Subject: Kansas State University

• Slattery on Kennedy

  June 26, 2008

• Cyclones, Wildcats play at Arrowhead in '09 and '10

  August 21, 2008

• KU, K-State recruiting in college b-ball's gray areas

  By JUSTIN KENDALL ESPN writer Dana O'Neil has a fascinating story on the not-quite-cheating-but-it-looks-bad areas of college basketball recruiting. The story highlights the recruitment of Daniel Orton, a top-10 player who signed to play for Billy Gillispie's Kentucky Wildcats. Orton's father, Larry Orton, was paid thousands of dollars to give 16 speeches at Kentucky-sponsored summer basketball camps. Even Orton's stepbrother got paid to speak at the Kentucky camps. It's all within the gray

  November 19, 2008

• Where are all the acorns?

  The title of this post is basically the question brought up this past Sunday in the Washington Post. The article notes the lack of acorns up and down the east coast and that poor little squirrels are having a tough time coping.As I was reading the article I realized that hey, I haven't seen any acorns this winter in Kansas City either. Forget Washington D.C. -- Kansas City is in the midst of a great acorn shortage as well, and It's not like there's a lack of oak trees lining many Kansas City nei

  December 4, 2008

• K-State prof Michael Wesch: World Wide Wonder

  Catching up on fancy East Coast reading: The November 23 issue of the New York Times Magazine, "The Screens Issue," was really cool. It was a theme issue dedicated to how people watch stuff: "On our HDTVs, Smart Phones, Laptops, Imax Screens, Computer Monitors, Nanos, Kindles, Bus Shelters, PDAs and Airplane Seat Backs." Extra cool: "Moments that Mattered," in which a dozen notable creative types wrote short essays on something they'd seen on a screen this year that moved them. It was an intrigu

  December 11, 2008

• Pitch Forks

  March 16, 2000

• Best "Screw You" to the Kansas State Board of Education

  October 19, 2000

• Off the Couch

  July 5, 2001

• Dead Meat

  August 16, 2001

• Sebelius gives State of State address

  Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius just delivered her seventh State of the State address. I don't blame you if you watched 24 instead. Lots of "we" talk. It wasn't a thriller, but if you want to read the whole thing, it's after the jump.

  January 12, 2009

• Further Review

  February 28, 2002

• Further Review

  April 25, 2002

• Brownback: Forward to the 1940s! And the 1980s!

  Catching up on my reading over the weekend, I spent some time with The Kansas City Star's 14-page special section commemorating Barack Obama's inauguration. Headlined on the cover "For America, a New Day," it contained reports on the historic day in Washington, a transcript of Obama's speech, comments from random Kansas Citians, an Associated Press report on the first couple's fashion choices and lots of cool photos.I was most interested, though, in the thoughts of a handful of leaders that the

  January 26, 2009

• HNTB proposes parkland over Interstate 670 – so far, downtown parks disappoint

  December 18, 2008

• On the Hoof

  September 11, 2008

• Kansas/Wakarusabreakdown

  August 21, 2008

• K-State Comeuppance

  February 28, 2008

• WyCo's Wrath

  Brave librarians in Kansas City, Kansas, encourage a radical act.

  May 3, 2007

• Letters from the week of March 15

  "For all those white, racist, gabacho readers: Mexicans come here for a better life! Isn't that your so-called American dream?"

  March 15, 2007

• Girl in Trouble

  May 11, 2006

• Bully Pulpit

  Letters from the week of

  February 9, 2006

• Blunt Econ 101

  December 1, 2005

• Great Plains Poet

  Add a historic first to this wordsmith's list of awards.

  May 19, 2005

• Baseball Boys

  Good Call

  April 21, 2005

• Unfortunate Sons

  The Wizards may be bereft of magic, but they can still play.

  March 3, 2005

• Endangered Species

  Will the Wildcats devour the Roos?

  December 9, 2004

• Backwash

  We drag the river for stuff you didn't know you were missing.

  July 22, 2004

• Head Trip

  Mentally ill patients may get a little too much asylum at Osawatomie.

  November 21, 2002

• Vinx

  Thursday, August 1, at the Grand Emporium.

  August 1, 2002

• Lucky Charms

  At Lucky Brewgrille, reality is not what it seems.

  March 21, 2002

• Fish Story

  With a little more spice, Boozefish could be the catch of the day.

  January 31, 2002

• Ready for the Big 12 Tournament

  The Feb. 19 Sunflower Showdown game primed the KU women’s basketball team for the Big 12 Tournament challenge.

  March 2, 2000

• Scientists prove St. Louis is hell on earth, Kansas City purgatory

  Kansas City has no shortage of assholes, killers and fat people. It'd be fair to wonder if this was actually hell with all the sinning going on. Thankfully, scientists have finally done something worthwhile and measured everyone's malevolence with brightly colored maps. According to the Las Vegas Sun, Kansas State University researchers spent a lot of time and public money putting together a group of sin maps measuring the propensity of evil from county-to-county, state-to-s

  May 4, 2009

• Organic is growing and hiring

  Damn, work is tough to come by right now. Especially for new college graduates. But with organic farms more popular than ever, they need hands to actually pick the goods -- even if the new employees are more book-smart than garden-smart. Over the weekend, the New York Times ran an article looking at the growing number of students who are applying to pick grain, make cheese or generally help small farms any way they can.There are many opportunities like that right here in Kansas City, especially

  May 26, 2009

• Why we're fascinated by fireworks (Ph.D. edition)

  File under: Obvious.Last week, the Kansas State University media relations department sent out a press release saying that a couple of psychology professors had taken a "look at some reasons behind the fascination with fireworks." We expected some deep insights into the human psyche. What we got instead: Holidays, weddings and birthdays are occasions that tend to bring out the most traditional side of people, said Richard Harris, K-State professor of psychology."This is particularly true if peop

  July 2, 2009

• Considering the safety of free-range eggs

  ​Given the current move to vilify the food industry and growing concerns about food safety, we here at Fat City are glad that, when we need the truth, we can count on the BarfBlog.Kansas State University professor Doug Powell and other BarfBloggers from the world of food safety and public health break down news stories and new findings in an effort to determine how to keep us safe from the food we eat. Their (sometimes gross) revelations are usually designed to debunk the latest fads in favor

  July 29, 2009

• The chance to play winemaker

  ​The sun sets over the vineyard where your grapes are growing. They're harvested and pressed before being carefully aged in oak casks. These are the dreams of those who have begun to consider retirement. Well, them, and Korean pop music producers. A recent Bloomberg article visits the Bordeaux vineyard of California-based Crushpad, a custom-wine company that has been helping clients create their own vintages since 2004. The French arm of their do-it-yourself wine operation opened in May of thi

  August 4, 2009

• Reporter's Notebook: You, too, can play air guitar like the pros

  Eric "Mean" Melin is Kansas City's hope for air-guitar greatness (read more in this week's feature, "Air Guitar Hero"). His airness began 19 years ago at Kansas State University. Let's time warp to 1990 when a long-haired metalhead known as simply Eric Melin demonstrated how to air guitar. OK. Trust me, he's a lot more experienced now. He better be. Friday night he'll serve up a lesson to America's best air guitarists in the U.S. Air Guitar Championships. Mean Melin better not forget the les

  August 5, 2009

• Denis Clemente totally copies Larry Bird's McDonald's commercial

  Kansas State's Denis Clemente is too late to collect Michael Jordan's Big Mac and fries. Check out the K-State guard doing the old Larry Bird off the scoreboard, off the floor shot. Yeah, yeah. Larry Bird did it in this McDonald's commercial back in the '90s. Let's see him throw it off the expressway, over the river, off the billboard, through the window, off the wall, nothing but net.Saw the video first on KMBC.

  August 12, 2009

• UMKC squeaks onto Forbes' list of 'America's Best Colleges'

  ​Don't feel bad, University of Missouri-Kansas City. At least you made it on Forbes' list of "America's Best Colleges," even if it's at No. 592 out of 600. And look at you, Rockhurst. Nice work. Here's the list of top colleges in Missouri and where they ranked overall: No. 45 -- Washington UniversityNo. 126 -- Westminster CollegeNo. 163 -- Rockhurst University No. 243 -- Drury University No. 317 -- William Jewell College No. 374 -- University of Missouri, Columbia No. 469 -- Truman

  August 12, 2009

• Friday Freebies

  As part of a family arts festivasl, 18 year-old violinist Amanda Shaw will play an outdoor concert at the Lied Center on the University of Kansas' west campus. Shaw is based out of New Orleans, and while a classically-trained, her compositions have a pop edge with Cajun influence. The festival starts at 6pm, and the annual arts fair includes more than 20 local arts and community organizations and features prize giveaways, crafts, balloons, face painting and other activities. The concert gets goi

  August 21, 2009

• Michael Beasley is not well

  ​Former Kansas State basketball player Michael Beasley has reportedly checked into a Houston rehabilitation facility "to address possible substance and psychological issues."The No. 2 pick in the 2008 NBA Draft appeared in a photograph on Twitter showing off his new back tattoo -- and the photo inadvertently showed a small plastic baggie on a nearby table (with many speculating about the contents of the baggie). Beasley dropped his Twitter account but first offered a couple final creepy tweets

  August 24, 2009

• KU, K-State (naturally) split on Budweiser fan cans

  ​Fan cans -- the color-coded, sports marketing invention from Budweiser -- are not finding any fans at Kansas University. It's easy to imagine several Jayhawk fans purchasing as many blue and red cans as they can get their hands on -- and that is exactly what concerns university officials. Jim Marchiony, associate athletics director at KU, told the Associated Press that he wrote Budweiser three weeks ago in an attempt to stop the cans from being distributed in Lawrence: "I think the major issu

  September 2, 2009

• Falling off the vegetarian wagon

  ​Attached to the debate over concentrated animal feeding operations and conditions at slaughterhouses is the growing trend of reduced-meat or meat-free diets. We've once again reach the point in the cycle where a vegetarian diet is being advocated from a moral viewpoint about sustainability and doing as little harm as possible to the environment and our fellow creatures. Beth Mendenhall, a senior at Kansas State University, makes that point in a recent editorial in the K-State Collegian: Bacon

  September 3, 2009

• The trayless cafeteria?

  ​College students may have to find new sleds this winter, as more cafeterias are considering a move towards trayless meals. The growing trend is based out of a two-fold desire: It can help cut costs for service and improve a university's image in terms of environmental awareness. In addition to the financial savings, university officials believe that cutting out trays can help curb food waste by as much as 30 percent. Pomona College Dean of Students Miriam Feldblum talked to the Los Angeles Ti

  September 16, 2009

• And we're back ...

  Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon​Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon is still drowning in his dirty water scandal. Great analysis from the Star's Steve Kraske, who's wondering how long before heads will roll.  Nixon, a Missouri Democrat, had his worst week as guv yet over the who knew what and when scandal over his administration failing to tell the public about an E. coli outbreak at the Lake of the Ozarks in May. Lots of trouble for Nixon. Update: Chris Blank of the Associated Press analyzes the situation a

  October 5, 2009

• Doug Frost's new TV gig

    ​It's no surprise to anyone in Fat City that our town's best-known wine expert Doug Frost -- Master Sommelier and America's eighth Master of Wine -- has become a television star. In addition to lecturing and writing about wine, Frost is the host of KCPT-TV's locally produced Check Please! and a featured judge on the newest PBS reality program, The Winemakers (which kicks off a six-episode run tomorrow at 2:30 p.m.). And why shouldn't Frost be a familiar TV face -- long before

  October 9, 2009

• And we're back ...

  ​Stealing ambulances is popular in Kansas City. The trend popped up again in Lawrence over the weekend. A 21-year-old jacked an ambulance from 10th and Mass. Street early Sunday morning, the Lawrence Journal-World reported. Why take the ambulance? The guy needed a ride home: The man, whom [Lawrence Police Sgt. Susan] Hadl said believed he had no other means of transportation home, led police on a brief low-speed chase. Police charged the guy with driving under the influence. No kidding? T

  October 12, 2009

• Which is greener, a Tiger or a Jayhawk?

  ​​According to the Princeton Review, students aren't just thinking about frat parties and sports teams when choosing a college. A recent survey showed that nearly 70 percent of high school graduates want information about universities' commitment to the environment. To track campus eco-activity, the Sustainable Endowments Institute, an off-shoot of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, puts out an annual Sustainability Report Card that assesses the green efforts of more than 320 schools. Last w

  October 13, 2009

• Now you have plans for the weekend

  ​You need plans. Fat City has a recycle bin full of listings. In this post, all our problems are solved.The Hen House Holiday Celebration -- a benefit for Harvesters -- runs from Friday (10 a.m. to 6 p.m.) to Sunday (11 a.m. to 5 p.m.) at the Overland Park Convention Center. Public television's Katie Brown holds cooking demonstrations on Friday at the food expo and there's a hot dog eating contest slated for 2 p.m. on Saturday. The $5 admission gets you access to try food and beverage samples,

  November 6, 2009