WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2011
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY BANSAN
PAGE 5
opinion
FREE FOR ALL
Send your FFA submissions to freeforall@kansan.com
Just witnessed a beautiful greeting of two freshmen. The line "Oh are you on a Quidditch team?" ...Seems to actually work. Wish I would've known it three years ago.
Curse you, Starcraft II. You have stolen my boyfriend from me.
That awkward moment when your hamper breaks and you punch yourself in the face and then fall down.
Crossing the streets in my wheel chair is like playing frogger.
The EcoKat could probably save the environment by not using all that hair spray to tease her hair.
Does every FFA have to have one female calling herself a slut?
To the person who blew the huge, cancerous puff of smoke in my face on the boulevard, just know that I memorized your face. Watch yourself.
My profs laugh is the only reason I go to class...giggle giggle HONK! Haha
Seeing an ex on campus and not caring...that has to be the best feeling, EVER.
Dear cool weather: my allergies thank you. Will you stay long?
Dear freshmen, it is proper that you learn your place. Hence why we make fun of you in the FFA. You're lucky we even talk to you. Sincerely, the upper-classman.
For as long as I can remember people have been fighting the "Home of the Chiefs" anthem. It's not gonna change so stop complaining and learn to love it.
So I've been in the FFA every day since I found out I could text it...I'm not sure if I am funny or if I just have a really sad life.
Boobies are nowhere to be found at the bus stop today damn. Guess I'll read the UDK.
Just solved the cryptoquip.
MENSA, I expect my genius-certificate at the end of the week.
Dear foreign professor- Thank you for having a hilarious accent and making jokes that you don't understand. Sincerely, Students
So happy the cold weather is coming! So sad the tank tops are leaving.
I always feel like a pedophile when I see a hot freshman.
Just because you're a senior doesn't mean you can't sip from a juice box in class.
Some chick just quoted "The Dark Night" to explain her point in our philosophy class. I want her.
What did the slut's left leg say to the right leg? Nothing. They've never met.
I don't care if you ride your bike, but not through Wescoe right after class when you rack me with your handlebars.
EDITORIAL
Senate deserves credit for dining expansion
Freshmen may not be aware but, once upon a time, lunch was never an easy thing to accomplish if you chose to dine within the Underground. Too often, overwhelming numbers of ravenous people would flood the limited space available, leaving some students with no place to sit except on the outside steps of Wescoe.
Now however, thanks to Student Senate and our student fees, a much-needed expansion
of 3,000 square feet is reaping benefits for students and staff. The expansion project that was completed over summer break cost about $478,000 and if you ask us, it was money well spent.
- Strolling in around noon before the addition would ensure you a colossal crowd. But now between the hours of 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., you have significantly less difficulty getting coffee and/or lunch, with time to spare.
Jason Arnett, general manag
"The flow of people through the entrance and seating areas is much improved and we have heard positive comments from students and faculty and staff," Arnett said.
er of the Underground, said he is very pleased with the expansion of the Underground.
Anyone who is grateful for this necessary expansion must give serious props to Michael Wade-Smith, former student body president and Megan Ritter, former vice president of Student Senate, who proposed this project last spring. We give them credit for identifying a problem, finding an ideal solution, and executing their plans with positive results.
It's encouraging to see Student Senate operate successfully on an important project that directly affects students. This year's student leaders, led by student body president Libby Johnson and vice president Gabe Bliss,
should use the Underground project as a blueprint to accomplish more this year.
Smaller lines, less people impinging on each other's space and a more comfortable atmosphere leads to an accommodating Underground that students want to, and will, frequent.
Stefanie Penn for Kansan Editorial Board
Mohammad Ataei
WHAT ISSUES SHOULD WE TAKE A STAND ON THIS SEMESTER?
Send your thoughts to vshanker@ kansan.com to let the Editorial Board know.
LIFESTYLE
Pretty please local ads, cut the crap
Local commercials are an inevitable evil and a blot on our good society.
A well-made commercial can actually be an amazing feat of storytelling; advertisers attempt to relate a tale in a lowly 30 second spot while having to sell a product saying "Nike" or "Do the Dew" repeatedly. In the end, there is probably only 15-20 seconds when taking into account the requisite close-ups on the product.
Now, often, the idea of making a commercial interesting is completely eschewed. For example, cars meandering around mountains
By Jerod Kilgore jkilgore@kansan.com
while a voiceover explains that, and saying how just like last month, APR financing is the lowest it has been in years. But there are times when either telling a story or creating a mood is done so effectively in a short time that it becomes an indelible memory.
This is a plea to local commercials to step up their game. You don't need to have high production value, or expensive cameras (although I wouldn't pick a fight if you did), but
if you could tone down the general crappiness that seems to come with every local decorating, car, lumber or food commercial, that would be great.
Here are some tips: don't use stock footage and don't try to be funny like those quirky Spangles ads. Honestly, I hate to give any free advertising to a business that already runs ads 24/7 despite having only a few establishments in the city, but no send-up of local commercials would be complete without roasting these paragons of terribleness. These are perpetual rug burns on our television watching experience serve a
main purpose of being comedy fodder for all the couch comedians.
Even though most people think of those particular skits when complaining about local commercials, there are other perpetrators. It seems many of these other offenders try to sell their product by using still images that look like they came from a Google image search for "poorly rendered photos" and adding a voice-over until it fills 30 seconds.
I suppose that I cannot merely complain and should offer solutions. For one, always hire actors; don't ever use the owner of the establishment as an actor unless they're unusually charismatic and comfortable in front of the camera. And don't follow Spangles' lead of being so incredibly stupid it becomes memorable because unless you're a pop star, not all publicity is good publicity. Unfortunately, we can never rid ourselves of these zits in the ear of society, but maybe we can manage to live in a world where they're just a little less awful.
Kilgore is a senior in film & media studies from Lenexa.
CAMPUS
GOP canidates seem to forget evolution is not 'just a theory'
On Aug. 18, Texas governor and GOP candidate Rick Perry told a boy at a campaign event in New Hampshire that evolution is "just a theory" with "gaps in it." Later, he added "God is how we got here." If you find this ridiculous, his stance on global warming is no better. He believes global warming is based on scientists manipulating data for fiscal support. It is evident that the divide between Democrats and Republicans is changing to a science versus anti-science party with Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum and Ron Paul also showing disbelief toward evolution.
Why? Because it is a fact. Evolution happened, happens, and is happening every day.
This skepticism on evolution reaches further than the GOP. According to a 2009 Gallup study, only 39 percent of Americans said they believed in evolution. If a vast majority of Americans are either uncertain or cynical toward evolution, school must teach it as a fact.
When scientists or professors refer to evolution as a "theory," they
do not mean that it is a speculation. It is a scientific theory similar to how gravity is the reason you don't fall off the earth. You won't find me testing the theory of gravitation by jumping off a cliff. Most of us need visual facts and empirical evidence to prove a theory. There is enough evidence accumulated these last two centuries that indeed proves that evolution occurred.
To name a few, we can thank Thomas Huxley, Charles Darwin, Gregor Mendel, and Eugene Dubois for this evidence. Fossil records show that humans share physical similarities that are derived from a common ancestor. For example, humans, frogs, bats and rabbits share the same set of
bones — the humerus, the radius and the ulna. The way each organism uses them is different, reflecting diverse lifestyles (hence the word "evolve").
If it seems like evolution cannot be observed, look at the evolution happening today. We can see evolution on the microbial level. Chemicals that we introduce to our environment to kill
organisms lead to even stronger organisms such as antibiotic-resistant bacteria, drug-resistant HIV, and DDT-resistant insects. If you add Chemical X or toxins on your plant so a bug will not eat it, the bug will evolve its defense system so the bug can still eat the plant. This means the chemical is ineffective and thus the insect is resistant to it.
If microbiology bores you, think about macroevolution with species such as your pet. From selective breeding, domesticated dogs evolved from wolves.
I barely surfaced on all the proof on evolution. With all this evidence, it is nearly impossible to disprove it. Accept it. This is not to say that science and religion cannot co-exist. Many scientists believe in God as well. A few believe evolution does not contradict the idea of God, but enlarges it. What if evolution is God's tool? Maybe a divine entity used evolution as a technique to create the world.
Mohammad Ataei
There is not a direct correlation on a politician's success to his view on evolution. However, if he believes it is a mere theory and scientists skew data for research funding, is this person you want to run your country, a person who negates facts and logic?
Saha is a senior in neurobiology from Overland Park.
CAMPUS CHIRPS BACK
Kourtni14
@UDK Dpionn On the issue of Ecokat, no. just no. Another proof that K-state is inferior.
@UDX Quinn Maybe the *ecokat* can save the big 12 along with the environment... Ya, not going to happen *suckstosuckstate*
m2marcus
@UDK. Opinion #EcoKat truly captures the essence of 80's hair while maintaining a substantial amount of the Cat's class. (orlack thereof)
If the Big 12 folds, what conference would you want Kansas to be a part of?
— Big Ten
— Big East
— PAC-12
— SEC
— Other
— Go to Kansan.com to cast your vote
Kelly Strode, editor
864-8410 or kstrode@ansan.com
Joel Peterson, managing editor
864-8410 or jefferson@ansan.com
Jonathan Shorman, managing editor
864-8410 or josmane@ansan.com
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THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Members of the Ranahan Editorial Board are Kelly Stroda, Joel Peterson, Jonathan Shorman, Vikas Shanker, Mandy Matheson and Stefanie Penny.