A report last spring that the new student body president planned to campaign for installation of cable TV in dorm rooms—an enduring fantasy of many students—prompted one alumnus to declare in a letter to The Observer that this would be “the worst thing that could possibly happen to this University.” The letter writer thought additional TV watching (the dorms already have cable in their TV lounges, and many students have rigged up satellite dishes with wires going to several rooms) would distract residents from more worthwhile pursuits. The alumnus’s letter provoked a current student to respond that there are way worse things that could happen to Notre Dame. Included on his list: “A meteor the size of a Volkswagen collides into DeBartolo Hall during peak class time” and “All Notre Dame alumni stop donating money, forever.” . . . After holding out for decades, Indiana will begin observing Daylight Saving Time next year. The state has always been in the Eastern time zone except for the areas around Chicago and the extreme southwest corner of the state. Those places are in the Central time zone. By refusing to “spring forward,” or set clocks ahead one hour from April to October, virtually all of Indiana has in the past effectively gone on Central time for the middle six months of the year. To re-complicate matters, several Indiana counties, including Saint Joseph County, home of Notre Dame, have now asked the federal government to switch to the Central time zone. . . . Some students took offense at a promotion announced by Coca-Cola and Food Services last school year. The contest offered cash prizes to dorms that bought the most Coke products per resident from their hall’s vending machines during a six-week period. Carroll Hall won the top prize, $2,000. Nine secondary prizes ranged from $100 to $1,000. When the contest was announced, letters of complaint began appearing in The Observer citing health concerns over drinking so much pop and alleged labor and human rights abuses and pollution problems at Coke bottling plants in other countries. Other writers said the competition amounted to nothing worse than clever marketing. A year ago a similar type of promotion was tried. Two bottles of Coke products were put out into circulation with a message on the underside of the cap saying the purchaser had won $1,000 in travel vouchers. Neither cap was ever redeemed.