Slideshow: Moeser's Last University Day
Graduate student Larry Taylor has started to put the finishing touches on Wilson Library. He's already finished constructing the Bell Tower. Taylor, one of the builders of UNC's 3-D online campus, said he wants to add the Pit in the future. But the most realistic part of this virtual playground might not be the landscape. "Imagine you would be sitting in a class. There would be a professor or teacher at the front. He would be showing a PowerPoint and writing on a white board," Taylor said. "You would be able to raise your hand and ask questions in real time."
It's just after 8 a.m. You're slumped in your seat as your professor drones on in lecture. Your eyes start to droop. Your head jerks backs as you try to fight it, but sleep takes hold. It might not be laziness. You could have insomnia. Insomnia is a sleep disorder characterized by restlessness during the day and difficulty falling and staying asleep at night. It affects more than 70 million Americans and costs almost $14 billion annually in treatment, hospital care and health care services.
Microsoft Corp. wants you to say goodbye to your old computer operating system. Windows Vista (pronounced vist-uh) is the software giant's latest attempt to take personal computing to a whole new level. They say it will make your digital life easier, safer, more entertaining and better connected. By the end of January, consumers were able to purchase Windows Vista along with Microsoft Office 2007, which comes complete with new editions of Excel, Word, Outlook and PowerPoint.
Katie Dinterman is homeless. The senior isn't sleeping on benches or begging for spare change on Franklin Street, but during school breaks she has no real place she considers home to return to. Dinterman lived in Atlanta for seven years before she came to UNC. But in summer 2005 her father changed jobs, forcing her parents to relocate to Memphis, Tenn. "It's very, very different," she said. "I don't really feel like I go home for the holidays. I usually tell people that I go to my parents' house for the holidays because I don't see Memphis as home."
It's finally almost here. After a delayed release and years of anticipation, PlayStation 3, the much-hyped new game system from Sony, will be released Friday in North America. With a heavy arsenal of high-tech features and an even heavier price tag, the PS3 is Sony's best chance to reclaim its throne as the ultimate electronic entertainment provider. But Sony has some tough competition: Xbox 360, Microsoft's latest brainchild, has been out on the market for almost a year, and Nintendo Wii debuts Sunday.
HIGH POINT - Wearing a white custom-designed evening gown and a wide smile, UNC senior Jessica Floyd held her opponent's hand and waited for the judges' choice. "No. 25, Jessica Floyd," the master of ceremonies yelled. He called her name first, making her runner-up in the pageant and the woman beside her - N.C. State student Erin O'Kelley - the new Miss North Carolina USA. O'Kelley screamed as a crown was placed on her head. More than 80 women competed in the Miss North Carolina USA pageant in High Point on Friday and Saturday. Several of them were from UNC.
Her life flashed before her eyes, and then there was nothing. Lindsey Wilkins' computer crashed and took her papers and all other electronic evidence of her college existence down with it. "I didn't have a USB key until my computer crashed freshman year and I lost everything, so I learned my lesson," she said. Yet there she was, more than four years later. On Monday the graduate student was waiting patiently inside the technology center in the bottom of the Undergraduate Library, holding a newly corrupted computer for a technician to fix.
Condoms, lubricants and safe sex brochures are all available free for the taking at student health facilities. And, believe it or not, these services helped UNC score well. Trojan, one of the largest suppliers of condoms, recently released its Sexual Health Report Card. It ranked UNC 14th in the country on its ability to provide students with sex education and health services. UNC got a 2.7 on a 4.0 scale, trailing Duke University, which received a 3.4, but ahead of N.C. State University, which scored a 2.3.
It was the easiest $4,000 he ever made. During his sophomore year, Tyler Utt deposited several million of his most valuable possessions in the bank. But these assets weren't money. They can't even be seen by the naked eye. Utt's cash cow? Sperm. To help cover college expenses, students across the country are donating to sperm banks, also called cryobanks, for cash. At UNC, men can make $50 per donation. Utt, now a senior, first found out about donating when he spotted an ad in The Daily Tar Heel for healthy male applicants. To Utt, his reason for donating was clear.
