The Sun StarVolume XXX Number 18

February 15, 2011

StaffEDITOR IN CHIEF

Andrew Sheelereditor@uafsunstar.com

(907) 474-5078

LAYOUT EDITORHeather Bryant

layout@uafsunstar.com(907) 474-6039

COPY EDITORRebecca Coleman

MULTIMEDIA EDITORJeremy Smith

web@uafsunstar.com

AD MANAGERAlex Kinn

fyads@uaf.edu(907) 474-7540

DISTRIBUTION MANAGERDaniel Thoman

distribution@uafsunstar.com

ASSISTANT DISTRIBUTION MANAGER

Ben Deering

REPORTERSAlyssa DunehewKelsey Gobroski

Elika RoohiAmber Sandlin

Jeremia Schrock

COLUMNISTSJR Ancheta

Jamie HazlettJeremia Schrock

PHOTOGRAPHERSJR AnchetaDillon Ball

ADVISORLynne Snifka

2 In This IssueFebruary 15, 2011 The Sun Star

The Sun Star’s mission is to provide a voice for the UAF

campus and be a written record where news, people’s

opinions, and events (whether extraordinary or

ordinary) are expressed honestly and fairly.

A photograph showcases basic brewing supplies taken at Gold Hill Liquor Store. Home brewing supplies are available in Fairbanks sold at Gavora’s or Gold Hill. JR Ancheta/ Sun Star.

Sports

Editorial

Online

A & E

This Week

EDITORIAL OFFICES101G Wood Center

P.O. Box 756640Fairbanks, AK 99775Tel: (907) 474-6039

Ads Dept: (907) 474-7540Calendar: (907) 474-6043

Fax: (907) 474-5508

www.uafsunstar.com

While we were sleeping, Egypt was changing.

3

11

5

Nerds fighting and people singing highlight the blotter, plus major news of the week.

Cooking for love and all the movie news you need to read

The painful consequences of a Super Bowl wager.www.uafsunstar.com

Shooting for a spot in the NCAA qualifiers.

Politics 4ListServe debacle is a tempest in a teapot and this week’s ASUAF recap.

Perspectives10The end of the internet (sort of) and sorting

through vacation photos.

Search KG KATE

University-friendly Clothing & accessories

Visit us on

CampusLifeBrewing beer for fun and credit, life and death as seen through Hatch’s camera lens

and the “ultimate” club.5

8

West RidgeUAF anthropologist talks about rotten delica-cies and the week in science (hint: bomb-sniffing

plants are involved).

7

Q: I have heard that Vicks VapoRub can be helpful in curing toenail fungus. This sounds bizarre! Is there any truth to this?

A: Many people with nail fungus say that applying Vicks VapoRub seems to help. There may actually be something to it. Vicks VapoRub contains a mixture of menthol, eucalyptus oil, camphor, and thymol. These ingredients are active against several fungal organisms that cause onychomycosis (nail fungus). One obser-vational study suggests that applying Vicks VapoRub to the infected toenail daily until it grows out appears to clear the infection in some people. This, however, isn’t enough proof to say that it works. But given the high cost and risk of side effects with systemic (oral medication) therapy, it may be worth a try in some cases.

Q: Are there any other treatments for onychomycosis?

A: Tea tree oil, applied topically, is another natural treatment that’s sometimes

tried; however, there is insufficient evidence to recommend its use for nail fungus.

Penlac, a prescriptive med, is a topical nail polish, however, it is reported to have less

than a 9% cure rate. Topical treatments must be used every day for at least 6 months.

They work by inhibiting new fungal growth and it takes at least this long for the new nail

to grow in. Oral prescriptive medication therapy is generally more effective than topicals. How-ever, they generally are very expensive, not always covered by health insurance plans, and must have blood work checked before and during treatment in many cases. These formulations kill the fungus so are used for only 6 to 12 weeks but you won’t see results until the nail grows completely back, usually 6 months or so.Recurrence is common with ALL treatments, but there are ways to minimize chances of reinfection: •Wash your feet regularly and dry them thoroughly before putting on socks or shoes. • Wear flip flops in shared showers, spas, and around pools. • If your feet perspire sprinkle an antifungal powder on your feet after showering. •Women should avoid artificial nails and nail polish. These prevent moisture which col-lects beneath the nails from evaporating. Fungi thrive in moist environments.•Don’t clip your nails too close...this makes it easier for fungus to get in.

3This Week www.uafsunstar.com February 15, 2011

Compiled by Amber SandlinSun Star Reporter

Minor driving under the influenceOn Thursday, Feb. 3, an officer saw a car

turning in to the oncoming lane of Tanana Drive. The officer pulled over the 19-year-old female driver. She failed a sobriety test and blew a 0.095 on the Breathalyzer, 0.015 over the legal limit. She was arrested, taken to Fairbanks Correctional Center and charged with a DUI, operating a vehicle after consuming alcohol and with consumingalcohol as a minor.

News BriefsCompiled by Amber SandlinSun Star Reporter

A scholarship by any other nameLast year Alaska lawmakers accepted

a program created by Gov. Sean Parnell to

give high school graduates scholarships for

higher education. The scholarship was origi-

nally named the “Governor’s Performance

Scholarships.” The name was changed to the

“Alaska Merit Scholarship Program” but now

must be changed again due to a threatened

lawsuit from the National Merit Scholar-

ship program. The National Merit Scholar-

ship program says they have rights to the

“merit scholarship” name. “They had some

trademark issues which we apparently were

infringing on,” said Eddy Jeans, education

policy coordinator for the Department of Ed-

ucation and Early Development. The Parnell

administration is now proposing the name

be changed to the “Alaska Performance

Scholarship Program” in a effort to stay out

of court.-Juneau Empire

Super Bowl seat suitsA lawsuit was filed in the U.S. district

court in Dallas on Tuesday, February 8 by

two men who say Super Bowl fans were

denied seats or assigned temporary seating

that obstructed their views. Steve Simms and

Mike Dolabi are the plaintiffs filing this suit

towards the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.

Steve Simms contends that the Club owner,

Jerry Jones, and the National Football League

owe him thousands of dollars that he spent

to travel from Pennsylvania and for the seat

he was denied because fire officials deemed

the seats unsafe.-Kansas City Star

All persons referred to in the blotter arepresumed innocent until proven guilty.

-Seattle P-I

Storage hibernation disturbedBetween Nov. 29, 2010 and Jan. 29,

2011, someone burglarized a storage unit in Silverfox mine, located 25 miles out-side Fairbanks. A snowplow driver noticed the unit had damage to it and appeared to be missing items. The owners reported “thousands of dollars in radio equipment” stolen. The owners later discovered their radio equipment was not missing and de-termined damage and items missing added up to $500.

Curb hopping

On Wednesday, Feb. 2, a 29-year-old woman driver was seen jumping the curb at College and University. An officer pulled her over and noticed she had slurred speech and smelled of alcohol. She failed a sobriety test and refused to submit to a Breathalyzer test. She was arrested and taken to Fair-banks Correctional Center. She was charged with DUI and refusal to submit to a blood alcohol test.

Former UA President resigns from Alaska Airlines board

Mark Hamilton, former president of

the University of Alaska, resigned from

Alaska Air Group’s board of directors on

Wednesday, Feb. 9, after serving 10 years. Bill

Ayer, Alaska Air Group Chairman and Chief

Executive Officer said, “Mark brought valu-

able perspective to our board as a resident of

our namesake state, and his insights helped

Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air navigate one

of the most challenging decades this industry

has ever faced.” Although Hamilton has re-

signed from the Alaska Air Group’s board,

he will continue to serve on Alaska Airlines’

Community Advisory Board.

Sponsored by UAF Center for Health and CounselingFor additional information, contact the

Center for Health and Counseling at 474-7043 or visit our Web site at www.uaf.edu/chc

Division of Student Services

Say “Ah”Donna Patrick, ANP

Karaoke night gone wrongA group of individuals partying in

Harwood Hall Saturday night, Feb. 5, were singing very loudly at 2 a.m. Neighbors wanting to sleep called UAF Police in an ef-fort to stop the drunken American Idol. All were given a disorderly conduct warning and lowered their voices.

Was he playing Mortal Kombat?

Two roommates in Nerland Hall were in their room on Monday night, Feb. 7, when one roommate wanted to go to a study ses-sion and the other wanted to stay and play Xbox. The roommates got into a physical fight as one attempted to drag the other out of the room. UAF Police separated the roommates, with one sleeping in another person’s room for the night.

University-friendly clothing & accessories

Visit us on

Search KG KATE

4 The Sun StarFebruary 15, 2011 Politics

Nookraker

Jeremia SchrockSun Star Reporter

On Feb. 2, John White, an employee of

Doyon Security Services, emailed Jennifer

Ward, the VA coordinator for financial aid.

White had a question regarding his taxes;

a perfectly innocuous thing considering

springtime is also tax time. The only differ-

ence was instead of emailing just Ward he

sent his out email over the entire ASUAF

ListServe.

What exactly is the ListServe? The List-

Serve is the primary means of communica-

tion between ASUAF and the student body.

You send an email out over the ListServe

and everyone on it gets the message. Ev-

eryone.

Within hours half-a-dozen members

of the ListServe responded to White’s

email, arguing that the message now in-

habiting their inboxes had no place being

sent out over the server. A common com-

plaint about the email was that ASUAF was

abusing its own server. One woman wrote

that receiving such emails made her think

poorly about ASUAF, and added that she

was sure others felt the same. Ultimately,

members of both the senate and the ex-

ecutive branch of ASUAF responded to the

emails in an attempt to curb the exchange.

While I’m sure others do take issue

with ASUAF for one reason or another, the

email that started the subsequent chain re-

action of explosive bile and disgust was not

sent out by a member of ASUAF. A govern-

ment contractor with a legitimate question

accidentally mass emailed his tax ques-

tion to the members of the ListServe. As it

stands, such an exchange is not the fault of

ASUAF.

“It was just an error and that happens,”

said Sabra Phillips, ASUAF’s Executive Of-

ficer. Phillips has been moderating the

ListServe for the better part of the past de-

cade and feels that the negative sentiment

behind the recent email exchange is mis-

placed. ASUAF Vice President Mari Freitag

agrees.

“The whole situation has been blown

out of proportion,” said Freitag, adding

that mass emails like the recent one occur

once or twice a year. For Freitag, these ex-

changes are not necessarily abuses and are

not “as big a deal as people are making

it out to be.” What’s important for Freitag is

that the ListServe remain an open forum.

ASUAF President Nicole Carvajal shares

the same feelings, calling the ListServe “an

email signboard.”

Oddly enough, the ListServe has no of-

ficial guidelines and anyone can be added

to it, not just ASUAF members. The only

protocol that does exist, and which Phillips

uses to moderate the server, is the Univer-

sity of Alaska’s Acceptable Use of Online

Resources which states that an individual

is prohibited from using “list serves or

mailing lists...in a manner inconsistent

with or disruptive of University business.”

Since the ListServe was created by

ASUAF, Phillips said, it has the ability to

create a list of rules to govern its use. Fre-

itag, however, was unaware that the senate

could govern the ListServe. Carvajal, too,

informed me that while ASUAF can recom-

mend someone be removed, the decision

ultimately lay in the hands of the server’s

staff moderator (Phillips).

While there is nothing in the ASUAF

bylaws about governing the ListServe, it

is, according to Phillips, within the body’s

jurisdiction to do so. While Freitag doesn’t

believe that the senate will pass laws regu-

lating the ListServe anytime soon, she

remains apprehensive about the senate’s

role in potentially governing the server.

The first step, she says, is to “educate the

senate about its use.”

This exchange, between disgruntled

ListServe members and ASUAF em-

ployees, is an old fight over what exactly

the ListServe should be used for. Ryan

Duffy, the ASUAF senate chair, said it best:

“The ASUAF list serve is a public list serve

and everyone is welcome on it. It is not

only for Senators or Executives...someone

made [an] obvious mistake, people com-

plain about messages being sent over the

ASUAF list serve by sending messages over

[the] ASUAF list serve.”

Life’s a ListServe andthen you die

ASUAF Weekly UpdateJeremia SchrockSun Star Reporter

Jeremia gives his opinion on university, state and national issues in the Nookraker: a weekly political column which tackles issues relevant to Nanooks both at home and abroad.

RISE update

Heather Currey updated the senate on the

progress of several RISE board projects in-

cluding a bike loan program and the instal-

lation of water bottle filling stations in the

Wood Center and MBS.

ASUAF needs computers

The Internal Affairs Committee stated that

they planned to purchase eight additional

computers for the ASUAF office.

Weingarth removed

Senator Stefan Weingarth was removed

from the senate due to absenteeism.

Polar Express card legislation

SB 176-006 has been sent to the University

Relations Committee. This senate bill would

allot $500 to replace 50 damaged Polar Ex-

press cards.

Alternative Spring Break legislation

This senate bill (SB 176-007) would provide

an additional $1,750 for the Alternative

Spring Break trip this semester.

Workshop legislation

This legislation (SB 176-008) would allot

$450 to Steven Kibler for his on-going

system workshop project. It passed by a vote

of 8-0-1.

Juneau legislation

SB 176-009 will allocate $1,400 from the

Senate Projects fund to enable Senator Josh

Cooper and student Monica Kunat to attend

ASUAF’s yearly lobbying trip to Juneau. It

passed by a vote of vote of 6-0-3.

Executive session concerns

Senator Jennifer Chambers moved to put

the senate into an executive session. Tom

Hewitt stated that according to the state of

Alaska’s Open Meetings Act the senate could

not move into an executive session without

advanced notice and without stating their

reasons why. The session concerned SB 176-

009 and was ultimately held.

Sun Star Publication Board

The Publication Board will meet on

Thursday (Feb. 17) at 2 p.m. in the Sun Star

office (101 G in the Wood Center).

5Campus Life www.uafsunstar.com February 15, 2011

A&E BriefsCompiled by Elika RoohiSun Star Reporter

Movie characters to remember 2010 was the end of a great decade

of movies. Here are a couple of the most

enduring characters spied over the last 10

years. 2002 saw the beginning of the Jason

Bourne trilogy. In 2003, there was Captain

Jack Sparrow. In 2004, there was Jesus in “The

Passion of the Christ.” Then there was Heath

Ledger’s Joker in “The Dark Knight” in 2008.

Most recently, in 2010, Mark Zuckerberg, the

creator of Facebook, your favorite way to pro-

crastinate, came to the big screen, played by

Jesse Eisenberg in “The Social Network.”

-The Chicago Tribune

Cooking while looking for love If you are a chef looking for love, you

might want to look for another chef. Women

like men who can cook, but chefs tend to

put in 12- to 16-hour work days, six days per

week. The hours are hard, said Kerilyn Russo

in an interview with the Washington Post.

She is an interior designer. Her husband,

Peter Russo, is a chef. This is sometimes hard

on their marriage, but Kerilyn Russo said

they make it work. She is the creator of mar-

riedtoachef.com, a website that works as a

support system and network for those who

are missing their spouse while they are in the

kitchen.-The Washington Post

-Entertainment Weekly

New movie “The Roommate” falls short

Many students have dealt with having a

roommate. Hopefully their experience didn’t

turn out the way the new movie “The Room-

mate” did. Sara, played by Minka Kelly, shows

up to college ready to study fashion design.

Rebecca, played by Leighton Meester, is her

roommate, who seems friendly at first. As the

movie progresses, Rebecca begins to show

her true colors as a crazy person. “The Room-

mate” is somewhat of a wannabe thriller, ac-

cording to Entertainment Weekly. But those

of you who’ve had problems with roommates

in the past might want to check it out just to

remind yourself it really wasn’t all that bad.

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We are now recruiting guides, guest services, reservationists, bookkeepers and cleaners for the upcoming summer visitor season. Ideal positions available for high-energy, people-oriented, hard-working individuals eager to share love of Alaska with visitors. Guide candidates must be 21 years old and have a good driving record. Guest Service candidates must be 19 years old.

Stop by to meet us at our booth - UAF Wood Center: Wednesday, Mar 2th - Career Expo 2011

APPLY ONLINE: www.northernalaskajobs.com

The best and the worstBen DeeringSun Star Reporter

Many forms of media have covered the

idea and concept of war and the soldiers

who fight them. Often left out are details

about the families of these soldiers. On

Feb. 8, Cheryl Hatch, the current Snedden

Chair of the journalism department, gave a

lecture called “The Costs of Conflict: A Per-

sonal Journey.” It was an introspective look

at the costs and effects of war and conflict

on those in the middle of a war zone. Not

only are women and children caught in

the middle of conflict, but also journalists.

Some of whom have lived there for years.

Hatch’s credentials are extensive. Over

the course of her decades-long career, she

visited Egypt, Somalia, Liberia, Mozam-

bique, Yemen, Iraq during the first Gulf War,

and Eritrea. Most of those countries were

visited during times of war. She has never

been embedded, or attached, to an army

unit. As an unembedded photographer,

Hatch had greater freedom to move around

and tell the stories she wanted to tell. That

came at a cost of great expense and personal

danger though. Hatch is the fifth Snedden

chair. Brian O’Donoghue, chair of the jour-

nalism department, said that Hatch, the

first female Snedden Chair, was a welcome

change of pace.

The lecture itself, a combi-

nation of speech and photog-

raphy, exhibited some of the

most chilling and brutal photos

of war, and the consequences

for the civilian side. Interspersed

throughout the slideshow were

pictures that Hatch felt conveyed

the humanity that can be found in

even the darkest places.

Hatch said she pursued her

career in war photography mostly

because she grew up in the pres-

ence of war. “My father was going

to war, returning from war, and

not speaking of the war,” she

said. “[I was] trying to earn my

dad’s respect, as he’s a soldier. [It

was] something he can relate to.”

Hatch said she had a “desire to test

myself, challenge myself. [But I]

didn’t really know what I was

Hatch lecture covers conflict, humanity

Cheryl Hatch, the 2010-2011 Snedden chair, answers questions dur-ing a Q&A section of her presentation. The Cost of Conflict: A Personal Journey had an audience of about 60 people Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2011. Heather Bryant/Sun Star.

getting into.”

After coming back to the United States,

Hatch established a non-profit foundation,

called the Isis Initiative, to send women to

college. Hatch talked about the first recip-

ient, a young woman, Leah, whom Hatch

had met while in the Philippines.

With Hatch’s help, Leah was able to go to

college to become an elementary school

teacher.

Hatch said that after spending a decade

covering war and atrocity, helping others

through her initiative was the best way for

her to make a difference.

Campus Life6 The Sun StarFebruary 15, 2011

Beer on a canvasKelsey GobroskiSun Star Reporter

Homebrew transforms libations into art

Trev Mostella peers into the brew pot at

its contents. He’s stuffed a scrubbing brush

alongside snack bags of dried green flowers

and powdery malted grain. It’s half an hour

before his students get their first shot at

brewing beer.

“Trev thinks beer making is more an art

than a science … so he sort of crafts the class

that way,” said Steph Walden, a photojour-

nalism senior.

Mostella started “Introduction to Zy-

murgy: Understanding Brewing and Fer-

mentation” in 2004. Students from a variety

of majors filter into the Hutchison Institute

of Technology every semester to learn about

beer brewing. At least a third of the class

comes from outside UAF. According to Mo-

stella, students often attend to fill a credit or

relax while brewing for a few hours.

“It’s like, my chill class,” Walden said.

Mostella designed the course to be low-

key. There’s no homework. Budding home-

brewers try their hand at patience, experi-

mentation and appreciation. Mostella tells

students “don’t drink for the effect, drink for

the quality.”

The introductory class is only six weeks

long, but the intermediate course follows on

its heels. Mostella focuses on beer brewing,

but zymurgy includes anything with yeast,

he said. The class concocted a simple brew

their second week; “like starting a baking

class with a boxed brownie mix,” said Blake

Eggemeyer, a computer science senior.

Mostella pulls out a brew pot.

Step one: boil water. “Somebody want to fill it?” he asks. “Get

it on the stove and turn it on.”

A few homebrew enthusiasts dot the

UAF campus, such as Scott Stihler, who

works for the Alaska Volcano Observatory at

the Geophysical Institute. He also hosts the

informative Alaska Beer and Brewing page

Brewing since high school, Trev Mostella peers into the brew pot before class Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2011. Mostella is the instructor for “Introduction to Zymurgy: Understanding Brewing and Fermentation” he started in 2004. JR Ancheta/Sun Star

on his website, www.mos-

quitobytes.com.

Hal Tippens founded

the now-defunct Raven’s

Ridge brewery when he was

a graduate student in the

’90s. Tippens also worked

at the Geophysical Institute.

Originally, he gave his inad-

equate batches away to free

up bottles Stihler said. Stihler

was one of those unlucky re-

cipients, which contributed

to a brief distaste for home-

brew. When wedding guests

got a taste of Tippens’ better

brews, the positive response

solidified his aspirations to

start a brewery. Nowadays,

Stihler can list off about 10

people at the university who

homebrew.On-campus students are not allowed

to brew. Because homebrewing requires

large unmarked containers, these “open

source containers” are lumped in with kegs

on UAF’s prohibited list. Jamie Napolski, a

Residence Life employee of 15 years, said

people haven’t complained about the rules

suffocating their homebrewing passions.

Off-campus students have more reign over

a brewing hobby, as long as they don’t sell

their creations.

This brings us to step two: sanitation.“What’s with the grody jar?” asked Julie

Wegner, culinary arts administrative assis-

tant, when she saw the carboy, a glass con-

tainer used in fermentation.

To show how well their caustic works,

Mostella explained. Homebrew blended

with Fairbanks culture long before zymurgy

came to UAF. Stihler started brewing in 1991.

That same year, Roger Penrod founded the

local club, Zymurgists Borealis. The club

doesn’t have a rigid structure. Gatherings

draw up to 25 people, with a regular core of

10 to 12 people, Mostella said.

Every July, Zymurgists Borealis hosts an

annual homebrew competition. The $500

first prize draws entries from out-of-state.

Because of the high cost of shipping, the

brews from outside Alaska are likely to be

high quality, Stihler said. In contrast, some

local hobbyists might enter their brews to

receive critiques on their technique, he said.

“This is DME. Dry malt extract,” Mo-

stella said, pulling out a bag of powder.

Step three: add starch. Grains are called malt when they sprout

before drying, according to the Brew Your

Own magazine’s website. The class also

added hops, flowers that provide a distinc-

tive aroma and bitter flavor. A half hour

later, they added more hops.

Mostella has been into brewing since

high school, when he learned he could buy

brewing supplies well before he could buy

beer, he said. From 2001 to 2004, Mostella

owned a homebrew supply shop off of Peger.

Mostella shut down his storefront when he

began teaching. Today, Gavora’s and Gold

Hill Liquor sell homebrew supplies.

At home, Mostella brews the types of

libations that would be expensive in shops,

since it’s about the same cost to him. He

used to brew Belgian beers, which use beet

sugar to feed the yeast. Nowadays, he’s

shifted to mead and cyser.

Mead is water and honey mixed with

yeast. This “honey wine” takes five years for

its flavor profile to fully mature, compared

to American beers that take two to four

weeks, Mostella said.

Mostella also brews cyser, or mead with

apple juice. Cyser is the most popular sub-

ject for students, but they need to bring their

own supplies if they want to brew it in class,

he said.

After cooling down the liquid (now

called wort) the class pours it into a carboy.

Step four: Add yeast. Put an airlock on it, add more hops,

then wait a week. Transfer and wait another

week.

Fisheries senior Kristie Hilton is re-

taking the course after seven years. She took

the class when it began, before Mostella

introduced the intermediate section. Hilton

hasn’t brewed in those seven years, but felt

the class “gives you a better appreciation for

the beers you select.”

Finally, step five: bottle the pale ale and enjoy.

Mostella wants the students to learn

to experiment after finishing his zymurgy

class, he said. “I hope they develop a good

taste for beer and never buy another PBR or

Budweiser ever again.”

www.uafsunstar.com February 15, 2011West Ridge Report 7

Science BriefsCompiled by Kelsey GobroskiSun Star Reporter

Amazonian droughts spit out CO2If the Amazon’s droughts continue, as

they have twice in a decade, they may re-

vert the rain forest from a sink to a source of

carbon dioxide. These droughts should only

happen once a century. Last year’s drought

had three epicenters that lowered rainfall

over 1.16 million square miles. The dying

trees will not be able to absorb carbon di-

oxide for photosynthesis, and would end up

releasing the gas during their death throes.

This would lead to a total of 8 billion metric

tons of carbon dioxide emissions over the

coming years, a study showed. The U.S. uses

5.4 billion metric tons in a year.- Huffington Post

Repairing babies before birthThe infant spinal disease Spina bifida

gives rise to fewer complications if babies

get an operation before they’re born. Oth-

erwise, an improperly sealed spine exposes

the spinal cord. This can lead to paralysis and

learning difficulties. Normally, this sort of

surgery is risky for babies and mothers. Fetal

surgery doesn’t usually happen unless the

baby would die otherwise. Operating before

the fetus has fully developed doesn’t elimi-

nate all the complications of Spina bifida,

but the medical trials have guided doctors

closer to that goal. The surgery still carries a

lot of risk, but some post-birth surgeries have

already been rescheduled.-New York Times

- Wired

Plants: the new bomb-sniffersWithin the next four years, innocuous

plants in airports may visibly change color in

the presence of pollution, biological weapons,

or bombs. Scientists engineered plants to re-

spond to the “threat” of some chemical com-

pounds by turning white. Under laboratory

conditions, these plants bleach themselves

in the presence of TNT. The proteins they

use aren’t specific to any particular species.

If the vegetative bomb detectors do appear

in public events any time soon, it’s likely that

they still won’t be able to detect bombs made

out of the same ingredients as fertilizer.

Anthropologist talks ‘Rotten Renaissance’Kelsey GobroskiSun Star Reporter

When Sveta Yamin-Pasternak visits

Russia’s rural northeastern tip, she needs

to convince her hosts that she studies all of

their delicacies. They better not hold back

on feeding her the rotten stuff.

Intestines marinated in seal oil and

fermented walrus flesh have seeped back

in to rural Russian cuisine after decades of

the predominant culture’s distaste for tradi-

tional food. On Feb. 11, Yamin-Pasternak led

a seminar called, “The Rotten Renaissance:

Aged foods and the importance of their [re]

acquired taste in post-Soviet Chukotka”

In the ‘60s, the Soviet Union tethered

the Far East to modern Russian life. Al-

though this integration provided modern

amenities, such as sugars and carbohy-

drates, stigmas against traditional food

preservation threatened cultural survival.

Today the Siberian Yupik and Chukchi peo-

ples seek to bridge this generational gap.

While the United States underwent an

expansion of capitalist ideals, rural Russians

learned Soviet and Slavic ideals, Yamin-

Pasternak said. This is called “russification.”

“[Russians] simply didn’t regard the

native food as food,” Yamin-Pasternak said.

In the Russian mindset, rotten food wasn’t

safe for consumption. Traditional meats be-

came more suitable for animals.

In Chukotka, hunters butchering a

walrus immediately eat some organs, such

as the brain. They roll up the flesh, burying

it in the ground for a later date. Because fuel

for smoking meat was scarce, fermentation

became the process of choice for preserva-

tion. Microorganisms ferment the meat. The

resulting alcohol cleanses the meat, giving

the villagers food in winter. Although the

Russian word for this type of rotting is dif-

ferent than accidental food rot, the pungent

aroma of these foods earned the cuisine

the moniker “those with fragrance,” Yamin-

Pasternak said.

Russification in Chukotka intensified as

Russia protected its maritime border with

Alaska during the Cold War. Border guards

restricted subsistence. Reindeer herders

began working for state farms. Posters in-

structed communities: “a newborn belongs

in a daycare, not in the tundra.” Children

were sent off to boarding schools.

Children today think of Soviet times as

a mythical era, Yamin-Pasternak said. In the

’60s, the government subsidized rural areas.

The state provided banquets for weddings,

flew in reindeer food, and used a helicopter

to search for a child who left a boarding

school. The standardized apartment build-

ings stretching across the Soviet Union

provided Russians with the cultural identity

that McDonalds brings from Florida to Fair-

banks, she said.

Yamin-Pasternak, originally from Be-

larus, has been visiting Chukotka’s Chukchi

Peninsula on Russia’s northeastern tip

since 2001. She graduated from UAF with

a doctorate in cultural anthropology and

did postdoctoral research at Johns Hopkins

University.

The Chukchi and Siberian Yupik peo-

ples seek to close the generational gap be-

cause the art of rotting meat is not a skill that

can be taught in a recipe, Yamin-Pasternak

said. When asked how the indigenous peo-

ples know their food is “done,” she said that

takes a lifetime of practice and cultural cues.

“The rot is in the eye of the beholder,”

Yamin-Pasternak said.

8 SportsFebruary 15, 2011 The Sun Star

Alaska sharp-shooters qualify for nationalsRebecca ColemanSun Star Reporter

4.6x7_SYK_ValD_K.indd 2 1/25/11 12:10 PM

The Nanooks took on Rose-Hulman In-

stitute of Technology for the NCAA Qualifier

rifle match on Saturday, Feb. 12.

Throughout their eight-hour meet, the

Nanooks shot down any hopes the Fightin’

Engineers had at qualifying for nationals.

Alaska outshot Rose-Hulman 4642-4437.

Seniors Ida Peterson and Cody Rutter were

among the top shooters for the Nanooks,

claiming scores in air rifle of 581 and 586,

respectively. In smallbore, their scores were

583 and 588, respectively.

For those who have no idea what these

numbers mean, here is a brief explanation

about scoring. Each shooter has 60 shots

per event (air rifle or smallbore) and shoots

20 shots in each of three positions (standing,

kneeling, and prone). Each shot is worth up

to 10 points, so the highest score a shooter

can get in each event is 600. The team score

is made up of the top four shooters’ scores.

Early in his air rifle event, sophomore

Scott Franz noticed a problem with his

sights, so he had to switch to another gun.

The time used to evaluate the problem used

up valuable shooting time because this was

not a gun malfunction but a preventable

problem, he was not allotted extra time to

finish his 60 shots. He ended up 10 shots

short, resulting in his score being much

lower than it would have been otherwise.

Coach Dan Jordan estimates that the

Nanooks placed fifth in the country after

the meet, guaranteeing Alaska a trip to na-

tionals. The Nanooks will be among sharp-

shooting teams such as West Virginia, Texas

Christian, Kentucky, and Murray State.

“Now we’re doing better than we have

the whole year,” Jordan said. “Things are

coming together.”

Because Alaska’s rifle team has won

the National Championships 10 times since

1994, “there are lots of outside expectations”

with coaching the dynasty, Jordan said.

However, he doesn’t see it as pressure, as

he’s already “extremely competitive.”

Rutter has been to Nationals for the

past three years. He said it’s the most

“nerve wracking” of any competition. To

his younger teammates, he advises that they

“go and have fun with it. Don’t put it on a

pedestal. Learn as much as you can and

take away as much from it as you can.”

“It’s important that you respect one

another and trust one another so that you

aren’t worried about your teammates while

you’re on the line,” Peterson said. “This

sport is so mental.”

9Campus Life www.uafsunstar.com February 15, 2011

UAF FrisbeeThe Ultimate Club

JR AnchetaSun Star Reporter

More than 35 people gathered to play

Ultimate Frisbee on Monday, Feb. 7 at the

Patty Center. The court was divided in half

for two separate games. Because it is dif-

ficult to play outdoors in winter, the Fair-

banks Ultimate Association (FUA) plays

indoors at the Patty Center.

Ultimate is a sport similar to soccer

and football. The objective of the game is

to pass the disc to a teammate at the op-

ponent’s end zone. Winning is nice, but

the players are more into the camaraderie.

“The spirit of the game is like the gov-

erning rule of Ultimate,” said Rose Hewitt,

organizer of FUA. ”It’s based on playing

your hardest, but never to hurt anybody

else. We self-officiate even at the high level

of the sport.“

The club also provides a chance for

many to be active. “It gets me good exer-

cise, it keeps me busy,” Clyde Hewitt said.

He has played for more than four years and

cannot wait to play outdoors in the spring.

FAU was founded in 1978 as the Alaska

Campus Disc Club. Glen Anderson, a UAF

faculty member who teaches Ultimate at

the University, helped launch the orga-

nization by first educating the public and

local schools about the game. The first

game was played on Anderson’s lawn.

Anderson said there was an electric

fence around the yard to keep animals off

the yard. “You knew when you were out-

of-bounds when you were electrocuted, so

it was difficult to keep your eye on the disc,

which is a number one rule.” After that, the

club moved from lawn to lawn. It wasn’t

until 15 years ago that the organization

gained university attention and got their

own field to play on.

The Fairbanks Ultimate Association

meets Mondays from 7-9 p.m. at the Patty

Center. All are welcome to play the game.

Tim Vinegar attempts to block UAF student, Dylan McFarlane at Fairbanks Ultimate Association at the Patty Center on Monday, Feb 7. 2011. JR Ancheta/Sun Star

Clubbing with JR

Bio-Major, Carl Richmond (19), passes to a team mate at a game of Ultimate. Richmond has been playing for four years since high school. JR Ancheta/Sun Star

$UAF STUDENTS

UAF is an AA/EO employer and educational institution. 01/2011 America’s Arctic University

Apply for scholarships now!Scholarships are available for 2011 – 2012.

UAF students are awarded more than $700,000 through more than 350 privately funded scholarships each year.

One of them might be just for you.• Toseewhatscholarshipsareavailablevisit www.uaf.edu/finaid/types/scholarships.html

• Toapply,logontohttp://uaonline.alaska.edu andchoose“FinancialAid,”thenchoose “Scholarships.”

Apply by Feb. 15, 2011

Above: Cody Rutter takes a brief glance at his previous shot placement in the smallbore NCAA qualifier Saturday morning. Cody scored 586/600 in the air rifle and 588/600 in the small bore qualification. Feb. 12, 2011. Dillon Ball/Sun Star.

Left: Anna Hjelmevoll of the UAF Rifle Team adjusts her air rifle during Saturday morning’s NCAA qualifier. Feb. 12, 2011. Dillon Ball/Sun Star.

Perspectives10 The Sun StarFebruary 15, 2011

being murdered, you don’t need most

of those shots. Some of your pictures

will be blurry, have sun flares or be pho-

tobombed. Unless these factors somehow

add to the shot, which occasionally hap-

pens, pictures with these qualities should

be the first to go.

Use gut instinct from here. A picture

you took in the early evening might lend

a really neat perspective to the fountain

compared to an identical one you took at

noon. Keep the few that really grab your

attention or evoke the best memories. Get

rid of the rest or save them somewhere

separate from your “keeper” shots. Once

you know how many good pictures you’ve

got, you can divide the remaining work up

more knowledgably than you could when

all you knew was that your vacations tried

to swallow you every time you opened the

closet.

It’s up to you how far you go in orga-

nizing your vacation(s). Some people are

content to save them on their computer

with no labels, others insist that each

“keeper” be meticulously captioned, and

some prefer digital photo frames. Those

with a bent towards arts and crafts might

like to print their pics and organize them

into albums or scrapbooks. Whatever you

do, make sure that when your friends ask

to see your Caribbean cruise, you don’t

bore them to tears with grainy or repetitive

photos. Even if your best shots make it no

further than a Sharpie-labeled shoebox, at

least when you pull it down from the shelf

you can be confident that you won’t be

labeled the worst vacation photographer

ever (even if you really are).

Jamie HazlettSun Star Columnist

Weekend WanderlustMemorabilia MishmashPart I: Photos

Virtually everyone has a stack of

muddled vacation mementos lying

around in their house: the photos you just

never had time to sort through, the pro-

grams and maps that you kept perfectly

pressed in your suitcase right up until the

moment you got home, the weird little

tchotchkes that were just so darling in the

store window but look ridiculous on your

bookshelf. Every time you see them, you

vow to go through it all soon, and yet never

happens. With each trip you take, the pile

looms higher, and now Hawaii is mixed in

with Niagara Falls, and who has the energy

to sort that mess out?

As with any monumental organizing

task, the hardest part is getting started. The

tower of papers seems unassailable, right?

Then start small. Spend a couple hours

just sorting your pictures, be they printed

or digital, into the right stacks – Grand

Canyon over here, Mexico over there, etc.

Sound too main-stream for you? Break

your shots up based on whether or not the

focal point is a living thing, divide them

based on the most dominant color, or cat-

egorize them off of what time of day it was.

Some people will have a pile of pictures

from various weddings they’ve attended,

while someone else will have a shoebox full

of shots they snapped from the summits of

all the 13,000-footers they’ve climbed (pro

tip: shoeboxes are a great tool when you’re

doing preliminary photo organizing). The

point is to stop putting it off. Believe it or

not, you can watch ‘Glee’ and sort photos

at the same time.

Next comes the pruning stage. Even

professionals often take many so-so or just

plain bad shots, so don’t feel bad if you de-

lete or toss a lot of pictures. Before posting

your album to Facebook or buying a 50-

page album, turn an editorial eye on all

those grand vistas and goofy grins and get

rid of the ones that don’t speak to you in

some way. This is also your opportunity to

remove any embarrassing shots. Let’s say

you took 50 pictures of the same fountain.

Unless you’re trying to create a 360° view of

the fountain, or you captured someone

Jeremy SmithSun Star Columnist

IPv6 and the end of the InternetQuestion: I keep hearing that the In-

ternet has run out of addresses and that in

2012 the Internet may not work. True?

Answer: Many websites are throwing

around the idea that the Internet has run out

of addresses. That’s not exactly true. Basi-

cally, all of the IPv4 addresses have been al-

located and we now have to migrate to IPv6

and make sure that all the bugs are ironed

out before the government-mandated swi-

tchover date. Clear enough? No? Then let’s

backtrack a bit.

Every machine on the Internet has

a unique Internet Protocol (IP) address.

IPv4 (version 4) is the current numerical

nomenclature used to identify all of those

great websites you grew up with: uaf.edu,

hotornot.com, gpfault.org, etc. IPv4 is how

all the computers talk using their secret

number language, whereas you and I use

the easier to remember Uniform Resource

Locator (URL), aka the word approach. For

instance, the secret identity of uafsunstar.

com (URL) is 66.147.244.206 (IPv4).

The biggest problem with IPv4 is the

limited number of addresses it yields,

somewhere in the 4 billion range. Being the

avid web consumers that we are, and the

increase in broadband connections that

require a unique IP address, all of these ad-

dresses have been allocated. Not necessarily

in use, but allocated to various universi-

ties, businesses and organizations. Keep in

mind this doesn’t mean that all of the URLs

are gone… I can still reserve nakedwheel-

barrow.net just fine. It’s the IPv4 addresses

that they link to that have dried up. This is

where IPv6 comes in.

New kid on the block IPv6 will give us

– potentially – more than 300 trillion ad-

dresses in the future. It’s also supposed to

simplify the assignment of addresses and

provide even more security while we view

our LOLCats online. The most apparent

difference between the two forms of IP ad-

dresses is the code used to identify com-

puters. An average IPv6 address could look

like this: 2001:0db8:85a3:8a2e:0370:7334.

By the time we are supposed to migrate

to the new standard, which is set in male-

able government stone for 2012, all of the

major operating systems and web browsers

will work with both IPv4 and IPv6. In fact,

Windows XP and Mac OS 10.2 are already

IPv6 compliant. More than likely, you won’t

experience much of anything other than

mild inconvenience as web hosts upgrade

and move web sites around. The problem is

the old routers and switches that make up

the Internet. These devices can’t handle the

IPv4 to IPv6 square dance.

This concern has been kicking around

since the ’90s and companies have been

upgrading and modifying equipment for the

past decade, albeit slowly. A bunch of big

tech companies (Google, Facebook, Cisco,

and more) plan to take the new standard for

a 24-hour spin on World IPv6 Day in June

of this year. This should provide an idea of

what, if any, real problems the migration

may cause.

Jeremy talks and takes on technology at gpfault.org.

Letters to the EditorHave something to say? Say it here. The Sun Star welcomes reader commentary.

Letters to the editor should be no more than 250 words in length. Please include the author’s full name and contact information (phone number, e-mail or ad-dress). E-mail your letters (preferred) to fystar@uaf.edu, fax them to 474-5508, or mail them to to PO Box 756640, Fairbanks, AK, 99775. All letters are subject

to editing for brevity and grammar.

A lesson from Egypt11Editorial www.uafsunstar.com February 15, 2011

On Feb. 4, while most people in Fairbanks were

sleeping, history was being made on the other side of the

world. Protesters filled the streets of Cairo and, without

guns or bombs, were able to enact the overthrow of Hosni

Mubarak, the 30-year tyrant of Egypt. We cannot say what

will happen next, but the global is also the local, and

there are men and women here at UAF with a personal

stake in the fate of Egypt.

One of these people is Sabry Sabour, assistant pro-

fessor of mining engineering at UAF. Sabour received his

bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate at Assiut Universityin Asyut, Egypt. After getting his doctorate, Sabour left Egypt and came to UAF after

first going to Canada. Sabour left Egypt in part because of the corruption and political

pressure of the Mubarak regime. Under Mubarak, Sabour said, there was “no political

life.”

The morning of Mubarak’s resignation, Sabour’s wife called from Canada to tell him

the news. “Like most Egyptians, I’m very happy,” Sabour said. “I couldn’t believe that

this would happen.” Sabour said that he was saddened to hear reports of violence against

protesters, but when he learned that Mubarak had stepped down, it was like a nightmare

ending.

As a citizen of Egypt, Sabour experienced Mubarak’s reign. Cheryl Hatch, the

Snedden Chair of the journalism department, experienced it from a different perspective.

In the late ’80s and early ’90s, Hatch lived in Cairo while working as a photojournalist.

During her time there, she would often have shooting assignments that took her in to

Mubarak’s presidential palace.

In an interview on Feb. 4, Hatch remembers a memorable story from one of those

visits. She had been in the state visitors’ room with several other photographers during

a state visit. Mubarak’s men would typically rush photographers out after taking only a

few shots, but Hatch’s camera had either jammed or run out of film. As the guards tried

to prod her out of the room, she said “one minute, please,” in Arabic. Mubarak asked, also

in Arabic, whether she spoke the language and she responded that she did. Impressed,

Mubarak ordered his men to stand down and let her take her pictures.

Like Sabour, Hatch was pleased with the events of Feb. 4.

“I was so impressed they really took the path of peaceful protest,” Hatch said. Hatch

characterized Egyptians as family-oriented and long-suffering under Mubarak’s reign.

You can only be re-elected by a landslide so many times, Hatch said, before somebody

has to say the emperor has no clothes.

The road that has taken Sabour and Hatch from Egypt to UAF has been a winding

one, and their feelings vary on whether they will be returning. Sabour wants to wait and

see how things develop.

“We’ll see in a few months.”

Hatch, whose love of Egyptian history, culture and mythology inspired her to name

her non-profit foundation The Isis Initiative, said her feelings were mixed.

“I was ok not being there [for the uprising], at the same time I feel the pull of history,”

Hatch said, “I’m sure I’ll go back.”

It’s very easy to become wrapped up in all the bad news in the headlines today.

There’s plenty to be upset and disturbed by, to be sure. It becomes easy to feel as if you

have no voice, no ability to make a difference. Let this serve as a reminder that is not the

case. The people of Egypt took to the streets, they cast down Hosni Mubarak and they did

so without using guns. Dissident and journalist alike braved Mubarak’s secret police to

get the message out that Egypt was changing. It doesn’t take guns. It doesn’t take violent

rhetoric. It takes people to make change, and that is something that no government can

ever suppress.

Sudoku

xkcd

Coffee Break

Andrew SheelerEditor-in-ChiefUAF Sun Star

logical axis of Howard’s story of the “Aho-

telist”. Eventually, it shattered completely!

The entire story failed to convey its mes-

sage, destroyed by undermining its own

suspension of disbelief. The absurdities,

double standards, logical fallacies, and

embarrassment continued from that point

foward... but that was just two thirds of the

way through the first main story. How can

anyone take such a person seriously, after

that kind of display? This presentation has

not only embarrassed Bill Howard himself,

but the entire university as well.

Justin Heinz

For the full 3300 word critique: http://pillar-

sofinfluence.blogspot.com

Let He Who Hath No Logical Fallacies...

When someone calls you dishonest you

can usually expect to hear a good reason

as to what could possibly warrant such an

accusation. Sometimes there are good

reasons, sometimes there are bad reasons.

What people don’t normally expect to hear,

however, is for the accuser to turn around

and admit their own hypocrisy, nor to actu-

ally go so far as to demonstrate that the accu-

sation itself is a logical fallacy-a strawman.

This is what happened, however, when Bill

Howard gave his lecture “The Dishonesty of

Atheism” at the Reichardt building Monday,

Nov. 15. Instead of a smart and well-struc-

tured arguments intended to provoke some

academic discussion, the audience found

nothing but the embarrassing intellectual

suicide of Bill Howard.

During the course of the sermon, it was

difficult to ignore the compounding frac-

tures that continued to creep down the

A special thank youI would like to say a big THANK YOU to

whoever found my cell phone at U Park. I

really appreciate getting my phone back.

Thank you.

Marge Wilson

UA’s non-discrimination policy should apply to everyone. Gay and transgender employees already work throughout the university system, and gay and transgender students already attend. It’s time the policy includes UA’s gay and transgender students, staff and faculty.

An environment free of discrimination is important in a place of learning where ideas are debated and exchanged. This important issue will go before the Board of Regents this week. Have your voice heard at UA’s public testimony and support the policy change.

FEBRUARY 17 AT 10 A.M. FEBRUARY 18 AT 9 A.M.

UAA Lee Gorsuch Commons3700 Sharon Gagnon LaneAnchorage, AK 99508

Everyone is welcome – just show up!

UA’S BOARD OF REGENTS HAS A DECISION TO MAKE

Over 384 colleges and universities have passed non-discrimination policies that include protecting people based on their sexual orientation and gender identity.

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