KU students are going High Tech
Affordable laptops, pagers, cellular phones help students make the grade
Valerie Bontrager / KANSAN
Valerie Bontrager / KANSAN Mark Epstein, Leawood third year law student, uses his hand-held cellular phone to call clients, friends and family. "The best thing is that there is no long-distance charge." Epstein said.
Jerry Wohletz, Kansas City, Kan. senior, uses his lap-top computer to discover the solution of a non-linear vibration. Wohletz got the computer so he could work on his aerospace projects.
Valerie Bontrager / KANSAN
By Brian James Kansan staff writer
Going to class made simple: grab a pen, a notebook and make an attempt to get there on time. Maybe throw on a hat.
But for some students, doing that just isn't good enough anymore.
They grab their cellular phones, pack away laptop computers, wear pagers and send electronic mail to their professors. They are not necessarily high-tech heads
— they just want to make their life and schoolwork easier.
High-tech help is great, they say. But one of the most important reasons they have electronic gizmos with all the bells and whistles is that high-tech is no longer high priced.
Markdowns on portable computers, for example, have convinced some students they need them for class, say retail computer store managers.
Jerry Wohletz, Kansas City, Kan., senior, takes his laptop to campus every day.
He uses it to type in notes and homework, he said. By toting his own computer to campus, he said he avoided long lines in the computer labs.
Wohletz said most professors did not mind laptops in class as long as the units were not overly distracting.
"It beats taking notes, running home and typing them in on a desktop computer," Wohletz said. "This way I can do everything on campus and get more done."
Some professors even think laptops would benefit students in their class.
"I wouldn't want to punish the students who don't have one, but it would be to everyone's benefit if they had a laptop by their junior year," said James Locke, assistant professor of aerospace engineering. "If everybody had to depend on one, I could teach the glass differently."
At the Burge Union Technology Center.
laptops sold to students make up about 20 percent of all computer sales. That number has increased in the past year, said Jim Dunin, one of the managers.
"What do they tell me they're going to do with them? Most often they'll say, 'I'm going to take it to the library,'" Duniven said. "They like to work on papers right there. You don't need to check out anything — the only thing you drag back home is the computer."
The laptops are compatible with normal desktop computers, but most do not have as clear a screen as normal desktop monitors, he said.
Dunliven said the usual battery charge for a laptop lasted three to four hours. If the laptop has a color screen, the charge lasts only 90 minutes.
He said most students knew the basics about computers and how to operate them.
"The 10 percent that don't know much or anything about them come in here and at least know what they want to use them
for." he said.
The laptop computer is not the only technology that makes students lives' a little easier.
Pat Warren, Overland Park graduate student, said a cellular phone helped him when he was in a hurry.
"It's polite to call ahead to meetings and tell the people you might be late," Warren said. "It's hands because my
More students are traveling around campus and town with cellular phones.
life runs about five minutes behind."
The professor did not mind,but Warren said that may have been the last time he had the phone on campus.
He said one of the few times he carried his phone to campus, it rang during a meeting with a professor.
Warren said he bought the cellular phone to save money on his phone bill. He said he easily had cut his phone bill by more than $30 each month by going cellular because cellular calls to Kansas City, Mo., are not considered long distance.
Mark Epstein, Leawood graduate student, said saving money was also one of the reasons he bought a cellular phone.
His phone had come in handy more than a few times, he said.
Once he used the cellular phone to help police track the driver of a large pickup truck that "literally drove all over" his small sports car.
"The driver was fleeing the scene of a crime and basically ran over the front of my car while trying to get away," he said.
Epstein also owns a remote pager. He said he liked having a pager because it made him aware of phone calls he otherwise might have missed.
Dan Murrow, Kansas City, Kan, freshman, said he liked having a pager because it allowed for more privacy. He said he gave his pager number to women instead of his normal telephone number.
"The truck went across a concrete median and into some oncoming traffic and then got away," he said. "That was the end of my pursuit."
Although police knew who the driver was, they never caught him, Epstein said.
Epstein said he called the police on his phone and followed the truck for about five minutes, keeping police informed on where the truck was going.
Also, more students are using electronic mail now to communicate with each other.
"That way, if you don't want to talk to them, you don't have to," he said.
And although students may not be handing out their E-mail addresses at parties or bars, they may find it helpful to get their professors' E-mail addresses.
Some KU professors recommend or even require that students turn in assignments by way of E-mail.
Jim Miller, professor of computer science, said he wanted students to get used to the process of sending mail electronically.
"So many times it's easier than trying to catch a person at home or in the office," he said.
E-mail correspondence between students and faculty is increasing, Miller said.
Miller thinks that technology has become an important part of many students lives.
"It's catching on," he said.
QUIPS AND QUOTES
Rush Limbaugh raises cash for liberal causes
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. — Mayor Neal Coonerty thinks Rush Limbaugh's "See, I Told You So" is worth its weight in baloney — about $8.40. So he’s donating part of the proceeds from the copies he sells at his bookstore to the liberal causes Limbaugh hates.
Coonerty, who owns Bookshop Santa Cruz, said he is fed up with the conservative radio commentator's attacks on Santa Cruz as a left-leaining city.
So he's selling the book for the regular price of $23 but donating the difference between that price and the $8.40 "value" to the National Organization for Women and the Santa Cruz AIDS Project. The book weighs 1.4 pounds.
In the past, Limbaugh has described Santa Cruz, home to a campus of the University of California, as a "true haven for fuzzy-thinking, ultra-left-wing liberals and arrogant politicians with absolutely no business sense."
"We wanted to turn him into a liberal fund-raiser," said Coonerty, who will lose $5.60 per book.
Paulina, Ric and baby make three
Jonathan Raven Ocasek, the couple's first child, was born Nov. 4 and weighed 8 pounds, 3 ounces, publicist Jeff Albright said.
NEW YORK — Model-actress Paulina Porikzova and Ric Ocase, former lead singer for The Cars, have an addition to their family — a son.
A representative for Limbaugh declined to comment Monday.
The Czechoslovakia-born Porikzova was the face that hawked Etea Leander cosmetics until recently when her contract expired. Ocasek, who now sings solo, has a new album titled, "Quick Change World."
Porikzova, 28, and Ocasek, 44, met in 1984 when she starred in the band's "Drive" music video. They have been married since 1989.
Buttafuoco ailed
MINEOLA, N.Y. — Joey Buttafuoco is in jail for having sex with Amy Fisher when she was 16 — a crime he
blames on lust.
The 37-year-old auto body mechanic was sentenced to the maximum, six months in prison, for statutory rape.
"We have to determine whether he's going to be a hero or whether the other inmates are going to be hostile to him," sheriff's lt. Robert Anderson said.
He was put in an 8-by-6-foot cell by himself while officials decide whether he can safely mix with the 1,700 other inmates at the Nassau County Jail.
Judge Jack Mackston handed down the sentence Monday after Fisher came before him and portrayed herself as a young innocent in braces who was swept away by a man with money and flash. A smirking Buttafuoco, dressed in a maroon suit and lizard skin booties, was led away in handcuffs.
In an interview with the TV program "A Current Affair" scheduled for broadcast last night, Buttafuoco described a casual affair driven by "strictly lustful sex. ... Sometimes lust takes me over. It's very painful."
Jackson strain-search?
LOS ANGELES—Police have a warrant to strip-search Michael Jackson to corroborate a 13-year-old boy's allegations he was molested, a source says.
Jackson's lawyers, meanwhile, said the pop superstar was not trying to duck the criminal investigation when he checked into a drug rehabilitation center overseas.
"If Michael Jackson wanted an excuse to stay out of the United States, all he had to do is stay on his tour," lawyer Bertram Fields said. "This is his home. He's coming back. He doesn't intend to desert the United States."
A source speaking on condition of anonymity said Los Angeles police had obtained a warrant to check the boy's description of spots on Jackson's genitals. In February, the singer revealed he had a skin condition known as vitiligo, which can produce white patches.
Compiled from the Associated Press
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NOVEMBER 17,1993 PAGE 9
People and places at the University of Kansas.
calendar
Constance Jeanne Ehrlich, MFA thesis, and James Angus Holbrook, MFA thesis, will have their paintings on display through Nov. 23 in the gallery of the Art and Design building. Free.
Traveling Exhibit: Sacred Ground/Sacred Sky will be on display through Nov. 23 in the gallery on level four of the Kansas Union. Free.
Tour du Jour—"Always There: The African-American Presence in American Quilts" by Nedra Bonds. Kansas Arts Commissioner, quilt artist and historian 12:15 p.m.-12:45 p.m. Thursday at the Kress Gallery in the Spencer Museum of Art. Free.
Lecture—Marie Wilson, artist from Brooklyn, N.Y., will talk about her work in the exhibition "Always There: The African-American Presence in American Quilts 7 p.m. Sunday in the auditorium of Spencer Museum of Art. Free.
Film—"The Learning Tree"(PG), artist Gordon Parks directs a film about his childhood as an African-American boy in Fort Scott, Kan., 2 p.m. Sunday in the auditorium of the Spencer Museum of Art. Free.
Coffee House: comedy, musicians and poetry reading 8 p.m. Thursday at Hawk's Nest Atrium—sign up to perform at SUA box office by 5 p.m. Wed. Free
Hallmark Symposlum—Dan Auman from Line Advertising, Kansas City, Mo., and KU alumnus 6 p.m. Monday at the auditorium in Spencer Museum of Art. Free.
Pretty Ugly Dance Company & Amanda Miller 8 p.m. Wednesday at the Lied Center, public $14 and $16; KU, Haskell and K-12 students $7 and $8; senior citizens and other students $13 and $15.
Visiting Theatre Production: "Silence!" The Court is In Session" written by Vijay Tendulkar, with the State University of New York at Stony Brook 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Sunday at Swarthout Recital Hall, public $6; KU students $3; other students and senior citizens $5.
University Theatre Series: "The Boys Next Door" by Tom Griffin 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday at Crafton-Preyer Theatre, public $8; KU students $4; other students and senior citizens $7.
Fall Concert: KU Collegium Musicum "A Fantasy of 14th Century Music" directed by Daniel Politoske and Marian Wilson, 2 p.m. Sunday at the First United Methodist Church, 946 Vermont. Free.
Student Recital: University Camerata 7:30 p.m. Sunday at Swarthout Recital Hall. Free.
Fall Concert Wind Ensemble conducted by Robert Foster and James Barnes 7:30 p.m. Monday at the Lied Center, public $6; students $3; senior citizens $5.
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