LOCAL/STATE
The Michigan Daily - Friday, December 5, 2003 - 3
Computing team wins seat in global contest
Exhibit uses body
movements to
make art
"Roly Wholly Over," an interac-
tive media installation, will take
place from 3 to 6 p.m., in the Video
and Performance Studio of the
Media Union. This exhibit explores
the relation between perception and
body movements. Large-scale
devices will be set up, including a
bicycle, seesaw, video projection
and revolving door.
The exhibit will also feature work
created by students in Art and
Design Prof. Satoru Takahashi's
advanced sculpture. Call the School
of Art and Design at 763-3266 for
more information.
Museum hosts
day of dinosaur
discovery
The Exhibit Museum of Natural
History will host Dinosaur Discov-
ery Day tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 4
p.m. Come celebrate the 65 mil-
lionth birthday of Edmontosaurus,
or "Ed," the museum's largest fossil
dinosaur.
Visitors will be able to view the
newly renovated Edmontosaurus
exhibit and watch a presentation,
"Reptiles Then and Now," that will
include live reptiles, real dinosaur
fossils and casts. The presentation
will begin every 30 minutes
throughout the day. For more infor-
mation, call 764-0478.
Lecture explains
significance of
superconductors
Physics Department lecturer Sa-
Lin Cheng Bernstein will give a
presentation titled "Why Make
Holes in Superconductors?" Part of
the Saturday Morning Physics lec-
ture series, the event will take place
tomorrow from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30
a.m. in room 170 of the Dennison
Building.
Bernstein will discuss the phe-
nomenon of superconductivity and
the real world applications of super-
conductors.
For more information, call the
physics department at 763-2588.
Women's hockey
team to face off
with Spartans
The Michigan women's ice hockey
team will play against Michigan State
tomorrow at 5 p.m. and Sunday at 10
a.m. Both games will be played at Yost
Ice Arena.
Pierpont Commons
hosts holiday
celebrations
A Winter Holiday Celebration will
take place Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. in
the Pierpont Commons Atrium and
Corridor. The event will bring togeth-
er the holiday traditions of Hanukkah,
Christmas, Kwanzaa and the Winter
Solstice. For more information, call
the Pierpont Commons Arts and Pro-
grams Office at 647-6838.
Vietnamese
filmmaker to
discuss works
The Vietnamese Students Associa-
tion will host a screening of Ham Tran's
film "The Anniversary." The film fol-
lows the tragic events of two Viet-
namese brothers through the span of
war and religious persecution. Follow-
ing the movie, Tran will lead a discus-
sion about the film and his other works,
including the short films "Pomegran-
ate" and "The Prescription."
Born in Saigon in 1974, Tran immi-
grated to the United States in 1982. He
grew up in Orange County, Calif. and
studied film at the University of Califor-
nia at Los Angeles' School of Film and
Television.
Concert fuses
music, famous
literary works
Music Prof. Logan Skelton will
perform his literature-inspired com-
positions tomorrow at 8 p.m. at
Britton Recital Hall.
The concert will include three sets of
songs written to texts by e.e. cummings
and Tennessee Williams. The songs will
be performed by soprano Jennifer Goltz,
baritone Stephen Lusman and Skelton
By Alison Go
Daily Staff Reporter
Just as the Michigan football team is poised to
end its seven-year hiatus from the Rose Bowl,
three University students have earned national
recognition and a trip to Prague for the first time
since 1997 by qualifying for a worldwide comput-
er-programming competition.
The team, consisting of undergraduate computer
science students Nuttapong Chentanez, Galen
Elias and James McCann, will be heading to the
International Collegiate Programming Contest
World Finals in late March.
"I'm looking forward to seeing how good our
team is in comparison with the world," McCann,
an LSA junior said. The team predicts it will place
at least in the top half of the competition.
The team placed fourth out of 127 in the
East Central North America Regional Pro-
gramming Contest, which was organized by
the Association for Computing Machinery and
was sponsored by IBM.
At November's competition, teams had to solve
as many programming problems as possible in the
five-hour time limit, with the actual time of com-
pletion as a final tie-breaker. The team solved six
of the eight problems posed.
The average student takes one to two weeks to
solve one program, said coach Kevin Compton, an
electrical engineering and computer science pro-
fessor. "These students can write up to four pro-
grams in two hours."
Although the competition was held on Nov.
8, results of the schools that qualified were
not announced until two weeks ago. An inter-
national committee convened to decide on the
final qualifiers.
The competition hosts teams from North and
South America, Asia, Africa and Europe, and will
bring together 72 teams from a possible 68 different
countries.
In order to prepare for the March competition,
the team plans to continue and intensify their week-
ly practices.
"The problems will be a lot more difficult than
the ones we had at regionals," said Chentanez, an
Engineering junior. "We have to be better and
faster in programming to do well."
The students credit their recent success to the
renewed attention paid to the contest.
"It's not taken very seriously on campus, and no
one puts in time to really make an effort," said
Elias, an Engineering senior. "It wasn't until Pro-
fessor Compton made the effort to hold practices
that the word got out."
Compton hopes that a better-organized effort
will reap continued success in future competitions.
"I think the key is really starting them early
enough, and getting them to the point where they
feel comfortable writing a program in less than an
hour," Compton said. "We have a lot of good stu-
dents. There's really no reason why we shouldn't
be winning the competition."
"If more people join us to practice, we will have
a strong team next year," Chentanez said.
The team placed behind two teams from the
University of Toronto and one team from the Uni-
versity of Waterloo. Another team from the Uni-
versity of Michigan placed fifth in the ECNA.
"It's a real big priority for (these schools) and
that's why they win," Compton said. "Canada does
really well at this," Compton added. "After hockey
and curling, it's the national sport of Canada."
- Daily StaffReporter Aymar Jean contributed
to this report.
Lawmaker calls
to limit billboards,
help environment
Going for a test drive
LANSING (AP) - Michigan's
beauty should be protected by limiting
new billboards and providing informa-
tional logos that could give motorists
the information they need, a state law-
maker said yesterday.
Republican Sen. Tom George of
Portage joined former Lt. Gov. Dick
Posthumus and former Attorney Gen-
eral Frank Kelley in calling for the
changes at a Capitol news conference.
"We're not proposing taking down
existing billboards. We just say,
"There's enough," George said,
adding that keeping billboards from
proliferating should help tourism by
saving the state's beauty from
unsightly clutter.
He noted the state currently has
14,000 existing billboards and has
issued permits for 2,200 more.
He said the moratorium on erecting
new ones won't hurt businesses now
using the signs, but will keep bill-
boards from overrunning the state.
The bill brought a quick response
from more than 230 Michigan busi-
nesses, charities and state associa-
tions, who said they are in the
process of forming a coalition called
Businesses and Charities for Bill-
boards.
"Billboards are already heavily regu-
lated in Michigan by state law, federal
law and local ordinances in nearly all
communities," coalition spokesman
Roger Martin said in a release.
"The number of billboards in Michi-
gan is about the same today as a
decade ago, and there are hundreds, if
not thousands, fewer than 30 years
ago," he said.
"Unnecessary billboard regulations
would damage Michigan's most impor-
tant industries, employers and chari-
ties," Martin added.
The coalition is being headed by
William Shepler, president of Shepler's
Mackinac Island Ferries.
Members include the Michigan
Chamber of Commerce, Small Busi-
ness Association of Michigan, the
Michigan Hotel, Motel & Resort Asso-
ciation, Michigan Retailers Associa-
tion, Michigan Grocers Association,
Michigan Restaurant Association,
National Federation of Independent
Businesses and the Service Station
Dealers, among others.
Despite the opposition, Scenic
Michigan administrative assistant Rick
Barber said he was happy George
planned to press ahead.
"It's going to stop the proliferation
of billboards, and it's going to preserve
the scenic vistas that are left," he said.
Saturn Vice President Jill Lajdziak and General Motors Vice Chairman Bob L~utz introduce the 2005
Saturn Relay crossover sport van yesterday in Warren.
Cou allows continuation of
alleged Nazi guard's hearings
DETROIT (AP) - A federal appeals court ruled yes-
terday that hearings to revoke the citizenship of a
Michigan man accused of serving as a guard in Nazi
slave camps could continue despite the man's claims
that he has Alzheimer's Disease.
The Justice Department initiated
denaturalization proceedings against
Iwan Mandycz, of Sterling Heights,
in April 2000. The Justice Depart-
ment alleged Mandycz had con-
cealed the fact that he worked for the
Nazis.
Officials said in 1943 Mandycz
Officials sai
Mandycz w,
at the Trawr
Poniatowa l
camps in Po
The district court ruled that incompetency to stand
trial and unreasonable delay are not defenses in denatu-
ralization proceedings and refused Mandycz's motion
for summary judgment.
Mandycz appealed that decision
d mn 1943 to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals.
as a guaIn a written opinion issued yes-
aniki ad terday, Judge R. Guy Cole Jr.
denied Mandycz's appeal.
abor He said the 6th Circuit Court
gland. does not have jurisdiction over the
matter because the denial of sum-
mary judgment was not a final, irreversible decision.
Mandycz's lawyers did not immediately respond to
telephone messages seeking comment.
The ruling in Mandycz's case came less than two
weeks after a federal immigration judge gave the gov-
ernment permission to deport another Michigan man
who hid his Nazi past.
The government plans to deport Johann Leprich, 78,
to Romania, Germany or Hungary. His lawyer said he
would appeal.
KUCINICH
Continued from Page 1
deserve Dennis right now," said Tom
Schmitz, who is walking 8 to 10 hours a
day with three other Kucinich supporters
- including his 14-year-old son Tak -
in the hopes of making it from Maine to
California to raise awareness for
Kucinich's candidacy and their visions
for peace.
Kucinich spoke about America's role
in the world, which he said is being
damaged by the nation's failure to sign
weapon nonproliferation and environ-
mental treaties.
"It's time for America to re-join the
world," he said.
But Kucinich also talked about
treaties he would immediately withdraw
the U.S. from as president, namely the
World Trade Organization and the North
American Free Trade Agreement, which
he believes hurts workers.
Instead, he said he would replace
NAFTA and the WTO with fair trade
agreements.
After speaking at the Michigan
League, Kucinich exited onto North
University Avenue toward Borders,
where a train-like line of loudly chanting
supporters formed behind him, drawing
the attention of onlookers as the crowd
snaked onto State Street.
At Borders, Kucinich walked a few
times in a circle with the striking work-
ers and student activists before speaking
to the crowd about his belief in workers'
"fundamental" right to unionize.
"This effort will be heard all over the
country. They will know it was students
standing for social justice," he said.
"I was thrilled with how the event
turned out. We had a great turnout, defi-
nitely more than we thought," said LSA
senior Tessa Ditonto, chair of Students
for Kucinich.
"He focused a lot on anti-war, foreign
policy isses which is something I think
students care about and want to hear
about," Ditonto added.
LSA freshmen Melinda Kleczynski
said she came to the speech - which
she heard about through an e-mail from
the College Democrats - because she
was undecided on which Democratic
candidate to support.
After hearing the speech, she wished
Kucinich had discussed a broader range
of issues.
"He seems like a really cool guy, but I
don't think he covered a whole lot in his
talk. He focused mainly on (Iraq and
health care)," Kleczynski said.
was a guard at the Trawniki and Poniatowa labor camps
in Poland, where prisoners were starved, beaten and
executed en masse.
Mandycz, 83, has said he worked on a farm during
the war.
Mandycz's lawyers had asked the U.S. District Court
in Flint to immediately dismiss the case, saying
Alzheimer's disease has made him mentally incompe-
tent and that the government unreasonably delayed fil-
ing its complaint against him.
Winter Break.
Eductiondisount fo holdayshopers
E-MAIL
Continued from Page 1.
about the change. "I wouldn't want
my password to get stolen, but I'll
have to see what SSH is before I
say I like it better," LSA junior Carl
Chang said. "The thing I like about
(Telnet) is when I'm off campus, I
can access my e-mail from any-
where."
Despite e-mail sent out by ITCS and a
website they have created explaining the
new software, many students are still
unsure about exactly what the change
will mean. "I don't know what SSH is,"
Kelly Peters, an LSA senior, said. "I
saved the e-mail - I'll probably look
back at it after I finish finals and try to
figure it out then. It's not really my top
priority now."
But LSA senior Emre Kazan, who
exclusively uses Telnet to read email,
said he thinks it will be better to have e-
mail more secure.
"Initially, it will be annoying," he said,
"but over the long term it won't be that
big a deal."
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