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THURSDAY,FEBRUARY 22,2007 WWW.KANSAN.COM
EDITORIAL: Be safe when drinking and don't drive. Leave your car parked overnight and chance a ticket rather than drive after a few drinks.
E-mail opinion@kansan.com
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
PAGE 7A
》 OUR VIEW
Leave your car parked overnight, avoid DUI
In any basic economics class students learn cost benefit analysis. However, most students don't need a book because we
You don't even have to know what a cost benefit analysis is to know that $2 is cheaper than the legal fees from a DUI.
all do this multiple times a day. Here's an easy one: a $2 ticket for leaving your car downtown or a DUI? The answer should be obvious. However many Massachusetts Street connoisseurs have trouble answering this one after a few too many drinks.
Clearly in negative wind chills driving is optimal to walking. The problem with this is many students are determined to leave with everything they came with; this includes the car.
If drinkers can't get Safe Ride leave your car downtown. Call a sober friend to pick you up. Car are just as safe downtown as they are in an apartment parking lot. Have a friend drive you to your car in the morning. It's a slight inconvenience, but anything involving police is going to be more than an inconvenience
If you're picking up your
car after a wild Friday night,
try to get there before 9:30
a.m. Anything after this early morning wake up is fair game
for a parking ticket. For the lucky partiers that put off their fun until Saturday night, don't worry about rushing to your car Sunday morning. Sunday is a day of rest for Lawrence Parking Control too. There are no parking tickets issued on Sundays or holidays.
Even if your car does receive a ticket for its extended stay downtown, it's only two dollars. You don't even have to know what a cost benefit analysis is to know that two dollars is cheaper than the legal fees from a DUI. Two dollars is cheaper than two Cokes on campus. Besides, the drive to your car in the morning can provide a great opportunity for your roommate to fill you in on the missing pieces of the night.
— Tasha Riggins for the editorial board.
Ves Benson/KL
COMMENTARY
Technology still changing the world
We live in a technological age with instant communication; wireless connections and life-saving, medical technology. Yet some people seem to think of these things as trivial. This is not
BY ADAM SAVERINO
KANSAN COLUMNIST
OPINION@KANSAN.COM
trivial. This is anything but true.
When I was a kid, I was told the future would contain flying cars, robots and a daily commute to the moon. We don't quite have those things yet, but we're getting closer to them everyday. We live in an age of amazing technological breakthroughs.
Many of the items you use everyday are more advanced than they are given credit for. Coffee makers, do a number of things that are quite remarkable. They heat water, and percolate coffee grounds. Both of those actions are things that don't occur naturally. Some coffee makers even have a timer so they can automatically make you a morning pick-me-up. The ability to make a device that can do all of that in such a small container is no easy feat.
If that doesn't convince you that technology today is advanced, try this. Computers are arguably one of the most important inventions of our time. They are capable of calculating thousands of bits of problems a second. That's not something you can do. Computers are also
advancing at an exponential rate, there's no knowing what they will be capable of tomorrow.
There are more amazing things that will be around in the next
few months and years. One amazing new thing coming out is the Apple iPhone, which will combine a phone and iPod into one compact — albeit expensive — package.
Another one of the more spectacular things coming along is space tourism. Several small companies are currently developing crafts that will take people into space for a few minutes of weightlessness. Hilton also has plans to build a hotel in space. Start saving now.
The technology of today is nowhere near what science fiction can dream up. At the current rate it'll be several decades before we have any of those things. Don't be discouraged, even though you're not drinking cocktails on Mars while your robot butler waxes your hover-car. We have some amazing technology right now. We may not have all of the awesome technologies we dreamed wed have when we were younger, but the future is here.
Saverino is an Albuquerque, N.M., junior in aerospace engineering.
>> COMMENTARY
Minster: North Korea not a threat to U.S., but Japan needs protection
In violation of previous promises, North Korea began a nuclear program, turned it towards weapons development and tested a finalized
Last week, after grueling negotiations, representatives of six nations announced that in a few months North Korea now has a new set of promises to break. The United States and others will supply North Korea with enough oil to keep their prison-camp nation running. In doing so, the U.S. has thrown Japan under the bus by insisting they remain defenseless.
weapon. Now North Korea has won substantial concessions, none of which will feed its perpetually starving populace.
North Korea is a mere intellectual exercise to the U.S., a threat that won't mature for a decade or more, but North Korea has tested missiles over Japan and kidnapped Japanese citizens. To Japan, the threat is immediate and immense.
A nation as destitute as North Korea sees Japan as nothing more than the defenseless treasure it is. Post-war insistence on a demilita-
rized Japan has weakened it too much. By accepting another round of North Korean promises when world opinion is most ripe for serious pressure, the U.S.s special brand
BY BRANDON MINSTER
of attention-deficit diplomacy has put Japan in real danger.
The stable democracy of Japan is no more a threat than Canada or Britain. Asian nations who oppose
KANSAN COLUMNIST OPINION@KANSAN.COM
a rearmed Japan are fighting a half-century old battle that has already been won, and are hurting their prospects in the looming future. The time has come to allow Japan to
protect itself like any other nation. The U.S. must initiate this step to assuage the fears of allies such as South Korea and Taiwan, who could interpret a Japanese effort as
a threat.
What such allies must understand is that a strong and independent Japan is in their best interest. South Korea and Taiwan will be safer with a rearmed Japan to counterbalance aggressive nations such as North Korea and China. The U.S. will also be safer — and richer, too — as Japan defends itself. North Korea will be faced with a committed counterpart who will be less accepting of broken promises.
A North Korean threat is too close for Japan to not take it seriously. History has tied Japan's hands, but the U.S. can lead the way to regional acceptance of a rearmed country. Last week's deal could have been announced with the headline, "United States has better things to do." How much longer this will be true is uncertain. What is certain though, is that by then, it will be too late. The remedy for today's U.S. attention-deficit diplomacy is Japanese strength.
Minster is a Lawrence junior ine economics.
FREE FOR ALL
Call 864-0500
Free for All callers have 20 seconds to speak about any topic they wish. Kansas editors reserve the right to omit comments. Slainterous and obscene statements will not be printed. Phone numbers of all incoming calls are recorded
are recorded.
I found an iPod in Wesco second floor bathroom, and I sold it.
I wish you could say "fucktard" in the paper. Come on, put it in!
luckiest man alive.
If you're not a Fine Arts student, don't park in the Fine Arts parking lot. We actually need them. We carry a lot of stuff!
Damn! I don't know how many other people saw this, but Mario Chalmers just got bitched out!
luckiest man alive.
The naked guy in my chemistry class could beat up Chuck Norris.
luckiest man alive.
Dear Britney Spears, you cannot be in "V for Vendetta 2".
To the girl who just punked Mario Chalmers in the courtyard of the Towers: Good job.
luckiest man alive.
Sherron Collins should have his own theme song.
The red-headed girl that works at Watson is probably the most beautiful woman alive, so whoever is dating her is probably the luckiest man alive.
To the person that called in and said Antarctica is the largest continent in the world: it's not. It's actually the fifth largest continent in the world.
in the world.
Ladies of KU, my roommate is having trouble with the ladies. He's struggling. Please do me a favor and help a brother out. He needs to net laid.
图
Some of the girls in Oliver are so fucking stupid. God, what a bunch of retards.
To the person who put a hole in my blow-up sex pal Cathy: I will find you!
in the world.
in the world.
Josh, don't forget to tape Ameri can Idol for me, okay?
I just found porn on my boy- friend's computer, and I'm pissed!
in the world.
to get laid.
Free-for-All, why don't you ever print anything that I say?
I thought I saw a naked guy in chem class, too! He's not bad looking, and I'm a guy!
earlier.
earlier.
I think the Campanile was just playing "Scotty Doesn't Know" from "Eurotrip."
earlier.
earlier.
Yay!
I just want to let all of you know that if you follow someone too close on the highway, you can get a ticket for it.
I've got an idea for the new Wescoe renovations. How about we get some desks that don't hurt your ass after sitting in them for 10 minutes?
To the girl that got punched in the face on the fourth floor of Elsworth: It's about time, and I'm surprised it hasn't happened
dow. Obviously, they don't read Free-for-All.
Some idiot hung the KU flag upside down on top of Fraser Hall, today.
No, it's skirt and flip-flop weather!
dow. Obviously, they don't read Free-for-All.
Blue Volvo, believe it or not. "Yield to Pedestrians" means don't hit
Caution: Beer + Pizza Shuttle = Explosive diarrhea. Weird things come out of me.
dow. Obviously, they don't read Free-for-All.
dow. Obviously, they don't read Free-for-All.
One of these days, I'm going to catch a campus squirrel.
I just saw someone driving around with a parking ticket on their win-
me.
To the mom who made out with in St. Louis: Thank you. That was awesome.
-
Yay! Warm weather! The Uggs epidemic is finally over!
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EDITORIAL BOARD
Gabriella Souza, Nicole Kelley, Patricia Ross, Courtney Hagen
Natalie Johnson, Alison Kieler, Tasha Riggins and McKay
Stangler
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