The Week in Brief

Lethal Weapon 3

Having stopped by the side of the road to relieve himself, a man was killed when a cargo plane crashed during takeoff on Fri., Jan. 5. The seven passengers on the plane, which took off in Angola's Lunda North province, were not injured. The country's Civil Aviation Authority Chief Helder Preza said the pilot noticed engine problems during takeoff and decided to land the plane right away. During the attempt to reland, the plane crashed. This was the third crash in Angola since November.

A not-quite-romantic comedy

In a drunken fight at her best friend's wedding, a British woman bit off the testicle of the groom. Carr, who was sentenced to six months in prison on Mon., Jan. 8, pleaded guilty to affray, claiming she was defending Shelley Hutchinson from her new husband. When the bridegroom pinned Carr on the floor, the defendant bit through his jeans and his testicle. The lawyer claimed Carr did not know where she was biting, but the judge said the gravity of the injury called for a jail sentence. The testicle could not be reattached.

Computer not included

Finally, watching television won't take so much effort anymore. The new e-cliner will make entertainment "comfortable for people," Eric Est-roff from WebTV Networks said. Launched on Tues., Jan. 9 by La-Z-Boy and Microsoft, the e-cliner essentially combines a plush chair with a computer kiosk and includes web access and a fold-out tray for laptops. Even the most conservative couch potato should have no cause for alarm—the chair still includes the old-school drink holder and storage space for a TV Guide. The armchair made its debut at a home furnishings show last April and has just hit the stores for a price of over $1,000.

—Compiled by Lise Clavel from Yahoo! News

Conn. loses seat in the House

Last April's pesky little questionnaires have finally made themselves felt in the state of Connecticut, as the Federal Census Bureau announced on Thurs., Dec. 28 that the national reapportionment of congressional seats will strip Connecticut of one of its own. The state's congressional representation will fall from six to five. Connecticut's population grew by a mere 3.6 percent from 1990 to 2000, in comparison with the nationwide skyrocket of 13.2 percent. And though the state government wasn't exactly surprised by the adjustment, it did express disappointment.

Larry Perosino, press secretary to Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz commented, "It's never a good thing to lose a voice, albeit a numerical one, in Congress." Yet he was quick to reassure that, "though we're losing one in number, Connecticut's lucky to have a level of leadership that will make the state heard."

Redistricting will be a lengthy process that involves a reconfiguration of district lines—not a simple amendment as many assume. It calls for the legislature to appoint a bipartisan reapportionment committee composed of four Republicans and four Democrats, who will have until Sat., Sept. 15 to draft a plan that then has to be approved by two-thirds of the general assembly.

If the assembly cannot agree on a plan there are two subsequent procedural phases: a reapportionment commission appointed by Governor John Rowland and eventually a plan drafted by the State Supreme Court. The entire process will need to be completed by Wed., Feb. 15, 2002 in time for the election cycle of that year. —Emma Snyder

Course critiques to go online

Reading list looks unreasonable? Want to tell your professor? Course evaluations will soon be available on the web for students to give professors feedback on courses throughout the semester by simply clicking a course feedback button on the classes server.

This evaluation system, expected to be functioning soon after shopping period, will provide an anonymous outlet for students who might not otherwise feel comfortable approaching professors in class or via e-mail. Instead of only receiving evaluations at the end of the semester when changes cannot benefit those who suggested them, faculty will be able to address problems raised by students throughout the term. In addition, unlike the course evaluations at the end of the semester, the student critiques will not be retained by the University.

Professor Charles Bailyn, head of the Teaching and Learning Committee, stressed that the system should not be used as a substitute for talking to a professor or attending office hours. "Since [the system] is anonymous, the professor cannot respond," Bailyn said. "So if you want to get information back from the professor or have some kind of conversation, this is not a good thing to use."

The hope, Bailyn says, is that, under the condition of anonymity, students will feel more inclined to give constructive criticism to professors who will later be grading them, thus helping to improve the course. Of course, the program will only work so long as students are responsible about their criticism and do not abuse the system.

The online course evaluation system is another step in a general trend toward moving course-related material online and eliminating the piles of paper generated by the more than 20,000 courses Yalies take each semester. Bailyn added that his committee is preparing a web-based course registration system that will most likely be tested next fall. —Kate Heinzelman

Yale musicologist dies of heart attack

Claude V. Palisca, the Henry L. and Lucy G. Moses Professor Emeritus of Music, died Thurs., Jan. 11 from complications during surgery. Palisca, who taught the Music 701a class, "Theory and Aesthetics: Antiquity and the Middle Ages," was widely regarded as an eminent musicologist. He was the author of numerous books in the areas of Baroque and Renaissance music.

Palisca was undergoing surgery for a broken leg, and several sources confirmed that he passed away as the result of a heart attack during the process.

Music major Katie Cochran, DC '01, said of Palisca, "He was an enormous figure in musicology, and his passing is very noteworthy for that field." —Justin Chen

Heard

"For Hart Crane, modernity was all about getting high." —Langdon Hammer, Modern Poetry

"The female looks for the male with the biggest balls...dung balls that is." —Robert Wyman, Global Population Problems

"There's no such thing as free lunch—that's a kind of hardass economist line." —Steven Berry, Intro Macroeconomics

"I could replace the variable E with a banana and still get the same answer." —Patrick Vaccaro, Physical Chemistry

Yale Index

1. Number of times we heard the phrase "It wasn't me" over winter break: 5,000

2. Number of times we banged on the bathroom floor over winter break: 0

3. Average number of hours spent sleeping this winter break, per Yalie: 408

4. Number of times we checked yale.edu/sis for grades this break: 100

5. Number of grades received so far: 1

6. Number of points GPA dropped from that grade: 1.05

7. Percentage of this drop that we blame on Barry S. Kane, registrar: 100

8. Number of locations for Intro to Environmental Studies: 2

9. Number of correct locations: 1

10. Number of people at each location: 150

11. Percent chance that lecture will relocate to the top of Science Hill: 99.9

12. Resultant increase in mileage logged walking to class over term: 26

13. Prize, in dollars, for winning the Boston Marathon: 80,000

14. Prize, in dollars, for walking the distance of the Boston Marathon: -36,000

—Compiled by Justin Chen, Ewan MacDougall, and Nathan Littlefield

Sources: 1, 10) Estimation; 2, 4) Shameful, shameful experience; 3) Calculating the number of hours in winter break; 5, 6, 9) Incompetence; 7) Logic; 8) Divine justice; 11) Murphy's Law; 12) Abacus; 13) www.boston.com; 14) Yale Comptroller's Office

Yale researchers receive funding

Two Yale researchers recently received financial support from license plate sales. The Long Island Sound License Plate Fund, a state program associated with the Department of Environmental Protection, uses money from the sale of specially designed license plates to fund environmental studies. Sean Corson of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies received over $5,000 from the fund, while Dr. Carmela Cuomo, a Yale research associate at the Department of Geology and Geophysics, received about $23,000.

Corson explained that his project, a study of river herring in the West River, hopes to help define the benefits of a fish ladder. The ladder will enable herring to swim over a dam in the river to better spawning ground upstream. "The fish have been widely used as a restoration tool," Corson said. "There haven't been a lot of studies done to determine whether [the ladders] are effective." Corson began research for the project last April with the help of Forestry professor David Skelly. Other researchers will complete the project by Thurs., Feb. 1.

At that time Cuomo will just be starting her project, researching organisms living in the sediment of Long Island Sound at Milford Point, a part of the Stewart B. McKinney National Refuge. "Migratory shorebirds all stop at Milford Point," she said, explaining that the purpose of the study is "to look at what animals...are in the sediment in those feeding grounds" and to learn more about the diets of the shorebirds. —Wynn Meyer

Back to News...