| The Behrend Beacon
Relations class smooths
bumps
By Marilyn Hagerty
Grand Forks Herald
(KRT)
They come with backpacks, wear
ing jeans and layers of sweaters and
jackets. And this past week, I notice
more of them are covering their heads
with knit caps. Twenty-two students
file quietly into Room 10l of O'Kelly
Hall on the University of North Da
kota campus. The room has large win
dows that give a view of the UND
School of Law through trees now be
reft of their leaves.
I sit there, reading a copy of the Da
kota Student I had picked up in Me
morial Union. I had asked Mary
Haslerud Opp, the instructor, if I
could visit one of her classes on In
terpersonal Relations. That's some
thing they didn't have when I majored
in journalism years ago at the Univer
sity of South Dakota. As a matter of
fact, they didn't have a School of
Communication. In those days, you
just majored in journalism if you
planned to do newspaper work. News
papers were everything. Radio was a
pesky competitor. Television was
somewhere on the back burner.
It s hard to explain, but there is
something within that makes me want
to go back to classes again each fall.
For four years, I visited the UND
School of Medicine following the
Class of 2000 through to graduation.
Then for three years. I was an occa
sional student of law at UND. I fol
lowed the class of 2003. Then, I took
a year off. This fall, I wanted a sample
of a class in my own field. The stu
dents who take this Interpersonal Re
lations class are from all corners of
the campus. It's a popular class, and
it's required for several majors.
Surreptitiously, I look around the
room before the instructor arrives. It's
almost 9:30 a.m., and the students are
awake but fairly quiet. Mary Haslerud
Opp arrives. Blond hair tousled. Navy
jacket over pink shirt and navy
jumpsuit.
We re on Chapter 8 of the textbook,
"Looking Out Looking In." by Adler
and Towne. It's all about relationships
between friends and between men and
women. Instructor Opp doesn't use a
lot of extraneous comments as she
starts the class on Chapter 8. Just.
"Put everything away. Choose five
terms from the readings and define
them."
It's all done methodically. The stu-
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in road of life
dents turn in their papers.
Next comes the discussion. They are
talking about forming relationships
with other people and how the envi
ronment you come from is everything.
If people have the same attitudes and
similarities, we tend to like them.
What keeps us in a friendship is re
spect. psychological support and car
ing.
When it comes to forming relation
ships for a mate, it's physical attrac
tion. intelligence and sex appeal. In
all personal relationships, Opp is say
ing, you sometimes notice other
people have a trait, such as procrasti
nation, like your own. And you tend
not to like that.
The class discussion continues with
Opp leading the way and students pre
senting examples. I am fascinated.
They are talking about people who
throw open their lives to you and tell
you too much. You don't want to hear
all that. One student said when he calls
his mom, he means to talk for two
minutes. She goes on for 20 minutes
telling him more than he wants to hear
about her problems. Another com
ments about people who "spill their
guts" to you, and you don't even know
them.
Another student says his mother is
a hairdresser, and people tell her ev
erything. She knows everything that
goes on in her town. The discussion
continues about the need people feel
to be heard. And how barbers and hair
stylists hear it all.
Opp guides the discussion to the
levels of intimacy between family
members: "In some families, they
never hug. And that's OK. That's fine."
Also, she is pointing out that in any
relationship, levels of intimacy wax
and wane. "That's how relationships
go." she says. "You can't be too de
manding."
The class nods in agreement as she
talks about women building a relation
ship on talking. Men are more likely
to do something to help out. Change a
light bulb. Fix a door. "We need to un
derstand and know where the other
person is coming from," she says.
I go away, hoping my parking meter
hasn't expired. I am thinking this is
stuff you learn on your way through
life. Now, students in medical fields,
aeronautics and such take a course in
interpersonal relations. I think of how
good it would have been to pick up
some of those skills before starting out
on a career.
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Soccer player reflects
on team tri
The Penn State Behrend Woman’s Soccer Team spent the summer competing and traveling in Ireland
Commentary by Colleen
Applebaugh
staff writer
This past summer, the ladies in blue
traveled overseas to compete internation
ally. The team fundraised for nearly 2
years in order for this opportunity to take
place. Go Play Sports travel agency
planned an amazing journey for these
Behrend players.
After eight and a half hours of flights
and delays, the women arrived in Dublin,
Ireland on August 10, 2004. The ladies
were met by their tour guide Nicola
Watts, more formally known as Nicky.
The team stayed in the 2 nd finest hotel in
Ireland, the Burlington Hotel.
The first task on hand for the women
was to overcome the jet lag. “I was so
tired all day, but Nicky forced us to stay
awake until after dinner,’’junior forward
Heather “heater” Crawford remarked,
“so we walked around Downtown
Dublin and found our own ‘fun’ to make
us stay awake.”
Day 3 was the beginning of the team’s
tours and playing schedule. Behrend
went to Trinity College located centrally
in Dublin’s fair city. The tour included
the Trinity library where a book stock of
4.25 million volumes, 30,000 current se
rials, significant holdings of maps and
music and an extensive collection of
manuscripts, the most famous being The
Book of Kells is found.
“Trinity College was a really neat ex
perience because we got to see foreign
college life,” said Kara Struski, a sopho
more wide midfielder, “the Book of Kells
was cool too, but it smelled like straight
up Italian hoagie in there and people
were rude, so we left immediately.”
Following their tour of Trinity Col
lege, the ladies went to the historical
Kilmainham Prison. This prison is a
landmark for the Irish people as a sign
of their independence from the union
with Great Britain. The women explored
the prison, learned some Irish history,
and were touched by the stories of pa-
Ask ASCII: What are advantages to search engines?
Dear ASCII:
I heard last week that Microsoft just
launched a prototype of a new Internet search
engine. Because my Pavlovian response is
to type in Google.com, I’d almost forgotten
there were other search engines. Google has
a cute name and answers all of my questions
just fine, so why should I bother using any
thing else? Is there some advantage that I
don’t know about to Yahoo or Dogpile,
which, frankly has a name I find revolting?
Just wondering while typing in Google to
find the correct spelling of Dogpile.
-Searcher
Dear Searcher:
Microsoft has indeed launched its their new
search engine, which was specifically de
signed to compete with Google. Microsoft,
has had their prototype out for a few months
for testing purposes, and now they’ve re
leased what they’re calling a “finished prod
uct” for use by the general searching public.
As has been Microsoft’s pattern, it came
out with this new product by copying some
one else’s. And as is usual for Microsoft, it
went to the best to replicate: Google.
Before Google, search engines worked by
reading what a web site claimed to be about.
That was fine at first, but then site owners
began fibbing about who and what they were
to get more hits. The two graduate students
triotism, courage, and loyalty.
Some of the women enjoyed the prison
so much that they left their mark behind.
Captain junior defender Steph Bowen,
along with a few others, christened the
Kilmainham prison. The team does not
wish to disclose any further information,
but if you are curious, please direct your
questions to Bowen.
At 7 p.m. that evening, the team suited
up to play UCD Dublin, the second string
national team. Players on UCD Dublin
have seen playing time against Ameri
can greats, like Mia Hamm and Brandi
Chastain. Behrend fell to their opposi
tion 8-0, but found the game profitable.
We went into the game giving it all we
had,” senior central midfielder Carrie
Smock detailed, “no one told us some of
them were on the national team!” The
blue and white were able to meet the
team afterwards for some refreshments
and soccer tips.
The fourth day of touring was spent
with a full day of excursions to the Hill
of Tara, Trim Castle and the beautiful
gardens at Larchill Arcadian. The Hill of
Tara dates back to 3000 B.C. and is the
birthplace of Christianity in Ireland. St.
Patrick preached on the hill and baptized
Irish people in the faith.
Trim Castle is the largest and one of
the most important Norman military con
structions in Ireland. The castle was first
constructed in the 12"’ century and re
modeled three more times with techni
cal improvements. Many people have
seen Trim Castle in the movie Braveheart
featuring Mel Gibson.
The next day the team found more ex
ploration with a trip to the Rock of Cashel
and Waterford. The Rock of Cashel is a
group of medieval buildings set on an
outcrop of limestone in the Golden Vale.
There are many legends behind this spec
tacular site, but the most favored by the
team was the love fable. It is believed
that if a person hops on their right leg
around St. Patrick’s cross 25 times, that
person will find his true love in 6 months.
Juniors Holly Greiner and Jill Vroman
who created Google succeeded with an in
novative alternative search approach. It works
like this: the search engine races around the
web, following links and looking at who
linked to a site and what they said about it. A
site is ranked in the Google search engine
based on how many other web pages linked
to it and which pages they were. Links on
big time sites - such as www.psu.edu - are
more valuable than links on some geocities
site. So if you type “Penn State” in the Google
search window, Google will give you
www.psu.edu first because most links that
say “Penn State” link to www.psu.edu.
Although Google patented the exact way
it performs the search, the general principle
of observing connectivity on the Internet can’t
be patented, so MSN was free to copy the
idea, which they did. While it’s generally
agreed that Google’s results are still the best,
Microsoft has come very close with their new
engine.
You may want to try using search engines
other than Microsoft and Google though,
depending on what you want. Google’s al
gorithm is great for finding popular or im
portant sites but is lacking if you’re search
ing for something really esoteric. Also, dif
ferent search engines tend to return a differ
ent “flavor” of results because of their dis
tinct ways of indexing sites on the Internet.
Dogpile (the name refers to a pile of dogs,
Friday, November 19, 2004
to Ireland
were bold enough to attempt this legend-
ary feat.
Since the team was to play their sec
ond game against Benfica FC located in
Waterford, they were able to visit the
world famous Waterford Crystal Factory.
The women received a first hand look at
how crystal was made, craved, inspected,
and sold.
Behrend lost their second game to
Benfica FC by a large margin. The team
was unable to score again, but felt the
game forced them to play harder. Fol
lowing the game, the team went out to
dinner with the women from Benfica FC.
Benfica present the Behrend women
with beautiful Waterford token.
August 14, 2004 the team celebrated
a special junior midfielder’s birthday;
Michelle Newland turned 20 Irish style.
Unfortunately the birthday luck did not
shed light for the women in their third
and final game against the Shamrock
Rovers FC. They fell again to a strong
Irish team, but found out after the match
that the team has been playing with one
another for nearly 8 years.
The next morning the team ventured
to the Guinness Storehouse where they
discovered secrets about that ultra dark
beer. Later that evening the team em
barked some traditional Irish folklore
song and dance.
The final day was a free for all. The
players could go anywhere, see anything,
but most opted to shop. Many of the
players visited their favorite spots along
Graffton Street, St. Steven’s Greens or
the Temple Bar. They might have been
seen hanging out with their favorite fair
maiden, Miss Molly Malone.
The team enriched their lives by visit
ing this enchanted country. Everything
from the nightlife to the food was an in
teresting occurrence. The team grew to
gether both on the pitch and off the field.
The trip truly unified these proud
Behrend soccer players. For some, this
was their first time out of the country,
but for all this was an experience that
will last forever in their memories.
like “puppy pile” rather than a pile made by
a dog. It’s not supposed to be revolting) is
what’s called a “meta-search-engine.” It
doesn’t do any actual searching on its own.
Dogpile performs your search at a bunch of
other sites (including Google, Ask Jeeves, and
others.)
There is a long history of “best” search
engines, most of which have fallen into ob
scurity, and there will be plenty more to come.
Don’t worry about Google though, most of
the old “best” engines are still around in some
form or another, even after most people have
forgotten about them.
MSN’s new search engine doesn’t repre
sent any real improvement in search tech
nology. It’s just them trying to catch up with
Google. The next big break dirough in search
ing will probably be an engine that searches
for images more effectively. Many people are
trying to come up with something to improve
what we currently have. I’m particularly look
ing forward to that because there is a comic
strip I wanted to show you all about the his
tory of search engines, but I was utterly un
able to locate it with any search engine which
I tried.
Do you have a computer question? Ask
ASCII! Send an e-mail to hvsllB@psu.edu
with “Ask ASCII:” in the subject line to get
your question answered.