THE UNIVERSITY DAILY & KANSAN
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012
PAGE 4
TEXT FREE FOR ALL
Doing the stair-stepper before Buttz & Gutz was a horrid idea! Now currently struggling to make it up the stairs to the 7th floor.
The true love in the 12 days of Christmas had "Fowl intentions"
Oh it's the last two weeks and you want to start getting ready for your finals? Nope here's more work than you've had all year!
Can't find a desk in Watson to study,
guess I'll just go procrastinate on
the stacks...it's exactly what you
think it is)
Text your FFA submissions to 785-289-8351 or at kansan.com
Thoughts and prayers go out to friends and family of Giantfranco Villagome.
Got two extensions on an eight-page research paper and I still wait till the day before it is due to type it.
Anyone who says you can get used to winter/cold is a liar. I've lived here my whole life and I still can't handle it.
I'm sorry my lunch is interfering with your loud ass conversation.
handle it.
I vote for a breakfast restaurant to open on campus.
I haven't seen this many people (including myself) wearing sweatpants on campus all year... Mother Nature is laughing at how ugly we all are today.
If you didn't think the sword scene in "Pacific Rim" was cool, we can't be friends.
C'mon winter, I'm ready for the all-campus snowball war of 2013.
Fun fact: Mozart never won a Grammy.
I hate when someone sees a stray syringe in my apartment and thinks I'm a heroin addict, but explaining I have diabetes is pretty lame.
I intend to ask each and every one of my professors if we're allowed to use a calculator on the final. I'm an English major.
I think some of my Costco purchases might outlast me.
I love giving that nod of solidarity to the only other dude still in the library at 5:15 a.m.
ENVIRONMENT
I would call myself nocturnal, but that would imply that I actually sleep during the day.
Moo
Strict carbon taxes foreshadow changes in oil industry
There are five major players in the oil business: Shell, ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, BP and Chevron. In the first half of 2012 the combined earning of these five oil companies was $62.2 billion. Oil companies spend millions of dollars every year on lobbying and campaign donations. Historically, Congress has met the needs of the oil industry. For example, in 2012, the Senate swiftly voted down discussion on President Obama's call to end all taxpayer-funded oil subsidies. In another example, Congress passed the 2005 Energy Policy Act, which effectively exempts oil and natural gas industries from strict environmental regulations, including the Clean Air Act.
These actions by Congress blatantly support industries that cause harm to both humans and
the environment, but recent news whispers of change. Several major newspapers such as the New York Times have reported that 29 companies, including the five oil giants, are preparing for tighter emissions standards. This indicates that the political environment in Washington is beginning to change. As the consensus on climate change becomes less of a doomsday hypothesis and more of a reality, there is growing support and anticipation of larger carbon taxes on polluting industries.
tasks on paper. The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) has indicated that industries such as Shell and Walmart have seen the writing on the wall and are changing their business models. The CDP is an organization that works with corporations to record and disclose their environmental data. By measuring
and reporting the environmental risks corporations pose, the CDP provides a way for policy-makers to make wise decisions for a more sustainable world.
By Gabrielle Murnan murnang@gmail.com
According to a CDP report published this month, corporations such as Delta Air, Google, Disney and eight energy suppliers have all incorporated an internal price on carbon. So what does that mean exactly? Each of these companies has attached a price for every metric ton of their carbon dioxide emissions. Among the 29 industries that are practicing this method of business planning, the amount ranges from $6 per metric ton at Microsoft, to $60 per metric ton at Exxon. Because these companies have already
self-imposed a carbon tax, they will be less susceptible to future government policies that call for less carbon emission or increased pollution taxes.
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the motives of these companies are not environmentally oriented; rather they are businesses preparing for future hardships. Either way, it indicates that major industries, specifically oil, have realized that their run of government support will come to an end in the face of globally recognized climate change. Government protection of the oil industry must end now. We are currently at 393.66 parts per million carbon content in the atmosphere. To put that in perspective, before the industrial age, the atmosphere typically had about 275ppm. Scientists
say that anything above 350ppm is not safe. Carbon stays in the atmosphere for 100 years. If we do the math, we should have cut our emissions the minute we went over 350ppm in 1988. Now we are almost 26 years in the hole. The time to impose strict carbon taxes isn't today, it was yesterday. Regardless, we must continue to move forward in a more sustainable way. I believe self-enforced carbon taxes are a step in the right direction politically and environmentally.
Gabrielle Murnan is a sophomore majoring in environmental studies from Pittsburg.
RELATIONSHIPS
'Friend zone' puts unfair pressure on women to meet men's desires
Poiler alert: Jim and Pam work out. As I watch
Spoiler alert! Jim and Pam work out. As I watch through "The Office" once again, I'm reminded how unrealistic their relationship is. It's a "friend zone success story" and it's teaching us to think about relationships and courtship in awful, damaging ways.
Let's start from where these things usually do: with a young man picking up a young woman's dropped notebook for her. Or maybe they met in Kevin's living room when the music lulled and one of them said, "hello."
These two go through the regular meet and greet and hang out together, with friends, at the park, behind the warehouse, for a while — but — and yes, there's always a "but."
It's romantic and the spark is just there.
"I have a boyfriend," she says. "I don't want to move too fast and scare her off," he says to himself.
"But I like you," they say to each other.
And the boy convinces himself that she's perfect. He decides that she was made for him. That's right, he decides it. And he knows that whatever's stopping them from being together right now (be it another relationship or his inability to express his affection) will eventually fade away and life will be perfect.
And it doesn't pan out. She stays in her long-term relationship. He can't work up the courage to make a move. And finally, it all culminates into a realization that a relationship isn't an option.
And then she says the
areaded, "but I still want to be friends. I like hanging out with you."
We all see the disconnect here, right? This situation is damning for everyone involved. No one left satisfied or better for it. And it happens daily. I know, I've seen it. I was one of those idiotic boys once, stuck in the friend zone. Some try to deny that it exists. It does.
And he's broken. He can't believe that she doesn't like him back. It doesn't make sense. They love hanging out together. They're the model Jim and Pam. And she can't reciprocate.
This boy cuts her off. He curses her. He leaves and calls it all a failure to launch. And convinces himself that there's something wrong with her. "She friend-zoned me man," he moans to his friends.
But there's another zone that's rarely talked about: the girl-friend zone. In the same way a girl could never be our hero's girlfriend, he feels he could only ever be her boyfriend. He's convinced himself that they're so perfect for each other that he's entitled to her love.
and teaching teenage boys to deify girls and ruthlessly beat them into submission with cautious advances and bad one-liners.
This ridiculous dance of the sexes is driven by a society that's obsessed with quirky love story<sup>e</sup>
This societal contradiction makes these boys double down on being awful with girls. When their strategy doesn't work, they get mad at the other sex. Because everyone's told them that their method is sound, one of the inputs into the equation has to be the problem.
And lord knows they're a catch Because, even though society isn't helping them out all that much, we can't divert blame from that boy who's convinced that the only problem is "that girls" taste in men.
To all the dudes in the world who are pulling the nonsense I described above: Stop.
Recognize that most relationships aren't Jim's and Pam's, the product of happenance and years of waiting in the friend zone. Wasting away your time bemoaning the friend zone and objectifying women makes for jealous and possessive infatuation, not deep-seated romance
No, it's not women's responsibility to force themselves to find their guy-friends attractive. No, it's neither desirable nor effective to demean yourself by putting "that girl" on a pedestal. And yes, the friend zone exists. And it sucks. For everyone.
Wil Kenney is a sophomore majoring in English from Leawood.
CAMPUS CHIRPS BACK
"You are an independent woman who doesn't need a man," I told myself as I scrolled through pictures of Hot Guys with Cats on Tumblr.
FFA OF THE DAY
ANIMALS
Slugs provide life lessons for humans
1) Take life slowly. According to hypertextbook.com, "snails and slugs travel at speeds that vary from slow (0.013 m/s) to very slow (0.0028 m/s)." Although you do not have to lay mucus on your future path just to move, taking time to appreciate your surroundings and people around you will prove invaluable. When stressed out, it is easy to miss the beauty that surrounds us on our campus. An early-morning sunrise may just turn a bad day into a good one.
Ididn't choose the slug life, the slug life chose me.
Although these aren't
Although these aren't Tupac's exact words, slugs can provide tips to living a happy, healthy life.
2) Hydration and nutrition is key. Hydration is especially important for slugs because the slug needs to be able to produce mucus. Slugs remind us that being hydrated is essential for a healthy lifestyle. As for food, slugs are generalists and feast on many different foods including fungi, worms, vegetables and fruits. Eating a variety of foods ensures that you are getting all key nutrients. On a darker nutritional note, slugs also remind us that salt is not always our friend. According to MayoClinic.com, most people consume about 3,400 milligrams of sodium per day, compared to the 1,500 to 2,300 milligrams recommended for a healthy diet. Too much sodium can lead to high blood pressure as well as fluid retention. More water and less salt make for happy kidneys.
3) Enjoy rain and use caution in the sun. Although we are more concerned about UV radiation rather than moisture loss, soaking in the sun should be done with precaution and plenty of sunscreen. On the opposite side of the spectrum, rainy days are often
slug, a rainy day is pretty close to paradise.
5) Slugs remind us that we must protect ourselves. When threatened, slugs will roll into a ball and harden themselves for protection. Instead of reacting to and being controlled by emotions, the slug reminds us that nothing is personal and that we must maintain a hard exterior in order to preserve our sensitive feelings and constructs. Also, their ability to morph into a more protective shape reminds us that we must be flexible in the face of challenge. So next time you feel stuck, think of our friend the slug. Hit life hard and you'll 'slug' it out of the park.
4) Slugs also remind us to be creative. As reported in Daily Mail, "Mucous also acts as a brake (fibres in the mucous act as grappling hooks, preventing the slug from sliding down slippery surfaces), as a 'rope' (slugs can use cords of semisolid slime to descend or ascend from one level to another) and even as a sex-aid, binding two slugs together during the act of copulation." Often, as creatures of habit, we forget that our everyday utilities and utensils may have more uses than just the intended use. Turning a bowl into a makeshift speaker is a perfect example of how everyday objects combined with creativity can lead to innovation.
Jenty Stern is a sophomore majoring in biology from Lawrence.
@SaraHettenbach
waaaaaninspiration "It's a Wonderful Life" not only is it the best holiday movie, but the best movie of all time.
@KansanOpinion is that even a question? "Jingle All The Way."
TurboMan
@cbelmont15
@MorganAideen
HOW TO SUBMIT A LETTER TO THE EDITOR
LETTER GUIDELINES
@KansasAnswer "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," but I prefer to stop before he gives Christmas back
Send letters to kansasnodesk@mail.com. Write
LETTER TO THE EDITOR in the e-mail subject line.
Trevor Graff, editor-in-chief editor@kansan.com
Allison Kohn, managing editor akohn@kansan.com
Dylan Lysen, managing editor dlysen@kansan.com
Length: 300 words
The submission should include the author's name, grade and homework. Find our full letter to the editor policy online at kansas.com/letters.
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wweber@kansan.com
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mpointer@kansan.com
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*@KansanOpinion "EIF" because it teaches you the four main food groups! Candy, candy canes, candy corn, and syrup! #SyrupAnd-Coffee*
CONTACT US
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THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Members of the Kansas Editorial Board are Trevor Graft, Allison Kohn, Dylan Lysen, Will Webber, Pointer Point and Power Powers.
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