Wednesday, October 25, 2000

Wednesday, October 25, 2000
Volume 5, Number 29

The Daily Gazette Web Site. Now with LIVE Updates 24 Hours A Day.
http://www.sccs.swarthmore.edu/org/daily

NEWS IN BRIEF

1) Mischievous Monkey plagues Swat over break
2) Student Council update
3) World news roundup
4) Campus events for the week

SPORTS IN BRIEF

1) Field hockey finishes the regular season with a bang
2) World sports roundup
3) Today’s and tomorrow’s contests

WEATHER FORECAST

Today: Some sun, some wind. Highs in the lower 70s.
Last night’s performance by the San Francisco Mime Troupe had an interesting title:

Tonight: Partly cloudy. Lows in the lower 50s.
“City for Sale.” Hmmm… Kind of reminds me of the Ville.

Tomorrow: Mostly sunny. Highs in the lower 70s.
Except for the “City” part…

TODAY’S SHARPLES MENU

Lunch: French bread pizza,crinkle cut fries,*tuscan bean bake, succotash, peas
**Greek bar

Dinner: Grilled strip steak, duchess potatoes, pasta with sauce, *wild rice with cranberries and pecans, asparagus, corn on the cob
**Pasta bar

NEWS REPORT

1) Mischievous Monkey plagues Swat over break

While most Swatties were relaxing and enjoying their fall breaks, somebody was stirring things up at the Daily Jolt: many students arrived back at school last weekend to discover emails from the Love Monkey in their mailboxes.

The fact that so many students received multiple emails over the span of fall break has led to controversy over the abuse of the Love Monkey. Many students believe that the emails are either a joke or someone else’s way of trying to flesh out another sender. “Probably somebody I know is playing a trick on me. Or somebody got [a Love Monkey email] and decided to send one to everyone they knew to try to figure out who it was,” says Mike Cho ’04. In response to this, Daily Jolt editor Jeremy Schifeling ’03 says, “I agree that the Monkey is subject to abuse. However, if people are not using it seriously, then other people should not take it too seriously. It just depends on the attitude of the user.” Co-editor Nii Addy ’01 adds, “The Love Monkey is a fun concept, and I think people recognize that.”

Others suspect the sudden onslaught of Love Monkey emails over break to be an advertising scheme by the Daily Jolt staff. “I just deleted my email because I thought it was just the Daily Jolt trying to get more people to come to their site,” says Rebekah Miller ’04. Says Addy, “Anybody running a site likes to have users at the site, and we’re no exception. Being a Jolter is not a paid job; we’re doing this to provide a service that we feel is needed at Swat, and to have fun.” Schifeling adds, “The [Love Monkey] creator’s intention was to provide students with exactly the services it advertises. If it fails to do so for any given individual, then that’s too bad, but it is by no means a trap.”

Daily Jolt staff members Addy, Schifeling, and Josh Shakin ’02 are currently addressing the issues raised over the Love Monkey. Proposed reforms include allowing recipients of Love Monkey emails to add people to their lists without having emails sent to all of those people, thereby reducing the potential ripple effect caused by one person’s attempt to unmask another sender. Another option on the table is to allow users to enter messages, along with email addresses, onto their lists in order to eliminate the impersonal, standard Monkey email.

The current statistics on the Love Monkey are: 447 registered users with swarthmore.edu email addresses, and 1182 “admitted crushes.” Nationally, there have been a reported 6,000 matches resulting from the Love Monkey.

However, for those who take no comfort in these numbers, Schifeling offers some advice. “You’ve got two options. You filter out the Monkey emails to automatically be deleted and ask people out in real life. Or you reply with the emails of people you actually have a crush on. The only difference is method. After that, it’s just lovin’.”

– Pei Pei Liu

2) Student Council update

Monday night’s Student Council meeting in Parrish Parlours saw the clarification of a number of Council initiatives. First and foremost was the impending student referendum over the fate of the old game room. Proposals for a Dining Services-run convenience store (currently titled “Swa-Wa”), a Center for Activism and Public Service, and an SCCS Media Lounge were all approved as feasible.

Meanwhile, the SC also approved a Dining Services plan to keep Essie Mae’s open until 2 AM with student workers. A Student Food Cooordinator would be hired and profits from the extended hours would pay for the student help. However, if the new revenues do not cover the costs, the program will be eliminated.

And in other SC news, the Council considered the creation of a formal Swarthmore honor code, pledging to investigate the option without actually committing to its creation.

3) World news roundup

A MSNBC-Reuters national poll conducted yesterday revealed Vice President Al Gore to be leading Texas Governor George W. Bush in the upcoming presidential election, 45% – 42%. The poll, which has a margin of error of 3 points, was the first to give Gore the edge since October 9th. Additionally, 4% of the population was reportedly favoring Green party candidate Ralph Nader, with the final 7% undecided.

Reports that the attack on the USS Cole was just one of three planned assaults on the US presence in the Middle East led to the closing of American embassies across the area yesterday. US troops stationed in the region were put on “Threat Condition Delta,” the highest security level, as intelligence sources reported the discovery of schemes to attack US embassies in Qatar and Indonesia and troops in Qatar and Bahrain, as well as a planned attack on a US airbase in Turkey. Meanwhile, the Navy and the Pentagon continue to search for answers in the Cole bombing.

Yugoslavian President Vojislav Kostunica marked his new reign yesterday by accepting Serbian responsibility for the genocidal killings in Kosovo. Although not going as far as an apology, Kostunica has seemingly opened the door for the trying of Serbian war criminals, most notably ex-President Slobodan Milosevic. The statement was hailed as a wise move by political commentators who noted that the economically-troubled Yugoslavia would only qualify for Western aid with the extradition of the accused individuals.

4) Campus events

Exploration Summer Program, Open Interviews
Parrish 150, 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Faculty Lunch Lecture with Michelle Herman
InterCultural Center, 12:20 p.m.

Information Session on Applying to Medical School
Kirby Lecture Hall, 4:15 p.m.

Career Workshop
Trotter 301, 4:15 p.m.

Exploration Summer Program Information Session
Bond Memorial Hall, 7:00 p.m.

Study Abroad Information Session
Dupont 190, 7:00 p.m.

French Movie Night
Kohlberg 116, 7:00 p.m.

Film Society Screening
Dupont 161, 10:00 p.m.

Folk Song Sing-Along
Parrish Parlours, 10:00 p.m.

SPORTS UPDATE

1) Field hockey finishes the regular season with a bang

The field hockey team rolled to a 5-2 victory over arch-rival Haverford College yesterday to conclude the regular season. Swat struck early and often with Kim Cariello ’02 notching her team-high 11th goal 2:44 into the game. Kristin English ’01 then netted a penalty shot a minute and a half later, which was followed by a Katie Tarr ’02 score off assists from Ingrid Kaszas ’03 and Katie Vivalo ’01. Going into the 2nd half with a 3-1 lead, Swat proceeded to cement the victory with goals from Alison Gaffney ’02, assisted by Krista Hollis ’01, and Hollis, with help from Erika Williams ’01. Kate Nelson Lee ’03 was rock-solid in net with 9 saves, and fellow sophomore Jenn Hart sealed the deal with some great saves down the stretch. After this fine team effort, the Garnet will head to the first ever Centennial Conference field hockey playoff as the #2 seed this Friday. Swat finishes a phenomenal regular season with a 7-2 record in Conference action, and a 13-5 tally overall.

2) World sports roundup

Home cooking was just what the doctor ordered for the New York Mets as a return to Shea Stadium netted a Game 3 World Series victory, 4-2. Despite a Yankees World Series record of 12 strikeouts from Orlando Hernandez, Benny Agbayani’s knocked in the winning run with a double in the 8th inning off “El Duque.” Game 2 goat Armando Benitez then came in to close it out in the 9th, and unlike his blown save two nights ago, came through to seal the victory… Major League Baseball fined Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens $50,000 yesterday for throwing a piece of Mike Piazza’s broken bat at the Met’s catcher in Game 2 of the World Series. The fine equals the largest ever handed out by the league, but did not include a suspension sentence. The heated rivalry between Piazza and Clemens began in a July interleague game when Clemens beaned Piazza in the helmet… Ex-Indiana basketball coach Bobby Knight indicated that he would like to get back into coaching at a charity dinner last night. Fired for a long record of improper behavior in early September, Knight said the speech would be his last in Indianapolis, hinting at a continued career elsewhere.

3) Today’s and tomorrow’s contests

Today:

Men’s soccer at Washington, 3:00 p.m.
Volleyball at Haverford, 7:00 p.m.

Tomorrow:

No contests scheduled for tomorrow.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Never judge a book by its movie.” – J. W. Eagan