Millions of hurried passengers depend on taxi drivers, but relatively rarely to they talk to their drivers about history, politics and justice. Last night, however, members of the Penn community had the chance to do just that with Biju Matthew and Ronald Blount at a dinner and discussion at the Greenfield Intercultural Center.

Professors will try almost anything to get you to sign up for their classes.

Nili Gold's class on Hebrew literature always appealed to a niche audience. The students - typically 12 to 15 each semester - had to have determination to enroll in a course taught entirely in Hebrew. But the class fulfilled a distributional requirement, which Gold said made it easier for them to justify taking such a specialized class.

Editor's note: In the interest of better serving the campus community, starting today we will be featuring a club sports roundup every Wednesday. If you play a club sport and would like your team to be included, have a team captain or coach send an e-mail to MLConrad@sas.

If you run into trouble on Election Day, Penn's school of government wants to know about it. The Fels Institute of Government is once again helping to sponsor the national voter hotline, which got about 208,000 calls during the 2004 presidential race. Anyone can call the hotline to leave a voicemail reporting a problem encountered while trying to vote.

The new year will bring a new version of Windows, and Penn officials promise any students with the new software continued compatibility with campus technology. Microsoft is expected to release Windows Vista, the newest Windows operating system, in January.

Penn men's soccer coach Rudy Fuller knew that Brown was going to play defensively on Saturday. So when it came time to name his starting eleven for the crucial match against the Bears, he left sophomore Ryan Porch on the bench in favor of classmate Kevin Unger.

Two seasons ago, Glen Miller said the following after a win at Yale: "I think we all wish, except for a few teams in our league, that we had a postseason tournament. It's frustrating that we don't have one." Last week at the Red and Blue Scrimmages at the Palestra, Miller was asked what he thought about an Ivy League tournament.

When University President Amy Gutmann throws a party, she draws a crowd. Gutmann's house at 3812 Walnut St. was open to students last night for a Halloween party with a theme inspired by the Broadway musical "Wicked." A pavilion was set up in her backyard, and after walking through the house to reach it, students could get their picture taken with Gutmann.

If the Penn women's swimming team fulfills its expectations this year, it will shatter the Quakers' record books. After achieving the best Ivy finish in Penn history last year, this year's team returns 10 school record holders. Also, the loss of only one senior to graduation coupled with the team's highly touted freshman class means that the sky's the limit.

Head up Locust Walk toward Qdoba, and you'll eventually find an affront to the community. That's what Robert Christian, writing for the University City Review, calls Plateau. The perforated steel sculpture debuted on the field at 40th and Locust streets last year amid protest from guardians of good taste all over Penn.

Philadelphia is undertaking a citywide initiative to get greener - and officials are looking for college students' input. Fourteen city agencies have come together to form Green Plan Philadelphia, which aims to ensure that residents have access to open space in their neighborhoods.

After falling out of Ivy contention, the field hockey team has quietly won six in a row.

Last Saturday, all sprint football kicker Pete Stine could do was watch from the stands as his former varsity teammates squandered opportunities, leading to an overtime loss to Brown that was ultimately decided in a kicking contest. But head football coach Al Bagnoli still has some tricks up his sleeve.

After surgery and a long recovery, Lauren Pears is back for her senior season and ready to help lead Penn women's basketball back to respectability after a dismal 5-22, 3-11 Ivy record last year. Pears, leading the Quakers in nearly every statistical category through the first eight games of last season, tore her ACL against American in December.

Stringent security To the Editor: Rene Alvarez's opinion article, ("Students' Fears of Crime are Largely Unfounded," Daily Pennsylvanian, 10/3/06) made some very interesting and valuable points on crime in West Philadelphia and its effects on Penn students.

Politicians, take note: Incumbents need not apply. PA Clean Sweep boldly proclaims this message on its Web site, and means it. No exceptions.