¢ A proposed city-wide resolution in Lawrence that would call for U.S. troops to withdraw from Iraq is the subject of the Blue Thoughts from a Red State blog based in San Francisco._While such initiatives pass predictably in places like Berkeley and New York City, Kansas is a less likely locale for anything progressive. Just this fall, for instance, Kansas State Senator Kay O’Connor announced that she is retiring, marking the end of a political career emblematic for its Kansas conservatism. O’Connor is a relic of the Stone Age: In 2001, she attracted national attention for saying the 19th Amendment-which gave women the right to vote-was a sure sign that men weren’t adequately taking care of women. _¢ An Internet dating service that uses voice instead of typing and emoticons offers new potential for long-distance hookups, says Nancy Baym, a KU communication studies professor. She’s quoted in a story in the Los Angeles Times._There is something in the idea that people get closer by speaking on the phone, said Nancy Baym, associate professor of communication studies at the University of Kansas.__Voice can be more revealing than e-mail, she said: “It’s going to be harder for a 45-year-old man not to notice that he’s talking to a 12-year-old girl and vice versa.”_¢ Did Kansas University really participate in the first college homecoming? Hometownlife.com, a Michigan-based site, explores claims by the University of Illinois and University of Missouri that they started homecoming. KU played in the game that MU claims was the tradition-starter._Missouri Homecoming actually came about as the result of an intense rivalry with the University of Kansas. The first football game between the two schools took place in 1891, re-awakening a state rivalry dating back to before the Civil War.__In the first 18 years of Missouri vs. Kansas games, Missouri won only five. To light a fire under his school’s football players, Director of Athletics Chester Brewer decided to invite alumni to “come home” for the game. In addition to the football game itself, Brewer planned a parade and spirit rally._¢ People subjected to back vibrations – such as truck drivers, construction workers and helicopter pilots – are more susceptible to back injuries, according to research by Sara Wilson, KU professor of mechanical engineering. Her work is featured today in the Lincoln (Neb.) Journal-Star._”We have been able to show that after about 20 minutes of vibration, subjects are less able to sense their posture,” said Sara Wilson, professor of mechanical engineering._¢ Lawrence-based band Ad Astra Per Aspera is profiled in The Daily Collegian, the student newspaper of Penn State University._The band has played for five years in relative anonymity despite touring the entire continent of North America, like so many other bands do. The band recently released its first full-length album, Catapult Calypso, on its label Sonic Unyon.__”There’s no real doing it for a living,” Kurt Lane, the drummer for Ad Astra Per Aspera, said. “You just do it to do it and do it as much as you can. Nobody’s really made any money from the band, so we just do it.”_