Michael Pipe, the Democratic nominee for the 5th Congressional District, announced today that he will be holding a series of 12 town hall meetings across the region, with a stop in State College at the Schlow Memorial Library on August 10 from 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm. The full list of meetings and more information is viewable on Pipe’s campaign website.
Following news that Webster’s Bookstore and Cafe has just three weeks left in a lease of 128 S. Allen St that will not be renewed, concerned members of the community are organizing meetings and petitions to protest the possible closure of a downtown fixture.
Earlier this week, VisitPA, the tourism bureau of our great state, launched a foray into Foursquare, one of the world’s most popular location-based social networks. It’s not the first such civic endeavor into reputation building, but it is one of the largest, geographically speaking, to date.
Some Penn State locations are highlighted too. The Tavern Restaurant is listed (the state explains “it’s crowded because it’s so good”), as is the Creamery (but, Pennsylvania, it’s Peachy Paterno not Paterno Peach!).
Jay Paterno offered his thoughts this morning on StateCollege.com about the Big Ten expansion. It’s no surprise that the two major factors in the decision are “money and television,” but he brings up another issue that hasn’t been discussed much yet: how the expansion will affect longtime relationships and rivalries.
Paterno explains that by expanding the conference, the frequency of big-time Penn State-Michigan or Penn State-Ohio State games will decrease dramatically.
It has taken nearly two decades to build up the rivalries and the bonds of conference membership. It would be a shame to see some of those bonds loosened as the frequency of football competition against cross-division teams regress to the frequency with which we play non-conference opponents.
The column is definitely worth a read.
The Chronicle of Higher Education had a fascinating feature this morning about what different university presidents think about during commencement. Our very own Graham Basis Spanier shared his thoughts:
At the top of the list is footwear, since we have a number of students who stumble on the stairs to the stage, especially women who lose a high-heel shoe or flip-flop and trip forward. Next on the list is loose bracelets, since one has to beware of those with sharp trinkets that end up between the student’s palm and mine. Finally, because I’ve been a president for a long time and have been inducted as an honorary member of a number of societies, I have to think through the various secret handshakes that may be approaching.
And now we’re curious– what kind of secret handshakes do the societies have? Share it in the comments if you know.
Google posted a offer to college students a few days ago, saying that they would receive Google Voice invitations within 24 hours. All you need is a .edu email address.
Google Voice offers features like voicemail transcriptions to your inbox and free text messaging and claims that it can be used as “one number for life.”
Google Voice is best thought of as a lightweight operator for your own personal telephone exchange. Once you’ve set it up and created a new phone number, you can basically tell the system to direct calls to your various phone numbers (home, work, cell) depending on when they are placed and who they are from.
Jared Judge sent in this helpful end-of-the-year tip for Onward State readers.
Students can return unused printer pages for LionCash (at 5 cents a page) by logging in at https://clc.its.psu.edu/Users/PrintingInfo.aspx and clicking the ‘return’ link next to the ‘Buy Pages’ button. It is a hidden feature that can only be used once a semester.
My question is: if IST students get unlimited printing, can they return unlimited pages for… unlimited LionCash!?! (Answer: no, no they can’t.)
Last night, Atherton Hall– home of the Schreyer Honors College– was evacuated for three hours as University Park police investigated a suspicious looking device that had been found in a ground floor janitor’s closet. The device, a plastic cylinder with wires and batteries attached to it, was termed a “hoax” by Penn State.
As bomb experts were in the process of examining the device, a few students approached police and said that they believed the device in question might be one that they had assembled a few months ago.
Read on for more details.
Thanks to everyone who came out to yesterday’s tweet up. I hope you enjoyed the cupcakes from Sugar on Top!
I’m excited about Thursday’s tweet up for more than just the pancake and bacon cupcakes.
Tweet ups are a great way for Twitter communities to interact in real life, translating digital connections into their offline analogues. And Penn State is definitely ripe for one. Our Twitter community has grown dramatically since this fall, thanks in large part to adoption by organizations like THON and, yes, Penn State itself.
The tweet up will be Thursday afternoon at 4:30pm by the infamous duck pond beside the Hintz Family Alumni Center. Sugar on Top, a new cupcake boutique opening soon on Beaver Ave, will be serving free cupcakes to all attendees. This is going to be a very informal event. Stop by after class or work, jot your Twitter handle down on the name tags we’ll be providing, and meet some new friends!
Follow @OnwardState and @SugarOnTopSC for more information about the tweet up.
Onward State is happy to announce that it will be hosting a spring tweet up on Thursday afternoon at 4:30 pm somewhere on the Penn State campus. The weather is forecast to be in the mid 60s. An exact location will be announced soon– we’re trying to figure out the best spot to hold it.
The tweet up is not just an opportunity to see your favorite writers and editors though. You’ll also get an early taste of State College’s newest culinary trend: cupcakes. Sugar on Top will be providing four different flavors of cupcakes for the event, including their “soon-to-be-famous” pancake and bacon variety.
Watch @OnwardState and @SugarOnTopSC for more information about the tweet up.
Show up to the State Theatre tonight an hour or two before 9:30 pm to make sure you get a seat at the free advance screening of MacGruber, the movie based on the SNL segment of the same name. No tickets required!
After having been considered a missing person for the past week, Robbie McGrath UP’08 reunited with friends earlier this evening. We spoke to one of Robbie’s friends tonight about the circumstances surrounding his return.
At around 2:30 p.m. this afternoon, Robbie showed up at a friend’s door. The friend got Robbie to call his parents, who then drove up to State College to pick up their son.
According to a friend who spoke with Onward State, Robbie McGrath was seen at a Blue-White game tailgate Saturday afternoon. She said Robbie, “was acting differently than the Robbie we know.”
McGrath is a 2008 graduate of Penn State. Until this afternoon, he had been last seen on Sunday. A missing persons report has been filed with the Pittsburgh police but details of the investigation are unknown.
When he was seen for a short time near Beaver Stadium on Saturday, Robbie was wearing a white Penn State #22 jersey, a navy long-sleeve Under Armour type shirt, jeans, and aviator sunglasses. He drives a dark red 1990s Buick Century with OBX and Pittsburgh Penguins bumper stickers.
The sun’s going down on the Keirans era of UPUA history. The first meeting of Christian Ragland’s fifth assembly is tonight in the HUB. Do you think we’ll see the Last Stop headliners announced?
