The current economic climate has affected many students financially and emotionally. Because numerous students focus exclusively on financial security, they pursue careers they think will provide financial cushion, rather than careers they are passionate about.

At U. Southern California’s Marshall School of Business, many students think the most successful people at their school are those who get offers from investment banks, not those who have an excellent overall college experience.

I’m very happy for those who pursue investment banking if they are passionate about their chosen career. Unfortunately, many of them simply go into that career path because of the perception of “big bucks,” and plan to get out of their career as soon as they make enough money.

As a whole, many in our generation seem to be more focused on monetary compensation and not what they truly want for their lives.

As a teenager, I thought I was on the road to success; I was awarded a franchise from a major restaurant chain and found great success at a young age. I was very happy at the beginning because I was making six figures, driving a posh car and buying designer clothes without asking my parents for any money.

Soon, my addiction to money began to take a toll on my life. I came to think that life was all about becoming a millionaire, and would judge people based on their net worth rather than their character.

I began to work longer hours to make more money — I even ended up skipping my brother’s graduation. As a result, my personal relationships were almost destroyed.

Money took over my life, while my feelings and passions were no longer part of me. The situation was intensified in the microscope of Los Angeles where I was surrounded by people who believed that superficial pursuits are the only important ones.

My life changed when I went to a restaurant and saw one of my classmates who struggled financially but looked so much happier than I felt; I was just a money-making robot with no feelings.

I recently asked Emilio Diez-Barroso, a member of the board of directors at Summit Entertainment about his definition of success. He didn’t say that it could be defined as making more money. Instead, he said that for him success means having “the moment of miracle” or self-discovery. I couldn’t believe that one of the world’s most influential and successful business leaders defines success as having time for self-discovery.

After graduating from college, he joined his family’s Televisa and Univision empire, but he left the empire to follow his passion. The result: Not only is he successful in the business world but also has fulfilling personal relationships.

The biggest mistake we make is letting money become who we are. Unconsciously, we make many decisions based on how much we have, not who we have become. Making less money doesn’t mean one should feel powerless and unhappy. If we let money define every aspect of ourselves, we will never have true happiness.

In less than a month, the graduating class of 2010 will go into the real world, but many are uneasy about their future.

We should look back and remember the day we got the acceptance letter to ’SC? We felt we owned the whole world and knew what our dreams and passions were. Where are your dreams and passions now?

They’re trying to survive somewhere in ourselves, but we could be neglecting them while stressing ourselves over future financial prosperity. Instead, we should take a step back to reacquaint ourselves with the importance of our ambitions.

Our passions might not give us financial security, but our names are not money; we are human beings whose passions and dreams define who we are.

Perry Jhang is a USC junior majoring in business administration.

I got the title for my Internet-themed column from ex-Senator Ted Stevens’ comments on net neutrality. In 2006, Stevens mixed up the words “Internet” and “e-mail,” and then gave an incorrect account of how e-mail traffic works, saying that “[the Internet is] not a big truck — it’s a series of tubes.”

It seemed at the time like nothing more than a humorous insight into how little the people in charge of Internet regulation actually knew about the web, but it had a larger implication — the marginalization of the Internet and online culture in general.

At the time that Stevens made those remarks, social media had not yet broken into Tweet-mania, ownership of Internet-enabled phones was limited to Wall Street’s finest and many people still did not recognize the power of the Internet. As a fan of the Internet and Internet culture, this left me a little jaded.

Since I started writing this column, I’ve seen the Internet go from being perceived as a passing trend to being recognized as a major part of life. Whereas a few years ago being tech-savvy was considered geeky and looked down on, now it is a skill everyone either has or is gaining through everyday life. Why the change, and what does this mean for us?

Part of this shift is simply because of the technological boom of the last few years. Laptops became sleeker and more convenient. Smart phones suddenly gave the Internet an ultra-portable system.

Facebook and Twitter exploded in popularity, getting people, who normally would not use the Internet to connect with others, to go online. Add in the rise of media sites like YouTube and Hulu and the Internet suddenly became unavoidable.

The boom made the Internet so mainstream that it is now ingrained in everyday life.

There is a great quote from the television show Leverage: “Age of the geek, baby.” And the way online resources are being used today, it certainly applies.

People use e-mail more than snail mail — it is quick, easy and there is less chance of paper cuts. In business, the Internet has streamlined communication, organization and productivity.

More and more companies are using its resources as part of their business models, and some of the largest companies in the last decade are ones that work within the field, such as Google and Amazon.

Even politics have been shaped by the Internet, and politicians now embrace it as a means to success. President Obama’s campaign was a turning point for online political activism, allowing a localized center to organize rallies, raise money and communicate on a national level with ease. Now it is the model for every 21st century campaign, with every candidate focusing heavily on their online division.

The Internet, as the old saying goes, has made the world smaller. We are interconnected at a level unheard of in recent times. A simple video posted online can spread instantly and create a new meme or create a global protest against some act of brutality.

Recently, the Internet became a tool for a task that would have been unheard of a few years ago — running a country. Stranded in New York by the ash cloud covering Europe, Norway’s Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg was able to electronically govern his nation through his iPad. While he might not have been physically interacting with his staff, he still had full access and communication with them — all through the Internet.

This rise of Internet legitimacy puts us in an interesting spot. We are a part of a generation that grew up at the same time as the Internet. All of the big trends that have emerged happened as we came into adulthood and the next generation will already have these in place.

Whether this is a good or bad thing is up in the air, but they will be a whole new kind of technological user, with different habits and understandings of the Internet.

It is clear now that the web isn’t some fad or passing trend. It is tied to business, communication and our daily lives. The Internet is already an institution, and it is here to stay. It’s more than a series of tubes, Ted Stevens, it’s our lives.

With the great outdoors just out the back door, staying physically active in rural communities might sound easy. But research shows that people living in rural communities are at greater risk for obesity and other health conditions associated with an inactive lifestyle.

Past research on health and wellness in cities and suburbs has often produced conclusions that are a poor fit for rural towns.

David Hartley, director of the Maine Rural Health Research Center at U. Southern Maine, said that adding sidewalks and bike paths so children can exercise on their way to school makes sense in cities, but those aren’t realistic options in a rural town where the school is on the outskirts.

Rural living is often associated with quality of life and access to outdoor recreation, yet the reality is that people living in rural communities have limited access to health care, commercial exercise facilities and community or corporate physical activity programs.

Communities in rural areas have fewer resources to support healthy active living, thus leading residents to be more prone to develop conditions associated with inactivity, such as heart disease, diabetes and obesity, according to research lead by professor Deborah John at Plymouth State U.

“We need to do a better job of making the healthy choices the easy choices,” she said. “And it’s important to get input from the people who live in rural areas rather than try to impose some outside notion of what should be done.”

John earned her Ph.D. from Oregon State U. in exercise and sport science, sport and exercise psychology, with a minor in gender studies.

Her research interests in the past have included investigations into the psychological influence of women’s physical activity behaviors and exercise involvement during the menopause transitional period, as well as a multi method project to gain greater understanding of the concept of objectified body consciousness.

She joined the Plymouth State faculty in the fall of 2004 and now is an assistant professor at OSU’s Extension Family and Community Development Program in Oregon City.

In 2008, along with fellow Plymouth State faculty and students, John created the Partners Enabling Active Rural Living Project with the help and support of New Hampshire Congressman Paul Hodes.

Federal funding secured the project for research aimed at measuring physical activity levels of community members, examining community-level resources and creating a model for physical activity promotion specific to rural communities.

The primary objective of the PEARL grant established the Center for Active Living and Healthy Communities at Plymouth State.

“It’s one thing to go into a community and do research, it’s another thing to get the people who live there to help do the research,” said Barbara McCahan, director for the Center for Active Living and Healthy Communities at Plymouth State. “The people were actually generating the information.”

In March of 2009, researchers invited residents of three rural New England communities to document environmental features that either enable or act as barriers to active living in their town, as part of the PEARL Project.

With the use of a new technology developed by researchers at the U. Wisconsin-Madison called participatory photo mapping, John and her students created an “active living” map of the community.

Walls still can’t talk, but an Ohio U. professor used a 7,000-year-old stalagmite to prove rocks can tell stories.

Gregory Springer, associate professor of geological sciences, along with Harry Rowe, a professor of geology at the U. Texas at Arlington, made a discovery about early Native American life during a study originally intended to reconstruct climate patterns. Native Americans had a greater impact on carbon emissions than scientists previously thought, Springer said. The findings were published in the journal The Holocene.

The study’s participants examined a stalagmite that had grown in Buckeye Creek Cave in southern West Virginia. The stalagmite’s carbon levels indicated a major drought about 2,000 years ago – a climate pattern that had already been disproved by previous studies, Springer said. Springer and his colleagues surmised that if the changed carbon levels were not caused by climate change, they must have been caused by human activity.

A group of archaeologists conducting a study in a nearby cave had found indications that Native Americans had lived in the area, so Springer began to look for connections and concluded that Native Americans had influenced carbon levels by cutting down and burning trees. One explanation, he said, is Native Americans eliminated trees that didn’t provide food, such as acorns and hickory nuts.

“If (Native Americans) were living in that cave, they almost certainly would have been doing something to the forest above,” Springer said. “If they changed vegetation in major ways – by burning trees, for instance – it would show in the stalagmite as we saw it.”

The study indicated the Native Americans of the time had a greater impact on atmospheric carbon levels than scientists would have expected from a group living before the Industrial Revolution.

However, the scientific implication goes further, Rowe said.

“What we’re really talking about is that the (Native Americans) left their mark on the landscape,” Rowe said. “We think the carbon dioxide levels (left by Native Americans) was a small amount compared to what was already there.”

Michael Manga, a professor of Earth and Planetary Science at the U. California-Berkeley, said the study’s significance can be measured in the imprint the Native Americans left.

“We all leave a footprint,” he said. “And the Native Americans left one that is big enough to show up in the geologic record.”

In the corner of a musty garage, next to a bear pelt tacked to the wall and under strings of Christmas lighting, I nervously peeled off my clothes.

Breath short. Hands shaking. My mind going in a million directions. Each movement—awkward yet methodical. And as each piece of clothing fell to the floor, I strategically placed my hands in a new position. Soon my pink Old Navy flip-flops were all that remained. Bare-assed and heart thumping, I stood in a room with 50 strangers, people I had never seen before or spoken to, and people I secretly hoped to never see again. In my still trembling hands, I held a towel, which I had been instructed to bring along in case I was going to sit down, and my BlackBerry, my only lifeline to the outside world. But these strangers seemed preoccupied. They didn’t care that I had just dropped trou. I knew I was far from perfect. Why weren’t they staring?

I was 12 the first time I went skinny-dipping, the only other time I’ve been completely nude in public. But it was that night, while my best friend and I complained about our chubby pre-teen bodies, she revealed she had been binging and purging for the last few months. A couple weeks later, another friend confessed she had been purposely skipping meals. And a month after that, I caught yet another girl vomiting in the school’s bathroom. By the time seventh grade was over, six of my close friends confessed to having eating disorders, whether they binged and purged, over-exercised, starved themselves or were addicted to laxatives. Most of the time, I knew all about it. They had all sworn me to secrecy, and in a desperate attempt to keep my friendships (because I somehow thought not having an eating disorder precluded me from being friends with these girls), I kept my mouth shut. Then there were the times I wished I had one. And I tried. But when my friend handed me the hairbrush, and I stood over the toilet, I was too scared to go through with it. Even by myself, I tried multiple times with my finger, a toothbrush or anything else sharp laying around my bathroom. But as soon as the gag reflex hit, I chickened out. And so it continued. When I was with the girls at lunch, I’d skip meals. But the second I was home, I’d stuff my face with just about anything I could find in the refrigerator. And when I realized what I had done (like eating an entire pint of ice cream), I quickly washed up the dishes and hid the evidence in the garbage or underneath the couch or anywhere else where I was certain no one would find it.

The Chicago Fun Club was founded last fall by Steve*, a Northwestern Law School dropout and a big guy with a large gut and an even larger head of hair. “I got kicked out of law school twice,” he says. “I wasn’t even failing. I just didn’t want to go to class.” But nudism came calling. It gave him the freedom to be himself, he admits. Steve and his girlfriend Katie* began the Fun Club for Chicago nudists to meet monthly for various activities and social events like bowling or costume parties (which I learned later could include anything from just masks to body paint). But like any club, there are rules. Participants must be 21. There is no sexual behavior. There is no staring. And if single men are interested in attending, they must go on a “coffee” with Steve to discuss their intentions. Plus, it ain’t cheap. Couples are $25, single men are $45 and single women range anywhere from $10 to $15. Steve says the high price deters the “freaks” and makes sure only nudists attend. “It’s not about sex,” he says. “There aren’t creepy old men looking at young girls.” And erections just don’t happen. “In my 12 years of doing this, I’ve never gotten one,” he says. “And I’ve never even seen one.”

Steve stresses the Fun Club is about body acceptance. “It’s the one place in the world you will go, and you won’t be judged how you look,” he says. Saturday’s meet-up was a mix of ages, body shapes and sizes, and sexualities. Men and women played pool, lounged on sofas or sat at the bar drinking beer. It was no different than any party I’ve been to off campus. Steve told me his friends were “normal” and they enjoyed being nude, but I had my doubts (and so did the few people I told, who were certain I was about to be murdered). And yet, conversations seemed normal enough. People chatted about their kids, their jobs and the (nude) vacations they had been on. One woman, Janice*, must have noticed my awkward body positioning and reluctance because she explained her first time had been a shock too, but I’d get used to it. “I had to have three glasses of wine before I got naked,” she admits. “Of course I’m busy thinking about how good I look, but none of these people care about that. I’m accepted for me.”

Imagine my surprise when I realized she was right. It didn’t take long for me to forget about my cellulite-ridden ass, oddly-shaped breasts or rolls of fat which had been so easy to hide behind leggings and over-sized tees. Soon I barely noticed the dozens of bodies that surrounded me. Instead my eyes somehow stopped when I got to their chin, and I was suddenly much more interested in what they had to say than how big they were.

When I got to NU, I thought I had left my body image issues far behind. That was until I (like everyone else) gained the freshman 15, couldn’t fit into any of my jeans and refused to purchase a larger size. So I bought dozens of leggings, because they were the only things that would fit no matter what size I was. And I lied. Over and over again. “I wasn’t hungry,” I’d say to my friends. “You know I only eat one meal a day.” My meals were sporadic. And I’d spend hours in front of the mirror dissecting every part of my body, squeezing here and there, and wishing I was somehow different.

Of course I’m far from alone. When Alyssa* arrived at NU, she says she immediately felt the pressure to be thin and felt unsatisfied with her body. “I started binging and purging,” she says. “That lasted a few months, and then I got control of it and calmed down.” But it returned her sophomore year. “I thought I was strong enough to do it on my own,” she says. Alyssa admits it slowly consumed her life, distancing her from her friends and her schoolwork. “It was all I thought about,” she says. “It was exhausting.” When she realized she was never going to be able to help herself, she took that first step to recovery. “I went to CAPS (Counseling and Psychological Services), but the first time I went, I didn’t go through with it because I was too scared,” she says. “But I convinced a friend to walk with me to that first appointment.” CAPS sat down with her but ultimately referred her to an Evanston doctor. “It almost deterred me from getting help,” she says. “I was afraid that if I went outside NU, it would be expensive, and I’d have to tell the insurance and then my parents.”

For Alyssa, college presented far too many pressures than she was unprepared for. “Before coming to college, I gained some weight because I was just coming into my adult body,” she says. That struggle was only compounded by her experience on a dance team. “We had this choreographer who helped us out with our routines, and she’d say, ‘Oh, you girls are dancing in front of thousands of people. You need to look like athletes, and you don’t,’” Alyssa says. The mandatory workouts, the uniforms and the inherent pressure in the dance world ultimately proved too much.

In February, Ashley Rolnik (Weinberg ’08) published a study in the research journal “Sex Roles” that found sorority rush led to distorted body image. The study, “Here’s looking at you: self-objectification, body image disturbance, and sorority rush,” surveyed 127 freshmen women at “a mid-sized, private, Midwestern university.” Rolnik’s research found that because pledges are often evaluated by their outward appearance, there is an extreme amount of pressure placed on them. The study discovered the mean score on the Eating Attitudes Test, which is used to measure eating habits and opinions, for those who did and did not rush, was “well below the proposed cut-off score that indicates a clinical level of eating disturbance.” The study also found that “women who participated in sorority rush had higher levels of self-objectification” because of the ­negative correlation between body mass index and ultimately rushing a sorority.

But Alyssa says none of that is surprising. “I would never say I felt pressure from my sisters to be thin,” she says, “though I’ve heard women in other chapters who have felt that way. There are just too many opportunities to compare yourself.” Now a senior, Alyssa uses her experience to recognize the tell-tale signs in other women. The struggle with body image is far too common here, she says. “It’s refreshing when I come across someone who is confident,” she says.

Positive body image is one thing Victoria Thieme is sure she has. “I went to an all-girls school, and they implemented self-esteem within us,” says Thieme, who adds she has always been comfortable with nudity. When she arrived at NU, she says she was surprised at how different it was from Arizona, where she grew up. “People aren’t into the curvier, more feminine figures here,” the Communication sophomore says. “I’ve never seen that before. Here the people want to be stick thin. There is a definite pressure to be super skinny.”

But Thieme says the pressure doesn’t get to her. Next month, she will audition for Playboy and hopes to follow in the footsteps of the two NU students who bared it all in the past.
Lasting two and a half hours without clothes didn’t give me the kind of confidence Thieme has. There’s no way I’d ever pose for Playboy even if more than 50 people have now seen me naked. Public nudity didn’t necessarily free me of my body image issues, but for once, I felt equal. As I walked out, one of the nudists asked me if I’d ever return. “Probably not,” I replied with a smile. “But there’s no doubt I’ll remember tonight for the rest of my life.”

*Only first name has been used
**Name has been changed

Remember kindergarten? I sure don’t. But I have a good grasp of what the stereotypical kindergarten experience is supposed to be. And I’m pretty confident that in kindergarten, you’re usually taught that sharing is a good thing.

The Internet is great for sharing, as most people have probably noticed. More often than not, people share quite a bit more than others care to see.

Of course, in kindergarten we’re also taught that it’s wrong to take other people’s things. Much as we may want to play with that particular set of blocks (Do you play with blocks in kindergarten? Like I said, I don’t remember), we learn that it is wrong to take it if it belongs to someone else.

Incidentally, the Internet is also great for taking things that belong to other people. Plagiarism and piracy are more common than ever, thanks to digital media being so easily duplicated and distributed. Of course, “taking” digital media is not as straightforward as taking someone’s toys.

There are two issues present here, the conflation of that being what usually leads people to have long and unproductive debates on the topic. First, there is a question of legality: Is it legal in the United States to do what you want with digital media you own? As it turns out, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act is a twisted behemoth of ill-informed legislation. That is, it ensures that any number of very reasonable things that you do with digital media are illegal and probably felonious to boot. The second and more relevant issue, then, is that of ethicality, which is even trickier.

And if any website has served most to confound both the legal and ethical aspects of copyright, it’s YouTube. People uploading movies, music, etc., that they don’t own the copyrights to is pretty obviously unethical and is certainly illegal, but there are other issues that YouTube’s existence raises that are more difficult to unravel.

Here’s a simple case. If a copyright holder uploads its own video for whatever reason, it is free (and perfectly legal) for users to watch on YouTube whenever they want and as many times as they want, at least until the copyright holder removes it. But say you have the misfortune of living in one of the apartment complexes near campus that have appallingly slow Internet service. Since YouTube exists to let you watch videos at the time and with the frequency of your choosing, is it ethical for you to download the video from YouTube and then watch it at your leisure?

The easy answer is no. Ethical behavior requires obeying the terms of the contract you agreed to by using YouTube, specifically their Terms of Service. And a thorough reading of YouTube’s TOS indicates that “You may access User Submissions […] solely as intended through the provided functionality of the YouTube Website. You shall not copy or download any User Submission.” This would be straightforward enough, if it wasn’t meaningless. Here’s a fun fact: When you watch a video on YouTube in the “intended” fashion, you are downloading a copy of it. This is cold technical fact. With about four seconds of work, you can find the copy where it resides on your computer and move it to wherever is most convenient for you. And since the “intended” functionality is to get a copy of the video onto your computer that you can watch, it doesn’t take a very sophisticated argument to claim that the action is perfectly ethical.

I’m not advocating that people intentionally break YouTube’s Terms of Service just because they’re a bit inconsistent. The spirit of the contract in this case is fairly obvious. But when using the service properly requires you to violate the TOS, there is clearly a problem.

And regardless of how individuals use YouTube’s services, the company’s own behavior raises just as many issues. Viacom, parent company of more than a few film studios and television networks, is currently attempting to take legal action against Google (which owns YouTube) for allowing the hosting of works that Viacom rightfully owns. Documents in the case suggest that YouTube’s administrators intentionally allowed pirated content, under the presumption that that content is what drove traffic to the site. On the flip side, Google has shot back accusing Viacom of secretly using YouTube to market their products, then demanding that YouTube take down videos that they themselves put up.

And, to make matters worse, Viacom’s lawsuit has serious long-term implications for online copyright law. Currently, services like YouTube are not liable for copyright infringements so long as they take down material when requested. But if Viacom wins their case, then YouTube, and by extension any other website that links to or hosts copyrighted material (Google, Facebook and nearly every other useful website) can be held liable for material on their systems. User-submitted content, the backbone of today’s Internet, will essentially become a thing of the past, since website administrators will generally be unwilling to scrutinize everything users submit just to avoid lawsuits.

The problem is the combination of our absurdly tortuous copyright law and the popular disregard for it that YouTube and its uploaders embody. As the advance of technology continues to outpace refinement of the law, we need to ensure that our laws are simple enough to be properly obeyed, but more importantly we need to ensure that we’re behaving in a way that we know is ethical. If we can’t handle these most basic ethical judgments, perhaps we all need to go back to kindergarten.

Crews were poised to begin setting fire to oil leaking from the site of an exploded drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday, a last-ditch effort to get rid of it before it reaches environmentally sensitive marshlands on the coast.

A 500-foot boom will be used to corral several thousand gallons of the thickest oil on the surface, which will then be towed to a more remote area, set on fire and allowed to burn for about an hour, the Coast Guard said. Such burns will continue if they are working.

Doug Suttles, chief operating officer of BP Exploration and Production, said at a news conference Wednesday that crews were going to start the burn process that day.

Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry said it had approved the plan to burn the oil and that air quality would be monitored along the coast. Landry said she expected the spill to impact the shoreline, but she declined to call it catastrophic.

“It’s premature to say this is catastrophic. I will say this is very serious,” she said.

The slick was about 20 miles east of the mouth of the Mississippi River.

About 42,000 gallons of oil a day are leaking into the Gulf from the blown-out well where the Deepwater Horizon exploded and sank last week. Eleven workers are missing and presumed dead. The cause of the explosion has not been determined.

Greg Pollock, head of the oil spill division of the Texas General Land Office, which is providing equipment for crews in the Gulf, said he is not aware of a similar burn ever being done off the U.S. coast. The last time crews with his agency used fire booms to burn oil was a 1995 spill on the San Jacinto River.

“When you can get oil ignited, it is an absolutely effective way of getting rid of a huge percentage of the oil,” he said. “I can’t overstate how important it is to get the oil off the surface of the water.”

He said the oil will likely be ignited using gelled gasoline and lit rags soaked in oil. He said the burn will leave a hardened tar ball that can be removed from the water with nets or skimmers.

“I would say there is little threat to the environment because it won’t coat an animal, and because all the volatiles have been consumed if it gets on a shore, it can be simply picked up,” he said.

Authorities also said they expect no impact on sea turtles and marine mammals in the burn area.

A graphic posted by the Coast Guard and industry task force fighting the slick shows it covering an area about 100 miles long and 45 miles across at its widest point.

Louisiana State Wildlife and Fisheries Secretary Robert Barham told a legislative committee Wednesday that National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration projections show a “high probability” oil could reach the Pass a Loutre wildlife management area Friday night, Breton Sound on Saturday and the Chandeleur Islands on Sunday.

As the task force worked far offshore, local officials were mobilizing in case the oil reaches land.

In Plaquemines Parish, officials hoped to deploy a fleet of volunteers in fishing boats to spread booms that could block oil from entering inlets.

“We’ve got oystermen and shrimpers who know this water better than anyone,” said Plaquemines Paris President Billy Nungesser. “Hopefully the Coast Guard will embrace the idea.”

The parish’s emergency manager planned to meet in Houma on Thursday with a Coast Guard official to discuss whether volunteers can help, Nungesser said.

“We don’t want to just sit by and hope this (oil) doesn’t come ashore,” Nungesser said.

The decision to burn some of the oil comes as the Coast Guard and industry cleanup crews run out of other options to get rid of it.

Crews operating submersible robots have been trying without success to activate a shut-off device that would halt the flow of oil on the sea bottom 5,000 feet below.

Rig operator BP Plc. says work will begin Friday to drill a relief well to relieve pressure at the blowout site, but that could take months.

Another option is a dome-like device to cover oil rising to the surface and pump it to container vessels, but that will take at least two weeks to put in place, BP said.

Winds and currents in the Gulf have helped crews in recent days as they try to contain the leak. The immediate threat to sandy beaches in coastal Alabama and Mississippi has lessened. But the spill has moved steadily toward the mouth of the Mississippi River, home to hundreds of species of wildlife and near some rich oyster grounds.

The cost of disaster continues to rise and could easily top $1 billion.

Industry officials say replacing the Deepwater Horizon, owned by Transocean Ltd. and operated by BP, would cost up to $700 million. BP has said its costs for containing the spill are running at $6 million a day. The company said it will spend $100 million to drill the relief well. The Coast Guard has not yet reported its expenses.

Traveling to a new place, learning a different language, being out of your comfort zone and meeting new and foreign people may seem intimidating at first, but the experience of studying abroad is worth it.

U. Miami junior Claudia Curiel, who is currently studying abroad in Paris through the Inter-university Mission for Coordination of Franco-American Exchanges, offers her advice for others looking to study abroad in the future.

1)   Research the programs available to you and ask others’ opinions before you decide. I was told there was only one program available in Paris, however, I found out later you could do a few others that are not always mentioned or encouraged. I would never take back this opportunity, but I would do it differently. My program is completely laissez-faire, there are no living arrangements and you must find housing on your own. It was truly a mission since you are going to classes at the same time and most places in Paris are tiny, old, dirty and overpriced. I also had to choose my own university and classes; I thought it was very unorganized and unstructured.

2)   Have living arrangements sorted out prior to the beginning of your program. I was given a dorm for 10 days and by the end of that I had to find a place to live. I did not know anyone and luckily found my roommate through an acquaintance. Everything ends up working out; don’t stress.

3)   Do not over-pack. During your time abroad you will accumulate so much that going back will be even more difficult than getting there. My parents came with me to help me during the apartment search so I was, unfortunately, able to bring an excessive amount of clothes in my luggage as well as theirs. This turned out to be a very negative thing.

4)   Do take advantage of traveling. Especially if you study in Europe, everything is so close and there are discounts just for being under 25 or a student. Unlike Miami, where you drive for seven hours and remain in Florida, you can get to another country in just two hours and stay there for the weekend.

5)   Don’t go clubbing the night before a trip. I passed out at 4:30 a.m. the night before my trip to Rome.  I was supposed to be at the bus stop to go the airport (which was not even in Paris) at 5:45 a.m., but my alarm never went off. I woke up at 7 a.m. ran out into the streets looking for a taxi to go to the bus station, but the last bus had already left. I tried to take a train there and then a taxi, but I went all the way to the wrong train station. I ended up having a severe anxiety attack in a 120 euro taxi with a suicidal cab driver. Do not go out the night before.

6)   Do not worry about meeting people. I had a small freak-out right before embarking on my study abroad trip. I knew no one and had no idea who I would live with or hang out with. Despite my worry, I could never have made a better decision in my life. In the past three months I have met so many amazing people, including two princes, and friends from all over the world.

7)   Recognize that we are spoiled in the United States in terms of space and convenience. Everything is much smaller in Europe, and in France there is a protocol for everything. Tasks that are extremely simple back home can be a mission while abroad. Back home you can fix almost anything through the phone or online, whereas in Europe you need to show up in person to get almost anything accomplished.

8)  Enjoy your time abroad. You don’t know when you’ll have the opportunity to live in another country again without worrying about major responsibilities. Go see and do everything that is available in your city including going to museums, parks and monuments. Go out, have fun, meet people, establish relationships and travel!

Before her days as Bravo’s glamorous “Millionaire Matchmaker,” U. Miami alumna Patti Stanger studied screenwriting, lived in the Mahoney-Pearson dorms and frequented Bagel Emporium (for her signature scooped bagel with chicken salad and melted muenster).

With a lifelong interest in matchmaking, Stanger recognized it as her true passion and began her own business in 2000 upon moving to California. Becoming the highly successful Millionaire’s Club International, her endeavor caught Bravo’s attention, winning her a hit show, which debuted in January 2008. Viewers ate up her blunt advice and candid remarks; “Millionaire Matchmaker” is currently in its third season.

The third-generation matchmaker and UM graduate of ’83 recently sat down with The Miami Hurricane to discuss her college experience and offer advice for those looking for love in Miami.

The Miami Hurricane: What first interested you in the University of Miami?

Patti Stanger: “[It was] the only good school in the country that had a really good communications film department, other than NYU and USC,” she said. “That was my dream, to be a screenwriter… I learned so much there to be honest with you.”

TMH: What is one of your favorite memories of your time at UM?

PS: “[I took this] one class with Professor Masterson who taught us about LSD and tripping and stuff, and then the next thing you know we’re on the beach, lying in the sun, having margaritas. School was a party.”

TMH: Did you set up any friends while you were a student at UM?

PS: “I hooked my best friend up with her husband actually. She was dating an asshole from U of M, and I made her go back to her boyfriend from high school who was at another college nearby. He was the best dude she’d ever find and I made her aware of it.”

TMH: How could you tell this was the best guy for your friend?

PS: “The way he treated her. He showed up every weekend at school, he gave her flowers on right occasions and bought her gifts. He constantly was calling to check in. If she had a bad day at school she could talk her ear off to him… it was like her best friend plus sex, and you’re not going to get any better than that.”

TMH: How can students spot the difference between a loser and a romantic interest with potential?

PS: “If he’s seeing you in the dorm, but not during the day, or if he’s just passing by you at the LC building, he’s not your guy. He’s not going to call you at the last minute for a booty call and ignore you during the day. The day[time] is the most critical element, when people’s true colors come out.”

TMH: On a college campus the dating scene can be difficult to navigate. What’s your opinion on hooking up?

PS: “Women need to learn how to take their power back. Just because [guys are] not asking out and wanting to hook up, and having naked parties in the dorms doesn’t mean you have to say yes. You have to be a boundaries girl and stop the flow… Are you going to give it all away for two margaritas and freaking Olive Garden?”

TMH: What is the best dating advice you could give to college students?

PS: “Take chances, take risks and if you’re a guy, ask girls out. If 15 girls say no, the 16th is going to say yes. But ask women out. If you’re a girl, be receptive to the invitation and always take the date, because you never know who he knows… Always pay it forward and play the six degrees game, and you’re more likely to expand your net into new waters. I used to date Miami-Dade guys because my best friend went there and they were better. They were taking me out, taking me to dinner and salsa dancing at night. The U of M guys weren’t doing that. They were lazy and just wanted to smoke pot and eat pizza in the dorm.”

TMH: What do you gain personally out of matchmaking?

PS: “Every time you hook somebody up, you pay it forward to your next sister and brother. So what that means is God is watching; the universe, whether you like it or not has a credit and debit plan, and your number will come up eventually, and someone will do it for you. It’s called the law of physics. Good energy has to come back to you. Energy has to fly, check your science department on that.”

TMH: You have such a dynamic personality. How would you describe your approach to life?

PS: “My approach to life is to take each minute like it’s your last, to the point where you gotta carpe diem it. You’ve got to take risks, you’ve got to take action and you’ve got to be happy about it. We all have to do stuff we don’t love to get where we want to be, but the bottom line is that you don’t have to be negative about it… People don’t realize that it’s all about your attitude.”

More than 60 years ago, Thomas Givhan traded in his U. Kentucky football jersey for a set of Marine Corps. Dress Blues. Now, Givhan has earned one more uniform that he will proudly wear on May 8 as he crosses the stage at the UK commencement ceremony.

In the early 1940s, Thomas Givhan and Scott Miller ventured onto UK’s campus as undergraduate students. During the past 60 years, they have seen marriage, children, grandchildren, law degrees and political careers. But through all this, the two men found something missing: their bachelor’s degrees.

Following the plan

Givhan, an 84-year-old Lexington native, came to UK in 1944 to play football only to be drafted into the military after one semester. He left campus for Paris Island, Camp Legune, and was an expert rifleman in his time in service.

Miller, 83, was raised in Louisville, and went straight from his high school hallways to Great Lakes Navy Training Center. While he was there, Germany surrendered, and before the USS Badoeng could reach Japan, Japan surrendered as well.

With the war drawing to a close, the two men returned home and knew it was time to get an education.

“When I came back from the service I had a different mindset about things,” Givhan said. “I hadn’t been very studious, and I knew I wanted to do something.”

The two men rushed Sigma Chi at UK, where they developed their friendship.

The men immersed themselves in campus life. It was the norm for men to wear coats and ties to class, Miller said. Women wore corsages to football games, although the ratio of men to women on campus was quite the dating disadvantage.

“Back then there were six guys to every girl on campus,” Miller said. “One time I brought a girl back to the fraternity house on a date and went to hang up her coat. By the time I got back she had dates for the next six weeks.”

But amid the fun, the two men knew they had a plan to follow.

“There was a great rush to get to law school,” Miller said. “I knew the G.I. Bill would run out.”

After two years of undergraduate studies, the men were eligible to enroll in law school. Givhan stayed at UK, while Miller attended the University of Louisville. They both earned their law degrees without ever obtaining a bachelor’s degree.

Won’t be outdone

The two men have acquired resumes speaking to their attitude about self-improvement. Miller served in the state Senate for 16 years. He teaches at the University of Louisville and sat on the Board of Trustees. Givhan was elected county attorney five times and served in the Kentucky General Assembly. Both men practiced law, raised families and served in public office, yet that allusive undergraduate degree still lingered in their minds.

A bit of family competition sparked the fire leading the men to contact UK about their degrees.

Givhan said between the two families, the children and grandchildren have accumulated 23 degrees, nine of which are advanced. Givhan said they did not want their family members to outdo them.

“I got a grandchild with three degrees, and here we are with only one,” Miller said.

Miller and Givhan received their Bachelor of Arts degree for arts law. But they did not have to take extra classes to earn them. They were able to draw on their past education to acquire credits.

“UK gave us credit for certain things. I studied in Europe, went to the Academy of International Law … We got credit for the military science we would have gotten had we not been in the service,” Miller said. “We had to go through an awful lot of briars to get there.”

But the scratches will be worth the degree, Miller said. He and Givhan plan to wear their caps and gowns at the commencement ceremony and don not plan on cutting corners simply because they are a little late.

“When I graduated from law school, I was too poor to afford a cap and gown. The G.I. Bill had run out the week before, and we just had our first child,” Miller said. “So I told my kids, ‘Listen, I sent you to school, and I want you to come (to my graduation) and bring me a present.’ ”

‘Finally part of UK’

While the men have lived comfortable lives, they recognize it all began with the G.I. Bill. It was this legislation that allowed them to attend college with relative ease.

“The G.I. Bill was the best thing to ever happen to me,” Miller said.

Because of that precious experience, Givhan said, he feels his generation has a different view of the importance of education.

“We have a very strong opinion about the value of education. The G.I. Bill allowed us to go to school with certain independence from our families,” he said. “If you talk about planting a seed and seeing a harvest in the fall … ”

It has been more than 60 years since Miller and Givhan began their academic journey, and they feel this degree will supply what was missing before.

“It makes me feel more complete,” Givhan said.

Though they did not earn the credits in a traditional manner, Givhan sees no reason their life experience should not translate into a degree. Having that degree represents what he has learned in life and lets others know he earned an education.

“Rupp said if winning doesn’t count and it’s how you play the game, then why keep score?” Givhan said. “If you are interested in education, you measure it in degrees.”

A simple piece of paper filled the void left after half a century, and Miller said the degree is more than just recognition of an accomplishment. It is acceptance into a distinct community.

“We are finally part of UK,” he said. “I always wanted to be part of UK.”