There’s a murderer lurking within the Dome Room.

Ferris forensic students areseeking assistance in solving their first-ever mock crime scene case on Wednesday, March 18 from 7 to 9 p.m. It is open and free for all.

The Association of Ferris Forensic Students (AFFS) have put their brains together to create a mock homicide case for all audience members to search for evidence near the “victim” and ask questions of the “suspects” and any Ferris forensic student helping out with the case.

The AFFS has been working on this for a couple of weeks now and will have plenty of good information for all participants.

AFFS Vice President, Alicia Kerr said, “We will be having the 10 members who are participating show the audience how to collect evidence found at a crime scene; how to bag up possible objects, take pictures, and collect the most common evidence usually found at most crime scenes. We will show what happens at the scene of the crime, how it’s processed, and how the evidence is connected to the victim and possible suspects.”

Kerr did not say what will be collected as it may give some of the excitement away.

Not only will there be a mannequin as the victim and “suspects,” but AFFS also put together a presentation of how the collected evidence is analyzed and used to figure out who the murderer is.

The presentation will show all the technological processes that takes place with the evidence that will not take place at this mock crime scene case.

Ferris is not the first college to host mock crime scene cases for audience members to participate in.

College courses for forensic majors have classes dedicated to mock crime scene and having the students solve the case. Some of those mock cases are even supervised by actual forensic investigators and put together by them from previous cases they have solved in reallife.

One example is a forensic class at the Santa Barbara City College. Santa Barbara Forensic Investigator, Mike Ullemeyer, teaches students how to solve crimes the way he does.

“I am fascinated with the kind of things that can be done with fingerprints and blood evidence, and just putting puzzle pieces together and helping solve a crime,” Ullemeyer said. He wants to make his students just as fascinated as he when using science to help solve crimes committed.

Mock crime scene cases are not only for future forensic investigators, but for anyone interested in how science is used in solving a crime.

Crimescene.com is a Web site dedicated to just that, solving crimes and giving anyone the opportunity to solve the mock crime scene cases the Web site has.

For more information on this event contact Kerr at kerra@ ferris.edu or 309-721-4801.

Don’t mistake this meditative device as a sand pit for your toy army soldiers or hot sandy beach for your forgotten Polly Pockets.

This frame-shaped, sand laden box with rock decor is actually a hand-held version of a Zen garden and Entertainment Unlimited is giving students the chance to create their own tranquil heaven.

There are 120 kits available so only the first 120 students will be able to participate in this meditative experience on Tuesday, March 24 in the Rankin Center Lobby.

The kits contain the garden’s key natural ingredients of sand and rocks, as well as the wood to build your rake and box. The miniature rake is used to create patterns in the sand that resemble ripples in the sea.

According to wisegeek.com, a Zen garden is just a Western name for what is known as “karesansui,” or dry landscape, in Japan. Westerners called them Zen gardens because of the meditative state the rocks and sand patterns created. Zen is a school of Buddhism that uses deep meditation to achieve a state of enlightenment.

Also at wisegeek.com, it was said that some have interpreted the rocks in a sea of sand as symbolic to the islands of Japan, while others think it represents a mother tiger swimming with her cubs towards a dragon.

Even a recent neuroscience study suggested that layouts used in Zen gardens use “suggestive symmetry” to make the brain visualize a tree in the empty space between the rocks.

This rock garden creation will only resemble a watered down version of a true Zen garden. An actual Zen garden would take up the complete space of an owner’s front or back yard with rocks reaching the size of a small car.

But on the other hand, a desktop Zen garden takes less time to rake, the rocks around to your heart’s content, and it’s transportable.

To learn more about the history of Zen gardens and different Zen designs, visit onmarkproductions. com/html/japanese-gardens.shtml.

This event was made possible by funds as allocated by the Finance Division of Student Government. For more information, contact x2610.

St. Patrick’s Day is a celebration recognized by many American college students as a good reason to party.

The industry that promotes everything from music and t-shirts to beer and green dye banks on the motivation that for at least one solid weekend we’ll pretend to be Irish and worship the alleged patron saint of foggy memories and shamrocks.

But Guinness, corned beef, and leprechauns have less to do with St. Patrick and more to do with a gathering of friends. Guinness is just a brand name for a stout beer made in Dublin, Ireland since 1759. St. Patrick never had a Guinness. However, since the Irish like it, that’s what is most commonly consumed on March 17.

Corned beef and cabbage often comprises the menu for an Irish meal around the middle of March, but typically only in the U.S.

According to History.com’s database on all things St. Patrick’s Day, corned beef became common in New York as a substitute for Irish Bacon as suggestion from the area Jewish population in the mid 1900's.

Leprechauns are an Irish representation of fairies or pixies in many folk tales, but serve a distinctly small role. Americans, however, equate a jovial, signing, impish bearded man with Eire.

So, St. Patrick didn’t drive any snakes out of Ireland as the legend would have us believe, because according to archaeological evidence there never were any snakes in Ireland, but the story is what pleases us most. Much in the same way we make and share stories when we gather with our friends either on March 17 or any other time throughout the year. It’s a celebration where the good times are as plentiful as the stories and traditions.

Sometimes people need to vent as a reassurance that their life is truly as terrible as it seems. For those people, fmylife.com provides a healthy medium of shared frustration and quality entertainment.

Fmylife.com, most widely noted for the use of the acronym ‘FML’ , short for F*** My Life, at the end of the brief descriptions of each person’s problem, has grown by leaps and bounds from a small French Web site to an international outlet for all ages to air their grievances with the world.

With stories pertaining to work, money, children, sex and relationships and many others, any reader could easily empathize, but more likely share a laugh at the anecdotes shared on this free Web site.

Fmylife.com is moderated by the members themselves. So, inappropriate or seemingly extreme stories don’t make it to published page after a series of votes by the readers.

From there, the Web viewers are able to vote as to whether the person’s life is ‘totally f***ed’, or “you deserved that one”. Essentially this system provides a purposeful pat-on-the-back or a request that the individual quit whining.

Overall, the rationale of this Web site is along the lines of shock and awe that can be served up in miniature doses while checking your cell phone between classes or finding some means by which to cope with insomnia. In that affect it has achieved a type of cult classic following. Ritualistically individuals log on and check the latest additions to the page; sharing the most outrageous with whomever would most appreciate them.

It’s not uncommon now to find facebook statuses, text messages or even daily conversation to be peppered with “Eff my life” on the end of a sentence. This trend is taking a strong root in society. It won’t be long now before grandparents are murmuring that what is left of their life is decidedly f***ed or pre-schoolers learn their FMLs before their ABCs.

Aside from the fact that Hollywood has forgotten how to make a suspenseful movie with an original script, the remake of Wes Craven’s “The Last House on the Left” was brilliantly executed.

Some argue that remakes are a form of laziness or a need to snag a big opening weekend, but this film is arguably neither.

The conflicts and themes of many older movies will always echo across generations, which is why a refreshing remake is needed.

The story is centered on two young girls; Mari, played by Sara Paxton, and Paige, played by Martha MacIssac, who get caught up with the son of a serial killer and his murdering crew.

The girls are taken on a torture ride close to Mari’s vacation home where she’s been staying with her parents. And just when you think they might escape, Paige is left for dead while Mari is shot as she’s trying to swim across the lake to her vacation home.

Since the torture ride ended with a totaled SUV, the helpless killers and son find their way to the same vacation home, where Mari’s parents unknowingly take them in.

But, surprise! The parent’s hospitality changes to hostility when they find Mari, who has been shot and is near dead, has swam the lake and dragged herself to their porch.

The father, played by Tony Goldwyn, is a doctor and examines his daughter to find she has been tortured, raped, and shot. In the beginning of the movie, the relationship between the parents and the daughter was really emphasized, which makes this scene heart wrenching to watch when he tells his wife their daughter’s been raped.

The mom, played by Monica Potter, puts two and two together with a helpful hint from the killer’s son and they seek revenge on the visitors who are crashing in their guest house.

And sweet revenge it was. There is something about a welldeserved killing that leaves audience members squirming in their seats and rooting for the good guys.

There was one scene from the movie that I have been hearing reviews bash over and over again. During Mari’s torture is an extremely graphic rape scene, which even had some people leave the theater.

The scene was a little lengthy, but its purpose was to disturb the audience. Sure, it was offensive, but it built up your hate for the killers and made the parent’s cat and mouse chase seem much more satisfying.

And even though the cast is not very well known, the acting is definitely above average for what you would expect from a horror movie.

But with all the in-your-face brutality, I only recommend this movie to those who can handle the harsher experiences that storytelling has to offer.

“The Last House on the Left” is the ultimate thriller, packed with intense, well-deserved violence and bittersweet revenge, which is why I give it five stars.