Wednesday, August 2,2|
VTION
inuedfrom Page}
istitute a Web-basedtef-
i, a new set of termini
>e designed to received
ongh of HTML compt
'tware would need toi
re student to access
itemet browser.
, associate registrarfc;
of Texas-Austin, whii
-based registrations^
, said that a universfe
rchase a pre-designd
;n its own.
is going to be a costli
n said. "If you buyi
product, it still hastols
ir system. If you design
ur programmers and
’Sts will be puttingalot
ney."
d pre-designed pre
t between $10 million
i. A&M will design its
re said.
I that before any pro-
ned, the administration
hether to construct a
it would interact witli
\S, or to build a new
cess.
i from a centralized
nputer. However, as
ds and software pro-
faster and more com-
irrent SIMS becomes
gn a Web-based regis-
iff the current one and
’ SIMS, they are
oney down the drain,"
I that a new way of
stration times would
eloped with a
>n system.
"rent system, the over-
re system causes some
e Station to not be able
me," he said. "If we
stration, it would only
>rse, unless the times
d into smaller blocks."
the times would prob-
aized into blocks of
;s for 100 people at a
instead of the current
1 to 4,000 people over
ay.
Nightmares & ’netscapes
Online books not the end for conventional publishing
fednesday. August 2, 2000
Page 5
THE BATTALION
wed from Page l
u dents with physical
to the fact that physi-
; evident, while men-
1 'invisible' and hard-
/Villiams said.
;, the director of
Assessment Clinic at
linic works hand-in-
i ensure that students
ite accommodations,
â– nt is diagnosed with
g problem, we send
to their department
o the student in any
? said.
it is sometimes diffi-
>roach her professors
o miss a class,
u how many times 1
pressed) when 1
an unstable mental
icing severe anxiety
ssor with whom I
missed classes and
leery of me and not
ke accommodations
documentation and
by the ADA,"
The SSD does not
ead of helping me,
ler."
>ad experience does
partment discrimi-
dent may be experi-
roblem, kind of like
ger at McDonald's,"
the most part,
etty consistent with
3. Every now and
na d experience. It is
dent has claimed to
nerience with the
vho suffers from
nior rangeland ed
it saying the depart-
?s is an overstate-
o longer registered
use of the problems
tion program is
Deats said. "The)'
ate the faculty and
>u take tests earl)'
, which is helpful
icate the professors
nmodate mentall)
"
A rtistic creativity and the ability
to make money usually mix
about as well as tequila and
dairy products. Writers are just one
group who face this obstacle. The deci
sion to make creative writing one's
livelihood is sometimes a choice to live a
life of financial instability.
Writers make money when their
published material is bought. Hurdles must be cleared be
fore a published work is put on the shelf. The publishing
industry is like many other industries: Seniority and
knowing the right people can be as im
portant as the substance of a writer's
work. Countless authors spend years
trying to get their first work published.
The process is arduous and often
plagued with countless disappoint
ments. Many authors have had their
works turned down dozens of times,
only to have the same pieces become
bestsellers years later when the author's
names are well known.
However, Stephen King has recently
taken a bold step to change the normal
practice of publishing. On July 24, King
placed his newest novel, "The Plant/' on
his Website. Readers can download the novel in its entirety.
King has stated that the whole distribution process will be
on the honor system, meaning that downloaders are asked
— but not required — to send King $1 for every copy down
loaded. King said he will continue this process if and only if
at least 75 percent of readers pay for their downloads. King
was quoted as saying, "If you pay, the story rolls. If you
don't, the story folds."
The publishing community is concerned. Some publish
ers feel that King is merely flexing his ego. They say King's
move should not be emulated by other writers for fear that it
is a path of disaster for most writers.
King is simply
bringing to
the writing
industry what
musicians,
filmmakers and
day-traders
have had for
some time now.
John Baker of Publisher's Weekly echoed these senti
ments when he said, "There are few authors who will take
this kind of risk. Conventional publishing will continue to
be the leading way for authors to publish."
This is true, but the defensive words spoken by publish
ers are in response to what they believe to be a challenge for
their spot in the industry. No one will ever compete with the
big publishers. Most writers will op>t for the big-time mar
keting campaigns that only big publishers can provide.
When King was asked whether or not his latest venture
was the end of publishing, he said, "Good God, no. I love
my editors, and I like my publisher. I also like books, and if I
could break some trail for all the mid-list
writers, literary writers and just plain mar
ginalized writers who see a future outside of
the mainstream, that's great."
King is not going to revolutionize the
publishing industry. What King has started
is certainly not the end of big publishing as
the industry is today. King is simply bring
ing to the writing industry what musicians,
filmmakers and day traders have had for
some time now: the opportunity to prosper
without paying the traditional corporate
middleman.
If King's campaign is a success, many
others will follow. If a lesser-known author
has success selling material on the Internet, he or she may be
able to sign with a publishing company much more easily.
Publishing is, in essence, speculation. The company is
calculating how well the piece will fare or how much
money the sale of the work will bring. With a chance to
establish themselves on their own, writers will be
much more appealing to big publishing companies
and will be able to encounter more success with
the aid of the big-time marketing that these com
panies have at their fingertips.
Luke McMahan is a senior industrial engineering major.
RUBEN DELUNA/Thr Battalion
Poverty and AIDS a lethal combination Punishing students comes second
to preventing phone code misuse
T he stage was set for history to
happen. Experts from all over
the world, doctors and digni
taries alike, came together on com
mon soil to participate in the 13th
Annual AIDS (Acquired Immune
Deficiency Syndrome) Conference.
While the conference was mo
mentous — representatives from
six continents would sit side by
side to break the silence on the dev
astation wrought by HIV (Human
Immunodeficiency Virus), the most
lethal virus known to man in the ,
modern era — the site chosen for
the discussions was of paramount
importance as well.
The conference took place in
South Africa, part of the poorest con
tinent on Earth. Moreover, within re
cent memory. South Africa has be
come a paragon of triumph as
heart-wrenching blood baths for
racial equality were transformed,
into exuberant celebrations for hard-
won freedom.
Thus, South Africa is to the whole
world what AIDS is to the body — a
struggle within a larger struggle that
shall see the dawn of glory through
preparation, education, determina
tion, courage, resilience and dignity.
So when President Mbkei chris
tened the conference with his open
ing speech by saying that poverty.
Off-campus bonfire
not the tradition
In response to the July 30 Associ
ated Press article.
Does Will Clark truly believe
that an off-campus bonfire will
truly be a success? Assuming
(quite illogically in my opinion)
that this group can find funding
without the University's assis
tance and a site on which to hold
it, how exciting will the bonfire be
without the Aggie Band, the Aggie
football team, the Corps of
Cadets and the Yell Leaders?
None of these groups will partici
pate due to their determined loy
alty to Texas A&M, and I am sure
that other groups will feel the
same way.
While there are parts of Presi
dent Bowen's decision that I dis
agree with, particularly the elimi
nation of student cut, I support it
because it is in the best inter
net AIDS, was the single most de
structive component in the lives of
Africans, the calculated link between
cause and geography took a turn to
ward uncharted waters.
By all accounts, there is no deny
ing that Africa has been, and if cur
rent trends are to continue, will con
tinue to be the continent worst hit by
HIV-related AIDS. Scores of villages
have succumbed to HIV, in part be
cause a number of fundamental in
stitutions like the family, church,
schools and government have found
it extremely difficult to break with
traditional mores and talk about sex
ual activity within their respective
communities.
But Mbeki's speech placed a
sharp accent in another area: Africa's
reality and the obstacles that must be
met in order to tackle the virus head
on. In blatant terms, Mbeki refer
enced the devastating contribution
AIDS & HIV have made to the conti
nent while making it known to the
world that poverty affects the likeli
hood of survival among African suf
ferers much more than their western
counterparts could possibly imagine.
Because of poverty, few Africans
eat more than one meal a day. Be
cause of poverty, that meal may or
may not contain one or possibly two
small portions of the basic food
Mail Call
ests of the world-class University
I graduated from. I built four bon
fires and watched them burn with
my buddies in my time as a stu
dent because of my love and de
votion to Texas A&M.
These students seem to say,
"Screw the University, we're
building a bonfire!" So much for
Aggie Spirit.
Jay Koenig
Class of ’98
I completely understand the
desire to watch bonfire burn,
however, let's not go maverick.
All Aggies, current and former
students alike, grieved for our
fallen Ags and prayed for the re
covery of the injured. Building a
"rebel" bonfire is not going to
heal old wounds, as the Keep the
Fire Burning organization claims,
but rip them open again by the
controversy it creates.
Dr. Bowen made a compas
sionate, fair-minded decision,
groups. So their immune systems,
like their diets, are already impover
ished, making them more suscepti
ble to illnesses associated with AIDS.
Vaccines to fight HIV need to be
stored in refrigerated areas. Because
of poverty, most villages have neither
electricity nor a constant supply of
sanitized running water to down the
capsules that could keep their latest
affliction at bay. Because of poverty,
the means to distribute the vaccines
are lacking, as are roads absent of
potholes that cause fatal delays when
reaching a needy population of pa
tients under strict orders to take their
medication at a specific time.
Poverty not only permeates choic
es, it translates into a wager between
life and death, determining how
death or survival come about.
The importance of Mbeki's speech
was not that it deviated from the con
ference's initial agenda, but that it
challenged a naive spirit parading the
globe where good intentions and un
acknowledged need never meet. If
AIDS has meant anything to Africa, it
is a call to change. If AIDS has meant
anything at all to the rest of the
world, it is a similar call to change.
Nanna Hadikwa Mwaluko is a
columnist for the Columbia
Daily Spectator at Columbia U.
and we should stand behind him.
I charge those young men and
women to support their Universi
ty, and stan fast for two years un
til the tradition of bonfire is re
sumed.
Nancy Van Riper
Class of ’95
The Battalion encourages letters to the
editor. Letters must be 300 words or less
and include the author’s name, class and
phone number.
The opinion editor reserves the right to
edit letters for length, style and accuracy.
Letters may be submitted in person at 014
Reed McDonald with a valid student ID. Let
ters may also be mailed to:
The Battalion - Mail Call
014 Reed McDonald
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX
77843-1111
Campus Mail: 1111
Fax: (409) 845-2647
E-mail: battletters@hotmail.com
B efore en
tering col
lege, most
students thought
of higher educa
tion as "a world
of opportunity,"
"a place for free
dom of thought"
or "a chance to soul-search." Once in
college/students realize that higher
education can also be stressful and fi
nancially overwhelming. After pay
ing for tuition, fees, books, gasoline,
parking tickets and other expenses,
some students find it is almost im
possible to afford a long-distance
phone service to keep in touch with
friends and family.
Some students, burdened by
high expenses, stumbled upon a
long distance phone code used by
Texas state employees to call other
state entities without incurring long
distance charges. These students'
intention was most likely not to
waste the uni
versities' mon
ey, but to save
some of their
own. Now, in
stead of sim
ply correcting
this lapse in
security. Uni
versity offi
cials have
launched an
investigation
with plans to
pinpoint the code users and penalize
them for using the number without
authorization.
A&M University officials say that
with students accessing the govern
ment code, the November phone bill
for all participating universities was
$15,000 more than the average
monthly bill. They attribute the extra
amount to students and other unau
thorized callers using the phone code.
This $15,000 excess was not caused by
only A&M students. The $15,000 is
not so outrageous considering that
students from several other colleges
also had access to the phone code and
contributed to the bill.
Also, if this phone code was sup
posed to be kept confidential, how
did so many students obtain it?
Ronald Jackson, assistant direc
tor of Texas Agriculture Extension
Services, said that A&M theorizes
that the code was discovered by stu
dents who used computers to find
permutations of numbers that
worked for the code.
However, considering several
students said the code was passed
between friends and others noted
they received a new number
whenever the code changed, it is
more likely that students got tlie
number from a leak in the state
employee system. Users would
not have been able to get the code
that quickly when it changed by
blindly guessing with computer
permutations.
SAME- A
BUCK OR
TWO?
his or her card, there is less of a
chance for the numbers to be leaked
to students. Making sure this system
works effectively is now the priority
for A&M officials.
The money that has been spent
by A&M determining which stu
dents cracked the code is pointless
and a waste of state funds. This en
tire situation would have been
avoided if the code had been kept
secret in the first place.
Instead of punishing students
who stumbled on this code, the A&M
should continue to prevent further il
legal use. Pinpoint the perpetrators
and punish them for breaking uni
versity policy a couple of semesters
ago is not as important as stopping
future problems..
In reality, this code did not do that
much damage. A brief calculation
shows that, if the $15,000 bill accu-
FHONE
ir* â– 
> >
Instead of spending state money
to launch an investigation, univer
sity officials should support their
new system.
Jackson said that there is a new
system that works like a credit card.
State employees each have a specific
number so that each call can be
traced to the employee who made it.
This system is an improvement
over the old one because, now that
each employee's calls are linked to
mulated by illegal student use across
the state were distributed just among
A&M's 42,000 students, the bill
would be 35 cents of free phone caUs
per student. The University can com
pare that 35 cents to students' over
whelming tuition, fees and parking
expenses which they pay begrudg
ingly, but willingly, every semester.
Cayla Carr is a junior
speech communication major.