Most days, It’s with a great sense of disquiet that I watch the Facebook generation expose the intimate details of their lives to the world. I’m also prone to feelings of despair as I lurch through the abysmal syntax of online newspapers? comment sections. But May 3 brought a certain grudging affection for this flood… Read more »
In 1997, the predicament of Gattaca?s Vincent Freeman seemed like nothing more than a far-fetched?though intriguing?vision of the future. Vincent dreams of being an astronaut. He’s intelligent, healthy, talented, committed?a perfect candidate, except for one small matter: his genetic makeup isn’t quite ?perfect? enough. Fast forward to 2008 and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act that… Read more »
As the global credit crunch steamrolls along, the average observer might be forgiven for thinking that, somewhere along the line, ideas about borrowing and lending have gotten strangely turned around?especially when it comes to U.K.-based bank Egg. In February, the Internet bank sent letters to more than 160,000 of their customers informing them their Egg… Read more »
The magnitude of the glacier is overwhelming. Miles of ice roll in solid waves, a frozen monument to the incomprehensible immensity of time. It makes the knowledge that these massive blocks of ice are disappearing all the more staggering. Common wisdom, and most science, holds that cracking Arctic ice shelves and melting glaciers are the… Read more »
One of the most interesting things in the news this week is an article about the hit Canadian television show Corner Gas. Yes, I know. Protests on the Olympic torch relay are wreaking havoc; the price of oil keeps climbing; the RCMP deputy commissioner, Barbara George, has been found in contempt of Parliament; and we’re… Read more »
Let’s get this straight: this is not a pro-seal hunt piece. Nor is it anti-sealing. Instead, It’s a question. A question that I don’t have the answer to, but one that, amid the rhetoric and heated emotions swirling (as they do every year) like a snowstorm around the Canadian seal hunt, needs to be asked…. Read more »
There’s a cultural dichotomy coming, arguably the first of its kind. It is unforeseen but quickly emerging, a direct result of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is the clash of pseudo-perfection and reality, and it is a change that will profoundly affect us all. As any sitcom, movie, commercial, or print ad will… Read more »
It seems that everyone is media savvy these days. Corporations are jumping on the social-networking phenomenon in attempts to leverage the latest trends. The Internet teems with sites featuring amateur music and video producers, and even grade-school kids have at least a passing knowledge of the power of media and advertising. Now, the Vancouver Police… Read more »
On Saturday, March 8, the lines lit up for the 15th annual AUSU Annual General Meeting! Including council, a total of 22 AUSU members dialled in, and the topics ranged from budget issues to online course evaluations. After the agenda and 2007 AGM minutes were approved, the floor was opened for members to discuss the… Read more »
Study group or organized cheating forum? That’s the question facing the engineering faculty appeals committee at Ryerson University after a student there was charged with academic misconduct for running an online study group. As the Toronto Star reported, the first-year student administered a Facebook group that was ostensibly a place where chemistry students ?swapped tips… Read more »