Looking to erase the memory of last season, the men's basketball team sent the home crowd home with a smile and a 72-66 victory against the Centenary Gents in Saturday night's season opener at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum. Coming off a disappointing 2005-06 campaign that saw the Frogs go 6-25, the team set the tone on offense with five players scoring in double figures and on defense by holding the Gents to 37% shooting.

The chimes of a piano can echo through the ears of classical music audiences worldwide this weekend, thanks to a new program allowing TCU's music department to broadcast concert events online. TCU alumni Adam Golka, and Jose Feghali, artist in residence and professor of piano, will perform a Beethoven sonata Sunday, which will be broadcast live online using Internet2, a new high-speed Internet program.

Working along with network engineers, TCU network engineer Tony Fleming said Feghali has used the Internet2 program to aid with some of the online musical computing.

Each semester, Greeks pay their chapters hundreds of dollars in dues, used for everything from philanthropies to recruitment, Greek officers say.Will Sager, Interfraternity Council president, said chapter dues range from $450 to $800 a semester and many chapters have summer dues.

Amanda Ziehme, Alpha Chi Omega treasurer, said active members of the sorority paid $440 in dues this semester and new members paid $741.

Responsible consumerism, the act of buying items with the producer in mind, is on the rise among people between the ages of 13 and 25, according to a 2006 poll conducted by Cone Inc., a public relations and research company, and the AMP Agency, a youth-focused marketing agency.In today's world of liquidation sales, buy-in-bulk, reduced prices and buy-one-get-one-free deals, sometimes it's worth it to spend a bit more.

Recyclable items are a start.

Today's first-ever TCU Health Fair is a way for students, faculty, staff and community members to become healthier, more informed individuals, said the assistant dean of campus life for health promotion.Research shows healthier students have higher grades and a better overall experience at college, said Laura Crawley, assistant dean of campus life for health promotion.

"It's better by far to prevent illness than to have it treated," she said.

A pregnant girl walks into a bar, lights up a cigarette and orders a glass of wine.This joke doesn't sound funny, does it? That's because it isn't.

I recently visited a bar in my hometown over the weekend and saw this very scene.

Although I was shocked at the sight of this woman's reckless disregard for her unborn baby's health, I was even more shocked at the waitress', bartender's and police officer's apathy for the situation.

"A couple drinks won't do any harm," the waitress said.

Aspiring guitarists are finding it harder to learn their favorite songs these days as a new threat of lawsuits from the music industry has started the decline in online guitar tablature sites.One of the largest guitar tablature sites on the net, Olga.net - Online Guitar Archive - has been the main target in recent copyright infringement lawsuit threats from the National Music Publishers Association and the Music Publishers Association of the United States.

The recent revelation of sexual misconduct and drug abuse on the part of Rev. Ted Haggard is a tragedy - not only for him and his family but also for American Christianity as well.Though many Christians - including myself - disagreed with his political beliefs, that doesn't mean his fall was any less calamitous. His fall is an unfortunate example of lofty spiritual ideals being toppled by the sordid reality of the dark side of life.

It is often said the war in Iraq is comparable to the Vietnam War, but there is one thing that is noticeably different -- where are all the protest songs?Many of today's musical artists are so worried about having a radio-friendly hit that they forgo writing any songs that have actual messages. Thankfully, some artists are willing to take that risk.

Now that the mid-term elections have come and gone, let's take a look back at some of the most politically-charged songs to come out in the past year.