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NEWS CAMPUS LIFEandSyria ContinuedBy Hannah Allam and Mark Seibelbeing “sandbagged into usingan absurdly over-precise number” of 1,429, and noted thatthe number didn’t agree witheither the British assessmentof “at least 350 fatalities” orother Syrian opposition sources,namely the Syrian Observatoryfor Human Rights, which hasconfirmed at least 502.“President Obama wasthen forced to round off thenumber at ‘well over 1,000 people’ creating a mix of contradictions over the most basic facts,”Cordesman wrote. He addedthat the blunder was reminiscent of “the mistakes the U.S.made in preparing Secretary(Colin) Powell’s speech tothe U.N. on Iraq in 2003.”An unclassified version of a French intelligencereport on Syria that was released Monday hardly clearedthings up; France only confirmed 281 fatalities, though itmore broadly agreed with theUnited States that the regimehad used chemical weapons in the Aug. 21 attack.Another eyebrow-raising administration claim wasthat U.S. intelligence had “collected streams of human, signals and geospatial intelligence”that showed the regime preparing for an attack three daysbefore the event. The U.S. assessment says regime personnel were in an area known to beused to “mix chemical weapons,including sarin,” and that regimeforces prepared for the Aug. 21attack by putting on gas masks.That claim raises twoquestions: Why didn’t the U.S.warn rebels about the impending attack and save hundreds oflives? And why did the administration keep mum about thesuspicious activity when on atleast one previous occasionU.S. officials have raised aninternational fuss when theyobserved similar actions?On Dec. 3, 2012, afterU.S. officials said they detected Syria mixing ingredients forchemical weapons, PresidentBarack Obama repeated hiswarning to Assad that the useof such arms would be anunacceptable breach of the redline he’d imposed that summer. Then-Secretary of StateHillary Clinton chimed in, andthe United Nations withdrew allnonessential staff from Syria.Last month’s suspiciousactivity, however, wasn’t raisedpublicly until after the deadlyattack. And Syrian oppositionfigures say the rebels weren’twarned in advance in order toprotect civilians in the area.“When I read theadministration’s memo, it wasvery compelling, but they knewthree days before the attackand never alerted anyone in thearea,” said Radwan Ziadeh, aSyrian opposition activist whoruns the Washington-basedSyrian Center for Political andStrategic Studies. “Everyonewas watching this evidencebut didn’t take any action?”Among chemicalweapons experts and otheranalysts who’ve closely studied the Syrian battlefield, themain reservation about the U.S.claims is that there’s no understanding of the methodologybehind the intelligence-gathering. They say that the evidence presented points to theuse of some type of chemicalagent, but say that there arestill questions as to how theevidence was collected, theintegrity of the chain of custodyof such samples, and whichlaboratories were involved.Eliot Higgins, a Britishchronicler of the Syrian civil warwho writes the Brown Mosesblog, a widely cited repositoryof information on the weaponsobserved on the Syrian battlefield, wrote a detailed postMonday listing photographsand videos that would seemto support U.S. claims that theAssad regime has possessionof munitions that could be usedto deliver chemical weapons.But he wouldn’t make the leap.On the blog, Higginsasked: “How do we knowthese are chemical weapons?That’s the thing, we don’t. AsI’ve said all along, these aremunitions linked to allegedchemical attacks, not chemicalmunitions used in chemicalattacks. It’s ultimately up tothe U.N. to confirm if chemical weapons were used.”Holes in the casealready have allowed Russiato dismiss the U.S. evidenceas “inconclusive,” with ForeignMinister Sergei Lavrov saying in a speech Monday thatMoscow was shown “somesketches, but there was nothing concrete, no geographicalcoordinates, or details . andno proof the test was done byprofessionals,” according to thestate-backed RT news agency.“When we ask forfurther clarification, we receivethe following response: ‘You areaware that this is classified information, therefore we cannotshow it to you,’ “ Lavrov said.“So there are still no facts.”Lavrov’s remarkssignaled that Russia, one of thelast Assad allies, was nowherenear being convinced enoughto stop its repeated blockingof U.N. Security Council resolutions targeting the regime.But there’s also skepticism among U.S.-friendlynations, such as Jordan, whichdeclined to endorse actionuntil it studies the findingsof a U.N. chemical weaponsinvestigation, and the UnitedKingdom, where Parliamentvoted against intervention evenbefore the U.S. released anintelligence assessment thatcontradicted one released a daybefore by British authorities.It’s unclear how mucha factor the evidence was inParliament’s decisions; there’salso a high degree of warinessof any U.S.-led interventionafter the Iraq experience.The U.S. did get aboost Monday from the commander of NATO, Anders FoghRasmussen, who told a newsconference he’d seen “concreteinformation” that convincedhim of the Assad regime’sresponsibility for an apparentchemical attack that killedhundreds of people in August.Rasmussen said itwould send a “dangeroussignal to dictators” if the worlddidn’t respond, but he left itup to NATO nations to decide their own responses anddidn’t advocate action beyond protecting member stateTurkey, which borders Syria.U.S. allies across theArab world and Europe havesaid they prefer delaying anypotential military strikes until after the U.N. inspectionteam releases its findings.The U.N. mandate is to determine whether chemicalweapons were used, but not toassign culpability. U.N. officials have said they’re tryingto expedite the inspectionteam’s work while protectingthe integrity of the process.Astronomy student stumbles on space objectcalled Trojan in orbit with planet UranusBy Eryn BrownIt turns out Uranus has a cosmic companion as it circles thesun from nearly 1.8 billion milesaway. Scientists have detecteda Trojan an asteroid-like object that shares a planet’s orbitmoving ahead of the ice giant.The discovery of 2011 QF99was reported this week in thejournal Science. And it wasfound almost by accident.Mike Alexandersen, a doctoralstudent in astronomy at theUniversity of British Columbiain Vancouver, Canada, wasn’tlooking for a Trojan. Norwas he studying Uranus.He and his colleagues weresurveying the transneptunian region of the outer solarsystem, hoping to see whatkinds of orbits the objectsthere followed. (The transneptunian region is more or lessthe same thing as the KuiperBelt. Studying the patterns ofobjects’ orbits in the regionhelps scientists understandhow the solar system formedTHE CHARGER TIMESsome 4.5 billion years ago.)As Alexandersen and the teamexamined images snappedusing the Canada-FranceHawaii telescope during 2011and 2012, they noticed oneobject that was moving acrossthe field of vision more quickly than the others. It was anindication that the object wascloser to Earth than the rest.That part wasn’t a surprise. But seeing somethingthat moved the way 2011QF99 did was a shocker.The scientists had expected to see objects known asCentaurs, which often movetoward the center of the solarsystem along quirky paths.But over the course of a yearof observations, they realizedthat this particular space rockwas traveling in an orbit verymuch like that of Uranus.That made it seem more likea Trojan, gravitationally boundto its planet. The mysteriousobject also oscillated thesame way a Trojan would.“It was, in fact, a Trojan,” saidAlexandersen, who addedthat the team members “werecertainly not anticipating findingsomething as cool as this.”University of California at LosAngeles planetary scientistDavid Jewitt, who is creditedwith detecting the first KuiperBelt object in 1992, said thatthe transneptunian regionis the source of all sorts ofobjects hurtling about the solarsystem, providing an Armadalike “rain of stuff” cascadinginward toward the sun. Asthey move about, they getcaught up in planets’ gravity either getting hurled awayor thrown further inward.Chunks that float around inthe zone of the giant planetsare called Centaurs. Thosethat make it into the innersolar system, heating andvaporizing in the sun’s heat,are known as comets.Trojans are the bits that getcaptured in particular locations in a planet’s orbit wheregravity from the sun andgravity from the planet interact to lock them in place.Some Trojans around Mars,Neptune and especially Jupiterare permanently bound to theirplanets, and have been forbillions of years. Others, like2011 QF99 and Earth’s Trojan2010 TK7, are only temporarily trapped in their orbits.“The planets are playingball with this thing,” Jewittsaid of the newly detected object. “Eventuallythey’ll lose control of it.”Alexandersen and his colleagues conducted a computersimulation that showed thatthe Trojan which is about 37miles wide is only temporarilybound to Uranus. Sometimewithin the next million years,it’s likely to drop out of itsorbit and become a Centaur,they reported in Science.2

SPORTSTop-ranked Alabamarocks Virginia TechATLANTA Alabama ownsarguably the nation’s bestquarterback and best defense. Now, it may own thebest all-around player.Christion Jones returned a punt 72 yards for atouchdown, a kickoff 94 yardsfor a touchdown, and caughta 38-yard touchdown passto spark No. 1 Alabama to a35-10 victory over VirginiaTech on Saturday in theChick-fil-A Kickoff gameat the Georgia Dome.“We want our returngame to be a weapon for usand it certainly was tonight,”Tide coach Nick Saban said.Alabama, the defending national champ, neededJones because A.J. McCarron,he of the 26-2 record as a starter and the most talked-aboutingrown toenail in sports,wasn’t sharp. He finished10-of-23 for 110 yards with atouchdown and interception.Alabama’s defense,statistically the best in thecountry last season, didn’tstart well, but got better asthe game progressed, limitingVirginia Tech to 212 yards.It also had an interceptionreturn for a touchdown.But all theyneeded was Jones.He became the firstAlabama player since 1944, theearliest date the Crimson Tide’srecords go back to, to scoretwo non-offensive touchdownsin one game. It was also thefirst time in Virginia Tech’shistory that it gave up a kickreturn, punt return and interception return for touchdowns.“It’s every kid’s dreamto come and do things likethat, but we have a 24-hourrule,” Jones said. “We will putthis game aside tomorrowand go to Week 2.” VirginiaTech was already beaten upand inexperienced enteringthe game. The Hokies werewithout starting tailback J.C.Coleman (sprained ankles)and cornerback Antone Exum(knee). In addition, starting tightend Ryan Malleck (shoulder),running back Tony Gregory(knee) and outside linebackerRonny Vandyke (shoulder)suffered season-ending injuries earlier in August.The Hokies featuredonly 10 seniors on their twodeep depth chart, and their twooffensive tackles were startingthe first games in their careers.By contrast, otherthan McCarron’s terrible toe,Alabama entered the gamerelatively healthy and loadedwith 13 starters returning fromlast season’s 13-1 team.The Tide wasted notime Saturday. After the defense forced a quick threeand-out on Virginia Tech’s firstpossession, Jones’ punt returngave Alabama a 7-0 lead lessthan two minutes into the game.Alabama made thescore 14-0 on a 2-yard run byT.J. Yeldon with 1:53 left in thefirst quarter. The Tide defensehad again forced a three-andout to set up a short field forthe offense. Taking over at theHokies’ 49, McCarron nimbly led Alabama to shrug offany concern about his foot.He bought time by movingin the pocket before he hitKevin Norwood for 11 yardson third-and-10 and later hitAmari Cooper for 15 yards.But VirginiaTech didn’t roll over.Trey Edmunds, effectively the team’s third-stringtailback after the loss ofMichael Holmes (dismissedBy Doug Robersonin the spring) and Gregory(injury), ran up the middle,turned left and dashed 77yards for a touchdown to cutthe Hokies’ gap to 14-7 on theirnext play from scrimmage.“He’s going tohave a terrific future atVirginia Tech,” Hokies coachFrank Beamer said.Tech’s defense forced a threeand-out that included a sackof McCarron and seemedready to make it a game.But strong safety VinnieSunseri easily interceptedLogan Thomas on first downand returned the ball 38 yardsfor a touchdown. Thomas threw16 interceptions last season, anincrease of six from the 2011season. Thomas completedfive of his 26 attempts for 59yards. He wasn’t helped byVirginia Tech receivers thatdropped countless passes.“I felt pretty good,”Thomas said. “I didn’t try to putan ‘S’ on my chest like coachsays. I just tried to play mybest.” Virginia Tech kicked a 39yard field goal to cut the Tide’slead to 21-10 with 3:39 left.And then, just likethat, Alabama snatched themomentum away again whenJones returned the kickoff94 yards for a touchdown.Now, Saban and hisplayers have a week off beforethey take on Texas A&M, theonly team to beat them duringlast year’s 13-1 season.“We have to createan identity as a team,” Sabansaid. “I don’t think we didthat maybe in all ph ases ofthe game today. But at leastwe know where we are.”High Hopes ContinuedBy Taylor ReedSuccess seems tofollow Giboney wherever hegoes and our Athletic DirectorE.J. Brophy believes he cando great things here as well,hoping that “he will take us tonew heights in the very nearfuture.” Giboney brings anatmosphere of success and heaccepts nothing less. “He hashigh standards for us and weare trying to live up to them,”3Sophomore outside hitter OliviaBauman said. The team’sexpectations this year are alot higher and Bauman alongwith her teammates believethat they are capable of going farther than ever before.Although Giboney isnew to the program, the teamhas 11 returners who alreadyworked well together. Giboney,although in his first season,has already begun buildingthe squad bringing in threefreshman recruits who hebelieves will “contribute greatlyto the success of this team.”Hopes are set high.Players, coaches, as well asthe athletic staff all see potential in this year’s team andknow that success is on itsway. Giboney says that histeam is in “game mode” andready to go. This year is goingto be completely different andit is going to be one you arenot going to want to miss.The volleyball season startsnext Wednesday and Baumanbelieves everyone will see howhard this team has worked attheir first home game Sep. 11!THE CHARGER TIMES

ARTS LEISUREandTattooing with timepieceBy Ashley BakerSeejay Callaway ShaynaCallaway Timepiece TattooCompany LLC 3322South Memorial ParkwaySuite 618 Huntsville, AL35801 0 pm -8:00 pmWith over 45 million Americanswith at least one tattoo, thepopularity is increasing. Thestruggle to find a tattoo shopthat meets your individualneeds is also increasing aswell. Having nine tattoos myself(three of which of were inked bySeejay Calloway), I have foundmyself more and more interested in what makes a tattooshop worth your time and whatdoes not. After three yearsin the Huntsville area, I canconfidently say that TimepieceTattoo Company is by far themost talented and professionalgroup of artists I have ever met.I sat down with Shayna andSeejay Calloway to get theirperspectives on tattooing.Shayna Callaway started her tattoo apprenticeship in2004 at the age of 18. Hailingfrom the small town of Ashland,Ohio, Shayna moved Huntsvilleto expand her artistic horizonsas well as to be closer to family.Here in Huntsville, she methusband and future businesspartner Seejay Callaway.Seejay moved to Huntsville in2000 from New York, bringingwith him his big personalityand unrivaled talents to theDeep South, also wanting tobe nearer to family. Here, theCallaways have found a homein the city they love and hopeto provide a much neededart studio, where your ideascome to live and stay with youfor the rest of your days.CT: What is your favoritething about tattooing?There are endless reasonsas to why we love our careersas tattooists. The first beingthe colorful characters that weencounter on a daily basis;some with harrowing storiesof loss, some with stories ofredemption and others wantingto laugh and express their silliness, which we always returnin kind. We also enjoy beingable to create unique tattoosin many different ways, usingdifferent art forms to createindividualized tattoos. Ourshop offers custom art in theforms of portraits and realism,surrealism, gothic and baroquestyles, traditional Japanese,art nouveau, traditional andneo-traditional American stylesas well as cover-ups. Prettymuch anything that comethrough our door, we will doour absolute best to providewhatever our clients can dreamup, and give our all, whetherthat be a one inch tattoo on thewrist, or a large back piece.CT: What is the best advice you can give someonelooking to get a tattoo?As you are looking atdifferent artists to tattoo you,make sure that you checkportfolios, if someone is reluctant to show you a portfolio oftheir work, walk out right thenand there! While looking atportfolios, look for consistencyin the work, especially lineworkand color saturation, as well asmaking sure you have a connection to the artist’s work andstyle in with the tattoos are executed. It is also a good idea tohave something in mind beforeyou come in to the shop, evenif it is just an idea that we canbuild from. Understand that noteverything is tattoo-able, particularly very small details and letters. Ink on paper and ink in theskin are very different mediumsand over time all tattoos willalter, blend or change throughthe years. Try to have a budgetin mind before talking to yourartist and inform them of whatyou are planning on spendingon your tattoo, so there are nosurprises! The average hourlyrate for a tattoo is between 100- 150 per hour, whichsurprises some, but remember,this is a permanent alterationto your body, and spending athe money on an artist whosework you really like is worthit in the end, as opposed topaying less for a poor tattooand having to pay again to getthat tattoo fixed or covered up;“get it done nice, not twice!”Dress the part! Wear clothesthat will give the artist thebest access to the area. Don’twear expensive clothes outon tattoo day, sometimes wecan be a little messy! Andshower before coming in!CT: What advice do you havefor after getting a tattoo?Follow our written and verbalaftercare instructions completely! Over the years, aftercareinfo has changes a lot andclients tend to get mixed info,either from previous tattooists,years ago, or from friends who“know everything about tattoos.” More likely than not, yourfriend’s advice is dead wrong.Trust us, it’s our job, and neverhesitate to ask questions duringthe healing process, we wantyour tattoo to be perfect too.Bat-Bomb ContinuedBy Samuel Gibbypoor direction of the movie.Another noteworthy reason for skepticism isAffleck’s portrayal of GeorgeReeves in “Hollywoodland.”This portrayal of the 1950’sSuperman was so insulting andinaccurate that Noel Neil andJack Larson, stars that workedwith George Reeves, spoke outagainst Affleck’s portrayal. Anobvious issue with this castingis that there are plenty of people who would have been moresuitable for the role other thanAffleck, such as Josh Brolinand Karl Urban. Those two actors have shown that they cantransform into characters sowell that the audience can hardly recognize them in the roles.Despite all of this, thereis some glimmering hope withinthis casting choice. WhenMichael Keaton was cast asBruce Wayne in Tim Burton’sclassic film “Batman” everyonewas outraged to the point thatthere were petitions established to recast the character.But when the film hit theaters itworked perfectly. Virtually thesame reaction occurred whenHeath Ledger was cast as theJoker in “The Dark Knight.”Ledger’s performance showedpeople that he was perfect forthe role of the clown princeof crime and he received anOscar for the role. This casting choice could also workbecause Ben Affleck won anOscar recently for “Argo,” whichallows for the possibility of aco-direction along with ZachSnyder for the movie. At times,he even resembles the billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne.THE CHARGER TIMES ARTS AND LEISUREWas this casting choicea big mistake? We can’t decideyet because of the past history with casting choices thatseemed wrong but ended upsucceeding by all accounts.With the recent rumor swirlingthat Bryan Cranston (“BreakingBad”) has been cast as LexLuthor, it could suggest thatcasting has taken a turn in abetter direction. So, overall wewill just have to wait and seewhether or not this will work.4

CONTINUEDFour years ago, director NielBloomkamp put himself on thecinematic map with one of themost impressive debut films ofrecent years with his sci-fi film“District 9.” “District 9” becamea box office hit, earning overone hundred million dollarsand picking up a rare AcademyAward nomination for BestPicture. More importantly, it wasa masterful work of filmmaking,combining cutting edge specialeffects, biting social commentary, and a whirlwind narrative.“Elysium” isBloomkamp’s sophomore effort,but unfortunately he doesnot deliver. Despite having abudget roughly four times thesize of District 9, Elysium isa step backward in terms ofBloomkamp’s cinematic development, being much morederivative and simplistic.Still, Elysium is goodenough to be discussed on itsown merits and it has quite afew of them. The most impressive aspect of the film is itsoutstanding production design.The environment created byBloomkamp and his team iscompletely immersive, withoutstanding set designs andsuperlative special effects. Inall, Elysium is probably thebest-looking blockbuster ofthe summer, unfortunatelythough, the rest of the movie suffers in comparison.Although well acted,many of Elysium’s problemslie in characterization. MattDamon is a professional andalways brings his A-game,except his character embodiesso many action hero clichésthat he seems almost a parody.Jodie Foster attempts a bizarreaccent that borders on unintentional hilarity, which probablywould not have been so badif her character had anythingElysiumWorld’s EndYou’re NextBy Paul SorrellsBy Samuel GibbyBy Paul Sorrellsinteresting to say. SharltoCopley really tries hard in hisrole as a crazed mercenary outto get Damon’s hero, and henails it in a few scenes, but hischaracter is similarly derivativeof previous better characters.The film’s plot is intentionally simplistic. In the year2154, Earth is an overpopulated wasteland from which thewealthy inhabitants fled to livein their resort satellite, Elysium.Damon’s character has dreamtsince childhood of going thereand after an accident in whichhe is exposed to lethal levelsof radiation, he is faced withcertain death if he cannotreach it in the next few days.The message of thefilm is as clear and unsubtle asmovies get, the rich are getting wealthier and the poor aregetting poorer and it is only getting worse. While this is true,“Elysium” is so heavy-handedin its message that it fails tofunction as a piece of filmmaking. “Elysium” has goodintentions and an importantmessage but it is not something that works either as apiece of social criticism or as aparticularly entertaining movie.Elysium is not a badfilm but it is a rather disappointing one. In a cinematic year absolutely dominated by sequels,reboots and unimaginativefare, Bloomkamp had a chanceto do something different thatcould have been both originaland exciting. He had a budget rarely given to an originalfilm by a young filmmaker andseemingly absolute control overthe project. What he deliveredfails to live up to its substantialpromise and is more concernedwith hitting the audiences overthe head with social problems than taking them to new,exciting cinematic grounds.By David VailIn 2004, actor Simon Pegg anddirector Edgar Wright beganwriting their strangely-named“Three Flavours Cornetto” or“Blood and Ice Cream” trilogy.The first of these films was“Shaun of the Dead,” a hilarioussend-up of zombie horror films.In 2007, “Hot Fuzz” parodiedthe buddy-cop action filmsperfectly. The third and finalpart of the trilogy, “The World’sEnd,” has now been released.Gary King (SimonPegg) gathers his old friends(Eddie Marsan, MartinFreeman, Paddy Considine,Nick Frost) to re-attempt apub crawl of twelve pubs inone night. However, once theyreturn to their hometown andsubsequent pub crawl challenge they discover that thetown’s population has beenreplaced by robots. It containshilarity and sci-fi fun whenthese five guys attempt toreach the final bar, called TheWorld’s End, or die trying.Much like the otherfilms in the “Three FlavorsCornetto” trilogy, this movie is apure riot. The comedy is on-parwith and in some cases superior to the first two films. Thecharacters are all unique andeach present hilarious interactions with each other. This istypical of the writings of EdgarWright and Simon Pegg sincethe two obviously know how tocreate jokes for their scripts.The drama that is present withthe

who would portray the caped crusader - would Christian Bale return to the role or would it be recast? On Aug. 22, the shocking announcement was made that Ben Affleck would don the cape and cowl for the new movie. Many people, myself included, have object-ed to Ben Affleck as the dark knight for many reasons. First of all, Affleck's