Volume 40 Issue 5 Article 4

May 1994 Campus Watch Mark Berry State University

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Recommended Citation Berry, Mark (1994) "Campus Watch," Ethos: Vol. 1994 , Article 4. Available at: http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/ethos/vol1994/iss1/4

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Publications at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Ethos by an authorized editor of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. CAMPus IN.4TcH-. --- Take Your Pick With Iowa's June 7th primary elections fast approaching, we decided to use this space to introduce to you the top republican and democratic gubernatorial candidates, show you a portion of their platforms, and tell ou how when and where ou can vote in Ames. Republican Candidates Democratic Candidates

Terry Branstad Bonnie Campbell

Age: 47 Age: 46 Party: Republican Party: Democrat Occupation: Governor of Iowa Occupation: Iowa Attorney General Family: wife Chris, daughter Alison, Family: Husband Edward sons Eric and Marcus Home: Des Moines Home: Des Moines Campaign Slogan: "The Republican Choice" Campbell's campaign centers on women's issues, the environ­ Branstad is campaigning heavily on the fact that he has served as ment and maintaining education. Campbell is an avid pro-choice governor of Iowa for 12 years. In his condition of the state speech on advocate, and has led several efforts to fight violence against January I I, 1994, Branstad said, "We have downsized state govern­ women. As attorney general, she began a public information ment and upsized the Iowa economy. We can and must do more. We campaign to end domestic violence and provide training to law have created the best education system in the nation, but now our enforcement groups, prosecutors and victim advocates. A victim of challenge is the world. We have a health care system that is envied by a stalker, Campbell proposed a Stalker Law in Iowa. As governor, many, but now we must do better." she plans to support and improve recycling in Iowa, improve parks, Branstad has fought criticism by Grandy of high tax increases and re-examine pesticide policies. Campbell would encourage and state spending by claiming that in his 12 years, property tax Integrated Pest Management and would give more power to local increases have been limited to the rate of inflation, privitization has government over environmental laws. saved $2.1 million annually, and the state bureacracy has been cut by In addition to serving as attorney general, Campbell has also I 0.5 percent since 1989. held the Chairwomanship of the Iowa Democratic Party. Fred Grandy Bill Reichart

Age: 45 Age: 63 Party: Republican Party: Democrat Occupation: Former U.S. Representative-Iowa Occupation: Businessman Family: wife Catherine Mann, daughters Marya and Monica Family: wife Sue, daughter Barbara, sons Doug and Duke, and son Charlie 8 grandchildren Home: Sioux City Home: Des Moines Campaign Slogan: "Republican change for Iowa." Campaign Slogan: "A Leader .. .for a Change" "Iowa's choice for a change."

Grandy's platform is focused heavily on taxes, state spending and Yeah, he's the guy who owns the store. Bill Reichardt, crime. Campaign literature criticizes Branstad for raising Iowa's taxes who owns Reichardt's, a men's clothing store, has also had a 21 times and increasing state fees at least 63 times. Grandy's #I six-year career in politics. He served 2 years as a Representa­ goal ... is to cut taxes on Iowans and businesses to "egnite our tive and four as a Senator in the Iowa Legislature. economy, expand business opportunities and create high wage jobs." The founder of the Little All-American Football League Grandy also criticizes Branstad for high state spending. "Terry and the Des Moines Youth Soccer League, Reichardt was an Branstad has been cooking the books for years," he said in the Des All-American and the Big I O's most valuable player in 1957 as Moines Register. "The MasterCard governor pays his debts months a member of the Iowa Hawkeyes football team. later, borrows to pay off last year's bills and keeps two sets of Reichardt pledges to consolidate Iowa counties and focus books ... when I'm governor, that won't be the way we manage on improving the safety of schools. taxpayers' money." Grandy, who has served in the House since 1986, began his professional career as an actor, best known for playing Gopher Smith on . CAMPUS IMlTCH OK, How About the Square Root? Andy Warhol once said everyone will get at least I 5 minutes of fame. It is true for computer engineering senior Michael Graff, and he is enjoying it. The Iowa State student has had articles written about him and colleagues Derek Atkins and Paul Leyland in several newspapers, including The New York Times . What is the reason for all the attention? Graff and his friends are weeks away from finding the secrets of RSA-129. RSA-129 is a 129-digit number used in cryptography to encode material on a computer. Cryptography, which Graff describes as "the art of hiding things in plain sight" uses the RSA system because it is the product of two very large prime numbers. These numbers comprise the "private key," and the two multiplied together create the "public key," which is used to encrypt, or hide, the message. Graff and his friends are trying to factor RSA-129; that is, they are trying to figure out what those two prime numbers are. What makes RSA-129 so special is that it will be the largest number ever factored. When it was released in 1977, its creators said it would take 40 quadrillion years to solve. With the technology available now, that claim is well off the mark. Still, Graff had his doubters. "A lot of people told us, 'you'll never make it,' " he said. At first, the project began as a lark. "Someone told me how hard it is to factor numbers, and I didn't see the difficulty. So, I started looking at techniques, and one of the techniques pointed me to Paul Leyland," he said. Leyland recommended RSA-129, since it was a popular number. "It was a little larger than we expected. It added about four months onto the project," he said. The entire project has taken nine months, and the team received help from more than I ,600 volunteers from every continent except Antarctica. Graff's main job was setting up the mathematical program for the volunteers and answering their questions. Graff likened it to the "Wheel of Fortune": IIRSA-12911 "The word is up there, and at first you start with no information. You flip tiles over until you eventually find the right numbers, and that's what everybody was doing. Everyone in the world (the volunteers) 11438162575788 was flipping over some of those tiles." 88676692357799 When they received the necessary information, they condensed it and sent it to Arjen Leenstra, who works for Bell Communications Research. In a few weeks, Leenstra is expected to make the final 76146612010218 calculations. 29672124236256 This finding will not endanger the world of cryptography, as larger numbers can be used, but it is 25618429357069 significant. "It proves that you're vulnerable, but it still takes an enormous amount of CPU power to 35245733897830 get anything done," Graff said. Graff, who has been interested in computers since the third grade, isn 't sure what he plans to do 59712356395870 once he graduates. He may become a systems programmer, or he may even get into cryptography. For 50589890751475 the moment, though, Graff is just enjoying the success of his biggest project. "It's interesting. I'm 99290026879543 eating this up as much as I can, in the hope that if we do get the numbers, I'll have a lot of background 541 to draw on. This has to look good on a resume,'' he said. ~ ...::~ Mark Berry ~Voting Information Ames Polling Places

AmesWIPI State Forest Nursery, South Duff Avenue Primary Election - June 7, 1994 AmesWIP2 DOT District I office, S. Oak & S. 4th Street General Election - November 8, 1994 AmesWIP3 Auditorium, Public Library, 5 I 5 I Douglas Avenue AmesWIP4 St. Paul Lutheran Church, I 5th & Wilson Avenue If you are a registered voter in Story county and are not AmesWIP5 Meeker School, 20th & Burnett Avenue AmesW2PI Bethesda Lutheran Church, I 5 17 Northwestern Avenue going to be in Ames on June 7, you can request an AmesW2P2 Lounge, Maple Hall, Lincoln Way & Wallace Road, ISU absentee ballot form and still vote in the primary. AmesW2P3 St Cecilia Catholic Church, 30th & Hoover Avenue Students wishing to request an absentee ballot form AmesW2P4 Calvary United Methodist Church, 24th & Hoover Avenue have two options. The first is to complete and return the AmesW2P5 Building I 00, University Village. Stange Road & Bruner Drive enclosed state of Iowa application for absentee ballot. AmesW3PI Veterinary Medical College, Room 2142, PRK Lot 96 AmesW3P2 Memorial Lutheran Church, 2228 Lincoln Way The second is to send a signed statement with their AmesW3P3 Ames Middle School, 321 State Avenue name, social security number, election they want the ., AmesW3P4 Actors Building, 120 Abraham Drive absentee ballot for, address the ballot should be sent to t: AmesW3P5 Wallace-Wilson Commons,Towers Dormatories,ISU and their party affiliation to the Story County Auditor's "£ AmesW4PI St. Andrews Lutheran Church, Colorado & Story Streets Office, 900 6th Street Nevada, Iowa 5020 I. The auditor's i5 AmesW4P2 Unitarian Fellowship, I 0 I 5 N. Hyland Avenue office will honor absentee ballot requests for the ~ AmesW4P3 Design Center, ISU, Sheldon Avenue Extension North ·~ AmesW4P4 Collegiate Presbyterian Church, Sheldon & West Street June primary until June 6, 1994. Completed absentee :> AmesW4P5 Pammel Recreation Hall , Pammel Court, ISU ballots for the June primary must be postmarked by All polling places are open from 7a.m. to 9p.m. June 6, 1994. Check your voter registration card to find your polling district. ethos 7 election information compiled by John Loecke, Becky Waller and Brian Wentz