FRIDAY,MAY 6,2011
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
PAGE 5A
opinion
Listen beezy, stop being so selfish. Get out of my seat and stop hogging the damn outlet. My computer is going to die.
apps.facebook.com/dailykansan
I just saw two fratters chest bump in Watson ... WTF? Then they looked over at me ... You bet I kept the disgusted look on my face!
Just eating pixie stix and convincing my best friend to look up bluewaffles, because that's what friends are for.
People, this is America. We walk on the right side here. Warning to anyone on their left: I am going to run into you if you don't move over.
I had sex in Eaton Hall last night. I am hoping this will increase my chances of having smart and successful children one day.
Reading about cannabis in my psychology book makes me want to study for this test kinesthetically not visually.
Just got accosted by three women with AXE cologne samples. I smell like a strip club.
Tonight, I am fueled by hormones.
Tonight, I am fueled by tequila
Is it sad that I can do your homework drunk better than you can sober?
That awkward moment when you remove someone as a friend and then they add you again ...
I was super happy I arrived at Watson just as a guy was leaving a cubby ... although, I wish he would've taken the stench he left behind with him ... Stanky.
My study schedule: study for five minutes, Facebook for thirty. At this rate, med school is clearly not going to happen.
Dear AXE: Please tell your team of attractive women that the man in the Lady Gaga T-shirt probably doesn't care.
If you're gonna say something is a hoax, first think about the motivation behind it. Does the Obama administration think it is worth that much risk to fake bin Laden's death? Now 9/11, THAT's a conspiracy. I can get behind
conspiracy I can get behind.
Sleep, we need to talk. You keep showing up when I'm busy, and leaving when I have free time. This relationship is not working.
I totally wanna bang every girl in my review session for my final ...
I'm eating Oreos. I love Oreos. Too bad that Milk guy is the only one who gets credited with Oreos being his favorite cookie.
Why do people fart and THEN look around to see if anyone noticed? Shouldn't they look around first?
Dear KU Wireless, you can download six porn videos in ten minutes, but you can't load one freaking Winnie the Pooh Youtube video? ughhhh
On the road, liberty is found through safety
EDITORIAL
Gov. Sam Brownback signed a bill on April 20 that will allow speed limit increases on separated multi-lane highways. Currently these highways are set at 70 mph. The change will take effect July 1, and the secretary of transportation, E. Dean Carlson, will decide where to post the new limits
Amid recent discussion of fatal car crashes and the need for cable barriers, Kansas drivers should pause and consider the need for increasing the speed limit.
According to an April 28 Kansan article, the Kansas Department of Transportation estimated that replacing the signs to display the new limit would cost between $16,500 and $24,750.
But the cost of signs is not the only cost to be considered.
Gas mileage actually decreases for speeds above 60 mph. According to the Department of Energy, each 5 mph someone drives over 60 mph costs him or her an additional 24 cents per gallon of gas.
Furthermore, higher driving speeds could result in more fatalities.
In the mid-1990s several states raised speed limits. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety conducted a study in 1999 and found that in states that raised speed limits, interstate fatalities went from 3,100 total in 1995 to 3,504 in 1997.
If raising the speed limit is not fiscally logical, environmentally friendly and could make roads more dangerous, then why do it?
Gov. Brownback has recognized the hesitations surrounding increased
speed limits, but he also notes a competing interest for liberty.
Indeed, Kansas falls behind several western states that have already raised the limit to 75, and in some cases 80. Many drivers already push the 70 mph limit, and with the new bill will be able to drive those speeds legally.
However, when assessing highways such as Kansas Highway 10, it's important to weigh the costs against the benefits.
Several students drive K-10 daily to commute to the University from the Kansas City area. One could argue that a high number of young and inexperienced drivers travel this road, so why take a risk that could make it more dangerous?
Ironically, the governor has also pledged support for a cable barrier
along K-10 in an effort to prevent more deadly crashes. It seems counter intuitive to also support a speed limit increase.
While some highways in Kansas might benefit from the increased speed limit, the risk is too great for highways like K-10. With evidence to support the costs of increasing the speed limit, both financially and in terms of safety, one has to consider whether there is a need to drive faster.
It seems the only other competing interest is liberty, and maybe Kansas drivers should be looking to find liberty in safety.
Erin Brown for the Kansan Editorial Board.
Don't overlook a day that celebrates military spouses
Military Spouse Appreciation Day is today. This day was set aside by President Ronald Reagan in 1984 to recognize the sacrifices military spouses make every day to make this country a better, safer place for all of us.
Military spouses don't wear a uniform. They don't receive medals to acknowledge their sacrifices for this nation.Many of you have probably interacted with a military spouse and not even realized it.
These men and women serve silently, doing all the things normal Americans do. They also pick up and move across the country and start their lives over approximately every year to 18 months.
They spend countless hours as the volunteer backbone of our nation, spending year after year calmly and quietly carrying on, while in the back of their minds they are worrying that the last phone call they got from their
service member, which was garbled and cut off in mid-sentence, is the last time they'll hear his or her voice. They worry that the knock on the door will mean their loved one is not coming home. They worry over their children who carry that same burden of worry.
Military families don't ask for very much. But on this day our nation has set aside to honor these sacrifices, I implore you to look around and find some of the Military and National Guard spouses in your neighborhood and say thank you.
More importantly, ask if you can help them ease their load, even for a day. Show the world that "United We Stand."
Nathan Unnh is a political science major from Olathe.
What do you think about the University adding gender- neutral restrooms?
143 total votes
Yes
No
I don't care.
I don't know.
Results from: KANSAN.COM
SOCIAL MEDIA
Time to clear up some misunderstandings on atheism
My name is Ali, and I'm an atheist. This makes me part of one of the least-liked and least-trusted minorities in the United States, even though we're as educated, patriotic, kind and trustworthy as any other group. We just believe in one less god than a lot of people. I'd like to talk about some false assumptions some people hold regarding atheists.
First, atheism is necessarily a pessimistic, nihilistic, selfish position. One can certainly be despairing and aimless and want only the worst for your fellow humans, but out of all the theists I know that doesn't describe one.
Personally, non-belief in a god or an afterlife is invigorating. If there's nothing after this, better make this life great, right? If nothing super-natural is going to step in and help people and save the world, I guess that's my job.
This is not to say that those with religious faith all sit on their hands
BY ALI FREE
afree@kansan.com
Compassion is not divinely bestowed. I think it's pretty human, and someone better versed in issues of morality could write a great column about our evolution to be compassionate among our in-group and how altruism is beneficial, and so on
and wait for divine intervention to fix their problems, or that they don't do great humanitarian work. I know they do. They should keep on keeping on.
All I can say is that some of the most selfless individuals I know, those who dedicate their lives to improving humanity, are atheists.
Second, atheism requires faith. This is possibly the most perplexing charge leveled against atheism, as most atheists are skeptics and reject any proposition not based in evidence. Faith and evidence are completely different ways of understanding knowledge, and religious people accept the former as valid while nontheists do not.
Atheism can be either a simple lack of belief in a god (weak atheism), or a conclusion based on observations (strong atheism). In either case, it does not have to be dogmatic and it can be open to the possibility of the supernatural. For me, "I'm an atheist" translates into "Based on the current evidence, I do not believe in a supernatural being that plays or has played any discernible role in the universe." It doesn't take faith to not believe something — does a Christian require faith to not believe in Vishnu? It also doesn't take faith to draw a conclusion, as long as you
admit that it's falsifiable.
Third, all atheists are hell-bent (ha!) on maliciously destroying your way of life and ripping to shreds everything you hold dear. Some are, maybe. I don't identify myself among them. I'll talk about religion with you and if you're open to it, I'll talk about the many serious problems I find with certain religions. Otherwise, I will keep my more vitriolic opinions to myself. I'm not trying to "convert" you, but we can still challenge each other in the name of personal growth.
Did this column strike a nerve? Want to see, meet and befriend examples of pleasant atheists? Pick our brains? Listen to engaging speakers? ReasonFest is this weekend in the Union!
Free is a sophomore in womens studies from Blue Springs, Mo.
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