Page 2 The Behrend Beacon SATURDAY SUNDAY Partly Cloudy High: 38° Low: 25° [GE Lubrizol donates communications equipment GE Lubrizol LLC in Wickliffe, Ohio, has given Penn State Erie a gift of satellite navigation and communications equipment valued at $81,948. The equipment, which includes GPS receivers, satellite modems, amplifiers, satellite anten nas, wiring, and various power supplies, will be used to support courses in electrical engi neering technology. It will also be used in labs for GPS, wireless communications, electromagnetics, antenna theory, and antenna design. PA Sea Grant named website of the month The Great Lakes Commission has selected the Pennsylvania Sea Grant website to be the Great Lakes Information Network (GLIN) Site of the Month for April 2002. GLIN, a Great Lakes Commission project, serves as a gateway to the Great Lakes region of North America. Its data holdings and services cover the environment, economy, tourism, education, maps, GIS, and demographics, and the site receives 3.5 million hits per month. Undergrad research conference convenes in April Students and faculty from six colleges and universities in northwest Pennsylvania will come together Saturday, April 20, from 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. for the 11th annual Undergraduate Research and Creative Accomplishment Conference, sponsored by Penn State Erie and the northwest Pennsylvania chapter of Sigma Xi, a national research society. Participating col leges and universities include Allegheny College, Edinboro University, Gannon University, Mercyhurst College, Penn State Erie and the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford. What’s in the News: Singing about the stars When the members of the musical group the Chromatics think about stardom, they're not dreaming about the cover of Rolling Stone, but about stars such as Alpha Centauri, Wolf 359 and, of course, the Sun. Our star, the Sun, is a big ball of gas/And it's 99 percent of our solar system's mass." What distinguishes The Chromatics from other groups is the ability to har monize on the science of the heavens. "Four of us work at Goddard Space Center as research scientists, and we thought it would be fun to combine these two areas," said group member Alan Smale, who co-wrote a set of "astronomically correct" songs for a CD," AstroCappella 2.0," that was distributed at no charge Uo educators. The Chromatics' most recent song highlights preparations for the upcoming launch of the Swift gamma ray observatory, a project of the Goddard Space Center. This week's "What’s In The News" episode, produced by Penn State Public Broadcasting for schools nationwide, takes a look at the Swift Mission and what scientists hope to learn from it. Free web-based tool makes map colors a snap With a computer on nearly every desk, mapping software is now available to just about everyone, but choosing colors for maps is a job often fraught with complexity and failure.. Now Colorßrewer, a web-based tool created by Penn State geographers, can make choosing map colors fast and easy. "Lots of people have these new tools on their desk to allow mapping and data representa tion, but they do not have expertise in designing maps," says Cynthia Brewer, associate pro fessor of geography. "In using these tools, people generally choose the default color schemes which may be inappropriate for the data or for the final format of the map." Colorßrewer is intended tor people who do not want to spend too much time selecting a color scheme or fme-tuning one they have created. Mark Harrower, graduate student in geography, told attendees at the 98th Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers in Los Angeles March 23: "It is a free 24-hour on-demand color consultant." The web tool is free, requires no registration and triggers no pop-up advertising. It is available at Colorßrewer.org and will run on Netscape or Internet Explorer. Users do need to have a free Flash 5 plug-in for their browsers, but they can download it from the site. An RA called to report that a student was passsed out inside the main entrance at Porcupine Hall. The responding officers found the student to be intoxicated. The on-call coordinator was informed of the incident. 3/23/02 01:47 3/28/02 03:12 A complainant reported that someone had vandalized his door. Caller reported hearing screaming coming from a room in Ohio. 3/28/02 19:04 An RA reported receiving obscene e-mail 3/29/02 03:05 While patrolling the Ohio Hall Lot, an officer found a Jeep Wrangler with its back cover zipped down. It was unknown if anything was taken from the vehicle. 3/30/02 02:30 4/2/02 10:30 A complainant reported receiving obscene e-mail 4/3/02 22:01 An officer observed a student run a stop sign at Reed Main Dr. A citation was issued. College Pro Painters Hundreds of painter positions available. No experience necessary, students welcomed and encouraged. Work close to home and with friends Call 1-888-277-9787 or visit www.colle Fraternities * Sororities * Clubs * Student Groups Earn sl,ooo-$2,000 with the easy Campusfundraiser.com three hour fundraising event. Does not involve credit card applications. Fundraising dates are filling quickly, so call today! Contact Campusfundraiser.com at (888) 923-3238, or visit www.campusfundraiser.com * WEEKEND WEATHER OUTLOOK Rain Likely High: 51° Low: 29° BEHREND BRIEFS [epro.com MONDAY Rain Likely High: 55° Low: 31° Dr. Dean Baldwin, the host of the evening, welcomed all audience members to participate in the event. In this way, not even he knows what the show will consist of, but it’s always a pleasant surprise. Highlight acts included a bizarre but hilarious fabricated story about Behrend English Professor Dr. Gregory Morris and New Age musician Yanni; a reading of the famous ‘To be or not to be” speech from Hamlet in the style of Donald Duck; and a witty short play about the end of the world. Faculty acts included English professor George Looney reading a piece he’d written when he was a student himself, entitled “The Generic Legend of St. George.” Also, Baldwin handed out copies of a disturbingly funny poem whose reprinting is prohibited here. Morris graced the stage many times, but perhaps the most memorable was his part in student Andy Sydlik’s Apocalyptic play “It is Done” as A. 1., the whimsical robot with a dry sense of humor. Possibly the most intriguing spectacle of the night was the viewing of the actual music video of the Japanese boy band Happatai singing the song “Yatta.” The video, provided by Beacon Humor Editor Ben Kundman and introduced by Dr. Morris, certainly stole the show. As the audience watched in laughter at the six scantily clad Japanese men making fools of themselves, an observant eye could catch Morris rhythmically tapping his foot to the . catchy tune. After all the acts performed, Morris continued the long-standing tradition of Friday, April 5, 2002 i. oLIL xz iD _L Mj i. I PHOTO BY ERIN McCARTY / BEHREND BEACON Now this is what we like to see: an empty Beacon bin! (We’re hoping there is no correlation between that and the garbage bins next to it...) Engineers, we commend you for your good taste. Everyone else, get off your rumps and start reading the paper! Gala sure to be a'Night to Remember' by Nicky Galloway assistant news editor The 2002 Gala will commence, Saturday from 7to 9 p.m. It will be directly followed by the afterparty, a dance including a wide variety of music, from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. Both of these events will be held in the McGarvey Commons. The event is sponsored and organized by the Association of Black Collegians (ABC). The organization set up a 14 member committee that began to plan the event in October of 2001. Demeca Howard, Sharise Finley, Kamilah Gorden, Natasha Gayle, Adrianne Abney, Guinevere Habersham, Twynell Kimble, Tameka Tilliman, Asia Horton, Khalif Rhodes, Jennie Ellison, Edalia George, Heather Robinson, and Jacqueline Jackson all played a very active role in the planning and organization of this annual event. The Gala 2002 is a tradition for the members of the Multi-Cultural Council. It’s occurred every year for at least 20 years. During the ceremony that accompanies the catered dinner, many minority students and one faculty member are recognized for a variety of accomplishments. This year, the dinner will be catered by Housing and Food Service. Housing and Food Service will Worse is better for campus poetry night by Tony DiPlacido staff writer Tuesday, Behrend held its 18th annual “Evening of Dubious Taste” at the Studio Theater. The show consists of comically bad poetry, stories, plays and other forms of literature. Both students and faculty add their brand of humor to the evening. Anyone who does not attend misses out on rich Behrend tradition. FOCAL POINT w 1 1 t: provide lasagna, honey dijon chicken, rice pilaf. Prince of Edwards vegetables, cheesecake and pumpkin pie. The ceremony occurs during the dinner and includes the time-honored passage of the torch from the old Entertainment Board members to the new Entertainment Board members. At the conclusion of the dinner, the awards will be passed out. The awards recognize minority students with outstanding achievement in academics or social involvement. Approximately 150 awards will be given out in both of these categories. There are two types of awards for minority students to take home in the academic category. The first is the gold award certificate, given to students who have a GPA between 3.0 and 3.49. The second is the platinum award certificate, which honors students who’ve achieved a GPA of between 3.5 and 4.0. The Association of Black Collegians will give out an award to recognize a faculty member for outstanding service to the ABC. Other minority organizations are also encouraged to participate and give awards for service to their organization. Some of these organizations include the Student Government Association, and the Ultimate Praise Gospel Choir. The Multi-Cultural Council (MCC) will pass out plaques and reading a short but hysterical horror story by an anonymous author called “A Flash of the Knife.” The absurdly written story tells of five college students in a supposedly haunted cemetery. The most horrible thing about it was its composition. It is no wonder why the author remains unknown. After the evening’s atrocities, Baldwin invited everyone to stay for snacks and beverages. Amongst them was human brain-shaped Jell-O. The event was also one of Morris’ first at Behrend, seventeen years ago. He had come for an interview, and stuck for the performance. Baldwin jokes that was what got him in. Baldwin said he first got the idea for the event in Senior Andy Sydlik in an exultant moment at Tuesday’s Evening of Dubious Taste. Sydlik performed his play, “It is Done,” with the assistance of Nicole Johns and Dr. Greg Morris. Erin McCarty, News Editor behrcollS @ aol.com statuettes for the most outstanding organization, the organization of the year, the president of the year, and the most ereative program of the year. This year, the MCC is introducing the Keystone Award for achievement in diversity programming and involvement over the student’s entire Penn State career. The theme of this year's gala is “Make It Last Forever” and the colors are the same as always, silver and gold. The McGarvey Commons will he decorated with a massive amount of decorations, centerpieces, and balloons. The affair is formal. A red carpet leading to the doorway of the McGarvey Commons will be covered with silver metallic curtains. Flanking the red carpet will be students video taping the outfits and entrances to the Gala 2002. There will also be a commentator commenting on the outfits and interviewing the attendees. The dance directly following the event will be disc-jockeyed by Quincy McConell. The dance will also include refreshments such as a fruit and cheese tray and punch. Everyone is invited to attend. The tickets are free for Penn State students and cost $5 for the general public. There is a sign-up sheet for the event at the RUB desk. 1985 as a result of, quite simply, a lack of funny poetry. “1 got the idea from the student poetry readings. I thought we could be a little more fun,” said Baldwin. He felt they could have used some comedy relief, and the success has remained constant for almost two decades. “We’ve even done it twice for the alumni weekend,” he says. If you missed the fun this year, not to worry. The strong tradition of Dubious Taste will be kept at Behrend so long as there the School has a sense of humor. PHOTO BY JEFF HANKEY / BEHREND BEACON
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