The Battalion Page 3 Way, May 2, 1994 , 1994 il icers bat his s back i, and imirez aombs of co- to the n of a 1 ot yet bout.” :hoos- o pre- ol the loses,” : other eed to lot be- A’s ex- s, said ivel at :y will liversi- aculty >r give mtries tional e defi- •ode in. Fisher Valley :tion. id the :xican- ispanic out an speaks ;t GOP :y in a rueger, co. i all ng es! ill rice liter editor Roger viegliola, =sters and jxas A&M fniversily. of Student Building. r campus, ng offices What's Up Monday Special Health Services: Free and anonymous HIV testing is available on campus. Call 775- J064 for more information. TAMU Roadrunners: Meet Sunday through Thursday at S:30 p.m. in front of G. Rollie White coliseum for group runs. iCallSteve at 823-1334. I . . . International Studies Soci ety: Runoff elections and planning for next year at 7 p.m. in 507 Rud der. Call Eleanor at 693-4597. NAAGP: General meeting jin 225 MSC at 8 p.m. Call Lovely jit 847-7373. Texas Environmental Ac- jtion Coalition: Elections with together after; bring food in 1202 Francis at 7:30 p.m. Call 'James at 693-728 1. Keathley Hall. “Meet your exec” hall meeting at 7:30 in 305 Call Sarah at 847-6307. Call Amboy Duke at 847-5406. Society of Educational Ad ministration: Paul Samsonov, a cultural exchange student studying in the department of educational administration, will hold a conver sation about his homeland (Belarus, a republic of the former USSR) slide shows in 225 Harrington from 11:30 a.m.-l2:15 p.m. Tuesday Breakaway: A weekly, non- denominational Bible Study at First Baptist Church in College Station at 9 p.m. Call Gregg at 693-9869. Student Counseling Ser vice: African American Support group in Henderson Hall from 5- 6:30 p.m. Call Dr. Williams at 845-4427. Alcoholics Anonymous: Open, nonsmoking meeting at noon. See monitor at MSC for loca tion or call 845-0280 or 847-9252. feathley. n • 4P< Engineers Student Chapter: Presentation by Tom Williams and Doug Williams about transporta tion related issues on the TAMU campus in 1 1 0 Koldus at 5:30 p.m. Call Angie at 845-9949. KANM 99.9 FM Cable: Amboy Duke presents Jewish Fly guys: The Final Frontier from 4- 6 p.m. on KANM 99.9 FM Cable. R io Brazos Audubon Meeting: Martin Reed, owner of Martin Travel in Fort Worth and organizer of birding tours, will speak at 7:30 p.m in 102 College Station Conference Center. Call Bert at 846-9042 or 693-3214. TAMU Waterski Club: Mandatory meeting discussing summer skiing at 8:30 p.m. in 501 Rudder. Call Todd at 693-3843. Orthodox Student Organi zation: Final church service of the year with Father Jim in All Faith’s Chapel at 5:15 p.m. Cal Nicholas at 847- 3484. Jesus Is Alive Christian Fellowship: Fellowship, prayer, sharing the word at 8 p.m. at All Faith’s Chapel. Call Tony at 845-1 680. Mexican Student Associa tion: Elections, summer plans, picnic in 106 Richardson at 7 p.m. Call Argentina at 845- 1121. Women’s Studies Program: Geeta Rama Seshan (^Eisenhower Fellow) will speak on ‘^Gender Justice in Contemporary India” at 3 p.m. in 326 Academic. Call 845-7994. Semper Fi Society: Staff Elections at Course D at 7:30 p.m. Call Wade at 693-6776. Math Society: Officer elec tions in 317 Milner at 6:30 p.m. Call Julie at 845-3045. What’s Up is a Battalion service that lists non-profit student and faculty events and activities. Items should be submitted no later than three days in advance of the desired run date. Applica tion deadlines and notices are not events and will not be run in What’s Up. If you have any questions, please call the newsroom at 845- 3313. J.U Dfr J.U ^fr E-mail stalker’s threats become reality Die Associated Press EL PASO — A computer “stalker” is apparently arning E-mail threats into reality. Two families have told police that messages sent a their teen-age sons on a local computer bulletin sard have been followed by destructive acts against fmily vehicles. In both cases, the threats were made by “Hydro,” a nickname used on an electronic bulletin boam shared kya small group of El Paso teen-agers. One of the families, from the west side of El Paso, have told police that threats to their son preceded two family vans being torched. The most recent fire was Friday, when the family awoke at 3 a.m. to find their 1994 Dodge Caravan aflame. Taped to a rock outside their home was a computer note: “HYDRO IZ GOD.” “It’s strange, and it’s very scary,” said Rio Grande Free Net operator Don Furtn, who operates at the El Paso Community College. “These local bulletin boards are very busy at nights. “There are a lot of people who sit in their rooms, and they’re so wrappea up in this virtual environment they’ve created,” he said. Police reports show a second family, from north east El Paso, also received threats from a computer user nicknamed “Hydro,” and found the windows of their Isuzu smashed March 23. HEADED TO HOUSTON THIS SUMMER? fafoedAw . . . DONE IT! (Ht t6e Pbwpz . . . DID IT! /idtruMWilct . . . BEEN THERE! (ZomuHitet (^oMeye StfOtewt . . . DEFINITELY NEED IT! We offer — Affordable, transferable classes Outstanding faculty Personalized instruction Small classroom settings Here's all you need to do: • Pick up a schedule and application at any HCCS location • Bring an unofficial transcript showing all college work to registration (grade reports from the spring are O.K.) • Provide TASP scores or evidence of exemption MAKE THIS SUMMER A STEP TOWARD GRADUATION! HOUSTON COMMUNITY ^College System Call C-O-L-L-E-G-E Houston Community College System does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, or handicap. ORGANIZATIONS REGISTRATION IS NOW GOING ON FOR MSC OPEN HOUSE DON’T BE LEFT OUT! • Pick up a form in your organization’s box in the Student Finance Center or in the Student Programs Office in the MSC. • Reserve a table from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. with Nancy Adams in the Student Programs Office, room 216 MSC. • Cost of tables: $22 for first table, $15 for additional tables (limit 2). Questions? Call Wendy or Liz at 845-1515. MSC Open House is sponsored by the MSC Public Relations Committee. nr nr Computing Toolbox A weekly column dedicated to computing at Texas A&M j\.s we learned last week, a Local Area Network (LAN) is a type of computer network at Texas A&M, and a network can be thought of as an “infonnation lighway.” Since many organizations and/ or workgroups at Texas A&M work together, it's important that electronic communications be set up between them so they can transfer files, data, and elec tronic mail. Texas A&M's campus net work accomplishes this. The campus network consists of a backbone network (the large, sturdy part of Texas A&M's highway) connecting most buildings on campus. Each building is considered a LAN that connects com puting resources such as personal comput ers, printers, workstations, ett., located in the same general area. Three widely used LAN technologies are called “token ring,” “Ethernet,” and “FDD1” (Fiber Distributed Data Inter face). Token ring networks are not widely used at TAMU. Ethernet connects com puter systems with coaxial, twisted pair, or fiber-optic cable. Until a few years ago, Ethernet was the best solution for a computing network. It would allow a data transmission rate (the maximum speed limit on the highway) of ten million bits per second, or 10 Mbps. By comparison, the data rate over a high-speed modem over a phone line is currently 14.4 Kbps (14,400 bits per second); this standard will soon increase to 28.8 Kbps. At Computing and Information Services (CIS) we have begun to use Fiber Distrib uted Data Interface (FDDI) for the campus network backbone. FDDI is a type of network that uses fiber-optics as the physical transmission medium. Fiber- optics delivers a clearer and more secure signal and allows a speed limit ten times higher (100Mbps) than Ethernet. In August 1993, CIS network technicians replaced the campus Ethernet network backbone and installed an FDDI network backbone. The benefits of its speed, band width, and distance will last a long time. There are currently four FDDI rings on the Texas A&M campus: a Main campus ring, a West campus ring, a ring connecting the two, and a ring maintained by the Depart ment of Computer Science. Feeding build ings directly from FDDI rings increases performance and improves reliability. CIS would like to provide many more network connections across campus. Long term plans include individual connections in dorm rooms and a FDDI backbone for every building. Future plans also include replacing all existing thinwire (a type of coaxial cable) with more reliable twisted pair ethernet. FDDI and Ethernet will continue to copiplement one another for several years to handle network speed requirements. Rheingold says in his book Virtual Reality, “the world is going to be webbed with fiber-optic bundles...carrying informa tion back and forth across town, continent, or hemisphere in large amounts fairly quickly. Until the speed of light barrier is broken, [only] the physical size of the planet precludes a truly instantaneous on line shared cyberspace.” Ask the Computing Wizard (?: Where can I get more information about our campus network? A: The Network Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) is available on Gopher at gopher.tamu.edu or via anonymous FTP from net.tamu.edu. The Network FAQ covers many aspects of the network including modems, SLIP/PPP, obtaining connections, and more. Q: Where can I get a map of the cam pus network? A: A postscript version of the campus network is available via anonymous FTP from net.tamu.edu. As the campus network grows constantly, the map becomes out dated. Each map has a date on it to indicate when it was last updated. Please send comments, topic suggcsUons, and questions for the Computing Wizard to SUGGEST@TAMU.EDU or call 845-9325. We want your input!. Don’t miss your CHANCE! When you register, don't forget to choose fee option 16 to order your copy of the 1994-95 AGGIELAND! And choose fee option IT to pay for your picture in the book. Don’t miss this chance to own the nation’s largest yearbook and a record of the 1994-95 school year. You’ll be glad you did. Aggieland 1 • 9 • 9 • 5 charge by