The World of Stuff .com

Elections: they’re not just for fall anymore

Yesterday I was going through old issues of the Independent Florida Alligator, formerly the dependent Florida Alligator, because I was looking for scans of old (public domain) issues to add to the newspaper’s Wikipedia article. It was really interesting to see what sorts of things were going on at the university decades ago and how many of them were similar to what’s going on today. I saw a lot about Student Government elections, which is appropriate because the spring SG elections are Tuesday and Wednesday.

Nice segue, eh? Before I jump to that subject, some gems from old issues of the Alligator: a 1964 editorial about Fidel Castro’s hostility toward the naval base at Guantanamo Bay; a satirical 1975 article, presented as a news story from the distant year 1995, about the threat of ozone cans to the aerosol layer; and the first issue of 1990, in which the newspaper introduced a brand new look that today’s students would find very familiar. Same logo, too.

Anyway, during the spring elections, the student body president and representatives of the various colleges are elected, so this is kind of a big deal. There are three main parties in the race:

The Unite Party mainly consists of former members of the majority, Greek-supported Gator Party, which was hit by scandal last semester when some damning e-mails got out about… I don’t know what they really said, but the implication was that the student body president had a hand in choosing which senators got elected or something like that. Allegedly! Anyway, now there’s the Unite Party, which aims to unite. My friend Cameron is running with them to represent the College of Engineering. He’s a responsible guy and great senator material. And since he’s running on the Unite ticket, he’ll probably win. But would I pick a Unite candidate for president? I’d look at my other options first.

The Orange and Blue Party was the party calling for change last semester, and they seem to have made some good progress considering they’re the minority party. Ben Cavataro, my dorm’s senator, is a member of the Orange and Blue Party, and my interactions with him indicate he’s a good guy.

And then there is this guy:

He’s Benjamin Dictor, presidential candidate for the Progress Party, which seems to have splintered from Orange and Blue. This never-before-seen photo is from the Andrew Meyer protest I attended. Ring a bell? “Don’t tase me, bro.” Right. Ben Dictor took a leadership role in those protests.

I don’t know him personally, but that’s how I know who he is, and my impression of him is that he’s a man of principles and action. Even if they weren’t the best principles, as I freely admit, he has good intentions and knows how to get things done. Also, Orange and Blue had their chance, but now I’d like to give some new guys a try in Student Government. That’s why I’m probably voting for Ben Dictor for student body president. I don’t think he’ll win, but it would be really cool if he did. Thus ends the lamest editorial ever.

This is pretty cool, though: Wikipedia Names Your Band. The idea is simple:

Go to “Wikipedia.” Hit “random” and the first article you get is the name of your band. Then go to “Random Quotations” and the last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album. Then, go to Flickr and click on “Explore the Last Seven Days” and the third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

When you see the album One Damn Thing Over and Over by Liberty Motor Car, and the cover has a picture of a chef smoking a cigarette and examining a pot full of bright green goo, buy it, because it’s mine. (Via waxy.org)