When Craig Thompson was a student in Penn's School of Medicine in the '70s, he wanted to work as a military-base physician. More than 30 years later, however, Thompson is still at Penn, and he was recently appointed director of the Abramson Cancer Center.

The walk eastward from the Penn campus to Center City is, as Penn President Amy Gutmann put it, "ugly." But Gutmann says the school's planned eastward-expansion project, whose first phase is slated to cost $1.94 billion, will change that. Gutmann and Stephen Starr, the famed Philadelphia restaurateur, formed the panel for a Philadelphia Talks lecture series event at the World Cafe Live last night.

David Hollenberg - Penn's new Unversity architect - is all about "Penn-ness." It's an undefinable word Hollenberg uses to describe the aesthetic heart of Penn's campus - an undefinable mixture of architectural styles and eras. Hollenberg - who began the job in June - is now faced with the unique task of preserving "Penn-ness," as the University embarks on a historic period of expansion, building and preservation.

After previewing his new animated series, Freak Show, David Cross said he felt sorry for subjecting his audience to such a tasteless show. "We can only apologize so much for what you saw tonight," Cross said in Houston Hall's Bodek Lounge last night. Jon Benjamin and Cross, the show's creators, fielded questions from students after previewing two episodes of their new Comedy Central show, which follows a group of carnival freaks who are members of a superhero group.

One freshman-class-board candidate supposedly tore down a competitors' signs and put up hers instead. Another was 30 minutes late in turning in documentation of his campaign finances. And both may be disqualified from the election.

Harvard University proved that its trend-setting ability extends outside the Ivy League yesterday, with the addition of the University of Virginia to the ever-growing list of schools nixing their early admission policies. Applicants to the UVA Class of 2013 will have to wait until the spring to find out if they have been accepted, UVA officials said.

A vaccine against the virus that is mainly responsible for cervical cancer is now available from Student Health, but it isn't cheap - at least for the time being.

If corporate ethics start in business school, the industry landscape of the future could be even more scandal-ridden than it is today. A recent study found that business students are more likely to cheat than any other graduate students, though some at Wharton doubt that the data apply to Penn's MBA students, saying that the school's emphasis on its Code of Academic Integrity tends to discourage cheaters.

An FBI shoeprint expert testified yesterday about two prints found on the murdered body of Irina Zlotnikov - one near her neck and one between her breasts. Zlotnikov was found dead in the apartment of Robert Bondar, her boyfriend at the time. Bondar had previously dated Wharton undergraduate Irina Malinovskaya, who is on trial for Zlotnikov's murder.

This summer, while talking to some musician friends about their struggle to get noticed, Andrew Kortina thought he might have a way to help them. Kortina's online music company, PhilaFunk, has now been in business for two months. It has about 400 registered users from 37 states and 14 countries around the world.

The number of rapes reported on or near campus went way up last year, and some officials are pleased about it.

Jannie Blackwell never thought she'd end up in city government. "I always wanted to be a schoolteacher," said Blackwell, who quit teaching in 1976 and has represented Penn's district on City Council for the past 15 years. "Had I not met my husband, I would never have gone into politics.

When former MarBar manager Bob Hanna packed his bags and took over 2 Goodfella's a block away, he got a lot of his former employees to follow him.

Jim McGreevey was a successful politician who became the governor of New Jersey, but he says he wouldn't want anyone else to follow his path. "I am the anti-model: Basically, I am what not to do," McGreevey said yesterday at the Penn Bookstore. At the event, McGreevey answered questions and spoke about his new book, The Confession.

Peter Fielding's roommate is spending the semester in Ireland, and he's keeping his pals back at Penn up-to-date on his escapades. He sends out periodic e-mails highlighting his adventures, addressed to a few of his closest friends. Except Fielding.

Bowing to pressure from student critics, student-government leaders will halt work on a program intended to track voter demographics in student elections. The program would have gathered such information as gender, race, college house, international student status and major.

A small but enthusiastic audience at the Kelly Writers House got to learn what it takes to turn a book into art Saturday. Sandra Kroupa, book arts curator at the University of Washington Libraries, spoke about the challenges facing book artists and librarians involved in "book arts," using pictures, bindings, special paper and other materials to make books more than chunks of text.