAVID MARTEN ’14Senior Editor

JAMES RAINIS ’14Senior Editor

JEFF STEIN ’13Managing Editor

JAMES CRITELLI ’13Advertising Manager

LAUREN A. RITTER ’13Sports Editor

ANN NEWCOMB ’13Design Editor

BRYAN CHAN ’15Multimedia Editor

DAVEEN KOH ’14Arts & Entertainment Editor

KATHARINE CLOSE ’14News Editor

REBECCA HARRIS ’14News Editor

DANIELLE B. ABADA ’14Assistant Sports Editor

HALEY VELASCO ’15Assistant Sports Editor

AMANDA STEFANIK ’13Assistant Design Editor

SYDNEY RAMSDEN ’14Dining Editor

MAGGIE HENRY ’14Outreach Coordinator

AUSTIN KANG ’15Assistant Advertising Manager

HANK BAO ’14Online Advertising Manager

KATERINA ATHANASIOU ’13Senior Editor

JACOB KOSE ’13Senior Editor

PATRICIO MARTÍNEZ ’13Senior Editor

WORKING ON TODAY’S SUNDESIGN DESKER Amanda Stefanik ’14

Hannah Kim ’14Brian Murphy ’16

PHOTO NIGHT EDITOR Fiona Modrak ’13Dylan Clemens ’14

NEWS DESKERS Akane Otani ’14Kerry Close ’14

SPORTS DESKER Lauren Ritter ’13ARTS DESKER Daveen Koh ’14

Zach Zahos ’15NEWS NIGHT EDITOR Utsav Rai ’15ARTS NIGHT EDITOR Henry Staley ’16

SCIENCE EDITOR Nicholas St. Fleur ’13

DANIEL ROBBINS ’13Senior Editor

This weekend Jacob Kose lost his part-ner in crime Jason Goldberg onSaturday night but found him

Sunday morning, buried in a vat of curryand lamb vindaloo. The Indian delicacieshad congealed and Jason very badly had togo to the bathroom, but still hoped to pre-serve the vat, which would have amountedto at least a month of sustenance. Thequandary induced a spirited debate overthe question everyone’s been debating sinceNovember 7, 1861: Did Thomas Crapper’spatent of the flush toilet — with separatewater tank and pull chain — revolutionizeshitting as we know it? I retrieved a hoe,four shovels and a cannister of whippedcream to dig Jason out of the vindaloo whilewe unclogged our thoughts.

Disclaimer: As always, ScrambledEggs strives to adequately approximatewhat was said and who said what, butmay at times mess all of that up.

JACOB KOSE: And you have no ideahow you woke up in vindaloo?

JASON GOLDBERG: Nope.J.K.: Did you mistake Mehak or

Sangham grill for my house at three inthe morning? Cause they can get prettyweird after closing hours on Saturdays.

J.G.: How do you mean? Pass me thathoe and four shovels.

J.K.: They play paintball with the left-over meat. Last time I went I got a blackeye from a chunk of chicken tikkamasala.

J.G.: Definitely the best Indian dishto get a black eye from. I haven’t hadbreakfast yet; can you spray that MiracleWhip all over my face?

J.K.: Of course. Do you know what’scrazy to me? There’ve been so many coolinventions: liquid soap, those little stop-pers you put on wine bottles to poursamples, the chair, but I think ThomasCrapper is the only dude to die on the50th anniversary of his invention. Hejust wanted to be known for the flushtoilet so badly. Do you feel nothingtowards this bastion of sanitation?

J.G.: I literally can’t tell you howbadly I have to take a shit. There could-n’t be anything I’d rather not talk aboutmore.

J.K.: Do you think people hate talk-ing about going to the bathroom becausethey hate going to the bathroom?

J.G.: I mean, does the fact that every-one does it make it less gross?

J.K.: Why wouldn’t it? You’re prettydesensitized when you walk into a publicbathroom because you know to fear theworst, eh?

J.G.: No, you’re pretty sensitizedbecause it smells like shit.

J.K.: Alright, but it’s time we admitthat it used to be so much worse beforetoilets and be grateful instead of makingsuch a krazy kerfuffle.

J.G.: I think we are grateful, especial-ly when we travel to parts of the worldwhere you have to take ass-aim at a cup.But we’ve also become used to the priva-cy of our own bathrooms, or at least ourown stalls.

J.K.: So we’re at a crossroads, and I’mnot sure we can cross this road until welick that whipped cream off your face.

J.G.: As you wish.

Jason eats his own face.

J.K.: We’ve got to get to the bottomof what prompted the solitary nature of

the act of shitting — the smell, or theinvention of the toilet slash outhouse?

J.G.: Dude, think of theNeanderthals. Even the richestNeanderthals were doin’ their business inthe ground, so do you think they all justpopped a squat mid-conversation? No, itwas the stank. It was the stank all along.

J.K.: It has to be the toilet though,because before the outhouse there wasnever a confined, solitary space you hadto go as if you were being punished,when in reality you’re just punishingyour food and being all, “What, I ateyou, get OUT of me.”

J.G.: That’s really aggressive. But Iguarantee you it’s not the toilet because,I’ll let you in on a little real-man secrethere: You know how girls go to the bath-room in groups to put on makeup andwatch each other pee? Well, real dudestake shits in groups. Think about it: guyslike to be funny, and shitting is the mostridiculous thing to do, so the socio-com-ical effects of shitting in groups are —

J.K.: — Unimaginably amazing.J.G.: Unimaginably amazing.J.K.: So, I’m assuming that the best

environment to live and prosper inshould have bathrooms with multiplestalls and substantial space between thestalls, sinks and door to linger so thatshitters never feel as alone as they’ve feltin the last century and a half; that the toi-let’s only an alright invention and we stillhaven’t reached the apex of modern shit-tery as we know it?

J.G.: That’s right.J.K.: You know, for a dude covered in

curry, you’re kind of a genius.

On Loneliness,Lavatories and Lamb Vindaloo

Jacob Kose is a senior in the College of Arts andSciences. He may be reached at jkose@cornell-sun.com. Scrambled Eggs ap pears alternateWednesdays this semester.

Jacob Kose

Scrambled Eggs

CORRECTION

A news article Thursday, “The Cornell Store Gets a Redesign,” incorrectly stated thatthe upper level entrance to the Cornell Store will not be accessible from Oct. 29 to Nov.26. In fact, the only entrance that will be closed is the one adjacent to the store’s loadingdock. The main upper level entrance will remain open.

Make an impact with sustainable investmentsTo the Editor:Re: “Letter to the Editor: The Path Toward Sustainability,” Opinion, Nov. 1

In a recent Sun Letter to the Editor, “The Path Toward Sustainability,” P. Ming Wong’86, M.B.A. ’89 writes about his visit to Ithaca — “to speak with a number of faculty mem-bers to explore starting a new program that promotes impact investing, including the pos-sibility of creating a new student-run social venture fund to provide hands-on experiencefor students (both undergraduate and graduate) to work with local social entrepreneurs, aswell as the global Cornell community, to design sustainable and scalable solutions to ourworld’s most pressing social and environmental problems.”

According to Wikipedia, “Impact investing refers to investments made based on thepractice of assessing not only the financial return on investment, but also the social andenvironmental impact of the investment.”

I applaud this effort and hope P. Ming Wong’s proposed Impact Investing Program isimplemented at Cornell because there are two locations in Ithaca that could use multi-func-tional interdisciplinary studies.

Tompkins County’s largest brownfield site is one of these locations. The vacant Emersonplant is situated on 100 acres of land that is only a few blocks from the DowntownCommons. The Emerson site has attracted a recent study from a team of EngineeringManagement students in Cornell’s School of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Thetitle of their study is, “Feasibility Study Of Renewable Energy Sources at the Emerson Plantin Ithaca, N.Y.” However, due to the extensive pollution on the Emerson site, a furthermulti-functional interdisciplinary study is needed to make the case for repurposing theEmerson plant in an environmentally responsible manner.

The Carpenter Business Park area, which includes the Ithaca Area Waste WaterTreatment Facility (IAWWTF), the Farmers Market and other properties along the Inlet, isthe other location that could use a multi-functional interdisciplinary study team to exam-ine the feasibility for impact investing. Specifically, a feasibility study that focuses on con-verting sludge from the IAWWTF into heat and electricity for the undeveloped CarpenterBusiness Park area, the Farmers Market and other properties along the Inlet, including theIAWWTF. Owners, managers and operators of all these properties have voiced interest inpursuing a District Energy system for this area of Ithaca.

To quote again P. Ming Wong, “With the University wide business minor initiative thathas just been launched, the time is ripe to open a dialogue on what exactly a modern busi-ness education should include. If we merely succeed in teaching finance and accounting toa few more graduates, then surely it would be an opportunity lost.”

Many in the Ithaca community, including the South Hill Civic Association, imploreCornell to follow P. Ming Wong’s path towards sustainability.

John GravesPresident, South Hill Civic Association

Co-founder, Ithaca Community Environmental and Brownfield RemediationGroup (ICEBRG)

Letters

For someone who generally writesabout politics, running a columnthe day following Election Day is a

bit awkward. When I write my column,I’ll have no idea who is going to win anyelection. When you read my column,you’ll have a pretty good idea who isgoing to win most of them — includingthe presidency, and the senatorship andbasically anything else that matters. So,how do I champion this day? How can I,like an impending presidential victor,capture your hearts and minds?

Definitely not by posting a Facebookstatus about it.

Something I and all of you have prob-ably noticed and hated in the past coupleof years is the notable uptick in politicalpostings on social media sites. When Iwas on Myspace in eighth grade, I wasconcerned with getting the most postsout of anyone on my Top 8. Today on awhole platform of different social mediasites that I subscribe to (sorry, Myspace,)I’m concerned with avoiding a tsunamiof political tweets, retweets, tags and —of course — the omnipresent statusupdate.

These posts — “GObama!” “Cleareyes, full hearts, can’t lose!” (Thanks,Coach Taylor) — generate an equal num-ber of the obligatory, oh-so-counter-cul-tural, complaint posts: “if 1 more of myfriends posts about obama, im moving tocanada,” “can facebook ban political sta-tuses?!!!!!!!” I’ll be honest; the jig is up.The anti-political status joke has beenmade — many, many times. But still,people post them, accounting for muchof the politically-related activity thatclogs up my feed, multiplying the prob-lem.

The number of Facebook “likes” that

these complaint posts on my newsfeedget usually vastly outweighs the numberof likes on sincere political posts. I’m leftto conclude that many people, likemyself, feel irritated when, around elec-tion time, our news and Twitter feedsexplode with a sudden collection of opin-ions we never even knew our friends had.

Complaints about the pervasive andwidespread presence of political Internetactivity is backed up by the numbers.Sixty-six percent of social media usersread or post political content. As of noonon Tuesday, 22 percent of registered vot-ers had announced their vote over asocial media platform. It’s safe to say thatamong friend groups and Twitter follow-ers of university students and graduateslike us, the percentage is even higherthan that of the general population.

That’s not to say that all that onlinepolitical activity is based on academicproof. A great deal of it is “shared” or“liked;” people reinforcing opinions stat-ed by others regardless of the facts.Additionally, the majority of politicalcontent posted on social media sites isoverwhelmingly negative. I know thatI’ve defriended or unfollowed people inthe last couple of months after being sub-jected to a deluge of emotionally-charged, counterfactual posts that theycite to other people or generated afterskimming the web.

What we can take away from all ofthis political hoopla is that many peopleusing the Internet (and that means mostof us here in the United States) are reallypolitically informed these days — justnot always by reliable and diversesources. The wide variety of Internetfunctions that news outlets have devel-oped — “recommended for you,” “most

emailed,” “most viewed” — have allowedconsumers to be highly selective in whatnews they are exposed to.

Even the most basic ideological splitbetween news options, such as thatbetween CNN and Fox, means that yourchoice limits your exposure to a specificperspective. Even if facts play a role innewscasting and article-writing, they areserved up to us in a platter heavily deco-

rated with political biases. The Internetmeans more choices, and social mediagives people an opportunity to jockey fortheir choices to be heard. We’re not hear-ing fact-based interpretations of politicalevents — we’re hearing whichever inter-pretation is communicated the most.

Our relaying politically-biased infor-mation via social media promotes polar-ization. Our accounts are virtual repre-sentations of our personalities; funninessis encouraged and jokes and political jabsare witty ways to expose sides of our pref-erences. But at this very moment, I’mlooking at six politically-charged statuseson Facebook uploaded by friends who Iknow aren’t even voting. They post polit-ical content because it’s relevant to theirreputations or their images or because it’sfunny to their friends. This, in turn,makes other people mad and the splitbetween political views gets even wider.

This online political activity, howeverdamaging to real, fact-based opinions, ishere to stay. We won’t get sick of talking,joking and promoting misinformationbecause we think it’s true or because it’sfunny. The best thing to do is to acceptthis reality and not defriend or unfollowother online relationships because some-one’s posts are far from our personalopinions.

Posting one of the complaint poststhat I mentioned above only dismissespeers for taking an interest in politics,something we should promote even ifmuch of that exchange is polarized ormisinformed. Posting genuine responsesthat point out an absence of fact-basedinformation might seem cheesy or lame,but only because of those complaintposts that mock people for being politi-cally active. Social media sites provide anawesome opportunity to expose ourselvesto a diversity of opinions. Join me insucking it up, letting other people saytheir piece and getting what value we canfrom Internet grandstanding.

Last week I was glued to the Internet even moreso than usual. Since Sunday night, when prepa-rations for Hurricane Sandy began across the tri-

state area, I have been constantly online cyclingthrough all New York related newspapers, magazinesand blogs. On Monday night, as the hurricane edgedever closer to the coast, I was glued to constantupdates like a diehard football fan watching theSuperbowl. I have followed the fallout just as closely,knowing exactly which subways are up and running,when power returned to downtown Manhattan and

the second the marathon was canceled. The resultshave been even more devastating to me, a native NewYorker, than they would be to somebody simplywatching the news. Entire communities destroyed,people losing their jobs because they couldn’t make itto work, restaurants that may be forced to close due tolosses and galleries in Chelsea flooded.

As a New Yorker, born and raised in Manhattan, Ilatched onto anything that let me feel like I was home

at this time of crisis. Looking at photos of familiarstreets now flooded or littered with debris and readingFacebook updates from friends without power anddamaged homes, I felt extremely despondent that Iwas not in New York bearing the burden with them. Iwas here in Ithaca, facing the typical cold and rain,while my brothers, both without power, were forcedto squeeze into my parents’ one bedroom apartmentuptown, which still had heat and electricity. I wasstrolling to class as usual when the subway I wouldtake to get to my high school was completely flooded.

My brother was going todecimated Staten Islandto volunteer while I waswatching a movie onNetflix. This guilt, how-ever, feels very odd anduncomfortable. Why amI acting like a martyr,wishing I were experienc-ing the aftermath of adisaster? Shouldn’t I be

thankful that I was away from all the chaos, that I stillhad heat and power, that I was spared a massive inter-ruption to my daily routine unlike so many of myfamily and friends?

I haven’t been homesick at all in my three plusyears at Cornell, but this disaster reminded me ofhow important New York City is in my life. It’s whereI grew up and where I will undoubtedly end up.There is a certain snobbery attached to people who

grew up in New York, where we feel like no otherplace can match up, or fulfill us in the same way. Thishas nothing to do with the quality of other cities, butentirely to do with the enigmatic draw and powerNew York has. And so imagining my home goingthrough an event that could challenge its very infra-structure was incredibly nerve racking and surpris-ingly emotional.

I must have called or texted half of my friends fromhome, asking them not just how they were doing, butwhat conditions in the city were like during and afterthe hurricane. “How did you get to work today?”“Until what avenue did the water come to by yourhouse?” “What have you been eating since everythingis closed?” I asked countless of these inane, hyper-spe-cific questions that to my friends seemed ridiculousand irrelevant. But I needed to feel like I was there,that I could hear the wind howl as the storm drewnear, or that I could wait an hour and a half to catcha bus in the days after the storm hit. In years to come,when people find out that I am from New York City,they will ask me where I was and what happenedwhen Sandy hit, much like they do with September11. “I wasn’t there,” I’ll respond. And I’ll feel like lessof a New Yorker for it. It makes little sense and is self-pitying but who cares? It’s true.

THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Wednesday, November 7, 2012 9OPINION

The City That Never Seeps

Dan Rosen

Smell the Rosen

Dan Rosen is a senior in the College of Art, Architecture, andPlanning. He may be reached at drosen@cornellsun.com. Smell theRosen ap pears alternate Wednesdays this semester.

Maggie Henry is a junior in the College of Arts andSciences. She may be reached at mhenry@cornell-sun.com. Get Over Yourself appears alternateWednesdays this semester.

When You Grandstand My Newsfeed

MaggieHenry

Get Over Yourself

THE SUNTHRIVES

ON YOUR FEEDBACK.

SEND 200-500 WORDSUBMISSIONS TO

OPINION@CORNELLSUN.COM.

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WELCOME.

10 THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Wednesday, November 7, 2012

The legacy of Hurricane Sandyhas been, unquestionably, one ofloss, uncertainty and devastationfor many people throughout thenortheastern United States. Butamidst the chaos and destruction,ornithologists have found the hur-ricane’s silver lining — a rareglimpse of seldom-seen birds soar-ing after the storm.

As climatologists have gottenbetter at understanding and pre-dicting the courses of hurricanes,ornithologists everywhere havenoticed a pattern: when hurricanessweep from coastal areas inland,they bring with them sea birdsthat are rarely seen on land. Thebirds may be preemptively fleeingnorthward in search of shelterfrom the strong winds. Othersmay be pushed from the sea to thecoast by the hurricane’s winds orpulled along in the eye of thestorm until it dissipates. In the lat-ter phenomenon, known asentrainment, it’s safest for birds tostay in the eye of the storm andavoid the harsh weather surround-ing them, according to ornitholo-

gists. As movement inland contin-ues and the winds weaken, birdswill also frequently drop downonto lakes and wait for the rest ofthe storm to pass.

At this point, many birds willremain perched until the stormhas passed over them, before jour-neying back to their naturalranges. This method proves toughfor coastal birds, which cannoteasily survive away from theocean. Once the weather is clear,these birds follow rivers andstreams back toward the coast asquickly as they can.

Although storms like Sandypresent unique opportunities forbird enthusiasts, they can altermigratory patterns of birds, insome cases, delaying their sched-ules. When birds are entrained bystorms and deposited hundreds ofmiles inland, they are frequentlyexhausted and don’t have the ener-gy to make it back to the ocean. Inthese cases, the birds inevitablyperish.

Marshall Iliff, Laboratory ofOrnithology, said that everythingchanges very quickly after thestorm, and birds are often gone bya day after. Their exodus gives

bird enthusiasts a very brief win-dow in which to view the rarecreatures.

“A lot of the birds that getsteered off course in hurricanes, ifthey can’t fly back to the ocean,may die where they end up,” saidAndrew Farnsworth, a New YorkCity-based researcher at the Lab ofOrnithology, said in a The WorldPRI interview.

“A lot do return to the ocean,but the birds that are exhaustedend up on lakes, or ball fields orriver valleys, and are exhaustedenough so that they’re really notable to make the flight back,” hesaid.

Last year’s tropical storm,Irene, and more recently, hurri-cane Sandy, both created rare andunique opportunities for birdwatchers in the NortheasternUnited States. Farnsworth saidthat in Manhattan he was able tosee a Leach’s Storm Petrol and aPomerine Jaeger, both of whichare rarely seen on land but were,after Sandy, dispersed throughoutthe northeast. Both a Ross’s Gulland a group of NorthernLapwings were displaced inland bywinds and a Red-billed Tropic

Bird, usually found in theCaribbean, was found in NewJersey, suggesting entrainment.

These birds are seen so seldombecause they live out in deep partsof the ocean.

According to Iliff, people cango on trips in order to see thebirds, but these trips are frequent-ly expensive, and never guaranteea good glimpse. He said that the

reason people get so excited aboutbird movement during hurricanes,is that extreme weather createsonce in a lifetime opportunitiesfor bird enthusiasts, such as catch-ing the landing of a Leech’s StormPetrol on Cayuga Lake — anevent that has only happened onceor twice before.

When birds are pushed bywinds northward or to the coast,known as displacement, they fre-quently gather in groups near theshore. It’s a combination of thembeing blown there, and preemp-tively flying to shore for shelter,said Iliff. He said that, in the wakeof Sandy, these birds were difficultto observe, if at all, due to the dan-gerous storm surge, and thatSandy was an extremely uniquesituation, with winds comingfrom many directions and con-verging on the northeast. It wasexciting for ornithologists to beable to see the effects becausestorms like Sandy are a rarity, saidIliff, so it would be interesting toobserve the consequences.

Many of the ornithologists haveshared their pictures of these raresighting through eBird, an onlinechecklist made in collaborationwith the Cornell Lab of Orni-thol-ogy. eBird allows recreational andprofessional bird watchers to sharebird sightings with the nationalbirding community. On the site,there is a compilation of data onthe whereabouts of birds across thecountry. This can be accessed andanalyzed by researchers who use theinformation to understand the waythat birds move around and wherecertain birds are most likely to befound.

Farnsworth uses the data that iscompiled by eBird to generateinformation for his own site,Birdcast. He uses modern compu-tation to correlate eBird data withextreme weather events and radarpredictions, generating predic-tions for where to find birds local-ly and in the face of extremeweather. This is a helpful tool forbird watchers who want to knowwhat birds will be in their area,and where exactly they should goto see them.

THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Wednesday, November 7, 2012 11

SCIENCEOrnithology 3-D Printing

By SHAUNTLE BARLEYSun Senior Writer

Sandy’s storm | Hurricane Sandy, the largest Atlantic hurricane on record, hit the U.S. East Coast in late October and caused an estimated $20 bil-lion in damages. Despite the devastation the storm gave ornithologists across the northeast an oppurtunity to see rare birds in the sky.

Gale gliding | Ornithologists throughout the Northeast recording sighting of birds like the Leachs Storm Petrel (left) and the Pomarine Jaeger(right) following Hurricane Sandy. Many of these birds were seen outside of their usual migratory locations.

Hurricane Sandy Aftermath: How Do Birds Weather the Storm?

COURTESY OF LUKE SEITZ

COURTESY OF LUKE SEITZ COURTESY OF LUKE SEITZ

Soaring unsoaked | The Pomarine Jaeger was one type of rare bird thatornithologists got the oppurtunity to see in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.

COURTESY OF LUKE SEITZ

C.U. ornithologists track birds during hurricane, make rare sightings

Shauntle Barley can bereached at

sbarley@cornellsun.edu.

12 THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Wednesday, November 7, 2012 SCIENCE

Close your eyes and imagine a worldwhere engineers could grow robots thatlearned and evolved on their own. JeffClune, a visiting scientist, and his team inHod Lipson’s Creative Machines Lab havemade progress towards that futuristicworld through mechanical simulationsthat utilize natural selection in robots.

Jeff Clune, mechanical and aerospaceengineering, said that he gained extrainterest in science after learning aboutevolutionary encoding.

“I’m interested in trying to evolve arti-ficially intelligent robots. I want to knowhow naturalselection onearth producedall the wonderfulcomplexity thatyou see — likejaguars, hawks,and the humanmind.”

Evolution isoften difficult tostudy because itis a phenomenonthat takes placeover a long timeframe and itrequires a lotdata to produceuseful results. Whereas these potentialstudies may take many years to conduct,simulations such as those Clune workswith can run in a matter of minutes.

Using evolutionary encoding, Clunehad created a “grown brain” and input itinto a simulated table robot. The robot isthen asked to learn to develop a gait. Atfirst, the table robots were not able toachieve lateral movement. However, usingdistance as a measure of fitness, Clunemanaged to evolve a natural gait out of aninitially incoherent four-legged table. Thefinal generation that was evolved movedmuch like a horse would gallop, withthree of their four legs in synchroniza-tion.

Unlike traditional robotic program-ming, this natural selection process gener-ates more efficient and natural gaitsaccording to Clune. Also, there is lesswork involved because in cases where theprogrammer would be required to writeout an entire gait, basic brain evolutionachieves a better result with less work.

Along with Jason Yosinski, a Ph.D.student, Prof. Hod Lipson, mechanicaland aerospace engineering, and SuchanLee ’13, mechanical engineering, Clunetook the next step and incorporated nat-ural selection into a physical, 3-D robotwhich they printed using the 3-D printerin the Creative Machines Lab. To createthe robot, they first generated it on a

computer thensent it to aprinter, whichthen craftedthe robot layerby layer usinga type of hardplastic. Usingthe same ideaas the simulat-ed table robot,the printedrobot startedout with abasic brainand eventuallyevolved acreepy, spidery

gait. “No human designed this—evolution

did,” Clune said. In addition to evolving movement in

robots, Clune is also interested in evolv-ing the physical shapes of the robot.

“All of those gaits were with the bodybeing fixed, but we also wanted to evolvethe body and see things flying and crawl-ing,” he said.

Clune then ran simulations based ondynamic bodies as well as the evolvingbrains to create counterintuitive gaits.The results were synchronized, but alsomodeled natural movement. Some simu-lations scooted across the screen muchlike a walrus would, and some hoppedlike a rabbit or kangaroo. By evolving thebody and mind simultaneously, Clunecreates models which exhibit characteris-tics that traditional engineering could notachieve.

Clune along with Yosinski, andLipson, have created EndlessForms.com,a website that allows any one with time tospare the chance to create and share newdesigns for things evolved through natur-al selection.

“The website really helped peopleunderstand evolution. They witness eachstep of the journey and can look up thelineage of every object online. Many uni-versities and elementary schools have usedthis to try to teach evolution.”

Upon visiting the site, the user canchoose to either evolve designs alreadymanipulated by other users or start with apanel of randomly generated variations ofa block. The website has produceddesigns such as butterflies and complexchess pieces — all of which would havebeen difficult to engineer without a sub-stantial background in 3-D program-ming. However, through the naturalselection simulation process, even tenyear olds can generate stunning 3-D ren-derings of natural objects.

“When you put a human in charge ofprogramming, you’re limited by the cre-ativity and knowledge of the program-mer,” Clune said. “However, when youput evolution in charge, the sky is thelimit. This is going to change how engi-neering will work,” he said.

By YVONNE HUANGSun Contributor

In the making | After manipulating designsof items on the computer, users can 3D printtheir items.

Jeff Clune SimulatesNatural Selection

In Robots,3-D Printing

Yvonne Haung can be reached at yyh4@cornell.edu.

COURTESY OF JEFF CLUNE

Computational selection | EndlessForms.com allows users to create their own designs forlamps, butterflies, furniture and other items under the biological guidelines of evolution.

COURTESY OF JEFF CLUNE

COURTESY OF JEFF CLUNE

COURTESY OF JEFF CLUNE

Hand models | Items from EndlessForms include lamps, furniture, butterflies and simpledesigns which can be printed from steel, silver ceramic or sandstone.

3-D printer | Jeff Clune applies combines Darwin’s theory of evolution with modern-day3-D printing to create items created from natural selection on a computer screen.

“When you put a human incharge of programming, you’relimited by the creativity andknowledge of the programmer.However, when you put evolutionin charge, the sky is the limit.”

Jeff Clune, mechanical and aerospace engineering

Omigod you guys — I know it’s clichéto begin a review of Legally Blonde withthat phrase, but I couldn’t resist. Why?Since I viewed the show at Ithaca Collegeon Thursday night I have been that strangegirl walking around campus singing thesongs to myself. It was so gaudy. It was soblonde. It was so fun!

For anyone who has been living under arock since the movie was released in 2001or has been bitten by the sophisticationwerewolf, here’s a brief summary of theplot: Elle Woods, president of the sororityDelta Nu, is convinced that her boyfriendWarner (Richard Lindenfelzer) is about topropose. Elle is played by Megan Ort andChloe Tiso in alternate performances.When Warner dumps her instead, Elledecides to follow him and enroll inHarvard Law School to win him back, andlike a rock in a pond, dropping a blondeinto an Ivy League school is bound to cre-ate a splash. There, she meets Warner’s newgirlfriend Vivian (Katie Drinkard) andgeeky, sweet Emmett Forrest (JosephDiPietro). Through song, dance, sparklesand pink, Elle’s journey into a “serious” lifebegins and challenges everyone’s percep-tions of law, love and blondes.

The Ithaca College production ofLegally Blonde was like a giant frosted cup-cake: Each bite tasted better and I foundmyself liking it more every moment. Onceyou get over the fact that it will not be

Reese Witherspoon bawling her eyes out ina crowded restaurant as Warner breaks upwith her, you can truly begin to appreciatethe casting. The scenes in between thesongs were average; you realized exactlywhy the actors won their roles — theirvoices. I hesitated in liking Elle, Emmett,Brooke Wyndham (Grace Stockdale) andPaulette (DeAnne Stewart) when they firsttook the stage, but once each actor sang Isubmitted to the sensory overload.

While the actors were very talented, if Ihad bouquets to hand out at the end of theperformance, all of them would have goneto the production staff. Tom Burch and

Roy Lightner, along with their assistantsAmanda Perry and Ryan J. MacConnell,stole the show with their set designs andchoreography. Transitions between sceneswere flawless, largely due to the design ofthe backdrops and set pieces. But what Idon’t think anyone in the audience couldget over, myself included, was theimmense, over-the-top style of nearly everysong. Each musical number was a produc-tion in itself; the audience actually cheeredduring each song because of the spectacularchoreography. For anyone who has seenthis musical: the choreography for“Whipped into Shape” will not disappoint.

For anyone who hasn’t seen it, the show isworth seeing if just for that single scene.The choreographers deserve all the praise Ican bestow and then some; the musicalnumbers were simply amazing

The pit orchestra of the production wasperfect, in that you never noticed it. Theirplaying was excellent, not overstepping theactors or overshadowing importantmoments. They provided the perfect back-ground for the production. The costumingwas incredible — so many sparkles, somuch pink. I suppose my mind is still sim-ply boggled and blinded by Elle’s outfit inthe song “What You Want,” but I do givethe costuming designers a great deal ofprops even once I have clear vision backwithout pink sparkles around the edges.

I will not attempt to deny that LegallyBlonde (the movie) is one of my guilty plea-sures. While I like to pretend I sit aroundand watch things like Pan’s Labyrinth andThe Godfather all the time, I have seenLegally Blonde more times than I would liketo admit. Liking the movie as I do, I wasimpressed to find the musical “So MuchBetter” than I had expected. It is not a pro-found musical, but for anyone looking foran entertaining night to escape from thepressures of life, the Ithaca College produc-tion is worth every moment.

Legally Blonde is now playing at IthacaCollege.

Oscar viewership is down while summer blockbusterincomes are up, a casualty of an increasing divide betweenelite and mass cinema. The Oscars no longer reward filmsthat are commercially successful, and movies with commer-cial success are rarely worthy of awards and positive criticalrecognition. Whether this is symptomatic of a moreinequitable American society or the product of producerstailoring films for either award ceremonies or box officebuckets, these two types seldom reconcile.

One series has bridged this gap and risen between thedivide like a gallant cavalier: The Dark Knight trilogy.Christopher Nolan’s gloomy rendition of the popular DCComics hero has grossed a total of $1.8 billion and achievedan overall average of 88.6 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. Theseries is both critically and commercially successful andbreaks multiple divisions in the industry.

Like many others in the film community, I believe thatThe Dark Knight (2008) is the strongest of the three. CornellCinema already featured Batman Begins (2005) in Octoberand will be screening The Dark Knight tomorrow and Friday.The Dark Knight Rises (2012) will follow, running December6 to 8.

Of all these screenings, you should not miss this week’sshowings. For this review, I had to revisit the amazingly cin-ematic film on a small-screen, glitch-prone computer, and Ican assure you that the choice to bear the cold weather to gosee this movie through Cornell Cinema’s projector is oneyou will not regret. The Dark Knight is a landmark achieve-ment in sound, cinematography and performance thatdeserves a grand theater.

Christopher Nolan is the director of this film, and hisability to combine complicated plot lines with shocks andsuspense is unrivaled. He is the shaman of modern cinema,and The Dark Knight perma-nently solidified his reputation.Despite its mass appeal, theplot is still complex and needs amagician like Nolan to presentit clearly. His Batman, playedby an always-keen ChristianBale, is an inversion of mostsuperhero clichés. Beneath hisarrogance and anti-social ten-dencies, Batman reveals an intricate hybrid of altruist andanti-hero. His fight to rid Gotham of its multiple mob fam-ilies is aided by the squeaky clean District Attorney, HarveyDent (Aaron Eckhart), who (spoiler alert) gains an equallyintricate Manichean complex of killer or savior and uses acoin toss to decide between the two.

From this pairing of Dent and Batman, the complica-

tions arise. The two areboth vying for the love ofRachel (MaggieGyllenhaal), and as shedeliberates between thetwo heroes, so doesGotham City. Dentacknowledges that“Gotham needsBatman,” while BruceWayne (the true identityof Batman) pledges toquit, saying that“Gotham needs a herowith a face” (referring toDent, a more public fig-ure). The two show thedifferent faces heroes canwear: one opportunisticand agreeable (Dent) andone dark and unpre-dictable (Batman).

However layered thesetwo are, a superheromovie is only as good asits villain. Heath Ledger’sJoker is tops. Although he is the antagonist, he guides thismovie and watches over it like a ubiquitous gargoyle, alwaysintroduced by a creeping violin slide in the remarkable scoreprovided by Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard. Hismonologues, mixing nihilist philosophy and sardonichumor, add gravitas to the film, but his most remarkableinput is his sinister persona. His erratic and ingenius attacks

allow Nolan to resuscitate the action withmany surprises. From hanging a Batmanimpersonator from Gotham City Hall tocrashing Commissioner Loeb’s funeral inpolice uniform, the Joker always finds away to show up and ignite chaos.

Bane, the villain of The Dark KnightRises, and the Scarecrow, the offender ofBatman Begins (with a cameo in the othertwo), do not reach the level of mastery and

anarchy that the Joker does. The two movies the other vil-lains haunt pay the price for it. Both are subpar in compar-ison.

The latest, The Dark Knight Rises, also flaunts a not-so-inconspicuous political agenda. From Anne Hathaway’sCatwoman making a plea for gun rights (“I don’t know ifI’m as enthusiastic about the whole ‘no gun’ thing as you

are”), to Nolan’s usage of Ayn Rand imagery (the ‘escapehole’ for the oppressed at the bottom of the pit), to a villainwho stands for anti-capitalist revolution, to a ‘police riot’that clearly references the Occupy Movement, Rises espous-es a severely right-wing attitude. In a series that can be cher-ished for its near universal viewership, the film’s language ismuch more divisive and emblematic of a comparably schis-matic election four months after the film’s release.

I plead with you to watch this movie in a theater. Modernday entertainment provides us with so many opportunitiesto divide: Some of us watch on small-screen computers,some on 72-inch LCD screens. Some of us take it with agrain of left-wing bias, some with a spoonful of right-wingpartiality. Some of us watch for the Oscars, some for thepopcorn. Inevitably, however, we are watching the sameproduct. I think you’ll be surprised to revisit this series in itsfull cinematic splendor, and I think you’ll be comforted towatch a movie that makes our divisions disintegrate intounanimous cringing at a common villain and unitedapplause for a common hero.

ARTS& ENTERTAINMENT

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Henry Staley is a freshman in the College of Architecture, Art andPlanning. He can be reached at hstaley@cornellsun.com.

Marissa Tranquilli is a sophomore in the Collegeof Arts and Sciences. She can be reached atmtranquilli@cornellsun.com.

BY MARISSA TRANQUILLISun Staff Writer

The Dark Knight That Saved Cinema

COURTESY OFWARNER BROTHERS

CornellCinema

HenryStaley

COURTESY OF ITHACA COLLEGE THEATER ARTS

Wednesday, November 7, 2012 | The Corne¬ Daily Sun | 13A & E

Blonde Ambition

Every four years, Americans play castingdirector for the most anticipated role of all.(No, not Christopher Nolan’s newest cere-bral thriller. Everyone knows that is going toChristian Bale.) They decide who plays thepart of President of the UnitedStates.

Follow the metaphor withme, if you will. While, in theory,the position is an open call toany actor, you already know acandidate from a top talentagency is going fill the role(*cough* political party).

Like everything inHollywood, there’s a Presidenttypecast. Looking presidentialcan get you far. Broad shoulders,steady eyes and a strong jawcome to mind. Romney’s prima-ry motivation throughout hiscampaigns must be that he looksso right for the part.

When casting a biopic aboutreal presidents, there are natural limitations.Regardless, over 50 actors have portrayedLincoln and everyone plays Nixon — fromAnthony Hopkins to Frank Langella toJohn Cusack in the upcoming The Butler.

However, it is the fictional presidentswhere the fun really is. Entertainment istruly the best gauge of popular opinion andthe public’s mindset. (This is always my jus-tification when I’m on Netflix instead ofworking on my paper).

There is a real dichotomy in the portray-al of presidents in television and film. In away, it reflects the polarized view of the roleof government in America. There are goodguy presidents, and then there are bad guy

presidents.There are moral presidents who carry the

burden of many on their broad shoulders.Then there are bad presidents who come topower via Machiavellian foul play.

The best of the good, the idealized liber-al concoction propelled by the score ofAaron Sorkin, is President Josiah Edward

Bartlet.The Democrat from New Hampshire is

what progressives dream about: a Ph.D.-wielding intellectual with righteousnesscoursing through every syllable he utters.Martin Sheen’s sturdy and piercing JedBartlet stares down Congressional filibustersand throws scriptures at homophobic televi-sion personalities.

He is kind of a rock star, but nothingcompared to the world of action movieswhere we hold our leaders to a higher stan-dard. In Independence Day, PresidentWhitmore (Bill Pullman) hops on a jet tofight aliens. Harrison Ford’s James Marshalldoes what everyone essentially wants from

their POTUS: He kicks ass in Air ForceOne. Morgan Freeman’s voice alone quali-fies him access to the nuclear code in DeepImpact.

Of course, we also have our evildoerswho made it to the highest office in theland. Our bad presidents often have thesame broad shoulders, strong jaw — but

there is an evil gleam in their eyes and anominous camera angle that lets us knowotherwise.

In The Day After Tomorrow, VicePresident Cheney — sorry, I mean“Raymond Becker” (Kenneth Walsh) whohappens to look startlingly like the formerveep — does not buy into climate changeresearch and smirks at a call to action. Cueglobal warming-induced, apocalypticstorms resulting in a mass exodus toMexico. Don’t worry, moralistic Hollywoodmakes Cheney amend with a humbledspeech to the world following the destruc-tion.

Television just loves its conspiracy theory

presidents. 24’s President Charles Logan(Gregory Itzin) goes from asinine to full-onvillainous. Prison Break’s Caroline Reynolds(Patricia Wettig) seizes power through tiesto an elusive covert organization. Don’t youhate it when power is not in the hands of thepeople, but that of select power brokers?

In a subtler version of evil, Love Actuallycasts a sleazy President Billy BobThorton (who must be knownfor other things, but was at onetime Angelina Jolie’s husband).In everyone’s favorite romcom,the British have their chivalrousHugh Grant-ish Prime Ministerstand up against the bullyingAmerican.

Politics are unfortunately ashallow game. A well-tailoredsuit or sleeves rolled in exactlythe right way can make all thedifference to an undecided voter,apparently. Back in the day, pressrespected President FDR somuch that they never took awk-ward photos of him struggling inhis wheelchair. They allowed

him to keep his powerful image. Today’smedia is not so kind, and a candidate’simage is far more carefully constructed foryour convenience.

Of course, there is so much more todeciding on the next President. You wantyour leader to be a reflection of your valuesand dreams for the future. You want themto be able to deter aliens and avoid harassingBritish household staff. And, if that is toomuch to ask, at least they should look likethey could.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

This morning, I will stumble from a thrice-snoozedalarm towards my coffee grinder and wait awkwardlyfor the annoyingly loud noise to produce coffee

grinds. I will then pack the coffee into a filter and wait formy espresso machine to squeeze out a cup of espresso. As Idrink my espresso, I’ll think, “Oh yeah, Obama was reelect-ed.”

I drink coffee not because I stayed up all night to seewhether Obama or Romney won Alaska, but because this ismy daily routine and I have an unhealthy obsession withcoffee. Unlike the nail-biting 2000 and the electrifying 2008elections I feel strangely calm today, and many others do too.Romney wrote off 47 percent of the population and riled upthe Obama base, but then it faded away. Obama’s lacklusterperformance at the first debate gave the Romney base somemomentum, but that disappeared too.

Pundits surface every four years to explain why this orthat election is the most important yet, but they are actual-ly right this time, like how a stopped watch is correct twicea day. The bifurcation of political ideology, at the price ofcentrism, means that this election would vindicate whichway we go as we set sail upon a sea of doubt. Why, then, isthere a crisis in enthusi-asm?

It is not just that theelection presents, as TheEconomist magazinewrote, an “unedifyingchoice.” Rather, thereseems to be no election.Blogs like FiveThirtyEightrun complex statisticalmodels to predict withalarming accuracy theresults, the margin of winning and the demographic break-down of the voters. Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball, run by theUniversity of Virginia’s Center for Politics, correctly predict-ed 97 percent of the 482 races in 2008.

But we don’t even need the statistics models to see this.New York will always vote Democratic. Ohio, Florida andVirginia are the swing states that decide the election. “It isthe camera lens that, like a laser, comes to pierce lived reali-ty in order to put it to death,” the French philosopher JeanBaudrillard writes. In this case, it is the incessant data gath-

ering and the supercomputers running election simulacrathat put the election to death.

In 1948, President Truman was up for reelection againstThomas Dewey. Virtually every prediction, scientific or oth-erwise, predicted that Truman would lose by a wide margin.The Republicans played it safe, and Dewey avoided any typeof risk taking. Meanwhile, Truman toured the country, mak-ing fiery stump speeches from a constantly moving railwaycar. He ridiculed the Republican-controlled Congress asobstructionist and attacked Dewey for being a distant NewYork elitist who would do anything to get elected.

On election night, the pundits noted that Truman had anearly lead but were still confident that Dewey would over-take Truman eventually and win. The Chicago Tribune wasso confident that Dewey would defeat Truman that theypublished their now infamous headline “DEWEYDEFEATS TRUMAN.” For the rest of his life, Trumangleefully mocked the media for its unwarranted hubris.

But as polling science has become more sophisticated, thecontentious nature of the electoral process has inevitably dis-appeared. $5 billion have been spent, SuperPACs haveappeared and one million ads were aired, but on Tuesday

night the states fell intoplace in an orderly fash-ion. The chaos that weheard about — the bal-lot stuffing, the voterdisenfranchisement, theclose race and the unde-cided voters — edgedtowards implosion untilit was quickly interrupt-ed.

In one fell swoop,election coverage broadcasts imposed normalcy last nightand turned the 50 states red or blue, as if that chaos hadnever existed: The reported reality gives way to the predict-ed reality in a controlled manner. Baudrillard once notori-ously declared that the Gulf War didn’t happen, because itwas meticulously planned with “suffocating and machinicperformance, virtual and relentless in its unfolding” as amedia spectacle. In this view, the election becomes a non-event: Candidates win simulations. They are not elected likeTruman; they are constructed through prophecy and

defaulted towards. Of course, these are not excuses to abstain from voting,

even if someone correctly predicted who you voted for.When you step into a voting booth or you mail off yourabsentee ballot, the spectacle disappears. A third realityemerges: Someone will still become president, and your votestill counts.

Claiming that the election is a non-event means just that:You should vote based on the issues. You shouldn’t votebased on reports that Obama is a secret Kenyan or thatRomney is controlled by the Mormon church. Statisticalmodels may have put the election to death, but they para-doxically give us some breathing room to repudiate thereported reality. It is the breathing room to puff awayDonald Trump’s thinning coiffure, to ignore the outrageousdiscourse and to maybe, just this once, seriously elect a pres-ident.

Kai Sam Ng is a junior in the School of Industrial and LaborRelations. He can be reached at kng@cornellsun.com. You’ve Got ToBe Kitsching Me appears alternate Wednesdays this semester.

You’ve Got to BeKitsching Me

Kai Sam Ng

The Morning After the Non-Election

14 | The Corne¬ Daily Sun | Wednesday, November 7, 2012 A & E

SANTI SLADE / SUN STAFF ILLUSTRATOR

Tajwar Mazhar is a senior in the College of Artsand Sciences. She can be reached at tmazhar@cor-nellsun.com.

BY TAJWAR MAZHARSun Staff Writer

COURTESY OF COLUMBIA PICTURES AND NBC UNIVERSAL

casting the president

THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Wednesday, November 7, 2012 15

COMICS AND PUZZLES16 THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Fill in the emptycells, one number

in each, so thateach column,

row, and regioncontains the

numbers 1-9exactly once.

Each number inthe solution

therefore occursonly once in each

of the three“directions,”

hence the “singlenumbers” implied

by the puzzle’sname.

(Rules fromwikipedia.org/wiki

/Sudoku)

ACROSS1 Dash, e.g.5 Head-hanging

emotion10 Altoids alternative15 Fan favorite16 Earthling17 Absorbed the loss18 Tropical headgear20 Passover ritual21 Dix halved22 Calendar abbr.24 Prior to, in verse25 Low-tech note

taker27 Deal-closing aids30 Unblemished31 Line winder32 Baking by-

products33 Creative

enterprise34 On the fence35 Six-stringed

instrument,usually

36 Urbana-ChampaignNCAA team

41 Two pages42 “Zip-__-Doo-Dah”43 Tram car filler45 Totally absorbed48 Hon49 Pontiac muscle

cars50 Powerful pin

cushion?52 “It __ hit me yet”53 Mao follower?54 Scientology’s __

Hubbard55 Sushi bar soup56 Cook-off potful58 False63 Mixer for a

mixologist64 Boyfriends65 Couple in a

rowboat66 Run through a

reader, as a debitcard

67 Footlocker68 Sandstorm

residue

DOWN1 Split2 Org. concerned

with crowns3 Mozart works

4 Pal of JerrySeinfeld

5 Retired seven-foot NBAer

6 “Say that again?”7 “I __ Rock”8 Fisher-Price

parent company9 Follow logically

10 Potluck staple11 Summer on the

Seine12 Turn in for cash13 Spain’s __ de

Campos14 Underline, say19 Trio on a phone

keypad23 Online

shopkeeper25 Place for

pampering26 Area of

expertise27 Calligrapher’s

flourish28 Question of time,

to Telemann29 __ me tangere31 Barbecue spit,

e.g.34 “Every Breath

You Take” band

35 “MyraBreckinridge”author

37 Tickled pink38 Scottish Celt39 “As of yet, no”40 Pressing need?44 Inexact fig.45 Throws out46 Reservation waster47 Spiral pasta48 One of Dancer’s

partners

49 Far-from-efficientvehicle

51 Reservations52 Best-seller55 Perfumery

scent57 Blistex target59 Frat house letter60 Flee61 The Rams of the

NCAA’s Atlantic10 Conf.

62 D-Day vessel

By James Sajdak(c)2012 Tribune Media Services, Inc. 11/07/12

11/07/12

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword PuzzleEdited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

xwordeditor@aol.com

Circles and Stuff by Robert Radigan grad

Sun Sudoku Puzzle #0841114

Strings Attached by Ali Solomon ’01

Mr. Gnu by Travis Dandro

Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau

www.cornellsun.com

The Corne¬

Daily Sun

THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Wednesday, November 7, 2012 17

www.cÀreÁsÃn.cÀµ

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FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP)— As the New York Jets gatheredfor their first day of work in aweek, they insisted their focuswas on football, on their nextopponent, the Seattle Seahawks.

Even players such as NickMangold, who didn't have powerin his New Jersey home, saidthere would be tunnel vision foreveryone on the roster. CoachRex Ryan and his staff are insist-ing on it, with Ryan noting thathe used "blunt force trauma" toget the message across.

"Where we are, where we wantto be, and how we plan on gettingthere," was what Ryan explainedto his players Monday morning asthey came off their bye week.While Ryan acknowledges theimportance of dealing with theaftermath of Superstorm Sandy,he also recognizes there is no wayof dealing with football in ahalfway manner.

Mangold agreed that the Jets

(3-5), coming off two straightlosses, will "put all our effortsinto Seattle."

"I think guys got that mes-sage," the center said. "Wehaven't helped ourselves much inthe first half of the season."

No, they haven't, particularlyin ugly home losses to SanFrancisco and Miami. Ryan gavethem the entire bye week off ingreat part because of the hurri-cane, but maybe he wanted themto get away from the game,recoup and come back with a newsense of purpose.

There's lots to fix on the Jets: aleaky run defense, inconsistentrushing offense, too manyturnovers in the red zone, baddecision making by quarterbackMark Sanchez. And, surprisingly,sloppy special teams play, usuallya strength.

It adds up to a distressingrecord so far.

But not one to stress, veteransafety Yeremiah Bell said "We def-initely have the resources to getback into this thing. We have theplayers, we have the coachingstaff and we have the 'want to.'The thing is, it's going to be justus on Sundays just going outthere and executing.

"We can't help teams get ashot here, get a shot there andkind of stretch the game a littlebit. So we're going to have to be alot more disciplined in that area."

The Jets did some good thingsin the first eight weeks, includingwins over Miami andIndianapolis, and a close defeat atNew England that, with moreimagination and less conser-vatism in the late going also couldhave been a victory. But the lop-sided defeats to the 49ers andDolphins in which New Yorkcouldn't have been more mistake-prone seem to erase memories ofthe positives.

Ryan wants to change up someof the things the Jets do on thefield, perhaps sensing they havebecome too predictable. He was-n't giving away any trade secretsMonday, nor will he at any othertime. So when asked if TimTebow and the wildcat — or vari-ations of it — will become a big-ger part of the game plan, Ryanwas mum.

He communicated daily withhis coaching staff even as the hur-ricane and its aftermath left Ryanand many other Jets employeeswithout power. The coachesoffered options on how toimprove the team's performances.

"We got a bunch of sugges-tions, so I hope they're good,"Ryan said. "We're certainly look-ing at them. It's kind of a toughthing, because you have to put allyour focus in on this one oppo-nent, but we have to be open fordifferent suggestions, which wehave taken in.

"We will be doing some differ-ent things. Again, I don't want toget into the specifics of it. I hopeyou understand that if there's anadvantage to be gained, I want togain that advantage without let-ting our opponent know. We'll belooking at a lot. There are severalthings to improve and I'm excitedabout trying to implement someof these things."

SPORTS18 THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Wednesday, November 7, 2012

“I had to win the class inorder to point out,” saidSteinberger. “I was really, reallyhappy that I went out andpointed out of intermediatewith such [a] positive and suc-cessful ride.”

“[It] was really nerve wrack-ing because I needed six[points] to point upand if I had gottensecond I would havebeen a point off so Ihad to get first,”Botelho said.

While equestrian isdesigned as an individualsport, Botelho pointed out thatin the Intercollegiate HorseAssociation teamwork is veryimportant. The team is respon-sible for the care of its fourhorses, and if some riders didnot stay back to help out at thebarn the others would not havebeen able to travel to the show.

“It takes a whole team,” saidBotelho. “The people who

stayed home covered a lot ofchores for everybody … [with]these shows, even if we don’twin it takes a whole team tojust go to them.”

With four shows alreadyunder the team’s belt, the Rednow has to focus on competingin but also hosting its nextshow. Cornell typically hoststwo shows a year — one eachsemester — at the Oxley

Equestrian Center. While itcan be difficult to perform wellat a show while running it atthe same time, the team is con-fident that things will gosmoothly.

“[Running the show has]always been a huge stressbefore but we have a greatgroup this year [so] I’m not asworried about it,” Kowalchiksaid.

“I think with the girls thatwe have on this team and theamount of dedication that theyhave I think that its going torun very smoothly … I don’thave any doubts about that,”said Hilton.

In equitation, home fieldadvantage comes with the perkof being able to compete onthe same horses that the teamuses in practice.

“We have reallygood team horses,better than most ofthe schools we’vebeen competingagainst. So I thinkwe’re gonna see a lit-

tle different outcome at ourown show,” said Karn.

Overall, the squad is look-ing forward to the weekendand hopes to improve on itsperformance at Nazareth.

“[Nazareth] was a goodlearning experience,” saidSevcik.

EQUESTRIANContinued from page 20

Ariel Cooper can be reached at acooper@cornellsun.com.

Hopes for Strong Home Show Despite Sandy, JetsPromise Comeback

“We’re working on representing theschool in a strong way.”Todd Karn

THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Wednesday, November 7, 2012 19SPORTS

Junior midfielder StephenReisert was named the IvyLeague Co-Player of the Weekon Monday. He shared thehonor with Yale goalie BobbyThalman who 11 saves againstBrown helped Cornell takefirst in the Ivy League confer-ence once again.

“It feels great. All I everwanted to do was make animpact on this team, and it'sgreat to get recognition. Butabove anything else I want myteam to win. I would be con-tent not receiving any individ-ual recognition as long as we'redoing well,” said Reisert. “Theonly thing on my mind rightnow is winning the ivy leagueand then making a run in thetournament. Whatever hap-pens along the way is great, butall that matters is how we, as ateam, finish the season.”

Senior forward Tyler Reganand senior goalkeeper RickPflasterer were also named tothe Ivy Honor Roll onMonday.

After Dartmouth went up,1-0, in the first half, Reiserthad Cornell’s first goal of thegame 93 seconds after. Thanksto a long cross from juniormidfielder Ben Williams,Reisert cut inside the penaltybox and beat Dartmouthgoalie Noah Cohen to tie thegame, 1-1, for the Red.

He also assisted Regan’sgame winning goal in the sec-ond overtime to take down theGreen after taking a shot thatwas deflected by a Dartmouthdefender and bounced toRegan who capitalized on theopportunity for the goal.

The win — in addition tothe Brown vs. Yale tie — putCornell back in first in the IvyLeague with 15 points, com-pared to Brown’s 14, headinginto the final matchup of theseason against Columbia.

“There is no way I couldhave won that game by myself.Everyone behind and in frontof me had an incredible game,and all of our teammates onthe sidelines did a great jobmotivating us and preparingus for the game. We’ve beenhaving an amazing year and itis absolutely a credit to ourwork ethic and the cohesivebond we have as teammates.All we're looking forward to isbeating columbia on saturdaynight. I don't care whatBrown does. I don't care whatColumbia does. We are goingto take care of business and

there is nothing to worryabout as long as we remainlevel headed and focused,”Reisert said.

The honor is Reisert’s firstIvy League Player of the Weekaward of his career so far and isthe sixth for Cornell playersthis season.

Reisert also earned a spoton College Soccer News’National Team of the Weekand was named the Ivy LeaguePlayer of the Week byCollegeSportsMadness.com.

In its final road weekend of the year Cornell’swomen volleyball team won big at Dartmouth, butlost to Harvard. The Red (7-16, 3-9 Ivy) took all threesets against the Big Green (2-19, 1-10) in its first roadIvy win of the year, but lost all three sets against theCrimson (9-14, 6-6).

Cornell earned its firstIvy League sweep since2009, as it won 3-0 inHanover on Friday night25-19, 25-21, 27-25. Juniormiddle blocker RachelD’Epagnier recorded 14kills while hitting .560 with seven digs and eightblocks as she continued her hot streak. Junior outsidehitter Sierra Young had five aces with nine digs andthree blocks.

“The Dartmouth match was a good game for ourteam because we showed we could really fight andclose out a match in three,” said sophomore setter andcaptain Kelly Reinke.

Harvard’s match did not go the Red’s way onSaturday afternoon losing, 22-25, 18-25, 19-25.

Junior outside hitter captain Kelly Marble and Youngcombined for 21 kills.

The Crimson was able to hit .367 and have 43total kills in the match.

“We did not come out as strong as we would haveliked against Harvard, so that was a disappointing lossbecause we know we can play better,” Reinke said.

Cornell is going into this weekend, its final of the2012 season, with noth-ing to play for exceptpride. The Red hostsPrinceton (12-10, 9-3Ivy) on Friday at 7pmand Penn (13-10, 8-4Ivy) on Saturday after-noon at 5pm at

Newman Arena.“We are going into this last weekend ready to give

all we can to end the season with two wins,” Reinkesaid.

Against the Tigers and the Quakers on the roadback in October, the Red was only able to get one set(Princeton) during the weekend.

despite all three having their gamesrevolve around speed and sharpcuts, exactly what a ACL tearshould affect. As for the common-ness of the injury, Darrelle Revis,Brian Cushing and Lardarius Webbare all Pro Bowl-caliber players whohave suffered from torn ACLs thisyear and I’m sure there will be moreand the season goes on. This trendis worth noting and we shouldremove the stigma of ACL tearsaffecting a player’s career.As for the contenders, the one teamthat has risen to the top is theChicago Bears. They are dominat-ing teams in all facets of the game:defense, offense and special teams.Chicago’s defense is far and awaythe best in the NFL. They havegiven up the second least amount ofpoints (just 15 points allowed pergame), but where they really shineis their ability to force teams intoturnovers. Sometimes, teams willget lucky fumbles and intercep-tions, but the sheer volume ofturnovers the Bears get is no acci-dent; they have, for years, taughthow to force fumbles and ball hawkand this year is the result of theirwork. They lead the league with 17interceptions (and have somehowreturned seven (!) for touchdowns)and 17 forced fumbles in eightgames. Factoring in their pointsallowed and dominance in bothturnover categories, we may belooking at one of the best defensesof all-time. As for the offense, MattForte remains a top-tier runningback and the Cutler-Marshall con-nection picked up exactly wherethey left off in Denver, when theyput together two straight 100-reception seasons. On specialteams, they still have Devin Hester,one of the most dangerous return-ers in league history. The Bears arethe perfect example of a completeteam; they do everything well and ifthey face no significant injuries, it’shard to see them not making theSuper Bowl.Speaking of the Super Bowl, every-thing is pointing to the Broncosrepresenting the AFC this year.After starting 2-3 with a terrifying-ly hard schedule (they lost to the

Falcons, Texans and Patriots, aridiculous combined 20-4), theyhave won their last three gamesconvincingly (including one absurd24-point comeback). During thisstreak, Peyton Manning looks to begetting more and more comfortablewith his young receiving corps ledby Demaryius Thomas and EricDecker. Although at this pointManning’s arm could be mistakenfor Chad Pennington’s, he still hitshis targets and his incredible foot-ball IQ compensates for the loss inarm strength. I feel like I could be astarting quarterback with my armand Manning’s football IQ; it’s thatincredible. As for their defense, itmay not be elite, but they causeenormous problems when theyhave the lead. They have two of thetop pass rushers in the league inElvis Dumervil and Von Miller andfeature ballhawks Champ Baileyand Tracy Porter; it’s hard to find adefense better built to hold a leadthan the Broncos’. Don’t be sur-prised to see them make a seriousrun in the playoffs this year.The other two teams I see challeng-ing for a title are not performing atthe level of the Bears or Broncos,but their past success makes themdangerous; I am speaking about thelast two Super Bowl Champions,the Packers and Giants. This seasonis oddly reminiscent of both teams’runs to the Super Bowl. When thePackers won, they were ravaged byinjuries, but did just enough to getinto the postseason to make a run.This season, they are again strug-gling with injuries (Greg Jennings,Jordy Nelson, Charles Woodsonand Cedric Benson have all missedgames), but still finding ways towin games. The Giants situation iseven more familiar; last year, theGiants started 6-2 and proceeded tolook terrible for the next 4 games,losing them all, before putting ittogether at the very end to make arun. This season, they started 6-2and proceeded to look just as terri-ble against the Steelers this week-end. Neither team looks great rightnow, but just keep them in mindwhen the playoffs approach; you’vebeen warned.

By HALEY VELASCOSun Assistant Sports Editor

Albert Liao can be reached ataliao@cornellsun.com.

VOLLEYBALL

Team focused | Junior midfielder Stephen Reisert helped Cornell winagainst Dartmouth this past weekend in double overtime.

CONNOR ARCHARD / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Splitting the weekend | Junior outside hitter Sierra Youngalong with junior outside hitter Kelly Marble combined for 21kills against Harvard this past weekend.

CONNOR ARCHARD / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Cornell Finishes Fall Season

Reisert Earns Ivy Player of WeekMEN’S SOCCER Preparing for the Playoffs

LIAOContinued from page 20

Haley Velasco can be reached athvelasco@cornellsun.com.

“The Dartmouth match was a goodgame for our team.”Kelly Reinke

Team beats Dartmouth, falls to Harvard in weekend matchupsBy SCOTT ECKLSun Staff Writer

Scott Eckl can be reached at seckl@cornellsun.com.

This upcoming week-end, on Saturday, theCornell men’s andwomen’s swimming anddiving teams will head intothe water at Teagle for thefirst competition of theseason going up againstDartmouth and Harvard.The divers for the men willbegin at 9:30 a.m., fol-lowed by the women. Theswimmers will take thewater at 1:45 p.m. for thewomen and at 4:30 p.mfor the men.

Both teams are lookingforward to the upcomingseasonto establish a

stronger presence in theIvy League. Coming off ofa difficult season last year,the men’s team looks toposition themselves backat the top of the league. Awin this weekend couldestablish a positivemomentum going into therest of the season.Sophomore freestyleswimmer TimothySatterthwaite when askedabout Dartmouth andHarvard said,

“Its our chance to get alittle revenge for our firstdefeat to Dartmouth in 35years last year. Harvard hasalways been quite fast,however there will defi-nitely be some good

races.” For Statterthwaite, this

race will be unique in thefact that he will be racinghis older brother whoswims for Harvard.

The team has made sig-nificant developments inthe preseason and hopesthat this effort made lead-ing up to the season willhelp this Saturday.

“We have put in a lot ofeffort both in the pool andin the gym. Every personhas given their all in prac-tice and I think the team isready to compete andwants to perform well,”said sophomore diverThomas Hallowell.

With a new training

regimen and strong leader-ship, the Red looks to startthe season with a win overIvy rivals.

On the women’s front,the Red looks for thechance to open the seasonat home positively.“Having our season open-er be at home is a bigadvantage for us and weare very excited as a team”said junior freestyle swim-mer Melissa Mrozinski.

The Red has had strongimprovement recently, inpart due to a wide varietyof new talent in the fresh-man class.

“The team startedpreparing for this meetfrom the very first day ofpreseason and at the teammeetings in August ... Wehave been workingextremely hard both in thepool and in the weightroom to try and improveand prepare for competi-tion,” Mrozinski said.

“Opening up with oneof our more anticipatedmeets will be really goodto start off the season, as itgives us a good baseline towork from,” saidSatterthwaite.

“This race give us achance to make a state-ment in the Ivy League,”Hallowell said.

Sports 20WEDNESDAYNOVEMBER 7, 2012

The Corne¬ Daily Sun

The Red traveled to Rochester this weekend to competein its third and fourth shows of the season. Coming off ofanother double header from the weekend before, the teamstruggled to perform to the best of its ability. The squad tiedfor third place on the first day behind Alfred and Ithaca, andfinished in eighth on the second, according to senior tri-cap-tain Emily Kowalchik.

“It’s difficult to have four shows in eight days,” said seniortri-captain Emily Webster. “There’s not a lot of time toimprove on the mistakes that we’re making in [these] showsbecause they are so close together … and everyone’s exhaust-ed by the eighth day.”

“We’ve never, at least in our time on the team, had twodouble headers back to back so obviously exhaustion playeda part,” Kowalchik agreed.

With a new coach and some new team members — bothhuman and equine — there have been a lot of changes to thesquad this year. Last season, the Red was undefeated untilthe very last show. Cornell took home the regional champi-on title and sent the team to Zones as well as two riders toNationals. However, it will take time for the team to adjustthis season.

“It’s been a big transition year for us with the new coachand we’re not seeing the same success that we were last year,but I don’t think that reflects anything about our riding,”said sophomore Renee Botelho. “I think we’re all gettingbetter but it’s just a learning process for everybody.”

New head coach Todd Karn has been working to buildhis relationship with the team and bring everyone together.

“We’re just really working on representing the school in a

strong way and getting our personalities adjusted to dothat,” he said. “We’ve been working on that because we’re allpretty new to one another. We’re just trying to make it astronger unity.”

Despite the fact that the Red was not thrilled with itsresults, it did not let its performance bring down the squad.

“Throughout the whole weekend the team did have apositive attitude,” said senior tri-captain Zofia Hilton. “Wekept up that team spirit even though things might not havebeen as good [as we wanted].”

“You’re never gonna win if you keep doubting yourself,”Webster said.

Although the team as a whole did not have much successthis weekend, four of the riders earned enough points tobegin competing in a higher division. Sophomores ReneeBotelho and Sofia Steinberger, junior Amanda Sevcik, andsenior Erika Hooker all moved up a division as a result. Inaddition to being able to compete at a higher level, they alsoautomatically earned spots at Nationals, according toKowalchik.

“We had a lot of girls point out … and it was really greatto see that because a lot of them have been trying [to pointout] for a long time,” said Hilton.

For Hooker, moving up is something that she has beenworking on for awhile.

“For me its been a long time coming,” she said.” “I’m asenior this year and I started out in novice — flat and fences— and I lost all of last year because I went abroad. I wasgone in the fall [and] that’s when our show season is. So [it]was really difficult for me to come back into it this year frombeing abroad and not showing last year.”

Hooker and Sevcik both moved up from the novice tothe intermediate division — Hooker for the flat classes and

Sevcik for fences. According to both Hooker and Sevcik, theRed is currently lacking intermediate riders on the team.

Steinberger and Botelho both needed to win their classesthis weekend in order to move up.

NFL MidseasonReview

In the blink of an eye,the NFL is now morethan half over.

Although it’s hard to sayexactly how the season willturn out, we do know morethan we did at the start ofthe season. Some teamshave clearly differentiatedthemselves from the com-petition and some trendshave clearly formed.

One huge trend has beenthe great play of the rookiequarterbacks in the league.We’ve heard gushingreviews of Robert GriffinIII and Andrew Luck, buteven the quarterbackstaken later in the draft haveplayed well all season.Russell Wilson has keptfree agent signee MattFlynn glued to the benchand has his Seahawks sit-ting at 5-4. Ryan Tannehillhas kept the 4-4 Dolphinsin the playoff hunt with amediocre team. And evenBrandon Weeden is playingas well as humanly possible

in the city of Cleveland. Inthe past, the common con-vention was to let quarter-backs develop on thebench, but we have seen acomplete shift recently.Teams now throw rookiequarterbacks out there andsee what they can do and Idon’t see this mentalitychanging the future.Another trend I’ve recently

noticed has to deal withtorn ACLs. It has long beenknown as a rare, terrifyinginjury that had career-alter-ing implications; however,now, it has become a verycommon injury that willknock a player out for ayear, but beyond that, haveno lasting effects. This maysound strange but there’sinformation to back upthat claim. Wes Welker,Adrian Peterson and JamaalCharles have all torn theirACLs, but have all returnedto play at All-Pro levels,

See LIAO page 19

AlbertLiao

Playing the Field

By ARIEL COOPERSun Staff Writer

Red Ties For Third in Rochester

C.U. Starts New Season at Home

EQUESTRIAN

Moving ahead | After a tough doubleheader, the Redstruggled in Rochester and ended up tying for third place.

ESTHER HOFFMAN / SUN PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

Ready to race | Both the men and women’s swimming and diving teams will beginthe season this weekend in a matchup against Dartmouth and Harvard at Teagle.

BETH SPERGEL / SUN FILE PHOTO

See EQUESTRIAN page 18

SWIMMING AND DIVING

By JOHN McGRORTY Sun Staff Writer

John McGrorty can bereached at jmcgrorty@cornellsun.com.