The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, September 18, 2000, Image 1
September 18, 2000
ALL EYES
ON GORDON
Hurricane Gordon made
landfall late Sunday
in norttiem Florida.
The storm’s remnants
might bring heavy rains
* today to the Midlands.
i
$6.3 million computer system gifted to USC
„ /
■ The gift will allow engineering and retailing
students to learn data warehousing technology
by Brandon Larrabee
The Gamecock
The same technology that lets Wal-Mart kno\
to put beer and diapers together late at night ha
come to USC.
The retailing giant is teaming up with NCI
Corp. to donate $6.3 million dollars worth of com
puter hardware and software to USC. The gift in
eludes a computer system with about 1.7 terabyte
of storage. One terabyte is equal to 1,000 giga
bytes, or 250 million pages of text.
■ “This thing has 80 Pentium processors and
s 400 disk drives,” said Michael Huhns, a professor
in USC’s department of computer science and en
* gineering.
The purpose of all this computing power?
“It can just store a whole lot of information,”
s Huhns said.
Including, Huhns said, everything everybody
buys, as well as any combination of things people
buy. That’s where the beer and diapers come in.
Wal-Mart found out that, late at night, people
were buying diapers and beer together. So when
they put the beer and diapers closer together on
their racks, they ended up selling more of each.
“It makes it more convenient for shoppers,
and for them [Wal-Mart], they sell more,” Huhns
said.
The “data-mining” programs Wal-Mart uses
with the massively parallel computer systems are
one of the reasons for the company’s success,
Huhns said.
They can also be used for e-commerce sites
like amazon.com and Barnes and Noble’s Web
site.
“They keep track of everything that people
click on and every page that they view,” Huhns
said.
This “clickstream data” allows Web businesses
to better arrange their Web sites.
Huhns said most Fortune 500 companies don’t
have technology like the NCR system, and that
will make USC students more valuable. It also
can’t be found at the universities of North Car
Gift see page 2
Mayor
kicks off
monthly
public
meetings
By Kristin von
Karowsky
The Gamecock
A new initiative by Columbia May
or Bob Coble in which the mayor will
meet monthly with citizens in order to
hear their concerns and ideas has kicked
oil this month.
Tagging the effort “Meet with the
Mayor,” Coble said the meetings are de
signed to give everyone a voice in re
gard to citywide issues.
- - “"'i'a!'of our citizens to liave the
chance to share their ideas with and dis
cuss issues dial affect them or their neigh
borhoods,” Coble said. “The focus of Uiese
* eungs is to make sure everyone knows
that their voice can be heard about their
concerns in the city of Columbia.”
Coble said the idea for the meetings
grew out of his concern that some peo
ple may not feel comfortable asking him
questions on his radio call-in show on
WVOC-FM, a Columbia talk station, since
it reaches such a big audience.
He added Uiat he hopes more citizens
will feel comfortable expressing them
selves in a more one-on-one atmosphere
with a smaller audience, and he said qual
ity is more important Uian quantity at Uiese
public gatherings.
AlienaUon and a general sense of feel
ing disconnected or cut off from one’s
community is high in this country, Coble
said. He hopes the meetings will help
^vart creeping alienation and foster a
Mayor seepages
GAMECOCKS WIN; GOALPOSTS STAY
Sean Rayford The Gamecock
Junior defensive back Willie Offord raises his helmet In celebration as his teammates gather In front of the stu
dent section after USC’s 41-6 victory over Eastern Michigan. At the request of Athletics Director Mike McGee,
fans stayed off the field after the game ended. STORY, PAGE 10.
Commission puts finishing touches on Homecoming preparations
Amy Goulding The Gamecock
KJm Yandow (left to right), Melissa Pettenglll
and Sarah Bayko, members of Chi Omega,
prepare for Friday's Cockfest celebration.
The event is a part of annual Homecoming
Week activities at USC.
by Krysta Heidman
The Gamecock
Planners are busy with last-minute
preparations for this year’s Cockfest
and Homecoming festivities, which
kick off Tuesday.
The theme for this year’s celebration
is “A Touch of Southern Charm.” Home
coming Commissioner Jo Smith said this
theme is reminiscent of all traditional cel
ebrations practiced at USC.
“Carolina has always added a South
ern touch to its festivities,” she said. “It
seemed natural to select this theme for
this year’s Homecoming.”
Activities will start on Tuesday with
Cocky’s Carnival, which will include mu
sic, free food and entertainment, and fire
works. WNOK-FM will broadcast live
from Cocky’s Carnival at USC’s Davis
Field from 4:30 to 7 p.m. The band Hip
bone will be playing afterward at the Kick
off celebration from 7 to 10 p.m. on the
Russell House Patio.
One new event this year, an idea in
spired and put together by Smith and oth
ers, is the “Mr. Legs” contest. This
competition includes a total of about nine
men who will take chaige of the stage in
front of the audience. The audience will
help choose the winner by their applause.
Judges will be discussing and announcing
the winners of the contest at the end of
the night.
Jamfest will begin Wednesday at 7
COCKFEST SEE PAGE 2
Homecoming
activities
Tuesday:
♦ 4:30 p.m.: Carnival, RH patio
• 7 pm.: Kickoff, RH paflo
Wednesday
• 7 p.m,: Jamfest, RH baBroom
Thursday
• 7 p.m.: Showcase, RH theater
Friday
* 3 p.m.: Parade
♦ 7 p.m., Cockfest.
Wiiliams-Brice Stadium
Governor
lauds state
SAT gains
■ Principals give credit to
school-sponsored preparation
programs, in-class practice
by Valerie
MATCHETTE
The Gamecock
South Carolina’s most recent SAT
scores have revealed an encouraging
trend of academic improvement through
out the state, Gov. Jim Hodges said.
Hodges, who made the issue of ed
ucation one of the focal points of his
1998 election platform, is pleased
with the 15-point gain in South Caroli
na's statewide test score average. He
praised the school system during a vis
it to T.L. Hanna High School in An
derson County, which saw a 35-point
increase in its SAT scores.
“South Carolina’s children are im
proving in a broad range of categories,
from school readiness to SAT scores,”
Hodges said. “We're going to build on
our success in education reform.”
SAT SEE PAGE 3
‘We’re going
to build on
our success
in education
reform.’
Gov. Jim
Hodges
‘Service 101’ class
could be in place
by next semester
by Brandon Larrabee
The Gamecock
Student Government President Jotaka Eaddy is optimistic about
the prospects for “Service 101”—a proposed service learning course
that is one of the four cornerstones of her “Contract With Carolina”
—after a meeting between SG officials and university administrators
Friday.
“We’re optimistic,” Eaddy said after the meeting, knocking on
the wooden wall of the Russell House’s Witten Room, where the
meeting took place.
Eaddy, SG Treasurer Ricky Shah, Community Affairs Director
Manasi Sinha and Co-Director of Research and Development Josli
Pruitt Mayfield met with David Berube, chairman of faculty senate’s
University Courses and Curricula Committee, Director of Student
Life Jerry Brewer and Director of Leadership and Service Programs
Cindy Benton.
Eaddy said the course, which would require students to attend a
class on service and also serve a set number of hours at a volunteer
site, would fit between two of the university’s existing courses:
University 101, a course for freshmen, and University 401, the “Se
Service 101 seepages
Weather Inside Quote of the Day Online Poll
Today
75
57
Tuesday
79
59
Students
rock on
at Fall
Out 2000
%
Page 7
"Life’s tragedy is that we
get old too soon, and wise
too late.”
Benjamin Franklin
Monday
• Blackwatch at
the Roger Center
Tuesday
• Bang the Can at
the Roger Center
• Homecoming Carnival,
RH patio
• Homecoming Kickoff,
RH patio v