Page 2 - LIONS EYE - March, 1999 “Charles Helou, professor of mathematics here at Penn State Delaware County, is the recipient of a 1999 Eisenhower Teaching Award. This is one of Penn State University’s most prestigious teaching awards. : Earthquake Devastates Colombia - Philly Helps By Doris Ruiz Lion's Eye Staff Writer On January 25, a powerful earthquake measuring 6.0 on the Richter Scale ripped through ~ Colombia’s central coffee growing region, destroying thousands of homes in the large, commercial cit- ies of Armenia, Calarca and Pereira. The deadly quake has been described as the worst disaster ever to hit this South American country since 1875, leaving over 900 dead and thousands more injured. It struck at 1:19 p.m., when most people were at home enjoying their lunch. Unsurprisingly, hundreds of thousands remain devastated and homeless. These figures continue to rise daily as more and more victims re found from within the rubble. The Government of Colom- bia immediately requested assistance from neighboring community relief organizations. Now, the need for emergency assistance is critical. The thousands left destitute are quickly running out of food and medicines. These supplies are essential for sav- ing the dwindling lives of the remain- ing survivors. Thousands of relief agencies in the U.S. are sending in emergency supplies to the Neighboring towns of Armenia, which were hit the worse. Philadelphia’s Colombian community has also come together to assist the quake victims. Several businesses in the area, such as Delgado Travel Agency are giving discount rates for those interested in sending canned food, clothing and/ or other items. You can help, too. For more information, you can contact the Felton Supper Club at (215) 329-9401. The Red Cross is also accepting blood and monetary donations. To assist, you can call the Red Cross at (215) 299-4000. And please remember any help is a big help. Y2K Approaches: (Continued from page 1) new century coming — their program- mers had enough foresight to realize there’d be a problem. These use the Macintosh and UNIX operating sys- tems. PCs, however, are prone to many Y2K-related problems. The problem itself can be fixed. We’ve just waited too long to start. There are so many computers to fix in the US alone, that even if everyone helped, we still wouldn’t have it finished by the time 2000 rolls around. Many small business and large corporations who own multi- tudes of computers won’t get it done in time — and since a business often relies on another, who relies on an- other (forming a system), it can there- fore be predicted that if one business’s computers fail, then an- other business will also fail. This is why many banks, and other organi- zations like the Post Office, will fail since they rely on others. And of course if the Post Office fails, then so many business who rely on it will fail. The system is only as good as its worst link. This applies also to our uni- versity. You may have noticed that we have around 325 computers on our tech-savvy campus, and 155 of them are Y2k-prone PCs. Unoffi- cially, Penn State Delco is the far- thest-advanced as far as solving Y2k problems on its computers, but is still by no means finished. “It’s going to affect every- body in one way or another,” says James Morgan, who works in Delco’s Computer Services. “All newspapers and TV news programs have published stories on it, and people ought to take heed to every- thing they hear and give strong con- sideration. $ If you have a computer at home, don’t fret, there are ways to fix the problem, and the university will assist you if needed. In addition, you can email Morgan at jam58@psu.edu. There are three different ar- eas you must deal with when assess- ing and fixing this problem yourself: the computer’s hardware, its oper- ating system, and each individual data software program. First, you’d have to check . to see if your PC’s hardware (its in- ternal clock for example) are “com- pliant”. Usually any older computer with less than a 486 Megahertz pro- cessor will be obsolete once the Y2K bug hits. Then you must check the operating system’s compliance (Windows 95/98, etc). Download- ing a free patch on the Internet at Continued Fatalities Lead to Changes on Route One By Sarah Stover Lion's Eye Staff Writer According to state Depart- ment of Transportation figures, there have been 34 accidents in a recent five year span on the stretch of Route 1 where the five Penncrest students lost their lives. Of those 34 accidents, three people had died and 30 were injured. In the past decade, that same stretch of Route 1 between Station Road and Wawa Road has been the sight of at least 15 deaths and more than a 1,000 injures. The Pennsylvania Depart- ment of Transportation is consider- ing the request to lower the speed limit and post warning signs along Route 1. Even before the car accident involving the five girls from Penncrest, PennDot had plans to improve the safety along much of Route 1, including the stretch of highway where the girls’ car crashed. Route 1 is in the process of being installed with three-foot Microsoft’s home page (www.microsoft.com)will fix this easily. Lastly, you must go into your computer’s date-sensitive software (such as Excel, Word, etc) and make sure it’s all right with the new 4-digit year system. - The processes of debugging your computer and making it Y2K compliant, (downloading the patches for example) “if not applied in a structure, and if not put in cor- rectly, will be a waste of time,” says Morgan. I don’t suggest hiding in a cave or renting a tank to avoid the probable social hysteria resulting from Y2k computer malfunctions (which may last from a few months to a few years), but don’t be surprised if you find yourself unable to gro- cery shop or withdraw funds from the bank. “There will be no Bill Gates- type guy coming out with a quick- fix; there are just too many different computer issues to work on,” Mor- gan explained. It’s thus not such a radical idea to buy just a little more canned vegetables or withdraw just a little more money from the bank and hide it away in case computer systems out of your control crash and grind soci- ety to a halt. the campus intramural league. concrete medians and additional left-turn lanes between Route 452 in Middletown and Route 52 in Chester County. The Chester County section of construction is complete. PennDot will soon open bids for construction work from Route 452 to Thornton Road, a five-mile stretch that includes the crash site. Still, the residents in the -area feel that not enough is being done. The Chester Heights council resolution called for an increase of state police patrols to help deter speeding and the placement of warning signs that caution drivers that they are entering an accident- prone area. In the mean time, drivers are reminded of the resent crash by the overwhelming display of flowers, signs, and notes placed around the tree where the girls’ car - collided. The State Police have already increased their patrols on Route 1 and motorists are being cautioned to slow down around the curves and hills. Photo by Phillip Yi Intramural Update By Rob Coyle Editor-in-Chief Bored during common hour? Tired of wading through the 8 bil- lion people in the cafeteria? Well, the action is in the gym where the 3- on-3 intramural basketball season is winding down. Every Monday and Wednes- day for the past 3 weeks, 14 teams have been battling it out for the right to be called champions. The rules are simple — every team must have at least one girl, and you call your own fouls. “Everyone knows each other, but once that whistle blows, all friendships are off. The games are extremely competitive — I still have bruises from my last game,” said Rob Coyle (4th semester, Journalism). Although it’s all in good fun, intramural sports are also an impor- tant component to college life. “Intramurals help people to meet in a multicultural atmosphere,” said Lou Walker (6% semester, Educa- tion). So as spring roles around and intramural tennis and floor hockey start up, why not do something con- structive with your common time and go work up some sweat, and meet some cool people in the process. And in the meantime, come out and watch some great basketball.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers