Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Quote of the Day ‘Better keep your mouth shut and give the impression *•1 that you’re stupid than open it and remove any doubt.' | I — Rami Belson It sirtiair ti siriss Students can’t hide from exams and hard classes, but they can avoid a nervous breakdown by Mackenzie Clements Staff Writer “Stress,” according to an anonymous proverb, “is when you wake up screaming and you realize you haven’t fallen asleep yet.” With Monday marking the midpoint in the semester, students are no strangers to stress. “I have four exams this week,” politi cal science senior Julie Martin said. “I’m going kind of nuts - it makes it more stressful because I have to pass all of my classes,” Martin said. Stress is simply the body’s response to demands made on it, according to the Indiana University Health Center. Although stress is sometimes natural and essential, too much negative stress can lead to headaches, insomnia, irritability and depression. In addition to academic, roommate, relationship, and money problems primary reasons for high stress among college students are lack of sleep, little exercise, and poor eating habits. The fact that many students are on their own and have to man age their lives by themselves contributes to stress levels. “It’s like you have to make sure you stay alive while going to school at the same time,” said Ullanda Moon, a journalism sophomore. “Reality sets in at college,” said media arts senior Kashunda Perry. Stress for her includes financial situations, such as “pro fessors who make us pay for books we don’t even use.” In addition, “You have to deal with people you’d rather not deal with because of housing situations, and that’s stressful,” Per ry said. Long-term stress can cause depression, fatigue or burnout. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle, including regular exercise, a healthy diet and at least seven hours of sleep a night, will help reduce stress. In addition, reducing caffeine, alcohol and drugs will help to reduce anxiety, nervousness and headaches. But for a quicker way to get rid of stress, try a massage, yo ga, meditation, or even daydreaming. Besides these traditional relaxation techniques, Cosmopolitan magazine offers the fol lowing quick calming rituals: * Light a scented candle - aromatherapy helps in relax ation. * Write your problems on a piece of paper, and then rip it up or burn it. * Take a warm bath or shower. * Chant—make up a sentence about your goal and say it over and over. * Stir your coffee/tea counterclockwise—this opposite-mo tion trick fools your brain into thinking things have already turned around. * A On campus, the Counseling and Human Development Center, at 900 Assembly St. in Room 212, offers stress counseling and several workshops that teach relaxation * and stress-management techniques. r ^ “When all else fails, sit quietly and breathe con- / sciously,” said Marc Harari, a psychology intern who I leads the center’s Drop-In Meditation Workshop. In a room filled with bean bag chairs, the group, which meets Wednesdays at 4 p.m., practices breathing and visualiza tion exercises. After meditation, “Your body knows what it needs,” Harari said, whether that be to sleep or to focus. For Harari, medita tion is comparable to exercise - it’s work to get the technique right, but the effects are refreshing and rejuvenating. The Center also offers a drop-in self-hypnosis workshop from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Wednesdays, and the Open Door Drop-In Cen ter at the Student Health Center offers stress management ser vices. For more information about the free drop-in workshops and services, call 777-5223. Internet gambling grows into billion-dollar industry by Tom Verdin Associated Press LOS ANGELES - The playing slot machines at the nearby Indian casino was always more about fun than money for Beverly Richard. Then, two years ago, the Cranston, R.I., resident got hooked. . Instead of driving 40 minutes to the Foxwoods Resort Casino in - Connecticut, the slots were just a click of the mouse away on her home computer. In December, she realized she had a serious problem: She was $13,000 in debt. “It was too convenient,” she said. “I don’t have to leave home. I don’t even have to get dressed. I don’t have the time to think about the fact that I’m going to throw my money away when all I have to do is walk into the other room and turn the computer on.” Now recovering from addiction and debts, Richard, 53, is just one of millions of people who have ventured onto gambling’s new frontier: Slots, roulette and blackjack over the Internet. The trend has caught the attention of those who worry about a new generation of addicts and gambling’s accessibility to mi nors. It also has caught the attention of legislators. Federal law prohibits the use of the Internet for sports bet ting. A bill that passed the Senate last year also would make it illegal to bet on casino-style games online. A companion bill is pending in the House and is the subject of a subcommittee hearing scheduled for March 9. But analysts say law enforcement agencies would have their hands full trying to implement a Prohibition-style ban. Like oth er Internet crimes, online gambling will be difficult to track, an alysts say. “You’re not talking about going out in the woods and find ing a moonshine operation,” said Fred Faust, managing editor of Rolling Good Times, a St. Louis-based online magazine covering Internet gambling. “Thousands and thousands of people have per sonal computers in their home. How are you going to know what they’re doing?” The number of online casinos has mushroomed from 15 in 1996 to more than 700 today, according to industry research. Revenue to the roughly 200 companies that operate those sites is estimated to reach $1.5 billion this year and $3 billion by 2002, said Sebastian Sinclair, an analyst who performs market research for the online gambling industry. By comparison, the nation’s 450 commercial casinos took in $20 billion in 1998, while 160 American Indian casinos had $7.2 billion, according to the American Gaming Association. Cybercasinos accessible to U.S. players are headquartered offshore, from the Caribbean to Europe to Australia. Such gam bling is legal in about 20 countries, said Anthony Cabot, a Las Vegas lawyer who has written extensively about the industry. Advocates say outlawing the industry won’t stop players, just make them criminals. “If you essentially criminalize something that ought to be ordinary commercial activity, you’re going to tilt the deck against consumers,” said Albert J. Angel, cofounder of the Interactive Gaming Council, a trade organization. . The 4 million Americans who are expected to gamble online this year account for about 50 percent of the industry’s revenues, analysts said. However, with the number of Asian and European bettors rising, some Internet casino operators said they aren’t overly concerned about a U.S. ban. “This whole Internet gaming is just exploding,” said Gian carlo Bettini, 49, chief executive officer of Global-Player.com, based in St. John’s, Antigua. “If you see where the Internet goes, where is the end?” Some advocates say Americans would do better regulating rather than banning online gambling. But that would require changing federal law, said Sen. Jon Kyi, an Arizona Republican and sponsor of the Senate version of the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act. Regulating the industry would be “very difficult, if not im possible,” he said. “The idea is not to legalize the activity but to ensure that we can enforce all the state laws to prohibit it,” he said. The ban would be enforced by identifying online casinos and requiring Internet service providers to pull those sites, theoret ically preventing access for gamblers. However, industry ob servers say casinos can have gamblers dial directly into their sys tems without going through a service provider. Fines starting at $20,000 and prison sentences for operators also are toothless because many of the companies are outside the United States, said U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott, the ranking member of the House Judiciary subcommittee. Gambling see page a9 Campus Notes Homecoming meeting to be held Homecoming 2000 will hold a brief in formational meeting at 6:30 p.m. March 13 in the Golden Spur. Any group interested in participating should send one representative. For more in formation, call Carolina Productions at 777-7130. Beta Alpha Psi offers income tax help Beta Alpha Psi will be offering volun teer income tax assistance from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesdays and from 3:30 5:30 on Wednesdays at the Russell House through April 13 at the Russell House. GAMMA speaker will address cost of DUI Gamecocks Advocating the Mature Management of Alcohol will meet at 4 p.m. today in RH Room 315 to hear lawyer Wes Kirkland’s speech, “The Cost of a DUI Conviction.” Camp Burnt Gin recruiting staff Camp Burnt Gin is recruiting coun selors for this summer. Sessions will be from May 30 to August 2, and there will be scheduled days off between ses sions. Counselor-to-camper ratio will be about 1:2. For more information, contact Marie Aimone at (803) 898 0455 or by e-mail at aimone@columb60.dhec.state.sc.us. RAD class to have weekend session There will be a Rape Aggression De fense class for females March 18-19. On March 18, the class will meet from 9:45 a.m. to 6 p.m. March 19, it will meet from 1-5 p.m. The USC Police Department, Marriott and the Housing Department sponsor the class. Tuition is $12.50. Call Henry Garbade at 777 0855 to register. Professors can be nominated for award The Amoco Award for Outstanding Teaching is given annually to an out standing teacher in undergraduate courses. Student nominations are es sential in the selection process. The committee urges the students to nomi nate their most effective undergraduate professor. Students should write a let ter with the name of the nominee and a short paragraph giving the reasons for the nomination. The letter should be addressed to professor Lori Thombs, chair of the Amoco Committee, De partment of Statistics, USC. The dead line is Friday. The winner will be an nounced at the spring general faculty meeting, will receive a check and cer tificate, and the winner’s name will be engraved on a plaque on the main floor of the Thomas Cooper Library. ■ CORRECTIONS The Gamecock strives to report the facts correctly and responsibly. If you come across any inaccuracies in our reportage, please let us know. 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