Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
DALDORPH: KU STUDENTS CAN'T IGNORE LAWRENCE
THURSDAY, JANUARY 15, 2009
COMING FRIDAY JANUARY 16
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--all who come into contact with this University.
I'm watching my friend who is 6-foot-7 eat granola. Do you know what it's like watching a giraffe eat granola? It's a hell of an experience.
I'm watching my friend who is 5-foot-7 watching me eat granola. It's petrifying.
--all who come into contact with this University.
Jumping jellyfish!
I want all KU students to know that there is at least one KSU grad who looks up to and admires KU. Google "ksugrad4ku" for the rest of the storv.
I want the ShamWow! guy to play Kletus Caddisy in a Spider-Man movie in the future.
--all who come into contact with this University.
I stayed up talking till 5:30 in the morning, and it was nice.
Moved to Washington State. Need some Jayhawk spirit up here! Rock Chalk!
--all who come into contact with this University.
You really think I would have my friend request you on Facebook just so I could keep tabs on You? Get a life.
--all who come into contact with this University.
Captain Planet, he's our hero!
--all who come into contact with this University.
That's way hot. Can I get a picture?
I'm listening to Spice Girls.
Yo I'll tell you what I want,
what I really really want.
If you wanna be my lover, ya gotta get with my friends!
Im back and gettin drunk!
Indian food is delicious, it just makes your kitchen stinky.
--all who come into contact with this University.
--all who come into contact with this University.
To everyone leaving messages to other FFA users: YOU FAIL
I had a very long day yesterday.
--all who come into contact with this University.
I wonder if there's a job out there where all you do is come up with names for bands. I'd be pretty good at it.
--all who come into contact with this University.
EDITORIAL BOARD
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MARIAM SAIFAN
6th-grade hedgehog fan gives lesson in activism
Once best associated with a speedy blue video game character, hedgehogs have become a trend pet around the world. But lately the prickly creatures have been surfacing in tales of responsible and effective political activism at home and abroad.
Rather than pout for a while before seeking solace in a Happy Meal, King asked his mom upon learning of the ban: "Then, how do we make them legal?" Three years later, after researching and compiling information about hedgehogs and writing to his city commissioners, King brought a speech and 14 pages of information. It was enough to wow men and women 50 years his senior who could actually see above the podium.
Perhaps you've heard of 11-year-old Judson King of Corpus Christi Catholic School in Lawrence. Three years ago King longed for a pet hedgehog, only to have those hopes quashed when he learned Lawrence's animal code banned the spiny mammals within city limits.
The ban's overturn was given final approval on Dec. 30. King secured a tiny Christmas present that wouldn't have been possible had he resigned himself to the law. Neither city officials nor anyone from the Lawrence Humane
In between applications for the International Hedgehog Olympic Games and YouTube videos of hedgehogs swimming upside down in bathtubs, a web search can pull up another tale involving hedgehog legislature. In 2006 the British Hedgehog Preservation Society forced McDonald's to dole out an undisclosed yet massive amount of money on redesigning its McFlurry containers to be "hedgehog-friendly." The animals — feral in Britain — were getting stuck in discarded containers while searching for food.
That's McDonald's — a multibillion-dollar corporation — being persuaded by an animal charity with a membership of 12,000. In what British newspaper The Independent called "one of the most genteel campaigns in conservation history," hedgehog lovers were urged to write to McDonald's respectfully, never writing any
Society found any reason why hedgehogs should be banned.
angry or threatening letters.
Obviously this responsible activism is not limited to matters concerning wildlife. Do you think the city's ordinance requiring the snow its trucks plowed onto your sidewalk to be shoveled within 24 hours is absurd? Is political rhetoric not enough to alleviate concerns about rising taxes and where that money is going? Do something about it. Write the city. Bring a case before them. Resist the urge to wait for the government to come to the rescue.
Let us not be defined as a "What Have You Done for Me Lately" culture. We could all stand to follow one sixth-grader's example.
Montemayor is a Mission junior in journalism.
CONTACT THE CITY COMMISSION
WHAT: City meetings
WHEN: 6:35 p.m. Tuesdays
WHERE: Commission
Room, First Floor, City
Hall, 6 E. Sixth St.
CONTACT
bjwalthall@ci.lawrence.ks.us
SCIENCE AND HEALTH
Cold remedy Airborne crashes
D despite the advances of our modern society, there is still no cure for
In 2006. ABC News investigated the so-called clinical evidence behind Airborne. Airborne claimed that a study with 120 subjects sponsored by GNG Pharmaceutical Services Inc. showed significant cold improvement over a placebo, but ABC News found something quite different. GNG Pharmaceutical Services Inc. turned out to be just two men, neither scientists nor doctors, who had created the company for the sole purpose of fabricating clinical evidence.
there is still no cure for the common cold. This unfortunate truth has opened the door for an astonishing number of pseudoscientific "remedies" claiming to shorten, prevent or cure colds. Perhaps the most notable example of such treatments is Airborne, a "health" supplement that appears to be as popular as it is useless.
Such corruption did not go unpunished, and soon there was a class-action lawsuit against Airborne championed by the Federal Trade Commission. In March 2008, Airborne agreed to a $23 million settlement for its wrongful advertising claims. According to the press release sent by the FTC, it concluded that "there is no competent and reliable scientific evidence to support the claims made by the defendants that Airborne tablets can prevent or reduce the risk of colds, sickness, or infection." Airborne was then forced to remove from its products any claim that it could treat any disease.
This should not have come as any surprise. Upon inspection of the side of a box of Airborne, one can clearly see an exclamation proudly proclaiming that Airborne was "created by a school teacher." This statement is a fair representation of the level
There are two reasons people tell friends to buy Airborne, even though it doesn't work. The first is known as "reporting bias." If someone takes Airborne every time he gets sick, he is going to remember all the times he felt better afterward and forget the times he continued to get sick. Secondly, a cold always goes away eventually, so Airborne can receive the credit of a successful recovery that the immune system deserves. This illusion, in part, is known as the placebo effect, and certainly does not justify the use of Airborne.
But even in the face of scandal, Airborne is not shutting down its factories and pulling its product from the shelves. They are still making enough money to make the $23 million fine just seem like the cost of doing business. Not enough people read the news to know that Airborne doesn't work, and it is certainly easy to deceive yourself into thinking it does. Airborne has already established a brand known for treating colds, so it does not suffer from removing its false advertising claims. The best solution is for the customer to do a little research before jumping to hasty conclusions when it comes to their own health and well-being.
Folmsbee is a Topeka junior in neurobiology.
of scientific integrity that went into such a product. There were no clinical trials to verify its effectiveness, nor was there any scientific precedent behind the use of any of its ingredients. So why do people always think they feel better when they use it?
FROM TEXAS
BY RYAN THORPE Texas Tech, Daily Toreador
Corporate education systems rip off grad school hopefuls
During last fall sen t, I spent most of my spare time applying to Ph.D. programs, an activity that brought me into direct contact with Educational Testing Services.
ETS holds a veritable monopoly on the Graduate Records Exam, a test required for graduate school admission, and this fact has certainly not escaped its notice. For the hefty fee of $140, a test-taker gets to take the computer-based test and send their test scores to four schools.
Though EFS tucks its nonprofit status, it has little hesitation when hitting students for everything they have. EFS has grown into a multinational corporation with an annual income of more than $400 million.
The insane fees start after the test is taken. If you wish to know your scores, a mild fee of $15 is applied. For each additional school that you would like to have your scores sent to, a $20 fee is applied.
But what can be done about a corporation that holds a monopoly on our futures and exploits its nonprofit status to bleed college students dry? The answer isn't pretty, but it's the only one I can think of: more government regulation.
Education is one of the few services the government holds a mandate to fulfill, and if private "nonprofit" organizations fail to provide effective and cost-efficient testing services for America's youth, then we need to find someone who will.
Governments can either decide to more thoroughly regulate the testing industry or remove the nonprofit status of ETS. And though I am not excited about the prospect of a corporation crafting our standardized tests, the public would at least be given the opportunity to recognize ETS for what it is: a company that makes money and maintains its own interests.
UWire
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THE EDITORIAL BOARD Members of the Kansan Editorial Board are Brenna Hawley, Becca Cremer, Mary Sorrick, Kelsey Hayes and Ross Stewart.