Forgive Princeton's Dan Mavraides if he exaggerates just a little bit when taking a charge in tonight's game. The sophomore guard may have picked up a few tips from his mother, actress Dorothy Gallagher. A classically trained actress from Boston, Gallagher has appeared in Shakespeare plays, does voice-over work for commercials and video games and teaches voice-over clinics as well.

If there's one thing that Ivy League schools pride themselves on, it's tradition. Considering seven of the eight schools are some of the oldest in America (sorry Cornell, but you guys just don't count), these ivory towers are steeped in ritual. Whether it's Dartmouth's stupid form of beer pong, Harvard's Primal Scream or Cornell's low academic standards, if there's one thing the future I-Bankers and politicians of America take pride in, it's pointless, vestigial customs.

Vibrators, lube and G-spots. Although not typical lunchtime conversation topics for most students, these subjects were on the agenda yesterday afternoon for the women who attended the free, women-only Sex Toy Social at the Penn Women's Center. The Sex Toy Social was part of a series of events to celebrate Women's Week, which started on Monday, Feb.

Remember that tried-and-true line from admissions officers, "If you have two people and a common interest, then you can start a group at Penn"? Well, that's literally how it is for Six Directions, Penn's sole group for students of Native American descent.

When College freshman Marissa Finn was deciding where she wanted to live next year, she said price was a huge factor in her decision. "Because of the state of the economy, I had to consider whether or not the Radian was affordable," she said. Finn is not alone - for many, the economic crisis has complicated decisions about where to live, forcing students to choose their future housing based on price tag rather than personal preference.

Poet, author, civil rights activist and "Phenomenal Woman" Maya Angelou will speak this evening at 6:30 in Irvine Auditorium. Angelou will deliver the keynote address for Women's Week, a series of events honoring women organized by the Penn Consortium of Undergraduate Women.

Do women and computers mix? Why are geeks usually seen as male? Last night, History and Sociology of Science professor Nathan Ensmenger posed these questions in a talk about women and computers at the Wu and Chen Auditorium in Levine Hall. The problem: a lack of women pursuing computer science degrees at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

On the surface, the ECAC championships - intended to be the final tune-up before the outdoor season - may not immediately reveal much about the future for the men's tennis team. The squad entered the tournament as the fourth seed and left the tournament as the fourth seed.

The first student diagnosed with meningococcal infection last Thursday was discharged from the hospital today, and the other two students are both doing well, according to Student Health Services officials. The second student has been moved from the Intensive Care Unit to another room in the hospital, and the third is expected to leave the ICU as soon as a bed in another ward becomes available, SHS director Evelyn Wiener said.

The Dean's Advisory Board believes Penn students can change the world, and is creating a new International Development minor to help. Last spring, the DAB conducted a survey on Locust Walk asking students about their academic experiences. Feedback showed significant interest in international development.

The upcoming renovations to DuBois College House mark yet another step in Penn's college house makeover. In the past 10 years, about $325 million have been devoted to improving on-campus residences. Throughout the renovations, all college houses have received new security, sprinklers and fire alarms and laundry-facility upgrades, among other things, according to Business Services Executive Director Douglas Berger.

These days, it only comes around once in a blue moon -- like fresh bagels at Hill House brunch or a Philadelphia championship. The stars have aligned, however, to give meaning to a rivalry that hasn't seen real action since a heart-pounding Penn comeback over the Tigers in 2005, when Quakers faithful rushed the court after their team rallied from an 18-point second-half deficit at the Palestra.

It was busy last week on Capitol Hill and in Philadelphia. In one room on the Hill, the House Financial Services committee grilled eight banking chiefs on how they used their portions of the $700 billion bailout. Down the hall, a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee vainly tried to get some answers from Stewart Parnell, the president of Peanut Corporation of America, the company responsible for shipping tainted peanut-based products across the country.

Penn received slightly more regular-decision applications for the class of 2013 than in past years, while the total number of applicants remained about steady, the Admissions office announced this week. The University received 19,179 regular-decision applications, up slightly from last year's 19,023.

The Undergraduate Assembly saw its largest turnout yet this semester at Sunday's debate on the recent decision to update the current Information Systems and Computing calendar rather than endorse DormNoise as the official University-wide calendar system. While DormNoise - created by Wharton sophomore and UA member Jay Rodrigues - functions as a social networking Web site with a built-in calendar, ISC would rework the Penn calendar system on Penn Portal.

U.S. Senator Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) has had a busy couple of weeks in Washington and is making a stop at Penn to talk about it. Specter - who is one of the most senior members of the Senate, having served five consecutive terms since his election in 1980 - will address students and faculty at 3:30 p.

Random selection is no friend of mine. I've been signing up for preceptorials since I was a freshman, and I have yet to be among the chosen few in the small, non-credit courses that get lauded as a major selling point for the University. My first disappointment came after I registered for a Harry Potter discussion in 2005, and I don't expect to land a spot in wine or cheese tasting this semester.