The Man wants you to stick this survey to The Man

Rommel Guadalupe, the Assistant Dean of Institutional Research, is interested in researching patterns of drug and alcohol use at Wesleyan. If you are interested in letting THE MAN know how often and in what quantity you get fucked up (or not), and how much it is messing up your college life (or not), here is this anonymous survey for you:

Your responses will be both anonymous and confidential. There is no way of identifying individual students, so please be open and honest with your responses. To access the survey, click on the following link and follow the login instructions listed below:

https://www.coresurvey.com/login.asp

Once you enter the survey, follow the prompts to enter the 5-digit login code. The login code is 16937.

After you login, your password will be randomly assigned and displayed. Write this password down because you will need it if you want to complete the survey at a later time rather than in one sitting.

If you have any questions, please feel to email me at rguadalupe@wesleyan.edu. Thanks in advance for your help. If you would like information about alcohol and other drugs prevention, visit the dean's office website: http://www.wesleyan.edu/deans/aod/index.html

Crazy Trade Secrets Coming to a Mall Near You

U.S. News & World Report fills us in into some sneaky tactics used by stores to get you to buy shit you don't need. Be on the lookout for these creepy tactics:

• Rapid Inventory Rotation: At Zara, the Spanish-owned clothing store, the turquoise and beige tunic on sale one day will be replaced by a yellow ruffled sundress the next. If you want the tunic, you have to buy it now, instead of waiting for a sale. According to the company, stores' entire contents are turned over every three to four weeks, and new clothes arrive twice a week.
  
  "They're training their customers to buy an item if they see something they like, because next week it might not be there," says Robert Swinney, a doctoral student at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. "That way you get people to buy at full price." Swinney's research, based on mathematical modeling, suggests that profits can be boosted by an average of 67 percent with such a strategy.
  
  Kit Yarrow, professor of consumer psychology at Golden Gate University, says that the quick-rotation strategy has the same disorienting effect as midnight madness sales and one-day specials. "They're training [consumers] to purchase even though they may not be ready," she says. "If people are buying for fear or anxiety that it won't be available, then they're less likely to make good purchasing decisions."
  
  H&M, which also relies on the rapid-turnover strategy, says it is just satisfying customers' desire to stay on top of fast-changing fashion trends. Plus, adds company spokeswoman Lisa Sandberg, "prices are affordable, so it's OK" to buy something if you like it.

• Aromatherapy: Companies including Sony and Westin Hotels & Resorts employ a range of smells to spur spending. Sony Style stores, which sell the company's consumer electronics, puff a sweetish scent with citrus bases and vanilla overtones into the air. "They wanted to appeal to a female buyer more intimidated by electronic items," says Van Epps of ScentAir, which helped Sony develop its secret formula.

• Muzak: Muzak, which develops companies' soundtracks, explains that the restaurant chain Red Lobster's use of breezy pop songs, such as "How Sweet It Is (to Be Loved By You)" by Marvin Gaye, "embraces customers and makes them feel cared for and loved."

None of these tactics are all that surprising, but I can't believe that there's a company literally called Muzak. Marvin Gaye, look how far we've fallen! They're exploiting your catchy tunes to sell beer-battered fish fillets!! Oh the humanity! The humanity!

Confirmed: Galliano shameless and unoriginal

First, watch Madonna's original American Life video from 2003, below. For the purposes of this post, pay attention to the fashion show. The show and those clothes are cleary exaggerated, done by someone whose main objective is satire. It's obviously trying to reveal the irony of high society, consumerism, and imperialism, etc... right?



4 years later,
...John Galliano's spring 2008 men's collection:
He's no Madonna. Check out #13. He's actually doing for real what Madonna did for satire, and very late.

Judge Layeth the Smackdown to the RIAA

You know those mass emails the RIAA resorted to earlier this year notifying college administrators of resident pirates and telling them to turn over their student data? Turns out that's not so ok according to a US District Court in New Mexico:

It's the RIAA's tactic of choice: file John Doe lawsuits, file ex parte applications for discovery, serve the resulting subpoenas on the alleged file-sharer's ISP to discover the identity of the person to whom the IP address was assigned, and then offer the person fingered by the ISP a chance to settle the copyright infringement claims without a lawsuit. The problem with the approach is that it allows the RIAA to do an end-run around the legal process, as the would-be defendant never gets an opportunity to answer during the John Doe lawsuits and fight the RIAA's subpoenas.

The RIAA has argued that it would suffer irreparable harm unless immediate discovery was allowed, but Judge Garcia didn't find that argument convincing. "While the Court does not dispute that infringement of a copyright results in harm, it requires a Coleridgian 'suspension of disbelief' to accept that the harm is irreparable, especially when monetary damages can cure any alleged violation," wrote the judge. "On the other hand, the harm related to disclosure of confidential information in a student or faculty member’s Internet files can be equally harmful."

Judge Garcia also notes that there is "no reasonable way" to ensure that prospective defendants are made aware of the lawsuits and requests for disclosure—which is exactly how the RIAA wants it. He wants to ensure that the John Does are notified and "are given a reasonable opportunity to intervene in order to stop the disclosure of sensitive information."

Accordingly, the judge has ordered the record labels and the University of New Mexico to work out an "appropriate process" to ensure that individual Does will be informed that a subpoena has been issued. More importantly, those targeted will be able to respond to such requests to protect their own interests. The order directs the RIAA to contact the University's counsel, inform them that it is seeking discovery and try to agree on a "fair and reasonable process that would allow Plaintiffs to identify limited information about the subscribers." If they cannot agree, the court will intervene further. Interestingly enough, PACER shows that in the nearly four weeks since the denial of the RIAA's order, there has been no further action in the lawsuit. An RIAA spokesperson told Ars Technica that "The court in this decision asked for a specific process, which we will accommodate. But in general, this is something—that is, giving notice—we definitely encourage all ISPs to do."

This is a significant blow to the RIAA. If other courts decide to follow Judge Garcia's lead, the litigation process will become a lot more expensive and time-consuming for the RIAA, as the John Doe lawsuits would no longer be simple open-and-shut cases. Those suspected of file-sharing would be able to ensure that their interests are taken into consideration from the beginning of the legal process instead of only learning that they were the target of a lawsuit once they receive a settlement letter.

Google's Latest Attempt to Take Over World

So Google is promoting solar panel energy and in the last 24 hours, produced over 9,906 kilowatt-hours from solar panels installed at one of its California campuses:

In the last 24 hours, Google produced 9,906 kilowatt-hours of electricity from the sun.

In October 2006, Google announced a commitment to solar energy production and launched the largest solar panel installation to date on a corporate campus in the United States. Google has installed over 90% of the 9,212 solar panels that comprise the 1,600 kilowatt project. Panels cover the rooftops of eight buildings and two newly constructed solar carports at the Googleplex (check out this fly-over video).

This installation is projected to produce enough electricity for approximately 1,000 California homes or 30% of Google's peak electricity demand in our solar powered buildings at our Mountain View, CA headquarters.

We built this page to monitor and share the day to day production of clean, renewable energy from our very own rooftops. Keep checking in to see how we're doing. We think the future looks bright!

Very cool. I am very much a fan of creating green-collar jobs, so I'm a big advocate of companies of all sorts moving in this direction. Thumbs up!

Don't want to be homeless next fall? *

Okay, so I know room selection seems like it's AGES from now, but I figured I'd give a short update on some of the changes for the upcoming year. I think these were briefly discussed in the Argus last semester...I apologize if this is boring or redundant.

In the past, every class year (aside from new students) has been given the opportunity to form groups of 1-6 people to enter into the housing lottery. This year, things are different...

• Class of '08 (rising seniors): May create housing groups of 1-6 people.
• Class of '09 (rising juniors): May create groups of 1-4 people.
  
• Class of '10 (rising sophomores): May create groups of 1-2 people.
  

This may seem strange at first glance, but the Undergraduate Residential Life Committee (URLC) came to this decision after analyzing the availability of class-appropriate housing for each class year. In reality, there is no housing unit that is made specifically for 6 sophomores. Therefore, it creates the unrealistic expectation that 6 people will definitely be living together. The hopes are that this will eliminate the great amount of frustration associated with the housing lottery.

The consequences are that all you '10ers need to find one really good friend...OR YOU'RE ON YOUR OWN. GASP!

* This post will be of no aid to the class of '07 in avoiding homelessness. Especially if you're an art or philosophy major. Sorry.

Re: Getting Grades

Confused about the logistics of getting grades? Heather Alderfer from the Registrar's office has the nitty gritty:

Just thought you might want to know I put the credit analysis report back in the student portfolio, but it still won’t be updated until just before classes start. The 48 hour delay is a vestige from when our office manually entered grades, and the 48 hours gave us and the professor time to catch any errors. We are, thanks to student feedback, revaluating this policy, and it will possibly change next semester. Faculty don’t always submit the grades in a timely manner, often not until after the new year.

Nicest (or at least most accessible) registrar ever?