THURSDAY AUGUST 30 2012
THE UNIVERSITY DAVY GASSAN
PAGE 6A
opinion
No better feeling in the world then seeing a KU bus in the distance and it turns out to be the one you were waiting for.
I'd like to know what provoked someone to put flames on their mini-van.
"I beat The Oregon Trail once," said no one.
The squirrels here seem really nice.
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LIFESTYLE
If she doesn't know what a Campanile is, she's not Lawrence enough for you bro.
If a pizza has a radius of "z" and a depth of "a," it's volume can be defined as "pi*z*z*a."
I have never in my life had a girl talk to me after I held the door open for them. If you want chivalry, then respond to it.
Penguins can't fly. I can't fly. Therefore, I am a penguin.
"KU sports are more than basketball." That's a joke, right?
I can open the door by myself, thanks. Signed, Independent Women.
To the person who thinks that mechanical engineering is hogging all the hot girls, please speak to chemical engineering.
Really, mechanical engineering has all the cute girls? Get yourself to the education building. You'll be mesmerized.
You know no one is paying attention in class when you can't get on the internet on your phone. Everyone's soaking up all the 3G in here!
Just saw a girl wearing a bath mat to cover up her naked body. That's a walk of shame if I've ever seen one.
God forbid there's an actual emergency. I couldn't understand a word that emergency test was saying.
That awful moment when you realize the happy and relaxing sounds of nature are really just a bunch of bugs and birds trying to get laid.
Male, 19, seeking woman, must be willing to admit that "The Hangover" is an overrated movie.
Some cute girl just winked at me with both eyes at the same time.
Consent still important for nightlife
The beginning of the school year is always a time when things get a little (pardon
Someone in one of my classes had the nerve to say he was a Kentucky fan. Please leave.
my decay-of-the-English-language slang) "cray." Professors usually haven't assigned much homework, you intercept people you haven't seen since last May with "ohmigawd how are you?" and students normally have a decent amount of free time to go out, especially at night.
College nightlife is a strange world unto itself, full of stumbling side-walk sojourns, carpe diem being somehow related to peeing in the bushes, and a lot of people wanting to perform or in the act of the horizontal square dance (square dance because it's awkward, much like college students' sex lives). College nightlife can be pretty sweet. You have freedom from home, flexible schedules and cool people to hang out with. It can also be all kinds of messed up, however, especially when we try to tackle one little word and its apparent absence from college nightlife
culture: consent.
Let me pose a situation to you. You're on your way to class, moseying along Wescoe Beach, hoping to spot Withey when you see, not Withey, but two people. Specifically, one person coming up from behind another person and suddenly, without asking or warning the other person, grabbing their hips and grinding their pelvis into the other's buttocks. You're most likely going to think some variation of "WTF?"
However, at Abe & Jakes, or The Hawk, or honestly any other club, bar or house when there is dancing, this is normal. The fact that this is normal is bad. Real bad.
Being at a club, a crowded house party, or whatever does not give you an all-access pass for violently thrusting your crott into another individual's backside, nor their front-side, nor their any side. If I'm at a Pet Clinic and somebody brings in their pregnant cat, should I be expected to deliver her kittens just because I'm at a location where kittens are normally birthed? God,
I hope not — I really don't think I can survive with kitten death on my conscience.
Now, I'm not saying you can't go out and have fun, or even go out with the sole purpose of finding someone to sleep with. If you and another person both agree to do stuff together, that's cool. Do that stuff. Do all the stuff you want, however you want, wherever you want, in whatever orifice you want. But see, both (big emphasis on the both), of you have got to be consenting in this theoretical sex times situation. And this doesn't apply to just intercourse as most people seem to think it does. It applies with
any behavior that involves another person's physical being. Meaning, if you want to dance with someone, you need to get permission from them. And if they say yes, awesome, greyful with it. If not, you best be backing off.
It doesn't matter if they just don't wish to dance with you, or if they just don't want to dance at all, or if they're hoping to dance with someone else—if the person you approach is all "Nah, bro," you have to respect that. You don't get to be pissed, or even worse, you definitely don't get to try to persist in a physical manner. If you do, you're a douche. Actually, you're worse than a douche in the case of the latter, you're an assaulter. You're physically, sexually assaulting someone else.
You might be feeling real uncomfortable right now. Guess what—the discomfort of the person you're grinding up against that doesn't want you to do that? It's way worse.
blatant disregard of consent in college nightlife culture. If you want to kiss someone, or touch someone in a non-platonic way, especially with someone you don't know, you need consent.
You can receive consent by smiling, making eye contact, receiving positive indicators from the other person that might suggest, "yes I like your presence in my presence." Or, for the clearest, most direct, and least likely way for you to be a douche, just ask. Verbalize it. Say it out loud.
This doesn't just apply to dancing, although it's probably the most
"Hey do you want to dance?" asks person A.
See? Consent isn't that hard. It just takes awareness and a few simple steps.
SOCIAL MEDIA
"Sure," says person B.
Gwynn is a sophomore majoring in English and women, gender, and sexuality from Oathe.
Twitter restricts third-party clients
Newsflash: Twitter is making some changes — and not the good kind.
Recently, it was reported that Twitter would be tweaking its API, otherwise known as its Application Programming Interface, and the result has thousands upon thousands up in arms.
Now, what this means for those who use various clients like Echofon, Tweetdeck and Ubersonal is quite a bit of headaches and clinched fists. According to a separate article from arstechnica.com, these new guidelines will restrict developers like the men and women who created Echofon that "mimic or reproduce the mainstream Twitter consumer client experience."
According to a report put out by mashable.com, "Twitter is squeezing the knot around the neck of third-party Twitter apps that mimic Twitter.com with a more stringent set of API rules." These changes are designed to foster a more "consistent Twitter experience."
But it gets much worse for the developers and us as fans of
T
these third-party applications: If the developers in question do not adhere to these new rules and regulations, the third-party client risk having their application key revoked, and in turn, not existing.
What does this mean for all of the users of these applications, then? Simply put, if they do not follow these new rules set forth by Twitter, then hundreds of thousands of users will be without their favorite third-party applications.
I could not be more disappointed with what Twitter has put forward. It is not like the third-party applications have been doing anything wrong or not following the previous API. On the contrary, these third-party apps
What this new API really does is take away the creativity of these developers. By forcing them to stick to this new set of rules and regulations, Twitter is forcing them to rework how they do everything. And above all else, it makes Twitter look pretty bad. It makes them look like they are no longer embracing the platforms and applications that helped shape the Twitter culture in the early stages.
have been following everything in what Twitter laid out for them.
My call to Twitter is plain and simple, if you're not going to drop the new restrictions, that's fine, but the least you could do is loosen them a little. All these third-party applications want to do is make the overall Twitter experience much more enjoyable. If you loosen the restrictions, everyone in the social media universe, and the "Twittersphere" in general, can live in a technological harmony.
And, in the end, isn't that what we all want?
Phillippe is a senior majoring in American studies from Keller, Texas.
CAMPUS CHIRPS BACK
COLLEGE
Organization key to good semester
The second week of classes is about to come to an end and you've stuck to your new semester resolutions. That's awesome, but let's be honest, how long will that last?
Like an infomercial playing around 1 a.m., you are probably thinking, “there's got to be a better way.” There is, and it's easier than you may think. Almost any study on the prevention of stress cites the importance of "unplugging" yourself—even if it's just for 10 minutes. Put away your cell phone, close your laptop, step away from the television and make a to-do list for the day. If you have a clear list of what you need to get done for the day, it makes it difficult to forget.
A week or two later, stress begins to consume your life. An assignment that requires a good amount of time, boyfriend, girlfriend or single problems, long hours at work and staying out late and forgetting to finish homework are just a few things that contribute to the daily stresses of a typical college student. Before you know it, you are a week behind in everything and finals are coming up.
In my experience, I have realized it's not a matter of setting high expectations. After all, how hard is it to make sure you go to school when we have been doing it for nearly 15 years? What messes up our perfect semester? We promise ourselves that this is the semester; it's going to be perfect. "No, I really mean it this time," you say to yourself before your first class begins.
It is important to put away those gadgets and not just put them on silent because if they are out, we are likely to get distracted by thinking we are about to receive a text or a phone call. This dependency to our gadgets is a trend worldwide that contributes to stress.
Another factor of stress is peer pressure. Your friends are going
My personal way to relieve stress is to run. I consider it free therapy and it helps me sort out my thoughts and gives me energy to finish my to-do list. Everyone is different and handles stress differently but if you can do your best to prevent it then it will be one of the most valuable tools in life.
Just remember when things start to pile up to slow-down, unplug and take care of yourself. It's not too late to keep your resolution of having a perfect semester; two weeks down and only 14 more to go.
out tonight but you have a paper to finish for class tomorrow. After some serious thought and ten minutes later, you are at a bar on Mass. Street taking shots and making friends with strangers. This is college and there will always be time to go out, but when it interferes with your studies — the reason we're here — then it's time to say "no" and go out the next evening. There is no better feeling than going out, knowing you have nothing to worry about and that you'll be getting some McDonald's breakfast on your way home. The last thing you want to do while barely being able to keep your eyes open is write a paper or stress about it all evening.
Montano is a senior majoring in journalism from Topeka. Follow him on Twitter @MikeMontanoMe.
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