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This Day In USC History January 21, 1981 — The 10th floor of Capstone House flooded. « ;w Looking for i€W& in cyberspace Matchmaking Web sites make finding a date easier, faster by Mackenzie Craven Assistant Etcetera Editor ver wanted to create an ideal ft date? Imagine. The perfect girl/guy with the right eye color, hair color, height, weight, etc. It is even possible to find someone who shares the same eccentric tastes. Along with many other tasks, cy berspace even makes finding the per son of your dreams available with the click of a mouse. After you input the data of the per son of your dreams, the computer mag ically searches its files and, voila, the person’s name and e-mail address appear. These services are easy to find us ing a simple Yahoo! search. Although each site is a little dif ferent, the concept is basically the same. The sites have the individual en roll in their club and enter a profile. Then, the real fun begins. The individual is matched with that perfect person based on their crite ria. Clients can be as critical as they choose. It isn’t face-to-face, so there are no hard feelings. In addition to being matched with that special person, clients can browse other clients’ ads, and even if that per son isn t a perfect match according to the computer, they can research and decide on their own. The pluses to this system of on-line dating: It’s fun, interesting and it was created to match people no matter how many miles apart. The minuses: Some profiles take a long time to fill out, and there is the risk of getting hunted down by some one who might cause harm. Three sites were looked at and com pared. . Although they have different qual ities, their basic purpose is the same. The College Club site is used for more than a dating service. The main purpose is for an e-mail account and college forum. But there is also a matchmaker op tion. Clients can compose their profile and then go to the Match U link. On that page, the client can be matched with someone who has a similar pro file. The profile is simple and takes on ly a few minutes to fill out. The short essay questions can be filled out, if de sired. On the Matchmaker site, clients are sent to a link for their city. If their city is not listed, they can choose a city where they would like to meet with someone. The profile consists of 19 essay questions. The membership is free for 14 days; then, clients are required to pay a monthly fee. The site is easy to follow. Each part of the profile is identi fied with a green or red arrow, indi cating whether that person is like (green) or different (red) from the client’s profile. AWVN.com is an Internet site pri marily based on finding someone to date. The two options are men search ing for women and women searching for men. The search is narrowed by a vari ety of categories: geographic location, physical characteristics, lifestyles or. photos only. The client tells the computer the type of person he/she wants. They can choose a smoker or a non smoker. They can also chose to find someone who has children or who does n’t. The site also has a romance center where clients can get dating advice or read about other stories that have taken place within the Internet sites. Looking for love online If you’re looking for the love of your life on the Internet, compare three of the more popular sites: E-mail account m PROVIDED ^ Free service PROVIDED ^ Users mat I BROWSE ADS ^ Instant M MESSAGES ^ See who has YOU ON THEIR LISl^ See if your mail HAS BEEN READ Establish ad OR PROFILE I Brad Waiters The Gamecock South Carolina not so ‘cold to New Englander Has winter weather finally gripped the Southeast? Well, I guess you could call the weather here winter. The tem peratures in Columbia have finally dipped down into the 30s and even into the 20s (it’s about time; it is January, for cryin’ out loud). My guess is it won’t stay this way for long. However, to a New England na tive, this weather feels much more like early spring than the dead of winter. And trust me, I have lived through -some veiy cold winters — ones so cold *and with so much snow it seemed as though, from November to March, we were out of school more than in. Hell, we even had snow on Easter once. Yeah, that’s right, the middle of April. After being in South Carolina for more than a year, I have to admit that it does seem a bit cold. I don’t know about anyone else, but I got used to (and loved) the 71) degree weather we were having when classes started. But I realized when I went home for winter break that 40 degrees isn’t half bad for the middle of winter. The entire time I was in Connecticut, I was absolutely freezing. In fact, I don’t think the temperature rose much above 30 degrees. My friends, who all attend the University of Connecticut or other Northern schools, made fun of me for complaining about the freezing weather. That is when I seriously began to ^wonder if I could ever make it through an entire New Eng land winter again when I could barely make it through a month. The weather was part of the reason I came to USC. I re ally don’t think I could get up for class in the morning if it were 10 degrees with a wind chill of 25 degrees below zero. I know I must sound like I am preaching here, but my goal is to make native Southerners realize that as chilly as it may be here, it is 10 times worse in New England. Here is a little technical information about the freezing New England weather I had to endure for the first 17 years of my life. Today, for example, a wind chill advisory has been issued through tonight in my home state of Connecticut. For those of you who don’t know what a wind chill is, here is a quick example. The temperature is forecasted to be a bone-chilling 10 degrees (which is bad enough), and the wind chill makes it feel as if it is 25 degrees below zero (much, much worse). Basically, you can’t go outside for more than 10 minutes with any part of your body exposed, or you risk getting frost bite. Oh, what a fun way to spend a weekend. Cooped up in your house with your parents and the heat cranked up, watch ing reruns of television shows that you wouldn’t watch nor mally. But under the circumstances, what choice do you re ally have? It’s either that or spend “quality time” with your parents. That is how many of us New England teen-agers had to spend our nights when it got that cold. Since I have been in South Carolina, I realized that I en joy the mild winters and rare snowfalls. I have friends who are native to this state and say they wish it would get colder and snow more here. When they say this, I wonder why. Why on earth would anyone on earth want it to snow? It is such an inconvenience. And then the answer comes to me ... the grass is always greener on the other side. For native South Carolinians, snow is a novelty that is thor oughly enjoyed if and when it ever snows. I wish that I could see snow as a joy instead of as a hassle. And for native Yankees like me, a mild winter is a novelty. I guess what I am trying to say is that while we walk around Columbia in light winter jackets and maybe a pair of gloves and a hat, we should think about my Connecticut counterparts who have to deal with below-freezing temperatures and inch es and inches of snow. Ann Marie Miani is a sophomore journalism major and editor of etcetera. She can be reached by e mail at: gckfeatures® yahoo.com. 1 Campus Notes ■ Professor to lecture today on free speech The S.C. Association of Scholars, in asso ciation with the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, presents a public lecture, “The Betrayal of Liberty on America’s Gun puses,” by professor Alan Charles Kors at 2 p.m. today in the RH Theater. For more information, call professor Jeffrey Poelvoorde at (864) 596-9103., ■ Macintosh group holds meeting today The USC Macintosh Users Group will meet from 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. today in Room 210 of the School of Music. For more information, call Marc LaFountain at 777-6144. ■ Deadline nears for leadership conference The Office of Leadership Programs an nounces the 14th annual Student Leader ship Training Conference. The theme of this year’s conference is “The Art of Leadership: Painting Your Palette.” SLTC will be Feb. 5 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. The final deadline for registration is Jan. 28 in the Campus Activities Center. ■ Council features speaker on Russia The World Affairs Council Distinguished Speaker Series Luncheon presents “Rus sia After Yeltsin,” featuring Dr. Gordon Smith, author of “State-building in Rus sia: The Yeltsin Legacy and the Chal lenge for the Future.” The luncheon will be at 12:30 p.m. Jan. 27 at the Capital City Club. Cost is $20 for WAC mem bers and $25 for nonmembers. For more information, call 252-2197. ■ Habitat for Humanity holds interest meeting Students interested in participating in Habitat for Humanity can go to the or ganization meeting 7:30 p.m. Wednes day in RH Room 304. ■ CORRECTIONS * The Gamecock strives to report the facts correctly and responsibly. If you come across any inaccuracies in our reportage, please let us know. 4- “ THURSDAY, January 20, 3:30 PM/ Russell House 315 4- - MONDAY, January 24, 3:30 PM/ Russell House 315 4- - MONDAY, January 24, 5:30 PM/ Russell House 315 ‘SPORTS CLUBS ONLY* 4-- TUESDAY, January 25, 3:30 PM/ Russell House 315 4-- WEDNESDAY, January 26, 3:30 PM/ Russell House 315 4-- WEDNESDAY, January 26, 7:00 PM/ Russell House 315 V_/ Student Government Russell House 110 777-2654 * Attendance at one Workshop is required for all student organizations receiving or applying to receive Student Activity Fee Funds.