THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2011
PAGE 5A
opinion
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If everything from Missouri has a taint about it and Grandpa Simpson will be deep in the cold, cold ground before he recognizes Missouri, why do we cheer for the Chiefs in Jayhawk country? I've never heard of nice things from Missouri coming west.
Alcohol does NOT make you fat... it makes you lean...against tables, chairs, walls, floors and...unwanted people!!!
Get high by yourself sometimes, you're cool enough to chill with you.
There is a creepy old man sitting on the couch just staring at my table. This is what I get for being a good student? Ugh. Oh Anschutz.. You make me want to punch a baby.
700 miles in two days, with only five hours of sleep, just for a one night stand… god i hate myself in the morning after I wake up.
Dear Dillons, whose bright idea was it to put evaporated milk/sweetened condensed milk in the juice section? Just because it comes in cans doesn't mean you can drink it.
Mrs. E's is not a hotel. If you're gonna make a baby at least go back to your dorm room. Sheesh.
Dear MTV, I'd like my Jersey Shore back. I'm sick of the Ron & Sam Show
Some days, I wonder what happened to my social life. Then I look at my Mammalian Physiology notebook and it's pretty clear where it went!
Arnold Palmer, you are a god among canned drinks.
I heard Selby is a Ravens fan since he's from Baltimore. We should boo him because they beat the Chiefs. (Note: Sarcasm)
Statistically, 6 out of 7 dwarfs aren't happy.
I'm sick of us being ESPN's punching bag. We do things right too, IN CASE YOU HAVEN'T NOTICED!
Participation in RecycleMania represents student respect
Winning isn't everything, but it sure does feel good. That's why students and employees at the University of Kansas need to put on their game faces and get ready to... recyclel RecycleMania a college and university level recycling competition intended to induce environmentally conscious behaviors among college-age people, is happening right now.
Last year, the University collected 184,413 pounds of paper, cardboard, bottles and cans during RecycleMania, and we came in 94th place in the Gorilla Prize category. That's a lot
of recycled material to only place 94th. Just think about the hundreds of pounds of materials that didn't get recycled. If the University could rally together and focus its energy, we could easily come out on top and put Mizzou and K-State to shame. It's time to show the other Big 12 schools that we have more than just an amazing athletics program.
Everyone should be concerned about the environment — competition or no competition.
However, some people need more motivation. So listen up, because here
it is. You are already paying money for the recycling services on campus. That means if you don't recycle you might as well be throwing your money in the garbage can along with those old University Daily Kansans and soda cans. That's like turning down a delicious feast cooked especially for you. It's wasteful. The intention of RecycleMania is to promote better habits by encouraging waste reducing behaviors.
Recycling is about respect. It's about respecting each other enough and doing your part so that the world is still
here for someone else to enjoy. Also, everyone should respect the planet we are living on by taking proper care of it, before it's too late. We need to start making a conscious effort to better the planet because we can't edit or undo these mistakes. It's as easy as putting your empty water bottles in the bin three feet away from the trash can. The longer we wait to address the issue, the larger the problem will grow.
Jessie Blakeborough for the Kansan Editorial Board.
LETTER TO THE EDITORS
US holds moral obligation to support AIDS research
As a resident of Lawrence and an American, I am incredibly blessed. But not everyone in the world is so lucky. HIV is a disease that is entirely preventable, yet 33 million people live with it every day -22 million in sub-Saharan Africa. It is our moral obligation as one of the wealthiest nations in the world to help people help themselves.
With the help of historic legislation from the Bush administration, such as the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief or PEPFAR, over 4 million people in Africa are now on lifesaving antiretroviral drugs, up from just 50,000 in 2005. We can now also achieve the dream
of no child born with HIV by 2015 — something that seemed unimaginable five years ago. This is what America has done — this is America at its best.
This week, Congress is making decisions on the federal budget and setting the course for America's commitment to ending the AIDS epidemic - a commitment that makes up less than one percent of the federal budget. I hope our representatives will do the right thing and keep funding for these life-saving treatments.
Phil Mann is a ONE Member and graduate student in social welfare.
Drug trafficking column fails to discuss issue of demand
Causes of the violence from the drug war are not only a Mexican issue but also a problem caused by a heavy demand created by drug users in the United States.
In her column Thursday, Shauna Blackmon suggested that users of illegal drugs consider where their money is going when they buy their "weekly sack." However, she did not go far enough to say that users should stop the purchase of illegal drugs. What good is it to consider where your money is going if it has no effect on actions?
favor of a product and its company. Americans should not support an illegal business that is run by mobsters who extort and kill for money and power.
Users of marijuana or other narcotics should stop the purchase of illegal drugs that fund the gang wars in Mexico. Lawrence is a town famous for citizens who are responsible consumers. They make sure their purchases are not produced from child labor, sweat shops, animal shops or other bad conditions. People make these choices because they know that every dollar spent is a vote cast in
Too much time is spent combating the supply. Something needs to be done to decrease the demand in the United States for illegal drugs. Options for this include increasing the punishments for users of illegal drugs, creating a greater awareness of the dangers of certain narcotics or legalizing marijuana so that it may be regulated and produced legally.
People may not agree on the best solution but until the government takes further action, citizens need to do their part by not purchasing drugs that maintain their demand and fuel the war in Mexico and other parts of Latin America.
Kevin Neslage is a senior from Wichita.
The Oscars are this weekend. What did you think the WORST movie of the last year was?
Vote now at KANSAN.COM/POLLS
SOCIAL MEDIA ETIQUETTE
Restrain yourself from posting wound pictures
Okay people. I know it's tempting to show the world your bruised up face, or IV needle or your new bloody baby's wiener on Facebook, but please don't.
Before we get into this bullfunctory (yeah, I make up slang! What of it?!), I should preface my argument by stating that I too am guilty of over-sharing my wounds on Facebook. I was bitten by a brown recluse three years ago, and somewhere deeply hidden below the pictures of me wearing my sister's novelty giant sunglasses and wax vampire lips and the pictures of me all bald and crap from playing Daddy Warbucks in my high school's production of "Annie," you can find some ghastly images of the decaying spider wound on my fat gut.
I keep meaning to delete them, because no one wants to flip through pictures of the odd progression of my brown recluse bite. However, since the pictures are a few years old, they probably won't show up in my friends' newsfeeds.
This is, specifically, what I mean. When you post stuff on Facebook, you have to realize that it's up for everyone to see ("if you have a hidden profile, what's stopping a friend from downloading your pictures and posting them on 4Chan or something?" Paranoia says). All these pictures show up in your friends' newsfeeds. And believe me, I don't want to scroll past, "Tonight I made pasta with organic tomatoes and blah blah blah" and then see a giant stitched up incision from your leg surgery or some shiz. This also goes for super-descriptive statuses about your cysts, diarrhea or rashes.
BY CHANCE CARMICHAEL
carmichael@kansan.com
First of all, your friends on Facebook are not your doctors (unless, of course, you friended your doctor – but still, a majority of your friends probably aren't your doctor!), so we really don't need to see how your incisions are healing. And second of all, we simply don't want to see/ hear about it, because we are on Facebook to complain about "Two and a Half Men" or the weather and to awkwardly say "happy birthday" to our high school lab partners. We're not there to look at gross bodily infections.
As mentioned in the beginning, this goes for new parents. Cute pictures of your baby dressed up like a rabbit or something: awesome and adorable. Explicit pictures of the giant tub of afterbirth: ew gross. NO. GET THAT OFF MY NEWSFEED NOW.
It's simple. If you don't want some weir- do shoving their fresh scabs in your face or some acquaintance talking up their vomit or diarrhea with you, then don't post nasty pictures or statuses on Facebook.
Carmichael is a junior from Mulvane in Creative Writing.
CULTURE
New texting laws remind us to common sense when using technology
Technology is taking over our lives. We have dashboards with built-in web browsers, phones with webcam-like abilities and now cars that will read us our Facebook newsfeeds while driving. We tend to forget the days when civilization operated without cell phones.
Our minds are already overworked with classes, homework, going out and working. If going to class is a weekly 15-hour responsibility, then having a cell phone is a 24/7 job. It is hard enough to leave your cell phone on vibrate and not run over and check it every time you think you hear it go off. But being able to get information at lightening speed seems to be what attracts consumers to such products.
Some states are contemplating baning texting while walking. Yes, walking. New York and Arkansas believe that while pedestrians text, they are creating a hazard to themselves and others. While texting can be hazardous, most activities
BY MIKE MONTANO
mmontano@kansan.com
But this may be a habit that we have to break soon.
on smart phones are just as dangerous, why limit the law to just texting?
I can see their point though, texting can be pretty dangerous. I mean, we've all seen the video of the woman texting and accidently walking into a fountain inside a mall. What's keeping that from happening to us but on a busy street? Well, besides common sense.
While it should be common knowledge not to text at certain places, we all know that when we have to text someone, we could care less whether or not it is socially acceptable.
Laws never had to take into consideration our cell phone usage because they had not posed near as much a threat or concern to safety as they do today. It
may sound laughable that our state representatives might one day soon come across a bill that hinders our texting abilities but would it be such a bad thing?
Unless you're the CEO of your own company or a super important urgent care doctor, you really don't need to get instant communication around-the-clock. We get bombarded by news, weather, texts, Facebook, Twitter and whatever-else-you-can-think-of alerts. We tend to forget that most of these alerts can wait until we're home or sitting down – not in the driver's seat.
I challenge all of you to keep a mental track of how many times you use or sneak a peek at your cell phone whether it's to read the news or play a game
waiting for class to start. You'll be surprised at how many times we lean on technology but it's gotten to the point where I wonder if technology controls us more than we control it. Technology should be more of a helpful tool to get us through our daily lives and not a hazardous hindrance. Be aware of how much you rely on your gadgets.
Take a breath, slow down, enjoy life and look both ways before crossing the street - you never know if there's a texter out there who is not paying attention.
Montano is a sophomore in journalism and music from Boston.
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THE EDITORIAL BOARD
MEMBERS Of The Kansai Editorial Board are Nick Gerik, Alex Garisson, Kelly Strode, D.M. Scott and Mandy Matney.