FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 2011
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
PAGE 6A
opinion
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is it bad that I've considered taking up cigars just because I think they would further the air of cultured masculinity I've developed with my fondness for suits and scotch?
That moment when a fire alarm goes off and everyone looks around at each other for a moment and then goes back to whatever they were doing.
If you refer to your dwelling as a "crib" then I will treat you like a baby. And an idiot.
I'm ambedextrous so I always live life on the edge.
I like how the horoscopes in the paper basically say the same thing everyday. Aries averages around a 7 every day and always has something to do with creativity.
Who had the bright idea to start testing the fire alarms in Anschutz at 6 a.m.?
Two life goals: one, become Indiana Jones; two, rob a coffee shop, Pulp Fiction fiction. Oh ya.
With all this media frenzy over the British Prince's wedding, I suggest we have our own honorary royal family for the U.S. ... I nominate mine.
Anybody else notice the campus-wide Tulip massacre?
Gas prices have officially risen higher than my GPA.
What I hate about KU: classes and classwork. What I like about KU: women.
Dear rec center, I wish there were a place where one could use the free weights without the risk of being laughed at by testosterone-fueled males. Regards, Simply trying to get in shape.
I refuse to believe that Jesus Christ is the true son of God ... until I see the long-form birth certificate.
I know we were only trapped in the elevator for like a minute, but thanks for semi-offering to share your McDonald's had it been for longer, random stranger! :)
Every day I plan on my friend saying at least one person is hot but today, I felt embarrassed at the gym when she got caught pointing at someone. I think next time around I'll just walk
Mario Chalmers, Nick Collison and Darrell Arthur all going hard in the playoffs, Rock Chalk!!
away.
Math professor or rock star, I can't tell the difference!
Three people shouldn't be cuddling in Budig. It's just uncomfortable to look at.
I don't know why, but in graduate school I've unlearned the preschool task of tying my shoes correctly.
Dear sorority girl. Must you bathe yourself in fragrance? Sincerely, Choking Asmatic
I'm so glad Peyton Hillis, the underdog, beat Vick, the dog killer, for the Madden 12 cover vote!
Safety on K-10 can't wait for another study
EDITORIAL
Recently, a tragic crossword crash on Kansas Highway 10 killed two Eudora residents, including a five-year-old boy. This has prompted public officials to act and garnered Gov. Sam Brownback's attention.
Officials have looked at the highway several times before. We hope this time, their efforts will yield results.
Officials are responding to what they perceive as a dangerous stretch of road. This was the third wrong-way fatality crash in K-10 since August. According to the Kansas Department of Transportation, from 2000 to 2010, 19 people have died and 756 were injured in a total of 561 injury accidents on K-10 between Lawrence and Interstate 435.
Eudora mayor Scott Hobson asked Brownback to have the state place wire
or cable barriers along the highway's median, as a way to hinder or slow down traffic that might cross over into the wrong lane.
Brownback has responded with a letter to Kansas Department of Transportation secretary Deb Miller.
Transportation secretary Dee Minter. In his letter, Brownback calls for KDOT to communicate with Hobson about his thoughts and concerns, and also to form a local group to include in discussion and decision making.
Brownback also ordered KDOT to immediately begin designing a project to widen shoulders and add rumble strips along the Douglas County stretch of K-10. This has already been done in Johnson County, and although this measure would likely not have prevented the most recent tragic crash, it is an important safety improvement
that could be implemented immediately while waiting to evaluate and plan for cable barriers.
Most importantly Brownback has ordered KDOT to immediately begin an update of the previous study on cable barriers on this section of K-10.
cable barriers in every three years KDOT reviews all state four-lane highways. This section of K-10 did not qualify for cable barriers in a 2008 study, compared with two other four-lane roads near Topeka and Wichita with higher fatality rates. K-10 would be considered again in a 2012 study, but the governor has ordered the study to re-open immediately.
K-10 is heavily traveled by students who commute to the University from the Kansas City area. Although the number of actual deaths might be lower than other highways, hundreds
of accidents occur on K-10 every year. This highway should be re-evaluated for cable barriers, and in the meantime other safety measures should be implemented. KDOT should respond to the governor's and other public officials' concerns.
One more tragic death as a result of a crossover accident is one too many. If barriers would prevent another fatality, then KDOT should take the necessary steps to re-evaluate K-10, and cable barriers should be installed. Especially amidst talk of perhaps increasing the speed limit on K-10 from 70 mph to 75 mph, cable barriers would make the road safer for all drivers.
Erin Brown for the Kansan Editorial Board.
Owners deserve the choice of when to close up shop
The April 28 column "Freedom is found inside a gold-tin wrapper" by Aaron Harris displays a fundamental lack of understanding about what freedom is.
Essentially, Harris is offended because someone of a different belief decided to close shop to celebrate a holiday. What he and others who feel the same should understand is that others have freedom too, and freedom means deciding which days you want to open your business.
It is not freedom when you cannot celebrate a holiday because someone of a different religion (which atheism is for the purposes of this debate) demands that you come in to work to make them a burrito.
On another note it is ignorant to assume that Christians are demanding that people of other religions keep their doors open on holidays. A simple Google search for "restaurant closed yom kippur" reveals
1,250,000 results, many of which at a glance appear to be American establishments
The reaction from the general public is not Harris' imagined outrage but a simple "oh well" as the customer just eats somewhere else that day. Harris cannot claim he was denied his burrito without warning, a list of days the stores are closed is available on Chipotle's website and they probably had notices within their restaurant as well.
The definition of "freedom" in this article was narrow and self-serving. In conclusion I present a slightly altered quote from George Orwells 1984, "War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength, burritos whenever you want them are a human right."
Nathan Unruh is a political science major from Olathe.
What's your biggest pet peeve with professors?
89 total votes
Stretching lectures out to take up the full time when it's completely unnecessary
Unclear grading methods
Not posting grades/assignments to Blackboard when they say they will
Incoherent/gibberish notes
Speaking in monotone
Bad jokes
Results from:
Did you use protection when you Facebook poked me?
This is usually coming from users with explicitly sexual profile pictures. You know, like those guys with 2.0 mega-pixel mobile-upload masterpieces of themselves standing shirtless in front of a bathroom mirror. I did not consent to seeing you in a bath towel.
Oh-em-gee, let's talk about issues with Facebook flirting, as some people have been assaulting my page lately, and it's high time I voice my concern against this social (network) injustice.
There are some girls out there who
SOCIAL MEDIA
And even if you're poking the other person back, aren't you just returning the favor because you feel like it's a task to be completed before you can log-off? And then it becomes this hourly ritual, completely necessary to feel better about yourself by giving someone else attention and contributing to his or her overall emotional and psychological health? You can't just go around poking people you don't know over and over again! Totz not OK.
BY JAMES CASTLE jcastle@kansan.com
Is there anything more violating than being poked by a cyber-stranger? Whatever happened to adding the person, starting a nice chat and reading/liking a couple statuses before moving to second base? The Millionaire Matchmaker would probably kick you out of her socially-awkward-rich-guy-for-gold-digger's club. And it's intruding enough to poke someone you don't know, but to repeat this action after I've clicked the little X and declined to reciprocate? Get out of my personal space, bitch.
To effectively mitigate this harassment, users should take care in having good self-awareness online. Send a message to someone saying hello, or start a chat with that person, before poking him. If they don't reciprocate the poke, that probably means you should stop right there, before someone gets seriously irked.
would like to play innocent, but, even as a full-blown faggy-baggy, completely desensitized to their ways, I am not negligent of the here's-my-cleavage-in-the-car snapshots. Oh yes, I see what your species does, and I do not want that in my face.
Although this virtual debaucheery is appalling, the most atrocious behavior of all is pestering someone's wall. Habitually writing on a person's wall and commenting on her status is a serious breach of privacy, which could easily land you on the block list or in the "Hide this from" box.
And if you're going to post a photo
of your awkwardly-angled-cleavage or a mobile-bathroom-mirror classic (because I may be calling the kettle black with this one), just be sure it isn't your primary profile picture; this at least saves that great-mystery-revealed for people who intentionally inquire into your albums.
Lastly, don't batter another person's wall, no matter how much you might think they enjoy your pathetic daily well-wishing and the publicizing of your social encounters on campus, because we're all secretly laughing behind your back about how cra-cra you are - elle-em-a-oh, elle-em-a-oh
Bee-tee-dubs, in some cases like these, where the other person won't lay off your nuts, it's definitely OK to delete the creep. Unfriending is like mace for Facebook.
Castle is a junior from Stilwell in political science & human sexuality
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