By Mark Strom

Editorial Staff

As we escape the icy clutches of winter and enter the warm embrace of spring, the sun breathes life into the slumbering landscape. We welcome the return of flowers (at least until they drop pollen on our cars) and various animals (as long as they don’t run into traffic).

Unfortunately, we must also suffer the reintroduction of various bugs. This isn’t inherently a bad thing, but for some reason I’ve always been unusually attractive to all sorts of creepy crawlies.

I don’t know what it is about me that makes bugs defy all evolutionary common sense, but I can’t count the number of times a tiny winged devil has attempted to fly straight up my nose or into my mouth.  

While I admit most people aren’t bothered by most bugs, there are two bugs which are not only annoying, but pose actual health hazards. These two parasitic pests spread disease and seem to serve no ecological purpose beyond being eaten by birds: ticks and mosquitos.

They’re most commonly associated with summer and autumn, but I can assure you from personal experience that they are just as active in early spring. In fact, ticks and mosquitos are the main reason I’m reluctant to spend much time outdoors.

So what can you do to protect yourself from these seasonal menaces? The most effective method would be to carry one of those novelty bug zappers shaped like a tennis racket at all times.

Unfortunately, Wal-Mart never has them in stock so we must instead rely on insect repellants. They work well enough for mosquitos, but aren’t quite as effective on ticks (probably because they know they’re actually arachnids).

If a mosquito ignores insect repellant, you can easily get rid of it by whacking it. But ticks are nearly indestructible, even when hit repeatedly with a shoe. I have yet to find any reliable way of tick-disposal besides flushing them down a toilet or lighting them on fire.

So if you find yourself lying on the grass or taking a walk in the woods for an extended period of time, I’d highly recommend checking yourself every so often for ticks. And, as counter-intuitive as it sounds, if you’re in the woods you should wear as much clothing-cover as possible.

By Mark Strom

Editorial Staff

One of the most stressful tasks we students face is course registration. The normally simple act of navigating a series of drop-down menus becomes a high-stakes battle against hundreds of other students, all vying for a very limited number of spaces.

This is why I don’t register through the Course Search and Registration webpage. This is not to say that I have abandoned this portal entirely, but I use it mainly to learn the Course Reference Number (CRN) for a desired course.

I learned about the CRN system for registration during my third semester at FSU, and once I started using it, I’ve been able to reliably and consistently register for courses. Since a surprisingly small number of students are aware of this system, I’ve decided to share it on a larger scale.

When looking at course details from either DegreeWorks or the Course Search and Registration page, the CRN can be found as a five digit number in the CRN column.

I always copy and paste this number into a text document a few days before registration opens. I could just as easily write down the number, but copy and paste ensures that the number is accurate.

About ten minutes before registration opens, I log onto MyFramingham and click on Course Add/Drop in the Academics section. I make the browser take up half of my computer screen, with the other half taken up by the CRN document.

I input my PIN on the browser - which inevitably results in an error message saying registration is closed due to Orientation. I’ve since learned that this is merely a placeholder until registration officially opens.

About one minute before registration, I highlight a CRN in the document and press Ctrl + C (Command + C for you Apple users out there). I then refresh the browser page until the error message is replaced with the usual Add/Drop page.

I scroll down to the bottom and paste the CRN (using Ctrl/Command + V) into one of the boxes. I repeat this copy and paste procedure for all my desired CRNs, and click Submit Changes.

By Mark Strom

Editorial Staff

Last week I got a particularly nasty cold and was unable to attend classes. For four days I was too weak to do much of anything besides sleep, blow my nose and take multiple doses of Chinese herbal supplements (I’ve recently accepted that there is no medication which will actually destroy a cold virus - the most you can do is boost your immune system).

It didn’t feel right to just sit around doing nothing for several days, but I really wasn’t in any condition to do anything else. I’m happy to say the cold has since passed, and although I still have to carry more tissues with me than usual, I’m no longer contagious.

Unfortunately, this is more than I can say for many of my fellow students. I’m not talking about the ones who are a little under the weather and have a minor cough and the occasional sneeze. I’m talking about the ones who frequently sound as if they’re coughing up bits of lung and/or appear to be trying to set the world record for consecutive sneezes.

Attending class when you’re that sick is inconsiderate, and not just to your fellow classmates (who, trust me, do not want to be exposed to your icky sickness). You’re doing a disservice to someone whose physical well being should be your highest priority - yourself.

Forget what people told you about trying to suck it up and tough it out. Your body is telling you to rest because that’s exactly what you need to do. Fighting off a virus takes a lot of energy, and your immune system needs all the energy it can get to combat a cold or fight a flu. Needlessly exerting yourself will accomplish nothing except making you miserable and most likely extending your illness.

I realize that we’re rapidly approaching the end of the semester, and many students are reluctant to miss classes for fear of falling behind. But missing a couple classes isn’t necessarily a death sentence for your grade. You can easily email your professor or classmates to find out what you missed, or if there’s anything you should be working on in the meantime.

Mark Strom

Editorial Staff

A few weeks ago, I drove to campus for what was supposed to be my only class for the day. As a commuter student, it’s sometimes difficult to find parking, but I managed to arrive early and find a decent parking space. I was in good spirits as I trudged up the sidewalk to reach the library. But my spirits dampened when I arrived at the classroom and saw a notification on the door informing me that class was canceled.

This wasn’t the first time this has happened during my time at Framingham State, and it probably won’t be the last. Nonetheless, it’s frustrating when I discover that I just drove to campus for no reason. While some professors send email notifications when class is canceled, I don’t think “some” is enough - it should be done by all professors.

I’d like to stress that this is not a critique of professorial conduct, but a request for an additional method of notification. I realize that many students do not check their emails regularly, and therefore some professors are wary of using it as a system. However, there is no reason for students not to be checking their email. Now that nearly everyone has a smart phone, students literally have access to their inbox at their fingertips.

Using email as a notification for class cancellation would not just prevent needless trips to campus, it would also encourage students to check their email more regularly. If an email was sent and students did not read it and ended up walking to class only to discover it was canceled, they would have nobody to blame but themselves.

Which brings me to another point: this system would shift anger away from professors. I know many of my fellow students blame the professor for the inconvenience when they arrive at a class which isn’t going to be held. But if emails were used, the students would have had ample time to check their e-mail to see whether or not class was cancelled, and thus the professor would not be to blame.

By Mark Strom

Editorial Staff

Snow. There’s way too much of it. And just when we’ve managed to plow it out of the way of traffic, nature swoops in and dumps another load of it on us - leaving us to figure out where to put the new snow.

I’ve heard that some companies have started taking the snow and putting it in the ocean, but I’m firmly against this. I mean, the snow most likely came from the ocean in the first place - sure, putting it back in the ocean helps us in the short run, but it’ll come back eventually and we’ll be back where we started.

We need some novel ideas, and I’m pleased to say that I’ve come up with several. These ideas stay true to the American tradition of having any potential benefits being rendered utterly meaningless by sheer inefficiency and absurdly high costs.

For starters, we should consider putting all the snow in the North Pole. We’ve already melted most of the polar ice caps thanks to global warming - it’s hard to make a decent Coca-Cola commercial when the polar bears are struggling to stay afloat. If we bring the snow to the ice caps, the polar bears will surely thank us (or eat us, depending on their mood).

We might also construct a gigantic ice pyramid, similar to what was done in ancient Egypt. The main difference, however, would be that instead of being a gigantic lasting tomb to thwart grave-robbers and stand the test of time, this pyramid would be in honor of all the workers who will probably get frost-bite trying to build it.

Perhaps you are thinking that these ideas are too inefficient and we may want to consider a more sensible, local option. Well, I distinctly recall that at around Christmas-time at Disney World, they drop fake snow that’s made from soap flakes, or possibly asbestos (I wouldn’t put it past them).

Can you imagine how magical it would be to have actual snow falling from the sky? Granted, the snow would probably melt and turn into rain before it hits the ground, but that’s nothing they’re not used to.

Of course, I realize that there’s no way these could actually happen. The sad truth is that the snow is just going to be there and there’s nothing we can do about it except wait for it to melt in the spring.