One day you're griping about the University's shutoff of residence hall air conditioning, and the next you're dripping and shivering as you wrestle with a broken umbrella while waiting for a bus. So, between perfecting your wardrobe layering technique to accommodate all seasons and drafting plans for your personal ark, take some time to read this week's laurels and darts.

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A recent report indicated that New Jersey was the worst state for blood donation with only 2 percent of the able population contributing. In a positive reaction to this information, the Rutgers chapter of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity hosted a communitywide blood drive on Tuesday at its College Avenue house that was organized by the Rutgers Red Cross Corps.

For responding to negative news concerning New Jersey's charitable participation with a wholehearted effort to recruit new donors from Rutgers and the surrounding community, and as a result providing lifesaving blood to recipients who might have otherwise been unlucky, the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity and the Rutgers Red Cross Corps get a laurel.

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On Wednesday, a warning was issued that this winter will bring with it some extremely inflated energy costs. The United States Energy Department has predicted that the price of gas heating for the average household will rise about 50 percent higher than usual. Propane users will most likely deal with a 30-percent increase, and electric customers will fare the best with an approximate 5 percent rise. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita can be blamed for part of the gas shortage due to their destruction of important refineries in the Gulf Coast.
For the lack of preparation shown in dealing with an energy crisis and ensuring affordability of home heating to its citizens, the U.S. government might receive a dart. However, since the main culprits of this crisis are two unpredictably devastating forces of nature, one may instead just chalk it up to a fact of life.

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On Oct. 10, professors Robert J. Aumann and Thomas C. Schelling were awarded the Nobel Prize in economics. The award recognizes their game theory, which applies to economics and social sciences. The game theory is an investigation of how decisions made within a group of individuals, organizations or countries will affect one another. Concepts of transgression, punishment and cooperation are accounted for, and mathematical correlations and equilibriums are calculated to predict the expected result of a social experiment...