Linux is clearly the superior operating system

September 7, 2013

Reading Time: 4 minutes With all due respect, my colleagues are wrong. Linux is hand-down the best option for computing. It isn’t even a competition. Neal Stephenson said: “Macs are hermetically-sealed sedans that look great and have a lot of advertsing. Windows machines are big SUVs that break often, but they’re everywhere and everyone knows how to use them. […]

Willing ignorance

September 1, 2013

Reading Time: 2 minutes Michael Mann calls it the “scientization of politics,” and professor Adam Frank calls it “the age of denial.” No matter how you decide to brand it, the truth is we’re living in a very strange time: when truth is subjective, science and religion are political, and everyone cries for their opinion to be respected. As […]

Four movies Hollywood needs to stop making now

September 1, 2013

Reading Time: 3 minutes “City of Bones” opened recently and immediately tanked in terms of box office success. I imagine Hollywood bigwigs are scratching their heads at the moment wondering why they’ve lost tens of millions of dollars. One reason is because of the films they continue to green light, despite obvious reasons not to. Spielberg’s prediction of several […]

Five things UVU students love

July 28, 2013

Reading Time: 2 minutes   Joshua Wartena, Opinions Editor, [email protected]   I really enjoy people-watching. I’ll go hang out at Wal-Mart, just walking around and gawking. As Ron Swanson said, “I come here for the same reason other people go to the zoo … Look at that thing!” Because of my propensity to extrapolate information without context or personal […]

paying for school

Paying for school

July 15, 2013

Reading Time: 2 minutes     Joshua Wartena, Opinions Editor, [email protected]   Tuition is at an all-time high. UVU has relatively low prices, but you’re still looking at more than 2500 dollars a semester. Let’s do some basic arithmetic for monthly expenses: Rent: 300, food: 100, car/gas/insurance: 300, phone: 50 and school: 700. That’s 1400 dollars a month in […]

Redeeming Superman

July 1, 2013

Reading Time: 3 minutes Josh Wartena, Opinions Editor [email protected]   For my birthday, I got tickets to see Man of Steel, which came out the night before, in IMAX. It was the first time I’ve seen something other than a nature documentary on such a large screen, and it was a cool experience.   Now, I have to be […]

Bacon mania

July 1, 2013

Reading Time: 2 minutes Joshua Wartena, Opinions Editor, [email protected]   The public is bacon crazy. For the past few years, this delicious breakfast meat has become the unofficial celebrity of all things food. Every day I see another blog post raving about bacon, another ridiculous Facebook post touting its supremacy over all meats, and Pinterest should probably make a […]

The Real DOMA Victory

July 1, 2013

Reading Time: < 1 minute Joshua Wartena, Opinions Editor, [email protected]   In midst of the jubilant cries and emotional facebook explosion Wednesday over the SCOTUS DOMA decision, I felt alone. People are either elated or worried about the ruling, and I can’t help but think there is a victory no one is talking about.   Yes, state-recognized gay couples now […]

Summer sales

June 17, 2013

Reading Time: 3 minutes Josh Wartena, Opinions Editor, [email protected]     Guys, especially returned LDS missionaries, every semester you’ll see booths, flyers, and signs for “summer selling jobs.” These tables line the hall of flags, enticing you with tales of $100,000 a summer for soliciting people for pest control, alarm systems or satellite TV. It sounds great: enough money […]

Into Darkness, the best Star Wars movie

June 4, 2013

Reading Time: 3 minutes   Josh Wartena, Opinions Editor, [email protected]   No, that’s not a typo, I said Star Wars. First off, if you haven’t seen Star Trek Into Darkness, go fix that problem, then come back. Ok, did you like it? Of course you did.   J.J. Abrams’ second Star Trek film is amazing, and not just because […]