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I Online, “Wherever there is a CD for a ' Does the capture of Saddam ridiculously low price is where Hussein change the way you I’ll head. ” feel about the Iraq war? i JOE MAXIM www.dailygamecock.com. use graduate student, about the closing Results published on Fridays. «*SSS2SS5SJIKMj*al- * _ 7 / In.our.opinion Music stores a dying breed The impending closing of Manifest Discs & Tapes signals tin end of an era for Columbia’s — and the " Southeasl’s — music scene. Manifest provided a haven forunsigned regional acts through their CD consignment services and years of in-store CD release events. Also, the store’s used CD selection helped many impoverished USC students pad their music collections without breaking the bank over the 19 yea~s of its existence. More recently, Manifest has been one of the title sponsors of Columbia’s Colossal Music Crawl, which featured local bands. However, the store’s The siccess Of eventual demise is not legal online surprising, considering the downloading overall downward trend in CD sennas shows sales throughout the nation. ^ that Onsumers While popular, but illegal, are eager for music downloading services paid dmnloads. are usuai]y faulted for causing the slide in retail sales, the structure of the industry itself is also to blame. The music industry’s slowness in responding to changes :n technology and failure to admit that consumers warned new ways to access music foreshadowed tie close of many outlets like Manifest The success of legal downloading services like RealNetwork’s Rhapsody, Apple Computer’s iTunes Music Sore, and even Wal-Mart’s forthcoming misic site, shows that consumers are eager for paid d>wnloads. These services provide music at compeitive prices, but their selections are ^ limited and sone people will always prefer the P comfort of a CDand its accompanying insert. It is far too emly to proclaim the death of traditional music retailers, but the industry is definitely chaining in ways that may be bad for all but niche seller. Columbia has suffered through the loss of several jnportant live music venues over the past five yearsnnd there are many genres of music that do not hav a place to call home here in town. What remains o be seen is how Manifest’s loss will impact local bsids and venues, which now have one less friend. I I GamecockCorrections If you see an eror in today’s paper, we want to know. E-mail us at gamecockopinins@gwm.sc.edu. * About.The.G;mecock Editor in Chief Adam Beam Copy Desk Chief Gabrielle Sinclair Design Director ^F Shawn Rourk News Editor Michael LaForgia Asst. News Editor Alexis Stratton Viewpoints Editor Patrick Augustine The Mix Editor Meg Moore Sports Editor Wes Wolfe Asst. Sports Editor Jonathan Hillyard Photo Editor Morgan Ford Asst. Photo Editor Johnny Haynes Page Designers Erin Cline, Staci Jordfl, Brian Ray, Brad SenkV. A Mary Waters Copy Editors Allyson Bird, Jennifer Freeman, Jessica Fos^r, Steven Van Haren Wire Editor Z’anne Covell Online Editor James Tolbert Public Affairs Kimberly Dressier Senior Writer Kevin Fellner CONTACT INFORMATION Offices on third floor of the Russell House. Editor in Chief: gamecockeditor@gwm.sc.edu News: gamecocknews@gwm.sc.edu Viewpoints: gamecockopinions@gwm.sc.edu The Mix: gamecockfeatures@gwm.sc.edu Sports: gamecocksports@.gwm.sc.edu Public Affairs: gckpublicaffairs@hotmail.com Online: www.dailygamecock.com Newsroom: 777-7726 Editor’s Office: 777-3914 STUDENT MEDIA Director Scott Lindenberg Faculty Adviser Erik Collins Creative Director Susan King Business Manager Carolyn Griffin Advertising Manager Sarah Scarborough Classified Manager Sherry F. Holmes Production Manager Amber Justice Creative Services Whitney Bridges. Robbie Burkett, Trenholm Ninestein Advertising Staff Adam Bourgoin, Latoya Hines, Jesica Johnson, Caroline Love, Ben Sinclair The Gamecock is the editorially independent student newspaper of the University of South Carolina. It is published Monday, Wednesday and Friday during the fall and spring semesters and nine times during the summer, with the exception of university holidays and exam periods. Opinions expressed in The , Gamecock are those of the editors or author and not those of the University of South Carolina. The Board of Student Publications and Communications is the publisher of The Gamecock. The Department of Student Media is the newspaper's parent organization. The Gamecock is supported in part by student-activity fees. One free copy per reader. Additional copies may be purchased for $1 each from the Department of Student Media. TO PLACE AN AD The Gamecock 1400 Greene St. Columbia, S.C. 29208 > ( Advertising: 777-3888 Classified: 777-1184 Fax: 777-6482 I CARTOON COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS New Year’s tips for the gym Alas, another vacation has come to pass, and we find our selves once again amidst the en virons of the world of academia. To many, it is a much-wel comed homecoming; an opportu nity to once again elude the totalitari an grasp of the parental units. To others, it marks the end of the festivi ties of the holi day season, and the begin- CURTIS CHOW ningofanoth- Third.ymr er semester of political debt, panic science and caffeine student. addiction. In either case, we are here, each with our respective hopes and premonitions of the semester that awaits us. Admittedly, the first day of classes has not been at the top of my agenda of favorite things. To be honest, it actually falls rather low on the list — somewhere be tween Richard Simmons and the Spice Girls. Astoundingly enough, however, it is not all due to my anticipated workload, but rather to an even greater antici pated evil: the annual New Year’s resolution gym invasion. Every year around this time, the gym is filled beyond capaci ty by those seeking to fulfill their ephemeral resolutions to be as beautiful on the outside as they are on the inside (evidently, a person’s insides are a beautiful thing). While serving a very no ble cause, these Fitness Aspiring Tubby Students (FATS) often serve little purpose than to ag gravate the regular gym-goer for the first three weeks or so of school (or however long they last before they find another more ex igent cause, i.e. reality TV). If you are a FATS, you can save the real gym-goer some un due frustration, and yourself, some disappointment by not go ing to the gym. For those of you who are going to show up any way, I’ve compiled a list of tips and tricks for your workouts: Avoid “fatting around the weights.” Going to the gym doesn’t do you any good. The physical benefits of going to the gym are actually derived from the proper use of the equipment therein. You should therefore avoid sitting around for exces sive rests while occupying equip ment. Go ahead and crank out some reps. It’s good for you. Princess, I understand that changing weights can be an ar duous task, but asking a 250 lbs. man for assistance after he has just cranked out a mean set of squats is simply not a good idea. Girls - Wear clothes. The cute guys you’re probably trying to im press are trying to concentrate on their weight and form — not yours. Guys — Wear a shirt. It’s bad gym etiquette to walk around without a shirt. No one wants to see your little bird chest anyway. On that note, working out your chest four days a week is not pro ductive. You’re just occupying equipment. This is almost as bad as “fatting around the weights.” Do not give advice unless someone asks you for it. This can be especially embarrassing if you (the FATS) make a stupid sug gestion to a seasoned lifter. If you heed this advice and ac tually make it past the first month of school, maintaining a consis tent workout schedule, then con gratulations! You are now well on your way to no longer being a FATS, but a real gym-goer. In.your.opinion Professors, use VIP to post course info Thank you for your article in the October 17,2003 edition of The Gamecock drawing at tention to the issue of online course syllabuses. The Office of the University Registrar heard Student Government’s desire to have more course informa tion available over five years ago. For five years now, course syllabuses and other course section information has been available to students on the Master Schedule of Courses (http://registrar.sc.edu/html/ Course_Listings/). To see how well this can work, click on “more info” on selected Physics (PHYS) or Political Science (POLI) listings in the Spring 2004 Master Schedule. The Registrar’s Office has, each semester, encouraged in structors to use this function by posting a URL (Internet ad dress) using their VIP class roll. Unfortunately, relatively few instructors take advantage of the option and perform the simple transaction required. Students should encourage in structors to use VIP to post the public and private (available only to enrollees) URLs for the courses they are teaching next semester and maybe we’ll see more “more information” in the future. BARBARA BLANEY I'XIVERSITV REGISTRAR. iiurnMH m St. Paul had a chip on his shoulder This letter is to Jeff Mobley (“Pragmatism alone shouldn’t guide law,” Dec. 5,2003) and all the Christians in America who | oppose homosexual unions. Please try to understand that ho mosexuals in America are try ing to retain the same civil rights extended to heterosexual couples, such as insurance and banking privileges. using me wuius ui oi. Paul in the book of Romans to base your anti-homosexual, pseudo-Christian morality is a dangerous foothold. Paul was a man who was a channel for many important religious ide als, but he was a man who was governed by his emotions of dis like. From the start of his career, Paul showed he had a strong dis like for the early Christians who opposed the traditional Jewish and Roman society which St. Paul sided with. In an instant, Paul became a tool for the Christian move ment, turning his emotions against the Roman regime into a weapon for the ministry of Christ. Now, Paul’s spiteful at titude toward the Romans came out in many of his critiques, mostly on women, marriage and homosexuality. To Paul, homosexuality, like all other forms of Roman hedo nism, was a Romanization of the early Christians, something Paul’s hatred of the Romans would not allow. The next time you base a moral doctrine on Biblical scripture, try basing it off someone who didn’t have a chip on his shoulder. Paul’s slamming homo sexuality is not valid since it is a religious justification of a man’s personal vendetta. PETER COPTER , COLUMBIA The Gamecock’s e-mail addresses have changed: L Editor: gamecockeditor@gwm.sc.edu News: gamecocknews@gwm.sc.edu Viewpoints: gamecockopinions@gwm.sc.edu The Mix: gamecockfeatures@gwm.sc.edu Sports: gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu Submission Policy Letters to the editor should be less than 300 words and include name, phone number, professional title or year and major, if a student. E-mail letters to gamecockopinions@gwm.sc.edu. Letters will be edited for space, possible libel and style. Anonymous letters will not be published. Call the newsroom at 777 7726 for more information. Column writing 101: what not to do Well well well, another winter break is over and here we all are, back again for an exciting spring semester at USC. This is my first time writing a column for the “Viewpoints” section, so I hope nya’ll will all bear with me to day. Not only do I have no clue how to write a column, I also started writing less than an hour before this GRAHAM Piece was due. CULBERTSON If it sucks, Third-year . just read some English thing else. It’s student. not like USA Today isn’t free. (Note to Editor: If this column turns out to not suck, please remove the previous sentence.) (Also, please remove previous parenthetical note to editor.) Ha ha, only kidding. No Gamecock writer would ever be so unprofessional. And to show you just how much I respect the colum . nists who’ve come before me, I’m going to do a quick rundown of their favorite types of columns. (Note to Reader: This will only be interesting if you have, in fact, actually subjected your selves to Gamecock columnists. Remember, The New York Times is also free). Feminist Rant: This type of col umn can show up at any time of the year, but when the Vagina Monologues is at USC, sometimes they even infiltrate the sports page. Basically, the (usually) fe male writer just wants to let you know how great abortion, the pill, the morning after pill, partial birth abortion, having a vagina, and les-. bian sex are. These columns are only read in their entirety by girls, but lots of guys read a few sen tences when they spot the term “lesbian sex.” Ivory Tower Monologue: Although readership for the fem inist rants is sparse, no one has read an ivory tower monologue in its entirety in the history of stu dent newspapers. In these columns, a well-intentioned but out of touch political science stu dent talks about how fascinating textile mills are, or Supreme Court appointments, or any other sub ject which is guaranteed to put ev eryone besides Andrew Sorensen to sleep. If you’re an insomniac, I recommend reading one of these as a sleeping aid, but don’t get dis tracted by the words “lesbian sex” in the next column over. runucai nant: nere is a sample intro: “As a radical conserva tive/liberal/Naderite/Tibetan Nationalist, I want everyone to know how stupid liberals/conser vatives/Libertarians/Mao Zedong are. I hate them all. Find out why you should hate them too in the next 500 words of groundless po litical froth in which logic and facts will not be consulted!” Green Space Rant: Although this is supposed to be a subcatego ry of the “Complain about University Policy” column, no one has had time lately to complain about anything else. So many trees have been planted, so many fields have been sodded, and so many parking spaces have been lost that administrative idiocies ranging from Value-Centered Management to four straight semesters of tu ition increases have been ignored. Everyone even loosely affiliat ed with USC reads and agrees with these columns, except for Andrew Sorensen. Dr. Sorensen, who has two reserved spots outside the President’s House and a recently expanded garden, would much rather read about textile mills. College.Quote.Board MICHIGAN DAILY TlfEB^pRSITV OF MICHIGAN “According to the White House, the purpose of the 2005 Bush budget is to rein in domestic spending programs to ‘‘trim the pro grams without damaging any essential services.” Bush’s plan, how ever, causes serious harm to many crucial programs. Under the White House proposal, many veterans will see their healthcare costs increase, as prescription premiums are expected to double.” <9 't OREGON DAILY EMERALD THE I NIVKIiSlTV OK OREUON “Americans learned Dec. 23 that mad cow disease had been found in Washington state, and the nearly hysterical response to the sin gle incidence of the disease here is already damaging. Caution is prudent, but given that there’s a very small chance contaminated material actually made it to the dinner plate, avoiding beef now if you didn’t before is probably unduly paranoid and only compounds the nation’s meat woes. ” # ' * ***»■■■ v®