Keeping up with technology

Almost a year ago, it was definitively demonstrated that the Diebold Company’s electronic voting machines could be hacked. These were the same machines that were used in the 2000, 2002 and 2004 elections.

The 2006 elections are fast approaching, and, though states like Florida have replaced the Diebold machines for another company’s, it is much harder to replace voter confidence.

Even the possibility of a rigged election is devastating to a democracy. If people know that tampering is a possibility, what incentive do they have to participate?

For an issue as important as voting, we need to have complete confidence in our system. And it is not just politics. More and more of our lives are becoming plugged-in, and, though it may make us sound like old fogies, we simply aren’t sure that the technological systems are securely and adequately developed.

Take a different example: the new “no contact” credit cards. They work by transmitting the information by radio waves a short distance when the credit card is near. The New York Times reported a demonstration last week where scientists built a simple portable device that can decode the cards. This means that in the near future someone might steal your credit card information without even seeing your card. That does not exactly instill confidence.

Who asked for this system? No one, it seems, but Mastercard has been clear in saying that they rolled it out in hopes that it would be easier for people to spend more money more frequently. It could become convenient, but currently it’s an electronic system that has no reason to gain our confidence.

Hitting closer to home, the MyXU portal is another system that many depend on. Though it often works, sometimes it doesn’t, and we are worried to see too many eggs go into any one basket. Next semester’s registration is coming up, and, if there is ever a time when there are sure to be portal problems, it’s during class registration.

Why are we putting so much important information into system like the portal and Blackboard when we know they are not going to work all the time? The same reason we accept electronic voting or “Paypass” credit cards when they don’t work all the time: it’s convenient.

It’s great when those websites work. We can get class documents in an instant and find out if there are any assignments. But if that system goes down, we could really be stuck. As responsible students, we check for assignments days in advance so that if the site does go down we can hopefully get it the next day. It works out, but responsibility is one thing, and planning for system error is another.
We simply want to have confidence in the systems that run this plugged-in life of ours.

Technology is great, but why all the rush to adopt the newest thing? New technology is not going anywhere, so let it develop a while. Sometimes the old way works just fine. When we do decide to integrate new technology into our lives, let’s at least make sure it’s reliable.

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A Piece of Opinion: Is anybody out there?

Matt Finger
Op-Ed Editor

All these things have something in common: AIDS, world peace, today’s youth, Xavier’s athletic programs, Cincinnati’s transportation issues, Norwood, Evanston, North Avondale, off-campus housing, on campus-housing, parking, the new shuttle system, why Victory Parkway was torn apart, why there are back-hoes on the greenspace, funny pictures and the cats that wander around campus.

Can you guess what it is? I’ll help you out: these are all things that no one cares about. Well, that might be an exaggeration, but they are all things that people don’t care enough about to voice an opinion.

Why am I saying this? It could be because I don’t hear a lot of people talking about the campus cats, or it could be because no one has bothered to voice their opinion. It seems that the only thing that spurs Xavier students to action is the potential to rebut. You might be saying to yourself, ‘Has Finger gone mad? Of course we care about these things, with maybe the exception of the cats.’

Maybe I have gone crazy, but if I have, its because the only editorials I ever receive (with a small number of exceptions) are people trying to refute what I’ve written. Granted, I am not always right. I make mistakes just like everyone else, and I appreciate the feedback. But that doesn’t mean that the only time students can write to the Newswire is when I slip up. All you have to do is email me or post a comment online.

It can be about anything you care about, don’t care about or are curious about. Editorials do not have to be negatively charged attacks on other editorials. Maybe you have an idea about how to make midterms and finals less stressful for students.

Perhaps you read something online that really caught your attention or concerned you. This is your forum; all you have to do is utilize it. If you like refuting me, then I applaud your attention to detail and my lack of, but my opinion is not the only thing out there.

I know you’re all out there pondering life, so why not write it down and let the world know what you think? If you don’t write about it, who will? You can’t just wait for other people to make a move. Initiative is not a sin.

This is me challenging you, since that seems to be all anyone responds to. I dare you, and, if need be double-dog-dare you, to start writing to me. I guarantee everyone out there can write 300 words on something they feel strongly about.

Don’t like Ryan’s Pub’s buffalo chicken wrap? Well, you’re the only one, but I still want to hear why. In love with Michigan but living in Ohio? Tell us what that’s like, because it’s got to be interesting.

Topics of editorials don’t have to be big huge problems facing the world today like global warming and nuclear wars. Most people would rather hear about stuff going on locally. That’s you, you’re local.

So give them something to read. They’re probably tired of reading about how that Finger kid feels about everything. Don’t make me beg, Xavier, because I won’t. I know you care about things, and you know you care about things; let us know what you care about.

There are tons of students out there with issues on their minds: I’ve seen them. They exist. Where are they? Is it you? I’m waiting.

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The most overlooked (and useful) things at Xavier

As selected by the Newswire staff

1. Computer labs - Here at Xavier, we enjoy a plethora of computer labs. They’re located in all the right spots, including Alter Hall, the Gallagher Student Center and the Williams College of Business. Convenient.

2. Free newspapers - We get free newspapers! The New York Times, the Cincinnati Enquirer and USA Today (not to mention the Newswire) are all at your fingertips for the low low price of nothing.

3. The Gallagher Student Center - This place is stacked. For one, the Gallagher Center is open 24 hours a day, which means there is always some place to go to avoid your roommate. Plus there are pool tables, video games, comfy chairs and of course the friendly people from SAC.

4. The shuttle - Despite a lack of speed and grace, the shuttle system here at Xavier provides students with a safe way to get around Xavier and the surrounding neighborhoods. Which is good, because they’re scary sometimes.

5. Advisors - Whether or not you choose to actually utilize your advisor is your decision. But those of us who do can (for the most part) vouch for how useful they can be in plotting out your life, one course at a time.

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In response to the editor

In response to Mr. Finger’s article “Land of the Brave,” I would like to refute the claim that any American citizen “hates the troops.” As Mr. Finger eloquently pointed out, the troops in question are none other than our “friends and classmates,” and I submit that if we accept this to be the case on most college campuses, there are few students who would hate their ROTC compatriots, unless by virtue of their personality.

Having established this lack of peer hatred as a pre-condition, how much more egregious is the claim that a respected non-violent activist and priest in the person of Reverend John Dear would harbor hatred for these ROTC students?
Is not the message of non-violence, which Reverend Dear promotes in essays such as “[A],” in fact antithetical to any form of hatred, especially when directed toward violent opponents?

I find fault and something of an insult in Mr. Finger’s belittlement of Reverend Dear in the claim that “[Reverend Dear] doesn’t know what is going on.” First, this proves to be a salient error in Mr. Finger’s logical argument, as he established in the preceding sentence when he quoted the Reverend’s credentials as an educated person.

Secondly, unless Mr. Finger has on his résumé some overseas military service that he hasn’t shared with us, he condemns those who supposedly do not know from a dangerously untenable logical position.

Moreover, his shock that a Jesuit priest wishes to see Xavier as a Jesuit institution pursuing “a mission of peace” seems to be woefully misplaced. I cannot summon to my mind any sustainable argument that a military tradition is in any way in keeping with the Jesuit mission. If Xavier’s ROTC does have a problem with the social conscience of their community, there is certainly a myriad of other options at other schools, not to mention the army proper.

Lastly, and on a more personal note, I would like to communicate my umbrage at Mr. Finger’s snide remarks about Xavier’s Shantytown program. Whether or not he agrees with the mission and message of Shantytown, to insult the spirit and commitment, not to mention intelligence, of those involved, especially in light of the fact that he provides not a word of evidence to reinforce his opinion, is outrageous.

For your information, Mr. Finger, excluding Thursday and Friday, our shanty was occupied throughout the week, and abandoned only after it collapsed due to the added weight of rainwater.

To propose that those who would voluntarily spend a week (and $25) to contemplate a serious societal issue and raise it as a point of interest before their peers spend “not enough time thinking” is unfair and insulting.

I would counter by asking how much time was spent in thinking of the image of “little saints with guns.” Just which saints carried guns?

In conclusion, I urge the reader not to confuse personal hatred and non-violent protest or animosity with a political and societal statement.

And unless Korea truly does explode soon, or the “bad guys” appear “on the other side of the street,” I recommend that we all exercise that dissent which Thomas Jefferson lauded as the highest form of patriotism long before we turn to the hollow promise of the gun.

-Michael P. Jonagan
Class of ‘10

Published since 1915 by the students of Xavier University

Keeping up with technology

A Piece of Opinion: Is anybody out there?

The most overlooked (and useful) things at Xavier

In response to the editor