Whitman news since 1896

Whitman Wire

Vol. CLIV, Issue 6
Whitman news since 1896

Whitman Wire

Whitman news since 1896

Whitman Wire

Illustration: Julie Peterson

Sex: Be careful what you wish for

February 9, 2012
Hoping for a 'boyfriend', 'cuddle-buddy' or otherwise is fine, but be wary of doing so with anybody who happens to be convenient.
Illustration: Julie Peterson

Climate change fear misplaced

Sam Chapman February 2, 2012
United States policies have historically been based on hindsight, and climate change will likely follow a similar trajectory. Will that be enough, however, if climate change's effects become irreversible?
Illustration: Binta Loos-Diallo

5 fun ways to keep gaming at Whitman ‘on the cheap’

Blair Hanley Frank January 26, 2012
For the casual Whittie gamer, these five titles will provide cheap entertainment, without sacrificing quality or your precious study time.
Illustration: MaryAnne Bowen

Modern shooters should focus on story

Blair Hanley Frank December 8, 2011
It's the holiday season, and that means there's a bumper crop of video games pouring out of development houses and vying for our screen time. Two of the biggest releases this year are "Battlefield 3" and "Modern Warfare 3," a pair of photorealistic First-Person Shooters that put you behind the eyes of soldiers. Each game has sold millions of copies, raking in even more millions of dollars for their developers and publishers. They're popular, sure, but the developers are taking the wrong lessons from their popularity. The problem isn't that "Battlefield 3" and "Modern Warfare 3" are successful, it's that the gaming industry sees them as successes.
Illustration: MaryAnne Bowen

War against censorship: Never surrender

Peter Chen December 1, 2011
I never had convenient access to Twitter, Facebook or Youtube for nearly two years before I came to Whitman College this fall. To access these websites, I had to use a special software called “FreeU," and even though I could open website pages, sending a comment and video would take forever because it takes a long time to climb over the Great Fire Wall (GFW).
Illustration by Bowen

Growing eSports requires accessibility

Blair Hanley Frank November 17, 2011
Sometimes, when I'm bored, I like to watch other people play video games. I'm not alone, either—an entire community has sprung up in support of "eSports," which is a fancy term for what most people would consider competitive video gaming. Interestingly, it's fairly popular: Video streams of popular tournaments will often bring in tens of thousands of viewers who are following their favorite teams and players. But as far as the popular consciousness goes, eSports isn't often discussed just because most people don't even know it exists. For those of us who enjoy it, we really want to see it flourish. There's a lot of talk about growing eSports and making eSports more popular, but it's often directed at a pre-existing community. If the eSports community is going to stand up and scream WE DEMAND TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY, we need to be willing to take outreach seriously.
Illustration: Jung Song

Festivals do not define who we are

Peter Chen November 10, 2011
Undoubtedly, lots of people celebrate festivals. Festivals not only present culture, but also cause economic boosts in modern society. Before I came to Whitman, I was told to book the airline tickets right after I got my visa because they would get expensive during Christmas; a few days before Valentine's Day, some of my male friends always start to buy roses and try to keep them fresh because roses cost ten times more on that day. However, what if they do not buy a bunch of roses for their girlfriends on that day? Does it mean they do not love them enough?
Illustration: Alex Bailey

RIP Steve Jobs: Technical rock star

Kyle Seasly November 3, 2011
When I think "rock star," I think of moments such as Paul Simonon smashing his bass on the cover of "London Calling," John Lennon's bed-in with Yoko Ono, or Bob Dylan's responding "play it [expletive] loud" to fans booing him for going electric. What unites these moments are the expressions of opposition to the status quo, as well as a belief that their actions could influence the world around them.
Illustration: Alex Bailey

Smartphone wars: ‘The Phantom Menace’ behind acquiring rare minerals

philipcheng October 27, 2011
Yet, what one sees is the end product of the electronics supply chain. Before any of the products are sold to us by minimum-wage-earning store clerks—and before the products are produced in factories—raw materials and rare earth metals are gathered from war-torn areas in Africa. Tin, gold, coltan, tungsten and other metals allow electronic companies to create their electronics. Tungsten helps our phones vibrate, tantalum allows our electronics to store electric charge without a battery. As an example of our dependence on these rare earth metals, Newsweek reported that 20 percent of the world's tantalum comes from Congo.
Illustration: Jung Song

Neutrinos might be breaking Einstein’s speed limit

Alfredo Villaseñor October 20, 2011
Last month the European Center for Particle Physics (CERN) and the Italian laboratory of high-energy physics in Gran Sasso detected particles moving faster than light, what has been taken to be an impossibility for over a hundred years since Einstein published his theories in 1905. The particles found breaking this cosmic speed limit were neutrinos, bits of neutral matter so small that they can pass through people and planets unhindered, and so abundant that the nuclear reactions in the sun shower our planet with billions of them every second.
Illustration: Kelly Douglas

Modern communication lacks heart but provides convenience

Elizabeth Cole October 13, 2011
I am involved in not one but nine long-distance relationships. When I left for college I had no intentions of claiming any of the sort, but I am now two months into the semester and find myself devoting nearly every second of my free time to scheduling Skype dates, engaging in Facebook discussions and making late-night phone calls on the picnic tables outside of Anderson in the increasingly frigid October air.
Illustration: Kelly Douglas

Political Cartoon

kellydouglas September 29, 2011
Load More Stories

Comments (0)

All Whitman Wire Picks Reader Picks Sort: Newest