MONDAY, MARCH 12, 2012
THE UNIVERSITY BADY HANSAN
PAGE 7A
opinion
I have solved the mystery! Girls wear black leggings all the time so they can feel like ninjas!
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Computer charge cord, umbilical cord...it's all the same.
I feel like I'm in some sort of a scary movie too often when I'm on campus. Like when walking outside Wescoe, or using the rundown bathrooms in Fraser.
Just heard someone say we are the greatest country in America.
There's a difference between being a troll and being a dumb jackass. Learn it.
Baylor: Where being a highlighter wins you games.
The staff of Mrs. E's is actually the staff from the Men in Black headquarters.
Is it bad that the athletic department has to put an ad for football tryouts in the paper?
I'm just a little chipmunk.
I wonder if shamrocks have antioxidants like tea leaves.
Wrong, you forgot to change the signs for the acceleration of gravity, and you forget common sense when you said going up and down stairs requires equal work
Talking on the phone while going to the restroom? Keep it keep class. KU.
You're a true RA only if you hate the RA duty phone ringone.
Am I the only one who thinks us non-alcoholics shouldn't have to pay for alcoholics to use safebus?
You're in a suit and bow tie! Of course I will listen to you!
Scheduling a speech in Lawrence during a KU game is a rookie mistake, Ron Paul. You should know better.
Does anyone find it incredibly ironic that Occupy KU only "occupies" for two to three hours a week? Editor's note: They still exist?
Today I realized that I am more responsible with my Bejeweled Blitz money than I am with my actual money.
Only a true Kansas girl would know how to reflect the TV into the mirror to watch the basketball game and get ready for a Friday night at the same time.
To the girl walking on campus and yelling into her phone: We all now know you smoked, got drunk and got a tattoo. Maybe that should have been a quieter conversation
My mom thinks I like this weather because I like to sit outside and read. I just like to watch men run shirtless, mom.
I mustache you a question, but I'll shave it for later.
What I have is a disorder where I stay up all night and eat. Its called insom-nomnia.
Woes up and never comes down? Facebook pictures.
Military intervention in Iran a possibility
As the debate over Iran's nuclear program continues to intensify, one of two bad outcomes seems increasingly likely - a nuclear armed Iran and a war with Iran that may or may not involve the U.S. But is there a way to avoid both?
Iran continues to claim that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, including nuclear power and medical research. But over the last decade it has repeatedly refused to give International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors full access to all of its nuclear sites.
Although IAEA inspectors have not seen all of Iran's nuclear facilities, they have never definitively stated that Iran has a nuclear weapons program. Nevertheless, at times, the inspectors have been suspicious of some of Iran's nuclear activities.
Both the U.S. and Israel as well as the European Union and several countries in the Persian Gulf have concerns about the Iranian nuclear program, but there is no consensus on how to deal with the issue. The U.S. and Israel in particular have been at odds over how exactly to approach the problem.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently visited the U.S. and met with President Obama to discuss the ongoing
problems surrounding the Iranan nuclear program. Netanyahu seems to be beating the drum of war while Obama has been more cautious and willing to let sanctions run their course.
Will the U.S. involve itself in another war? Does Israel have the military capability to destroy Iran's nuclear program?
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Obama did clarify his stance recently stating that he does not have a policy of simply containing a nuclear armed Iran once it has a nuclear weapon. His stated policy is that he is committed to the prevention of an Iranian nuclear weapon.
If Israel does decide to unilaterally attack Iran, several questions remain unanswered. Will the U.S. involve itself in another war? Does Israel have
the military capability to destroy Iran's nuclear program?
Answers to these questions are critical in Israel's decision on whether or not to unilaterally attack Iran.
President Obama's more cautious approach and his reliance on sanctions do seem to be taking their toll on Iran. Most notably Iran's currency, the rial, has lost more than half its value since September, according to the Economic Times.
In a recent interview on CNN, Senator Diane Fainstsein, the chairperson of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Iran is one to two years away from being able to create a nuclear weapon. If this intelligence is correct, it may strengthen Obama's position of allowing sanctions to continue to impact Iran before rushing to military action.
Last week brought an agreement to resume negotiations between Iran and the permanent members of the UN Security Council along with Germany. There have been no details released about these negotiations, but if all parties are indeed willing to return to the negotiating table, this may be the best way to avoid a military confrontation.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, speaks at a ceremony April 9, 2007, in Iran's nuclear enrichment facility in Natanz, 186 miles south of capital Tehran. While much is known about Iran's nuclear activities from U.N. inspection visits, significant questions remain uncertain, fueling fears of worst-case scenarios and calls for new Mideast military action.
For the time being, these new negotiations seem to be President Obama's best option. Preventing
unilateral attack while making Iran realize the U.S. is both willing and able to launch a military strike. But this will be easier said than done.
Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon without taking military action against Iran, would certainly be the best case scenario.
But Israel is still a wild card. Prime Minister Netanyahu does not appear to be as patient as President Obama. President Obama and defense and intelligence officials need to continue to advise Israel against a
keptar is a junior from Rusalia, Kan.
ENTERTAINMENT
'Game of Thrones returning in April If you aren't already a fan of this popular show, you will be soon
Brace yourselves, "Game of Thrones" is coming. At the beginning of next month, the Stark and Lannister families will be back to duke it out on your TV screen or, more likely, the TV screen of your friend who has cable.
Note: I'll try to mention as few spoilers as possible, though if you're anything like me, you already got scared and stopped reading at "brace yourselves."
If you're not already familiar with the series, "Game of Thrones," is a fantasy TV show, on HBO, based on the bestselling series "A Song of Ice & Fire," written by George R.R. Martin. The first book in the series is titled "Game of Thrones", which they then used as the title of the TV show because "A Song of Ice & Fire" is admittedly kind of stupid sounding.
The series mostly focuses on three story lines: a civil war for the throne in the fictional land of Westeros, the maturation of an exiled warrior-princess and the going-ons of a haunted forest in the North.
Those are the three main storylines, but dozens more unfold as the series progresses. The books' universe keeps expanding with every new volume and the characters travel here and there, and new lands are introduced with their own history and customs. New characters show up, some good, some bad. Some stick around, some leave and show up later. Some get their heads chopped off. Circle of life!
Since its premiere, "Game of Thrones" has gained widespread popularity and critical acclaim, and Peter Dinklage has become an unlikely favorite of nerds everywhere for his portrayal of Tyrion Lannister.
Personally, I have only read the books and am not super familiar with the show, even though I didn't start until well after the series premiered. While
it might be soft to pretend I had some lofty intellectual reason for only reading the books, it was really just that I wanted to know what happens right now. I don't have time for HBO to mount a lavish production, darn it!
However, I can say that the second season is shaping up to be even better than the first. Second seasons are often the strongest season of a given TV show, plus the second book had a lot of scenes of Tyrion doing awesome things and, hey, who doesn't like that?
If you've only just started the show, then I envy you. You've yet to experience the joys of the Battle of the Blackwater or Arya's trek through the wilderness. You've yet to encounter the tedious mess that is the country of Dorne and whatever Brienne's whole deal is. Also, at this point, only a couple of your favorite characters have been brutally murdered. That's gonna happen a lot more as the series progresses.
As much as I would love to start watching the show, I'm not sure I can re-engage with George R.R. Martin's epic series knowing that it's going to be upwards of five years before a new installation is released. Five years?! I can't wait that long! I mean, can you guys believe what happened at the end of the fifth book? It was, in a word, bonkers.
Schumaker is a senior in film and media studies from Overland Park.
RELATIONSHIPS
Remember and hold onto old friendships
Always appreciate old friends and those who love you
I learned to grasp the harsh reality of knowing that any person, no matter how great, how old, or how healthy they are, can be taken in an instant from the moment my father told me that my 9-year-old brother died suddenly of brain complications when I was 7.
Along with that reality comes positives and negatives. You love deeper. You live slower. You say I love you more. You form more meaningful relationships. You learn these things are important after playing hundreds of memories in your head over and over, recreating the scenes in which you could have appreciated this person more and gotten
it through their head how much you really love them.
And I've tried to do my best turning the "should-haves" to "I wills." I try to
friends I made during high school. Looking back, my entire high school career would have been different without his friendship. He was the kind of friend I could always depend on to make me laugh in my worst moments.
He could always give me an honest answer when I needed it
And even though you might not have spoken to your old best friends in years, they mean more to you than they think.
appreciate the presence of those I love in my life and let them know how much I care about them.
It wasn't until three weeks ago when I realized that as much as I told myself I was truly valuing the people who I love in my life in recognition of my brother's death, I really wasn't.
My entire perception changed the moment I received a text message telling me one of my best friends from high school, Mike, was in a coma after a terrible car accident.
the most. We had a strictly platonic relationship (I dated his best friend for almost two years), but he still
Mike was a one of the first
But unfortunately, we both unintentionally let our friendship fade beginning after graduation. Our lives quickly moved in different directions. We went from hanging out with each other almost every weekend to only seeing each other during breaks, to hardly ever speaking. I
would go above and beyond to let me know he cared about me, doing things like buying me flowers when I had a terrible day or walking to my house in the rain to give me a birthday card he made. We referred to one another as family for four years.
got so caught up with my college friends and the life I've made for myself here that I rarely even thought about the people who helped make me who I am.
You can tell yourself that friendships all fade for a good reason, but it's far from the truth. People change, but they still stay the same at their core. I've realized this while clinging to my core group of friends from high school in the midst of Mike's tragedy. Sure, we go off in different directions and make different friends, but it doesn't mean that we no longer can have occasional catch-ups with the people who helped build us.
And even though you might not have spoken to your old best friends in years, they mean more to you than they think. From the moment I heard that Mike was in a coma, he consumed my entire mindset. All I could do was worry about how he was doing, remember about what a great friend he was to me and kick myself for letting a friendship like that fade away without even a fight. I realized he still meant the world to me.
And I was lucky this time because Mike woke up eventually. There is still time to fully appreciate him and the others I've shoved to the side over the past few years and fully grasp every thing I've gained from my brother's death.
Matney is a senior in journalism from Shawnee.
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THE EDITORIAL BOARD Members of the Nawan Editorial Board are Ian Cummings; Lisa Curran, Alexis Knutsen, Angela Hawkins and Ryan Schlesheimer.