This week, the Sunshine State hasn't exactly been living up to its moniker. Gainesville's newfound preoccupation with precipitation has left us at the Department of Darts and Laurels running for cover. Don't get us wrong, we're all about "Singin' in the Rain" when the opportunity presents itself, but the ominous dark clouds and violent thunder storms of these past couple of days have left us singing "Gimme Shelter" instead. We hope you've been able to keep dry these last few days, but if not, don't fret, 'cause there's always "Sunshine After the Rain." But just in case this somber weather has got you down, we have a brand new, waterproof edition of Darts and Laurels for your enjoyment. Now "Who Do You Love?"
Darts & Laurels
First off, we send a way-to-give-us-one-more-excuse-to-not-go-to-the-gym DART to UF Department of Recreational Sports for instituting a new gym membership fee for students not enrolled in classes. What makes us so perturbed about the $50 summer B fee and the $100 summer C and fall fees is that the decision to start charging students for using campus gyms was not made out of economic necessity, but instead seems to have been made on a whim. RecSports reassures us the change has nothing to do with the menacing budget cuts or any other pecuniary shortfall. Indeed, they say they don't even know how they're going to use the new revenue. If there's no monetary emergency, why the hell are they bleeding dry those who want to get in - or stay in - shape?
Next up, we chuck a could-you-possibly-be-any-more-incompetent? DART to the UF administration and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences for compromising the privacy of current and former students - some 12,000 of them - by posting personal information, including Social Security numbers, on the World Wide Web for all to see.
The breach occurred from 2003-2005 when former student employees posted the personal information of students who used the tutoring services of the CLAS-operated Office for Academic Support and Institutional Service. The information turned up during a system audit, which was reported Tuesday. In this age of rampant spamming, phishing and identity theft, we would like to believe the administration would have all the privacy bases covered. This week's revelation that sensitive student information has been online for some four years is more than disconcerting, it is a disgrace. We expect more from the suits at Tigert and Turlington halls.
Something weird is going on here. For the second straight week, we have something nice to say about our elected officials as we offer an at-least-you-tried-to-save-the-planet LAUREL to Sen. Bill Nelson and Sen. Mel Martinez for supporting a failed attempt at tackling what is arguably the most critically important issue facing the nation (and, for that matter, the world): climate change.
Floridians should be proud that both Nelson and Martinez stood up to combat global warming by supporting the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act. Unfortunately, advocates of the measure failed to break the 60-vote cloture threshold. Failing to reach the 60-vote plateau, proponents of the bill were forced to shelve what would have been the most sweeping climate change control measure to date. Nevertheless, we thank our senators for siding with science in an effort to reverse the harmful effects of global warming.
Lastly, we present a we-know-you-will-be-rocking-out-in-the-afterworld LAUREL to the supremely influential rock and blues legend Bo Diddley, who passed away last week in his Archer home at the age of 79. Diddley was known as "The Originator" for pioneering the soulful sounds that influenced the likes of rock gods The Rolling Stones, The Who, Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen, among innumerable others. The UF Board of Trustees is expected to award Diddley with a posthumous honorary degree in recognition of his contributions to music and the arts - which we think is more than fitting.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer's gritty and innovative sound was often imitated, but never reproduced.
