With the Nov. 4 midterm elections less than a week away, voters across the country are gear-ing up to vote on several important state and local ballot initiatives. Voters will be deciding on major issues such as marijuana legalization, minimum wage increases, and background checks for gun purchases. California voters will be deciding on similar issues.

Gun Background Checks

Washington has two competing gun back-ground check initiatives on the ballot. Initiative 594 would require background checks for every gun purchase in the state. It would also make it illegal to temporarily give a gun to someone else, except in cases where someone is in im-mediate danger, is hunting, or is on a shooting range. Alternatively, Initiative 591 would keep the state from confiscating a person’s firearms without due process and would also keep the government from establishing background checks without a uniform federal standard. Both laws cannot exist at the same time. Polls from early October show slightly larger sup-port for background checks, but support for both sides has steadily dropped since, leaving enough undecided voters to leave the fate of the dueling initiatives up in the air.

Washington voters will be deciding on these initiatives in the aftermath of a deadly school

shooting on Friday, Oct. 24, where a 15-year-old high school student killed a female class-mate and wounded four others in a school caf-eteria, before killing himself. The shooter was a student at Marysville-Pilchuck High School north of Seattle, where the shooting took place.

Chicago has an advisory referendum on the ballot on whether to require background checks for gun sales and ban the sale of as-sault weapons. Meanwhile, Alabama voters will be deciding on Amendment 3, which would amend the state constitution to explicitly “pro-vide that every citizen has a fundamental right to bear arms and that any restriction on this right would be subject to strict scrutiny,” and that no international law or treaty interferes with this right.

Marijuana Legalization and Drug Pos-session Charges

California voters will be voting on changing certain non-serious and nonviolent offenses from felonies to misdemeanors. The initiative, Proposition 47, would apply to drug possession in addition to other minor offenses like petty theft, writing or forging bad checks, and receiv-ing stolen property. The law would not apply to offenders who have committed previous seri-ous or violent crimes, including sex offenders.

NATIONAL BEAT REPORT

As fall quarter began, students learned that finding housing in Isla Vista would be harder than they thought possible.

While freshman were being ac-commodated and placed in dorms, international students from pro-grams such as International Study Programs, as well as continuing stu-dents, stressed over housing during the month of September and even at the start of the quarter. Many were left homeless and found them-selves in search of a place to live for the year. The Community Housing Office was flooded with students looking for housing as many as 300 students were homeless during late September.

As of Friday, Oct. 17 there were only 20 students in need of hous-ing. International students faced the

most struggle, as many travel to this country during September because of the nature of their visas.

“I started school without a place to live, and then I spent those two weeks looking everyday,” said Roger Diao, a third-year global studies major and international student. In-stead of being able to simply focus on school, Diao spent most of his time trying to find a place to live.

“I came close to saying, you know what, I can’t do this, I’m not gonna spend another week in this balcony, I’m gonna fly back to Hong Kong,” Diao said.

Isla Vista faced the tightest housing market in years during the month of September, according to Santa Barbara analysts.

A five percent vacancy rate is considered healthy for a commu-nity. Usually, the Isla Vista housing market has about an eight percent

vacancy rate. The Santa Barbara housing market availability reached a new low in September, with an availability of under one percent, according to Santa Barbara analysts.

Although more students are at-tending University of California, Santa Barbara, the percentage of admitted students has remained the same. The increase in students at the university is due to the fact that more admitted students are register-ing to attend this institution.

Despite the apparent increase of students attending UCSB, the tight housing market is due to several fac-tors.

“It’s a combination of city col-lege, [and] Westmont [College] com-ing back,” said Community Housing Office Manager Roane Akchurin. “There’s also a lot of building going on in the community.”

The construction going on in

the community resulted in the need for contractors to find housing. “What ends up happening is that contractors…end up coming from out of the area [and] end up taking a lot of the housing market, and rent-als,” said Akchurin.

“Unfortunately, a lot of con-tinuing students waited [until] the last minute to find housing,” said Akchurin. Due to the state of the housing market, many continuing students were unable to find hous-ing right away.

Fourth-year chemistry major Ayeyi Aboagye started looking for housing two months before the quarter, and said she found it ex-tremely difficult.

“I’ve been looking since August and it’s just been a nightmare,” Abo-agye said. As the quarter came to a start she was still without a place to live. “I’ve just been couch surf-

ing with friends,” said Aboagye. “I never expected to be homeless my senior year of college.” As of the middle of the third week of classes, she was able to find housing.

In order to avoid future hous-ing shortages, two new university apartment complexes are being constructed. The construction for the housing projects is expected to be completed within the next two years and will help alleviate the high demand for housing in IV. Projects such as the Sierra Madre Apart-ments and San Joaquin Apartments are expected to house over 1,000 students all together. The Sierra Madre Apartments, on Storke Road, are well underway and expected to be completed and ready to lease by Fall 2015, while San Joaquin is said to be ready by Fall 2016, according to the UCSB Housing and Residen-tial Services.

Lizeth Pompa

Gilberto Flores NATIONAL BEAT REPORTER

UCSB’s Weekly Student-Run Newspaper Volume 9, Issue 4 | Oct 29-Nov 4, 2014

@tblucsb / thebottomline.as.ucsb.edu

A&E / 5

EVERYTHINGUCSB’s Script-to-Screen series prepares to host the Stephen Hawking biopic, “The Theory of Everything.”

SCI & TECH / 7

APPLEFind out if the new Apple Pay technologywill really change the way we handle transactions.

PHOTO / 4

HELLOSee some of the best photos from the Hello Word! Concert last week at Anisq’oyo’ Park.

See MIDTERM | Page 2

Photo by Tiffany Wu | The Bottom LineThe San Joaquin Apartments currently under construction on Storke Road.

See AS | Page 2

Bailee AbellAS BEAT REPORTER

AS BEAT REPORT

Special Election Nears, Executive Office Staffs Fear Job Loss

Voters Prepare Decisions for Ballot Initiatives in Midterm Elections

Student Housing Crisis Hits IV

Former Student Advocate General Bailey Loverin spoke about a bill to update Associated Students Legal Code Article VII Sections 3, 8-10 at the Oct. 22 meeting of the AS Senate at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

The bill proposes that appointed staff mem-bers in executive offices should be protected from removal without cause as determined by Senate and passed by a vote of fifty percent plus one.

“This new rule applies only for the first 20 weeks of an executive’s term so as to prevent the arbitrary removal of staff but not impede upon the efficiency of the office,” said Loverin during Public Forum. “Replacing an entire ex-ecutive office three months into the school year and shortening the term to six months is highly detrimental and, to be blunt, completely fool-ish. We also should not ignore the rights of ap-pointees who have upheld their commitments and who went through a highly selective ap-plication process to get the position that they did.”

Several staff members from the Office of the Student Advocate were also in attendance at Public Forum.

“The office has already been behind on its duties, and [the current] OSA staff has already been trained and fully-functioning,” said OSA Casework Chief of Staff Saiba Singh. “Our staff has been working overtime and doing things

that are not in our job description in order to uphold the duties that our office is proud of…we would feel that if our jobs are arbitrarily dis-missed it would be unfair and unwise.”

Off-campus senator Erika Martinez read a statement by Mathew Burciaga, county direc-tor for the Office of the External Vice President of Local Affairs, regarding his opinion of the bill and the security of the staff positions in the office of the EVPLA.

“Our dedication to the office, especially in the absence of our executive, displays that we are willing to do the work regardless of the circumstances,” said Burciaga. “We simply ask that senate allow us to continue to do our jobs. We have not been remiss in our duties, and as such, we feel that dismissing us in this fashion will be doing us, the association, and the larger student body a massive disservice.”

AS President Ali Guthy spoke in opposition to the bill during her Executive Officer report.

“From my understanding, the Executive Officer, as an elected official from the entire student body, has a responsibility and also a privilege of choosing who works for them,” said Guthy.

2 | NEWS TBL | Oct 29-Nov 4, 2014

Continued from page 1– AS

Continued from page 1– MIDTERM

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WRITERS THIS ISSUE: Bryn Lemon, Gilberto Flores, Baillee Abell,

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Madison Mead

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The Bottom Line is sponsored by the Associated Students of the University of California, Santa Barbara. Opinions expressed in TBL do not necessarily represent those of the staff , AS, or UCSB. Published with support from Generation Progress/Center for American Progress (genprogress.org). All submissions, questions or comments may be directed to

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TBL 2014-2015 STAFF In last week’s corrections, it was erroneously stated that a photo of Coachella from Issue 1’s photo story was taken by John Clow; it was actually taken by Lorenzo Basilio.

CORRECTIONS

Passage of the proposition would mean that offenders who commit these nonviolent drug crimes will receive reduced penal-ties and shorter jail time, providing a potential solution to the state’s overcrowded prison populations. Current polls demonstrate strong support among voters for the prop-osition.

Other states will be voting on major marijuana legalization initia-tives. Alaska, Oregon, and Washing-ton D.C. will be voting on statewide marijuana legalization, while Florida voters will be deciding on whether to amend the state constitution to allow medical marijuana in the state.

Alaska’s Measure 2 would allow adults 21 and over to possess up to one ounce and maintain six marijua-na plants. The measure would legal-ize the production and sale of mari-juana, the details of which would be regulated by the Alcoholic Bev-erage Control Board (or if created, the Marijuana Control Board). Polls demonstrate the measure has mixed support among voters, with enough undecided voters to sway the results in either direction.

Washington D.C. will be voting on Initiative 71, which will allow adults 21 and over to possess up to

two ounces, grow up to six plants, and give marijuana to other adults 21 and over. The initiative does not legalize, regulate, or tax marijuana sales because election law does not allow D.C. voter initiatives to have a direct impact on the local bud-get. Thus, the initiative would only legalize possession and personal cultivation. A Washington Post poll demonstrated support for the initia-tive at 63%, with 34% opposed and 3% undecided, suggesting the D.C. initiative would be the most likely to pass.

Oregon’s Measure 91 would al-low adults 21 and over to possess up to eight ounces and grow up to four plants. The measure would also legalize the production and sale of marijuana, which would be regu-lated by the Oregon Liquor Control Commission. A recent DHM Re-search poll had the measure ahead with 52% supporting and 41% op-posed, with 7% undecided. Aggre-gated polls demonstrate a close race with a yes vote at a slight advantage, undecided voters will likely be the determining factor in the fi nal re-sults.

Florida will not be voting to le-galize the drug throughout the state, but rather will be voting to amend

the state constitution to legalize medical marijuana to treat “debilitat-ing medical conditions” like cancer, multiple sclerosis, hepatitis C, HIV/AIDS, ALS, Parkinson’s, or “other conditions for which a physician believes that the medical use of marijuana would likely outweigh the potential health risks for a patient.” The amendment would give the task of regulating all aspects of medical marijuana sales, including licensing, dispensaries, and distribution, to the Florida Department of Health. Florida is usually a very politically divided state, and constitutional amendments must receive at least a 60% vote to pass. Aggregated polls suggest a high likelihood that the amendment will pass with over 60%.

The Drug Enforcement Admin-istration considers marijuana to be a Schedule I drug under the federal government’s scheduling system. Created under the Controlled Sub-stances Act, the scheduling sys-tem establishes fi ve categories, or schedules, of controlled substances. Schedule I drugs are the most dan-gerous, while Schedule V are the least dangerous. Schedule I drugs are considered “drugs with no cur-rently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse” and in-

clude marijuana, heroin, LSD, and ecstasy. Schedule II drugs include cocaine, methamphetamine, Adder-all, and Ritalin. In 1970, Congress voted to specifi cally exempt tobacco and alcohol from the scheduling sys-tem. One of the reasons marijuana’s classifi cation in the system has never been changed is because its medici-nal value has never been offi cially established under any large scale clinical trials required by the FDA for drugs planned on entering the national market.

Minimum Wage Increases

Many states, and several Califor-nia cities, will be voting on increas-ing the minimum wage. The federal minimum wage has stood at $7.25 an hour since July 2009. States usu-ally have their own minimum wage laws, and employers are required to comply with both state and federal laws.

Oakland will be deciding on Measure FF, which would raise the minimum wage to $12.25 an hour and would require employers to offer a minimum of fi ve sick leave days to all employees, while larger business-es would be required to provide nine days of sick leave. The measure also

includes provisions that would allow hospitality workers to keep all of their wages and tips. San Francisco will be voting on Proposition J, an initiative that would raise the mini-mum wage to $12.25 on May 2015, then steadily increase each year until it reaches $15 an hour by July 2018, at which point the wage will then be based on infl ation. Eureka will also be deciding on Measure R, which increases the minimum wage to $12 an hour. Small businesses with 25 or fewer employees would be exempt from this law.

California’s statewide minimum wage was increased to $9 an hour on July 2014, and is set to increase to $10 an hour on January 2016.

Alaska will be voting to increase the minimum wage to $8.75 an hour in 2015, which would then increase to $9.75 an hour in 2016. After this point, the wage would be based on infl ation or one dollar above the federal minimum wage, depending on which is higher. Arkansas will be voting to increase the wage to $7.50 an hour in 2015 and $8.50 by 2017. Nebraska and South Dakota will also be voting on similar measures. Illinois has a statewide non-binding advisory vote to increase the mini-mum wage to $10 an hour.

“I can imagine if there is any bad blood between a currently existing offi cer staff member and a new ex-ecutive, if it hinders your work with the offi ce, it is their right as an elected offi cial, as elected by an inher-ent student body, to select who they will be working with…so to deny them that right I think is just in-nately against the whole principle of what an executive offi cer does.”

Later, Attorney General Hector Contreras ad-

dressed Senate during his report, stating that the Sen-ate should be aware of whether they are overstepping their boundaries and limiting the power of Executive Offi cers to hire their own staff s, when voting on the bill.

Senate voted to send the bill to University Aff airs and Constitution and Bylaws Committee. It will be reviewed and voted upon at the next meeting of the AS Senate on Wednesday, Oct. 29.

Photo by Diane Ng | Staff PhotographerFormer Student Advocate General Bailey Loverin presents a bill to update Associated Student Legal Code Article VII Sections 3

Isla Vista Halloween is apparently #notworthit.

A forlorn young woman dressed in costume holds a sign that reads “lost my phone, lost my friends, lost my ride.” Th is image is part of a recent campaign to highlight safety measures and strongly discourage out of town visitors for the upcom-ing holiday.

“Keep IV Safe” is predominantly a social media campaign developed

by the Offi ce of Student Life and Offi ce of Public Aff airs. According to George Foulsham, OPA Direc-tor of News and Media Relations, the campaign intends to “promote safety and discourages visitors from outside the area from coming.”

According to the Assistant Dean of Students, Lisa Smith, the campaign sent out more than 100 letters to California colleges, uni-versities, and high schools along the Central Coast asking them to inform their students not to travel

to Isla Vista for Halloween.“Th e message is also being com-

municated via ads on Pandora and in local buses which cost a few thousand dollars (supported by gift funds from donors interested in promoting safety in Isla Vista),” said Foulsham in an email state-ment. “We will also be reaching out to regional college student publica-tions to see if we can get additional coverage in their digital properties.”

“Keep IV Local” is another, sim-ilar campaign, that was developed

by the Associated Students Offi ce of the President and the External Vice President of Local Aff airs.

“Both [campaign] goals are to focus on keeping outsiders out-of-town, but the AS-affi liated ‘Keep IV Local’ is more of a year-round eff ort that focuses on local busi-nesses and community events,” stated ASOP Committee Develop-ment Coordinator, Louis Mariano.

According to Itxy Quintanilla, the Executive Assistant in the Of-fi ce of the EVPLA, “Keep IV Lo-

cal” focuses on community cohe-sion.

“Instead of saying ‘don’t bring people to IV,’ we are using an ap-proach that hopefully makes people want to support and care enough about their community to make it the actual IV that everyone knows and loves,” Quintanilla said.

Th e goal of “Keep IV Local” is according to Quintanilla, “to pro-mote a community that cares about where they live in order to prevent future danger.”

Photo by Diane Ng | Staff PhotographerOSA staff members Saiba Singh and Anais Zavala advocate the passage of the proposed bill.

Montana MacLachlan

Halloween Campaigns Dissuade Out of Town Visitors and Advocate for a United Isla Vista

Photo by Diane Ng | Staff PhotographerAS President Ali Guthy discusses the proposed bill to update AS Legal Code

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3 | FEATURES TBL | Oct 29-Nov 4, 2014

IV Theater Updates Its Movie Magic with

Digital ProjectorIsla Vista Theater, home of Magic

Lantern Films and Kinotek, has recently dropped their film projector for a digital one, drawing back the curtain on tradition-al 35mm prints.

Magic Lantern Films has been screen-ing movies for more than 11 years, and its Friday night showings are a mainstay for IV moviegoers. The organization’s moni-ker comes from IV Theater’s original name in the 1970s: Magic Lantern Theater. The Director of Magic Lantern Films, D.J. Pal-ladino, commented that the old theater was a popular destination in IV and “really a scene.”

The magic of both institutions has since been revived, and with the introduction of a new digital projector, IV Theater has once again been updated for a modern audience. The recent showings of Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Guardians of the Galaxy are expected to show off the theater’s new tech-nological upgrade.

The debate between digital vs. film pro-jection is a hot one. Director Quentin Tar-antino (Pulp Fiction, Django Unchained) blasted the technology at the Cannes Film Festival, claiming it to be the demise of tra-ditional movie making, but others hold dig-ital cinema projection as a necessary update in the modern theater experience. Palladino said, “There’s not a house in Santa Barbara showing 35mm. It’s gone.”

The phasing out of film is almost world-wide, with major movie studios backing the digital cinema package, or DCP, format over 35mm. A movie in DCP format is con-tained on a portable hard drive or USB stick

and paired with a special pass code that al-lows the projectionist to play the film. In comparison to film prints, this format is drastically less expensive for both studios and theaters.

In addition to reduced costs, the reli-ability of digital cinema projection is one its most notable features. While a 35mm print of a movie is susceptible to defects and wear and tear, digital is as just as reliable on its 1000th viewing as its first.

“35mm is beautiful [but] DCP never scratches. It never breaks down,” said Pal-ladino. “If the projectionist screws up… [the movie] just shuts off, it doesn’t get ruined.”

For Palladino, “the crucial experience was Children of Men. We wanted to show it [in 35mm] so bad.” Unfortunately, there were difficulties with the film print that re-sulted in malfunctioning audio. The prob-lem was only resolved after an assistant at the theater brought in a DVD copy of the movie. Palladino noted that he “didn’t even notice” the switch in formats. After a simi-lar experience with the James Bond f lick Skyfall, Palladino said, “That’s it, we’re go-ing digital.”

The update to digital projection didn’t occur without some sentimentality for the century old film format. The change came with a sense of loss.

“[Magic Lantern Films] took a certain pride in showing [35mm] film [but] we had to jump through hoops,” said Palladino. “It was a big hassle.”

Jacob Houchen, a fourth-year film and media studies major, said, “Although I love the feel, look, and sound of older projection styles, all studios have essentially switched to digital only productions, so it’s what the future holds regardless if we want it or not.”

Artist Samuel Jacobson Installs FLOTSAM

It’s another busy day at the North Campus of the University of California, Santa Barbara, as bikes flash by and students shuffle in and out of classes. Nothing seems to be still, and nothing seems to be calm. Even the ocean seems to be doing it’s own little dance, and the wind is singing it’s own song. In the midst of this hectic environment, 26-year-old Samuel Ray Jacobson works on his landscape art exhibition, FLOTSAM, in front of Elings Hall. He is quiet, composed, and relaxed.

The BABEL working group held its third biennial meeting of the Literature and Mind center at the UCSB from Oct. 16 to 18. Among the students and scholars is MIT graduate Jacobson, who has dedicated and designed his landscape art exhibition

FLOTSAM to the UCSB campus.Babel Working Group’s Lead

Ingenitor Eileen Joy, who has been working closely with Jacobson on his FLOTSAM project, states his passion and dedication to his project.

“This project entails an incredible amount of labor,” Joy said. According to her, Jacobson has been on campus for over two weeks working on FLOTSAM.

Jacobson will be utilizing limestone found in chalk dust in order to construct a ten-inch linear zone that connects Goleta Beach to Coal Oil Point; respectively, the eastern-most part of UCSB property to the western-most part. The art piece will be broken down into fragments tying all parts of UC property, including the main campus, IV, the Pacific Ocean, and the Coal Oil Point nature reserve.

FLOTSAM is an extension of Roland Barthes’ “How to Live

Together,” a book discerning the concept of community. Jacobson was inspired to expand those themes through FLOTSAM.

In his efforts to avoid each individual’s personal perception of his piece, he is reluctant in defining an exact conception of what FLOTSAM is, but he says, “compare it to the architecture of a room–it’s closed. It has a kind of form that’s really sort of been composed by a singular authorial will that is realized through a hierarchical organization like capital. And, it pretty rigidly and simplistically forces you to conform to its dictates for your behavior and thought. It ultimately is a frame.”

Jacobson’s landscape requires him to brush limestone powder over various ground surfaces around campus. However, many obstructions complicate this procedure as natural causes, such

as wind, misplace his work or people unknowingly step on his artwork. Amidst these factors, Jacobson pushes aside these complications and progresses his landscape art at a steady pace.

“The other thing that’s kinda cool here is that they [students, faculty, staff ] understand what I’m doing at a level that is really delightful and also incidental and fleeting. So they get that I’m doing something,” said Jacobson. He also mentioned he wanted to

thank Michael Cook for making his art arrangement possible.

While the limestone powder that composes Jacobson’s landscape architecture will eventually disperse by natural causes, Jacobson hopes that the very act will directly reflect flotsam, the loose particles of a shipwreck. FLOTSAM, to Jacobson is the epitome of a community: dispersed particles floating away from what was a common whole.

Julian LevySTAFF WRITER

Photo by Julissa Chacon | Staff Photographer

Lilian Kim

Architect Samuel Jacobson lays out his chalk path outside Elings Hall.Photo by Julissa Chacon | Staff PhotographerSamuel Jacobson has spent the last two weeks working on FLOTSAM.

The magic of both institutions has since been revived, and with the introduction of a new digital projector, IV Theater has once again been

updated for a modern audience.

“”

4 | PHOTO TBL | Oct 29-Nov 4, 2014

KCSB-FM 91.9

Ravi Carman plays the Baritone Sax.

Photo by Tiffany Wu | The Bottom Line

Photo by Tiffany Wu | The Bottom Line

Photo by Leah Armer | The Bottom LinePhoto by Tiffany Wu | The Bottom Line

Bardo Martinez of Chicano BatmanPhoto by Leah Armer | The Bottom Line

Photo by Tiffany Wu | The Bottom Line IV residents dance along to mexico68’s jam at the Hello World! Concert in Anisq’oyo’ Park..

HELLO WORLD!After the sun set, Anisq’oyo’ Park was lit with ambient lights and emitted colorful music. Part of UCSB’s MultiCultural Center’s “Isla Vista Matters” and KCSB-FM 91.9’s “It’s not Just in Your Head” series, “Hello World! Free Isla Vista Con-

cert” delivered smashing sounds to the local community on Saturday, Oct. 25. With performances by KCSB DJs, the event featured eclectic acts by mexico68 (m68)Afrobeat Orchestra, Chicano Batman, and Los Macuanos.

5 | ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT TBL | Oct 29-Nov 4, 2014

Script-to-Screen Series Takes on ‘The Theory of Everything’

Patty Griffin Heads to Campbell Hall With Her Songs of Healing

Simpsons World: Maybe Not The ‘Worst. App. Ever.’

Making a biopic is, if nothing else, a risky endeavor; an attempt to capture the life of a notable name can result in disaster if the effort is unin-spired. Thus, a well-made biographi-cal film needs to be accurate enough to earn validity, but avoid drying itself out with exposition, because nobody wants to watch a Wikipedia article. Audiences enter these movies expect-ing to see the story of an extraordi-nary human being that they can relate to, love, and be personally familiar with by the film’s end.

The Theory of Everything, which premieres on November 7th, is the next feature film to take on the chal-lenge, this time telling the story of the life of renowned cosmologist Stephen Hawking. While it remains to be seen if the film has met the aforementioned expectation, students at UCSB will have an opportunity to make the de-termination for themselves. The De-partment of Film and Media Studies and Carsey-Wolf Center’s “Script-to-Screen” series will be screening the film on Tuesday, Nov. 4 at 7 p.m, at Pollock Theater. The screening will be followed by a question-and-answer session with screenwriter and pro-ducer Anthony McCarten, as well as

producer Lisa Bruce.The rich life of Stephen Hawking

could warrant multiple movies, with each centered around a different as-pect of his brilliant life. In The Theory of Everything, Anthony McCarten has chosen to focus on the romantic portions of Hawking’s life, particu-larly on his relationship with Jane Hawking. Their shared love, com-bined with his subsequent diagnosis with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and the enormous success of his career in theoretical physics and cosmology, will undoubtedly provide enough story for a thought-provok-ing film. At the same time, however, the project may be a bit of a sizable undertaking for McCarten, who is relatively inexperienced in writing for the movie screen. He adapted his own novel, Death of a Superhero, for an Irish film released in 2011, but besides this project he has merely dab-bled in screenwriting throughout his career. The Theory of Everything will then likely serve as a future litmus test for his credibility in the competitive world of screenwriting. As McCarten is a bit of a mystery, the Q&A session should be a fruitful opportunity for him to provide insight into his ambi-tion, and creative process as a writer. Producer Lisa Bruce has had a simi-

larly obscure career, having produced some big-budget films like 2011’s No Strings Attached, but hasn’t had many major credits. While the lack of big-budget and popular distinction in both McCarten’s and Bruce’s portfo-lios should not serve as an indicator of their respective abilities, The Theory

of Everything will be that much more instrumental in influencing their rep-utations in the future.

The “Script-to-Screen” series at UCSB, hosted and produced by Pollock Theater director Matt Ryan, provides audiences with an opportu-nity to gain insight into the creative

process that most screenwriters utilize when developing a story for a feature film. Fans of Stephen Hawking and film enthusiasts alike should thus find the November 4th screening of The Theory of Everything, as well as the Q&A session that follows it, nearly as compelling as Hawking himself.

As part of the University of California, Santa Barbara’s Arts & Lectures Series, Grammy-Award win-ning singer-songwriter Patty Griffin will be coming to UCSB’s very own Campbell Hall on November 2nd, accompanied by singer-songwriter John Fullbright. Griffin is a pioneer of the American folk music industry, and many of her songs have been fa-mously covered by top artists such as the Dixie Chicks, Sweet Harmony Traveling Revue, Robert Plant, and many others. In 2007 she was named Americana Music Association’s artist of the year, and just this past year she released American Kid, her seventh album.

Griffin has always been inspired to sing and write, saying in an inter-view with Emily Smith, “When I was a teenager I just realized that I needed to sing and I would run home from school and go straight into my closet and sing as loud as I could into the clothes on the hangers.” Creating her music has provided Griffin with an escape since a young age, saying “lots of times before writing songs, the songs that live the longest to me, I have memories of feeling like crap be-fore, and I write a song and something shifts inside of me and I don’t even know why but I just feel better.”

Griffin’s seventh album, Ameri-can Kid, is no exception to this senti-ment that music allows her a sense of

release. Her youthful personal style is contrasted with her deep, soulful mu-sic, and this emotional depth mani-fests itself in her latest album. Grif-fin explains that American Kid was inspired by the gradual process of her father’s passing. Griffin spoke about the album in the aforementioned in-terview, stating “the songs are written for me to get ready to lose him, and to think about who he was, and to honor him.”

Right down to the art design, her

newest album feels very “all-Ameri-can” and rustic, inviting listeners to travel back to the time when her fa-ther was a thriving young man. The rawness within this album is very apparent and Griffin says in her inter-view, “What’s so wrong about being out of tune as long as your perfor-mance is really giving it? And so I was hoping for these performances to do that and to not over think them. We tried to get whole takes as much as we could.” When asked more about her

inspiration, Griffin went on to state “we’ve got all of these people around us who have lived these lives and they have all of this information and they get old and they become fairly insig-nificant.” Her latest album attempts to serve as a representation of all of these lost stories, and as an elegy of sorts for not just her late father, but a generation that is not as revered as they should be.

There is a song for everyone on this album, with songs of romance,

joy, and sorrow sharing a common thread of deep love for the material. To name some highlights, “Irish Boy” is an incredibly moving song that Griffin claims was her best attempt at getting in touch with her father’s past. “Wild Old Dog” stands out on the album as a moving commentary about the religious indifference that is growing in America. “Get Ready Marie” is a playful and lighthearted track that breaks up the deeper, more solemn songs on the album, and is based on her grandparent’s dating his-tory. And finally, “Gonna Miss You When You’re Gone” is a beautiful and moving way to wrap up the album. This final song is relatable to nearly everyone, as it exemplifies the feelings of those going through relationship troubles and the loss of a loved one as Griffin was. It is a sweet goodbye to her father and also to her audience as the closing track. Especially admi-rable is the strength in this song and the fact that even though it deals with a tragic subject, it ends on an uplifting promise that she will one day reunite with her father. This, in a nutshell, is Patty Griffin; she is emotional, spiri-tual, and entirely dedicated to her craft.

Featuring songs from this album, as well as others that have similar depth, beauty, and ability, Patty Grif-fin’s appearance at Campbell Hall on Nov. 2 will surely be a night full of amazing music and insight from one of folk music’s greatest performers.

I wish I could tell you that the new Simpsons website and app, Simp-sons World, will change the way the experience you the brilliant show. I wish I could tell you that the web-site interface is intuitive, that the app works consistently, and that the episodes play smoothly and do not need to stop to buffer multiple times during a 21-minute episode. I wish I could tell you that.

Unfortunately, for any supremely devoted Simpsons fan like myself, Simpsons World is a mixed-bag. Originally labeled the “app for ev-erything Simpsons,” Simpsons World delivers on its main promise of having every Simpsons episode available for streaming, but nearly every other as-pect is a bit of a disappointment.

When first signing on to the website, you are prompted to sign into your cable account, as the con-tent is only available for those whose cable subscriptions include the Fox-offshoot, FXX. Despite my parents’ cable subscription that includes said channel, Verizon FiOS was not one of the listed providers. But, I’ve since moved on (I used my roommates’ par-ents’ account… don’t tell Rupert Mur-

doch), and once you’ve logged on, you are confronted with a full-screened episode already playing. That’s all well and good, but the real issue is that once there, it is difficult to get to your desired episode destination. The splash page contains more ads for the show, unnecessary and vicari-ously Simpsons-related content such as Rolling Stone articles on the show, and featured clips that could have eas-ily been found on YouTube, instead of actual ready-to-stream full episodes. Once you realize that the pink donut in the top left corner of your window serves as a pseudo-portkey for the actual content, the website is manage-able, but still weighted down with ex-tra features, destinations, and content that is getting in the way of “every Simpsons ever.” I mean, for a show like The Simpsons (with 552 episodes of incredibly wide-ranging quality), to feature a dedicated “Random” button is extremely ill-advised. Fans of the show know what they want, whether that be a specific episode from fifteen years ago, or the one from last night, and I cannot imagine someone log-ging on to simpsonsworld.com to seek out a “random” episode.

The app, on the other hand, is a different story entirely, and faces the same obstacles as the website with the

added feature of poor picture qual-ity, and devastating lag. The process of getting to an episode is the same, but without the control of a mouse, and the extra space that comes with AdBlock. And it is these ads that I believe are the real problems of the app. Like all advertisements on video-playing apps and websites, the ad loads faster, and plays smoother than the content you wish to see. On the Simpsons World app (accessible through the FXNow app), each full-length episode features three long–and loud–commercial breaks that cannot be blocked with a Chrome extension. Multiple times during my viewing, I was bombarded with ad-vertisements that interrupt the mid-dle of a scene, and even ones that play in the background. It is pretty discon-certing to watch Bart and Lisa prep Krusty the Clown for his bar mitzvah while a Jack Links Beef Jerky ad plays over their dialogue and drowns out the touching, torah-fueled reunion of rabbi father and his clown son.

But despite being as initially disap-pointed as the curator of the Spring-field Historical Society was when he found out town-founder Jebidiah Springfield was none other than notorious pirate Hans Sprungfeld, Simpsons World has grown on me. I

know enough to no longer attempt to use the app on my phone and tablet, and instead only interact with Simp-sons World through its dedicated website.

The cast and crew interviews, and extra features called “Rarities” (for some reason) are fun, and are defi-nitely worth checking out. But, most importantly, the promise of offering “every Simpsons ever” is completely cromulent, as literally every Simpsons episode is available to watch at any time. This means that we no longer have to contend with Projectfreetv being down, and no more praying

for the sketchy Russian Smotri player to actually work so we can watch 21 minutes of our favorite TV fam-ily. While there are some issues with Simpsons World that will hopefully be resolved soon, ultimately, it is a step up for watching The Simpsons online, even though all of the early episodes are sacrilegiously not shown in their original, 4:3 aspect ratio, and are instead squished and pan-and-scanned to fit the now standard 16:9. However, even a Simpsons purist can deal with that, and all of these other issues, as the advantages outweigh the drawbacks, if only slightly.

Photo Courtesy of Focus Features

Photo Courtesy of Flickr User Charlie Llewellin

Illustration by Amy Chase

Bryn Lemon

Shomik Mukherjee

Coleman GrayARTS & ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR

6 | ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT TBL | Oct 22-Oct 28, 2014

G-Eazy Gets Hyphy in the Hub

A.S. Program Board hosted a sold-out concert featuring rapper G-Eazy on Oct. 24 at The Hub, which showcased the artist’s Bay Area rap revival and the inextinguishable spirit of the hyphy move-ment.

G-Eazy hails from Oakland, CA, where Bay Area rap legends such as Mac Dre and Keak da Sneak first unleashed the hyphy, or “hyperactive,” music and culture movement more than 20 years ago. The phenomenon that they created has since been reinvigorated by the modernization that G-Eazy’s musical style represents. The concert comes four months after the release of G-Eazy’s debut studio album These Things Happen, which reached peak spots on multiple charts, including the Bill-board 200.

Doors opened at The Hub at 8:30 p.m., but the line that snaked well beyond its entrance took nearly an hour to subside. Each concertgoer was frisked at the door and the notable security pres-ence, which included both police officers and CSO’s, ultimately ensured a safe experience. Offi-cer Tyler Oldread commented that “there’s always people that party too hard [and] we don’t want them to be a danger to themselves, to you, or any-one else.”

The show kicked off with a tremendous open-ing set from Bay Area rapper Jay Ant. His perfor-mance of “Circle” was a notable standout. Nate Davison, a visiting student from S.F. State, com-mented that “this guy [Ant] is killing it. He’s get-ting a really loud crowd response. He’s dope.” The dopeness factor was undeniable, and the audience never hesitated to throw up their hands or shout along to the lyrics.

The sound quality throughout the show was stellar despite the smaller size of the venue and its unconventional arrangement of pillars, booth seating, and stone walls. In terms of audio, there was no bad place to settle in and turn up. The P.A. stacks released the kind of bass that makes you hate your neighbors while leaving the vocals undisturbed, and both Jay Ant and G-Eazy took advantage of this to great effect.

Following the incredibly successful set of Jay Ant, headliner G-Eazy flew on stage with flail-ing limbs, performing “Downtown Love.” Every phone in the Hub lit up as the audience streamed SnapChats of the spectacle to their envious friends. The production quality of the performance, with its impressive L.E.D. screen and swooping lights, nearly outshone G-Eazy himself, but the magne-tism of his persona balanced out the rivalry.

Ultimately, the visuals of the show couldn’t

compete with the well-practiced and tight flow of G-Eazy himself, and his performance of “Let’s Get Lost” proved that. All hands were up in a uniform and pendulous sway to the melancholic yet seduc-tive jam.

The artist’s burgeoning catalog was sifted through until the very last encore performance of “Loaded” that sealed the entirety of the experience in a semi-ironic package of booty shaking char-acter. Sahil Bissessur, a third-year computer engi-neering major, commented that “it was a fantastic concert [with] great preparation in mind.”

G-Eazy’s modern mix of hyphy roots and party culture shone out to the crowd like a Bay Area beacon when he stated that “I heard this is a party school [and] they got some bad bitches.” The emphatic response from the crowd thundered out as a shrill affirmation of the night’s fulfilled expectations.

Julian LevySTAFF WRITER

Photo by Diane Ng| Staff Photographer Rapper G-Eazy performs on stage at The Hub on Friday 24th October 2014.

With Apple Pay, Apple believes it can revolutionize mobile payments. The program was first introduced with the iPhone 6, 6 Plus, and the iWatch at Apple’s September Keynote Event, and was finally available for users on Oct. 20 with the iOS 8.1 update.

Users can now add credit and debit cards to the pre-installed Passbook app by either taking a picture of the card, or by manually typing in the card information. Apple Pay allows users to pay by simply placing a finger on the Touch ID sensor–well, at least at the (few) stores with NFC (Near-Field Communication) enabled pin pads.

CEO Tim Cook pointed to the various security flaws of credit cards when presenting Apple Pay, such as credit card theft, or sim-ply losing the physical card. He referred to entire system of paying as antiquated.

“The whole process is based on this little piece of plastic,” Cook said, “and whether it’s a credit or debit card, we’re totally reliant on the exposed num-bers and the outdated and vulnerable magnetic stripe interface.” He claimed, “Apple Pay will forever change the way all of us buy things.”

And perhaps it will. Just not anytime soon.

Apple Pay is certainly safer and more con-venient than using a credit card. For someone who has suffered through the humiliation of forgetting one’s wallet at home–and only realized it at the register–Apple Pay is a most welcome addition to my phone.

Furthermore, Apple Pay has been de-signed to be the safest payment technique currently available. Cards scanned into Pass-book are given a unique Device Account Number assigned by Apple Pay, and the DAN is stored instead of the actual card num-ber. When a transaction is made, the DAN is paired with another one-time dynamic security code generated for the specific trans-action and transmitted over NFC to verify a

payment, allowing the security code to replace a credit card’s CCV.

The iPhone itself also has a special chip called the Secure Element that is dedicated to security and holds all of a user’s payment infor-mation. The data is always kept private and is not uploaded to Apple’s servers.

The only problem with Apple Pay is that it’s not being ac-cepted at enough places. Most stores, particularly smaller privately owned stores, do not currently have pin pads equipped with NFC chips that can process payments with con-tact. Meanwhile, the stores that have the equip-

ment lack the personnel training for a customer to efficiently use Apple Pay; most employees are not yet used to users paying with their phones, which complicates the process.

My first–admittedly disappointing–ex-perience with Apple Pay was at the Pardall Subway, where my cashier had to call her

supervisor over to assist me with my transac-tion. The supervisor then had to find someone else to help him activate NFC payments on the pin pad. By the time they had the system set up, I was waiting with my credit card in hand, and a line of waiting customers behind me.

If I had to go through the same hassle every

time I used a mobile payment system, I never would. Thankfully, the problem is easily fixable with some employee training, as I realized later at Whole Foods. The cashier at Whole Foods was already familiar with Apple Pay, and the pin pad itself had an Apple Pay sticker. The pay-ment process took less a few seconds, and I had to do nothing other than place my finger on my phone’s Touch ID. The phone vibrates when the transaction is complete. It was pretty impressive.

Currently, Passbook only accepts credit and debit cards from American Express, Bank of America, Capital One, Citi, and Well’s Fargo. Barclaycard, Navy Federal Credit Union, PNC, USAA, and US Bank are due to add compat-ibility to their cards later this year.

As far as stores where Apple Pay can be used, the list is rather short. Apple’s website lists 34 chain stores–one of which is Apple itself–but

the company is continuing to expand the number of Apple Pay partners.

However, expansion may hit a wall as several stores, including Rite Aid and CVS, are disabling their NFC readers to prevent compatibility with Apple Pay. These two stores are in a partner-ship to build their own mobile payment app called CurrentC, which is expected to launch next year. They also expect to

include other retail giants such as: Wal-Mart, Gap, Old Navy, 7-Eleven, Kohls,

Lowes, Dunkin’ Donuts, Sam’s Club, Sears, Kmart, Bed, Bath & Beyond, Banana Repub-

lic, Stop & Shop, and Wendy’s.CurrentC would allow the aforementioned

stores to cut out the need for credit cards and processing fees. Unlike Apple Pay, CurrentC will not attempt to replace credit cards–rather, it will directly withdraw money from the cus-tomer’s checking account.

Naturally, banks and credit card compa-nies aren’t too happy about the prospect, and not one will currently back CurrentC, though most have voiced support for Apple Pay. We’ll find out next year which mobile payment pro-grams works best, and both retailers and banks will be forced to back whichever program the customers choose.

7 | SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY TBL | Oct 29-Nov 4, 2014

Is Apple Pay the Future?

Paralyzed Man Walks Thanks To Stem CellsGroundbreaking stem cell

based therapy allowed a paralyzed man to take his first steps in over four years last week. The ground-breaking treatment was pioneered by Professor Geoffrey Raisman of University College London and his team of fellow scientists.

Darek Fidyka, a 40 year-old man from Poland, was paralyzed from the chest down after a knife attack in 2010. He took his first steps, assisted with a walker, this past week.

Raisman and his team collect-ed two types of cells from the nasal

cavity: olfactory ensheathing cells and olfactory nerve fibroblasts. These cells can promote the re-generation of nerve fibers, and they represent the only part of the nervous system capable of doing so during adulthood. For decades, scientists have tried to simulate this regeneration process in other areas, such as the spinal cord.

“But there are two problems–crash barriers, which are scars, and a great big hole in the road,” Rasi-man continued. “In order for the nerve fibres to express that abil-ity they’ve always had to repair themselves, first the scar has to be opened up, and then you have to

provide a channel that will lead them where they need to go.”

The team injected about 500,000 nerve cells into Fidyka’s spinal cord, paving a pathway around the spinal cord injury. They then placed four strips of nerve tissue across the gap the knife wound created in the spinal cord, creating a bridge to recon-nect the nerves.

“Nerve fibres can grow back and restore function, provided we give them a bridge. I believe this is the moment when paralysis can be reversed,” Raisman told the BBC in an exclusive interview.

However, this does not mean

that paralysis has been cured. Three other paralysis patients have also been tested, but there has been no sign of significant im-provement.

“This is not a cure for spinal cord injury in humans–that could still be a long way off,” Raisman said, “But this is the most encour-aging advance for some years and is a significant step on the road to-wards it… The much harder range of higher functions lost in spinal cord injury are yet more compli-cated and still a long way away.”

Raisman has been are care-ful not to raise false hopes for identical outcomes in the future.

However, this stem-cell therapy breakthrough proves enormous implications for the future of stem-cell based treatments.

It has been two years after the treatment, and Fidyka is now able to walk with a frame. He has even recovered bladder and urinary sensation.

“When you can’t feel almost half your body, you are helpless, but when it starts coming back it’s as if you were born again,” Fidyka said about his newfound move-ment. “What I have learned is that you must never give up but keep fighting, because some door will open in life.”

Vall Vinai

Back to the Future II was right: hoverboards will become a reality in 2015, and it’s all thanks to the Kick-starter of some dedicated developers.

The Los Gatos-based tech com-pany Arx Pax is the company behind Hendo Hover, the hoverboard proj-ect posted on Kickstarter on Oct. 14. Since then, Hendo Hover has already reached and surpassed its pledge goal of $250,000. The grand prizes–ten new hoverboards–have already been claimed by ten sponsors who donated $10,000 to the project.

The official Hendo hoverboard is slated for release on Oct. 21, 2015, paying homage to the day that Marty McFly from Back to the Future II ar-rives in the future.

Currently, the Hendo hoverboard weighs 90 pounds and can hover 300 pounds up to an inch off the ground. Developers hope to create and pub-licly release a model that can lift up to 500 pounds.

“Imagine a vehicle with all the freedom of a car and all the efficiency of a high-speed train,” said Jill Hen-derson, co-founder of Hendo Hover. “With our hover engines, that is now possible.”

Hoverboards are intended to be self-propelled, where the rider’s body movements control the board’s move-ments. Additionally, a safety switch is located on the bottom of the board, allowing the rider to entirely power down the hoverboard.

CEO and co-founder Greg Hen-derson invented and patented mag-netic engines known as Magnetic Field Architecture (MFA) in 2012.

MFA is similar to the Maglev tech-nology used in high-speed magnetic trains, which was implemented in certain parts of China and Japan in 2004 and 2005 respectively.

The hoverboards work by attach-ing circular “hover engines” to the bottom of the board, which generate a magnetic field. The resulting mag-netic field repels against the floor, causing the board to lift up. How-ever, the hoverboards are limited to

electromagnetic surfaces, despite breakthroughs in research.

“During our research, we discov-ered a way to transmit electromagnet-ic technology that is far more efficient than anything else,” said Henderson. “This means that our patent-pending Hendo Hover Engine technology can enable platforms to hover over non-ferrous materials with payloads of virtually any size and weight.”

Developers are still working to

make this a reality. However, there are issues with the prototype board movements; the boards currently drift across an electromagnetic sur-face and riders must push off the ground as if skateboarding. Hendo Hover is currently striving towards a self-propelling hoverboard.

Hendo Hover is also offering a compact cube known as the White-box Developer Kit for $299, and the Whitebox+ for $699. The developer

kit allows consumers to experiment with hover technology by using the provided hover engines to hover the Whitebox over any surface. The Whitebox+ includes the engine, and adds control capabilities to the kit with a smartphone app in develop-ment called the G-Ray.

The development of hoverboards could lead to improved earthquake-proof technology. Arx Pax is a com-pany working on making technol-ogy that can stabilize homes during natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods. If the technology can lift homes and other buildings up, then in the case of a natural disaster, death tolls and financial costs would be lowered as a result of this potential safety technology.

“I’m an architect, not a scientist,” said Henderson. “The idea came from being able to levitate buildings out of earthquakes. All of the patents I was looking at were for moving ob-jects. So I asked, why is that? If I can levitate a train, why not a house? We want to use the Hendo hoverboard and hover engines as a way to capture attention and bring attention to an important topic. Our responsibility is to help figure out a better way to build.”

In the meantime, hoverboard technology will continue to improve. The Hendo team is currently on their 18th prototype, and many more are to come before the hoverboard is of-ficially released this time next year.

“It is still early days, but we are ab-solutely thrilled because we have prov-en conclusively that what was widely considered impossible is, in fact, possible,” said Henderson.

Pragya Parmita STAFF WRITER

Illustration by Hector Lizarraga | Staff Illustrator

Gwen Wu

Illustration by Luis Bondoc | Staff Illustrator

New Possibilities Hovering In The Future

8 | OPINIONS TBL | Oct 29-Nov 4, 2014

Community DebateCitizens and Police Must Collaborate

Montana MacLachlan

It seems to be a constant debate of “who is right” versus “who is wrong.”

Too often I see students complain behind their computer screens about the supposed injustices performed by Isla Vista Foot Patrol and the Univer-sity of California Police Department. They are not shy when it comes to criticism, but I seldom hear any sup-port. Now, I believe there are three sides of every story: one man, the other man, and the truth.

It is often challenging for IV residents to collaborate with top decision-makers because IV lacks any structure of formal government or representation. This creates a lack of

transparency between residents and authoritative bodies, fostering a cycle of unease and distrust.

Most people agree the University should take proper steps to reinvent security measures around the com-munity. But what is the “proper” way? I do not believe it should be a one-sided method, but a collaborative, multi-pronged approach.

The University has been hiring more officers and bringing in supple-mental police forces during popular weekends, but there has been less emphasis on community efforts to improve Isla Vista’s image from within. Following last Spring, many

argued that it was up to IV to unite, foster higher standards, and hold each other accountable for our actions in order to ignite a positive and passion-ate movement. They said it was up to us to cohesively want to change the culture of IV. While increasing the police force is necessary, it should be only one of the many measures taken to improve safety.

But has it gotten to an over-whelming point? I cannot drive from El Colegio to Del Playa without en-countering at least four police cars.

Earlier this summer, my house received a hefty noise-violation ticket for 6 people hula-hooping on our

back deck on a Tuesday at 10:15pm. However, when we had issues with a Peeping Tom who had removed window screens, left face prints and handprints on a window, and broke another window, the police initially refused to come to our house to take fingerprints. I am sure there are count-less stories similar to mine.

The police force in IV needs to shift their focus from targeting petty crime, to deciphering truly threaten-ing situations–a shift from a small gathering of Isla Vista residents hav-ing a few beers in the comfort of their home, for example, to sexual assault, vandalism, and harassment. It seems

there is an inherent focus on trivial crimes, rather than emphasis on regu-lating safety.

We get heated behind the security of our devices, yet mostly fail to take action. If you want to see a change, don’t just use words. Make a differ-ence, and find the resources.

I respect most authorities, and I acknowledge they have a job to do. Many of them have adapted to the cul-ture of IV, and will always joke around with you given the right opportunity. However, it must be a collaborative effort to refine focus, increase trans-parency, and maintain accountability to create a better Isla Vista.

Imagine The Police playing a concert and getting shut down by Isla Vista Foot Patrol for violating a noise ordinance on a Saturday night. It would be a fitting and al-together expected ending to a fun night in Isla Vista.

Of course, college students have been complaining about the police for longer than Sting and com-pany have been playing music, and a lot of complaints are overblown or nearsighted. In Isla Vista’s case though, the police have recently gone a little haywire.

Huge efforts are being made

to enforce noise ordinances in an attempt to shut down parties, and officers seem to spend most of their days detaining legal and illegal car-riers of alcohol. There is a place for these laws, and their enforcement is not inherently wrong, but since the events of the 2013-2014 academic year the police have stepped up their involvement significantly.

The problem is that the police have been focusing on the wrong things, and harmless offenses are being punished more often than harmful ones. If the police’s goal is to curtail underage drinking, stop

drunk mobs from forming, or to simply protect students from risky behavior, then they are going about it wrong. Small house parties are not nearly as dangerous as large and uncontrolled events, but they are being treated with equal attention.

What makes this unacceptable is that the police have access to all the information they need to find the most dangerous parties. They have access to the daily keg lists, and while not all keg parties are hugely out of hand, most out of hand par-ties have kegs. Parties with huge amounts of alcohol are likely to at-

tract most people, and parties with uncontrolled sources like kegs are most likely to attract freshmen and out of town guests that have no-where else to party. It is places like these that drunk mobs congregate, where vulnerable and drunk fresh-men find themselves in compromis-ing situations, and where the police need to shift their focus. As a rule, the most destructive behavior usu-ally happens when partiers lack re-spect for the homes of strangers.

With all this in mind, it is im-portant to note that the police are not as in tune with Isla Vista’s cul-

ture as we would like them to be. There is no governing body or com-munity voice in place that can really give them direction. The police have become activist because they have had to do so—Isla Vista really is a lawless place without their pres-ence, so a lot of responsibility falls on their shoulders. Still, they ought to do a better job of identifying the source of Isla Vista’s problems. As long as they fail to address the source of Isla Vista’s cultural prob-lems, responsible fun will be ruined for the rest of us.

Due to the events of last year, the University of California, Santa Barbara has been under the heavy scrutiny of a microscope that gives the entire world the opportunity to view and criticize the actions of our school and city. Unfortunately, much of that criticism has been di-rected towards the Isla Vista police force–criticism that is largely unjus-tified and narrow-minded.

The mission statement of Isla Vista Foot Patrol states that they intend “to provide safety and en-forcement for the community of Isla Vista.” Students who bring their troubles upon themselves through reckless, illegal drinking practices

are looking for a scapegoat for their own negligence and irresponsibility. They frequently lay blame on fig-ures of authority such as dorm RAs or police for enforcing the policies that students are well aware they are breaking or for pursuing policies that they feel pale in comparison to oth-ers. These students fail to recognize the good that comes out of these necessary rules–even the minor ones.

Halloween policies, among oth-ers, have sparked debate. The com-munity has funded the staffing of 100 officers trained to ensure that they are capable of responding dur-ing an event that carries the risk of great danger to our community.

Many students are upset by the no-visitors policy and the different parking restrictions that accompany this, saying that these cause great inconvenience. Students, however, fail to appreciate that this is done in order to protect their vehicles. It is a shame that these measures are nec-essary and that many residents have proven time and time again that they are incapable of taking responsibil-ity for their own safety on a large scale and continue to invite friends from out of town. The ensuing ir-responsibility leaves police with no other option but to enforce policies designed to ensure that they bring no further harm to themselves or their

community.Many residents claim that the

police’s decisions to pursue noise or-dinances is a waste of time; students forget, however, that 8,000 people living in Isla Vista are not affiliated with UCSB and have families who do not want to be wrapped up in the chaos of the area. The police enforce policies such as noise ordinances to ensure their ability to live in IV com-fortably as well. They are not trying to ruin the experience of students on a fun night but rather ensure that these non-student residents can have fun in a safe environment.

The police have made numer-ous efforts to reach out to the

community and receive the input of students through both Coffee with a Cop and Pizza with Police in a personal and inviting manner. If students really do take issue with some of the policies, then they have an obligation to try and change them before criticizing.

It is time that UCSB and Santa Barbara Community College stu-dents alike come out and make an effort to understand the intentions behind these policies before blatantly writing them off. One must not for-get that the police in Isla Vista are individuals and they should be re-spected and thanked for all that they do for students.

Amish Mafia and Wicked Tuna: The Depressing Downfall of Educational Television

Anyone watching cable TV these days knows that America has some fringe interests. We like the Amish, as evidenced by Discov-ery’s “Amish Mafia,” TLC’s “Breaking Amish,” and National Geographic’s “Amish: Out of Order.” We’re also obsessed with child beauty pageants; 2008 brought about TLC’s “Tod-dlers and Tiaras,” followed by the 2012 spin-off “Cheer Perfection.” Other trending topics include fundamentalist Mormons (National Geographic’s “Polygamy, USA”), rednecks (A&E’s “Duck Dynasty”), and commercial fishermen (National Geographic’s “Wicked Tuna”), just to name a few.

How on earth did we get here? In the 80s and 90s, networks like Discovery, National Geographic, TLC, and Animal Planet aired nothing but educational shows about sci-ence, nature, history, geography, and current events. Then, around the turn of the millen-nium, they ditched their academic tone and “re strategized” to compete with the reality TV explosion. Out was the raw footage of lionesses hunting and rhesus monkeys copu-lating, and in was highly- produced, gimmicky entertainment.

Current programming on these networks constitutes a very loose interpretation of their original, educational mission. Animal Planet has stretched the boundaries of what it means to specialize in animals, changing its slogan from “Same Planet, Different World” to “Sur-prisingly Human” in order to get away with airing more people- based content (read: real-ity shows).

The devastating result of this real-ity takeover has been that, apart from a few gems like Discovery’s “Planet Earth” and National Geographic’s “Cosmos: A Space Time Odyssey,” the modern television land-scape is largely devoid of quality educational

programming.And even the so -called educational

programs that remain are infested with pseu-doscience. Discovery’s “Shark Week” used to be about celebrating and respecting sharks, but today it’s just about scaring your pants off with made- up shark horror stories. I guess it’s better to be feared than respected when it comes to ratings.

During the summers of 2013 and 2014, respectively, Discovery chose to air “docufic-tions” about ancient megalodons supposedly swimming in modern oceans, and about 35 foot- long great whites attacking unsuspecting whale watchers off the coast of South Africa (never happened). The “sharks are beautiful predators” message of Shark Weeks past has devolved into a “sharks are ruthless killers” message –and that certainly cannot be good for wildlife conservation efforts.

Shark Week is not alone in the docufic-tion brigade. Shows like “Finding Bigfoot” and “Mermaids: The Body Found” (both Animal Planet) certainly capture audiences’ imaginations, but they present complete-ly contrived evidence, false data and fake “experts.” Disguising pseudoscience as science has dangerous consequences for young, impressionable audiences. The last thing we need is for children to grow up to be ignorant of the scientific method.

Why would a network go to all the trou-ble of hiring actors to pose as scientists and explain computer generated sequences of imaginary creatures? Why not just have ac-tual scientists explain real footage of animals that exist? The latter option seems cheaper for the network and less misleading to audiences. Win -win, right?

I think the heart of the matter–the reason for the reality/pseudoscience maelstrom on once -credible science channels–is that sensationalism is much easier to sell than hon-est facts. Only some people will sit for an hour

to watch Morgan Freeman narrate fish foot-age, but almost everyone is curious about mer-maids and polygamists. From the network’s perspective, it doesn’t make sense to invest ev-erything in a subset of kids with the attention span for nature documentaries. Bigfoot drop-pings, ex -Amish teenagers, mermaid fossils, and men with five wives have a certain “wow ” factor, and ultimately a much broader appeal.

The new millennium has not been great for science on cable television, but let’s not throw in the towel just yet. Neil Degrasse

Tyson brilliantly brought back Carl Sagan’s “Cosmos” earlier this year. It was organi-cally entertaining and even gripping at times, telling real- life horror stories of climate change and the vast scale of the universe. Unfortunately, it can be hard for naïve view-ers to sort out real science from the reality/sensationalist noise. Going forward, it’s we the viewers who truly hold the power to sway net-works one direction or another, and we need to seriously consider what we value more: edu-cation or entertainment.

Maddy Kirsch STAFF WRITER

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