For most, a conversation with Penn President Amy Gutmann or Republican presidential candidate John McCain doesn't happen very often. But posting your own ideas next to theirs can be done online with a Web site launched last week. BigThink.com is a multimedia site that features interviews with prominent public leaders, including authors, politicians, educators and businessmen.

Time's almost up already. To pick your classes for this lovely spring semester, that is. The add period ends Feb. 4 this year, two and a half weeks after Penn students first stepped into their spring classes. Eighteen days later, the drop period ends, right around midterm time, meaning that many students won't have received their grades until after they're able to exit the class without a penalty.

The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania is currently facing two major medical malpractice cases - but if statistics are any indication, HUP might not have much to worry about. In 2006, almost 85 percent of medical malpractice cases in Pennsylvania that reached a jury trial were settled in favor of the defense, Judicial Branch records show.

Celebrate the long weekend by acknowledging why we have one in the first place: Martin Luther King, Jr. Head to the Franklin Institute Science Museum to honor the life and legacy of Dr. King on the anniversary of his 79th birthday. The museum's three-day celebration kicks off Saturday at 5 p.

The University announced yesterday that Eric Furda, the vice president for alumni relations at Columbia University, will take over as the new dean of admissions at Penn on July 1.

At small liberal arts schools vying for the attention of top students, announcements of sweeping financial aid reform at Harvard, Penn and other schools mean trouble. Like most colleges and universities, academically-renowned liberal arts schools do not have billion-dollar budgets.

As many Penn students journey across campus this weekend for Rush, the men's squash team will be on a trek of its own, rushing through New England for a series of crucial mid-season matches against non-conference foes. Riding a two-match winning streak after three early losses, Penn (2-3, 1-2 Ivy) looks to get to .

After spending ten days training in Cape Town, South Africa, the women's squash team continues on its travels this weekend. Next up on the itinerary? The slightly-less exotic locales of Williamstown, Mass., Amherst, Mass. and New Haven, Conn., as the team takes on Williams (4-5), Amherst (2-1) and Bowdoin (1-3).

Saint Joseph's dominating 82-42 victory over Penn on Saturday raises the prospect of a winless Big 5 season, which would be Penn's first since 2000-01.

Earlier this week College sophomores Melissa Gunderson and Kristen Lange stood in the Penn Bookstore with a bad case of sticker shock. The price tag of their new Chemistry 101 book: nearly $300. "It's highway robbery," Lange said. And though alternative electronic textbooks - high-tech substitutes to pricey print versions - have been available for more than a decade, they have not yet taken root at Penn.

A pen is no longer the mightiest way to capture the public's attention. Over the past year, the number of Internet users who have visited a video-sharing Web site increased by 45 percent, according to a recent survey conducted by the Pew Internet Project.

Against one swimmer, the Quakers just have no answer. Against another team, they may just have all the answers. The men will face off against a pair of Ivy foes tomorrow at noon in New Haven. They will take on Yale - and its star swimmer, U.S. National Team member Alex Righi - as well as Dartmouth, the team sitting at the bottom of the Ivy standings.

Whether it was rocking the gym at local high school powerhouse Neumann-Goretti, or playing Division I at Saint Joseph's, Hawks sophomore D.J. Rivera has been playing basketball for quite some time. But for the first semester of this school year, he had to do something he'd never done before - he had to leave the court.

After counseling teenagers in Belize and promoting HIV/AIDS awareness in Malawi, Peace Corps volunteers are getting a little help themselves. Returning Peace Corps volunteers are recruited by universities and colleges participating in the Peace Corps Fellows/USA partner schools program, a national consortium of over 40 universities which offers returnees the opportunity to study in their programs at reduced tuition.

Over the first nine games of the season, the Penn men's basketball team held its opponent under 70 points only once. In the six games since, the Quakers have accomplished that feat five times. Granted, those better defensive numbers have come against the likes of NJIT and Florida Gulf Coast - hardly top-flight or even mid-major-level competition - but there are signs of progress, especially in the interior.

Wharton junior Felix Qu was arrested in connection to a domestic assault over winter break, but remains a student at the University. The arrest occurred after Qu, 20, got violent during an argument with his girlfriend about what courses to take for spring semester, Lt.

For the 40 percent of Penn students currently receiving financial aid, recent improvements to the program may have cracked open a few more doors.