At Nicodemus reunion, familial and Kansas history converge
state. Maybe it was my hunger for history, whetted during myriad chats with my father while cooped up during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Opinion
Read MoreAt Nicodemus reunion, familial and Kansas history converge
Education Frontlines: Corporatization of universities
America’s rise to prominence following World War II was due to a massive increase in university attendance, heavily stimulated by the GI Bill. The return of war veterans, who had experienced the Great Depression in their childhood, along with the prior inflow of foreign academics who had fled persecution, led to a surge in college and university expansions. University enrolment in 1950 was seven times the proportion of college enrolment in 1900! This in turn resulted in a solid growth in the U.S. economy, expanded suburbs, and more subsequent Nobel Prizes. –But only for two generations.
Insight Kansas: What Emporia Has Lost
The news coming out of Emporia last week, with at least 30 members of the faculty of Emporia State University fired on one day, was terribly sad. Not just because the firings were a blow to the education of hundreds of ESU students, but also because it reflects a failure to understand just what, realistically speaking, higher education in Kansas should be all about.
We must stay engaged
The primary election has concluded and we now know who’ll be our next Harvey County Treasurer and Commissioner. It’s important we continue to stay engaged and informed because the general election in November is quickly approaching. Both the Harvey County Treasurer and Commission positions were decided during the Primary because there were no Democratic or Libertarian candidates who filed to represent their Parties. Although there is still a chance we might see someone attempt a write-in campaign, it’s highly unlikely they would be successful.
STUDY LINKS DRINKING CARBONATED WATER AND WEIGHT GAIN
Dear Doctors: As part of a reducing diet, we like to drink plain carbonated water. There’s no sugar in it, no additives and no sweeteners. But apparently there is a new study that says carbonated water leads to weight gain? Why would that be? Should we give it up?
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Stop the turbines Everybody knows western Harvey County is home to the Equus Beds. The Equus Beds are where over half a million people get their water.
Wind energy debate wages on
Recently our editor was asked if we would be writing an editorial for or against a proposed wind energy project in Harvey County. The answer we gave was we would not take a position on if those turbines should be constructed or not.
Plains Folk: The Madstone
A few days ago I gave a talk about Kansas myths, legends, and folk tales at the Mennonite Retirement Community in South Hutchinson. A man there mentioned a madstone, which immediatelh drew my attention. It also drew many people to Hutchinson in the early years of the twentieth century. Madstones could be found at various places in Kansas and on the Great Plains, and Hutchinson had a well-known one. Dog-bitten people from Kansas and neighboring states would come to be treated by Hutchinson’s madstone .
Pentagon’s Information warfare review should cover the domestic side, too
The US Department of Defense has ordered “a sweeping audit of how it conducts clandestine information warfare,” the Washington Post reports. The apparent reason for the review is an August disclosure, by Graphika and the Stanford Internet Observatory, that Twitter and Facebook, of social media accounts opened under fake identities and used to feed disinformation to “audiences overseas.” That’s all well and good, but while they’re at it I wish the Pentagon would also review -- and cease -- its information warfare campaigns against the American public. Among supposed American constitutional values are separation of the military from politics, and its subservience to civilian government. While those values have always proven more noticeable in the breach than in the observance in wartime, the post-World-War-Two national security state has turned that breach into a well-funded, 24/7/365, campaign of political influence.
CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE LOOKS DIFFERENT IN WOMEN THAN MEN
Dear Doctors: I’m a 38-year-old woman in good health. I kept getting a tight chest while running, so my doctor did some tests. He said my heart looked fine. But when I went for a second opinion, I was diagnosed with microvascular disease. I’ve never even heard of that before. What is it?