With bike theft up this year and the South Street Bridge about to close for reconstruction, the Division of Public Safety is trying to increase awareness about bicycle safety. DPS is distributing brochures and attaching flyers with bicycle-security reminders to improperly secured bicycles.

A few weeks back, Wharton sophomore Keith Williams and some friends entered the McDonald's on 40th and Walnut streets during the hours between Saturday night and Sunday morning. As you probably already know, Williams and his friends were called "stupid school kids" and deliberately given bad service, despite treating the staff respectfully.

As women's basketball coach Pat Knapp analyzed a disappointing 7-22 campaign, he noticed a clear and disturbing trend. In 19 of 29 games -- many of them in the Ivy League - Penn's opponents started a small lineup, which created matchup problems for the Quakers.

Minority engineers are taking steps to build a stronger, more diverse community at Penn. The School of Engineering and Applied Sciences hosted a Minorities in Engineering gathering last night in the Towne building. The event, sponsored by Naked Chocolate, was organized by the Society of Women Engineers, National Society of Black Engineers, Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers and Queer Undergraduates in Engineering, Science and Technology.

The city's police forces have been largely spared from Mayor Michael Nutter's wide-ranging budget cuts, which were announced last week in response to the city's projected $1 billion budget gap over the next five years. Though there will be about 200 layoffs citywide, none are planned for Philadelphia Police officers.

Janice Dow is a College sophomore from Los Angeles, Calif. Her e-mail address is dow@dailypennsylvanian.com.

Does the early bird get the win? The Quakers certainly hope so. As the men's basketball team gets set for its season-opener against No. 1 North Carolina on Saturday, the preseason preparations have been subject to one slight scheduling change: 7 a.m. practices every Tuesday and Thursday morning.

America "Barack"-ed the vote. Now, will the new president Barack the world? Sir David Bell, chairman of the Financial Times and non-executive director of The Economist, certainly thinks so. "The world is unbelievably pleased about the outcome of this election," he said.

I always pity the professor or TA grading my blue-book exams. My handwriting gradually deteriorates to a foreign alphabet by the last page, and cross-outs overwhelm my intelligent reasoning and argumentation. Then there's the lack of flexibility to change an answer I wrote 50 minutes earlier.

They may still be best friends, but they are no longer teammates. When Penn women's basketball senior forward Carrie Biemer gets set for tip-off in Friday's season-opener, she will do so without forward Maggie Burgess, who started 20 of the team's 29 games last season.

After hearing friends who studied abroad rave about their experiences, College senior Hayling Price knew he had no choice but to follow in their footsteps. He considered Spain to further his language skills but decided the cultural element was more important.

Sunday night's Undergraduate Assembly meeting came and went with an hour of discussion during the Open Forum and few new items of business brought up. Five representatives from the Living Water Christian Fellowship asked for the UA's help in spreading awareness about a casino on the 1000 block of Market Street in Chinatown.

Having recently been inducted into the United States Fencing Hall of Fame, coach Dave Micahnik is entering his 35th year at the helm of Penn's program. But the team keeps getting younger. Heading into the season, the Penn women's fencing team consists of 12 freshmen and sophomores - two-thirds of the roster - to go with a mere six upperclassmen.

Penn received the names of more than 1,000 students this fall from a College Board pilot program that helps schools recruit students from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Thirty-nine schools are participating in the program, which provides institutions with names of low-income students who have taken College Board exams and which marks a departure from the usual criteria to match students and schools.

Amira Fawcett is an Engineering senior from Houston, Texas. Her e-mail address is fawcett@dailypennsylvanian.com.

George Bush was inaugurated for the first time on my 11th birthday. I cried bitterly. A week ago tonight Barack Obama was elected president, to be inaugurated on my 19th birthday. I cried last week and I'm sure I'll cry again on Jan. 20, but this time with euphoria.

Amid economic troubles and uncertainty over gun laws after President-elect Barack Obama is inaugurated in January, one thing is clear: Gun sales are going up. Gun sales in the months of January to September rose 9 percent in 2008 compared with last year, according to FBI statistics.