BATTLE OF THE BEAU’S

Valentine’s Day is here? Again? For those in love this is a day to express ones love towards his/her partner. Simple as love is in its basic concept, love can be quite expensive.  The phrase “no Romance without finance” comes to mind. And quite appropriately so.
Interestingly though, broke or not your partner expects to be shown some love. These days going for a stroll in the park just won’t cut it. In fact free expressions of love are often regarded as boring and associated with losers. On the other hand, though,extravagance, especially on  Valentine’s Day is christened beautifully including but not limited adjectives such as sweet, awesome and romantic.
The world over Valentine’s is silently considered to be the day when the man does something “awesome” for the lady. Though women are expected to reciprocate the same since a good turn deserves another, more often than not the ladies get away with it. For most comrades however only so much can be expected.
Ask any young man in campus under these economic times. There are just too many unsettled priorities before you can get to the bottom of the list where romance is.
The irony of this situation though, is that your girlfriend still expects something. This is the time when many students come up withemergency calls to their parents for additional text books or some constructed medical emergency and what have you. All in a bid to solicit some moolah to take their chicks out.  Save the nature walks and dinner in the hostel room for the clueless broke boys.
This Valentine’s Day enjoy your love and remember that in life, the best things are free. If you find yourself struggling to please your loved one then maybe you are not being honest enough. It is a lot easier to let them understand your situation.  A little effort wouldn’t hurt though. Perhaps some coffee. Or a movie. Something manageable but fancy. In short think out of the box and there will always be a cheap way to say those three words without sounding cheap.
But then again, this isn’t a relationship column now is it? What the heck?! Break the damn piggy bank!

KENYA TELEVISION SERVICE AND MEDIA SCIENCE.

The new year has ushered in new hopes, dreams and challenges as the most awaited   Moi university TV goes on air. The KTS (Kenya Television Service) which was launched by the former president Daniel Toroitich Arap Moi is one the top most achievement this year for Moi University as a whole.

The TV channel that will be accessed by purchasing GO TV is a commercial TV station, thus disqualifying students from being part of the TV directly, considering professionalism is highly required,although the students are also encouraged to learn from it.

The students from different schools who are pursuing media for the last years have been training with the Moi University radio, MU FM (103.9) studio which is based in the School of Information Sciences next to the Margaret Thatcher Library.

Talking to the Executive Producer at the radio station Mr Gilbert Lang’at he said that the number of students coming to the studio has increased, he added that the studio has also helped boost student’s confidence and courage thus well prepared to face the real media industry.

All this has upgraded the status of the school of information sciences as the students are challenged to be more alert, this comes after students from the school of information science pursuing media science realized that they are now under the new curriculum and there is a name change from media science to mass media. Although this happened two years back most students had not been informed of the same. Different opinions were given concerning this name change others being okay insisting that the content is similar and no big difference while others hold that the title Media Science was better as it was complex to understand thus more prestigious than just the name Mass Media.

The producer MU FM when asked his opinion about the name change said that the change is as a result of the feedback by the former students who reported that there was a problem in understanding the title media science. It is hoped the new name  will aid in marketing of  media students and make it easier for them to get jobs.

FENCE TO C HOUSES SET A BLAZE

A section of C Houses residents set their fence on fire in protest of consistent power blackouts at their residence yesterday night. Two separate sections of the fence were lighten up, prompting a security guard and the financial director, Seleb John Kenga to run with buckets full of water in order to put off the increasingly blazing fire.

C houses has not had consistent electricity since the beginning of the semester and the dwellers are now fearing for their academic performance having in mind the many assignments and CATs that are set to begin which increase their school workload.Alongside power blackout the students also cited insecurity, poor drainage from Hostel K as their major problems. One of the affected residents claimed to have reached the Health Director,Jemima Tietie, whom he says did not give him a proper answer. On security, one of them complained that they lost their mattresses in his room on Wednesday.

They complained that the lack of power makes them go hungry not because they lack food but a cooking medium. They said that most of them cannot afford to take their meals in the hotels at the stage and so they were pleading to the student representatives present at the scene, Barille Guyo, the Director of Security and Accommodation and Geoffrey Omondi, the MUSO Chairman to intervene and even help solve the problem as immediate as possible.

The Security and Accommodation director said that they had replaced a cable that exploded and was replaced but still the transformer fuse got burnt. He promised that there’ll be lights back by tomorrow at least the switches will have power if not the sockets too.

The Students Chairman said that it is a problem of over consumption and that KPLC reviewed the structure of the houses and they said it needs special cables whose procurement costs is 3.5million. This he says will be a long lasting solution and already, it has its paper work done.By Friday, all will be fine for the members of the C houses, he says.

On matters security, he said that after theft has been reported, it will be their duty to look into that and that they’ll ensure the students will be given another mattress and none of them will be victimized for stolen mattresses.

By Boaz Bob

CONTROL AND TREATMENT OF COMMUNICABLE DISEASES

 Various health policies have been formulated to curb the spread of Communicable diseases, also referred to as infectious infections. Societal practices such as overcrowding in the shopping centers, constant movement of people that leads to culmination of rural camps, habit of using the day care facilities service, and involvement in unsafe sexual practices. Controls of such diseases involve personal initiatives in maintaining high standard of hygiene and safe water treatment methods. A clean environment coupled with good health system forms the foundation of eradicating communicable diseases.  These diseases are mainly either vector-borne or water-borne.
Communicable diseases like Chicken Pox that the hostels K and L had are an outbreak of, need to be controlled to curb the spread to an epidemic level. The proposed or suggested interventions includes fields related to water and sanitation, hygiene, health care, and in other diseases like Chicken Pox, one should seek medical attention as soon as possible in as much as it is thought to affect each person at least once in a lifetime, of which it is believed that the earlier, the better. Other factors to be considered are the cost, implementation pace, feasibility of the program and its adherence to the human rights issues. The program should not be in conflict with the culture of the victims or the target populations. The program design usually includes the rapid assessment stage usually after the occurrence of some kind of disaster. It’s a period of data gathering and snap decision making. The in-depth assessment helps in comprehensive planning of the control program. At this stage, the background information of the affected population is sought together with the magnitude of the epidemic.  The program should include some long term plan on how to reduce the effect of such epidemics in case they re-occur.

The commonly applied strategies in controlling the outbreaks of infectious diseases are reduction of mortality rate due to proactive measures that ensures early detection and consequent treatment; another ideology is to encourage preventive activities which will in the long run reduce rampant spread of such diseases. These should be applied without much bureaucracy. Quick response is the principle to be adhered to incase of an outbreak. This helps in curbing the impending epidemic. The emergency program of immunization also plays a vital role in controlling the communicable diseases.

CONCEPTS AIMED AT ACADEMICALLY TESTED RESULTS..

The pursuit for academic excellence entails and requires a lot of skills in writing. Academic writing is unique since it needs special skills for different kinds of academic papers. Each paper has specific structure or formats that student or writer must follow.

Academic writings in clued research papers, report, reviews, annotated bibliography, case studies, applications essays, comparative/contrast essays, personal statements and creative writings. The list is however endless with emerging academic fields and dynamism in the disciplines.

Research paper generally is an in depth analysis of a subject and/or data that already exists. It might be argumentative which involves debate and persuasion or just analytical. Analytical research paper requires advance skills in evaluation and further explorations. Reports literally analyses a problem or a subject, for example, laboratory reports. It’s systematic in nature and defines or gives meaning to the results or findings in an experiment or research.

Annotated bibliography is simply a list of citations from sources or reference or works cited. The citations are followed by summary of the main focus of the work cited usually approximately 150 words. It serves to inform the reader on quality and accuracy of the source of the information. Dissertation of these forms the vital part of students’ course work for the attainment of a degree or any other professional qualification. It is usually presented to the lecturer or supervision to show and support the author’s findings from a research.

Case studied is very specific in nature and it intends to explore everything about something. Speeches and creative writings express ideas.  Speeches are oral in nature while creative writings are usually put in writing and they tend to deviate from restrictive rules of facts and logic. Application essays and personal statements are usually required by learning/research institutes from the applicants.

The structure of an academic paper should be perfect and upholds all the laid standards for an academic writing. A good paper structure are relevant content is a pre-requisite to a good grade. The common part of an essay includes the introduction.

The body part and conclusion, however, these will very depending on the type of academic paper required. The writer or student should also be equipped with the commonly used formatting and styles like MLA, APA, Harvard, and Chicago/Turbian. It is this worth noting that, a grade –A paper requires vast skills in writing.

LIBERTY OF TRUTH AND DISCUSSIONS - JOHN STUART MILL

 John Stuart Mill devoted most of his famous account to explaining why freedom of discussion is important.  The general idea is that truth is a casualty of the suppression of free discussion. Pressing more is when this freedom may be limited, though freedom of discussion was widely accepted even in Mill’s own day, he thinks that the arguments for it are not widely appreciated.

Mill as an utilitarian rejects the idea of natural rights, and emphasizes that society as a whole, not just the silenced individual, loses by the state of possible subjugation of free discussion.

 In effect there are three arguments that are attached to three possible scenarios.

In the first, argument, he imagines that a majority who share a certain view seek to silence the minority who disagree. He further supposes that the majority view is false, as it happens, it makes the minority view true. Mill argues that in these circumstances it is catastrophic to silence the minority, disastrous for the majority, that is, because there is now no means of releasing it from its belief in a fallacious reasoning. If however the minority remains free to express its doubts about the majority view, then there is a chance that the majority will be brought to see the falsity of its view.

The second scenario is the same as the first except that this time the majority view is true and the minority view false. Here a concern for truth might seem to support silencing the minority since its view is false. Bottling fallacy doubtlessly supports truth. However, he argues that if the majority silences its opponents, it will never have to defend its belief and over time will forget the arguments for it.

Mill’s third scenario involves both parties of opinion, majority and minority, having a portion of the truth but not the whole of it. He regards this as the most common of the three scenarios, and his argument here is very simple. To enlarge its grasp of the truth the majority must allow the minority to express its halfway truthful view.

On assessment of the case, the first and third of Mill’s arguments are the most persuasive. If the majority view is wholly or partially false, then allowing critical discussion surely enhances the chances of truth replacing error. But if the majority view is already true, as in the second argument, allowing critical discussion does involve risk.

Majorities, he says will always think that they are in the second scenario, where the case for allowing critical discussion is weakest. They, like anyone else, will always take their beliefs to be true. Thinking a belief true is a condition of having it. Mill supposes, that we can never be certain that our beliefs are true, his position is that we can never have the degree of certainty that would warrant silencing criticism of our beliefs. That would be to claim infallibility for ourselves. If however we allow our beliefs to be criticized but no persuasive criticism is forthcoming, that gives us sufficient certainty to warrant our acting upon the beliefs.

 When we come to the political, moral and religious cases where that temptation is real, then it is much more plausible to think, with Mill, that we cannot have certainty of the sort required to justify the abbreviation of debate. For in these cases there are always contemplation on both sides of the argument which have to be balanced.

WHAT TO ASK AND OBSERVE WHEN WRITING A FEATURE STORY

  WHAT TO ASK AND OBSERVE WHEN WRITING A FEATURE STORY:

Feature writers observe people in different situations:

Observation involves all the five senses: sight, hearing, smell, touch, and taste.

1.People may behave differently when they know they are being observed but that is not a reason not to tell them they are being observed.

2.You must record your observations to have evidence of its existing.

3.In observation, various people might be well suited, though training may be necessary

5.People may behave differently when they know they are being observed so it is better not to tell them.

6.You must record your observations to have evidence of it existing.

7.You, as someone who “knows” the program and the participants, are best suited to conduct the observations.   

WHO/WHAT CAN YOU OBSERVE?
1.People (individuals, groups, communities)
2.Characteristics
3.Interactions
4.Behaviors
5.Reactions
6.Physical settings
7.Environmental features
8.Products/physical artifacts.

WHAT TO ASK
1.Ask open questions, be a good listener, and probe  or anecdotes. Get a source talking by asking questions that begin with "how" or "why." Once a source starts talking, try to keep him or her going by asking follow-up questions like, "What do you mean by that?" or "Can you give me an example?“
2.Focus on what's most compelling. Before you start writing, think through all the information you have and all the points you plan to make. What's surprising? What's important? What's useful?
3. Avoid yes/no questions.
Ask plenty of HOW and WHY questions. Use DESCRIBE questions. You are asking questions to get specifics for your copy.
 ALSO:Know the rules of attribution. You must identify yourself as a reporter before beginning any conversation with a source. If you don't, his or her comments will not be considered "on the record" -- and therefore they will not be useable in your article. A source cannot retroactively take his or her comments "off the record" -- so if a source says at the end of an interview, "but that was all off the record," that person is out of luck. Triple-check for accuracy. Spell names right. Get grade levels and titles right. Get facts right. If you are unsure of something and cannot verify it, leave it out. Before you turn in your story, ask yourself these questions: Have I attributed or documented all my facts? Are the quotes in my story presented fairly and in context? Am I prepared to publicly defend my facts if they are questioned?  Fill holes. Are there questions raised by your story that you have not answered? Ask a friend, teacher, editor or fellow reporter to read through your story and tell you what else he or she would want to know.
Putyour story in context. You must help answer a reader's biggest question about any story: Why should I care?