TCU's Model United Nations chapter took home the second highest ranking last week in a competition against 200 schools in New York City. Model U.N. is a simulation of the United Nations that aims to help students learn how the United Nations actually works, said Lily Toner, head delegate for TCU's Model U.N. chapter.

At the National Model U.N. Conference, delegations from each school were assigned a different country, she said.

Last Monday actor Michael Keaton - star of "Batman," "Batman Returns" and, of course, "Jack Frost" - threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the Pittsburgh Pirates' home opener against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Keaton, a Pittsburgh native and lifelong Pirates fan, raised eyebrows by taking shots at the Pirates' management, notorious for not spending any money on salary, after he threw out the first pitch."I fear they will take advantage of the goodwill of the people who continue to show up," said the Actor Formerly Known as Bruce Wayne. "For my money, it's disrespectful.

Lately, I've been making an effort to shy away from national sports subjects, focusing instead on TCU teams and athletes worthy of commentary. It's gone pretty well, I think. But now the course of current events - plus the public outcry of my handful of readers - has forced me to offer my opinion on a much less local topic.And, as disgusting as I feel admitting it, even this has a homegrown theme: Mavericks fans, rejoice, because Dirk Nowitzki is my choice for the 2005-2006 season NBA Most Valuable Player.

What better way to steer people away from playing video games wrought with violence than to invent one based on "making love"?With all the games out on the market revolving around war, boxing, gunfights and all those other activities in which men love to partake in a virtual world, some companies are developing a new choice: games where players meet other cartoon-like characters, flirt and have sex.

A sunrise service sponsored by University Ministries will be held Easter morning on the Sadler Hall lawn, said an administrative assistant for University Ministries.Ann Smith, worship and spiritual life intern for University Ministries, said the service has been a tradition in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) for more than 20 years.

"In our environment here at TCU, we don't do a (Holy) Thursday or a Good Friday because we don't have evening services typically," Smith said. "But it has been a tradition to have a Sunday morning Easter sunrise service," Smith said.

TCU students and faculty are familiar with the university's mission statement, "To educate individuals to think and act as ethical leaders and responsible citizens in a global community."But how often do they think about what it means?

Three faculty members - Gregg Franzwa, Jack Hill and Chris Riordan, from the philosophy, religion and business departments, respectively - will try to encourage the campus community to consider the mission statement tonight at a discussion titled, "The Mission Statement Revisited: What does it mean to be an ethical leader?"

E-mail inboxes were flooded with responses Tuesday after a chain e-mail discouraging consumers from buying certain gas suppliers somehow made its way to the entire university. To students. To faculty and staff. To alumni.The issue is not about how the e-mail was sent in the first place - it's about all of those people, not just students, mind you, who seized the opportunity to reply to all. Perhaps these people did not actually take the time to think of their discourteous actions, but everyone else sure made note of them.

One Sunday morning each spring, sunrise brings as much excitement as Christmas morning for millions of American children, as they spring from their beds in search of what the famous bunny has left in their baskets this year.Soon, the backyard is turned upside down in search of brightly colored eggs. The house is covered in foil candy wrappers, along with the infamous plastic green grass that is sure to get stuck in mom's vacuum.

Construction on the TCU Bookstore, which was supposed to be completed by August, will be pushed back at least three months because of the fire, said the associate director of major projects.Even if the...