WEDNESDAY, APRIL 3, 2013
PAGE
opinion
FREE FOR ALL
Text your FFA submissions to 785-289-8351
If you don't know how to flush a toilet then you shouldn't be allowed in college.
Wouldn't it be ironic to die in the living room?
Guess who failed to successfully log out on April Fools Day?
that moment when your teacher makes the test cumulative without telling anyone...
Telling my mom and boyfriend that I have gonorrhea as an April Fools joke was hilarious, until the fact that they believed me sunk in.
I bet the kid who referred to WSU as "out west" feels like an idiot. He's getting torched today lot.
CAPS LOCK IS CRUISE CONTROL FOR ADHD!
The third best team in Kansas didn't make it to the Final Four, they lost to La Salle.
You're working out, listening to music,
and reading a book. I wonder how much
you really got accomplished.
Wanna get away? Fly Southwest to Wichita for only $49 dollars!!
Question from a bus driver: why are people so afraid to pull the "stop request" cord?
Okay, let's agree. Wichita is south-west of us. That way everyone wins.
The crossword is unnecessarily hard when there's no down or across columns.
I have a Wichita State ID from when I took some classes there. Does that mean I can say I'm a shocker and a Jawkey?
The line for western Kansas begins at Topeka. This has been decided.
Malott reeks of nerd.
So, uh, I miss basketball.
The hot dog man is back on Wescoe Beach. This means SPRING!!!
The FFA, a place where you can share your deepest darkest secrets, and no one will know it was you... except for the Editor. Editor's note: I don't have your name or anything. I'm just as clueless as everyone else. Except I have your phone number.
I did not just scratch my junk. I was casually checking if my zipper was up.
Wake up late, throw on random clothes, forgot belt, ran to class, missed a quiz, and found out my shirt was inside-out on the way home. Tuesdays suck.
So there may be concealed weapons and a tobacco-free campus in the near future. What's going on?
I can't even sit on a bench without being a walking campaign add. Stupid sidewalk chalk.
Someday I'm going to write drop kick on every sign referencing Murphy Hall.
DCIAL MEDIA
Third best team? K-State didn't make the Final Four.
New Twitter offers insight to crushes
If you maintain some sort of social media presence, you've probably seen it by now. It's the newest hit Twitter account on campus. Its bio says it's "here to make things weird at the University of Kansas." It called @KUSecretAdmirer; it may be offline right now — its moderators told the Kansan that Twitter temporarily suspended it for following too many accounts over the last few days — but it still has lots of students talking.
So by all means, let's talk about it.
Basically, each tweet that the account publishes is something that's been sent to them either by direct message or email. They're supposed to just be "crushes," but if you read them, they're mostly blatant, dirty and unfiltered-yet clever hypotheticals about how much someone wants to have sex with that guy or girl in their biology lab. You know, those horny thoughts that never quite make the trip from your mind out past your lips.
The best part is that you can say whatever you want to your "crush" while maintaining whatever level of anonymity you choose. No matter how specific or vague you are about your iden
tity, you're able to easily get those feelings off your chest. There's a pretty good chance they're going to see it, too — the account racked up 3,000 followers in just three days.
The account's moderators (there are three of them) spoke to me via email, on condition of anonymity, about how it all started. They said that the idea came after they began seeing anonymous crush-confessions sprout up at other universities across the country. Most took the form of public Google Docs, where students could freely add quips about whatever they'd like to do with whomever after class in a sticky, steamily closet. They decided to do something similar for KU students, and wasted little time before hitting the streets, literally, to spread the word.
"We dressed up in all black and chalked up campus in the middle of the night," the moderators said. You know — the Kansas way to advertise.
Then, they began following other students and asking popular KU parody accounts to mention the account to its followers. By Monday, people everywhere from Anschutz to The Exchange were chuckling over as they read
through all the proposed sexual deeds students were publicly offering to their "crushes."
But, as you know, there's always going to be a group of people who have a problem with stuff like this. When certain things are said and certain names are dropped, issues of defamation and harassment can arise. While one could argue that the majority of @KUS secret Admirer's tweets might be flattering, though exceedingly vulgar, to their intended recipients, there's always a possibility that someone may take offense to a tweet that mentions them.
Since the moderators, who
Since the moderators, who — for now, at least — are anonymous, don't reveal each source's identity, there isn't much action that could be taken against them from a legal standpoint. They haven't received any blowback yet, either; @KUsecretAdmirer's
suspension had nothing to do with the nature of its tweets. That's likely because, unlike some of their predecessors from other anonymous gossip or confession platforms around the country.
The account's moderators insist that they won't publish anything that they feel may be malicious.
"We try to keep it drama free," the moderators said. "We only post 'admirers', not cat fights, purposeful insults or intentions to make or break something."
From the looks of it, they've kept their word up to this point. Though a lot of the tweets contain some pretty creative, and close-to obscene sexual propositions, it doesn't look like anyone's trying to dish out any serious dirt — they'd rather just get seriously dirty.
Regardless of whether or not you're a fan of this new, horny movement on Twitter, you have to acknowledge the fact that there's a market for students who want to both anonymously and semi-anonymously voice sexual attraction for their peers — and that market's bigger than you think. Look at Tinder, the app that lets you privately indicate whether or not you're attracted to your peers and lets you know
if the other person shares that attraction. Or look at Lulu, an app that some have dubbed as the "Yelp for guys," that allows girls to rate guys they've hooked up with. Tons of students dable with apps like these, so what makes @KUSecretAdmirer any different?
It's really just a proverbial classroom desk where anyone with a pen — or in this case, Twitter account — can etch in whatever they please. Somebody may write something that you either enjoy or dislike, but no matter what, you'll never know who wrote it. Luckily, though, there are moderators who keep it from getting malicious. It's just fun.
We're all just a bunch of horny college kids, and @KUSExtAdmirer is a clear-cut example of that. This is a fun time. After all, we don't have much left before we're all doomed to cubicles and 9:30 p.m. bed-times for the rest of our lives.
Barbosa is a junior majoring in journalism from Leawood.
INNOVATION
Internet will force businesses to change, but won't end them
The Internet changes we've seen in our generation have forced several companies to restructure their business plans.
When I was 7 years old, my mom had a Macintosh computer and track-ball that she used to do her graphic designing. The huge machine was loud and produced a funny smell that I can only describe as hot metal. Boot-up took about 15 minutes, and if you were lucky, it wouldn't crash.
We kept it in the basement office where my mom worked from home designing the layout for newspapers, magazines, invoices, and even billboards. On the bookshelf, numerous stacks of paper shuffled unevenly on shelves sat next to a spindle of important contacts and a shoe-box filled with what I assume was every single floppy disc ever held by human hands. What little space that was left over was occupied by a very large, very loud Laser Jet printer, a black fax machine, and a random table in the corner that served no purpose other than being one more spot to put stacks of miscellaneous paper.
From time to time my mom would let me watch her work and I would help her build marquees and templates. But what really beat the bunch was a new thing she had that was just beginning to spread across the country. After a quick dial and some agonizing noise we heard that friendly voice say "Welcome! You've got mail!" for the first time.
The Internet was officially in our home.
from using encyclopedia books to software like Encarta to internet databases like Wikipedia.
Our generation is one of the most unique in American history. I was born in 1990 and I remember the transition specifically
It was our generation that grew up watching it develop from text-based websites to goofy websites with little flash videos to the all-encompassing home of information, media and communication that it is today. It was our generation that provided the content.
I remember the different yet similar layouts of Google. I remember going from Xanga to Myspace to Facebook. I even remember websites tattered with moving GIFs, traffic counters, and the infamous "Under Construction" page. It was such that as I grew up, the Internet grew up with me.
Here I am at 22 years old and the World Wide Web is bigger than ever before. We carry it on our phones and tablets, we can access it anywhere wirelessly and video can be transmitted through simple lines of code that stream quickly (or even live) in HD. You can't even be a functioning member of society without the use of a computer and the Internet.
As the Internet evolved, copyright laws faced a crisis. Intellectual property was no longer safe and the world underwent a major transition in how media was acquired.
now sit at the fingertips of almost every person in the world, while record companies, newspapers, magazines and movie industries struggle to adapt to a new environment. The feeling is that writers, musicians and filmmakers are all going to disappear, the result of not being able to make income on their property.
Things that can be duplicated an infinite number of times without ever losing a bit of quality
They are right about one thing: the Internet will change the industry, and the Internet has and will continue to kill companies. However, it won't be an end to creativity and culture.
On the contrary, it has already become a cultural renaissance of creativity. You can find musicians releasing their songs for free just to be heard, writers writing just to be read, photographers, sculptors, craftsmans and painters all doing it because they love it. How will they make money? There are ways. By being hired on as full-time members of various web-affiliations, or letting everyone hear the music, but pay to see it. My favorite example is iTunes LP, which provides a proper incentive to actually purchase an album instead of simply downloading it.
I grew up with the internet; similarly, the internet grew up with me. We are both still incredibly young, and both have a long time ahead. My point is it will happen in time. We all will make it happen. Here's to a bright future of new industry and communication. We are riding the wave of the most important invention in the history of the world.
Bartocci is a junior majoring in journalism from Kansas City.
UNIVERSITY
Jayhawks' loss won't stop March Madness
The Jayhawks lost. You know it, I know it, and unfortunately there's nothing we can do as fans to resurrect the 2012-2013 men's basketball season for Bill Self and company. So what do we do now? There is a wide range of coping mechanisms for fans of "championship or bust" programs like ours when that dreadful day - losing in the NCAA tournament - arrives.
There are the fans who throw their hands in the air and proclaim defiantly that they are done watching the rest of the tournament. Others will watch, but the intensity and passion for each game going forward will be absent. And then there are the fans who stay emotionally attached to the tournament and pay close attention to what the Final Four has in store. I consider myself a part of this category.
The sting of last Friday night's 87-85 overtime loss to Michigan in the sweet Sixteen continues to tinger. The manner in which the Jayhawks lost – blowing a double-digit lead with less than three minutes left in regulation – will haunt the Jayhawks until next season begins. Whether you're a die-hard fan or an occasional follower of the team, we can all agree that this is a game that the Jayhawks let slip between their fingers. But is this enough heartbreak to make watching the rest of the tournament a begrudging task? No. Not even close.
Lost in all of the hoopla of the Jayhawks receiving a No. 1 seed and winning their first two games of the tournament is the ever-important lesson about the beauty that is March Madness. In a college basketball season that seen more parity than any
in recent memory, "top-ranked" squads frequently have been humbled. It's only fitting that this year's Sweet 16 featured its first-ever 15 seed, a 12 seed and a nine seed (a member of the Final Four). Top seeds dropped faster than a politician's promise after election day. In a season of constant uncertainty, it's only fitting that the Jayhawks drop a game that seemed so certain to be in the bag.
So this is where we are now. As I type this I'm watching Michigan celebrate a Final Four berth and can't help but wonder what could have been. We tend to bemoan our tragic tournament loss so much that we miss out on some of the spectacular "March Magic" that doesn't wait up for us. All we can do now is accept reality. The state of Kansas will be represented by one team in the 2013 Final Foul, and the word "Kansas" is nowhere to be found on that team's jerseys. That being said, I can't wait to see what Wichita State can do in Atlanta, and you'd better believe I'll be watching every step of the ride, regardless of whether my team is a part of the ride or not.
Rogue is a senior majoring in journalism from Overland Park. Follow him on Twitter @stephaneeroque4
CAMPUS CHIRPS BACK
@jhonjhonman
@UOK Opinion wouldnt it be funny if u spelled words wrong 2mrw & then people got mad & then u said LOL it was all a joke got u guys
What do you all want to tell me to put in the paper?
Follow us on Twitter @UKD_Uponion. Tweet us your opinions,
and we just might publish them.
HOW TO SUBMIT A LETTER TO THE EDITOR
TER MEDIUMLINE
Send letters to kansasanopdesk@gmail.com.
Write LETTER TO THE EDITOR in the e-mail subject line.
LETTER GUIDELINES
**Length:** 300 words
The submission should include the author's name, grade and hometown. Find our full letter to the editor policy online at kansan.com/letters.
Hannah Wide, editor-in-chief
edward@manila.edu
Sarah McCabe, managing editor
smcdae@manila.edu
Nikki Wentling, managing editor
weeting@manila.edu
@AdamDechtman
@UDK_Dpinion absolutely nothing
theend
Dylan Lysey, opinion editor
dysen@KansasCan.com
Elise Farrington, business manager
earning@KansasCan.com
Jacob Saider, sales manager
jinder@KansasCan.com
CONTACT US
2
Mcatcol Gibson, general manager and news adviser
mgibson@kansan.com
Jon Schiltt, sales and marketing adviser
jschltt@kansan.com
THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Members of the Kranian Editorial Board are Hannah Wise, Sarah McBee, Niki Wentling, Dylan Lysen, Elise Farrington and Jacso Sader.
---