//ALEX COULTRUPSOCILA MEDIA COORDINATOR@ALEXDEEC

In this issue

2

58

RELATIONS BETWEEN U.S. AND MIDDLE EAST

GEARING UP FOR GRADUATION

OUT WITH THE COLD

SOFTBALL BEGINS SEASON 4-1

55STRING ORCHESTRA TAKES FLIGHT

// ALLIE WOODSTAFF WRITTER

Self serve Café opens in College of Business

A modern workspace for students is open in Evans Library.

Standing in contrast to more traditional library seating areas such as the dim blue couches and wooden cubicles of the three other floors, the sec-ond floor’s Digital Scholar-ship Lab offers a comfort-able and innovative space for learning.

Sophomore in Mechani-cal Engineering Caleb Bak-er said that he spends more time at the library because of the DSL.

“I do utilize the dou-ble-monitored computers a lot. Productivity goes up,” Baker said. “Say I’m writing a paper on an article, I can have the article open in one monitor, and the paper in the other, so I’m not flip-ping back and forth. It saves times, lots of time.”

“The main focus is to re-ally give students access to the latest technology,” said Martin Gallagher, support manager of the DSL. “We use it very heavily during senior week, so almost every room in here was full of people with their senior projects and things like that.”

Computers stationed around the lab feature the latest in several differ-ent software packages for students to use, including Z-Space, a 3D modelling software. With provided 3D glasses, students can use the software manipulate cus-tom or existing models in full 3D.

Other software provided includes MAT-lab, five GIS workstations, Raspberry Pi, Google Goggles, Creo, the Adobe Creative Suite, two 3D printers, and a 4-by-

10 foot interactive video screen.

As of January 22, the lab officially opened, though an unofficial opening in mid-november allowed for use of the incomplete facility.

“The primary goal is digital creation and ma-nipulation, so it’s really to help students to develop the processes a little bit quicker, Gallagher said. “So we’ve got some powerful comput-ers here.”

Another, confer-ence-style room in the Lab also equipped with Z-space contains a large draw-ing-equipped, visual white-board in the room, com-plete with connection ports for cables of all varieties.

“If you connect your laptop here with the USB cable, your laptop will go onto the screen and be full-

screen touch,” Gallagher explained.

“It accommodates all majors,” said Taylor Stoni, a freshman in Marine Biolo-gy. She isn’t familiar with all of the software, but appreci-ates that there are so many tools available to students who need them.

The layout of the room was designed especially to encourage collaboration and conversation among working students. The de-sign includes a lofty vaulted roof, earth tones, natural light and curved lines.

“I thought it was really cool, you know. Lots of nice colors, the new computers, and chairs and everything, they’re nice,” Baker said.

Even the lab’s furnishings were installed with students in mind. The atmosphere encourages focus and pro-ductivity, Stoni said. “It’s so

visually appealing.” Tall sit-or-stand desks

in the middle of the room, squishy chairs, and two different spinning chairs provide studying students the liberty to stay moving if they choose.

“I think the egg chairs are nice for working, because they’re isolated,” Baker said. These chairs provide a domed, padded nest, perfect for reading.

“It makes me want to do something, so that I can use them. Here is’t just more comfortable,” Stoni said, comparing the environment to the wooden “cube desks” on other floors. “It’s very open.”

After months of waiting, the College of Business revealed Avenue C to stu-dents and faculty on Friday morning.

The self serve café is located in the building’s student lounge. There are tables and chairs for stu-dents and faculty to enjoy a meal between classes.

Cynthia Bopp, an inter-national business major, bought several products since the cafe’s opening.

“I bought this Bai, spar-kling antioxidant infusion drink, I bought some chips,

I’ll probably get a coffee right after this for my next class,” Bopp said.

The café has four refrig-erators that contain drinks, snacks and frozen meals. Panera is one of the fea-tured meal brands available.

Avenue C has bagged snacks that can be found in Panther Grocery. However, a new feature that the COB will enjoy is a microwave and a Starbucks coffee machine

A Canteen representative was on-site to help students create an account. Students

can access their account via fingerprint and PIN. Any-one who signed up received $2 in Canteen money for their accounts.

“I actually like it, it’s really nice,” Bopp said. “You can actually create an ac-count and load money onto it and use your thumbprint as payment so you don’t really have to keep carrying card or cash with you. It’s actually pretty cool.”

At this time, students can only pay with cash or cred-it. The kiosk and student ID cards are created by third parties and have not been linked yet.

There will not be an attendant in the café, but its

activities will be observed by cameras. It will be up to students and faculty not to steal the products.

Addition to Evans Library provides Software, pleasant environment for students

FEB. 2 2016 ISSUE 3 SPRING

OPINIONS 2

//EVAN LINDEMANCONTRIBUTING WRITER

ISSUE 2 FEB. 2

Over the past two de-cades, the world has been shocked by terrorist bomb-ings and acts of violence that have instilled fear in many of those witness to them.

These events have sparked a widespread movement of distrust and hatred towards Islam, particularly among those with pre-ordained preju-dices against Muslims or just Middle Easterners in general.

In few regions is this sen-timent more prevalent than in the United States, where the wounds instilled by 9-11 run deep, and politi-cians today increasingly call for reforms to immigration amidst fears that any Mid-dle-Easterner that enters the country is a potential threat to its well-being.

Even the Middle-East-erners here on FIT’s cam-pus, while not subject to the same scrutiny, are still cautiously viewed from a distance by many.

This stems, of course, in part from the aforemen-tioned fear of Muslims; but also highly prevalent is a natural tendency for humans to polarize toward those of their own demo-graphic and cultural back-grounds. This is not neces-sarily xenophobia at work, but simple conditioning.

Regardless of how well two individuals of any demographic may get along with one another, humans will usually find staying within their own demo-graphic preferable to the alternative of socializing with those of foreign and unfamiliar cultures.

But why, exactly, does this mindset exist? It’s likely that the roots of these nat-ural separative tendencies trace back to the very be-ginnings of human history.

Familially related pre-historic tribes, because of a scarcity of resources, were forced to compete with one another in order to survive; and thus, for protective purposes, these different tribes were likely to form different mannerisms and habits, developing a sort of insular primitive culture.

In other words, our ten-dency to stick around those similar to us and avoid those that are different is veritably inscribed within our DNA. Thus, humans have since been genetically predisposed to be suspi-cious, or even sometimes openly hostile, towards cultures that differ from their own.

This conclusion leads us to the current situation in modern times, where ancient grudges instilled by thousands of years of hos-tility and warfare between races and religions leads to the many cultural conflicts we see today, including the Middle East’s general despisal of the U.S govern-ment.

However, the feelings between East and some-what mutual, and have been such for over half a century. These issues between the demographics, however, are not the fault of all citizens of the United States; nor are they the fault of all resi-dents in the Middle East, as many on both sides would believe.

Rather, most of the fault

resides within certain in-stitutions of various credi-bility and responsibility in both regions.

Although most govern-ments in the U.S have a favorable relationship with the U.S, The hatred many people in the West hold to-ward people in the Middle East is largely a result of the terrorist attack of 9-11 by Al-Qaeda; and the hatred of many Middle-Easterners towards the West a result of the various poor policy decisions that have general-ly favored the State of Israel, most notably the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, which came at the expense of the surrounding Mid-dle-Eastern countries that have mostly been neglected of aid by the United States due to varying cultural, political and religious dif-ferences.

According to a poll by World Public Opinion that included Egypt and Pakistan, only an average of 15% of citizens held a somewhat favorable or very favorable view towards the U.S., but according to a poll done by the University of Maryland and published by Brooking Institute, Amer-ican opinion of Muslims is far more favorable, with 53 % respondents saying they were favorable towards Muslims. However, only 37 % of respondents surveyed said they were favorable to Islam itself.

These polls show that the U.S certainly has a more positive opinion towards the Middle East than vice versa, yet there is surely room for improvement on both sides. So what can we

do, at this point, to resolve conflict between West and East? Theoretically, the best solution to satisfy the ma-jority of the Middle East’s populace would be to first normalize relations with Israel and the surrounding Arab nations, rather than taking sides with just one or the other. The most im-portant conflict is between Israel and the Palestinians, a cultural group and former citizens of the “Holy Land” that still maintains a strong sense of nationality.

However, the reconcilia-tion of Israelis with seems difficult, as the conflict resides partly in the reli-gious beliefs of the Quran. Many Jews cite this text as evidence that the city of Je-rusalem and the surround-ing area belong to Jews (religious Zionism), whilst the Palestinians counter that the Quran in fact states that the Gaza Strip and the city of Jerusalem belong to Arabs.

But the main reason for the Palestinians’ stubborn-ness in believing Israel belongs to them is their history in that region. At the beginning of the 20th century, the modern state of Israel was inhabited by a vast majority of Muslims with a very small minori-ty of Jews and Christians, but the rise of a nationalist political movement known as Zionism created by Ahad Ha’am stated that a large swath of Palestine histor-ically was entitled to the Jews (Palestine is not it’s own country, rather, it is a region of land that includes “The Holy Land” or mod-ern-day Israel and portions

of Egypt and Jordan.)This created strong cul-

tural and religious clashes between the two groups that culminated in the Arab-Israeli war and estab-lished the State of Israel.

Since that time, the Six Day War has seen what was left to the Palestinians con-ceded to Israel, and harsh treatment by the Israelis as well as brutal retaliation by the Palestinians have ensured that deep hatred still persists between both peoples.

Many bystanders not involved in the conflict tend to take strong sides with one group or the other, but what must be understood is that the conflict is not black and white. Both sides have committed horrible atroc-ities over the past century, and history shows that the same goes for nearly all groups of people(think of the Native Americans), invariably, regardless of reli-gion or culture, regardless of skin color or demograph-ic, regardless of in defense or in aggression.

So, with this in mind, perhaps the next time you feel like standing on one side or the other, think critically for a moment, overcome the tendencies of your ancestors and try to put yourself in the shoes of both sides. Until then, peace within the Middle East and without will be an impossibility.

Opinion: On relations between the U.S.and Middle East

OPINIONS 3

//SHADHAB TAMBOLI STAFF WRITER

I shouldn’t have done thatISSUE 3 FEB. 2

Mistakes are part of students’ lives. Research shows that college students, especially in their first semester, are prone to stress and are more liable to make mistakes. But, if there is a way to avoid those mis-takes then why shouldn’t we use it?

This will not only help us to save our valuable time but also decrease our stress level. So, how can we avoid those mistakes? The answer is simple, just ask those students who have already committed them. Indeed, who else would have a better idea about how those mistakes could have been avoided?

The most common mistake made by freshmen is that they think college is same as high school: easy and fun, but it’s not. If high school is a zoo then college is a jungle. In high school, we have a teacher who runs after us in order to make us study, but here at college, we are on our own. Yes, we do have teachers in college to help, but they will not run after us to check wheth-er we have submitted our assignment or not.

And if we don’t submit our assignments on time they are more than hap-py to give us a zero. This doesn’t mean that teacher at high school are better than teachers at college, but it means that teachers in col-

lege consider us as adults and see us a responsible person.

“I lost my most of the grades in the first semester because I thought college is as simple as high school but later I realized it's way tougher than that,” said Malika Forbes a sophomore in aviation management.

So, in order to have a good start in college life, we should start consider-ing college as a different platform from high school. In order to succeed in col-lege, one does need to work hard.

In the first semester, choosing and scheduling classes are mostly done by our first-year advisors, which is a good thing be-cause our work is done by them, but, there is also the bad side of it. Our advi-sor selects classes which are available and fits in the schedule but they are unaware of the distance between the destinations of those classes.

Some classes are close and some classes are very far from each other and this creates difficulties for the student to attend classes on time. Here at Florida Tech, we get one complete week at the start of the semester to switch the classes which we don’t like, but some students find it threatening to go and talk about their schedule with advisors.

In order to have a has-sle-free semester, every stu-dent should have a fair and clear talk with their advi-sors. Taking classes accord-ing to university curriculum is the best way to complete the degree in a minimum amount of time because curriculum for every major is designed according to specific guidelines.

“I did not take some of the classes in the first semester, and later I found out that those classes were perquisites for the courses I was planning to take this semester. Due to this small mistake I was not able to register for classes this semester and my gradu-ation got postponed by one whole semester,” said Anoud Al nami, junior in aviation management.

Understanding course curriculum is a very im-portant step before starting the first semester. Most of the time students take class-es which they find easy in their first semester, but later they regret because some of the classes which they think they will take in the future are found to be perquisites for their other classes.

Sometimes students are often asked by their advisor to take some classes which are not required for their major and instead of ques-tioning the advisor about why they have to take those classes, they keep quiet.

This mostly happens with international students. International students don’t have a complete knowl-edge of how the education system works in the Unit-ed States, and they just do what advisor says and which they regret later.

“I was asked to take music classes in my first semester which I did not need for my major and I still don’t know why I was asked to take those classes. I would have graduated by last spring if I haven’t tak-en those classes in the first semester,” said Fatemah Abbas, senior in civil engi-neering.

Being scared and car-rying doubt in the mind is not a good idea, not only in college life but also in personal life. It can cost a lot. Advisors are here to help, not to scare us. If you don’t understand what they are saying or why they are saying it, just ask them again and again till you are sure, and always keep questioning.

Most of the students find the first semester as the eas-iest semester of any degree: easy classes, less workload, and plenty of free time. But some students take that “easy” word very serious-ly; they don’t study at all. New place, new friends and free time can easily distract anyone from studying, especially freshmen.

“My worst mistake from the first semester was that I missed many classes be-cause I thought they were easy, which they were not, but by the time I realized my mistake it was too late for me to regain the grades which I lost because of my carelessness,” said Sharuk, sophomore in mechanical engineering.

Usually, a lot of fresh-men students spend their free time by sitting at home and doing “Netflix and chill.” But think, are we really here to do those things? What if we use some of the free time in discovering interesting resources provided by the university. “I was unaware of library’s technology lending service until my first semester. Knowledge of this would have solved my lot of problems,” said Sharuk. He also said that should have used his free time in making new friends in first semester itself because now due to a busy schedule and heavy work-load, he is not able to do so.

There is no perfect way of surviving the first semes-ter. But following advice will surely help to avoid those silly mistakes one makes in the first semester. Just keep eyes and ears open and don’t be afraid to speak. v

CAMPUS LIFE 4BEHIND THE WORDS

ISSUE 3 FEB. 2

Raven Vega is a Florida Tech student who discov-ered, seemingly by chance, one of the ways in which technology is opening the door to opportunities that never existed before. The following poem resulted from a string of text con-versations between Vega and Abeo Chimeka-Tisdale, who have never met one another in person. Entro-py is the paper trail of a

dialogue between the two women about longings and insecurities that many can identify with and relate to.

“We love the stars and we wish we could be some-thing as beautiful as space,” Vega explained. “But you are.”

Entropy is what resulted, as Vega and Chimeka-Tis-dale sought to assure one another of this message, that the beauty each ad-

mired and longed for al-ready existed within them. “We are saying, ‘I know that you don't see this in yourself and you don't see the beauty that I see in you, but I see it,” Vega explained. The poem is a powerful reminder of the message of self-love that inspired Vega and Chimeka-Tisdale to begin writing.

EntropyBy Raven Vega and Abeo Chimeka-Tisdale

I breathe in sunlightExhale stardustMade from galaxiesBorn of asteroids and nebulasA girl made of sunflowersCrowned by an AfroWith its own gravitational pull

She does not know, the strength she holdsAs she expands infinitelyEffortlesslyFraternal twins with the universeRaised by separate parentsYet one day they will meet againFor energy is neither created nor destroyedShe is neither born nor killedShe is thereSentient Living through the organisms that fester inside her

Breathing and growingNever quite knowingBut it isn’t needed

Not when there are worldsWaiting to be exploredNot when her skin stops crawlingWhen she gazes as thatGreat unknown

She wishes she’d have knownThat there’s more to thisThere’s always more to this

Yet she sits thereStagnant, unaware of the factThat the very thing she admiresAnd looks at longinglyIs teeming within the very skin she wishes to shedHer very body tries to tell herSeemingly sending a satellite into her orbitHoping she will latch onto it and hearThe very message her mind will not let sendThat she is enoughShe always was what she wished to be,

But even space is not aware of its own galaxies.

The Interview

What inspired this piece?Actually, my friend Abeo.

She lives in Georgia, and we met online through mutual friends. She and I both re-ally love writing and we've seen that we have a similar writing style. The very first stanza Abeo actually sent me as a random text mes-sage. I didn't really have any other way to reply to it besides writing a stanza in response. I could say, "Oh that's really good," or "I'm really inspired," but I decided, "No, I'm going to continue the poem.” Then I wrote the second stanza and we just kept going from there. Afterwards we read back all the text messag-es. We copied and pasted them, put that into a note, and we realized, "Wow! This actually makes a cohesive poem. Now we just co-write poems out of nowhere in text messages.

It was really random. A lot of people ask: "How did you do that?". But that is just how we talk to one another and communicate. We both really like space. We call each other celestial sisters because we have never met in real life, and we live miles away from one another, but we still see the same moon and we still see the same stars. We have a sisterly connection to one another in that way.

Will you discuss the mean-ing of the poem?

Basically, the first stanza is Abeo talking about her-self. We both have anxiety. Everybody goes through hard times and this is say-ing, "I know that you don't see this in yourself and you don't see the beauty that I see in you, but I see it." That is where the words come from: looking at yourself like you are the universe. You are everything. The poem is about self-love and radical self-respect. We always love the stars and we wish we could be

something as beautiful as space, but you are. That's what you are made of. You are made of stardust from the Big Bang. I guess we are "spiritual" in that sense, but it's just how we like to think about ourselves. That is where Entropy came from: trying to tell one another that you are as beautiful as space. You are as great as that unknown. Developing self-love and discovering that about yourself is defi-nitely a day-by-day process. But I think it is important for you to have that kind of bond and connection with people that even when you are not seeing what they see, they are there to re-mind you nevertheless.

Can you explain the title?Entropy is basically

the chaos of the universe. That is something that we struggle with daily, biol-ogy wise. But I also think it's emotional: like all the different thoughts that you have going through your mind when you are going to school or going to work.

Whatever you have going on in your life, there is this controlled chaos within you. We called it entropy because that was the only way we could describe what living is: just controlled chaos.

Do you have a favorite quote?

I do have a favorite quote by Haruki Murakami and it says, "I can bear any pain as long as it has meaning." I’ve always loved that quote. I want to get that as my first tattoo. It has always been a quote that has stuck with me.

Can you explain your choice of major?

First, I was a clinical psychology major. But then I switched to applied behavior analysis because one day I read this article that was saying that females with autism were going misdiagnosed because we don't fully understand the gender differences in symp-toms of autistic people. I decided to get into applied behavior analysis because I want to research the gen-der differences in autistic symptoms. I think that a lot of it goes with writing as well, because I have such a strong belief in people's ability to express them-selves in communication. So I can imagine, especially for those who are nonver-bal autistic, to be unable to communicate what you are feeling and to basically be ignored is something that would be a nightmare to me. That's why I want to go into applied behavior analy-sis and find out how to help those people communicate and be the person that un-derstands them even if we can't speak or communicate in a way that we naturally would see.

What is something that you constantly think about?

I guess there's not just one thing. That's the weird part: you just think about so many things at a time. I think about the people that I know. I think, "How are they doing?" I've always really liked taking care of people and helping people. I think about homework (when I check my planner). I guess a lot of what I think about is how do I get myself to stop thinking about ev-erything? You know?

What words best describe your personality?

I would like to say that I am hard-working. Grow-ing up I was never good at math. When I got into highschool, I used to go to tutoring everyday. Math is my best subject, but it is only my best subject because it is my most worked on. I over-analyze everything, which is both a blessing and a curse. I like dark, weird things, like liking Edgar Allen Poe. I really like horror stories, scary stories, and mysteries even though I have anx-iety, so you would think that I would not like the whole fear concept. But not knowing is also fun. I don't know what else. You know so much about yourself, but then when someone asks you to explain yourself, you draw a blank. And you are like, "I don't know. I don't really remember that much about myself.” I like turkey sandwiches. I like dark chocolate and orange juice. I guess food is such a central concept with me, so that is the first thing that I think of when people ask me about myself.

//LINDSAY ISAACSTAFF WRITER

Entropy’s Co-author, Raven Vega

5CAMPUS LIFEISSUE 3 FEB.2

Seniors SpeakHundreds of students

will begin their first steps into the world as college graduates this May.

This will be one of their largest transitions into adulthood and the real world. Students have mixed feelings about graduation, but overall it is more of a positive anxiousness rather than nervous one.

Vaaseen Richards, a senior graduating a year early in psychology with a clinical concentration, said he is happy and confident about this coming spring.

“At first I was pretty nervous about graduating

earlier than expected, but now I’m just excited for how big of an accomplish-ment it is and am glad to be moving closer towards my dream career.”

It is good to hear stu-dents aspiring to go after their dreams. It’s also im-portant to be able to envi-sion what you want in life.

“My dream future would look like me coming home to my lakeside house from my job as a licensed child psychologist, because I have to finish packing to travel to my next new country,” Richards said.

The excitement isn’t just

for students graduating on time. Every graduate is going through some sort of emotional journey during a milestone like this.

“I’m very excited and relieved,” said Ab Kasyan-ju, who is graduating as an aerospace major. “I’m excited to have my family come to the ceremony and see where I studied.”

It is natural, however, for there to be some nervous-ness.

“I’m really excited to graduate, but also the changes it will bring,” said Taylor Jones, who is grad-uating with a major in

marine biology. “The past four years have flown by, and I’ve gotten so close to the people in my major. It’s hard to realize that we won’t all be together for much longer, but I’m so excited to see what our futures will hold.”

Many students agree that college years fly by and are over before you know it.

It is fun and inspiration-al to imagine the future and what it could be, but to some people, it is also important to remember to enjoy the moment we are living right now. College does not last forever and

should be taken seriously, but many grown adults will agree, it is one of the last times we are able to the enjoy the least amount of responsibilities with the most amount of freedom.

Graduating students this spring will be stepping up and entering a new stage in their lives, but will unfortu-nately be losing the lack of responsibilities they once had.

Florida Tech's string orchestra takes flightThe Florida Tech string

orchestra takes the au-dience on a harmonious journey in this semester’s performance “Flight,” a tribute to aviation and space travel.

String orchestra is one of the many performance ensembles here at Florida Tech that explores many masterpieces to learn to play and to perform.

From the beginning of the fall 2015 semester, string orchestra practiced twice a week to hone the skills necessary to perform masterpieces and tell the audience a story through sound. This fall’s string orchestra performance was “Flight,” a musical tribute to aviation and space travel.

The conductor of string orchestra, professor Eliza Dopira, said, “We continue to grow, and we get great students from good back-grounds and we have never been so fortunate.”

“Flight” describes through music the transi-tions between earth to the stars and then the return to earth. Beginning with a piece entitled “Aviator Departure” that created the illusion that the audience is leaving the safety of the ground and are taking to the sky.

In between each piece the orchestra plays, a flight attendant will speak to the audience to give them the standard safety instructions or give their current status

of their flight. This further deepened the illusion that the audience was taking a trip to an unknown loca-tion.

Anisa Khan was one of the 13 members who performed and is her first year in string orchestra. “Probably one of the best orchestras I’ve been in.” Khan said. Khan is a vio-linist who has spent a total of nine years learning to play the violin and once she came to Florida Tech she immediately joined string orchestra.

A short video starring the former Astronaut Capt. Winston Scott, who spoke of the advancement in air and space travel, is played during the middle

of the performance. Scott described the evolution of space travel and his time in the stars.

Another member of the orchestra, first-year Chris Rios, has been playing the violin for eight years and is always looking forward to playing new pieces. “I really like it because it’s relaxing.” Rios said. “It’s my relaxation class.”

The thought of playing live always frightens him, “I hate performing, I get so nervous.” Rios said.

After the students fin-ished the piece “Impact,” which was a tribute to the landing on the moon, the final song performed was a hoedown. Although a hoedown has little to no

relation to flight, Dopira explains that upon return-ing to earth a celebration is in order to commemorate one’s success at “Flight.”

After the performance, applause from friends, fam-ily and fellow music lovers filled the room that came to be a part of this tribute. To-gether everyone was able to remember how the history of flight evolved from earth to the heavens above.

Dopira said that next semester they will be going to combine music programs with Eastern Florida State College in creating a pro-gram of opera selections.

//MARY KOZAITISSTAFF WRITER

//RILEY GEESKIECONTRIBUTING WRITER

Out with the cold, in with the sunshineIt’s the first day of the

semester. You look through your closet to find the right outfit that will make you stand out. Eventually you find it and it's perfect; you are definitely going to make a great first impression. Now as you are getting ready to leave, you look outside and see it is bright and sunny, the perfect Flor-ida day. You walk outside with great confidence and then BAM!

You instantly feel the “freezing” breeze. Much of our student body has probably felt this feeling throughout January. Most

people assume that Florida is always full of sunshine and warmth but that is not the case. Recently, we have been experiencing drops in temperatures, since the first day of school from the highest on Jan. 16 and 17 at 78.1 degrees to the lowest on Jan. 20 at 39.9 degrees. Burr!

Yet surprisingly, this is not record low for this time of year. In the Flor-ida Almanac, there are records that indicate that our weather has been going though rises and falls in temperature throughout the years, which means that our

weather is a natural reoc-currence.

There are some mys-teries as to how weather works. Yet in the past centuries we have put in a great deal of effort in figuring it out and in the end, we did. According to the Library of Congress, the reason for our cold is actually due to the axis of the earth. In the winter, the sun's rays hit the earth at a shallow angle. These rays are more spread out, which decreases the amount of energy that hits any giv-en point. Also, during the daylight savings where the

nights are long and days are short there is little time for Earth to warm up. Thus, we have winter and the cold.

Of course, it isn’t as intense as up north and the crazy snowstorms they can get, but Florida does get its share of the chilly days.

“I stay inside and wear as many layers as I can,” said Andrea Bernhard, a mathematical science ma-jor. She is a Florida-raised girl with the warmth flow-ing through her blood. Yet, just because one is born in Florida doesn’t mean that they are susceptible to the cold.

Andrew Koch, also born in the sunshine state, was found walking outside in shorts and a t-shirt! When asked about his thoughts on the cold weather, he said, “I don’t really feel so cold, this feels just brisk at the most.” People might expect all Floridians to be in bur-kas during this time — you might run into a few — but some deal with it just fine.

Thankfully to some, the cold weather of January is over, and warmer weather is on its way. v

//SVETA WARRENSTAFF WRITER

GEARING UP FOR GRADUATIONEntropy’s Co-author, Raven Vega

NEWS

//WILL HENDERSONSTAFF WRITER

ISSUE 3 FEB. 2

Student engineers next generation of guitarsFor many students, art

and engineering are two distinct, separate fields, but for Florida Tech sophomore Chris Woodle, they share common ground.

Woodle claims he has been building since he can remember, and that since he first became interested in music in middle school, he’s been applying engi-neering concepts to his construction of guitars.

When a friend asked Woodle if he wanted to learn the electric bass so they could play together, he was excited, but couldn’t afford such an expensive instrument. When he inher-ited his grandparent’s old woodworking tools, Woo-dle saw the opportunity to make his own electric bass.

Since that first build, Woodle has been fascinat-ed by the ways in which different factors can influ-ence the sound produced by an instrument and the way it plays. Woodle’s new wave of guitar construc-

tion has come through the coupling of 3D modeling and ergonomic designs that help both the player and the manufacturing process.

Woodle is in the process of testing his newest guitar, which has a specially-built body that allows the player to hold the guitar on their lap normally, or on their knee like a classical guitar. The design also features “fanned frets,” which fit the natural posture of the hand and a patented trape-zoid cut neck that promotes comfortable playing, which Woodle is licensing.

Recently, Woodle has been funneling his designs through the Florida Tech Business Incubator with the hopes of potentially start-ing a business, but he’s not stopping there.

“That’s the main reason I keep building these instru-ments, because I can take the ideas of industry and bring them into the creative mindset,” Woodle said. “So it really brings together

engineering and creative arts.”

The guitars though, are just a side project for the computer engineering major, who is a software developer droplit; a start-up that is building a cloud infrastructure for different devices in homes.

Woodle is also a teacher at the Space Coast Fab Lab, where he teaches 3D mod-eling courses. He’s taught summer camps for local students using his guitars as an example of utilizing the techniques to produce visual and performance art.

Woodle also helps out with local robotics pro-grams, promoting the problem solving mindset, and he wanted to leave this quote from one of his math teachers that has influenced and inspired him, “Great problem solvers ask great questions.” v

6

SCI-TECH 7ISSUE 3 FEB. 2

//CHRIS PANGALOSSTAFF WRITER

THE INTERMEDIATE MOBILE PHOTOGRAPHER STARTER PACKThis list is for photographers and enthusiasts who don’t mind taking things a step further.

We’ll kick off this list with Afterlight: a popular photo editing app that offers not just an intuitive interface, but the ability to add cir-cular frames to pictures. It can also be accessed from the camera roll to offer light leaks, filters and a whole lot more. Afterlight has over 70 unique features with icon previews that do more jus-tice that one would normal-ly assume. Its textures also have an organic and natural feel that is almost irresist-ible, allowing users the control that comes with not feeling like they’re doing more harm than good to the photo they’re working on. In addition to its 128 frames, Afterlight has over 20 hand-drawn wall-papers that more than do the trick, as well as a shar-ing and saving interface that offers a great deal of choice.

AFTERLIGHT

Darkroom is about stream-lining the nitty-gritty — the app is simplicity with sheen. Darkroom aims to ease the process of capturing the perfect look for photos with a stripped down import process — there really isn’t any — and an interface that prioritizes and capital-izes on the editing process. It’s sleek, but not that pret-ty; quick, but not without the big-kid controls. It also features a pro-kit that enables users to make, edit and share filters with an in-app purchase. Even with its magnificent curves editor, Darkroom’s greatest feature is perhaps its infinite edit/undo history. The only complaint is the inability to zoom in on currently edited photos.

DARKROOM

THE INSTAGRAM FAMILY

//EBUBE UBOCHISCITECH EDITOR

Enlight is possibly the most feature-packed mobile pho-to editing app this reviewer has come across. Admitted-ly, this makes it a bit of a challenge to get used to the app itself, as it takes away from the experience and steals a great deal of thun-der from the very intuitive interface. Perhaps the most interesting thing about Enlight is that it offers a lot more control and intuitive-ness in landscape mode, the existence of which is inter-esting in itself, as apps like VSCO and Darkroom don’t even provide such a luxury. The app costs $3.99 and is worth every penny — Darkroom’s pro-kit curves add on costs that much alone. Enlight’s power requires a great deal of con-trol, as the same amount of editing done in Darkroom will have a heavier effect here. Enlight provides stel-lar effects that make photos feel like the works of art that they should be. If only it was free.

ENLIGHT

Upcoming virtual reality headsets may be the future of gamingVirtual reality has been

one of the most anticipated technologies of the future, shown as a recurring sub-ject of science fiction and research. While there have been attempts to popularize virtual reality in the past, such as the Nintendo Virtu-al Boy.

Most were viewed as novelties or gimmicks due to awkward controls and lack of technology to create a convincing environ-ment. Technology avail-able today, however has recently sparked renewed interest in virtual reality with big companies such as Facebook, HTC, and Sony preparing to push it as the next big development.

One of the most well-known VR headsets com-ing up is the Oculus Rift. Pre-orders for the Oculus Rift headset have begun at a price of $600 and will ship on March 28, accord-ing to Digital Trends.

The Oculus Rift fea-tures an OLED display with

2160 x 1200 resolution. The Rift will ship with an Xbox One Controller, but will later feature its own controller known as the Oc-ulus touch. For sensing, it features an accelerometer, gyroscope and magnetom-eter. Using these sensors, the Oculus is able to track the position of the wearer’s head to provide a matching virtual image.

In 2014, Facebook pur-chased Oculus VR startup companies, the original makers of the Oculus Rift. Mark Zuckberg, founder of Facebook explained on his Facebook page that they intend to continue pushing the Rift forward as a VR gaming device, but also want to make it a platform for other virtual experienc-es.

Zuckberg wrote, “Imag-ine enjoying a courtside seat at a game, studying in a classroom of students and teachers all over the world or consulting with a doctor face-to-face just by putting

on goggles in your home.”The Rift’s immediate

competitor will be HTC’s Vive, developed with sup-port from Valve. The Vive shares many similarities to the Rift matching its OLED resolution of 2160 x 1200. While it uses an accelerom-eter and gyroscope like the Rift, it uses its own laser sensor for positioning and a front-facing camera. Ac-cording to The Telegraph, pre-orders will start Feb. 29, and it will be released for commercial sale in April, though the price has yet to be announced.

Sony is also somewhat more slowly working on its Playstation VR, a virtual reality headset for the PS4. According to Cnet, it will utilize a 1080p OLED dis-play and have a 100 degree field of view (10 degrees less than the Rift and Vive). The main controller will be the PS4’s own DualShock 4 along with Playstation Move wand controller and PlayStation Camera

for tracking. Its price and release date, however, have still not been announced.

According to the New York Times, Apple has recently purchased an augmented reality compa-ny known as Flyby Media. While Apple has said that they will not discuss their purpose or plans for the company, they’ve also

hired Doug Bowman a virtual reality researcher who ran the center for Hu-man-Computer Interaction at Virginia Tech. As a result there has been speculation that Apple may be prepar-ing its own virtual reality device. v

Oculus Rift Virtual Reality Headset

Let’s put aside for a moment the fact that sometimes Instagram might actually be the only photo editing app one needs: it lets you adjust brightness, contrast, warmth, satura-tion, highlights, shadows, vignettes, and sharpness in any photo with easily accessible tools that allow strength adjustment on an accurate 100-point scale. The beautiful thing is that Instagram offers a whole lot more now with its three new creativity-encouraging creations: Layout, Hyper-lapse and Boomerang.

Layout completely negates the need for any photo collage app you’ve ever used, period. It offers a vast array of arrangements and styles, and is possibly the most intuitive app of its kind. Best of all: no ads.

Hyperlapse makes it possible to create time lapse videos in the smartest way ever, by not only in-corporating quick, easy and automatic optical image stabilization, but offering the ability to adjust the scale to which the video is sped up. Whenever speed is adjusted, the app shows the video’s new length — a feature that is a lot more handy than one would realize at first glance.

Boomerang is the fun one of the group. This app allows the creation of beau-tifully quirky short videos that loop back and forth; they’re not really gifs but they’re like gifs 2.0. That’s literally all the app does, but hey, might as well try it just for kicks, right?

SPORTS 8ISSUE 3 FEB. 2

// NATHANIEL ASHTONSTAFF WRITER

Panther Softball opened the inaugural Florida Tech/ Marriott Kickoff Classic against the Texas Wom-en's Pioneers, right here at Florida Tech's Nancy Bottge Field on Jan. 29.

This game was the first played in the NCAA softball season across all divisions.

In the first inning, after stealing two bases, Florida Tech's Elaine Brown assist-ed by Krista Patterson #18

scored Florida Tech's first run of the game.

In the fifth inning, assisted by Karina Suicava and her sacrifice fly, Hailey Leonard gained Florida Tech's second and last run of the game.

The Panthers kept the Pioneers from scoring for the next two innings, and won the game with a final score of Florida Tech 2, Texas Women’s 0.

ASSC Best Pitcher, Ra-

chel Pence, had an excellent game, striking out seven Texas Women’s batters, and allowing only three hits by TWU.

“I had a great defense playing behind me,” said Pence. “It definitely helped to take some of the pres-sure off when we got on the board early in the game.”

The next game of the day was Texas Women’s versus the Lynn Universi-ty Fighting Knights. Lynn University defeated the Pioneers with a final score of Lynn 5, TWU 2.

The third and final game of the day was between Florida Tech and Lynn University.

Hopes were high com-ing into this game after the Panthers shut out TWU. However, in the second inning, Lynn university scored a spirit-crushing six runs.

That did not stop Leon-ard from swinging for a home run in the bottom of the second inning, putting Florida Tech on the board.

Another five and a half innings went by with Flori-da Tech holding Lynn at six runs, shutting them out for six of the seven innings.

In the bottom of the sev-enth inning, Leonard again swung for a home run. With it came a glint of extra hope for the Panthers.

“After a hit like that, you always think it’s going to be a rally, and all of a sudden you’re going to score more runs,” said Val Silvestrini,

FLORIDA TECH SOFTBALL OPENS THE NCAA SEASONhead coach for the Pan-thers.

The excitement was short-lived. The Panthers could not come up with the four more runs needed to tie the game.

The final score was Flor-ida Tech 2, Lynn University 6.

Florida Tech was set to play Saturday in the sec-ond game of the day versus Mars Hill.

“We have a great team and I think we’ll make re-ally good adjustments from today, we learned a lot,” said Pence.

The first game on Sat-urday was Lynn University versus Mars Hill, Mars Hill won this match-up with a final score of Lynn 3, Mars Hill 9.

The Panthers were back on the field, and in the sec-ond inning, it became clear that the adjustments made were just what Florida Tech needed.

There were two runs in this inning by Emily York and Krista Patterson, fol-lowed by three runs in the third inning.

The rally was started by Audrey Gangloff, running home after another hit by Patterson. Then two con-secutive runs were scored by York and Patterson, thanks to Ashley Montion’s batting.

The run train continued into the fourth and fifth innings as well, with Sarah Hayes and Elaine Brown both scoring in the fourth.

Leonard brought in Montion with a hard grounder in the fifth to end the game.

With an final score of 8-0, the Panthers came out as a different team than they were the day before.

“It seems that we were very nervous. It was the first day of the season and they were very tense,” said Silvestrini. “We told them, what’s the worst thing that can happen? We strike out, we lose a game. That doesn't matter. What does is that we’re in the moment, and we’re ready for the next play. And they took that very well.”

Florida Tech finished the tournament with two more games on Sunday, one match up with the Flagler Saints at Nancy Bottge Field, and a rematch with Texas Women’s at Mel-bourne High School’s soft-ball field, coming out with two wins and improving 4-1 in the season opening tournament.

“I feel really, really good,” Silvestrini said in a press release. “I feel like we got better every single game and got the nerves out of the way. We started swinging better, being more aggressive on the bases, executing and scoring runs. It was a really good week-end.” v

// AUDREY GANGLOFFSPORTS EDITOR

photo by Nathaniel Ashton

Strong defense earns two conference sweeps for women’s basketballStrong, relentless defense has propelled the Panthers to two conference wins this week.The women’s basketball team faced off and shut down both Tampa and Eckerd earlier in the season. This week, the Panthers took round two as well.“It’s been all about effort,” said Head Coach John Reynolds. “Defense and rebounding can tell a lot about a team’s toughness

and effort.”The win on Wednesday was the Panthers first sweep over Tampa since the 2003-2004 season. “This game was tough and hard-fought; it was really a battle,” said Reynolds. “We got beat a couple times this year because we missed shots or free throws late in the game. Tonight we made our free throws and grabbed big rebounds.”Riding a four-game win-

ning streak, the team is being led on defense by Diamond Cooper, Shequana Harris and DeLise Williams.Cooper is leading the SSC with an average of 1.5 blocks per game while Harris and Williams have claimed the top two spots in steals per game. The team’s combined efforts have allowed the Panthers to be first in the conference in three-point field goal defense percentage.

On Saturday, the Panthers’ defense was tested, facing off against Eckerd who is ranked right behind the Panthers in three-point field goal defense.Eckerd is also third in the SCC in scoring defense, only allowing 59.6 points by their opponents in games.The Panthers narrowly missed that margin, sinking 62 points and holding the Titans to just 55. The double sweep for the

week secured a second place ranking in the SCC for the women’s team.The Panther’s next matchup is against Florida Southern in the Play4Kay Game for Breast Cancer awareness. The game is on Wednesday at 2 p.m. in the Clemente Center. v