Articles written by Julie Clark

Staff Opinion: Pets sometimes less than companionate

coreyshep — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 21:44:42 -0400

I thought I wanted a pet.

So I checked the pet section in the classifieds for a few weeks and found an ad for a cat that sounded perfect.

The description in the paper made the cat sound cute, so I called the number listed at the end of the ad.

The lady who had listed the ad was thrilled to hear I was interested in taking her cat. She gave me directions to her house, and we made plans for me to come over and meet the cat the next day.

Staff Opinion: Good parenting gradually vanishing

coreyshep — Thu, 29 May 2008 14:53:00 -0400

Last Thursday afternoon, I crawled into the backseat of a friend’s Honda Accord and settled in for the hour-long ride to my hometown of Roanoke from Auburn. Several of my friends’ younger siblings were graduating from Handley High School.

I’m not one to run home for every event that would allow me to relive my high school days (because, quite frankly, I don’t care to relive them), but I wanted to be at graduation to experience the special night with my friends and their little brothers and sisters.

Superstitions plague Auburn students

wpolley — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 01:00:00 -0400

Whitney Haddox: a senior in exercise science, cringes at the thought of seven years of bad luck after breaking a mirror. Kyle Cooper / ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR

What do rabbits’ feet, pennies and horseshoes have in common?

They all bring good luck, according to Auburn students who say they believe and follow superstitions.

Most students say they pick and choose the superstitions they follow, but they say they think almost everyone believes in at least one superstition.

Cody Clark, a freshman in fiber engineering, said he isn’t sure whether superstitions are real, but he doesn’t want to take any chances.

“I believe things happen for a reason, and I don’t want to cause anything bad to happen,” Clark said. “I believe they are mostly just in your head, but better safe than sorry.”

Clark said he has heard seeing black cats, breaking mirrors and spilling salt mean bad luck.

Clark also believes eating certain foods before an athletic event is bad luck.

“Back in high school, a buddy of mine and I would never eat hamburger meat on Thursday or Friday because we believed it would throw our (football) game off come Friday night,” Clark said. “We even went to a team grill out and would not eat anything but hotdogs.”

Emily Venglarik, a sophomore in secondary science education, said she believes in a number of superstitions.

Students worry about passwords

wpolley — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 01:00:00 -0400

TigerMail: is a frequently accessed page which requires a password. Students should use a password that is easily remembered, but is also difficult to guess.

Passwords are meant to keep private information secure, but with the increasing availability of spyware and the growing number of fraudulent e-mails, individuals are finding it harder than ever to protect themselves with passwords.

Office of Information Technology specialist Seth Humphrey advises students to carefully select their passwords.

“We recommend having a mixture of upper and lowercase letters and numbers,” Humphrey said. “If your system allows you to use special characters, we recommend that, too. And the longer it is, the stronger it is.”

Humphrey said routinely changing passwords may also prevent strangers from accessing your accounts.

Lethal injection upheld

wpolley — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 01:00:00 -0400

The U.S. Supreme Court determined April 16 that Kentucky’s lethal injection protocol, which is similar to that of Alabama, does not violate the Eighth Amendment, which prohibits “cruel and unusual punishment.”

Facebook adds chat application

wpolley — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 03:25:39 -0400

Facebook introduced yet another feature last week to aid its users in spending hours at a time on the social networking Web site.

Facebook Chat will allow users to have real-time conversations, either in a separate window or on the bottom of the page.

Users can click the “Online Friends” button to see which friends are available for a chat. Users can choose to appear offline.

Facebook Chat is the Web site’s only official instant messaging system, and it will automatically appear on Facebook members’ profiles.

Jane Random - Brittany Jackson

wpolley — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 03:18:50 -0400

HERSHEY’S ‘N’ PEANUT BUTTER: Brittany Jackson: sophomore in human development and family studies/early childhood education, doesn’t like golf because she’s not good at it, and she refuses to pay $20 to see a rodeo. She doesn’t mind a little facial hair on guys, but she doesn’t like her man to look gri

Brittany Jackson / sophomore, human development and family studies / early childhood education

ABOUT JANE:
Age: 20
Hometown: Athens
Availability: Single
Sign: Capricorn
Greatest fear: Snakes
Hobbies: She enjoys going to church, shopping and spending time with her friends.
Random fact: Her summer job this year will be working at a camp.

Did you have a treehouse when you were little?
No, but I always wanted one. I did have a kitchen playhouse. But we always mowed the grass around it, and the grass grew too tall inside the playhouse for me to get in it.

Did you watch The Masters last weekend?
No. I don’t really like golf. I’ve tried to play before, and I wasn’t really good at it.

Birds of a feather flock together in relationships

wpolley — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 01:00:00 -0400

People are generally attracted to people similar to themselves in looks, personality in romantic relationships

Research published in the Journal of Family Psychology suggests women who marry less attractive men have better marriages, while men who were more attractive than their wives were unhappy about their marriages.

But the Auburn psychology department’s assistant professor Richard Mattson said these findings may not hold true for unmarried college students.

Personalized plate problem plagues state

wpolley — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 01:00:00 -0400

More Personalized Options

A bill that would allow people to personalize their “God Bless America” license plates is one step closer to becoming a law after its approval by a Senate committee April 2.

If the bill gets final approval, drivers can have their tags personalized for an additional $50, which will benefit the Alabama Veterans Living Legacy at Montevallo. The “God Bless America” plates cost the same as the “Stars Fell on Alabama” plates.

Campus gun bill shot down by state Senate

wpolley — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 01:00:00 -0400

The Senate Education Committee voted down bills by Sen. Hank Erwin, R-Montevallo, March 26 that would have allowed professors and ROTC students to carry guns on college campuses in Alabama.

Committee Chairwoman Sen. Vivian Figures, D-Mobile, said she was pleased with the committee’s decision, and she thinks the public is as well.

“I received calls from people requesting we not pass these bills (prior to the vote),” Figures said. “I had received several calls from college presidents and security personnel saying they did not support these bills.”