Why Ruckus is Not a Solution

There has been some talk recently about Ruckus, a subscription-based service that has struck a deal with the UMD system to provide its content to students "free" of charge (student tuition and fees notwithstanding). Services like this one continue to be lauded as the "legal alternative to downloading", and indeed this particular incarnation has been endorsed by SGA.
However, services like this one come up short in some key areas which is why to the music enthusiast or serious downloader, they will never compare to what is available on torrent trackers.

• Music can only be played via their software, not your music player of choice and not on your operating system of choice.

• While there is considerable selection, it is nowhere near complete and nowhere near what is available on elite music trackers.

• The DRM-laden songs prevent transfer to a portable music device, like my iPod. Even if you do use software to (illegally) remove the DRM, the files are not .mp3 but .wma, a format that is not compatible with iPods.

• Even after going through all the trouble of freeing the songs, they are still in poor quality. If you decide to transcode to .mp3 to put the songs on an iPod, your quality will go down even further.

The final blow to this model is that using programs like SoundTaxi or TuneBite (programs that actually charge you to use them!) to remove the DRM from these songs is illegal. If one is going to be operating in this gray area anyway, why not just go for the best and get high quality, usable music via bittorrent and torrent trackers?

Blogwars

wow. today was interesting. i walked into the sga office and bam! there is an all out slug-fest going on online between the retriever staff editor and a bunch of other important people- interestingly their names all started with anonymous. this brings up a lot of woes that many individuals have been expressing over the course of my time at umbc. if you would like to participate or just take a peek follow the link.

Keeping up with Blogs

If you keep up with sites that continually update their content, like news websites and blogs, you might want to check out using an RSS Feed Reader. This site has a nice list of some of the more popular ones. There are also useful extensions for web browsers like Firefox - I have used the WizzRSS extension myself with great success so far. Sage is another good one that got featured a while back. Subscribing to feeds is extremely easy - once you have your reader of choice, simply drag that gigantic orange icon in on the upper right into it and you're ready to go.

Popular browsers like Firefox and Internet Explorer support adding RSS feeds directly to your bookmarks toolbar, allowing you to quickly see new stories without having to install any additional software.

The benefit of using RSS as opposed to just checking websites is that it puts control back into your hands. Basically you can use a reader to very quickly check the feeds of your favorite sites and see what items are new and which you've already read. Some readers will even give you notifications when a feed changes, so if you're using the computer you can see it and know there is something new to read.

However, if all of these seems a bit complicated, David Hoffman has created a convenient website that pulls together the feeds of a number of interesting UMBC-related blogs, including this one. Simply bookmark the UMBC Blog of Blogs and check it from time to time to receive the latest headlines.

No Honking Policy

This may be of no importance yet, but it is really annoying to be woken up every night by two people outside honking because of a parking situation. Last night was the third night in a row that both my roommate and I jumped while sleeping because of someone who found it necessary to be honking their horn at 2 in the morning! New York City has a policy, there is a fine of $250 in certain areas where you cannot honk. Why should UMBC not have one? There should be a rule, after 9 p.m. no honking until 9 a.m.. That way, the residents of at least Erickson, where I live, can get a full night's rest.

Threepenny Opera

There really is something to be said for deciding to just up and do something. I've been meaning to go to a UMBC theater production since my first semester here but never actually got around to purchasing tickets and showing up.

This time, I decided to change that and reserved my tickets early for tonight's showing of the Threepenny Opera. Since I was a student, I was able to get tickets for both myself and my significant other for a grand total of $10 (slightly more than one regular priced movie ticket). Wow, was I impressed with the show. There are some very talented people here and it was clear that they had put some solid effort into making this production a success. We both seriously enjoyed ourselves and I am looking forward to attending future theater productions on campus.

This is just one of the awesome things at UMBC I have passed over in the past as a science major. I'm going to try not to make that mistake again - this sure made for a great date!

UMBC: Broadening my Intellectual Horizons

One thing that has been especially wonderful about my experience at UMBC so far has been my exposure to an environment made up of people from so many diverse backgrounds. Each person brings their own perspective and worldview placed a varied distance on the spectrum from my own. This kind of exposure has both allowed me to broaden my own view of the world and helped me to further define what I think, the end result being that I have been able to form opinions and beliefs that acknowledge concerns and ideas I never would have considered before.

UMBC often provides me with an excellent forum for "trying out" my opinions and beliefs through discussion and debate with my fellow students. I think of these largely as learning experiences for myself rather than opportunities to change another's mind, as the exercise helps me to further refine what I think as well as raises points I may have neglected to consider.

It might sound a little mushy but it's been true for me, and I strongly encourage others to take advantage of the wonderful opportunities for personal expansion UMBC's community provides.

Gender-Neutral Housing

Yesterday I sat through a presentation about gender-neutral housing in last nights RSA meeting. It is something that exists at 27 other campuses in the US but I never thought about it being an option at UMBC. However, I'm glad Residential Life is making an effort to address the 1% "transgender" population at UMBC.

Contrary to popular belief, "transgender" doesn't necessarily refer to someone who cross-dresses or has a different sexual orientation. As defined in the presentation, "transgender" is a general term applied to a variety of individual, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies that diverge from the normative gender role (woman or man) commonly.

Being that it is a pilot project, gender-neutral housing will only be offered in Walker Apartments mainly because it is privatized, which makes it easier to work with them. For now, seven spaces will be available and you must qualify with 39 credits or more. To my understanding, students will be able to apply for gender-neutral housing this spring for the 08-09 year. Although, I'm impressed with the progress Residential Life is making, it concerns me that gender-neutral housing being offered at only Walker may hinder certain students from residing there because of affordability. It doesn't give everyone a fair opportunity to receive gender-neutral housing. However, it is a pilot project and it is important to see if it will be successful, and if so then more spaces would eventually be available.

Also there aren't specifics of how people will be chosen from the various applicants and what the application will look like. So to give your input regarding the application and other ideas, the Reslife re-contracting task force will meet today at 3:30pm in the Reslife small conference room. You can also e-mail Jacqueline Wilson, Assistant Director for Residential Operations at jawilson@umbc.edu with any questions.

Something else that has nothing to do with gender-neutral housing but was discussed at the RSA meeting was an update from the food liaison. We were informed that food services is thinking about replacing the Freshens Smoothie place with a salad bar, and the Rappz place with a sushi bar and other international food options. Even though nothing is certain, I would love to see healthier food options outside the dining hall. With the food contract being revised and food services coming up with more food options, I'm eager to see better food options by next year.

Good Evening, Commons

In the past several weeks I have had several disappointing interactions with food service in the Commons. I think a potential food customer would be hard-pressed to find another place where, during the mid-to-late afternoon, a high-volume food service station routinely runs out of supplies, or a place that refuses to sell customers certain menu items as early as thirty minutes before closing time.

Overall I have been very disappointed with the service and food quality in some areas of the Commons, and unfortunately there is very little in terms of consequences if and when our contractor underperforms.

However. As has already been picked up by the folks at UMBC Underground, an RFP (Request for Proposal) has already been put out outlining UMBC's minimum expectations for a new contract. This means that every contractor who submits a proposal must do the things in the RFP, with additional things being the factors that differentiate one company from another. It's not so much about changing the name of the contractor (Sodexho provides food services for a large number of colleges and universities, some reportedly quite well); rather, it is about making our expectations for services clear and choosing a company that is committed to making those things happen throughout the duration of the commitment.

Issues surrounding food services have become very dear to me over the months - they were one of the reasons I originally decided to run for Senate. Some of the key points have already been extracted from the RFP by UU's Short. I think the requirements do a lot to address some of the key issues students have had with campus food services, but there is still room for improvement. I, along with many other students and campus administrators, would like to see a complete elimination of so-called "meal-zoning," instead allowing a student who has purchased a meal plan to use it whenever and wherever he or she pleases, regardless of the time or venue.

This is an exciting time to affect some very visible and positive change on our campus. It is my goal that by this time next year, UMBC is going to have one of the best food service offerings in the state, as rated by UMBC students.

Winter Hall Closing-December 19th at 8pm

Winter Hall Closing - December 19th at 8PM
Chesapeake, Erickson, Harbor (excluding rooms 151-156, 162-174, 225-239,
325-339), Patapsco and Susquehanna Halls will close for Winter Break.
Residents of these buildings must be out of the dorm by 8PM on Wednesday, December 19th.

Procedures to Take Before Leaving:
· Unplug all electrical appliances and extension cords from electrical wall
sockets.
· Turn off your room lights and make sure that the bathroom light and fan are
off.
· Turn off all water completely.
· Remove all trash from your room/apartment and dispose of it properly.
· Your windows should be securely locked.
· Close your blinds and/or shades.
· Clean out your refrigerator and prop the door open to avoid odor build up.
· Turn off your alarm clock and make sure that the common phone for your
room/apartment is left in the common area (not locked in someone's bedroom).
· Clean your bathroom well. Leave bathroom door open to allow for better air
circulation. (Be sure to check with your suitemates to see if it's okay to
leave the bathroom door open when you leave. If you don't want your
suitemates to have access to your room, you will need to shut and lock the
bathroom door.)
· You are not required to remove all of your belongings from your room, but it's
encouraged that you take your valuables home with you.
· Remember to pack any medications or other necessities you might need.
· Lock your door and take your key, UMBC ID and Resident ID with you.

Just a few more things . . .
Your RA will conduct a closing inspection of each room. Please save time by
following check-out procedures.
The above mentioned halls will reopen for the Spring Semester at 9:00 AM on
Sunday, January 27, 2008.
Residential Life (located in Erickson Hall) will be open on January 27th from
9AM to 4PM. Food Services will also be open on January 27th to assist in
updating meal plan cards.

Only 15 more days till Break!!! Good luck on exams everyone, and I hope you all have a great break after that~!

November Stats

Now that we've entered the month of December, I'd like to take the opportunity to brag a little bit about our growing success.

November saw a huge increase in visitors, entries, authors, and comments...

35 posts by a total of seven authors
1,867 pageloads from 1,009 unique visitors, distributed roughly 60/30 between new and returning visitors
9 feed subscribers

Thanks to everybody who has been following this blog - keep spreading the word about us and our friends over at UMBC Underground, Overheard at UMBC, and of course, the Official SGA Announcements blog.