KANSAN 8,2007
OPINION
Coming Thursday, November 29.
Editorial: Students deserve a full dead week before final exams.
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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN WWW.KANSAN.COM WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 28. 2007 PAGE 7A
Muselmann: The new +/-
grading system may hurt
students GPAs
NOT SO ANGELIC
F ? ES- 9SE
PAGE7A
Holiday season prompts recap of what students have to be thankful for
With over,
DRAWING BOARD
Thanksgiving the semester coming to an end and Christmas right around the corner, everywhere we look we are reminded that, "Tis the season to be jolly." Christmas music is making its
the big 12 championship title and that alone is something to
way back onto the radio and department store airwaves, and slowly, the dust is being brushed off good old Saint Nick and the decorations from the attic. Department stores and credit card companies are reveling in this jolliest of seasons. That jolly mood comes especially following all the money that was spent on Black Friday and over the weekend, which began the debt that many of us will experience over the holidays. On the academic level, we are all starting to make more frequent trips to the library in anticipation of and in preparation for finals. Oh joy!
In the spirit of the holidays, I wanted to do a mini-recap of what we have to be joyous about.
Although to some, finals can only be comparable with torture, others may see finals as just those last few tests left to pass in order to move on to another semester at KU. Obviously, your preparation and the amount you have riding on that final test grade depends on the previous months. But either way, just remember, it's almost over and you survived another semester. We then get to look forward to at least a couple weeks of serenity and relaxation before grades come out. Then a couple more weeks to forget those grades and come up with our "new strategy" for things we are going to do differently next semester to improve those grades. That is, of course, unless you're golden and you're lucky enough to have discovered that strategy early on. Your next couple of weeks are going to be cake.
Aside from the end in sight, one thing that isn't over quite yet is the football team's post-season. First of all, as upset and downright livid as I was that we lost on Saturday, we all still have to be damn pleased with the way the season went. Our football team, KU's football team, just went 11-1 and had the best record in 108 years, and all in all is the best football season in KU history. We were eligible for
brag about,
leaving out
the name of
the devils
that took
that chance
from us.
I have also thoroughly enjoyed being able to say that I am
attending the only college that has two top five teams. On that note, lets not forget the main reason we came to KU: The basketball season. The exciting, close call with Arizona this past weekend cured every one's hangover blues from Saturday and reminded us that we still have another season of Kansas sports ahead of us.
If the semester being almost over and two winning Kansas programs isn't enough to make you jolly or fill you with holiday cheer, I've got a couple of less shallow ones to throw at you. All semester in my columns I have been pleading with people to not judge anyone, appreciate the finer things in life or volunteer and help out. If you've never felt the desire to or understood the satisfaction of helping others in need, try it now. If you're more of a material giver than a time giver, that extra $20 you were going to spend can be donated to a charity or can help buy Christmas gifts to give to Toys for Tots. Even offering to help a neighbor hang lights or doing something special with your significant other perpetuates those holiday feelings.
Finals, sports and being able to help through charities don't sound like a very extensive thankful list, but it's a start. My point is, as great as finals and sports are, the fact that we are able to participate in them is something we all should be thankful for. We, unlike millions of people, were able to attend the college of our choice. Along with those blessings, and many others, which include being able to realize our own fortunes, we are capable of spreading our cheer with others.
And since I get the extra pull of having my own column, I'm going to spread a little of my own special holiday cheer. Happy Holidays to all my family and friends!
McNaughton is a Topeka junior in journalism.
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I hate MU with a deep burning firey passion. I hope Oklahoma eats them for dinner and then spits them 'into the Atlantic Ocean!
My life is complete
OK ladies, I am a decently good looking guy with dark hair and bright blue eyes, I work at Watson, and I want to get crazy!
I made the Free for All today!
Any takers?
MAX RINKEL
BURRITO-MADE EPIPHANIES
Internet inspires electronic ADD
A plethora of online distractions keeps students from working, enriching themselves
My roommate and I Even right now as I type this, just spent 15 min- my roommate and I are looking
utes searching Google for a picture entitled, "I can has cheese-burger?" that we thought was titled, "happy cat." The Internet and Facebook are ruining our generation.
The ruining of our generation can be directly related to the failing of finals.
In the midst of trying to type this piece of journalistic excellence, I've stopped not once but twice already to check my e-mail and Facebook. Not out of boredom, nor frustration, but out of something more frightening. Habit.
at icanhas-cheeseburger.com for no particular reason (it's a variation of lolats.com). There's Coltrane playing in the background,
and Kerouac on the table waiting for a good thumbing through, heck, even the gym is open. We could be enriching ourselves, but we chose to look at icanhascheeseburger.com.
(Enjoy yourself at lolcats.com for 15 minutes before reading the next paragraph; that's how long it took us to stop looking at it.)
Onto my point. Our generation is being ruined by this ugly habit we've picked up that isn't about necessity or ease or really anything. It isn't about anything. We really don't have any reason to use online distractions multiple times a day other than that it turned into a good way to waste time.
You'd start by checking your e-mail once a day and your Facebook twice a week. But it'd quickly escalated into many times a day. You'd start checking when you woke up, when you went to sleep, sometimes even on your lunch break. It's addictive. Then you can move onto looking into Web sites your friends post notes about, ranging from gross, to cute, to confusing. You check out Web sites from e-mails your friends send you about inane subjects. Then all of a sudden you're hooked. If your computer crashes over the weekend and you have no idea
what to do, you've got a problem.
With the onset of finals we, as students, really have to watch how we use our time. I'm even one who usually says not to worry about finals. In the grand scheme of things they really don't matter. But, right now they do, especially with how much money we all spend on tuition.
So let's all do ourselves a favor. No more Facebook until finals are over. Sound good? No more lolcats.com or unnecessary e-mail checking. No more internet time wasting.
I'm even tempted to just look one more time at the picture on lolcats.com that says, "Is it can be hugs tiem now plees?" but I'm not going to. I won't if you won't. Deal?
Stewart is a Wichita junior in journalism.
Why KU students should care about the Iraq war
GUEST COLUMN
You and your children will pay for the war. Although George Bush
Although George Bush has repeatedly insisted that the Iraq War is vital to American security, he has refused to ask his generation to pay for it. Instead, he is making you and your children foot the bill. Every dollar spent on the war has been borrowed. Someday you and your children will have to pay off this debt-or pay interest on it forever. The cost so far is $460 billion. The expenditure rate has risen each year. Currently the war costs $320 million each day. Rudy Giuliani is an enthusiastic supporter of the war, and Hillary Clinton has said that she expects the war to continue at
Your contemporaries are making the ultimate sacrifice. The vast majority of the 3,867 American soldiers killed in Iraq are members of your generation. The same is true of the tens of thousands of men and women who have suffered injuries, including many who have returned to their families blinded or without legs or arms. As has so often been true in the past, "Old men send young men (and now women) into battle."
least through her first term as President. By that time the cost to you and your children could approach $1 trillion.
You and your children will
bear the consequences. The bipartisan 9/11 Commission concluded that (1) Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with the 9/11 attack, (2) Saddam Hussein had no connection with Al Qaeda and (3) Saddam Hussein never attacked America or American interests. The WMD claims proved bogus. From the viewpoint of anyone in the Middle East, the invasion and occupation of Iraq is understandable only as a continuation of Western imperialism or as an assault on Islam. Each day of continued occupation breeds more embittered youths who will be the 9/11 attackers of tomorrow. Long after today's leaders are gone, the world will be a more
It's your war. Today's leaders will move on, leaving you and your children to bear the costs of the war, both material and human. You should ask hard questions of the leaders who have ordered your generation into battle but refuse to pay any of the price themselves.
dangerous place for you and your children because of the invasion and continued occupation of Iraq.
Martin Dickinson
Martin Dickinson Robert A. Schroeder Professor of Law
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