TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2013
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
PAGE 4
opinion
TEXT
FREE FOR ALL
Anna Wenner, great article about dog size and apartments. You're spot on and my hero for speaking out about that.
The awkward moment when you see someone sober for the first time on campus.
Thank you daylight savings. Now I have to walk home after class in the dark.
Who needs haunted houses when you got an escaped 6-foot-long boa constrictor loose in your house.
Text your FFA submissions to 785-289-8351 or at kansan.com
To the guy that has thrown up on Wescoe Beach before 9 a.m. class two weeks in a row. You're doing the weekend right.
Shout out to the people that leave a copy of the UDK in the bathrooms. It's nice having something to read.
In microbiology, BSA stands for bovine serum albumin, not body surface area. Your move, general bio.
I've got a huge crush on that bus driver with the massive sunglasses.
I hate with a fiery passion everyone who yells the back of the cheerleader's cards before basketball games. I will find you. And I will not be merciful.
I want to believe that 60 percent of KU stories start with, "so I was camping and. . ."
I was on campus an entire minute before a girl I don't know complimented my sweater! Day. Made.
I'm convinced there are UDK Fairies...
I have NEVER seen someone deliver
the stack of UDKs to their respectable
locations.
Couldn't sleep last night cause some bros were outside arguing...with a girl to make sure she didn't drive drunk, Broheroes.
"Anime is dumb"? Them's figh'in words.
I am in the band and don't know the clap, we don't stop playing to guide clapping.
IMMUNITY
What's the cutoff point for "pumpkin-spice" flavored everything? I'm not ready to let go...
Real men don't need a month to tell them when to shave and not shave.
Time for another exciting round of "Will My Card Be Declined?"
Who just leaves a cooler of free beer outside of the library? Some people just can't handle their beer I guess.
Flu vaccination myths are harmful to public health
If you have had the flu, you know how miserable it can be. Your body starts to ache. You have a cough, a runny nose, a fever and relentless stomach problems. It's the last thing you want as the semester starts to wind down. Luckily, the flu is preventable with
vaccination.
Unfortunately, this is also the time when anti-vaccine statuses, tweets and articles start to surface in social media. These articles are from alarmists, controverss and radicals citing misinformative news from homeopathy websites
FILE PHOTO/KANSAN
like Mercola, and other blogs that blame neurological disorders on vaccines. Here are the top five nonsensical myths these articles share that I want to debunk:
1. The flu vaccine can give you the flu.
This is the most common misconception about the flu. The vaccine is made with the inactivated virus that cannot transmit infection. It takes a week or two to get protection from the vaccine, but it takes two to five days for the flu to incubate in the body. So if you get sick after the vaccine, then you must have contracted the virus prior to being vaccinated. The nasal spray is slightly different, containing a live virus. However, the virus has been weakened so
that it cannot cause
2. You do not have to get the flu shot annually.
that it cannot cause the flu.
The influenza virus mutates (changes) each year. Getting vaccinated each year is important to make sure you have immunity to the strains that are causing the outbreak at that specific time.
3. The flu vaccine causes nerve disorders such as Guillain Barre Syndrome.
GBS is an autoimmune disorder that attack's the person's nerve tissue, potentially causing permanent paralysis and muscle weakness. It affects about one person out of every 100,000 individuals. There was a slightly increased risk of contracting GBS during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, according to two studies. One study found a risk of one additional case for every 1 million vaccinations. Keep in mind this only applied to H1N1, not the seasonal flu vaccine. People tend to clump data and rationalize it for all vaccines.
4. If I get the flu, I can take antibiotics to get rid of it.
1nis makes any pharmacy or
antibiotics to get rid of it.
health student cringe. Antibiotics fight against bacteria, NOT viruses. The flu is a virus.
5. it just rely on herd immunity.
This is a form of immunity that occurs when the vaccination of a significant portion of a population provides protection for individuals who have not developed immunity. Theoretically, herd immunity works if at least 95 percent of the population becomes immune to the virus. If everyone relies on herd immunity, then no one will get the vaccination. This severely increases the chance of a population getting the flu.
The flu is a good example of how medical myths can get in the way of medical care. The fact that this is an annual vaccine results in many new and ridiculous myths against the flu vaccination each year. During this flu season, get the vaccination and stay healthy.
LIFE
Monica Saha is a first year pharmacy student from Overland Park.
Hospice patients provide insights on living a happier life
In the quest for a truly happy life, we all seek guidance. Some may seek it at an altar on their knees. Some may seek it from their mature, aged and experienced parents, because let's face it they have been right about a lot of things. Some may seek guidance independently, free of opinion and bias.
I always believed the formula for a happy life was subjective. We all have our own unique concepts of what a good life should be. But that's not entirely true: happiness can be a universal emotion that we all feel in certain situations.
By Bryenn Bierwirth
bbierwirth@kansan.com
I reached out to a hospice center to learn more about the universal formula for happiness, and asked for guidance from patients there. These gracious and zealous people were more than willing to spread wisdom to today's youth. They shared knowledge of heartache, triumph, remorse, regret, resentment and disappointment. But when their shadow of time expires, and the sunset is behind them, what most of them still yearned to do was have a positive impact on someone's life, or at least guide someone into making some better life choices.
Without any hesitation, I volunteer my life for their lessons not wanting to miss out on their wisdom.
Below are the four universal keys to happiness. If you adhere to this guidance and learn the formula for happiness from a young age, you won't have so
many regrets.
1) Allow yourself to be happy. When the end is near and reflection is all you have, the patients realized they lost sight of the value of happiness, and forgot that it is a choice. They got so caught up in habits that they became too comfortable to cut loose and be themselves. The fear of change, in fact, changed them into different people. On the inside, all they wanted was to laugh and have silliness restored to their lives. They wanted to smile more - a beautiful and easy lesson to learn in your youth.
2) Don't work too much. It's great to grow old with your family, but it's even better to be active in each family member's life. A patient I talked to regretted missing children's and grandchildren's youth and undermining their partner's companionship and love. In retrospect, it isn't so important to have the income that you think you need. Instead, create more time, not more money, in your life for people and new opportunities. Simplicity is where happiness truly exists.
3) Stay true to yourself.
While on their deathbed, the patients longed to go back and replace their mediocre existence with something more profound. They wished they hadn't left any stones unturned, but they had. A lot of them said they felt like they didn't truly reach their full potential, fearing that they'd hurt feelings and get in uncomfortable situations, so they kept quiet and peaceful. Some even developed sicknesses as a result of stress, resentment and bitterness. Although we can't control the reactions of others, being honest prevents regret and yields happiness later. Never be scared to say how you feel.
4) They wish they fulfilled their dreams. When these patients went to bed each night, not knowing when they would meet their maker, they thought about all the old dreams they had envisioned for themselves. They made a lot of decisions that steered them away from their goals or made up excuses for why their dreams were never possible in the first place. But no dream is too big to accomplish. Try to fulfill as many goals as you can while you're young - and, more importantly, healthy. When your health starts to deteriorate, dreams become more and more fragile, until you're lying on your death bed picking up the pieces of the dreams you never made time for.
LOVE
Bryenn Bierwirth is a senior majoring in journalism from Overland Park.
Fighting right can help relationships
fighting with loved ones and friends is something
Fighting with loved ones and friends is something everyone must go through at some point in their lives. Many believe that fighting can actually strengthen relationships when done well. Unfortunately, not everyone has the level-headedness to argue with dignity. With the staggering divorce rate in the country, it seems obvious to suggest that fights over fidelity, finance and parenting would be the main culprits. However, psychologists have noted that how couples fight is much more important than what they fight over.
Now, before I continue, you are probably wondering "why should I take relationship advice from you?" First, this isn't relationship advice. This is life advice. Knowing how to empathize when arguing is useful in any kind of relationship. If that doesn't convince you, perhaps you should take a look at a study conducted by John Gottman, who was able to predict with 94 percent accuracy whether or not couples would later divorce based on a three-minute sample of an argument between the two.
So, what exactly did his study yield? The couples that were less accusatory and abrasive were far better off than the finger-pointing, flaw-finding, disastrous couples. Indeed, gentleness was essential in effective fighting as shown in this study. What does gentleness look like? There are several things I've noticed that work when dealing with any conflict.
Most importantly, it's all about validation. People want to know that they are being listened to. I'm sure that whosew you are arguing with will be far more
It doesn't take a superb imagination to believe that your last argument would have ended nicely if so-and-so had been gentler and understood how you really felt. And perhaps you could have been more explicit there to. I believe there is hope for all relationships. The world is kind, and people can get along – it may just take some argumentative ju-jitsu to get there.
As it turns out, not everyone is a sociopath. People do have the ability to empathize. Saying "I feel ___" is the best way to garner empathy. Furthermore, be explicit is essential. The other person needs to know why you are upset, rather than dealing with passive aggressive hints. Oh, and this is not a license to say "I feel that you are an idiot." No criticism, no accusations.
responsive to "I can see that you are really upset with ___" rather than "you're being too whiny." Additionally, avoid being critical. This seems really trite, since arguments tend to be critically based. However, try reminding yourself that there is a 94 percent chance that you will not get what you want if you criticize. Instead, focus on how you feel.
Will Ashley is a sophomore majoring in global and international studies and Chinese from Topeka.
CAMPUS CHIRPS BACK
I was sitting in my math lecture not paying attention when I hear "zero to Juan." What number system do we use here?
@elenacleaves
@Kansas_ opinion Win. Because I'm always right.
@Kansan_Opinion Collapsing their trachea with a swift karate chop to the throat usually does the trick.
@Ben_Samson
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