Dear Editor:
The national voter turnout for 18 to 24-year-olds is approximately 47 percent for recent presidential elections, but for last week’s freshman class elections, only 24.9 percent of freshmen voted (“Freshman Class Election Results,” Sept. 25). Despite publicity on the CS40 Red Alert calendar, the chalk campaign ads on the sidewalks and the SUpdate in Student Life, fewer than one quarter of freshman knew, or chose, to vote on WebSTAC last Thursday and Friday.
Even if the campaign issues and promises were never publicized, one could at least resort to Facebook to cast a semi-informed vote.
If this is a problem of information, then Student Union should be more proactive in advertising future elections. If this is a case of apathy, we can only hope such indifference fades by the November elections.
-Brian Krigsher
Class of 2010
Dasani: for people, not dying goldfish
Dear Editor:
Last year, my Millbrook apartment went through an unfortunate two-week period during which half the residents fought for custody of six cute little goldfish, which my flatmate Rebecca and I had “liberated” from our sixth flatmate. We liberated them, you see, because that flatmate had decided to send her fish tank, filters, and – oh yes – the food and water purifying drops home early, leaving the little guys with nowhere to live but a tiny Tupperware container full of dirty water.
We’d loved those fish all year, and we weren’t about to let her kill them. So we took control of the situation. Despite the fact that neither Rebecca nor I possessed proper filtration equipment, we were determined to keep these fish alive.
Our first concern was their murky water, in which they might die at any time. But we didn’t have time then to drive out to PetSmart for purifying drops, so we instead ran down to the Village and bought two massive bottles of Dasani. I couldn’t find anything online or on the bottle about the chlorine content of the water, but I figured it was worth a shot. The fishies needed to live!
Now we come to the upshot of this letter: Dasani is not good for fish. The stuff is essentially filtered municipal water – which means it may still contain some level of chlorine. After we moved the fish to the bowl of clean, clear Dasani, our liberated fishies didn’t start breathing easier. No, they actually started to have more trouble breathing than before, gasping for air at the top of the bowl. Within minutes it was clear that they were going to have to go back into their murky water, which was still better for them than the chlorine-laced Dasani.
So Wash. U. fish owners, beware – Dasani will not keep your fish alive. You either need to let some water sit out for 24 hours so the chlorine can evaporate or make a quick stop at PetSmart for water tablets or drops. Or, you know, put them in Sprite and see just how long they last.
-Margaret Bauer
Class of 2006