The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com MHACKS From Page 1A While developing the app was not an easy task, the whole team was grateful for the support of the other developers at MHacks. Weinstein said once people understand how the app could benefit them, they expressed greater interest in its develop- ment. CIA From Page 1A muscles learn to cope more effec- tively withthe tension and emotion of particularly stressful times," Petraeus said. For this reason, he always tried to set aside a time to go run- ning during limited downtime in combat. He would often run with captains and majors to get their perspective on issues at hand. Later on, as the director of the CIA, he established the "Run with the Director" program as means to meet his staff. "If you want to get the truth, run with someone for five, six or seven miles, during which candor increases with each passing mile," he said. Petraeus added that Team RWB's group dynamic is a recipe for success because it allows for individuals to set goals and the group to monitor each individual's progress. "To live as fully as we might, we must constantly challenge our- selves to make the most of our God- given talents," he said. "We have to set ambitious, albeit achievable SNYDER From Page 1A cal League. In a press release, he reported 6,300 of his contributions were of $100 or less - over three times the number of small-money contributors to Snyder. In his press release, Schauer said he did not believe his smaller campaign funds would hinder his chance of winning, suggesting Snyder's larger campaign account indicates that he is favored by the wealthy and is not in touch with the middle class. "We fully expect Governor Snyder will have strong support from billionaires like Dick DeVos," Schauer said. "But no matter how much money the Governor spends, he can't whitewash his cuts to edu- cation and the job-killing Snyder Retirement Tax. Make no mistake, we will have the resourcesawe need to win this November." The report is the first that includes the effects of a new cam- The team received the top prize at MHacks - $5000 in prize money split between the four members. The app also won "The Best iOS Award," spon- sored by Apple, for which each developer received an iPad Mini. The developers are currently working on making the system more logical, so that different actions can happen depending on the causal result of the previ- ous action. goals, and importantly, we need to share them with friends, family, colleagues and bosses and then do our best to achieve them." He said this mentality is appli- cable everywhere - for exercise, academics, relationships, faith and even the workplace. At the end of Petraeus' speech, Erwin awarded him with a special, Team RWB bit- coin. Prior to Petraeus' speech, LSA junior Tim Nellett, SVA treasurer, said the organization is an outlet for student veterans to bond and push each other to be great. He added that SVA has helped him transition from soldier to student. "Don't do it alone," Nellett said. "In this way, the SVA has been instrumental in connecting veter- ans together to find that sense of camaraderie we were all missing." Team Red, White & Blue, a non- profit organization that employs veterans to facilitate fitness, received the funds raised for the event. University alum Mike Erwin, a US Army Major, created the foun- dation and was one of the opening speakers for Petraeus on Friday. "Physical activity hasbeen engi- neered out of life over the past 20 to 25 years," Erwin said. "We need paign finance law that Snyder signed in December. The law dou- bles the caps on individual dona- tions and donations from political action committees, increasingindi- vidual donations to $6,800 and political action committee dona- tions to $68,000. The new law also requires can- didates to file two new campaign finance reports before the election and that automated telephone calls and other political ads identify their sponsor. In a news release, Snyder said the bill will "bring an unprecedented level of transpar- ency and openness to the state's political system." "Our democracy thrives and our governmentis at itsbest whenthere is openness and accountability, all while our freedoms of speech and association are protected," he said. The bill's detractors believe it serves as a way for large donors to give candidates more money - and increase their influence. Public Poli- cy Prof. John Chamberlin, one of its critics, called the bill "very partisan" and Snyder's justification of it, to Monday, February 3, 2014 - 3A However, WorkFlow is also not the only project that they are working on. Weinstein and Con- rad Kramer, a high school stu- dent from South Jersey, are the developers behind "DeskCon- nect," an app that moves web pages, documents and pictures, among devices in one tap. Users can expect to see Work- Flow available in the Apple App Store in late February. a segment of our population that wants to take that challenge and help fix it. That's where we're look- ing long term. Veterans are lead- ers. Veterans have more training in physical fitness than any other segment of the population. In due time you're going to see us contin- ue to develop that leadership in our chapters." Engineering senior Josh Simis- ter, SVA chapter president and for- mer Marine, opened the event by announcing the group's next presi- dent, LSA junior Will Kerkstra. Although the night's main agenda was to celebrate the importance of physical fitness and its importance tostudentveterans, there were also some somber moments. As part of his introductory speech, Simister pointed to an empty table in the front of the ball- room. The table represented troops who are prisoners of war or miss- ing in action. Simister held back tears as he explained how each component on the table represented something: a lemon to symbolize these soldiers' "bitter fate," roses to symbolize their bloodshed and a candle that stood for the "light of hope that lives in our hearts." increase transparency, "nonsense." "If you believe, as I do, that money shouldn't drive politics but citizen participation should, the old campaign contribution limits were just fine and they were more constraining on a couple hundred people - most people don't make contributions at all," Chamberlin said. "The citizens of Michigan are not well served by covering up who gives the money and allowing big contributions to influence out- comes of elections." With regard to the upcoming mayoral election in Ann Arbor, Chamberlin said he believes it is too early for funds to make a differ- ence in each candidate's campaign. Though money does matter in poli- tics, he said, how much of it a can- didate has at a given time does not. "I'm not sure that being able to run Super Bowl ads is all that important, it's flashy and it let's people know you're running," Chamberlin said. "But I think in the long run it matters if one candidate has significantly more money than another candidate." ADAM GLANZMAN/Daily Engineering junior Daniel Bloch participates in the first official Michigan Bitcoiners meeting at the on Jan.15. Bitco ins at the'U BITCOINS From Page 1A Nevertheless, a small com- munity of bitcoin users at the University have created their own business to cash in on bit- coin's rise in popularity. Engineering junior Robert Greenfield is in the process of creating an online cryptocur- rency firm with a few friends where people can trade curren- cies for profit. "The really crazy thing about cryptocurrency is that you can recreate anything and every- thing that is already used for regular money and have a great startup from it," Greenfield said. University alum Kinnard Hockenhull became interested in bitcoin in 2011 during his junior year. He later left school to pursue his bitcoin business, but like many, Hockenhull was skeptical when he was first introduced to bitcoin. "I didn't really understand it at first," Hockenhull said. "I kind of thought it was either going to be a fad or some sort of abstract scam." Hockenhull's business, Bit- Box, started out as a platform for users to trade currencies, but is now expanding its operations to enable faster transactions of bitcoin similar to the Facebook- meets-Paypal app Venmo. BitBox has over 8,000 users and has coordinated over $300,000 in transactions, according to Hockenhull. Engineering and LSA junior Daniel Bloch is working with Hockenhull to expand BitBox. He is also starting his own bit- coin-based non-profit organiza- tion called Coingive that aims SCIENCE From Page 1A ground gave her a unique perspec- tive as a judge. "One of the great things about studying art history and the visual arts and also as an art librarian is how it can really change the way you see the world and the way you find beauty and complication in the visual world around you," Spencer said. The pieces were judged on their artistic value, quality of artist's statement and blend of science with to benefit local charities. Bit- payment. coin donation websites already "I want Ann Arbor to become exist, but Bloch hopes to grow an area where we're one of the this platform through Coingive first cities to have 1 percent of our while making bitcoin payment businesses accepting bitcoin," more accessible to local chari- Goci said. ties. However, many remain skep- "Charities would very rarely tical about bitcoin's future. Since not accept money, but it's not bitcoin's soaring popularity and easy for them to accept bitcoin," media coverage, many more cryp- Bloch said. "They don't have the tocurrencies have been created. time to learn how to do it, and Economics Prof. Miles Kimball they're not going to pay some- believes that electronic curren- body to do it." cies will be vital in the future, Bloch believes that in order but investing in bitcoin now is for bitcoin to become a univer- unwise. sally trusted and used curren- "Bitcoin has no long-run future cy, more commercial retailers because government-sponsored must start accepting it as a form electronic money will displace it," of payment. Websites such as Kimball wrote in an e-mail. Overstock.com, OKCupid, and Goci also said bitcoin may Wordpress are currently accept- eventually be replaced by a differ- ing bitcoin. ent cryptocurrency. In the Metro Detroit area, "I think bitcoin is just a step- there are a few merchants who ping stone to a different crypto- have recently begun accepting currency that will finally become bitcoin. However, there are cur- the one that's accepted in the rently no Ann Arbor businesses marketplace," Goci said. "The that accept bitcoin, Bloch said. next one will be the one that's The Bronx Deli in Farmington accepted by the masses." Hills has been accepting bitcoin since November 2011. University alum Scott Goci, developer at Alfa Jango, a web- based consulting company in Ann Arbor, agreed with Bloch b that the spread of bitcoin depends on more brick- and-mortars retailers accept- ing it as a form of AMMACKENS art. "It's great if they can use science to think in terms of artistic vision, and I think it can help them enjoy and understand in another way what they do," Spencer said. "Itm hopingsome of the contestants will continue to create and exhibit." LSA senior Trisha Paul won the grand prize for her collage, titled "I Will Wear My Heart Upon My Sleeve." She said she created the work, which detailed four different samples of tissues, all resembling hearts, before she was aware of the contest. "What I love is the whole idea of expressing your emotions openly and freely, and I think my col- lage demonstrates that the heart shape-the shape we commonly associate with the heart - can exist elsewhere in the body," Paul said. "Love and passion are things that exist throughout the body, not just in the heart." Paul added that her experiences in both humanities and science have complemented each other at the University. "Studying English has helped me to better understand science, and studying science has helped me to have abetter vocabulary and to better communicate what I'm doing in English," Paul said.