A Sampling of Clips for 
August 28 - 30, 2004

* UCSD faculty and staff may obtain a copy of an article by e-mailing the University Communications Office

A PC That Packs Real Power, and All Just for Me
New York Times, Aug. 30- Orion Multisystems, a start-up company based in Santa Clara, Calif., will announce a new desktop workstation today for computer for engineers and scientists who want more computing power. The company is hoping that the new workstation will be able to deliver about 10 times the performance of a desktop personal computer. (Quote by Larry Smarr, director of the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology at the University of California, San Diego.)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/30/technology/30work.html

Similar article appeared in:
International Herald Tribune, Aug. 30
http://www.iht.com/bin/print.php?file=536444.html

Security Lapses, Lost Equipment Expose Students to Possible ID Theft
Los Angeles Times, Aug. 29-A missing hard drive containing personal information on 23,500 students, faculty and staff in the California State University system is only the latest example of how campus computers can expose individuals to identity theft. (Refers to past security breach at UC San Diego.) (Quote by Dolores Davies, Director of Strategic Communications at UC San Diego.)
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-calpoly29aug29,1,720959.story

Bush is Touting His Minority Appointments, But at Levels Below the Cabinet
Newsday, Aug. 30-At the national UNITY convention of minority journalists early this month, President George W. Bush repeatedly embraced diversity and proclaimed, "If you look at my administration, it's diverse, and I'm proud of that." To illustrate his point, Bush painted a picture of being flanked in his office by Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell as he dealt with terrorism and the war in Iraq, an image even Democrats concede is impressive and powerful. But the Bush administration is not nearly as diverse as it appears in that picture, particularly when it comes to blacks and women, according to a Newsday analysis of personnel records. (Quote by John D. Skrentny, a professor of sociology at the University of California, San Diego.)
http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/ny-usdive303947728aug30,0,5664851.story?coll=ny-uspolitics-headlines

Plea Issued to End Youth Violence
San Diego Union-Tribune, Aug. 28-The white coats and the blue coats have had enough. San Diego's medical community and police said yesterday they are joining forces in a campaign to prevent the gun violence that has involved young people. Six deaths and 12 injuries have been reported countywide in the past two weeks alone. (Quote by Raul Coimbra M.D., associate professor of surgery at UCSD Medical Center.)
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20040828-9999-7m28violent.html

Collegians Get Bit of a Break on Textbooks
San Diego Union-Tribune, Aug. 29-University students throughout the San Diego region will return to class this week and face the dreaded task of buying textbooks. The good news is that savvy shoppers have never had so many options for doing so. Publishers have come under attack recently, for issuing unnecessary new editions that offer few changes and make older, less-expensive editions obsolete. Many of the most recent accusations were lobbed in a report put out in January by the California Public Interest Research Group. The study, titled "Ripoff 101," surveyed hundreds of University of California students who estimated paying nearly $900 for textbooks last year. That number has risen 40 percent in the past seven years, the report says. (Quote by Kristopher Lederer, a student at the University of California, San Diego.)
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/education/20040829-9999-1n29textbook.html

Colleges Hope Online Music Access Keeps Kids Honest
San Diego Union-Tribune, Aug. 30-Last week, UC Berkeley and RealNetworks announced an agreement that gives Berkeley students discounted membership to RealNetworks' Rhapsody online music service. The first effort like this began last fall, when Napster launched a discount program at Pennsylvania State University. Since then, at least 20 universities around the country have signed agreements with online music providers. Administrators at other University of California campuses, including UC San Diego, will be taking notes to see if Berkeley students take advantage of the program and whether it's something that should be expanded.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/computing/choney/20040830-9999-mz1b30choney.html

'Where Have All the Swing Votes Gone?'
San Diego Union-Tribune, Aug. 29-Tomorrow the Republican National Convention convention begins, and in the next 60 days we the people will decide who we want as our president. Since everyone knows the convention will renominate George W. Bush, the real story to watch will be the way the GOP uses the convention to attract swing votes. (Article written by James Ingram, a UC San Diego doctoral candidate.)
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20040829/news_mz1e29ingram.html

Today's Colleges are Full of Video-Game Thinkers
Copley News Service, Aug. 30-In the halls of Congress, on newspaper opinion pages, in the fevered nightmares of worried parents, the debate continues: Are video games good or bad? On college campuses, though, the talk has moved on. There, the games are increasingly seen as an important social and cultural force worthy of serious study. Researchers have investigated whether playing video games improves the speed and accuracy of surgeons. (Quote by Sheldon Brown, a University of California, San Diego visual arts professor and director of the school's Center for Research in Computing and the Arts.)
* No link available online.

Cable's 'Alternative Focus' Takes Eclectic View of the Middle East
San Diego Union-Tribune, Aug. 29-'Friends should never talk about politics or religion." The well-intentioned sage who said that never witnessed the camaraderie between Al Maaz, Ed Sweed, George Nasser and John Odam. Not only do Maaz, a Muslim; Sweed, who is Jewish; and Nasser and Odam, both Christians, routinely discuss the politically and religiously volatile Middle East, they head up "Alternate Focus," a San Diego-based public-access cable TV program dedicated to "telling the other side of the story" about the strife-torn region. While the program's emphasis is the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, it also has looked at the war in Iraq. (Quote by Dan Hallin, a communications professor at UC San Diego.)
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/features/20040829-9999-1a29focus.html

Residents Glum About California's Future, Poll Shows
San Diego Union-Tribune, Aug. 29- If traffic jams, soaring housing costs and population growth have got you down, just wait 20 years, and you're likely to be even more disconsolate. That's the inescapable conclusion of a newly released statewide poll that shows clear pessimism among California residents about the state's future. (Quote by Steven Erie, a political science professor at UC San Diego.)
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20040829/news_1h29statepo.html

Letters to the Editor
San Diego Union-Tribune, Aug. 28-Joel E. Lavine, M.D., Professor and Vice Chairman of Pediatrics at UC San Diego, writes to the editor regarding the recent San Diego Union-Tribune article entitled, "Councilman's death not an indication of alcoholism."
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20040828/news_lz1e28lets1.html