Posts by Arikia Millikan
Friends don’t let friends play WoW
By Arikia Millikan, written on Jul. 8, 2007
Parents fearful of their children turning into social lepers by the light of the PS3 can finally exhale. A new study by a grad student in the University’s Communication department and a University of Texas professor has shown that playing video games does not negatively affect the social interactions of teenagers.
The study was published in the July issue of “Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine” and found that in a sample of 1,500 teens, gamers spent just as much time with friends and family as teens who don’t regularly play.
But if you’ve ever played, or known anyone who plays World of Warcraft, these results just don’t add up (unless you count the online characters as friends).
Many will vouch they have seen their friends turn into recluses because of games like this, never to glimpse the light of day again.
But another conclusion of the study is perfectly logical: spending excessive time playing video games may affect your academic life.
An article about the study published by the University’s News Service reported that “compared to non-gamers, kids who played video games spent 30 percent less time reading and 34 percent less time doing homework.”
But what’s more important, leveling up your night elf druid or learning geometry?
Inside Google
By Arikia Millikan, written on Jul. 8, 2007
Do you have what it takes to be a Googler? Watch this video on youtube.com for an explanation of the application process and some of the criteria needed to join the team. Critical thinking and problem-solving skills top the list.
The Supreme Court passed its own Prop 2
By Arikia Millikan, written on Jul. 1, 2007
Thursday June 28, the Supreme Court did to K-12 schools around the U.S. what Michigan did to its Universities last December by passing a bill reminiscent of Proposal 2.
The New York Times reported that the ruling means “public school systems cannot seek to achieve or maintain integration through measures that take explicit account of a student’s race.”
The admissions data from May of 2007 has shown a devastating drop in minority admissions, overall and especially in the law school, and some of the justices who voted against this measure expect to see the same results.
In the Times article, “According to his written opinion, Justice Breyer said the decision was a ‘radical’ step away from settled law and would strip local communities of the tools they need, and have used for many years, to prevent resegregation of their public schools.”
If public primary and secondary schools are in danger of losing racial diversity, surely that effect will carry over to University population over time to compound the effects of Proposal 2.
Saving the environment, one step at a time
By Arikia Millikan, written on Jun. 19, 2007
BY Jake Holmes, Daily Staff Reporter
This fall, the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority will buy 15 hybrid buses in an effort to save the environment. On campus, the University has decided these buses are too expensive for the time being. But as it turns out, the University is being more eco-friendly than the AATA.
Since 2000, the University has run campus buses and other diesel service vehicles on B20, a fuel that is a blend of 20 percent bio-diesel and 80 percent regular diesel. Bio-diesel fuel is made from organic sources and produces fewer harmful emissions and particulates than regular diesel fuel. Plus, the organic sources of the fuel are rapidly renewable, unlike the fossil fuels that supply regular diesel fuel.
Since 2000, the University has used nearly 400,000 gallons of bio-diesel fuel. That’s 400,000 gallons of scarce fossil fuels that haven’t been scavenged from finite supplies. Plus, over the past seven years, campus buses have caused fewer harmful emissions.
The AATA only switched to bio-diesel as recently as summer 2006, and they use a meager B5 blend — that means just 5 percent of the fuel used comes from organic sources, and 95 percent still comes from non-renewable fossil fuels. The reduction in harmful emissions is also marginal with a B5 blend.
So while the AATA will protect the environment with their hybrid bus purchases, the University’s already been doing its part to save the world for seven years.
“U” stem cell expert assesses the cellular fountain of youth
By Arikia Millikan, written on Jun. 10, 2007
Check out this article in the New York Times.
When we were young, we had potential. In fact, we had so much potential, we had pluripotentiality — or at least parts of us did.
I’m not talking about the career opportunities that awaited us when we were in elementary school. I’m referring to a time when we were much younger than that — around four or five days after being conceived.
At that age, each of us was merely a layered bundle of cells, and the cells in the core of the bundle had the potential to become any type of cell in the human body. These cells are commonly referred to as stem cells.
But as people grow older, so do their cells. The stem cells in a newly fertilized egg eventually “decide” what they want to be and commit to functioning as a cell in a specific organ in a process called differentiation.
Every one has to grow up sometime, right?
Recently, the New York Times published an article about a researcher at Kyoto University in Japan who has developed a technique that could be the veritable fountain of youth for cells.
According to the article, Shinya Yamanaka claims that he has found a way to transform fully differentiated adult skin cells into something comparable to an embryonic stem cell, capable of becoming any other type of cell.
His technique involves simply injecting four genes into a skin cell, which would function as the equivalent of a “reset” button, reprogramming the cell back to its embryonic state.
So far, this technique has only been demonstrated in mice. But if it works in humans too, it could allow researchers to do embryonic stem cell research without using real embryos (or destroying them), stealing the fuel from the fire of opponents to embryonic stem cell research.
The technique, if adaptable to human cells, is much easier to apply than nuclear transfer, would not involve the expensive and controversial use of human eggs, and should avoid all or almost all of the ethical criticism directed at the use of embryonic stem cells.
— New York Times
I asked Sean Morrison, head of the University’s Center for Stem Cell Research, to respond to this finding. Previously, researchers at the University have said that such things could not be done, and lots of reports claiming that adult stem cells could function like embryonic have been discredited.
But Morrison said the research is legitimate. In an email Thursday, he said that he thinks the recently reported results of Yamanaka’s research are exciting and “represent good and important work.”
But he did say that “it would be premature to conclude that this technique as a replacement for traditional embryonic stem cell research.” In the email, he wrote:
These are exciting and important results that continue to emphasize the need to perform research using both adult and embryonic stem cells, as well as alternative approaches for the derivation of pluripotent cell lines. It remains uncertain which approaches will be most fruitful for the development of new therapies. We owe it to those that may one day be helped by these therapies to use all of the weapons at our disposal in the fight against disease. That means not delaying research on embryonic stem cells that we know can be done today, in favor of potential future alternatives that may or may not work well in human cells. None of this work lessens the imperative to loosen federal and state restrictions that currently slow progress in this area.
Morrison said that the new technique also has potential to improve some medical procedures that involve replacing damaged cells in a patient with healthy ones.
When considering candidates for organ and tissue donations, doctors must find candidates who are genetically similar to the transplant recipient so the body won’t reject the foreign tissues. But if a person’s own skin cells could be used to create new cells or organs, the new tissues would have DNA identical to the recipient and the risks of rejection would diminish.
It would be like getting a tissue donation from yourself.
While this research appears promising, Morrison cautioned that there is still lots of work to be done.
“First, it is not yet clear that this would work as well with human cells,” he said. He also expressed concern about the stability of the reprogrammed cells, and said that forcing cells to behave in certain ways sometimes causes the cells to rebel in the form of cancer.
Plane crash details from the AP
By Arikia Millikan, written on Jun. 5, 2007
Here is the latest report from the Associated Press on a plane that crashed Monday carrying a University of Michigan Survival Flight team:
Plane with U-M transplant team aboard crashes in Lake Michigan
By CARRIE ANTLFINGER
Associated Press Writer
MILWAUKEE (AP) - A plane carrying six members of a University of Michigan organ transplant team went down Monday afternoon in Lake Michigan shortly after the pilot signaled an emergency, authorities said. There was no word on survivors.
As many as 32 divers from the police, fire and sheriff’s department were searched near debris and an oil slick in about 20 feet of water, Milwaukee Fire Chief Doug Holton said.
Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Tony Molinaro said the Cessna Citation took off from General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee at 4 p.m. and was headed for Willow Run Airport near Detroit, a 42-minute flight.
“Within five minutes of its departure from the airport the pilot declared an emergency and requested a return to Mitchell but at that time the plane was no longer on our radar screens, so we’ve contacted the Coast Guard to begin a search and rescue mission,” Molinaro said.
The six people aboard included two crew members, he said.
Witnesses saw the plane go down about six minutes after takeoff, according to U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Bruce Jones.
Molinaro said they found aircraft debris about six miles northeast of Milwaukee, but have not found any of the passengers.
The plane was leased by the University of Michigan Survival Flight air ambulance program, the University of Michigan Health System in Ann Arbor said in a statement. It was owned by Southfield, Mich.-based Toy Air Inc. and based at Willow Run, near Ypsilanti.
The University of Michigan Survival Flight team included two members of the staff of Marlin Air, which flies all Survival Flight airplane missions, and four University of Michigan employees.
The university said the team returning from Milwaukee with unspecified organs for transplant to a patient in Michigan included:
_ Dr. David Ashburn, a fellow in pediatric cardiothoracic surgery.
_ Richard Chenault II, a transplant donation specialist with the university transplant program.
_ Richard Lapensee, a transplant donation specialist with the university transplant program.
_ Dennis Hoyes, a Marlin air pilot.
_ Bill Serra, a Marlin air pilot.
_ Dr. Martinus “Martin” Spoor, a cardiac surgeon who had been on the faculty since 2003.
“The thoughts of the entire university community are with the families of those involved this evening, and we take consolation in the fact that the team was on a mission to help another,” said Dr. Darrell A. Campbell, chief of staff of the University of Michigan Hospitals & Health Centers.
When system officials found out about the crash, they notified a transplant team in Michigan to stop preparing the transplant candidate. The patient was in critical condition, the university said.
The university wouldn’t release any information on the patient, citing confidentiality.
Lapensee’s mother-in-law, Sharon Manier, said Monday evening that the family was asking for privacy.
“We’ve gotten no word,” Manier said from Lapensee’s home in Belleville.
Jay Campbell, executive director of the Wisconsin Donor Network, declined to say which area hospital they were working with, citing privacy regulations.
Jones said the water temperature is 57 degrees and survivors could live for 16 hours. He said they have not found any bodies.
“Our primary focus is on finding any survivors there may be from this incident,” he said.
Rescuers called off the search Monday night after more than six hours and planned to return at daybreak on Tuesday.
He estimated the plane was going 185 to 190 mph. The impact on the water would be “absolutely devastating,” Holton said.
They have recovered debris and planned to bring it in to be looked at, Jones said.
At around 4 p.m. light rain was falling at the airport with winds at 12 mph, gusting to 22 mph, according to J.J. Wood, meteorologist the National Weather Service.
Jerry Guyer, a salvage and diving guide, used his high-definition sonar unit to help in the search. He said the unit is towed in back of his boat by a 50-foot cable and can detect objects within 100 feet of it.
“I used to look for shipwrecks and it works very well for anything on the bottom, from a car tire up as far as being able to pinpoint an item and location,” he said.
Milwaukee airport spokeswoman Pat Rowe said the airport was closed for about 20 minutes after they didn’t hear back from the plane in case it returned.
Bob Bruner of Mequon was a passenger on a Northwest Airlines flight landing in Milwaukee around the time of the crash.
“They diverted us and they told us there was an emergency (at the airport),” Bruner of Mequon told WISN-TV in Milwaukee.
Bruner said that the pilots onboard their flight told passengers that the runways needed to be clear, and they circled the airport several times before landing.
__
Associated Press Writers David Aguilar and Jim Irwin in Detroit, and M.L. Johnson in Milwaukee contributed to this report.
University plane crashes
By Arikia Millikan, written on Jun. 4, 2007
The U.S. Coast Guard continues to search for survivors after a University plane carrying four University employees, two crew members, and one pair of human lungs crashed into the waters of Lake Michigan this afternoon.
The six passengers aboard the “Cessna Citation” jet were members of the U-M Survival Flight team and were on a mission to deliver lungs to a patient at the University Hospital in desperate need of a transplant, according to various sources including a statement from the University of Michigan Health System and articles on The Chicago Tribune, The Detroit Free Press and CNN News websites, as well as Detroit’s Local News 4 station.
The Health System press release named the six passengers as follows:
- David Ashburn, M.D., a fellow (physician-in-training) in cardiothoracic surgery
- Richard Chenault II, a transplant donation specialist with the U-M Transplant Program
- Dennis Hoyes, a Marlin air pilot
- Richard Lapensee, a transplant donation specialist with the U-M Transplant Program
- Bill Serra, a Marlin air pilot
- Martinus (Martin) Spoor, M.D., a cardiac surgeon who had been on the U-M faculty since 2003
Multiple sources say the plane experienced trouble and contacted the Coast Guard shortly after taking off from General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but went down before the anyone could respond. The plane was heading for Willow Run Airport in Yipsilanti.
Does unsecured wireless make you a target?
By Arikia Millikan, written on May. 23, 2007
The RIAA has been called every name in the book.
After threatening dozens of University students with lawsuits, the trade group also referred to as a “bully” or “thug” is planning to follow through with 12 of them.
While researching the RIAA suits, an email was sent to a writer at The Daily containing an original pre-litigation letter sent out from one of the legal firms representing the RIAA trade group, Davenport Lyons.
The letter described how the RIAA’s victim had been caught and provided instructions on how he should proceed.
After thorough scrutiny, I noticed one section that was directed to people who didn’t have a clue why they were getting the letter.
“Please note that it is possible that your lP address may have been used by a third party if you have an unsecured wireless connection or your computer security has been compromised, or if other people or children have access to the computer connected to the internet service provided by your lSP. Accordingly, although your computer may not have been used to carry out the action alleged, your internet connection may have been used.
“The security of your computer and internet connection is your responsibility and you need to ensure that both are protected at all times with the most up to date anti-virus and firewall software, and ensure that any wireless router is properly encrypted, in order to be certain that your computer is not being used for unlawful purposes and without your knowledge or consent.”
Does this mean you can be sued if you didn’t do anything wrong just because you have an unsecured wireless connection?
An article posted on digg.com under the title “Don’t Want to Get Sued by the RIAA? Just Disable Wi-Fi Security!” told the story of Tammie Marson from Palm Desert, CA. The the RIAA tried to sue Marson for illegal downloading, but failed, unable to prove that Marson was guilty because she maintained an unsecured wireless connection and could’ve been “piggybacked” by an unknown third party. Marson’s case was dismissed.
This issue was also explored by Wired Magazine’s online section, Listening Post. The article explained the case of Debbie Foster, another innocent user with an unsecured connection who Capitol Records attempted to sue for illegal downloading.
Foster and her lawyers fought back, and when the case was dismissed, Capitol Records was forced to pay her over $50,000 for attorney fees.
The RIAA appealed, looking for a ruling that would make whomever owned an internet connection responsible for everything that was done on the account, and argued that Foster should have been held accountable if she so much as suspected other users were using her network.
The Listening Post article mentioned that a ruling in favor of the RIAA in that case would have likely created a “chilling effect on public wireless access and open hotspots,” if the RIAA’s thuggish antics haven’t done so already.
In the case of Capitol vs. Foster, Capitol Records was denied an appeal and Foster came out victorious.
In April, the LA Times published an article that explored how the RIAA is changing its ways in response to failed attempts at suing unseecured wireless owners.
The article noted that in some cases where the RIAA attempts to sue suspects who are not guilty, it leads them to the identity of the real down-loader who they sue instead.
“Increasingly, though, account holders are fighting back, demanding that suits be dismissed with prejudice and that they be awarded attorney fees,” the LA Times article said, such as in Capitol vs. Foster.
The article went on to say: “RIAA lawyers are developing more creative ways to end suits without facing reimbursement claims,” but neglected to point out any of these ways.
While this bully is not off the playground yet, it seems as though unsecured wireless connections may be a potential weakness for the RIAA.
The LA Times quoted the Electronic Frontier Foundation in acknowledging that the issue in cases where the RIAA picks innocent targets is “what consequences should attach to plaintiffs who carelessly net `dolphins’ in their mass litigation campaign and then walk away from these cases when a dolphin acts affirmatively to protect itself?”
Student activist icon returns to Ann Arbor
By Arikia Millikan, written on May. 3, 2007
50 years after he first set foot on the University of Michigan soil, the legendary Tom Hayden returned Monday to the campus that nurtured his “radical” dreams.
Hayden, the founder of Students for a Democratic Society, member of the Chicago 7 and a past editor-in-chief of the Michigan Daily, is a veritable icon representing the anti-war student of the Vietnam era, is still at it today speaking out against the war in Iraq.
As the keynote speaker of the annual American Civil Liberties Union meeting at the Neutral Zone, he used the same charismatic style of public speaking that rallied war protestors in the ‘60s to reinforce the audience members’ efforts to end the war and cut funding to the current administration’s checkbook.
In a 2005 essay added to “The Port Huron Statement,” Hayden’s 1962 manifesto,
Hayden wrote: “Our critique of the Cold War, and liberals who became anticommunist Cold Warriors, bears close resemblance to the contemporary ‘war on terror’ and its liberal Democratic defenders.”
During Hayden’s speech at the ACLU Monday, some Democratic defenders listened in awe as Hayden declared that in addition to the Arab-Americans and Muslims who are being unjustly persecuted, “The war in Iraq itself is a violation of civil liberties.”
As efforts to set a timetable to pull combat troops out of Iraq were recently denied through a presidential veto, Hayden presented the ACLU members with his own plan for gracefully withdrawing U.S. forces from Iraq. He said that because “a Machiavellian state must protect its manhood,” the magic exit formula involves arranging for the Iraqis to ask the U.S. to leave.
He also stressed that citizens cannot simply sit back and rely on political figureheads to pull America out of the war, but that we must “cut funding for the Iraqi police state.” He voiced concern that current political operations dealing with Iraq may turn out to be “a poison pill for the Democrats so they get blamed for the catastrophe in Iraq.”
When questioned by an audience member, Hayden announced that he would vote for Barak Obama in the 2008 presidential election, should he win the primary elections. If not, he would vote for Hillary.
Hayden’s speech also incorporated aspects of the same principles he held in his SDS days: the average citizen holds the power to make political change.
Hayden hasn’t been a college student for 46 years, so he spent his day Monday reliving his youth talking with Daily staff members and browsing the archived bound volumes of the newspaper he used to call his own while he chatted about sweatshops with a member of SOLE. He also said he had lunch with Juan Cole, Professor of Middle Eastern and South Asian History, and paid an unexpected visit to the students who currently inhabit his old residency on Arch street.
The University’s policy on “disturbing behavior”
By Arikia Millikan, written on May. 1, 2007
In a concise e-mail to students and staff, University President Mary Sue Coleman recommended that students having trouble dealing with the shootings at Virginia Tech make use of the free psychological services the University has to offer.
Staff members at Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) were geared up to assist students in the days following the massacre. But although the incident “did hit some students very hard,” students did not reach out to CAPS for help as much as they had anticipated, said CAPS Associate Director Vicky Hays.
Later that week, only 12 students showed up at a forum to discuss what the University was doing in response to the situation. Most of them were members of MSA, according to Linda Green, a director in the Division of Student Affairs.
University spokeswoman Diane Brown said she thinks more students would have shown up if the event wasn’t on a Friday night and in the middle of exams.
CAPS may have been overly prepared to deal with students’ concerns regarding Virginia Tech, but some wonder if these services are sufficient to detect and deter any homicidal students who could be in lurking in the midst of Michigan students.
Hays said that there is always a counselor on duty at CAPS to immediately talk with a student in urgent need, however CAPS can only help those students who are willing to accept it. Sometimes, she said, they are not willing.
In March of 2006 at George Washington University, a student who was feeling depressed and having suicidal thoughts checked himself into the university’s Hospital. He was effectively booted from the university and barred from returning to campus because his behavior violated the university’s code of conduct (Washington Post, 3/10/2006).
The University of Michigan has a policy similar to George Washington University’s that says students can be removed from the University if they are deemed dangerous to themselves or others.
Michigan students have wondered if a policy like this could potentially discourage suicidal individuals from seeking psychological help through the University, not to mention homicidal ones.
Hays said CAPS employees undergo training to encourage a community of caring when it comes to matters like these, and that the action taken by the University would reflect the best interest of the student.
According to Hays, there have been over 750 students that had some level of suicidal thinking this past year, and none of them were treated like the student at George Washington University.
She also said CAPS encounters “quite small numbers of students thinking about harming others.” If a student does express a violent or homicidal urge, they would be given a thorough psychological evaluation at the psychological emergency room in the University Hospital that would decide what future treatment or hospitalization would be necessary.
An article in the New York Times following the Virginia Tech incident revealed that a counselor recommended Seung-Hui Cho, the shooter, for involuntary hospitalization after he made a suicidal remark to one of his roommates. A doctor there reportedly did not think Cho was a threat, although he was deemed mentally ill.
CAPS services are free and intended to provide short-term assistance, but there are two other units on campus —the depression center and an outpatient clinic in East Hall— designed to help students with more long-term psychological needs.
The University appears to have a psychological infrastructure that would be effective in locating individuals considering the same path of action as Cho took and helping them before they reach a breaking point, but only time will tell.
Hays said she did not think CAPS employees would discriminate against any future clients who appear to fit the same psychological profile as Cho, but Virginia tech would probably affect everyone at some level. “I guess its human nature to have a heightened sensitivity to issues of violence and mental health after a traumatic event,” Hays said.