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A peek into an emerging science
The game of chess can be described using fewer than a dozen rules. Yet we’ve been playing it for centuries and have yet to exhaust all the possible sequences of moves those few rules permit. That, in a nutshell, describes what psychologist and computer scientist John Holland is now studying — how a few relatively simple building blocks can combine to produce systems of enormous complexity.
Archive ・ Penn Current
“Most reduce drinking by age 30 or so, but some continue on and become alcoholics.”
Charles O’Brien, professor of psychiatry, on studies that show college students drink more heavily than others their age and the population at large (Philadelphia Daily News, Nov. 2)
Archive ・ Penn Current
“There’s a value, of course, in the traditional ways of building things, but you don’t want this to turn into Colonial Williamsburg.”
Dennis Pierattini (C’80) said he went to Penn “back when there were dinosaurs roaming.” But the supervisor of the shop in the Blauhaus, where Graduate School of Fine Arts students create architectural models and artwork, is no dinosaur himself. He’s planning for a future in which many of the shop tools are run by computers.
Archive ・ Penn Current
The Sound of Philadelphia in motion
You probably danced to “The Sound of Philadelphia” at a lot of parties in the ’80s. Now it’s the pros’ turn. To kick off the Dance Celebration/Next Move 2000 Millennium Series, the renowned Philadelphia Dance Company (Philadanco) will present the world premiere of a new work set to music from the vaults of Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff’s Philadelphia International Records, whose artists dominated the R&B charts through the 1970s and 1980s. The as-yet-untitled piece by Dwight Rhoden, commissioned by Dance Celebration, will be peformed on Nov. 18 and 19.
Archive ・ Penn Current
Nielsen lauds Darrow at Law School
He may not be Clarence Darrow, but, despite what he’ll have you believe, Leslie Nielsen is no Frank Drebin either. That became apparent during a recent question-and-answer session held with the actor at the Penn Law School. The Oct. 25 event was a day after Nielsen’s Irvine Auditorium performance of “Clarence Darrow,” a one-man show. The session, entitled “The Law as Theater,” was moderated by Theatre Arts Lecturer Rose Malague and Law Professor Peter Huang.
Archive ・ Penn Current
Is it the end of the world as we know it?
I’m a skeptic on this whole “millennium end-of-the-world” thing. But if there’s one thing I’m sure of, it’s that the new millennium begins on January 1, 2001 — not 2000. So I took my skepticism with me to a symposium at Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Oct. 22 held in conjunction with “American Apocalypse: Images of the End from the Millennium Watch Archive,” an exhibit there of a collection of literature that reflects belief in a global change at the end of the century.
Archive ・ Penn Current
Public education is every citizen’s responsibility
I liken the failure of our public school system to The Great Philadelphia Smoke Detector Giveaway. The Philadelphia Fire Department (PFD) went door-to-door, giving residents of certain neighborhoods a free smoke detector. The firemen even installed them, on the theory that 400 free smoke detectors proved more cost-effective than fighting a single fire.
Archive ・ Penn Current
So, how’s the chow?
Over the summer, Penn hired Bon Appétit to manage its dining-hall kitchens. The company has a reputation for quality and creativity in food service, and Café Bon Appétit in International House leads us to believe that they deserve it. But do the people who eat their fare every day agree? Many did — but what some considered pluses, others considered minuses.
Archive ・ Penn Current
Alcohol policy is a drop in the bucket
Mark Metzl (C’00) did not want to be photographed with a bottle of alcohol. Metzl acknowledges, “The alcohol issues probably define my term as [IFC] president, but I’d like to think my personality goes beyond that.”
Archive ・ Penn News
Eduardo Glandt Named Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Pennsylvania
PHILADELPHIA --- Eduardo D. Glandt, a distinguished member of the faculty of the School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Pennsylvania for more than two decades, has been named dean of the school, according to an announcement today (Nov. 8) by University President Judith Rodin. The appointment will become effective upon confirmation by the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania.