Humanities department
hosts birthday celebration
Ben Franklin turns three hundred years old
By DIANE KENNEY
Guest Reporter
DMK29S@PSU.EDU
Faculty and students from the
School of Humanities celebrated the
300th birthday of founding father
and beloved American Benjamin
Franklin on Thursday, Jan. 19,
2006, in the Gallery Lounge.
Dr. George Boudreau, who is
currently writing a book about the
famed founder, enlightened several
students on the life and times of
Franklin with a lecture and slide
show presentation in celebration
of his birthday. The lecture and
slide show was then followed by
birthday cake.
Franklin was born in Boston, Mass.,
on Jan. 17, 1706. He was the 10th
son of a soap maker who aspired to
make his son a clergyman.
After one year his father could no
longer afford to school Franklin.
Throughout Franklin's lifespan
he received eighteen months of
formal education.
At the age of fifteen he became
an apprentice printer at his older
brother James' print shop.
Avoiding Internet scams
By BRIANNA GUYER
Staff Reporter
BGGSOO3@PSU.EDU
As holiday season came and went,
many people turned to the World Wide
Web to purchase gifts for their loved
ones and friends. While that may have
helped in purchasing that hard-to-find
gift for your distant cousin, it had the
potential to present some problems in
terms of Internet scams.
These types of scams are on the rise
this time of year and one should be
somewhat leery of handing out too
much information or cash to an Internet
auction or online-based company.
In deciding to purchase items
online, there are certain things of
which to be aware. When using
websites such as eßay to purchase
a wide variety of products and even
those larger purchases such as buying
a car on a website like Auto Trader.
com, one must be skeptical.
One major thing that should tip off
buyers that the transaction might be a
Top Ten Internet Frauds
of 2005
Category •ot AP Average
Complaints Loss
Auctions* 42% $1.155
Good never dtlitered at intsreprest nerd
General Merchandise 30% $2,528
Sales nor through am rums goods nett
deliveredur EMU epresentrd
Nigerian Money Offers 8% $6,937
False promises of likes if ton mmer s out
to transfer tflattrl to their hank at 11011flii
Fake Checks 6% $4,361
Consumers paid st ith phony^ chec ks for
Honk or items sold, insulated to st tte
mane, hot k
Lotteries/Lottery Clubs 4% $2.,919
Requests Jot penment to thorn /tweet
tt mow or get help to w in.often hoeign
toilettes
Phishing 2% $612
En ods ',wending to he from well-know n
smut e asking to confirm personal
infin•Mallon
Advance Fee Loans 1% $1,426
False promises of pt.' , soma? or business loans
:nen if trait is bad, jotk a fee pod upfront
Information/Adult Sen kes 1% $504
Cost and terms ofsenw es not dlot4 14144'd
art nusreptesented
Work-at-Home Flans 1% $1.735
Kiss sold on false ptomain of Mg profits
from stroking la honk.
Internet Access Services 1%• $1,262
Cost s t t hateful ace 4.44 and oche, seri 14 t
outwore Wilted or seri ices new; protided
For more statistics or to report suspicious fraudulent
activity, visit Fraud org Statistics courtesy of Fraud org
Dr. George Boudreau led the celebration of Ben Franklin's 300th birth
day in the Gallery lounge with a lecture and slide show presentaion.
Before long, Franklin found
himself living and working in
Philadelphia to escape an unwanted
life in Boston.
It was in Philadelphia
Franklin found fame and fortune
In 1726, Franklin started his own
printing press in Philadelphia,
publishing the most circulated
paper in the British Colonies, The
scam is if the seller asks the buyer to
use an escrow service to pay for the
item at hand.
MSN Encarta defines escrow as
"an amount of money or property
granted to somebody but held by a
third party and only released after a
specific condition has been met."
Payment sites like Bid Pay and
Square Trade never perform escrow
services and, if a seller asks you to use
cr,ne of these swim for escrow, the
transaction is most likely a scam.
If there is an encounter with a
suspicious seller and the buyer is still
not tipped off that the transaction is
an outright scam, there is another
way to tell that the "escrow service"
is not legitimate.
Fake escrow services typically try to
herd a customer into three payment
methods. The first would be wanting
payment through a Western Union
cash transfer.
Second would be making the customer
unknowingly send payment into the E-
Gold, E-Bullion networks, EvoCash or
Pennsylvania Gazette. His most
famous work, The Poor Richard;s .
Almanack, was also published
in Philadelphia.
Also in Philadelphia, Franklin
started the first public library, which
was a huge success. In the 1730 s
and 1740 s he helped launch projects
Please see BEN on page 4
E-Dinar type currency transfer.
Finally, making the customer
wire payments directly from their
checking account into an illegitimate
"escrow company's" bank account.
If the transaction at hand looks like
a scam but does not claim to use an
escrow service, there are still ways to
determine the legitimacy of the sale.
The MSNBC Web site lists signs of
possible fraud and how to confirm
them on eßay.
Signs on the list include looking
at the seller's telephone numbers or
address and attempting to confirm
them, staying away from auctions
that begin and end over a weekend
(since eßay customer support is light
during those days), trying not to buy
from brand-new sellers that have no
sales history, and to not buy low
priced high-ticket items, like high
definition TVs, laptops, or jewelry,
especially if there are multiple items
for sale.
If a "seller" ever contacts the
buyer via e-mail asking for any kind
of personal information, be sure to
scrutinize the e-mail, company, or
seller thoroughly before sending the
information. Online fraud and identity
theft often begin with a spoof e-mail
requesting financial information.
These spoof- or scam - e-mails often
impersonate a reputable company
such as AutoTrader.com by illegally
displaying a company's name, logo,
or trademark.
The Pennsylvania State
Employees Credit Union, PSECU,
notes that, "The intent [of these
"sellers"] is to deceive customers
into revealing information such as
their username, password, social
security number, bank account
number, bank routing number, and/
or credit card number." PSECU
says to always report suspicious e
mails to law enforcement.
Many of the people who have
been victims of Internet scams have
banded together to prevent this from
happening to others.
Hundreds of members of eßay's
unofficial neighborhood watch
team scour eßay daily looking for
suspicious auctions, and many other
groups have been set up to search
Yahoo and other auction sites for
obvious scams. Their tireless efforts
have helped many from being the
victim of Internet fraud.
Internet scams are definitely
something to look out for, but the
potential threat of one occurring
should not completely turn one oft
from buying items online.
If one feels uncomfortable buying
products online, there are (of course)
many other options for purchasing
items such as visiting your local mall.
If one has decided to buy something
online and thinks he or she has
encountered a scam be sure to contact
local authorities, the internet provider,
or a scam prevention website.
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Remembering a classic
Rediscover the 250-year-old legendary music of Mozart
By NADEZDA IVANOVA
Guest Reporter
NPIIO3@PSU.EDU
In 2006, Mozart's music is
everywhere! On Jan. 27 the world
will celebrate the 250th anniversary
of the birth of the composer.
Although Europe, especially
Mozart's native Austria, will host the
major occasion's celebratory events,
the residents of Central Pennsylvania
will have many opportunities to
enjoy the music of Mozart.
For opera fans, I would like to
recommend the Metropolitan Opera's
live radio broadcast of Mozart's opera
"Cosi fan tutte" on Saturday,
28, 2006 at 1:30 p.m. of
89.5 FM. This broadcast
an excellent opportunity to
this exquisite work of Mo;
which was first performed
Vienna in 1790.
"Cosi fan tutte" ("Women
Are Like That") is a comic
opera, which tells the
story of two sisters whose
fiancés decide to test their
love and devotion. The
young men declare that
they are going off to war,
but they immediately return
in disguise. Each friend tries
to win the heart of the °fill
sister, and the flirting begin:
Those Penn State stud(
faculty, and staff mei
who want to view Mozai
and work from a more
perspective will find the
of our university's libraries
quite helpful.
A basic search of the CAT catalogue
on the universities library website
for "Mozart" results in 2950 titles.
Over 150 of which are available at
the Penn State Harrisburg Library
and the rest of which can be obtained
through the university's inter-library
loan system. These resources consist
of books, articles, music scores, and
audio and video recordings.
THE CAPITAL TIMES January 23, 2006
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John Rosselini's book "The Life of
Mozart" provides a biography of the
composer and will be of interest to a
broad audience.
A book entitled "The Mozart
Compendium: a Guide to Mozart's
Life and Music," edited by H.C.
Robbins Landon, is directed toward
music and art majors. Nothing can
provide a better insight into the lives
of geniuses than an examination of
their own thoughts.
Also, consider reading "Letters of
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart" or "The
Letters of Mozart and his
family" for an interesting personal
journey through the life of the
composer.
The library video archives contain
recordings of Mozart's operas, such
as "Le Nozze di Figaro" ("The
Marriage of Figaro") and "Die
Zauberflote ("The Magic Flute").
The music of Mozart can touch
any person's soul. Our Penn State
Miler
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.vIIOIM,
Harrisburg library has many works
of Mozart available on CDs: "Don
Giovanni," "Concerto in A-major
for Piano and Orchestra," "The
Prague Symphony," "Fantasia in
G-major," "Mass in C-minor,"
"Works for Organ and Orchestra,"
and many more.
In 1984, the film "Amadeus,"
directed by Milos Forman, won
eight Oscars and made a triumphant
journey around the world. The movie
was based on an original play written
by Peter Schaffer.
Both the movie and the play can be
found at the Penn State Harrisburg
udents will be pleased to
the university library has
music scores by Mozart,
operas and symphonies
piano concertos. The
:ores are located on
he second floor of the
'library in the "Oversized
Materials" section.
Although the peak of the
Mozart celebration occurs
in the month of January,
the celebratory musical
events will continue
throughout the year. Thus,
"The Patunos" (the Penn
state Harrisburg Choir)
11 include Mozart's "Ave
arum" in their repertoire.
choral piece will be
ied during the choir's
oncert on Wednesday, April
_ Morrison Gallery, Library
Building, at 5:00 p.m.
Whether you are a long-time
Mozart admirer or you are just
beginning to discover the world of
his music, enjoy the special events
of this Mozart commemorative year
and explore the resources of the Penn
State libraries!
Mozart Web Resources
www.mozart2oo6.net
www.operainfo.org
Photo courtest of google corn