Baby cream and summer camp

25 Jan 2011, Posted by Ariel Smallwood in Backpages, 0 Comments

Hulu is a great website—no one can really say that they don’t like Hulu.

Sure, its got its flaws but it is better than the alternative. In the Internet age before Hulu we all searched the Internet far and wide for our favorite television show, and some of us still do (that means you “Mad Men” fans).

That said, Hulu gives us the shows we desire for the low price of free. Therein lies the problem. They cannot provide the next episode of “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” if they aren’t making any money to pay their bills. What is the solution to this problem? Ad Tailor.

The idea is pretty simple: Hulu plays advertisements and you tell them if the ad is relevant to you. It sounds good in theory, but in application it’s the devil in a new dress. Every other commercial for me is a commercial about baby’s rash cream. Is this ad relevant to me? No it isn’t, but Hulu doesn’t care because they are getting paid thousands of dollars to let me think that I have a choice. Maybe the Hulu gods know something that I don’t. Could it be that they keep pushing rash cream because I’m going to have a baby soon? It wouldn’t be the first time someone not having sex got knocked up. Between the commercials about creams and denture glue, there are some commercials that I quite enjoy.

My favorite is definitely the “Because of Camp” commercials. In case you aren’t familiar with these commercials, they feature various celebrities (some more famous than others but none really famous at all) telling the viewer what they learned at camp. The celebs don’t discuss anything profound — just things like teamwork and friendship, the values that you would find in an average college essay. My roommate, a non-summer camp kid, scoffs every time I mention the commercial, but to me it’s more than an annoying 30-second break from some soap opera plot point (is she or isn’t she his sister?).

As a summer camp kid, I think the commercial fails to portray the true essence of camp. You get to spend weeks at a time away from your parents. This sounds stupid, I know, but try and follow me. You have no parents, essentially no rules, other than don’t die, and everybody’s hormones are at their peak levels. What could be better than three weeks of random hookups with a few trips to the lake in between? This seemingly fictional summer camp does exist, and I am a proud alumni or alumnus or alumna. What I’m trying to say is that I went to that camp. At the end of the time, you can go home and do all of those summer assignments that you meant to do at the beginning of the break and e-mail that cute boy from camp?. I have finally found the reason why Hulu keeps playing me all of those baby cream ads. They want to remind me that when I do have a baby, that kid should go to summer camp. I fully agree.

Ariel Smallwood is a Trinity sophomore. Her online column will run every Tuesday.

Grim outlook after WikiLeaks

07 Dec 2010, Posted by Chris Taylor in Backpages, Legal Matters, National Politics, 0 Comments

As a prospective public policy/ political science student, I have been following the WikiLeaks story somewhat closely. As the story developed, I wondered along with many Americans the implications of this massive leak for United States diplomacy, the potential effect on journalism and the freedom of press, and the meaning of the striking resemblance between Julian Assange and some James Bond villains.

This Tuesday at the open panel discussion “Out of the Bag–WikiLeaks and US Diplomacy,” three experts in relevant fields discussed their views on these questions and fielded questions from the audience at Rubenstein Hall. Personally, the panel seemed to me to present more questions and conflicts than present answers to questions.

Perhaps that is the nature of an event such as the indiscriminate release of over 250,000 classified documents–there are no real answers, only more questions. Is Assange a hero or a villain? Has he opened government to a new level of transparency and honesty, or has he prevented hundreds of ambassadors from doing their jobs and further harmed already frail American diplomatic relations overseas?

The responses to these questions seemed to vary greatly between each panel member. Ambassador Patrick Duddy presented the event from the side of the United States State Department, and the potential life-threatening danger associated with revealing such classified communications. Former Washington Post editor and current Duke professor Philip Bennett spoke about the situation through the eyes of the mainstream media, who he claims handled the unprecedented story in the best manner, acting as an intermediate between the lengthy and complex communications and the public desiring comprehension. Professor of Public Policy and Political Science Peter Feaver characterized the event as good, bad and ugly for different groups and individuals, pointing out that while the leaks are good for Assange himself as well as scholars interested in understanding US foreign policy, it is bad for the Obama administration and mainstream media outlets and just plain ugly when it comes to deciding what to do in response to these leaks.

Overall, I walked away from the discussion with a grim outlook toward the future. Freedom of information seems to be constantly coming into conflict with maintaining an effective government, and it seems that sooner or later a line must be drawn. The internet is a powerful new resource, and is yet to be fully integrated into the world of politics and journalism. Who knows what the next few years will be bring, what new challenges and issues we will face.

Maybe I should take up engineering.

Nothing gets between me and my pumpkin pie: a firsthand account of the TSA regulations during Thanksgiving

25 Nov 2010, Posted by Christine Chen in Backpages, 0 Comments

Before I went on Thanksgiving Break, my dad called me and went over the usual list of worries. Had I packed my passport? Did I call a cab? And most importantly—would I get to the airport on time for my flight?

The last question was one that probably went through all our minds, given the recent clamor over the TSA’s new security regulations. For those of you who haven’t traveled by air yet, the country’s most recent anti-terrorist attempt is a full-body scanner or pat down. The furor is over the violations of privacy that these security measures imply. Complaints across the country centered on how embarrassing it was to be seen or felt so thoroughly. Some people even threatened to stage boycotts and disrupt the Thanksgiving travel flow. The nation was so concerned that reporters from news stations such as NBC and CBS convened at both Raleigh-Durham airport and Tallahassee Regional Airport.

I wasn’t so concerned about the privacy issues as I was about the human traffic. My attitude was that there was nothing I needed to hide, but nothing had better get between me and my pumpkin pie. And here’s some further food for thought—it might be bad for you, but think about how much worse it must be for the people who have to scan or pat down every single person who comes through the airport.

Fortunately, however, Thanksgiving won out over privacy.

I arrived an hour early at Raleigh-Durham airport to see at least three different camera crews covering the implications of the TSA scanners, but zilch protesters. The line through the security was fast and painless. It took me less than five minutes to get through early morning security, and less than a minute to go through the body scan.

From my experience, the horror stories about the scanners and groping pat downs were highly overrated. Going through the scanners and pat downs wasn’t the scarring experience that some individuals have claimed. The staff at the Raleigh-Durham airport were nothing but professional. They were serious, focused solely on their job and respectful. Perhaps they were a little tense, but with all the nation’s airports on alert for possible protesters, that was only to be expected.

The only awkward moment was when they asked me to stand with my feet wide apart, a foot on each yellow footprint on the ground. I found it awkward because the space between the two yellow footprints was so large. Being a member of the vertically challenged subdivision of the human race, I found myself wondering if I should do some yoga squats, what with my legs apart and hands clasped above my head. And a one, and a two, and a… but before I could seriously consider that thought, the security lady slid open the doors and I got a “you’re good to go” from a fatherly-looking security man.

And then I was free to pursue my time with family and friends.

Something to be thankful for this year? New weekend bus schedules

22 Nov 2010, Posted by Ziwen Deng in Backpages, 0 Comments

For those of you who have waited on the weekends for what seems like half the day for the plodding, sluggish C-2s to come along, I have good news. According to the Duke Parking and Transportation site, C-1s are starting to run on weekends again.

This is, at the very least, a great time-saver for anyone who is looking to grab a quick dinner, making a quick bank deposit or returning from a night out on West Campus. No more will you have to deal with the buses taking you on a 45 minute scenic tour through every square inch of Central before spitting you out on one of the campuses.

No more will you have to struggle for a breath of fresh air while being compressed by a mob of drunken upperclassmen on Saturday nights, or—if fate permits—try to avoid the particularly nauseous individuals who can’t help vomiting on the bus floors.

The initial move to eliminate C-1s on weekends was made in an effort to reduce carbon emissions and reduce the PTS department’s work by 7,500 hours—resulting in $500,000 in savings—in addition to better accommodating students traveling to Central and Smith Warehouse, which is certainly a commendable goal.

Still, a line had to be drawn between reasonable cutbacks and an inefficient system, and it seems that our transportation services have seen enough this early in the year to revise the bus schedules. Let’s hope the new policy stays.

Late registration: the freshmen conundrum

12 Nov 2010, Posted by Chris Taylor in Backpages, 0 Comments

Next week, bookbagging turns into registration for first-year students. If you are like me, over the past two weeks you have seen potential classes fill up with upperclassmen, and have slowly been closed out of your ideal schedule.

I have checked PUBPOL 55D nearly every day this week, watching it creep closer and closer to the 122-person capacity. After meeting with my academic advisor this week and discussing which courses to take a few weeks ago at the Majors Fair, I have learned that this is an annual issue.

Apparently, some Public Policy Studies students do not have the opportunity to take the first course in their major, the prerequisite for all other Public Policy courses, until second semester of sophomore year.

My advice—or rather, the advice I have received from advisors and various upperclassmen and am now passing off as my own: Fulfill whatever general requirements you can next semester and save the in-major courses for a time when you can actually get in the class.

Fortunately, not all classes are filled to capacity quite yet. Depending on what registration window you have, you may have a shot at a decent schedule. As for me, I suffered through the third slot during the summer, have the second window now and will enjoy my first round pick at the start of sophomore year.

I wish you all luck in your search to build the perfect schedule—except those who are also attempting to get in PUBPOL 55D. I hope you have a sudden change of heart and decide to pursue engineering or something.