GoLive makes public transportation easier

05 Nov 2011, Posted by Danielle Muoio in News, 0 Comments

Sophia Palenberg/The Chronicle

A few weeks ago, in an effort to broaden my horizons by attending the North Carolina State Fair, I did something I had never done before—take the bus.

Now don’t get me wrong, I am not a stranger to public transportation. After frequenting the trains and subways of my hometown New York, I have mastered what I consider the art of public transportation—getting from point A to B in as little time as possible, with as little communication with other commuters as possible. As a result, I considered myself extremely prepared to take the short bus ride from Durham to Raleigh. Unfortunately, I was wrong.

My primary expectations for public transportation were shattered that sunny Friday. One commuter’s relentless attempt to convert me to the “word of Jesus” entirely violated my goal of avoiding public transit interactions. And just in case I was not uncomfortable enough, I quickly realized I had no idea how to work the bus system—choosing a particular bus at a specific time can drastically affect the simplicity and length of the trip. This is pretty basic information, except without any information at my disposal, I spent most of the trip asking bus drivers for help as I found myself at Durham Station, Regional Transit Center and even Terminal 1 of the RDU airport.

Case and point, the bus system was hardly convenient and navigable.

Thankfully, GoTriangle, an information partnership of regional public transportation agencies and organizations, has implemented GoLive, a free automated tool providing public transportation riders with real-time arrival predictions, to aid commuters in planning their trip.

According to the GoTriangle news release, GoLive will provide real-time arrival predictions for Triangle Transit, Chapel Hill Transit, the Durham Area Transit Authority, Capital Area Transit in Raleigh, the N.C. State University Wolfline and next year, C-Tran in Cary. GoLive is meant to make public transit easier for commuters in that people can request and receive arrival times and predictions.

“Knowledge is power,” wrote Ayana Hernandez, director of the programs chair at Fleishman-Hillard, a public relations agency, in an email Thursday. “While many students may have a car or other transportation available, we hope that the GoLive option assists them in using an alternative to the automobile.”

Commuters can access GoLive through text message or online, Hernandez said. They can also use TransLoc, an application for smartphones, which is accessible to Android, Blackberry and iPhone users.

“GoLive is the first regional use of real-time transit information in the country”, Hernandez said. “[It] is a logical extension of our goal to make more transit information available to the rider.”

Brad Schulz, a spokesman for Triangle Transit, said there have been three major technological advances for commuters—Google transit, GoLive and the placing of WiFi on all of the Triangle Transit buses.

“As you get more people into the idea of using public transit you want to make sure that they have the tools to make it acceptable and convenient for them,” said Schulz. “We understand that folks are concerned not only about their mobility…. But they want to be able to have the information at their discretion.”

Another positive effect of GoLive, said Schulz, is that since travelers can plan their trips easily with this tool, more people will use public transportation, which will result in the reduction of carbon emissions.

“Public transportation in Durham has had a dramatic effect in reducing the amount of pollutants from automobiles in the air,” he said.

The Duke community also benefits from public transportation, said Schulz.

According to a survey given in April, 38 percent of riders on the bull city connector were affiliated with Duke, with 15 percent being students, he said. Additionally, roughly 27,000 people boarded DATA or Triangle Transit with a Duke issued GoPass in the first month of August.

“We have been trying to come up with a way to harness technology…to meet the needs of people who are very much on the go,” Schulz said. “Technology is a tool for them to help improve their quality of life.”

CDS awards photographer Benjamin Lowy

05 Nov 2011, Posted by Andrew Karim in News, 0 Comments

The Center for Documentary Studies recently announced Benjamin Lowy as the recipient of the Honickman First Book Prize for his photo series, Iraq – Perspectives.

Special to The Chronicle

Lowy’s work, which merited the critical attention, is currently on display in Perkins Library. The Honickman First Booker Prize, co-sponsored by the CDS and the Philadelphia-based Honickman Foundation, is a prestigious award for American photographers awarded biennially. The Honickman Prize is awarded to American photographers of any age who have never published book-length work. According to the CDS website, the prize honors visually compelling work with integrity of purpose.

The site also notes that recipients traditionally use their cameras for “creative exploration, whether it be of places, people, or communities; of the natural or social world; of beauty at large or the lack of it; of objective or subjective realities.”

Lowy spent his first professional years as a journalist in Iraq, an experience that significantly affected his photography and personal growth. He decided to dedicate six years of his life to his time there, and his work as obviously paid off.

“[This award] is an amazing opportunity to get a body of work published in book form—and I was thrilled to be awarded this privilege,” he said.

Lowy noted the importance of photojournalism in his personal and professional life, but mentioned that today’s “overwhelming” amount of readily available information “water[s] down” content and turns off the public.

“My hope, with my new project, was to create a unique aesthetic that presented Iraq—a story that most Americans grew tired of and wished to ignore—in a more visually stimulating way,” Lowy said. “It’s always important to record the truth, but equally important to remember our audience and find a way to connect to them.

Lowy’s Duke display consists of various photos from the frontlines of Iraq, many of which were taken from inside the tank he patrolled in. The photos have a real quality to them, almost as if they were taken for military research purposes. Lowy’s work does a great job of playing with the line between functional and aesthetically pleasing photography.

Lowy received the Prize on Nov. 3 at the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film in Rochester, New York.

Free munchies

04 Nov 2011, Posted by Ashley Mooney in News, 0 Comments

Sophia Palenberg/The Chronicle

As I wept over my painfully low number of food points, I decided there was only one way to make it the rest of the semester: mooch off of campus free food as often as possible. Duke offers a surprising amount of opportunities for delicious free food if you know where to look.

I start my days by checking Duke’s free-food bible. The Duke Events Calendar allows you to refine your search by “Free Food and Beverages.” Most of the events are symposiums, seminars or speakers, so if I usually would have stayed to listen to at least part of a talk.

There are other places to find free food on campus—you just have to look.  Sometimes tables on the Bryan Center Plaza offer food. Knowing it exists and keeping a hungry eye out is all it takes to find the deliciousness around you.

On most Wednesdays the Mary Lou Williams Center hosts “Jazz at the Mary Lou”—a classy venue to satisfy your munchies. From 9:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m., you can go to the center and listen to live jazz performances… while devouring free food.

This Wednesday they had wings, the classics—fruit and vegetable platters, cheese and crackers—among other edibles and sweet tea.

The Mary Lou also holds great foodie events as part of the Plated series.

According to the Duke Events Calendar website, the Plated series “intends to provide space for conversation, interaction, and inquiry around food as it connects to politics, identity, culture, development, religion, sociology, art, communication, and other areas.” Their next event is Nov. 7.

Club hopping is also a great option. I’m not talking about drunkenly wandering from Shooters to Devines to Mt. Fuji all in one night—I’m talking about adventuring to numerous student clubs and organizations in search of free food. Look for poster boards around campus that scream, “I will feed you.”

Stand, because sitting could kill you

04 Nov 2011, Posted by Andrew Karim in News, 0 Comments

Sophia Palenberg/The Chronicle

According to recent studies, secondhand smoke, alcoholism and pollution will all kill you, as will another deadly catalyst—sitting.

The British Journal of Sports Medicine conducted a 2008 study that concluded that “too much sitting” could result in poor metabolic health, an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and other chronic health issues.

Interestingly enough, the study’s had little to do with whether or not the subjects were physically fit. The probability of being affected by prolonged seating was by no means proportionate to their level of fitness. In other words, you could essentially be a world-class runner while still being affected. The reasoning behind this links back to the study’s goal of focusing on “sedentary” fitness practices (sitting, standing, sleeping, and so on).

Sedentary practices are defined as “behaviors for which energy expenditure is low, including prolonged sitting time in transit, at work, at home and in leisure time.” Examples include sitting, standing, or sleeping.

The study notes that  extended sitting can also correlate to weight gain, even after physical activity and energy intake have been accounted for.

A recently published prospective studyshowed that self-reported sitting time (asa marker of sedentary behaviour) was apredictor of weight gain in Australianwomen, even after adjustment for energyintake and leisure time physical activity.

Joe Shamblin, senior systems administrator in the computer science department, is a pioneer of the standing movement; he was recently featured in Duke Today discussing why standing works for him.

“About 10 years ago, a friend of mine had a heart attack when he was 34, and after that, I started thinking about my health and wanted to be as healthy as possible,” he said.

Although standing for hours on end sounds great in theory, it’s almost inevitable that one would get tired after a few upright hours. If and when that happens, fear not—there is an alternative to traditional chairs. A medicine ball will prove to be a worthy investment, as it requires the use core muscles for balance.

Who would have ever thought that sitting could do so much harm? Considering the unwritten sitting requirement for classes and jobs at Duke, not to mention the price of standing desks it’s highly improbable that the standing movement will muster much of a legitimate following. Make sure, however, to think twice before you take your next prolonged seat—you could be signing your very own early death warrant.

Nudists, adult films and a Rhodes scholarship

03 Nov 2011, Posted by Melissa Dalis in News, Welcome to Academia, 0 Comments

Sophia Palenberg/The Chronicle

This post is part of our series called Welcome to Academia, which gives weekly updates about the interesting, weird and newsworthy happenings at Duke’s peer institutions.

On Friday, Rice University sophomore Will Meyers ran the Halloween Baker 13, where runners stripped naked, covered their body in shaving cream, ran around campus and and left body prints on windows across campus. Meyers jumped against a window at the University’s library, causing him to cut his upper leg, according to the Rice Thresher. At the time of the accident, the Baker 13 group was reportedly on its way to join a wedding ceremony.

Yale University senior quarterback Patrick Witt has been selected to be a finalist for the Rhodes Scholarship, and his interview is scheduled for the same day as the Harvard vs. Yale football game Nov. 19, according to Yale Daily News. A history major with a 3.91 GPA, Witt applied for the scholarship from Georgia, so his interview is scheduled to take place at Emory University. Witt told the Daily News that he hopes the Rhodes Committee will be willing to work with him and allow him to interview in the morning so that he can fly back to Yale for the game.

When the alumni brothers of Vanderbilt University‘s Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity attended its homecoming party Saturday, they created at least $12,000 of damage, according to an email sent to the alumni listserv from the fraternity officers leaked to Deadspin. Damages included two destroyed walls, 17 broken windows, three broken exit signs, paint splattered around the bar, every toilet in the house clogged, two discharged fire extinguishers and a slur painted on the basketball goal, which was also broken. Every room in the house was destroyed—the social chair’s room, for example, had eight champagne bottles and seven handles of liquor were smashed on the floor, vomit covering the bed and a couch placed upside down in the vomit.

Purdue University released to a California film company the name of a student who illegally downloaded an adult video, according to Associated Press. The student’s name was not exposed until the U.S. court ruled in favor Third Degree Films’ right to judicial process, which outweighed the student’s right to remain anonymous. The film company’s search for the student’s name is part of its larger efforts to discover the identities of more than 2,000 people who have reportedly also downloaded copyrighted adult videos.

Harvard University dropout Mark Zuckerberg will return to the University on Monday for the first time since 2004, according to the Crimson. Zuckerberg’s visit to Harvard is part of an East Coast recruiting trip, where he will visit Harvard, MIT and Carnegie Mellon University, targeting computer science and electrical and computer engineers for Facebook internships.