You wake up and immediately check the weather, suppressing a groan when you see it’s 38 degrees outside for the third day in a row. On the bright side, it gives you a reason to break out your Gator beanie that’s been collecting dust in the back of your closet.
So before braving the cold, you bundle up in your coat and boots, shoving your beanie as far down your head as you can without blinding yourself. You pull your jacket tighter against your body and make your trek through the frigid air toward Publix. You’ve been craving a bowl of steaming hot soup since the second you crawled out from underneath your pile of covers.
The relative warmth of Publix’s air hits your face and you breathe a sigh of relief. You’ve made it. You make your way through the aisles stopping at everything that catches your eye. You know you don’t need that extra box of Cheez-It crackers, but you can’t stop yourself from grabbing hold of the family-sized box.
Once you’ve finally made it through the snack aisle, you find your way over to the soup section. You marvel at your choices, taking a look at the deals of the day. You instantly grab one of the cans, unable to pass up the incredible deal: buy one can of soup and get a free can of…
Darts and Laurels
It’s the first week of the semester that we get to hand out a laurel to the U.S. government for ending the government shutdown. Well, temporarily, that is. President Donald Trump signed a deal last week that would reopen the government for three weeks. With the bill passed, a series of government agencies opened for the first time in the new year. Another government shutdown is possible depending on the events of Feb. 15, where Republicans and Democrats will have to come to a final agreement on Trump’s border security policy.
A dart goes to Apple for failing to quickly address an issue with its FaceTime function that allows a caller to eavesdrop on the recipient through audio and, in some cases, through video, before the recipient even picks up the phone. Grant Thompson, a 14-year-old boy from Arizona, discovered the glitch while playing Fortnite with a friend. Thompson’s mother saw the security threat and went through multiple outlets to tell Apple about the glitch. 9to5Mac reported on the glitch earlier this week, prompting Apple to finally address the glitch and temporarily suspend the group chat function, which was thought to be the cause of the blatant security breach.
In other, more positive, tech news, Twitter and Facebook are getting a laurel this week for deleting hundreds of tweets flagged as having malevolent intentions linked to Iranian and Russian accounts. The accounts were thought to be meddling in U.S. and U.K. politics. Both social media outlets have been criticized before for not taking down users for inappropriate content. Social media needs a better way of weeding out potentially harmful users, and this is a step in the right direction.
Closer to home, Cady Casellas gets a laurel for creating the first Latinx music radio show in Gainesville. The radio show, “Chisme Con Cady,” which translates to “Gossip with Cady,” will appeal to Gainesville’s Hispanic and Latinx population. The show airs from 7-9 p.m. every Friday on the radio channel 95.3 FM, online and on the GHQ app. The radio show is encouraging a more inclusive Gainesville that can celebrate multiple cultures.
Correction: This article was updated to reflect that "Chisme Con Cady" is Gainesville's first Latinx music radio show. The Alligator previously reported differently.
