Bravo to smartphone dorm keys. Twenty-seven students and five ASU students were given phones that would allow them to test out this new technology. Only the new BlackBerry phones Bold and Curve have the technology. While phones with this technology are slim pickings, there is no reason to believe that it will stay this way. It will eventually spread as all new technology does. ASU Director of Business Applications Laura Ploughe told The State Press that this is unique because it has never been done in the country before. The unfortunate part is that this technology is at least two years away from being implemented at the University.
Boo to Bank of America’s new $5-a-month fee for using a debit card. The charge will go into effect next year. According to the Washington Post, a spokesperson for the company gave an excellent reason for this — they are just “adjusting our pricing to reflect today’s economics,” she said. What on earth could this new fee mirror? Perhaps the fact that after being bailed out with taxpayer money, they felt compelled to gouge their users out of more money. Pro-tip: Head to credit unions. Many of them don’t pull these kinds of stunts.
Bravo to the catching of a bike thief on the Tempe campus. Brett Swanson is suspected of bike thefts and was arrested for possession of stolen property and loitering on the ASU campus earlier this week. Two people, one ASU student and a security guard in the Brickyard on Mill Avenue, respectively, saw Swanson messing with locked-up bikes on campus and place backpacks containing bike tires underneath a stairwell. For many college students, their bike is the only mode of transportation they have. It’s cruel, though not unusual, to steal a college student’s bike.
Boo to recent bad parenting. Two foster parents in Cleveland are accused of allegedly abandoning their child at a Cleveland Browns game, while another set of parents have been arrested after their toddler ingested cocaine. While being a parent certainly isn’t easy, there are at least two things that shouldn’t be done. If you can avoid abandoning your child or letting them swallow a hard drug, congratulations, you would be a better parent than these four adults. The third could be making your child attend Cleveland Browns games.
Bravo to the end of an exciting baseball season and its ensuing postseason. It was quite the finish, an example of why every one of the 162 regular season games matter. They were rough collapses by the Atlanta Braves and the Boston Red Sox, but the best teams win when they have to. We also have the Diamondbacks to root for, a welcome sight after two straight awful seasons in last place in the National League West (which is where they were expected to finish this season).
Want to join the conversation? Send an email to opiniondesk.statepress@gmail.com. Keep letters under 300 words and be sure to include your university affiliation. Anonymity will not be granted.
Follow The State Press on Twitter or like us on Facebook.
