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The Cornell Daily Sun (https://cornellsun.com/2002/05/02/test-spin-imperial-teen/)

May 2, 2002

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Test Spin: Imperial Teen

By wpengine | May 2, 2002

Some people may violently disagree with me, but the most important ingredient in the Strokes’ stew isn’t The Stooges or The Velvets; it’s the Blondie. That winning pop aesthetic: simple, steady rhythms that make you dance while driving (sometimes dangerously). Imperial Teen use these same devices to compelling effect on their latest, taking the formula even one step further by adding some gorgeous boy/girl harmonies.

Roddy Bottum, Lynn Perko, Will Schwartz, and Jone Stebbins all share instruments and vocal duties, but it is Bottum and Schwartz’s fittingly flamboyant lyrics that make for the most fun here (i.e. Schwartz’s line in “Our Time:” “the girls dressed in leather/ and the boys are wearing feathers/ it’s our time”). “Baby” is pure new wave bliss, hand claps and all — “I love baby, baby is a dog/ What’s up, maybe baby is a god” will be in your head for weeks. “Undone” slows down a bit, but is no less infectious and “Mr. & Mrs.” possibly contains On’s catchiest chorus. Dance and drive safely!

Archived article by Ben Kupstas

Related

Arts Will Alter Requirements

By wpengine May 3, 2002

Last week, after over two years of deliberation, the College of Arts and Sciences approved changes to the college’s distribution requirements. The current Arts school distribution requirements have been in place for nearly a century, according to a member of the Arts administration. The requirements were changed to better reflect the disciplinary demands of courses offered in the Arts school. Prior to requirement changes, the courses offered in the Arts school fell into the following categories — physical and biological sciences, math and quantitative reasoning, social sciences and history, and humanities. However, recent sentiments building over several years among Arts faculty and administrators reflected dissatisfaction with these course classifications, and new organizational standards were sought. The changes passed last week break the final two categories, social sciences and history and humanities into five new categories that, according to faculty and administrators of the college, better represent the academic opportunities offered in the school. Beginning in fall of 2003, courses will be organized into the following categories — physical and biological sciences, math and quantitative reasoning, literature and the arts, historical analysis, cultural analysis, knowledge, cognition and moral reasoning, and social behavioral analysis. Currently, Arts students are required to take five courses falling in the social sciences and history and humanities categories. With the new distribution requirements, students will have to complete five courses falling in the five new categories and must take at least one course in at least four of the disciplines. There was no change made to the physical and biological sciences and mathematical and quantitative reasoning distribution requirements. While the new requirements do not increase or decrease the number of courses an Arts student is required to take, those involved in the changes felt that these new areas of distribution both more accurately organize the college’s courses and also achieve a broader arts education. “[We want students] to gain a knowledge of the different sorts of analysis [the school offers],” said Jonathan Culler, senior associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. Deliberations regarding the distribution requirements began in 1999 when a curriculum committee was formed to review the University’s current academic requirements and to study the distribution requirements at other comparable universities. In 2000, the committee submitted its first proposal to the faculty of the Arts college who discussed the proposal and ultimately sent it back to the committee for revision. Subsequently, another committee was formed to generate a new academic proposal, and last week the new proposal was finally approved by the faculty of the Arts college. According to a curriculum committee member, faculty members and administrators involved in the reforms are pleased with the new course categorizations and feel that they effectively and thematically distinguish the courses in terms of subject matter and academic modes of inquiry and analysis. Students in the arts college, however, reacted with mixed responses to the new distribution requirements. “I think it is unnecessary,” said Matthew Lazarus ’05. “People will have even less freedom than they do now in choosing their classes.” Other students, however, appreciated the broad curricular demands of the new requirements. “I think it strengthens the basis that we are gaining from a Cornell education because it broadens our horizons,” said Bryn Fuller ’05. While current Arts students may appreciate or resent the new organization of the curriculum in the Arts college, the changed distribution requirements will not take effect until the spring of 2003 and will only affect students in the class of 2007 and after.Archived article by Ellen Miller
Webfood Created by Cornellians for Cornellians

By wpengine May 3, 2002

Webfood, a web-based food ordering service from Cornell Dining, has been operational on campus since March 12. Webfood was created by four students at Cornell — Peter Krebs grad, Tim Campbell grad, Lou Licari ’02 and Ari Parnes ’02. Plans for Webfood originated approximately two years prior to its implementation. “It was in February of 2000 that the idea popped into our heads,” said Campbell. “We got the contract in December of 2001, and it took a few months to get it actually implemented.” Webfood, which currently has about 870 users, allows Cornellians to log on to the system over the Internet at www.cornell.webfood.com, and order a meal from Bear Necessities on North Campus. “We thought that we could help out and make the lines shorter, because we had all experienced very long lines as undergraduates,” Campbell said. The service allows students to select the items they want to eat and pick them up at a specified time. According to the Webfood web site, the program also saves time for the cooks since all similar items can be prepared at once. The team of students all perform separate tasks to make Webfood run smoothly. Krebs is responsible for the programming and the interface. Campbell performs the web design, graphic layout and user support. Parnes handles legal issues while Licari and Parnes work as a team to provide business services, such as financing and securing loans. “As of yet the company hasn’t needed much financing, as it is still a local operation,” said Parnes. “I definitely see that changing as we grow, though. We have plans to expand in the near future.” To accomplish this, the four students will attend a meeting of the National Association of College and University Food Services (NACUFS) to spread the word about their service. On the Cornell campus, there are tentative plans to expand Webfood services. “We are talking with Cornell Dining about spreading Webfood to Cascadeli, possibly as early as this summer,” said Campbell. “They have a delivery service to faculty and staff, and they’ve been having trouble with lines.” Campbell has described Cornell Dining as receptive to their ideas. “Nadeem Siddiqui of Cornell Dining Services, seemed hesitant but enthusiastic,” Campbell says. “Cornell Dining wanted a demo, which we developed in the spring of 2000.” To spread word about the service, Cornell Dining sponsored Webfood’s marketing program. According to Parnes, “we had posters put up on North Campus, bought an ad in The Sun and sent out an e-mail.” Campbell explains that the service is still experiencing alterations to make it run more smoothly. “We have been adjusting the limit of orders from Webfood over a twenty minute period. Right now we are at ten orders [per period], and that seems to be working pretty well. We work with the cooking staff to determine what would be a good number over a certain time.” The advantage of this system is that the students are able to select the time that their order will be picked up. Though the user base is still relatively small, feedback has been fairly positive, according to Campbell. “Right now we are very enthusiastic. Hopefully at the end of the semester we’ll have time to look at the data, and we hope that it will be good for Cornell. Overall, we are pretty happy with it,” he said. Many Webfood users seem to be pleased with the service. “Personally, I’m a big fan of Webfood,” said Devon Story ’05. “It is both easier and more convenient to order food online and pick it up than to wait in the seemingly endless lines at Bear Necessities.” Archived article by David Hillis