THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 13, 2011
PAGE 3
CULTURE
No place like home for art enthusiasts
A survey from the National Endowment for the Arts found that Kansas, per capita, has a greater part of its population involved in personal artistic expression than any other state, according to a release by University Relations. The University is collecting stories about art and creativity as part of How Are You Creative, an oral history project by the School of the Arts. The project is similar to StoryCorps, a national project that records stories of Americans from different backgrounds. The project collected stories firsthand on Sunday at the Kansas State Fair through the University's booth. One story that organizers documented at the fair was "The Block Stacker," the story of Great Bend resident Thomas Humburg's scale model of the World Trade Center buildings. Hamburg, a farmer and welder, created the 13-foot-tall model out of 16,000 small wooden blocks to commemorate Sept. 11, 2001. By collecting such stories, the project organizers hope to promote participation in the arts in Kansas. Other stories will be collected in communities across the state and through the website www.creative.ku.edu. All Kansans are invited to participate.
— Ian Cummings
RESEARCH
Bird fossils reveal digestive evolution
A new discovery by University researchers advances knowledge of ancient bird anatomy, providing a new picture of how the birds' digestive systems evolved, according to a release by University Relations.
The fossils show evidence of a crop — the muscular pocket in the esophagus where modern birds store and soften seeds — in two species that lived 130 million years ago, in the Early Cretaceous. The discovery will be published in an upcoming edition of the Journal Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences.
The fossils show that seed eating was an important driving force in the early diversification and radiation of modern-type birds, said Larry Martin, professor and senior curator at the KU Biodiversity Institute.
The two species, Sapeornis and Hongshanornis, were in the collection of a museum in Shandong Province, China. Fossils of both species contained preserved seeds where the crop is located in modern birds. Martin said the crop is an important clue to how birds evolved from having teeth — as they did in the Early Cretaceous — not to have牙齿, as in birds today.
Martin co-authored the paper with Xiaoting Zheng of Linyi University and the Tianyu Museum of Nature in China, Zhonghe Zhou of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing and Biodiversity Institute researchers David Burnham, a program and Desui Miao, Martin said the birds were around 130 million years old and about 10 million years older than Archaeopteryx, which was previously thought to be the first bird.
Martin said the University was among the first to investigate Early Cretaceous fossils in China, and has partnered with Chinese scientists since the beginning of that research. He said the fossils in that area had produced thousands of skeletons, often with feathers, stomach contents and internal organs.
"Sapeornis was a pretty fair-sized bird, about the size of an ordinary chicken," Martin said, according to the release. "It belongs to a group of basal birds that are related to, but actually separate from, the line that leads to modern birds. The other bird that we have, Hongshanomis, is a very early example of the group to which all modern birds belong. It's essentially a modern bird, but an awfully old one — one of the oldest modern birds."
Ian Cummings
LAWRENCE
Students deal with life following house fire
IAN CUMMINGS icummings@kansan.com
Seven students who escaped their burning house Sunday morning are finding temporary housing and receiving help from the University.
Taylor Shaw, a sophomore from Wichita, is collecting donations of household items for the students at the offices of the Jayhawker Towers and Student Union Activities in the Kansas Union. Shaw said six of the students were returning to Lawrence Monday after spending the night at the home of one of their parents in Overland Park.
"They all wanted to stick together." Shaw said.
There were 13 people in the house in the 1300 block of Tennessee Street when a sofa on the porch caught fire at 6 a.m. Sunday.
GRAPHIC BY BEN PIROTTE
Chief Mark Bradford of Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical said property damage to the house and its contents was estimated at $234,000. He said the department's investigators have not identified the cause of the fire but think it was an accident.
All of the occupants escaped with no injuries, but fire and water damage destroyed virtually all of their possessions, and the house is badly damaged.
"Most of us lost everything we had," said James Hennahane, a sophomore from Leawood and a resident of the house. He said one of his roommates lost a large album collection. Hennahane was able to save his laptop only because it was near the first-floor window he jumped out of to escape.
The students received short-term financial aid from the Douglas County Chapter of the American
Red Cross in the form of debit cards for buying toiletries and household items.
Jane Blocher, the executive director of Douglas County Red Cross, said the assistance was intended only to help the students through the first few days after the fire. She said she has responded to many fires where students lost everything and doesn't understand why more students do not take out renter's insurance policies.
"For the price of a few lattes, you could have thousands of dollars of insurance," Bocher said. "It's very
The University has provided the students with replacement textbooks and supplies and $50 in credit for KU Dining and emergency funds, according to Kathryn Tuttle, the Vice Provost for Student Success. Student Success also communicated with the students' professors and offered housing assistance.
reassuring when the insurance man shows up with a check."
Film details Hunt's wrongful conviction
The event spans from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. today at the Ecumenical Campus Ministries, 1204 Oread Avenue. For more information, call 785-864-7644 or email tashj@ku.edu.
EVENTS
a founding member of the Daryl Hunt Defense Fund; Phoebe Zerwick, a freelance journalist; and Hunt.
Darryl Hunt was wrongly convicted of a murder twice and served more than 18 years in prison. Now, as a free man, he's here to tell us about it.
—Edited by Jayson Jenks
"The Arc of Justice: The Incarceration (And Exoneration) of Darryl Hunt," is a free screening of the film "The Trials of Darryl Hunt" and follow-up discussion with Imam Khalid Griggs.
Max Rothman
TAKING CHARGE
MAX MIKULECKY/KANSAN
JUMPING FOR JOY
Take Charge Challenge officials discuss ways to get Lawrence residents involved in the challenge after learning that Lawrence is falling behind Manhattan. The Take Charge Challenge encourages Lawrence residences and businesses to change lightbulbs and thermostats in an effort to save the most energy.
JESSICA JANASZ/KANSAN
From left, Patricia Dietz, a graduate student from Tripoli, Iowa; Laura Smith, a graduate student from Overland Park; Phil Bennett, a graduate student from Carney, Neb.; Josh ibarra, a graduate student from Shawnee; and Nick Oldfather, a graduate student from Wichita; jump rope Monday evening outside Watkins Memorial Health Center. Jumping rope was part of a team building exercise for a stress management class.
Ranked one of the "Training Top 125"
- Training magazine
You can call us selective particular and picky.
At a time when most companies are cutting back. Northwestern Mutual has added a record number of Financial Representatives to its sales force in 2010 and has yet to slow down in 2011. If you have the drive and talent to succeed, contact us.
Lyndsey Hedge Director of Campus Selection RPS Financial Group (913) 362-5000 rpsfinancialgroup.com
Or, if you have talent and drive, you can simply call us.
Named one of the "Best Places to Launch a Career"
BusinessWeek
RPS Financial Group
5251 W. 116th Place, Ste. 300
Leawood, KS 66211
(913) 676-8001
nmfn.com/rpsfinancialgroup
2600 Grand Blvd., Ste; 600 Kansas City, MO 64108
4601 W. 6th St., Ste
Lawrence, KS 66049
3506 S. Culpepper Circle, Ste. A Springfield, MO 65804
Northwestern Mutual insurance / investments / ideas
---