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Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2009
WWW.KANSAN.COM
Thompson: Kansas hit hard by climate change
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--make things a little safer."
Everyone should YouTube A Very Potter Musical. Genius!
It's my birthday and all I want is to be in the FEA!
We just led three drunk girls and their wasted mom on a wild goose chase to the Hookah House two hours after it closed. We're going to hell.
I just witnessed a girl's entire walk of shame from Daisy Hill to Oliver while trying to find a parking spot.
--make things a little safer."
Call the hounds. There's a fox loose on campus.
To my fellow peers of the University of Kansas: We go to KU, not Georgia, not K-State. So stop wearing that shirt on campus
Children, you have left the nest. Please clean up your tables after you are done. Your mother does not work here.
--make things a little safer."
Why does Facebook suck right now?
--make things a little safer."
To the guy who wore his high school football jersey on Friday: Your high school called and asked if you could stop embarrassing them.
Labor day is synonymous with homework day. I couldn't be
The problem is that I'm here and my Nerf gun is at home.
--make things a little safer."
I'm on hour four of an NCIS marathon. Yay!
--make things a little safer."
I like a guy in California and now we don't text. My life sucks.
--make things a little safer."
How come every party I go to
I can't find a cute boy??
There's a dude playing World of Warcraft in the Union at 9 a.m. Badass.
--make things a little safer."
--make things a little safer."
To the guy walking around carrying the pink box of Kleenex with lotion: Thanks for the gingle.
--make things a little safer."
EDITORIAL BOARD
Forum to teach students about on-campus safety
Students should attend the safety forum being held Wednesday in order to better understand the reality of the danger related to sexual assault.
Safety should be an issue of utmost importance to students.
According to a Sept. 1 press release, Attorney General Steve Six plans to hold a safety forum along with the Riley County and Lawrence
Pollice Departments. There will be two sessions — one at Kansas State University and the other here.
KANSAN'S OPINION
For many students living on campus, this year is their first time living away from home. It is important to realize that living in a new city or environment can pose its own safety hazards.
Sergeant Bill Cory with the Lawrence police said they have similar goals.
In the past, students at both universities have fallen victim to on-campus sexual attacks. The last attack thought to be connected to a serial rapist occurred in Lawrence in December. This specific rapist has been connected to 13 raps total between both cities, dating back to 2001. Local officials feel it is important to warn and educate students about on-campus safety.
"The Riley County Police Department's mission is to reduce crime and improve the quality of life in our community," said Captain Jeff Hooper, Riley County police officer, in the press release. "To that end, we are committed to not only enforce the laws, but to educate the public."
"A major part of preventing crime is to make the public aware of ways that they can protect themselves," he said.
These tips include parking in well-lit areas, not walking or jogging alone at night, keeping money in a pocket instead of a purse or wallet and portraying a confident and self-reliant person while walking as if you have a mission.
On its Web site, lawrencepolice.org, the Lawrence police outline personal safety strategies for the community.
Also, the University offers several Recreational Services that can help in self-defense. The KU Tae Kwon Do Club is one such example. This club meets every Monday and Wednesday at the Ambler Student Recreation Fitness Center.
Emma Brooke, Lawrence senior,
has been participating in this club
since she has been at the University.
She has been learning tae kwon do
since she was seven.
"My parents have two daughters," she said. "They wanted us to learn self-defense. I just feel more comfortable knowing I can defend myself if it comes to that."
Brooke said she felt safe on campus, but certain improvements would help.
"The campus could have better lighting," she said. "That would
Many incoming students come from a smaller setting than Lawrence. The town and the safety issues that come along with it can be overwhelming. Brooke said she felt the safety forum will help "make people informed on how to protect themselves. Freshmen can be kind of naive if they aren't aware of the situation."
Student should use the resources available to them in order to create a safer environment at the University and in Lawrence. Take advantage of this opportunity to learn more tips about safety and dangerous situations that can arise.
The safety forum will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday in Alderson Auditorium on the fourth floor of the Kansas Union. All students should attend this forum in order to learn more about the related sexual assaults and overall public safety.
— Kara Walker for The Kansan Editorial Board
EDITORIAL CARTOON
SAFETY FORUM
TIME: 11 A.M.
WEDNESDAY
LOCATION: ALDERSON
AUDITORIUM IN THE
KANSAS UNION
AND IT CAME TO PASS THAT HE SPOKE BUT THEY WERE TWITTERING AND HEARD NOT
HUMOR
College start-ups gain popularity
NICHOLAS SAMBALUK
Last week, I decided to "surf the Web" to find out what the "kids" think is "hip" these "days."
At first I thought they meant it was finally cool to fill your college living space with power tools you never intend on actually using.
Naturally, the first Web "site" I visited was CNN.com. There I found an article proclaiming "the dorm is the new garage."
The CNN.com article tells the tales of a number of college students who came up with their own companies, including a pair of youths who invented foldable shoes for when high heels become too painful.
After all, in addition to being a semi-professional newspaper columnist and self-trained self help guru, I also happen to be the owner and operator of several fine small businesses right here on campus.
No, the real trend that is supposedly emerging on college campuses is the start-up business.
But since CNN apparently thinks it's more important to cover the story of students who came up with their ONE idea by, for some inexplicable reason, wearing high
I was outraged. How could CNN not interview me for this story?
All of my businesses provide top-notch goods and indispensable services, all at bargain prices.
heel shoes to and from class, I must take it upon myself to bring the story of my innovative work to the masses.
TimeDrains.edu is a vast library of questions you can ask your professor that are guaranteed to get him or her babbling spirtedly until class is over and you can no longer be held accountable for not doing the work.
TimeDrains: For students too lazy to do the reading, there's SparkNotes. For students too lazy to read the SparkNotes, there's TimeDrains!
Here are just a few of my industrious exploits. Tell your friends.
The questions cover a broad range of topics, from biology ("What's the big deal about evolution, anyway?" to English ("What did James Joyce mean by [insert any James Joyce quote]"?).
The professor will relish the opportunity to wax poetic about a beloved subject matter, and you'll relish never having to do homework again.
- ZooU: One of the biggest concerns for incoming college freshmen is where they can keep their dangerous exotic pets.
Most residence halls have a strict policy against students housing even the meekest of komodo dragons in their rooms. ZooU provides your possibly illegal animal companion all the comfort of home with its expansive secret habitats located directly underneath dorms all across the country.
Have peace of mind knowing that your white Siberian tiger is nearby and safely out of the sight of your RA.
Invective Inc.: Engaging in political flame wars online has begun to take up more and more time for the socially engaged youths of today. Now there's barely enough time to be rude and condescending to people in real life!
All that time once spent typing "OBAMA IS A FASCIST SOCIALIST KENYAN" or "SARAH PALIN IS DUMBER THAN A BOX OF POOP" can now be spent loudly disrupting town halls or writing protest songs for the acoustic guitar.
At Invective Inc., our call centers are filled with employees ready to post in all caps under your screen name at sites such as Kansan.com.
Nichols is a Stilwell junior in creative writing.
STUDENT LIFE
Don't blame Facebook: Narcissism is old news
Only a fraction of the young adult population is completely free from
is completely free from any kind of social networking Web site. Whether it's MySpace, Facebook or Twitter, almost all of us indulge in some form of social networking. Recently, people have suggested that these sites are contributing to a self-obsessed generation. This accusation is ridiculous.
It seems as though everyone is always whining about how terrible Generation Y is.
An article in The Herald Sun in London accuses us of being greedy and over-confident.
I find it interesting that older generations keep finding more and more reasons for why my generation is full of losers.
Web sites such as Pointless Banter argue that we are completely devoid of culture. An article on The Huffington Post claims that Generation Y is a nightmare in the workplace.
We're even being accused of stupidity by books such as "The Dumbest Generation Ever," by Mark Baurlein.
I'm starting to think every generation older than us needs to find a hobby, because frankly I don't think anyone has ever spent so much time complaining about a group of people younger than them.
The latest accusation of why everyone my age is a waste of space claims that social networking Web sites have made all of us more narcissistic.
Jean Twenge, associate professor of psychology at San Diego State University and author of "The Narcissism Epidemic," based her study on 40 questions that have been asked for decades. Her research shows a jump in narcissism from one in every seven people to one in every four people since the 1980's. The study also showed that 57 percent of college students agree that their peers use social networking sites for
It seems convenient that just because there is now a public forum for being narcissistic that older individuals believe today's teens and young adults are more self-absorbed than ever before.
Mirrors have been around for hundreds of years, but usually no one wasted their time counting how often or for how long someone else looked in one. Go back to ancient historical times and there's the Greek myth of Narcissus who fell in love with his reflection in a pool.
Social networking Web sites did not create these qualities. Those who are obsessed with themselves would likely still be even if the Internet had never been invented.
Perhaps older generations are just jealous of our multi-tasking, uber-networking, confident ways. Or maybe they've failed to realize that these traits are and have always been typical for those between the ages of 13 and 25.
narcissistic reasons.
It's human nature for a person to care about how he or she is perceived by others. I encourage all of you to analyze your habits to make sure you aren't living in a fantasy world where you are the king or queen. I also encourage you to not really care if anyone older badgers you about your generation.
Let's all just try to make it a point to remember how annoying it is when your elders are always nagging about your behavior and try to break the cycle when we're no longer the youngest batch.
Buser is a Columbia, Ill., senior in journalism.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
No room for selfish drivers on busy streets
You know what grinds my gears? Unmitigated whining. If complaining were an Olympic event, then Brett Phillippe, you would be Michael Phelps.
I have lived in Lawrence for 19 years and not once have I ever seen a cyclist riding in the middle of Iowa Street.
However, for argument's sake, let's say that you did. Iowa Street is two lanes of traffic traveling both ways. I assume that the cyclist was in the right lane, taking up the full space.
Unacceptable biking etiquette, I agree. But what about the other lane? Was Iowa street so congested that you were unable to pass our environmentally conscious friend?
Brett, are you familiar with the term "share the road?" Everyone on the street, in theory, is attempting to reach a destination.
Some have a schedule to meet, others travel at their leisure. Why is yours, mine or anyone else's time more important than the thousands of other motorists or cyclists on the road?
Every citizen, as taxpayers, has an equal right to use the road in a safe and law-abiding manner. In the situation you presented, the cyclist was following the law, even if he was taking up a full side of the road. Cycling on the shoulder is only courteous, but not mandatory. There are no bike lanes on Iowa Street, and riding on the sidewalk is prohibited everywhere in Lawrence.
So, the next time you see a cyclist moving at a slow pace down Iowa Street or any other street take a deep breath, signal and pass them. If you have prior engagements with serious time constraints, try leaving early, because you aren't the only one on the road that's trying to get somewhere.
Evan Mielke is a freshman from Lawrence.
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THE EDITORIAL BOARD Members of the Kansan Editorial Board are Brenna Hewley, Jesse Sain-Bard, Jennifer Walters, Gantin Thirlton, Carlin Horton and Michael Holtz.