The Penn State Alumni Association has a section on their website called the Online HUB. Despite what you may assume, this site has nothing to do with the Hetzel Union Building and not a whole lot to do with Alumni. What the website does offer are "fun downloads". This includes desktop themes, digital copies of various Penn State songs, ringtones, and the lyrics to many Penn State songs.
Thanks to this website, it appears that washed-up alumni can now relive their college glory days - on their computer! I decided to try out one of the desktop themes, so I downloaded it, unzipped the contents, and saw this text file:
This is the new Penn State University theme for Microsoft Windows 95 under the use of PLUS!
Apparently, PLUS! is a program that Microsoft discontinued with the introduction of Windows XP. So unless you're running Windows 95 (anyone?), these desktop themes aren't very much use to you. Oh well, at least their site doesn't look like a 90's Geocities page.
I wonder if Andrea Miller knows what she's getting herself into.
Only a few weeks after Pat Howley pledged to donate $1 for every follower that @AbolishCancer got on January 29th to THON, Miss Miller is choosing to do the same. Pat Howley (a junior at Penn State) wound up with a $1700 pledge to back up after the THON twitter account exploded with popularity. An outpouring of support from students, alumni, even IFC/PHC resulted in Pat's pledge ballooning to over $6000 being donated to the philanthropy.
Today's the day to help THON by way of Andrea Miller. For every follower that @AbolishCancer gets today, Miss Miller has pledged to donate $1. According to Abolish Cancer's website, Miss Miller is a recent Penn State grad who decided to participate in the pledge program because she feels that "no child should ever have to experience cancer." Miss Miller has pledged to sponsor up to 200 followers, but here's to hoping that she's able to receive a few matching donations, a la Mr. Howley.
It's a shame, really.
Every Saturday morning, young entrepreneurs in college are waking up with visions of starting the next Cisco or Microsoft. Lifting their heads up from their pizza box pillows, they brush off the Dorito crumbs, struggle to their feet, and stagger out through the graveyard of Natty to announce their new ideas to the world.
But alas...these new ideas often don't make it past conception in colleges today, as they get dragged down and suffocated in a quagmire of legal issues and technical hang-ups.
This problem was recently detailed in the article How College's Can Better Nurture Startups. Interestingly, the article explained how the start-up scene in Silicon Valley has "become based on trust and community," escaping the formal straight-jacket college can put entrepreneurs in. Proposed remedies for this formal quick sand included colleges creating a venture lab run by an experienced visionary (who also has the Benjamins to throw behind new ideas) and simplifying the crippling "spin-off process."
Read on to find out what resources Penn State has to offer.
Though April may seem like the distant future right now, it's closer than you think. Movin' On, Penn State's longest running Spring Music Festival now has an official Facebook event for the April 17 concert, only two months away.
As usual, the event will last all day and feature a mix of local and national acts. The lineup won't be announced for several weeks, but I'm hoping for some bigger bands than last year. Groups such as Run DMC, Fall Out Boy and Reel Big Fish have performed in the past, bands that are still popular years later.
Last year's show was great, with some impressive performances, but it would be nice to have a headliner people can get excited about.
Though some have said having two spring festivals is cutting down on Movin' On's budget, I'm sure they're going to put on another great show. I'm hoping it's amazing. What headliner do you think Movin' On should bring? (And please don't say Lady Gaga!)
Yesterday, Onward State published an article insinuating that an article in the most recent issue of Phroth's Phollegian had been plagiarized from the Onion. While the articles are indeed strikingly similar, the way in which the original article was researched and written fell below ordinary journalistic standards.
I apologize on behalf of the writer and my organization for putting a decent man's career in jeopardy-- no doubt about it, plagiarism is a dirty word, one which should not have been brought up except in the most researched manner and under the most pressing circumstances. Moreover, the post in question was bombastic and drew conclusions that far exceeded the more probable explanation of the similarity. However, I will leave the discussion of how Phroth's editorial process works to EIC Rebecca Eisenberg, should she choose to accept our offer to write a column.
Does being buried in snow constantly bring you down? Tired of walking to and from class in a constant white out? Get used to it. Penn State is projecting White Outs all the way into at least next October - but they need your help. Our good friends at The Collegian are hosting a poll to pick the next year’s White Out t-shirt. Be sure to vote here starting now before February 19 at 4:00 PM.
Read on to see the rest of the designs. Let us know what you think!