Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
ED BOARD: WISHING THE JAYHAWKS GOOD LUCK
United States First Amendment
COMING MONDAY
FRIDAY, MARCH 27, 2009
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
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Cutting educational positions and building an Olympic Village? My brain thanks you!!!
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Girls in E's today who were laughing at me for drinking my cereal milk! It was cinnamon grahams, best kind
Dear KU on Wheels: Please stop training new drivers. You're ruining my poop schedule on campus. Thank you.
I started watching VH1's "I Love the New Millennium" when it started on the year 2000, and that was four hours ago.
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I just gooqled "Google."
Note to self: When choosing classes for next semester, never look the professor up on Facebook to see if he's hot He's gonna turn out to be an
I'm wondering why my blue gatorade tastes like oranges...
False advertising!
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Beautiful, single brunette out there?
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To the guy in the Malott walkway who put a basket on his head when he thought no one was looking: I saw that.
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I'm single and brunette, but you aren't going to find them sitting at your computer.
Well that's it! From now on I'm going to my classes dressed in a floor-length, sage green evening gown. Look for me.
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Oh, Anderson Cooper, that silver fox!
Hey, Mountain Dewds: It isn't over till the fat lady sings. Sincerely, your neighbors.
The USS Dallas collided with the USS New Orleans. Our tax dollars pay for great sonar equipment and yet we ruined two subs?
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Finding people who don't drink is like finding people in China who are not Asian. There are some but very hard to find.
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I got boogers on my nose ring, but don't call me a boogring.
Dear boys, please read the article about non-verbal flirting. Sincerely, all the girls.
BEN COLDHAM
I think my hair might be too greasy to go to class...
MUSIC
Choosing rap genre's top artist no Big deal
Finally we arrive at the great debate that has had hip-hop heads vigorously bickering with one another for more than three decades: Who is the best rapper to ever live? Although the answer to this question usually comes down to a handful of heralded candidates, opinions on the matter often differ greatly from one hip-hop head to another. There are several plausible reasons for this: Fans from different regions of the country may be biased toward a local rapper because they come from the same locale and social environment as the artist, or, more frequently the case, different heads just prefer different styles of rhyme.
Certainly, several emees deserve serious consideration when determining the best rapper of all time (Jay-Z, Big L, 2 Pac), but personally I find it perplexing that any true head could ultimately come up with any other name than Christopher George Latore Wallace, fondly known to the world as The Notorious B.I.G., Biggie Smalls, Frank White or simply "Big."
In every rough, rugged and raw way, Big epitomized everything that is hip-hop. The man revolutionized the entire game, from the way it was produced and marketed to his continued influence today on encees too young to even remember his tragic death.
"Life After Death" was the final album over which he had complete artistic control as a bona fide superstar throughout the next few years. On this record, Big showcased his versatility by choosing to take on more of a kingpin, mobsister persona, as opposed to reflecting the life of the street hustler he so vividly portrayed on "Ready to Die." Also widely acclaimed and regarded as one of the best hip-hop albums ever made, this diamond-certified double-disc was released on March 25, 1997, 16 days after Big was shot to death in Los Angeles. "Born Again," a posthumous marriage of old verses and new production, was then released in 1999. Despite having no input whatsoever from Big in the production, the album includes many classics the hip-hop world still enjoys today thanks to Big's blazing rhymes. It is a somber reminder of the immense talent and potential that Christopher Wallace possessed.
"Ready to Die" was released as Big's debut album on Aug. 1, 1994, and from that date on the hip-hop has never been the same. An intricate tapestry of chart-toppers beautifully complimented by brutally raw gangster anthems, this record brought something for every hip-hop fan. Big's peers on the streets couldn't help but identify with his gritty and familiar outlook on life, while the ladies loved his unmistakable voice and the club-bangers he churned out so effortlessly. A legendary and ground-breaking record, this is still the greatest hip-hop album of all time.
The Notorious B.I.G. is loved and respected to this day by all in the hip-hop world on both coasts of the nation, and the extent of his influence can be witnessed all over the world. Three years ago, a DJ in Cape Town, South Africa, told me that Biggie Smalls was the reason he initially became enamored with hip-hop and its culture, the reason he realized what he wanted to dedicate the rest of his life to.
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This is only one example of a man whose life was drastically altered by a fat man rapping on a microphone halfway around the world. The influence Big has had on hip-hop and all those who devotedly follow its culture is incredible.
These are all valid points as to why Big is indeed the best rapper ever, but by far the most effective way to prove it is also the easiest: Listen to the man do his thing. Play "Ready to Die" the whole way through, then do the same with "Life After Death." I would be surprised if you can think of any rapper who's truly better than Big Peace.
Coldham is a Chicago senior in journalism and English.
CAMPUS
Students, faculty ignore advantages of Blackboard
My experience at the University of Kansas has opened my eyes to changes in the way teachers and students communicate. Office hours or telephone calls used to be the only way for the two sides to talk at all. Nowadays, near instantaneous communication has made things exponentially easier. But in a way, it has also spoiled us and led us to take that communication for granted. Having something so readily available is not an excuse for refusing to use such things as e-mail and, more specifically, Blackboard.
Blackboard is an online teaching tool that allows teachers to post notes for classes, announcements from the instructor and grades for students, to name a few. More than 1,000 educational facilities worldwide use Blackboard to enhance teaching strategies and make life easier for the students and teachers who use it.
But I'm sure everyone has had an instructor who thinks they're above all that. And I know plenty of students who haven't checked their student e-mail or logged on to Blackboard once. So when I was attempting to do interviews, I
couldn't decide on a good source. Students were out of the question because the common theme among us is that the evil teachers have it out for us and we do everything right. And I could talk to my teachers, but what would I save?
CHRISTIAN LUCERO
"Hi, could you please elaborate on the fact that you haven't replied to a single e-mail or posted any grades ... ever?"
These facts lead to an obvious problem: the inability or refusal of students and teachers to use such technology as Blackboard hinders the easy communication and enhanced learning we might otherwise achieve. Take high school, for example. Doing the bare minimum would get you a passing grade back then, while the bare minimum now will get you a bus pass home when you flunk out. Blackboard simply helps students take that extra step outside the classroom. It also expedites the process getting a hold of instructors and other students without having to track them down face-to-face. Blackboard even allows teachers to post students' grades for immediate feedback. And yet some of us still refuse to use it.
Both sides, instructors and students, have a need for e-mail, and Blackboard makes it easy. But if students have a question pertaining to class they should be able to get a timely response via e-mail from their instructors, so long as the e-mail is written in a professional manner. I don't think Professor Whatisfhisace enjoys reading e-mails filled with "lol" and 20 uses of the word "like." And aside from their personal use, instructors also need e-mail to communicate changes in schedules, assignments, etc., with students in order to efficiently run the class.
There's really only one solution to this problem: use Blackboard and e-mail. People a lot smarter than anyone reading or writing this came up with them to make life easier. I doubt they invented these things with the hopes that we would take them for granted.
Lucero is a Farmington, N.M., junior in journalism.
STUDENT LIFE
Be cool; don't recycle
Today I committed the single most satisfying act of my college career: I took a Snickers wrapper and threw it carelessly at the ground
Initially, I believed I had done something wrong, but as I turned around to pick it up and dispose of it properly, I stopped and analyzed the effort that I was about to expend. Why the hell was I bothering? I was wasting my valuable, valuable time acting as a chauffeur for the cheap plastic that encapsulated my delicious candy bar. Was the wrapper going to metastasize into a giant Fern Gully smog beast? How many tears would the poor roadside man really shed? I suspected that he wouldn't even notice, and that Fern Gully was a cartoon.
So I turned around and left that wrapper where it sat, and to be honest I felt like a much cooler person because of it. I felt something like a Velociraptor in a Mexican standoff with a Great White Shark while both of them were driving '67 Mustangs. We are talking really friggin' cool.
I felt like a great burden had been lifted off my back. I mean, really, what has this stupid planet done for me lately? Pretty much every animal on the planet exists either to mutilate me or to be delicious. Fresh air makes my sciatic nerve act up. The sun emits harmful radiation that burns my face. Besides, I can't waste all my time separating my office pak from my newspaper or my plastics from my glass, prancing around recycling bins all nimbly-pimbly like. Hell, when I lived in Germany I was required to recycle by law. The way I see it, I'm behind in my lifetime allotment of littering anyway.
Just like William Jennings Bryan arm-wrestling another obscure Dennis Miller reference, recycling is stupid. I will fist-fight any of you who disagree with me. I exhort you, fellow students, to litter to your heart's content and be as cool as I am. Wouldn't it be cool to live in piles of garbage? Aerosolized freshening spray will take care of the stink. You could, like, Feng Shui the garbage and get a better spiritual flow going through your apartment. Or you could pile it up into a nity little garage fort to protect you and your family from roving banditos
Will this mentality lead to six-pack wrappers strangling a number of dolphins? Probably, but I'm not really fond of dolphins either.
Let's face it, people who will undoubtedly and angrily e-mail me: The earth is completely screwed anyway. We have enough nuclear weapons stockpiled to destroy the place several times over, the sun is going to fizzle out soon and the Mayan apocalypse is coming in December 2012. Let's let our kids worry about this one while we recline on a pile of half-full lcee cups. By worrying about picking up and sorting trash, we're just wasting time that we could instead be spending cultivating rich relationships with our loved ones.
Neubauer is a Lynn Haven, Fla., senior in journalism.
Dangers of scientific food production extend to stem cell research
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
In John Kenny's piece, "Buyers Trust Shaky Science When Making Food Choices," he brings to mind a paradox that is likely played across this campus and throughout the nation. Kenny firmly opposes large-scale profit-driven agriculture, its adverse environmental record and strong-arm lobby in government.
But many of those sharing Kenny's negative view of the agricultural industry and the science behind the potent chemicals, the frankenfood and cloned livestock easily drop this hesitance toward the scientific community in another area.
I am not speaking for Kenny, but many who share his views on the dangers of science in modern food will gleefully forgo hesitation with modern science when it is dealing with a matter of much higher consequence: stem cell research. Many will fret about pesticide residues that could linger in their body from food products, though few are unnerved by the scientist fiddling with the very body that could one day consume the food.
As for the fear of an unfettered free market, as Kenny laid out in relation to the agricultural industry, the same discontents could easily be brought about by use of stem cells. Already states such as California have put $3 billion toward the research. If breakthroughs occur, it would not take too much imagination to see a commoditization of human embryos, where one would trade away embryos for profit to cover a mortgage or allow for a larger shopping budget. Likewise, many of the diseases that stem cells could potentially cure are ones that are more problematic in the West, such as heart disease, diabetes, and arthritis; therefore stem cell treatment would be in high demand and elicit cool profits for the medical industry.
Eating genetically modified corn or meat from a cloned animal is enough of an abomination of nature. So let us carry that fervor through to protecting the very vessels that enjoy nature, humans, and not allow our bodies to become a scrap yard for the scientific community to profit from, while dehumanizing us all in the end.
Brad Pillsbury is a freshman from Tyler, Texas
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