CardinalChronicle / weekly campus column

BY BARBARA PALMER

FORGET POLITE DISCOSURSE. AN ONLINE game called “Whack-A-Pol” invites players to pick up a virtual mallet and smack politicos who oppose their point of view about whether Gray Davis should be recalled as California’s governor Oct. 7. The three-week-old recall version of “Whack-A-Pol” is just for fun, but there’s a serious side to using political content in computer games -- it’s a way of attracting young people’s attention to the political arena, says SHANTO IYENGAR, professor of communication and director of the Political Communication Lab, a research group that utilizes the Internet to study politics and media and that created “Whack-A-Pol.” During the 2002 California governor’s race, researchers at the lab gave 200 16- to 24-year-old Californians CDs containing political information in formats including games and music files. The rate of voting in the group that received the CDs was significant, Iyengar said. “We know it’s a way of connecting with youth.” Engage in political expression yourself at http://pcl.stanford.edu.

TUESDAY LAST WEEK WAS SUPPOSED to be a low-key “soft opening” of a slow week during which chef GARY ARTHUR and staff could work out any kinks before the Sept. 30 grand opening of LINX, a new restaurant operated by Stanford Dining on the ground floor of the Clark Center. It was apparent the first day, however, that LINX was off to a flying start when nearly 300 people showed up for lunch. Arthur, whom his new bosses called “a superstar,” was ready for the crowds with dishes including wok-tossed abalone noodles with Asian vegetables and sliced lotus root served with soy-roasted salmon, pan-fried feta cheese salad and three different vegetarian soups. The last is something unheard of even in a luxury restaurant, Arthur said -- and he’s in a position to know. Arthur most recently worked as chef de cuisine for the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group in Hong Kong. LINX is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

IF YOUR CLOSETS ARE FULL OF unwanted mouses -- or computers, monitors, printers or peripherals -- you can bring them to campus from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 11, to a free computer recycling event at Varsity Parking Lot 1, between Stanford Stadium and the Sunken Diamond. Usable computer equipment collected at the event, hosted by Dell Inc. and the National Recycling Coalition, will be distributed to local charities or responsibly recycled, said HEATHER PERRY, an environmental engineer with Environmental Health and Safety. Only personal computer equipment will be accepted (no televisions, cell phones or other household electronics, and no university capital equipment). All data, PC cards and disks should be removed from computers.

Write to Barbara Palmer at barbara.palmer@stanford.edu or mail code 2245 or call her at 724-6184.

Barbara Palmer