Monday, October 20, 2003

by Josh Hausman
Gazette Weatherman

Summary: Fall may be here to stay – although temperatures this week will be
quite variable, on average it will be cool. After a cold morning, today’s highs
may not get out of the 50s. But on Tuesday clouds will be accompanied by highs
in the 70s! The rest of the work week will be cold with highs in the 50s and
lows in the 30s to around 40. By next weekend highs may warm into the 60s with
lows warming into the 40s.

by Megan Mills
Associate Editor

Whether you live your life by them, hate them, or have acclimated yourself
not to hear them anymore, the quarter-hourly bells have been a staple of campus
life for years. Periodically, though, they cease ringing, occasionally for days
at time. Recently, this cessation lasted weeks and threw some non-watch-wearing
students into a tizzy.

According to Ralph Thayer, Director of Maintenance, the malfunction occurred
not with the very real bronze bells, but rather with the electrical strike mechanisms.
He spoke with Alan Androuias of Americlock, Inc, the company who installed the
bells in 1985 to get some answers as to why the bells suddenly stopped working.

“The strike mechanisms…are essentially large hammers hanging on a pivot
which are thrown against the side of the bell when a momentary current is sent
through a coil in the strike mechanism,” said Thayer. “What appears
to be happening is the strike mechanism is periodically losing its ‘kick,'”
most likely as a result of a problem with the master control boards.

Unfortunately, these boards are no longer manufactured and do not repair well,
even if the two companies who are “primarily tower clock repairers who
do bells as a sideline” were not swamped with work.

Luckily for those who rely on the bells as their primary timepiece, Thayer
and Androuias discovered an temporary solution to the problem. After adjusting
some electrical settings within the hammer mechanisms, “Voila! They ring
again.” Thayer was careful to mention, however, “I stress this is
an interim step. This seems to have cured the immediate problem but we are still
going to test the rest of the equipment to assay its condition.”

*****

Harvard University – Oct 10-11

Congratulations to Aviva Aron-Dine ’05 and Sonya Hoo ’05 for finishing as the
9th place team at Harvard this weekend (out of 150 teams), and to Nina Thanawala
’07 and Elisabeth Oppenheimer ’05 for finishing as the 5th place novice team!
Additionally, Aviva was ranked as the 2nd place speaker and Sonya was ranked
18th at Harvard from a field of almost 300 debaters , and Nina was ranked as
the 8th place novice speaker out of a total of 170 novices. Over 30 schools
were in attendance including Yale, Princeton, MI, University of Minnesota, NYU,
Columbia, and Queens College.

American University, – Oct 10-11

Congratulations also to Maria Macia ’07, who was ranked as the 6th place novice
speaker at American University’s tournament this weekend! Maria, along with
her hybrid partner from University of Maryland, Baltimore County, additionally
finished as the 5th place novice team at American.

Johns Hopkins University – Oct 17-18

Sonya Hoo ’05 and Emily Tredeau ’06 finished as the 7th place team out of 50
teams. Additionally, Sonya was the 4th place speaker out of a field of 100 debaters.
Other schools in attendance include Princeton, UPenn, UVA, and Columbia.

(Thanks to Sonya Hoo for reporting the results!)

*****

* Three Israeli soldiers were killed in a West Bank ambush yesterday, prompting
Israel to call up hundreds of reservists to serve in the face of increasing
violence in the occupied territories. The Al Agsa Martyrs Brigade claimed responsibility
for the surprise attack on the soldiers, which occurred in the village of Ein
Yabrud. The militant group has links to President Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement
and stated that they staged the attack in response to “Zionist massacres
against our people” and Israeli raids in the Gaza strip. “There will
be more operations against occupation soldiers until they leave our land,”
the Brigade said.

* Iyad Allawi, the president of the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council,
asked Washington to call up Saddam Hussein’s pre-war army to fight against the
increasing violence in Iraq, saying that the abolition of the army and police
forces resulted in a “security vacuum” conducive to fanatical criminals
and terrorists. “Ultimately only Iraqis themselves can restore security,
rebuild national institutions, enact a constitution and elect a democratic government,”
said Allawi, who is also seeking to reactivate former Iraqi government institutions,
such as the ministries of the interior, finance, oil, and education.

* A UCLA study published in the latest Molecular Brain Research journal is
claiming that gender identity is rooted in genetics. A team of researchers led
by Dr. Eric Vilain reports that, contrary to the idea that hormones are solely
responsible for sexual differences between males and females, 54 genes are produced
in different amounts in male and female mouse brains, leading to differences
in brain anatomy and function. For example, female mouse brains were more symmetrical
than male brains, leading the team to suggest that the symmetry improves communication
between the hemispheres and thus helps females with verbal expressiveness.

*****

Environmental Studies in Ghana
by Dr. Osman Alhassan, coordinator of Ghana study-abroad program
Kohlberg 115, 4:30 p.m.

Choreographer Silvana Cardell open dance class
Troy Dance Lab (LPAC 2), 4:30 p.m.

College Bowl Meeting
Kohlberg 202, 7:00 p.m.

Columbia University Information Session
Bond Memorial Hall, 7:00 p.m.

Reading by Gregory Frost
Science fiction author and Fiction Workshop instructor
Scheuer Room, 7:30 p.m.

Empty the Shelters meeting
Kohlberg 226, 8:00 p.m.

SAC Meeting
Kohlberg 330, 9:00 p.m.

SWIL Movie Night: “Alice in Wonderland”
Science Center 101, 10:00 p.m.

———–
Edith Hall, Cornell Visiting Professor will give a lecture entitled: “A
theatre for the global village: Greek tragedy at the dawn of the third millennium”

This lecture, which is illustrated, asks why there has been such a remarkable
revival of the ancient Greek dramatic repertoire since the late 1960s. Oedipus,
Medea, Antigone and Dionysus now walk the stages of the world. The reasons lying
behind this revival — social, political, aesthetic, and psychological as well
as intellectual — hold important clues to the changing role of Classics as
a subject in the third millennium.

There will be a reception at 4:00pm preceding the 4:30 lecture.

Lecture will be held on October 21st in the Scheuer Room of Kohlberg Hall.

*****

SPORTS UPDATE

by Alex Glick
Gazette Reporter

The Swarthmore men’s soccer team lost a very close and hard-fought match to
the Penn St. Behrend Lions 1-0 on Sunday. This brought the Garnet’s record to
5-9-2.

Control passed between the two teams a great deal during the first half. The
Lion’s Stan Kaweesi-Katongole booted the ball into the upper corner of Swarthmore’s
net to score the game’s only goal about 14 minutes into the first half. The
Garnet almost scored immediately following this goal and continued to be on
the offensive for the rest of the half. The enthusiastic fans never let up throughout
the game. They had a lot to scream about with a total of 25 fouls and several
yellow cards issued to the two teams.

Although both teams had many opportunities, they were unable to score for the
rest of the game, and the Lions won with a score of 1-0. Swarthmore goalie Rueben
Heyman-Kantor recorded nine saves on the game.

In other results from fall break, Swat fell to Muhlenberg 4-1, tied Cabrini
1-1, and then pulled off an upset by defeating #12 Johns Hopkins 1-0. A Brendan
Moriarty ’04 goal and nine saves by Nate Shupe ’05 led the Garnet to the victory.

The Garnet Tide travel to McDaniel next Saturday, October 25 at 1:00 p.m. for
a Centennial Conference match.

*****

Becky Strauss ’06 scored the game-winner in overtime to lead the Garnet to
its first-ever win over the Blue Jays, 2-1. Earlier in the week, Swat fell to
McDaniel, 3-1. The Garnet are 7-4 (3-3 in the CC) and next play Washington College
on Saturday.

******

#11 McDaniel 4, Swarthmore 0
Washington 1, Swarthmore 0
Swarthmore 3, College of Notre Dame 1
#12 Ursinus 2, Swarthmore 0

Swarthmore falls to 5-10 overall and 1-6 in conference play. They host Muhlenberg
at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday in a conference match-up.

******

Lang Reynolds ’05 finished in 15th place to lead the Garnet to a sixth place
finish out of 34 schools at the DeSales Invitational. Garrett Ash ’05 placed
24th and James Golden ’05 finished in 33rd.

******

Debbie Farrelly ’06 finished in 13th place to lead the Garnet to a fourth place
finish at the Seven Sisters Championship held on the College’s Crum Creek Course.
Njideka Akunyili ’04 finished 16th and Pam Davis ’07 ran 23rd.

*****

Washington 3, Swarthmore 2
Franklin & Marshall 3, Swarthmore 1
Gettysburg 3, Swarthmore 3

The Garnet finished in fourth place at the Seven Sisters Tournament. The Garnet
defeated Vassar in the first round but lost to Haverford and Wellesley. Erica
George ’07 was named to the all-tournament team. The Garnet are now 12-16 (3-3
in CC) and next play Bryn Mawr On Wednesday.

******

Today:
Golf at Muhlenberg Invite, 12:00 p.m.

Tomorrow:
No contests are scheduled for tomorrow.

*****

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Dreaming permits each and every one of us to be quietly and safely insane
every night of our lives.”
–William Dement

*****

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