Size doesn't matter

With Saddam Hussein stripped from his position and thrown into a courtroom, President Bush has captured a man he feels is the "most dangerous dictator" in the world. When he finalized his orders to invade Iraq, he promised the American people that he would bring the "world's worst dictator" to justice - so why has Kim Jung-Il just detonated his first nuclear bomb?

While atomic diplomacy is being driven into the ground and United Nation sanctions are all the international community can come up with, the need to find real solutions has become more urgent than ever. And while a few good men are trying to do this, a big part of the international community is arguing over the size of the bomb and assessing if it is really a threat.

North Korea's nuclear bomb test was indeed a nuclear detonation, but officials around the world announced the bomb was very small by present-day standards. American intelligence has said that the explosion was only about a kiloton of force, but at the same time other authorities, like Russia, believe that the detonation could be as great as 15 kilotons. It's logical to call this bomb small by traditional standards, for emerging nuclear powers tend to have first detonations with 60 kilotons of force, but to argue over the magnitude is utterly asinine and beyond stupidity.

In this case, size really does not matter, and to argue over this is only wasting more precious time to find a solution. The atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima during World War II was approximately 15 kilotons. Lest we forget the tragedy of Hiroshima, where 70,000 people died directly from the blast, where twice that number of people were injured and where countless and immeasurable numbers of cancer and nuclear fallout victims were forever changed by the event. So even if this bomb is not to the typical standard of 60 kilotons, it still has the power to unleash havoc and death similar to Hiroshima. Last time we checked, that would be considered a threat.

The governments of the world need to forget about size, because North Korea has the making of those elusive weapons of mass destruction Bush has been searching for.

Aprons worn proudly

Gender week kicks off with bake-off

Aprons tied and rolling pins in hand, UB's Gender Institute showed students that they were more than just baking housewives as they fed hungry students and educated them about gender stereotypes. Betty Crocker jokes aside, starting gender week with such a contradictory event really gets a message across, and spreading messages and educating people is what this week is all about.

Comedy can be as powerful as drama, and in some cases comedy drives the message home more effectively. While feminist speakers may talk about liberating women from the kitchen that does not mean that some women don't like to bake. By throwing such a seemingly ambivalent event, the Gender Institute makes irony a powerful tool. By promoting comedy, as well as serious issues, gender week will appeal to a whole other audience.

Let's face it. Not everyone is going to make it to gender week lectures, but food will attract attention from the typical hungry college student. Gender week planners should be applauded for their ideas, which are aimed to educate, but they still take into account that college students need a little more incentive than just "knowledge." With each year UB's Gender Institute is spreading their views and ideas to a greater audience, and if they continue to plan their event around students there's no telling how far this week could go at UB.