1 0 9 w w The Michigan Daily -- Wednesday, January 9, 2008 THE EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK with GARY GRACA A look at the big news events this week and how important they really are. Conveniently rated from one-to 10. Weneda, anar 9 008: heMicignDil rule 72: Don't use the Internet to diag- nose your ailments. You'll think you have everything. rule 73: Incorporate a back- pack into your party attire and disguise your walk of shame as early morning studiousness. rule 74: No matter how passionately you feel about the subject, refrain from debat- ing over who makes the best burrito. - E-mail rule submissions to TheStatement@umich.edu 1 3 BOOZE-FILLED CANDY? In a'California junior high school last month, an unidenti- fied 12-year-old was suspended for bringing a vodka-filled chocolate to school, while some parents and administra- tors are up in arms about degradation ofltoday's youth and the prevalence of corruptingforces in teenagers' lives, the more important question is: Since when could you buy vodka-filled chocolates? Russell Stover is missing a Valentine's Day opportunity. BECAUSE DRIVING IS TOO STRENUOUS Announcing its plans at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, General Motors plans to launch a consumer-ready, self-driving car within the next decade. Because American automakers have been predicting the car market like tarot card readers lately, the driverless vehicle isexpected todoa"out asmell as and make as much sense as the hybrid SUV. 4 SIMPLICITY'S BITTERSWEET RETURN After a two-month hiatus, Comedy Central's hit shows "The Colbert Report" and "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" returned Monday despite the striking writers Guild oflAmerica. Americans under the age of 30 are now expected to know what is going on in the world again AL QAEDA'S NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION - If you've ever wondering what self-improvement reso- lutions terrorists make for the New Year, Al Qaeda member Adam Gadahn had answers this week. Along with giving up fast food, getting six-pack abs and quit- ting smoking, the group will greet President Bush during visits to the Middle East this month "not with flowers or clapping but with bombs and booby-trapped vehicles." Apparently, there were a few renegade terrorists who weren't on the same page. MCCAIN'S DEJA VU with the endorsements of both major Michigan news- papers, The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press, Repub- lican presidential candidate John McCain is hoping to repeat his 2000 win in Michigan's primary next Tuesday in a follow up to his big finish in New Hampshire. while the candidate may be mirroring his 2000 campaign almost exactly, the mighty maverick McCain is forget- ting one important thing: He lost in 2000. HERE CHANGES THE L-WORD After Barack Obama's victory in Iowa on Thursday, Democrats have a new favorite word: change. Although Democrats are riding the great wave oftchange through 6 the presidential primaries, Republican strategists are lick- ing their lips for the general election The last time they checked, progressive change was a synonym fora dirty word that gets everyone riled up: liberalism. PERSON OF THE WEEK HILLARY CLINTON Hillary Clinton won the New Hampshire primary yesterday after an eight point loss to Barack Obama in Iowa, earning her the all-ready-used moniker of the Democratic primaries 'comeback kid' (See: Bill Clinton, 1992). Letting her eyes glaze over with patriotic tears in front of supporters and a few strategic cameras just might have given Clinton the boost she needed.'The Kid' bet- ter watch out next week, though. Obama's allusion to Kennedy's famous inaugural address in his New Hampshire concession speech might swing the current of emo- tionality his way. Remember Hillary, it's not what winning the primaries will do for you, but what you can do to win the primaries. fter a long day of sight-seeing while traveling in Ireland, A LSA junior Jacqueline Lantz did not retreat toa hotel ora hostel, but to a mattress in the kitchen of a stranger's floor. Lantz is a mem- ber of a network of couch surfers - people who travel the world while relying solely on the hospitality of the movement's other adherents. Once a practice reserved only for old friends, family and drunken nights, crashing couches has been revolutionized by websites like www.couchsurfing.com - which, along with adding the convenience of online planning, introduces a communal aspect to what would otherwise just be finding a roof to cover your head. The goal of what have been coined as the "Couch surfing Proj- ect" by the website's creators is less to save travelers a few bucks than to create international bonds between people who otherwise would never have met. For some University stu- dents who seek a "going abroad" or "crossing the country" experi- ence for less money in a fraction of the time, spending a few nights on the couch of strangers can be an intensive enounter with another culture. The couch surfing website is structured much like a typical social networking site, but with a heavy emphasis on travel. Mem- bers post pictures, their basic information and extra tidbits like "missions" (one surfer's mission is "To get out of the black hole that is my hometown," while another's is "To have great people sleep on my couch, or guest bed if you look clean enough"), as well as extraor- dinary things they've seen or done, languages spoken and a personal travel map. What members dubbed the most critical component of a couch surf- ing profile, though, is the references that other members write to vouch for (or against) a surfer after either hosting or being hosted by him or her. For Walter Graf, an Engineering and LSA junior who has used the website, members' responses to his couch requests have varied based on location. When trying to couch surf in Cologne, Germany, Graf said he sent out at least 20 requests with no response, whereas other times he's only sent out a few and almost all responded yes. What makes the Couch Surfing Project so unique, though, is that members are rarely just in it for the cheap sleep. "The social aspect is huge," Lantz said. It's understood that hosts serve as their guest's personal tour guide at least for a short time, giving them a local look into the city. They go out to bars and restaurants, see the sites, and hang out at home togeth- er. Graf said that hosts are happy to spend time with their guests - in fact, they even expect it. "It's not just a 'show up late at night and leave super early in the morning' thing," he said. "They want something out of it, too. They want to meet new people and talk." The mode of travel offers a purer and simpler way to experience for- eign culture than foreign exchange programs that are tethered by down payments and obligatory program events. Often, hosts will intro- duce their guests to their group of friends, which could with the right finesse become the surfer's friends - a beneficial commodity in the realm of boundless world travel. And even though the travel arrangements are founded on such limited information, the results as shown in comments on the website are overwhelmingly positive for Lantz, who surfed couches in both surfers and hosts. Rarely are Ireland with her best friend from negative reviews telling of theft or college, always made dinner for unsafe situations encountered. her hosts and made sure to leave "I've gotten along very well with the place spotless. Along with pick- all the people I've stayed with," ing up the bar or dinner tab, some Graf said. guests will even help around the LSA junior Jenny Zhang, who house to say thanks. Lantz and her couch surfed through eastern friend helped one host paint the Europe with her boyfriend, said' ceiling. she thinks the success rate of couch And thanks to the wonders of surfing is so high because so far e-mail and social networking web- sites, many hosts and guests contin- ue to keep in touch with each other long after the couch has cleared. A modern-day Lantz exchanges e-mails about once a week with a group of people 'On the Road' she stayed with in Ireland. Ann Arbor denizens and Univer- made easy sity students are opening up their homes to strange travelers, too. On with social the couch surfing website, there are currently 81listings of people in the Ann Arbor area who are willing to share a couch. Zhang and Graf have each received four requests for a couch. For Zhang, two of them simply everyone involved in the project is didn't work out, and one of them of the same congenial mindset. she rejected because the person "The people that open up their didn't have enough information on homes are usually the same type his couch surfing profile. of people," she said. "They're very "I felt it was kind of creepy," she warm and welcoming." said. Lantz echoed that sentiment, But Zhang and her boyfriend and added that the, fact that the hosted a man from California who site is relatively under wraps might had an interview with the School of play a role in its success. While she Dentistry. Thoughhis time here was encourages more people to par- short, Zhang showed him around ticipate, she's also concerned that Main Street and State Street. They couch surfing might get too big for lunched at the iconic Blimpie Burg- its own good. er and wound up at BD's Mongolian "So far it's been sort of a closed Barbecue for dinner. off, sort of a tight-knit community, While the Couch Surfing Proj- so I'm afraid it might start to attract ect has served to promote the .the wrong crowd," she said. movement via the Internet, other In the movement's current mani- . University students still take the festation, lodgingiswithoutcharge, traditional "mysterious drifter" but many guests try to show their approach to securing a temporary host appreciation in whatever ways bed. they can. Between papers and exams, LSA senior Zach Shell travels alone to college campuses across the coun- try, by Greyhound buses, with no plans on what to do or where to sleep. He's been to about 21 cam- puses to date. Shell explores the city and cam- pus during the day, meeting people along the way, and then goes out at night. He says he's probably surfed about SO couches, always by simply asking a college student he's just met if he can crash there. He said it's all about having faith in the good will of people. "It's mostly people trying to help you out. That's the whole theory behind the whole thing," he said. "The confidence that I have in doing this is that if I'm a college student and you're a college student, you're going to try to put me up, and if you're not the next person will." He's stayed with everyone from his waitress at Olive Garden to a group of guys in the Christian Men's Housing at the University of Washington. "It's just how you deal with it and who you meet along the way," said Shell. "I like having no idea where I'm sleeping that night because I have to find it somewhere." Even though Shell has had his failures - including spending the night in jail, going to sleep in a park and waking up in the flatbed of a pickup truck as well as getting $900 stolen from him by the roommate of one of his hosts - he says that the people he meets and the stories he collects are worth it. "The point of couch surfing is to meet people," he said. "If you're couch surfing with that mental- ity, you're going to end-up bring- ing people in. That's just the whole beauty of it - to meet people you'd never meet under any other cir- cumstances in places you'd never otherwise go." 4 StudentUniverse.com I COME TO THE DAILY'S MASS MEETING Tonight. 7 Myn. 420 Maynard Street.