Opinion THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY,FEBRUARY 2,2010
WWW.KANSAN.COM
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FREE FOR ALL
--was a rarity. Today, those who are excessively overweight are no longer considered a minority.
To contribute to Free for All, visit Kansan.com or call (785) 864-0500.
I want to be a blurred face on "Cheaters."
Man, I got on FFA today thinking I just loved making out. Thank God I know now that I have deep emotional problems.
--was a rarity. Today, those who are excessively overweight are no longer considered a minority.
Come to a meeting and get free cookies, coffee and kisses!
--was a rarity. Today, those who are excessively overweight are no longer considered a minority.
Whatever happened to hand jobs? Did those go out of style with "yo momma jokes"?
--was a rarity. Today, those who are excessively overweight are no longer considered a minority.
I just realized I had an opening with a girl and totally blew it because I didn't read her signals.
--was a rarity. Today, those who are excessively overweight are no longer considered a minority.
E. L.E.: Everybody love everybody!
--was a rarity. Today, those who are excessively overweight are no longer considered a minority.
Yum, I love meat in my mouth
Girls need to understand that men will hardly ever understand their "signals," no matter how obvious they try to convey to men that they are attracted to them.
--was a rarity. Today, those who are excessively overweight are no longer considered a minority.
Did anyone else see the K-State fans fist pumping? I didn't realize Manhattan was part of the Jersey Shore.
--was a rarity. Today, those who are excessively overweight are no longer considered a minority.
It's going to be hard to be faithful.
If the melons are not firm then I do not want them.
I just can't believe people who "like" their own status on Facebook. Isn't that the whole reason that they put the status the way it is? If they didn't like it, they wouldn't post it.
--was a rarity. Today, those who are excessively overweight are no longer considered a minority.
The sun is up. The sky is blue, it's beautiful, and so are you. Dear Prudence, won't you come out to play?
How do you suggest to someone that their doppelgänger would be a Keehler elf?
--was a rarity. Today, those who are excessively overweight are no longer considered a minority.
I bought underwear at Walmart so I didn't have to do laundry. One of the many reasons why I should never have children
--was a rarity. Today, those who are excessively overweight are no longer considered a minority.
A girl today told me that I look like one of the Jonas Brothers. I don't know much about them, but I'm assuming there's an unattractive one.
--was a rarity. Today, those who are excessively overweight are no longer considered a minority.
EDITORIAL BOARD
Unclogging The Underground
Unfortunately, because of extreme overcrowding, this hub of campus food favorites has been deemed a frustratingly congested dining service.
This congestion isn't just annoying for students; it's also a safety risk. KU Dining Services must make an effort to fix this problem.
The cold weather plays a role in the overcrowding in The Underground. When it is too cold to eat outside, people jam into the limited indoor space. During this year's winter months, an average of 3,000 transactions occurred every day at The Underground.
This results not only in lengthy waits for tables to open, but also dangerous clusters as people crowd walking space and exits.
When The Underground opened in September 2004, designers were not given a lot of room to work with, according to Nona Golledge, director of Dining Services.
The original location was 7,000 square feet and housed mostly quick bite and snack vendors.
They were able to reach 11,500 square feet with the expansion. Even with this significant amplification, space is still scarce.
The Underground can hold 707 people with an estimated 100 seats located outside.
Though the expansion was a step in the right direction, it's still not enough to meet the demand for space and address the risks of overcrowding.
But actually keeping The Underground at capacity with all of the walking traffic is rarely accomplished.
Golledge attributes this difficulty to the abundance of entrances located throughout Wescoe.
Because of the cost another expansion would entail, changes to The Underground should first start with the patrons.
Until the weather permits patrons to eat outside, there is little students can do to unclog The Underground. There are, however, little things they can do to make everyone's experience at The Underground more enjoyable.
Lone students sitting at a table for four is a common sight, as are people simply passing time at a table reading or doing a crossword puzzle.
They should start by making an effort to be courteous to their fellow students.
If this is you, be mindful that there is a library conveniently located across the way, or be open to meeting new students and sharing your not-so-crowded table with a couple of strangers.
Responsibility should also be assumed by Dining Services, which needs to find a way to enforce the limit of people allowed in The Underground to make sure it is a safe environment for students.
Stefanie Penn for The Kansan Editorial Board
On-campus dining options
Open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Fridays and closed on the weekends. Located on the third level of the Kansas Union.
The Market
EDITORIAL CARTOON
Open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday and closed on the weekends. Located on the third level of the Kansas Union.
Impromptu Cafe
Milton's Coffee Shop Open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fridays and is closed on the weekends. Located on the first level of the Kansas Union.
Two locations in the Kansas Union and Burge Union. Times vary by location.
Milton's Coffee Shop
Pulse
Hawk Shop Convenience Store Two locations in the Kansas Union and the Burge Union. Times vary by location.
Crimson Cafe
Crimson Care Open from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Fridays and closed on the weekends. Located in the Burge Union.
Hawk Food Stops
Hawk Food Stops Located in Anshutz Library, the Art and Design building, JRP, Watson Library, Sparh Library, Murphy Hall and Strong Hall. Times vary by location.
ACOOFAD²
ECONOMICS
A government subsidized sickness
U. S. crop subsidies were initially used to ensure the financial survival of farmers and thwart off famine during the great depres-
W When our parents were in college, the sight of an obese person
This connection is no coincidence. As author Michael Pollan frankly put in an interview with Christian Science Monitor, "We are subsidizing obesity."
The National Institute of Health found that 64.5 percent of Americans are overweight and nearly a third of the population is clinically obese.
With numbers like these, the argument that individual irresponsibility or lack of self-control is the sole cause of the obesity epidemic would be irrational. Although there is certainly some individual fault, America's eating problem can be seen in the center aisles of the everyday grocery store and the absurd low prices of fast food items.
Although these numbers are already staggering, the country is only getting fatter. By 2015, 75 percent of Americans are expected to be overweight and 41 percent obese according to the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Health.
BY BRADEN KATZ bkatz@kansan.com
sion. Now, though, crop subsidies serve a different purpose.
Today, the most highly subsidized crop is corn. Corn subsidies jumped from around $2.5 in 2004 to more than $9 billion dollars in the past two years. As a result, junk food products containing subsidized-corn ingredients are extremely cheap. This skews the food market for costumers to purchase unhealthy foods.
Anyone gulping a Coke, biting into a KFC drumstick, munching on a Twinkie or partaking in all three, is ingesting some form of processed corn. Among the most lethal—and popular—of the corn concoctions is high-fructose corn syrup. This serves as a fatty sweetener found in soft drinks, yogurts, cookies, salad dressing and countless other products.
Meanwhile, vegetables and other healthy selections in the grocery store are either imported from foreign countries or their producers receive little to no aid
from the government.
The prices tell the story. For low-income families, the rational choice among the grocery aisles would be the cheap, less-healthy foods instead of expensive vegetables. Not surprisingly, poverty is one of the most prominent indicators for higher obesity rates
Food production companies catering to the fast food industry use subsidized corn to feed their animals because it's cheap. In turn, fast food companies use subsidized ingredients to create food-like items on the dollar menu.
Although many of these junk-food items may seem cheap at first, we are all paying the price. With cancers, diabetes, heart disease, and countless other health problems that arise from an unhealthy diet, it is estimated that we are paying more than $75 billion a year because of our poor eating habits.
Taxpayers are paying corporations to cook for us. Consequently, companies have created a system that provides extremely cheap items containing three ingredients that our bodies are hardwired to love: salt, sugar and fat. We are all getting sick because of it.
Katz is a junior from Overland Park in creative writing and political science.
POLITICS
Where are Internet borders?
The recent "Google versus China" affair revealed two things to the world.
First, it is apparently illegal in China to give flowers without a permit, as wreaths left on the doorsteps of Google China were deemed an "illegal flower tribute" and were taken away by Chinese police.
The second revelation is something altogether more serious than contraband tulips: It is the state of constant warfare that exists in cyberspace, penetrating private industries and governments around the world.
Quite honestly, it is hard to believe a country with such tight control over the Web that searches for "Tiananmen Square" come up blank would allow independent breaches of cybersecurity to originate within its borders.
The Chinese government has denied involvement in the hacking attacks targeted toward Google and the Gmail accounts of human rights activists. Despite this, multiple cyber-security analysts still claim the Chinese government, either directly or through a proxy, is responsible for these attacks.
Google originally opened its Chinese operations under the caveat that it would help the government to strangle the free-flow of information on the Internet. However, in reaction to the recent attacks, Google reversed its policy of allowing China to censor search results on its engine. It also threatened to pull its operations out of the country if China refused to cooperate.
Though Google's turnaround in policy is an impressive show of support for human rights and freedom of speech, what the entire affair should do is make us reconsider what we call "war"
During the last few years, multiple computer attacks have resulted in the theft of precious data from U.S. national security institutions. Violations include the Pentagon, national laboratories such as Sandia and companies such as Lockheed Martin.
Political Planet
So at what point do we call it a "war?"
Though it is only publicly suspected that China is to blame, there is enough evidence to assume Chinese military operations have stolen U.S. security secrets.
Though war with China would never be a good thing, it is highly unlikely that our two countries would ever come to blows. We need to show them that we don't take these attacks lightly. Attacks on our digital infrastructure should be handled as seriously as those against the homeland
The U.S. is in need of a serious investment in its cybersecurity, but that's only one part of the problem. The issue is not only confined to the U.S. and China, but it needs to be dealt with by the international community as a whole.
In 2007, the entire governmental and economic infrastructure of Estonia, a country once lauded for advancements in e-government, was shut down by Russian attacks. These attacks came either officially or through independent groups working for the government. Similar denial-of-service attacks against Georgia preceded the 2008 Russian invasion. If shutting down an entire country by force isn't an act of war, I'm not sure where we draw the line
While we laugh about "illegal flower tributes" and praise Google's moral integrity, we should also be concerned with the changing nature of war and how the U.S. can meet the cybersecurity challenges it faces.
Lowell is a senior from Concordia in political science.
Pro
FACEOFF: Third person references
BY SARAH CHAMP
Con
Third person is what it's all about. If Sarah's parents had wanted her to blend into the sea of first person pronoun-ers in her 300-person lecture class, they would have named her "I" or "me"; Professors don't know one "I" from the other 299.
First person speech is as out of style as the fanny pack. Just as some try to hang on to the outdated fanny by throwing it over a shoulder and calling it a "roo" people just can't seem to let go of the first person pronouns. Sarah has moved on.
Sarah has emerged from monotony with omniscient narration of her own life. Narcissism is in for 2010.
Take it from Sarah, the 1990s called and it wants its grammar back.
BY RICHELLE BUSER
stuuser@klesson.com
H has a third person reference ever sounded anything but ridiculous?
Before using a third person reference, consider the message you are sending to others about yourself. If you consider yourself important enough to drop the usual first person "I" and replace it with your name when speaking, others are likely to consider you pompous. You'll probably receive several eye rolls and mockery as a result. It's doubtful friends will soon let you forget it.
If you need a modern example to understand the silliness of third person references, look no further than the reality-hit Jersey Shore. "The Situation" loves talking about "The Situation." But everyone except "The Situation" thinks "The Situation" is a tool, just sayin'.
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THE EDITORIAL BOARD
immens of the Kanan Editorial Board are Stephen Montgomery, Brianna Pflan瑟en, Jennifer Tornier, Lauren Cunningham, Vicky Lui Emily McCoy and Kate Lareeau.