Jason Palmer | The Wichitan

Freshman Jessica Jackson studies on her computer in her dorm room in Killingsworth Hall. She uses the dial-up connection while her roommate uses Ethernet.

The complaints have been heard and now the Housing Department is looking for a solution to the slow Internet problem in the residence halls. Last week, Information Systems installed a demo version of a packet-shaping device, which partitions the Ethernet network’s bandwidth by which sites are being used. Information System said before the packet shaper was installed the residence halls were using nearly 100 percent of the bandwidth 24 hours a day. After the packet shaper was installed the graphs showed more peaks and valleys. “The biggest problem is Kazaa,” Network Services Manager Jim Hall said. “People are constantly downloading movies and music.” Kazaa is a file-sharing program that allows its users to send and receive files over the Internet. By using the packet shaper, Information Systems found that about 75 percent to 90 percent of the T1 line (the line connecting the residence halls to the Internet) was being saturated by Kazaa traffic. Kazaa is now allowed only 10 percent of the T1’s bandwidth bringing the rest of the Internet to the students at a more satisfactory speed. “We didn’t want to take away from the students, but we want students using the network for academics to have the most access,” said Danny Reddick, assistant housing director. The packet shaper used now is a demo version. The Housing Department is discussing whether or not they should buy a full version for $9,000. When the network was installed in the residence halls last spring the complaints began about its speed. Many students returned to the older dial-up connection to be able to check their e-mail. “It was frustrating sometimes because I couldn’t open my e-mail,” said Chris McDonald, freshman finance major. “The network was much slower than the dial-up.” The Ethernet is connected on a T1 line at 1.54 million bits per second. A dial-up is connected at 56,000 bits per second Hall hopes that once students using dial-up learn about the speed of the network they will switch back to using Ethernet. Although the Internet is much faster some students are now dissatisfied with the speed of Kazaa. “It’s a good thing that the Internet is faster now, but Kazaa doesn’t work anymore,” McDonald said. “I’ll keep using the dial-up to get music.” Hall said they are only in the testing process and may eventually give more bandwidth to Kazaa. The Housing Department also plans to install another T1 line to the residence halls in the future. There is no way to understand the downloading patterns of students, because with file sharing software they don’t have to be at their computers for it to be running. “Sometimes I’ll begin downloading a movie and then go to sleep,” McDonald said. “It would take about four solid days to download the whole thing.” If residents would share their files on the local network, that would also speed up the Internet, McDonald said. “This just shows how much of the network was being used for academics,” Hall said. “Now there is more outgoing traffic than incoming. That’s the way it should be.”Lavigne is busy putting on her tie and skater spikes, I’d rather listen to the giddy and boy-crazy symphonic pop of Vanessa Carlton. Her debut “Be Not Nobody” showcases her classical piano chops and a precious voice that is anything but controversial. Rednecks and geeks unite! Imagine if you can Buddy Holly with a Wayne Campbell heavy metal mullet sipping Colt 45’s with classic rocker Ted Nugent. If after the drunken shenanigans of that encounter they were to write music together, it would sound something like “Maladroit,” the latest release from Weezer. This is the geek’s ode to groupies and gratuitous guitar solos, and you’ll be singing along with every second. Stoner rock from the Twilight Zone To be honest, I missed the last album by death metal band Deeds of Flesh, but from the palatable choices on the market it doesn’t get better than “Songs for the Deaf” by Queens of the Stone Age for the world of grinding guitar riffs and otherworldly classic rock mysticism. Uh, that means it rules dude. “Turn off that racket!” screamed Grandpa Sigur Ros is an Icelandic band that creates swirling epics through the use of bowed guitars, layers of low-end keyboard, and a vocalist that sings in a language resembling something from “Lord of the Rings.” The new album “( )” sounds beautiful to me, but it’s just strange enough to make gramps feel the need to talk about the simple days of cowboy songs and John Denver. Ungrateful kids. You there, with the Pokemon cards! So, if Weezer is really just a bunch of geeks trying to play heavy metal music, then the Flaming Lips are a bunch of geeks that look, act, and sound exactly like the nerd bombers they’ve been since high school. The new album “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots” is a Japanimation science fiction extravaganza that explodes with more sound than most people can handle. Rocketman part two goes solo Ben Folds is a 36-year-old child who wants to be a punk rocker, but is gifted instead with the talents of Elton John. The performances on his new live album show how loud and fun one man with a piano can be. The “what the !@#$” awards The constraints of newspaper space force me to condense a year’s worth of crap into one paragraph. The worst: Creed’s video for “One Last Breath,” the idea that the Red Hot Chilli Peppers still rock, morbid depression bands like Seether, the existence of Nickelback, Chad Kroeger and that infernal song from the Spiderman soundtrack, the somewhat disappointing Audioslave debut and America’s obsession with John Mayer, who is possibly the most boring songwriter alive today. Back to good stuff, a follow-up that doesn’t disappoint I had a friend who told me he wanted to make love to Coldplay singer Chris Martin’s voice. Not Chris, just the voice. Most people spend the first few listens of the new album “A Rush of Blood to the Head” searching for the sequel to “Yellow” and are taken aback when they can’t find it. Instead, we are given a challenging and dynamic album that is more than worth the wait it takes to soak in. “That boy ain’t right,” said Hank Hill When Craig Nicholls from The Vines couldn’t finish the last verse of “Get Free” on the David Letterman Show because his ridiculous stage trashing knocked the mic stand down, I suddenly lost the urge to listen to the band’s album anymore. Kurt Cobain trashed the stage all the time, but at least he waited until the song was over. 3 a.m. album of the year It’s easy to imagine Norah Jones at a jazz club somewhere in Manhattan, barely pressing the keys on her piano while she sings in a near breath to an audience that is either drunk or depressed. I was neither the first time I heard her album “Come Away With Me,” but this is the kind of music that convinced me it wouldn’t be so bad if I was. “The” + snappy pluralized noun = success Although the debut albums from The Hives, The White Stripes and The Strokes were released before 2002, reissues of these albums kept our fascination with the garage rock fad continually maxxed out. The Hives release “Veni Vidi Vicious” is definitely the most exciting of the big three, but outshining even The Hives is the all-woman trio Sleater-Kinney. The recent release “One Beat” is a blazing and raw rock record that puts any “The” band to shame. What’s left? Ben Kweller, Pearl Jam, David Gray, Mooney Suzuki, Dave Matthews Band, Clinic, Ryan Adams, N.E.R.D., The Eels and Foo Fighters all released enjoyable albums this year. There is plenty of trash left over as well, but if you like it, there is nothing I can do to change your mind. That’s why Michael Bolton is still around.

 

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Terry received an additional piece of family history when he inherited the pocket watch belonging to his grandfather on his mother’s side. The watch was a gift from employees to McGregor when he was president of the Archer City Bank. Terry’s grandfather also went on to become chairman of MSU’s Board of Regents. McGregor’s watch is striking. A scene of running English horses is engraved on the sturdy, gold watch. Terry’s watches, and the memories of the men who once owned them, have accompanied him through some of his finest moments. Terry was wearing a watch the day he was married, when his two children were born and at his graduation last December. Terry continues to add to his collection with watches he purchases from garage sales, antique shops or even E-Bay. The monetary value of a watch does not interest Terry. He said he looks for the “uniqueness of a watch, the imperfections that give it character.” Ultimately, Terry wears pocket watches as a respectful nod to the past. “Gentleman used to wear pocket watches, they were pure class,” he said. “I think some traditions should live on.”

 

MSU professor emeritus of English and Hardin Professor Jeff Campbell will explore the changing relationship between nature and art in his Faculty Forum presentation “From the Lackawanna Valley to the Valley of Ashes: Changing Views of the American Landscape in Art and Literature” in Kiowa Ex-Students’ Dining Room on Tuesday at 8 p.m. Authors like Ralph Waldo Emerson adapted to the increased industrialism invading America’s landscapes with a critical eye. A parallel view resides in George Inness’ painting “Lackawanna Valley” depicting a train puffing rings of smoke through the pastoral hillsides. “Technology and industrialism have pretty generally destroyed the feeling we once had of the beauty, divinity and importance of nature,” Campbell says. “Or at least by their destructive inroads have caused us to recall nostalgically a power of nature we now lack.” With plenty of pictures and no shortage of thought-provoking sentiments, Campbell will share the ideals of America’s greatest authors and painters from the 19th century through the 20th. Citing the literary prowess of authors such as William Cullen Bryant, Ralph Waldo Emerson and F. Scott Fitzgerald, Campbell will synthesize them with the artistic genious of painters such as Jasper Cropsey, Thomas Rossiter and Charles Sheeler. Admission is free.