Free are the T-shirts and pens that everyone runs over to the Siebel Center to get during career fairs. Free are the cheap products that people look forward to every year during the Engineering Open House. Free are the scrumptious samples from the yummy restaurants on Green Street.

Everyone’s talking about it if they’re not talking on it. What is there not to talk about? It’s spiffy, it’s new, and it’s awesome. It’s Facebook Chat on Facebook!

While skimming through The News-Gazette the other day I came across a short story and picture of a Champaign man who was going to celebrate his 105th birthday in a few days.

I was incredibly amazed by just reading the headline. I mean, how often do you hear of a 104-year-and-360-something-day-old man living in your community?

The approach of a three-day weekend has lifted many spirits, lightened many steps, and generally increased the jollity of the school.

I've always heard that makeup is made from some pretty nasty things. I even heard last week while watching TV that placenta is used in many shampoos. Someone I was watching the show with even confirmed this fact after relating the results of a thorough investigation of the shampoo aisle at Walgreens.

The other day I received this e-mail from Central College:

During Agora Days, I went to Taiwan to visit family, skipping the four days of student-taught classes. This meant that on the Friday before Agora started, when everyone else was looking forward to a fun week of no homework, I was anticipating a daunting 14-hour flight.

The girls basketball season ended a week ago, and since soccer doesn't start for another week, I've been able to go home at 4 o'clock for the first time since swim season ended about four months ago.

Now that Derald's has been gone for about four months, I can truly say that its absence has affected my life more than I originally thought it would.

If anyone has ever reprimanded you for keeping the water on while brushing your teeth, here is a real fact that could end this nasty habit: If you shut that water off every time you brush your teeth, you can conserve up to five gallons of water per day. If everyone did this in the United States, we would conserve more water than the amount used by New York City in a single day.

If you think that Uni is too crowded, then you obviously have not heard about Richmond Hill High School in Queens, N.Y., which has twice as many students as it has room for.

These first two days of the second semester have really made me appreciate having finals before winter break.

I had two weeks to forget unimportant things, and now I won't have to spend time relearning them. I will also remain guilt-free about not studying during the break.

Every sports team that I’ve participated in during my time at Uni has involved secret buddies, and it’s getting really tiresome.

Today was my first time on FreeRice. The Web site consists of a vocabulary game, and each correct answer rewards you with a donation of rice to end world hunger. I was immediately hooked.

Go on any social networking site these days and you'll discover that it's not hard to find out just how popular you are using one of the new "Top Friends" applications. These allow you to list about 10 of your favorite friends, and the rest of the world gets to see whom you like the most.