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Show Monday, February 6, 2006 Page 4 Editorial Editor in Chief: Maria Villaseiior Phone: 626-7121 The Signpost editorial staff Internet not always best option Whatever happened to good old-fashioned customer service? As a society, we have grown so dependent on the Internet and fast food restaurants, going anywhere has become a major hassle. 'lake for example airline tickets. Less than 10years ago, a person could call up another person, i.e. a travel agent, and tell them where and when they wanted to go somewhere. The travel agent would type in the information and then-voila-out would come not only the best prices you canfindanywhere, but a smile to boot. The Internet has put these smiling travel agents in a very bad position. No longer can they just type in the information and - voila - you have the best flight. They have to fight lor therightto serve humans. The reason? Why deal with real people when everyone can just go on the Internet and do it themselves? The Internet has provided a sure source of getting airplane tickets, hotels and other accommodations without having to speak to a real-live human. Talking is so overrated anyway. The'lnternet now has at least 50 sites for cheap airplane tickets (the number is surely higher than this estimate, but that should cover the majors). What kind of deal is a person really getting though? Could it be possible that all of these sites boast the same prices? What is the advantage of going to one site, such as travelocity.com, over another, like cheaptickets.com? They have all begun to look the same; they all show the same prices with the only variations being in the purchasing fee and the taxes that are tacked on after they show the "low, low, lowest fare on the Internet" when it becomes "high, high, higher than what you thought." Airline tickets aren't the only service the Internet has to offer. Car rentals and hotel packages rank up there also. Internet bonus: You can look at the pictures of the hotel before booking the room. Internet downfall: They don't tell you the pictures were taken in 1898 and, since then, the hotel has been remodeled a total of zero times. That is why they came up with reviews; people can stay at the hotel, then go back on the Web site and rate that hotel. So when you go to these sites, there is plenty of gushing about the four- and fivestar hotels, $250+ a night, such as, "Oh, the fountain in the room overflowed with pink champagne and made our honeymoon perfect," and complaints like, "In the spa, the towels weren't kept warm." When you get down to the three-star hotels, $80-$190 there are few comments, if any, and most are vague. Then the one- and two-star hotels, yes the cheap ones, $29.99 a night (or pay by the hour) - well, we are a school newspaper and can't even mention some of the comments that are found in those reviews. Computers can't tell you the details of a place like a human can. Travel agents were very good at what they did, often indulging little secrets like the restaurant off the beaten path that serves the best hot fudge brownies and champagne in the United States, or the out-of-the-way ski lodge that has private lifts up to a perfect view of the sunset Granted, if you Google enough you may find these tidbits of information; but until theyfinda way to make Google serve you with a smile, humans are the better choice. From Chicago Tribune: NASA twins exploring Mars seven times longer than expected NASA has its own version of that annoying pink bunny in the Energizer battery commercials that keeps going and going and going. The rover twins - Spirit and Opportunity - have been exploring Mars for two years. That's seven times longer than their expected life spans. Opportunity has a bad wheel, and the shoulder joint on its robotic arm is having trouble. Spirit's rock-grinding tool has pretty much bit the dust. Just imagine what shape you'd be in if you exceeded your life expectancy by a factor of seven. Despite those signs of age, both are still roving Mars and sending back spectacular photos and intriguing data, much to the delight of NASA, scientists and space geeks everywhere. They have sent back 140,000 photos and analyzed countless rocks and soil patches. Spirit discovered rocks that either formed in, or were altered by, water. This raises the tantalizing prospect that 3.5 billion years ago Mars was as warm and wet as its neighbor, Earth. The winds of Mars have helped keep the rovers going. The swirling dust that erupts just about every day has helped clean the rovers' solar panels, allowing them to take in more sunlight, which powers them. The Mars expedition is one of NASA's spectacular success stories in unmanned space exploration. The next manned space shuttle launch is set for sometime after May. That program is still plagued with safety problems, huge costs and a mission - building and supplying the International Space Station - of questionable value. Rut NASA, with a few embarrassing glitches along the way, has excelled at sending probes and robots and spaceships to the near and far corners of space. In January. Stardust returned successfully from a seven-year journey to capture particles from the tail of a comet, and New Horizons blasted off on a nine-year journey to Pluto. NASA's earliest sojourners, the Pioneers 10 and 11, went dark several years ago after nearly 30 years of exploration. The 29-year-old Voyagers 1 and 2 have left the solar system but are still transmitting. Cassini-Huygens is exploring Saturn. The rovers? They're still poking and scraping their way up and down the craters on Mars. In keeping with their celebrity, the rovers' story has now moved to the big screen, and we mean the really big screen. "Roving Mars" debuted last weekend on IMAX screens across the country. It's not your average biopic - no overcoming dysfunctional families to find a life mission. The rovers were and are focused on their mission - unlocking the secrets of the Red Planet. The -.^ A Weber weDer State ataie University university Signpost Editor in Chief Managing Editor News Editor Sports Editor Copy Editor Features Editor Entertainment Editor Business Editor Photo Editor Graphics Editor Online Editor Advertising Manager Office Manager Advisor Distribution Publisher Signpost Fax Maria Villasenor Jason Staley Cory Duclos Jon McBride David Fairchild Jesica Medellin David Fairchild Lynn Wilde Tricia Gerrard Brady Leaver James Gabrielsen Brandy Lee Georgia Edwards Allison Hess Austin Adams Dr. Randy Scott 626-7121 626-7614 626-7655 626-7983 626-7659 626-7621 626-71 O5 626-7624 626-6358 626-7661 626-6358 626-6359 626-7974 626-7499 626-7974 626-6464 626-74O1 The Signpost is published every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday during the semester. Subscription is $9 a semester. The first copy of The Signpost is free, each additional copy is $.50. - The Signpost is a student publication, written, edited and drafted by Weber State University students. Student fees partially fund the printing of this publication. Opinions or positions voiced are not necessarily endorsed by the university. - The Signpost welcomes letters to the editor. Letters must Include name, address, telephone number and the writer's signature. Anonymous letters will not be printed. - The Signpost reserves the right to edit letters for reasons of space and libel and also reserves the right to refuse to print any letter. Letters should not exceed 350 words. Bring letters to the editorial office in SUB 267, mall to: The Signpost, Weber State University, Ogden, Utah. 844-08-2110. Attn: Editor in Chief, email theslgnpost@weber.edu PtSAPPEAWNQ PENSIONS George W. Bush is comfortable with angry media In recent news we have witnessed a sustained effort to make President George W. Bush's poor approval rating common knowledge. It amazes me how utterly stupid the media can be in dealing with the president. He is perfectly comfortable; in fact, he is in his element when the media are angry with-him. It is almost too easy for president Bush to insist on tax cuts, request more military spending, make plans for the largest domestic recovery effort since the 1930s (Hurricane Katrina), and appoint two seemingly conservative judges to the Supreme Court despite fierce objection from the opposition. The error in strategy on the part of democrats and the media is twofold. The first issue is that President Bush has three years of his presidency left, regardless of what happens. The more attention given to him, the less time they have to address other issues. Even if Bush's character comes into question, it won't amount to much. President Bush sticks to what he believes is right regardless of political repercussions. For this reason, his friends are true and his enemies are vicious. Likewise, if public perception of the president is substantially hurt, not live with; indeed, it corroded the hardline support that the president has enjoyed for the last five years. By Jared Hardy The president's second error was his columnist I The Signpost response for the delays that occurred after Katrina. The hardline, rightwinged population is not yet willing the republican caucus will simply to forgive Bush for this unprecedented sidestep the media by distancing their barrage of federal support and money. campaigns from the president. Instead of calling the president out The second vital error is misunderstanding Bush-supporters; on the carpet for this, democrats have the more hatred that is displayed for embraced that portion of his plan and Bush by way of the media, the more have chosen to try to incriminate him galvanized his support will become. for not responding more quickly. Americans have already decided that President Bush has an undying core of support that represents 51 percent the blame for Katrina lies primarily 1 of the voting base. The support of with local officials and thai is where ii this base is founded in two main will end. If the liberals intend to take back control of the federal government, principles. The first is that the president will they cannot do it with a frontal assault make conservative political choices on the president's policies. At this and his most liberal decisions will be stage in the presidency, the devout 51 moderate economic policy. The second percent of far right-wingers may not principle is that his policy will be forgive Bush, but they are very likely to vote republican. The reason is not predictable. because the republicans are doing Lately, the president has made that great; rather, the democrats are two major errors that the media and democrats have failed to fully not providing serious options for this capitalize on. The first bad decision crowd. Until that happens, it doesn't was Bush's Harriet Myers nomination matter what republicans do. They are to the Supreme Court. This was a likely to maintain or even gain stronger choice that the extreme right would control of congress. From the Right Letter to the Editor Bookstore expensive, buying books online not always safe Buying textbooks online has pros and cons. While the books may be cheaper, the assurance that you will receive the right book, get it on time, or even receive the book period is nonexistent. But what about fraud? At my young age of 20 years old, I never thought that I would be a victim of fraud. We're not talking "leather bustier" identity theft or anything, but I bought a textbook online, which, through a series of very unfortunate events, I am now being charged for by the publisher, at three times the price I originally paid. My information (name and address) was taken by a seller of this Web site that shall remain nameless (albooks.com) and was given to a publisher (McGraw Hill), t received the textbook in the mail (which unknown to me at the time was from McGraw Hill) and paidalbooks.com $58 for it. Several weeks later, I received a billing statement from McGraw Hill - who I had never bought anything from - for $158.03. After hours on the phone and writing e-mails, I was assured by a woman at AlBooks that their company would take care of everything. Meanwhile, the semester ended and I sold the dang textbook back. After receiving another bill from the publisher, a few nasty e-mails were written and received. Now, to make a long story short, partly because of my own stupidity, but mostly because AlBooks can'tfixtheir mistakes, I am stuck with a ridiculously large bill I have to pay and no book to show for it. I have read all the fine print on albooks.com and know that I have no legal rights in this matter. And while I don't expect anyone to donate money or feel sorry for me, I do wish to portray one very important message: albooks.com, don't buy books there! -Trad Jonsson, Utah State University student marketing senior The Signpost wants to know what you think. " A * s 5 • I Send us a letter with 1 lilf your name and phone S "I number to: •fc' |