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Show AggieLife Page 6 Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2009 Don't turn up the heat, save some money As winter sets in across Cache Valley, students and community residents are fighting the cold by turning up the thermostat. But, there are myriad ways to avoid the high utility bills associated with heating your home during the winter months. Robert Schmidt, associate professor in the environment and society department, offered some suggestions. ti 1. You're not at the beach, wear appropriate clothing. This might include wearing wool socks and changing them if your feet get cold or wearing a knit cap, even at home. "A lot of heat loss is through the head," Schmidt said. Staying bundled up when you can means you can keep your heat without paying more for it. Instead of dressing in a T-shirt and a big parka or pea coat, you should layer sweaters or sweatshirts between a shirt and outerwear coat and use scarves, gloves and hand-warmers to seal the openings that let cold in. That way, you can take off the outer layers while inside and still have the sweater or jacket to keep you warm inside. 2. Keep a fleece blanket in every room. By layering clothing, adding a fleece, wool or other blanket between the sheets and comforter it will keep you better insulated when you're in bed. They are also great lap blankets for naps, reading and homework. 80 1/4/ 3. Close doors and windows to keep cold air from rushing in. Additionally, cover windows and glass doors at night with curtains, blinds or blankets to keep heat in and cold out. Uncovering windows during the hours when the sun basks the windows can help warm a room, too. 111111111110 Alkft, 011.11° 4. Set the thermostat down to 55 at night when you are under the comforter and to 68 during the day. But don't forget to turn it back down while you are at school and work. Every degree that the thermostat is lowered will reduce the utility bill by about 3 percent — so going from 72 degrees during the day to 68 will lower your cost by 12 percent. Lowering it even more, by about 10 degrees or so, at night will further savings at the end of the month. 5. For students living in older homes, heat can escape from the space between the floor and the bottom of the door, so you can use a rug, doorstop or a rolled-up towel to prevent that. There may also be drafts around windows that could be caulked or covered. "Old homes may have an unused fireplace," Schmidt said. If that is the case, hot air is escaping up the chimney, so close the damper. "Or burn old homework in the fireplace," Schmidt said. Students who don't live in a traditional house may have a smaller space to heat but it can still be costly to stay warm. Questar gas and Logan both offer rebates for energy efficiency and weatherization of a home, according to the Logan City Light & Power Web site. "Simple solution: live in the dorms," said freshman and Bullen Hall resident Drew Vaughn. "We manage our own thermostats. It's always warm. Supposedly we have the best heating, along with Richard Hall and the towers." The USU dormitories include heating and other utilities in their fees, so students living on campus won't need to worry about the high costs. However, those students can still take precautions to conserve energy by lowering thermostats at night and covering windows. All of the options listed here are good options for students who don't have as much control over their building or complex's energy use and efficiency, said Michael Dietz, USU sustainable living specialist and associate professor. "Students aren't going to replace windows or insulate their walls," Dietz said. "It's hard to be at the mercy of the whole building when you rent." He said heating costs and energy-saving measures depend on the building. While there isn't one easy fix for students that will drastically cut their bills, he said lots of little things can add up to a lot. Turning off lights and nplugging computers when they aren't in use can help save energy — or use the laptop as a heater. "If you're using it and it's warm, that is going to suck less energy than turning up the thermostat, so I say go with it," Dietz said. information gathered by Chelsey Gensel, Gender identity workshop presented to USU noun they prefer because they appreciate the question. By CHELSEY GENSEL "At least in my experience they will be grateful," she said. staff writer "I'm pretty sure people know that's not easy. They care that you care enough to find out and understand that the questions come from a place of love." Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Ally (GLBTA) Smith and Robertshaw decided to hold two sequential Services and allies on campus recently held a pair of workworkshops for people with varying degrees of experience shops, Trans 101 and Trans 102, to inform the campus with the transgender community. Trans 101, the first workcommunity about gender identity and make people who shop, was designed to discuss the notion of gender as conmay have a transgender friend, coworker, family member tinuous along a scale rather than strictly dichotomous and or classmate aware of the challenges associated with being to learn the terms associated with the community and how transgender. to become an ally. Held Nov. 2 and 16, the workshops were presented by Smith said the workshop included a "basic gender experiGLBTA services program coordinator Maure Smith and ential activity," handouts and questions and answers. About Ph.D. student and research assistant Brooke Robertshaw. 10 people attended the hour-long workshop and consisted "If you know someone who is trans, what do you do?" largely of those who know someone that is transgender and Robertshaw said. "People need to be educated on how to wanted to learn more about them. welcome and include that person." She said another Trans 101 Transgender can mean a variworkshop will be offered next "It's not university-wide, ety of things, Smith said. It's an semester, and people who are but faculty are held to a "umbrella term" for transgender, curious but still somewhat uncomtranssexual, cross-dressing and fortable about the subject matter higher standard, and it's a androgynous individuals and anyshould attend. step in the right direction." one who has surgically or hormonTrans 102 delved more deeply ally made changes to their anatomy, into the rights and political issues — Maure Smith, GLBTA services Smith said. of the community and discussed According to a document Smith more about how to be an ally. director read from, transgender is a "broad People were encouraged to attend term used to describe the cononly if they were familiar with diftinuum of individuals whose gender ferent notions of gender identity, identity and expression, to varying which is different from sexual oridegrees, does not correspond with their genetic sex." entation, Smith said. Because the terms "sex" and "gender" Smith said she noticed last year that many people, even are often used interchangeably, they can be confusing. within the GLBTA community and allies on campus, were Smith said there are two important aspects to gender: confused about the terminology and issues related to the sociological and biological. The biological gender is what transgender community. one is born with — male, female or intersex. The sociological Robertshaw said to ask transgendered people what proconstructs of gender are how men or women are expected to behave and can vary by geography, Smith said. "Gender identity is how the heart and mind feel about the body, not about others. It doesn't necessarily match the anatomy," she said. The workshops aims were to explain how it feels different and what kind of discrimination people face because of their gender identity. Robertshaw said specific issues might be ones specific to this community or issues like which bathroom someone will use or in what states the GLBTA community has protection under the law. Smith said one step forward was a recent amendment to the faculty code so that it now includes gender identity and expression. Gender expression is the outward appearance that you present to the world, Smith said. "It's not university-wide, but faculty are held to a higher standard, and it's a step in the right direction," Smith said. Smith and Robertshaw said they still had more to learn even as a part of the GLBTA community. Smith said when she began working with students as the GLBTA services director, she began to feel as though she wasn't as prepared to serve the "T" part of GLBTA as she was the GLBA part. Robertshaw also said that although she has known transgender people since 1995, she is continually learning more about them. "It's about how to be a good friend and neighbor to someone who is transgender," she said. The Trans 102 workshop included a panel of three students who were "out as transgender," Robertshaw said, "and they each had a very different gender identity." About 15 people attended the Trans 102 workshop and Smith said she felt both workshops went well. "We had thoughtful discussions and began to think about ways we can make life easier for trans students, faculty and staff on campus," she said. — chelsey.gensel@aggiemaiLusu.edu Back in two shakes? I think not. y ou may have heard it before. It may have crossed your ears one sundry afternoon, as your friend was hurrying to retrieve a hastily forgotten item somewhere and, without thinking, used the phrase. The fact of the matter is, it's not true. And now, now I have proof. For quite a long time, I've tolerated the phrase "I'll be back in two shakes of a lamb's tail." From my grandparents, various old people who are still under the illusion that this phrase makes any sense whatsoever and, oddly enough, my roommate Aaron. He's 23. Don't judge him. But recently, my friend Stu and I had heard enough of this ridiculous claim that one could somehow travel just as fast or faster than a lamb could shake its tail twice. Preposterous. Over the top. No good. Fallacy. Farce. And as our blood boiled and our rage was further enraged, we set out to debunk this saying, once and for all. First, I suppose a little background as to how this phrase came about would be helpful. You see, one fine day in the year 1819, in the little town of Hanbaobao, England, whilst two sheepherders were in the middle, yea even in the very midst of herding their sheep, one of them had forgotten his cheese and butter sandwich. He turned to the other sheepherder, and feeling rather sheepish, said, "Oi, Dave. Ah fogot me sandwich at the fence post." "Yeh wot?" "Fogot me sandwich. The Mrs. made it for us. If ah don't eat it, she'll be right cross." "Martin, ye'd foget your own knickers if yeh had any. Well, go on then. When you seein' to be back now?" Now this is the point where Dave -- being a simple sheepherder and possessing little mental fortitude-- looked down at one of the newborn lambs, gave it a blank stare, looked up at Dave and said, "I'll be back in two shakes of a lamb's tail." And there you have it, kids. The start of it all. The saying became viral and spread across the British Aisles, then like a bilge rat, took to the seas and floated over here to America. But, as you will remember, it's not true, no not at all. And here's why: Stu and I, calming down from our rage, took to the World Wide Web in search of every single video of a lamb shaking its tail: YouTube, Vimeo, Google Videos, some guy's agricultural blog, etc. What we found will shake the world forever. Taking a case study of about 20 lambs, we used precise instruments (a stopwatch) to time how many times a lamb shook its tail in a specified interval of time. The results were shattering. The average amount of time it took for a lamb to shake its tail twice was 0.2332 seconds, or 0.1166 single shakes per second. So doing a little arithmetic, we took 0.1166*X = 60, X being the number of times a lamb shakes its tail in a minute, and voila. X = 514.57 shakes in a minute. Glowing with pride, we began to use this new metric of time, "the shake," in our daily routines and conversations. "I'll be back in 2,572 shakes." (About five minutes.) "My fastest 5k time is 8,490 shakes." (About 16:30.) So next time someone tries to tell you they'll be back in two shakes of a lamb's tail, you can give them a smug, haughty smile and say, "Yeah right. That's like one-fourth of a second. Pfft." Isn't that great? How useful. It's much more accurate than these seconds we use now. I've completely abolished the traditional time metrics from my life. No more hours or minutes for me. And don't tell me I can't do it. I'll be 6,360,234,616 shakes old this December. I'm an adult now for heaven's sake. Questions or comments can be sent to James at jamesrasmus@googlemail.corn |