Although my job might seem fairly easy, it actually requires a great deal of creative thought and planning. This week, I did neither of those things.
Every year, The Mirror tries its hand at hardcore investigative journalism and sends some cub reporter out to go to all the fraternities and write about it. The end result usually plays into stereotypes and reveals little, especially considering that it is done every year.
While the "tour de frat" includes things like basement scene, pong competitiveness and quality of the brothers, it is lacking in any mention of the houses's commitment to technology. I decided it was time that I try to rectify that:
SAE: BlackBerry-toting "True Gentlemen," SAE brethren are known for dressing up and acting like their cooler Southern counterparts. I hear that they are pretty pumped about recently putting in their own wireless network, something other houses have had since the late '90s.
AXA: The self-proclaimed "last bastion of frat" features a tight bro-hood. The house server is a lone speck of technology in an otherwise old-school bro-out guy place. Unfortunately, while you can find probably any song, movie or TV show you could think of, their server has zero megabytes of porn. So it's more like a PG-13 guy place.
Tri-Kap: These lovers of Super Smash Brothers have amassed an impressive collection of technology, the majority of which was funded by one Chris Takeuchi '09. Unfortunately, most of the stuff is commonly found in a state of total disrepair.
Psi U: According to an article years ago from Wired magazine, the brothers of Psi U believe that the reason Kiewit Wireless (R.I.P.) and Dartmouth Secure stop on the front lawn of the house was the administration's way of screwing Psi U for their annual keg jump during Winter Carnival. Well, keg jump has gone the way of the New Tetris, but Psi U still does not get Dartmouth wireless. Instead, the brothers make their own Internet through a machine powered by pledges, which would explain why the Internet goes down so often.
Obviously this list is rather incomplete. I am only given my little corner of this here newspaper to write in, so the rest of the houses will have to wait for another time that will probably never come.
I could have written some thing about the new BlackBerry Storm, which is available from Verizon Wireless starting today, but I think this was a better idea. The new Storm may be all sweet because it is the first touchscreen BlackBerry, but I am sure you are not interested in reading about that. I mean, yes, the touchscreen on the Storm clicks, so you get tactile feedback typing on the it; in fact, early reviews say it is the best typing experience on any touchscreen. Not to mention, the Storm costs $199 -- the same as an iPhone -- and Verizon is known for its generally stellar service, which certainly cannot be said for AT&T. Those are all good reasons for me to have written this week's column about the BlackBerry Storm, but instead, I will wait for Research in Motion to ship me a review unit so I can play with it firsthand.
Luofei is a staff writer for The Mirror, and I hate him.
