HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!
New Sketches, Every Week!
Saturday, 29 October 2011
Tuesday, 25 October 2011
Baseless fear or rules to follow?
Exploring superstitions, from black cats to knocking on wood
As I began typing the first few words of this article, I took a look at the clock. It was 4:44 p.m. Simple coincidence? Maybe or maybe not, but for many people seemingly harmless coincidences like this one could be more than just something random. We all know someone who is loud and clear about not believing in superstitions. Maybe it’s true, but until one of them comes up to me with a straight face and tells me that they have never knocked on wood, I won’t believe them. The act of knocking on wood is something people do when they feel like they have compromised their luck. Let’s say, for example, that your friend was bragging about having never failed a midterm exam before. He would then knock on wood to illustrate that he hasn’t failed an exam yet, but that he does not want to compromise his luck by saying so. Most superstitions, such as Friday the 13th, have their roots in ancient history and religion. The unlucky number 13 comes in part from the belief that having 13 people seated at a table will result in the death of one of them during the year. This superstition stems from the 13 guests at the Last Supper. Combining the number 13 with the unluckiest day of the week, due to the fact that Christ was crucified on a Friday, makes Friday the 13th one of the most feared days of the year.With Halloween just one week away, decoration stores seem to be overwhelmed with images of witches and their black cats. But does seeing a black cat really bring bad luck? In Western history people associated black cats with evil witches. However, in Britain and Ireland, black cats are signs of prosperity and good luck. It all depends on whether the cat crosses your path from left to right or right to left. Go figure.Concordia students who are superstitious really have strong opinions and beliefs about it. Jason Whear, a graduating psychology student, believes in ghosts and paranormal activity, and revealed that premonitions he has in dreams sometimes end up coming true.
“I think someone who is raised in a very religious family is more prone to be superstitious and believe without seeing,” he said. “I think religion is definitely a major factor for people to have faith in superstitions.”
Biochemistry student Soo Yon Park comes from a religious South Korean family, and is a very superstitious person. “I am really superstitious about broken mirrors. If I break one, I will pick it up but I won’t look into it, because I believe that my face will get hurt if I do and that it will bring back luck,” Park said.
She also believes that superstitions are closely tied to religion. “People are religious because they need something to lean on”, she said. “Superstitious people believe in superstitions because they need to be reassured, and I think that they use superstitions as an explanation to things that happen to them that they do not understand.”
Joseph Snyder, a Concordia psychology professor, thinks that religion and ethnicity have something to do with how superstitious people are. “If you learned superstitions at your grandma’s or grandpa’s knee, you will most probably be superstitious, even if you are neither aware of or accept these superstitions, especially under stress,” he said. Other people consider superstitions to be more like rituals that have to be followed in order to have good luck. Knocking on wood would probably fit in this category. So many people do it that it has become a sort of joke. Journalism student Gregory Wilson sees it that way. “Knocking on wood became some sort of habit that people have and repeat all the time without really noticing anymore,” he said. Biochemistry student Ernesto Cuadra Foy is from Peru and his family is very religious, but he’s not really sure if he believes in superstitions or not. “When it comes to superstitions I think some people put it as an excuse for bad luck,” he said.
But there is also this idea of ‘what if’. “In reality, I don’t believe in ghosts, but you never know,” Ernesto added. Apart from the religious students, sports players and athletes have proven to be amongst the most superstitious. They tend to have their own personal rituals and habits that they absolutely have to do before each competition or game or else they believe they will be unsuccessful. Cédric Houle, an international business management student, confided that he has a ritual he does before every game. “I tie my skates in the changing room with my team before a hockey game, but I always tighten them again before stepping on the ice, because I won’t play well if I don’t,” he told me.Against all odds, superstitions seem to be perceived in a more positive light today than in the past century. Snyder thinks these rituals or habits could in some way be tied to the theory of reinforcement. “This theory states that when someone gets a reward after doing a specific action, they tend to associate the reward with the action and do it again”, he said. “Often, there is a strong need for understanding or even just coping with life’s stresses. Superstitions often provide calming and reassurance with rituals and explanations, which work on occasion. This reinforces the behavior and belief.”
But honestly, are superstitions really tied to luck or does luck just happen? Are all superstitions worth believing? My roommate told me that she believed that dropping the saltshaker on the table brings bad luck. To remove that bad luck, you have to take it with your right hand and toss it over your left shoulder. I had never heard that before but kept it in mind.When I got to work at a local restaurant the next day, I was seating people at a table. I didn’t mean to but I made the saltshaker fall while giving out the menus. One of the guys exclaimed, “Oh my god, the salt fell!” and then mimicked the motion of grabbing the saltshaker and pouring some over his shoulder.
Yes, superstitions are still alive and strong. But the question remains – how lucky do you feel?
Depression by way of discrimination
Seven million dollar pledge to fight anti-gay bullying is only a start
An openly gay teenager from Ottawa committed suicide last week after suffering from depression, mainly brought on by constant bullying. It once again raises the topic of oppression suffered by gays and lesbians in our society.Jamie Hubley’s example reveals the inner struggle many gay and lesbian teenagers must face everyday. Jamie was a teenage boy who was open about his sexuality, going as far as creating a Rainbow Club at his school to encourage others who were struggling to do the same. The task, however, wasn’t easy.
“The posters were torn down and he was called vicious names in the hallways and online,” said Jamie’s father in a statement.
Jamie’s suicide isn’t the first for LGBT teens, nor the last. A disturbing amount of them have taken place this year, and have received a lot of attention. This leads to an important question: what is the government doing to protect the LGBT community?
While Canadian society has moved forward by encouraging young people to be open and accepting of their sexuality, teenagers are still left vulnerable to the cruelty inflicted on them by certain people in society.
Hubley’s death coincides with a report released by the provincial government, in which they pledge to put a seven million dollar plan in action, which will be equally distributed among organizations working to protect gay and lesbian rights.
“The plan is based on demystifying gay people within the heterosexual community and ensuring they are treated fairly at school, work and society at large,” said Quebec justice minister Jean-Marc Fournier.
This action plan is part of the Government action plan against homophobia, which was released earlier this year. What the Quebec government is ultimately trying to do is recognize the problems members of the LGBT community face in our society and promote their rights, as well as raise awareness.
Unfortunately, homosexuality is still somewhat taboo in our society today. Despite gays and lesbians being considered officially equal by the Quebec government since 1977, when the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms made it illegal to discriminate against homosexuals, many still don’t understand the problems they face. An average day for some consists of being laughed at, being jeered at, and being made fun of on a daily basis. This alone is enough to break anyone.
Donald Boisvert, a lecturer and undergraduate adviser at Concordia in the department of religion and expert on same-sex relations, states that the problem in bullying gay teenagers is one that’s difficult to solve.
“Teenagers are very ignorant and afraid of homosexuality in their midst, at school with them, and that’s why many homosexual teens succumb to bullying”, said Boisvert.
It’s hard to give any credit to the current government, prior to this seven million dollar pledge. It wasn’t until 2002 that homosexuals were given the same rights and obligations as heterosexuals, as stated in Bill 32.
This new action plan the government put in place is taking a different angle than previous years. The government is giving an enormous push to hard working, non-profit organizations whose first and main goal will be to give LGBT teenagers the confidence to live their own lives. Now that our government, in the past decade, has officially recognized the fact that heterosexuals and homosexuals are equal, it’s time for them to inject more funding into these organizations in order to completely eliminate homophobia from our society.
“We must salute this concrete gesture taken by our government that will help us consolidate but especially protect our youth out there, and that affirmative action be taken everywhere in Quebec,” says Robert Lamarée, founder of Emergence, a pro gay foundation dedicated to promoting equality for gays and lesbians.
Boisvert embraces the government’s action plan as a step forward, stating the important role such non-profit organizations play in raising awareness for gays and lesbians, especially among young people who succumb to bullying.
“These organizations are all over Montreal and play a very important role,” said Boisvert. “Gris Montreal, for example, tries to educate our youth especially so that bullying can be minimized all over our province.”
In 2006, a survey counted roughly 45,345 same-sex couples in Canada; the numbers are rapidly rising from year to year. In Montreal, 18.4 per cent of the population was homosexual. These numbers cannot be ignored.
Calling all STM bus drivers: put your calls on hold
STM needs to make example of drivers who put lives at risk
Grievances against the Societé de transport de Montréal have simply gotten out of hand. The Gazette has pointed out that between Aug. 2010 and March 2011, there have been 189 complaints against STM bus drivers who used their cellphones while driving.It is illegal in Quebec for drivers to use cellphones while operating a vehicle, due to the obvious risks involved. Indeed, it is an issue of general welfare for drivers to have their full attention on the road in order to reduce incidents caused by negligence. This is even more relevant to drivers of public buses, who are responsible for the lives of many, both inside and outside of their vehicles.
It is important that these public concerns be properly addressed, especially involving a system that transports several million people every year.
Unfortunately, the STM seems to be placing a higher value on the careers of its drivers rather than the security of its passengers. STM spokesperson Marianne Rouette explained in an interview that provincial and STM policies prohibit the use of cellphones while driving. Rouette even provided documentation attesting to how a ban on cellphones on public buses even took place before the provincial ban and that the official policy went as far as forbidding STM drivers from using Bluetooth headsets.
When asked about punitive measures taken against drivers who break these rules, she was clear that disciplinary action is done privately. Drivers are dealt with on a case by case basis and judged according to their records and other circumstances, with room for appropriate leniency. None of these proceedings are revealed to the public in order to protect the privacy of the drivers.
With all due respect to Rouette, secrecy is simply not acceptable for a public transit enterprise such as the STM. Transparency is essential, not only because our tax dollars help fund the STM, but because our safety is at hand.
Montrealers have a right to know whether the public employees they directly or indirectly support are engaged in dangerous behaviour. A person’s right to privacy must be protected, but when that person’s negligence puts the lives of dozens of people at risk, they need to be reprimanded in a way that sends a message to other drivers as well.
As the complaints keep piling on, promises don’t cut it. Since we don’t know for sure whether these drivers are held accountable for their actions, it is perfectly logical for the STM to continue the trend of disciplining its drivers behind closed doors.
It is time for all public transportation users to demand an increase in transparency from the STM; the stakes are too high. Will they wait until a pedestrian is run over, or for a bus to crash into other vehicles in order to make the message clear? The attention of bus drivers, as with any other drivers, should not be compromised by cellphone use. STM drivers who break the law must be severely reprimanded even though they work for a powerful enterprise.
Boycott may be too severe a recourse for users of the STM, since we need the service, and drivers haven’t exactly mowed down any pedestrians yet because of carelessness. However, better measures need to be put into place so that accidents are prevented before it’s too late.
Out of province students getting the shaft
Why is Quebec the only province with three different tuition rates?
The calamity over Quebec’s tuition hikes has divided students. Residents are understandably up in arms over the hike. Out-of-province students are bitter about the gap that still exists.Both are right. The implementation of tuition fees in Quebec is overly simplistic, and fails to acknowledge that Quebec students and institutions are one of the most diverse in Canada. Each institution has unique aims, and one blanket tuition fee for the entire province isn’t an adequate solution.
Quebec residents pay the lowest tuition fees in the country. Full-time students who are residents pay around $2,168 a year in tuition, while an out-of-province student pays about $5,866 a year – more than double. According to a Macleans OnCampus post from earlier this year, “tuition fees for Quebec residents will now rise by $325 a year, over five years, beginning in fall 2012. This will increase tuition to $3,793 per year for Quebec residents,” a rate that is still substantially lower than the fees for out-of-province students.
University heads have been calling for the increase for years. In 2003, the Quebec conference of university rectors and principals (CREPUQ) released a statement saying, “Quebec universities would require an amount of $375 million to reach their competitive ability compared to universities in the other provinces.”
Underfunding in Quebec has made universities less competitive, according to Denis Brière, chair of the CREPUQ board of directors. Increased funding is necessary for Quebec universities to “attract the best students and have a high quality curriculum.”
Most importantly, Brière said appropriate funding is necessary for attracting national and international students, one of CREPUQ’s priorities. Universities like McGill and Concordia receive many non-Quebec and foreign students and compete directly with other institutions across North America. They do not have the same mission as other Quebec institutions, like the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, which focuses on attracting French and resident students, according to a 2004 study by the Montreal Economic Institute.
Herein lies Quebec’s unique dilemma. Quebec’s blanket tuition for all “residents” is a problematic system, firstly because Quebec residency and the resident tuition are arbitrarily determined. As the system is now, anyone who was born in Quebec – including those who have spent most of their lives living elsewhere in Canada – can still take advantage of the cheap tuition rates and attend a Quebec university, even a big, internationally competitive one like McGill or Universite de Montreal.
This hardly seems fair for the smaller francophone universities who don’t compete on the same national and international level. A cheaper tuition rate for these universities is justifiable in this context.
The tuition fees that are mandated across the board for all Quebec institutions fail to address the unique aims and needs of each university. Quebec universities should have the choice of whether to impose higher fees based on the mandate, but also on the mission they set for themselves.
Like childhood memories in a funhouse mirror
ConU prof Adrian Norvid publishes ephemeral pop-culture odyssey Nogoodniks
October 4th, 2011
Blending a good dose of tweaked pop culture references and cartoonish art, Adrian Norvid’s Nogoodniks gives readers jokes they don’t have to read twice to understand.
For some viewers, the temptation to reason with the absurd is too great to resist: but sometimes, to paraphrase Freud, Joni Mitchell’s ass is just Joni Mitchell’s ass…
At least, that’s the kind of irreverent imagery found in Adrian Norvid’s whimsical new book of illustrations Nogoodniks, published by independent press Drawn & Quarterly.
A lover of “crummy, cheap, cheesy stuff,” Norvid finds comedic cannon fodder for his collection of nearly 90 new drawings and collages in everything from 1970s counterculture to English humour to quintessential symbols of Americana. It’s-No-Wonderbread, anyone?
Invoking childhood’s most-beloved emblems (remember Tootsie Pops? Frisbees? The Hulk?) through adulthood’s sardonic lens, Norvid crafts a reading experience that resists categorization. The perversion of familiar icons is nostalgic yet fresh, and even somewhat sweet despite its crude bent.
“It’s a lot of childhood remnants, I think, because I came over here to Canada when I was
10-years-old, and I still had a lot of Englishness in me,” Norvid said of the influence of the
English culture and wordplay on his humour.
Norvid’s play with words focuses on puns and malapropisms, but also on the similar sonorous quality of words. On one page, a square-jawed, dopey-looking skull nestles near the outer corner, the text reading “dull little skull.” On another, a man’s black silk top hat seems to fly off backward into the book, the inside decorated by flourishes and the text “Topper Upper.”
“My family are from the North of England, and they were addicted to words. You felt that sitting in the living room listening to them just yak like parrots for hours on end,” Norvid recalled, imitating his relatives’ mile-a-minute speech. “It was almost like watching Monty Python, to hang around them, and of course as a kid you’d just be like, ‘God, what is going on?’”
Norvid’s expressive and cartoon-inspired art recreates a child’s sense of impatience, wonder and confusion without recourse to a narrative or to particular reading guidelines. Picked up and flipped through on a whim in a bookshop, Nogoodniks can hook a reader on any page.
“I didn’t do the drawings in any particular order, and I don’t think there’s a theme that people can go back and discover on a second reading,” explained Norvid of the book’s loosely-associated content.
“I think of it as a collection of dumb, slightly caustic, maybe barely even funny things,” he continued, “that have some kind of relationship with one another, but that you might not figure out, and that I may not even really know.”
For fans of independent comic culture, Nogoodniks will be doubly entertaining. Sometimes reminiscent in style of the bizarre illustrations of masters like R. Crumb, Norvid’s skillful drawings still communicate the same almost grassroots look.
Intense facial expressions, slightly contorted limbs and fingers, and a certain collapsing of depth both ally the illustrations of Nogoodniks with the greater independent illustration and comic publishing tradition and set it apart as a work with an identity of its own making.
As Crumb said of his own medium: “When people say ‘What are underground comics?’ I think the best way you can define them is just the absolute freedom involved—we didn’t have anyone standing over us.”
Norvid echoed the sentiment of unmediated expression when he said: “There’s definitely an attitude to this, one of being silly together. I’ll insult you, and you insult me—let’s just relax, okay?”
Unsurprisingly, the source for the book’s content is as ephemeral as the final product.
Norvid, who typically works with much larger pieces, discussed his bookmaking process as one that was spontaneous and exhilarating as well as sometimes discouraging and uncertain.
“A lot of these things just pop into my head very spontaneously, and I’ll jot them down in a little notebook,” he said, explaining the source for the book’s humour, “and then I’ll just use them. I say, the universe will give these things up, so don’t inflect them too much; have faith that they’ll work on some level. And it’s a bit of an idiot faith, really.”
Nogoodniks is being launched on Oct. 7 at 7 p.m. at Drawn & Quarterly, 211 Bernard St. For more information, go to www.drawnandquarterly.com.
The search continues for Concordia’s next president
Selection process to remain secret
The committee, established by the Board of Governors last March with the purpose of selecting the next president, is the only group allowed access to the feedback and recommendations that were gathered via online survey.
The committee’s 14 members consist of Board of Governors chair Peter Kruyt and selected representatives from the BoG, the administration and support staff, full-time members of all four academic faculties, and part-time faculty members.
Both graduate and undergraduate students will be represented in the proceedings by their respective student union presidents, Robert Sonin and Lex Gill.
Committee members are not allowed to discuss their deliberations with the public and the university presently has no plans to release any of the information collected in the feedback surveys.
“The search for the president is a confidential process,” said Concordia spokesperson Chris Mota. “The university sees no contradiction between the transparency of the process and the confidentiality required to do the job right.”
Kruyt sent out an email to the Concordia community last August asking for their feedback regarding the selection of a new president. The message included a link to a survey hosted by Canadian executive search firm Laverne Smith & Associates Inc., from which names could be submitted for presidential nomination as well as general comments. The deadline to submit online recommendations was Sept. 16.
The position of president has been vacant since last December when Judith Woodsworth was ousted by the BoG halfway through her term. Former rector Frederick Lowy then became interim president in February 2011. He will remain in office until August 2012, unless a new president is appointed before then.
Lowy praised the survey in a mass email welcoming the campus community back for the fall 2011 semester, describing the process as “part of our commitment to ensure that the search for our next president will be as transparent and inclusive as possible.”
SIDEBAR
The advisory search committee consists of these 14 members:
Peter Kruyt
Annie Tobias
Jonathan Wener
Bram Freedman
Lucie Lequin
Norman Ingram
Nabil Esmail
Masha Salazkina
Raafat Saade
David Douglas
Robert Sonin
Lex Gill
Joanne Beaudoin
Suzanne Downs
Your guide to banning the freshman 15
Four simple steps to stop the pounds in their tracks
The Freshman 15 is a North American term used to describe college students’ weight gain associated with erratic sleep schedules, stress, affinity for fast and unhealthy food, and being away from mom and dad who are usually there to set our ways straight. However, studies show that Canadians are gaining weight at a less significant rate compared to previous years. So whether you’re in the freshman 10-and-a-half or the 5 3/4 category, you can beat the bulge.
If you look down—no, not at your newly pedicured toes or your fresh Reebok kicks— at your waist, and it’s gotten bigger ever since you’ve enrolled into this fine learning institution, you’re not alone.
Shayna Mestel never thought she would be looking forward to hitting the gym after class to reserve the elliptical machine. She also never considered herself to be the type of student to set her alarm clock back seven minutes earlier to pack herself a heart-healthy lunch. But here is a Concordia student who has taken the textbook approach to fighting the Freshman Fifteen phenomenon and won.
“After high school, I stopped playing basketball and being in dance shows,” said Mestel, an exercise science student. “I also started snacking a lot more and didn’t care what I ate.”
After enrolling in an exercise prescription class where she learned about all of the short- and long-term effects of eating poorly and not exercising, the truth began to emerge. “I realized I had to change my ways or I’d have lots of issues as I get older,” Mestel said. “I got my friend who is a certified trainer to help me get started because I finally found my motivation.”
Mestel wasn’t always a keener when it came to meticulous weight loss. Like 85 per cent of students, she got 5 1/2 hours of sleep a night and never had the energy to workout due to a heavy frame and an even heavier workload.
“Skimping out on the recommended eight hours raises the hunger-inducing hormone ghrelin,” said Richard Tardif, a kinesiologist who earned his bachelor’s degree in exercise science at Concordia. “And this lethargy and hunger are both a recipe for weight gain.”
You think you’re doing your body and mind good by studying, and then you mindlessly find your fingers in the cookie jar yet again.
“I started snacking a lot more when I was studying and didn’t really care what I ate,” Mestel confessed. “So I ended up putting on weight and didn’t really have the motivation to do anything about it.”
If you’re in the same sinking boat, here’s what you can do about it.
Make your own meals
Save money and your waistline from expanding by skipping the long line at McDonald’s, where ingredients are unpronounceable, let alone actual food. Bringing a lunchbox to school is no longer one of the nerdiest things you could possibly do, unless of course it’s Batman- or Ninja Turtles-themed. Packing your Ziploc bags with unprocessed, fresh ingredients such as whole wheat bread with baby spinach, low-fat feta and turkey will keep your insulin levels steady, thus preventing future cravings for crappy food. Here’s a general rule of thumb: If it comes in a box, it’s bad for you. If it can perish, it’s usually good for you.
Sneak in some exercise
Not to put the lovely and ever-so-convenient Concordia shuttle bus out of business or anything, but walking to school will do long-term wonders for your bod. Aaron Borek, a YM-YWHA personal trainer certificate recipient, said that everyone needs at least 20 minutes of cardiovascular exercise per day. “You really have to fit in some cardio. Anything is better than what you’re probably getting now.” Anything is a pretty vague term, and that’s what is so great about it. If you have $60 to spare for the semester, signing up for a membership at Concordia’s Le Gym isn’t such a bad idea. Intramural sports are also offered, like badminton and ultimate frisbee. But who needs a team sport when Concordia is located right next to a year-round scenic bike path that stretches 3.4 km across downtown Montreal? Hop on a Bixi and wear a helmet.
Hit the snooze button
Don’t go forging doctor’s notes as a get-out-of-jail (I mean class) free card. Instead, develop a regular sleep schedule that your brain could adjust to. Don’t use your bedroom for anything other than sleeping (alone or with friends, I don’t judge), so that you associate your bed only with sleep and don’t experience the burden of insomnia. According to Tardif, being tired impairs your judgment, causing you to make poor food choices. Similarly, Borek said that “by not giving your body significant rest, you are liable to having a weak immune system, causing you to feel sick and lazy, and therefore sedentary.” Think of eight as the magic number for health: eight glasses of water a day, eight servings of fruits and veggies, and bingo, eight hours of sleep.
Get drunk on life
It’s not hard to stay sober when you discover all the calories in beer. (It tastes like crap anyways, but maybe that’s just the woman in me talking.) Alcohol plays an obviously huge social lubricant role in campus life, as it is readily available in large, cheap quantities at cultural and program-related events. Be wary of the brew though, because alcohol is a poison. “When the body senses poison, it stops everything it’s doing and tries to get rid of the poison,” Borek explains. “By consuming too much alcohol you are not letting your liver deal with toxic substances produced by your own body, so it can’t metabolize your food.” And no, puking at the end of the night does not negate the calories.
The endorphins produced by attaining success will become addictive, and soon enough, second nature. “I am so motivated and in such a good spot right now with how I feel towards exercise and nutrition that I won’t ever repeat my old ways,” Mestel vowed. “I make time in my schedule to go to the gym no matter what.”
Let’s make it a point here at Concordia University to defy the fat brand and re-dub it the “Freshman Zero,” or even “Negative Five.”
“I can personally tell you that all of this works because during my first year of university, I tried to lose weight and used a lot of these suggestions and I have lost 36 pounds since October 2010,” Mestel proudly said.
The Freshman Negative 36 works, too.
Skinny tips:
-Mix it up: Don’t spend months on the same activity. You WILL get bored, and so will your muscles. Challenge and confuse them by spending a week on hot yoga and the next on salsa dance classes.
-Don’t starve yourself: Eating less is only effective if you feel satiated. Afterwards, robbing your body of energy it needs and craves will only ruin your workout performance and cause you to binge later.
-Go clubbing: You heard me. Dancing the night away is a great way to workout without even realizing it. Plus, walking around in heels does wonders for the calves. And guys, don’t buy your girl too many drinks. Um, hellllloooo calories!
-Don’t try too hard: Getting obsessed with fitness and weight loss backfires when you start to neglect your passions and hobbies. Live life, be happy, and keep it simple by balancing work and play. This stability will end up normalizing your eating and exercise patterns.
-Phone a friend: This is your most crucial lifeline. BBM your buddies to try out new classes around your area. Establish a non-judgmental relationship with them to force you to go to bed at a normal hour and go for tea instead of cupcakes.
-Surf the net: Websites like Tuango.ca, Livingsocial.com and Groupon.ca offer huge daily deals on things like workout classes and healthy gourmet food. Sign up, and purchase the deals that fit your newfound healthy freshman lifestyle.
Navigating health information online
Knowing what questions to ask when searching for medical answers on the Internet
“On some websites it said that it’s normal when you’re anxious. Then another website was saying that [palpitations] are deadly and need to be checked out by a doctor. So I was definitely uncertain and it was not reassuring,” says Di Carlo.
Rather than finding answers and relief, she found herself becoming even more stressed than before. Her heart palpitations got worse. Using the Internet to determine what is making you feel ill is only natural when so much information is at our fingertips. There are all sorts of web pages that not only help diagnose your symptoms, but can also help advise you on how to treat them.
Going online for answers
While there are very good and legitimate websites that are excellent resources, there are also some that are not as reliable. Many viruses have similar symptoms but very different treatments, making self-diagnosis a problem when it comes to more serious things. For example, the symptoms of mononucleosis and strep throat are pretty much the same. Even the way they are contracted is the same. The real difference is how they are treated, proving that it is very important to get a professional to examine you and look at your symptoms.
“The Internet is part of our life now. However, diagnosing oneself is never a good idea,” says Donna Cooper, a nurse at Concordia Health Services.
Though the web can be an excellent resource, Cooper advises people who are concerned about their health to go and talk to a health professional.
“Often people will come up with a diagnosis that’s really not even close to what’s wrong with them,” she explains.
Owen Moran, a health promotion specialist at Concordia, says that it is inevitable that people will turn to technology when it comes to their health.
“I believe that many people like to know what is going on with their health and they like to be proactive at it, so they seek out the information they need to understand what is going on,” he says.
He believes that people use the Internet for self-diagnosis for several reasons. The first is that the Internet is familiar to them and, just like people use it for booking plane tickets and communicating, getting health information is just an extension of that. The Internet is also close, convenient and has a wide range of knowledge that is more than one physician might have.
Questions to ask yourself
According to an article written by Moran on the Concordia Health Services website, if students want to use online health resources, they need to be cautious and know what sort of website is reliable. The article provides some questions that you should ask yourself about the website you are using such as:
- Who is responsible for this website?
- What is the purpose of the site?
- Where does the information come from?
- What is the quality of the information?
- Is the site up-to-date?
- Does the site respect your privacy?
It is important to find the answers to some of these questions in order to make sure that you are receiving proper information and also to make sure that the site does not have a slant. Some pharmaceutical companies that put up health websites only give their own products as means of treatment. They can omit better methods or products that can help, which can also be dangerous. Before ever settling for what you read on a website, it is always best for you to consult a doctor, no matter how small your concern may be.
Health related websites
In their October 2010 newsletter, Health Services listed a number of reliable websites. Here are three recommended sites from their list:
1. MedicineNet, www.medicinenet.com is an American site offering information on diseases and conditions, symptoms and medications and a medical term dictionary.
2. Public Health Agency of Canada, www.phac-aspc.gc.ca, provides information on a variety of subjects including infectious and chronic diseases as well as a travel health section.
3. Go Ask Alice, www.goaskalice.columbia.edu, administered by Columbia University’s Health Services, the site provides answers to hundreds of questions asked by college students on alcohol, drugs, fitness, nutrition, sexuality, emotional health and more.
Regardless of what you find online, if symptoms are serious or if they persist individuals should see a physician to make sure they get the proper treatment.
Visit www-health.concordia.ca to see clinic hours or to get more information
Four ways to fix the CSU
Some suggestions to better the next CSU
March 29th, 2011 Since each of the candidates for the council, senate and board of governors get a $50 budget for their campaigns, it seems unfair for one candidate’s posters to be featured on the school’s billboards because they got to it first on poster night, or because they got their friends to run on every floor of the Hall building before the other guys’. Or for them to have more posters up because they got a better deal with the printers.
Poster night craziness just seems unnecessary because there are easier and fairer ways for posters to be put up. There should be either limits of the number of posters put up per candidate, or delineate spaces for each slate and independent candidate to poster. It officially starts the campaigning period, but candidates should all start at a level playing field.
2. Let students vote for individual execs
Students should not have to vote for an entire slate of CSU executives. We are able to vote for individual councillors who are supposed to keep checks and balances on the executives. It makes sense to have top honchos be from different slates so the tab-keeping is done right at the top, not just through the councillors. It would also make the executives work harder at convincing their fellow executives to go along with a project. It would be like working with the enemy, but compromising and listening and respecting the other side, just like a minority government would “work” in parliament. There would be more focus on what works best for the most amount of students.
3. Students should think of the execs like employees
The CSU president and VPs do get paid, and since you all pay fees to the CSU, you, students, are directly paying them. Seriously. So, in a sense, they are your employees. They all boast about being accountable and working for and on behalf of the students, so it is imperative that the student body keep the union accountable throughout its term, by asking questions, going to council meetings and calling their bluffs on transparency and accountability.
4. Campaigning on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube
The candidates love to change their profile pictures to their poster during the campaign period, and that’s fine. They are easy to spot and in terms of recognition, they definitely work. But if candidates want to use their Facebook accounts to campaign, voters should do what everyone does and use their hours on Facebook to “Facestalk” the candidates. As per point 3, they are your potential employees. Potential employers check people’s social media profiles in order to suss out solid candidates. You can do the same! The CSU had a budget of $2 million in 2010-2011, would you hire a party animal to take care of your finances?
The Oxford Dictionary is adding new “techspeak” terms to its vocabulary
Updates reflect the way the English language is spoken online, and offline
Since 1998, the Oxford University Press has published three editions of an English language dictionary, aptly titled The New Oxford Dictionary of English. The researchers start from scratch with every new edition, as the dictionary is intended to reflect the current state of the English language—not simply an updated one. The latest edition was published in 2010, but Oxford Dictionaries Online frequently updates their website with new entries to keep it contemporary.
The emergence of social networking has taken techspeak to new heights. Ever defriended (v. to remove someone from a list of friends or contacts on a social networking site) an ex after a bitter breakup? Or arranged a tweetup (n. a meeting or other gathering organized by means of posts on the social networking service Twitter) at Starbucks? Mark Zuckerberg has not only turned procrastination into an art form, it seems he has also infiltrated our verbal communication.
Beyond the confines of your Facebook home page lies a vast and chaotic network of other websites. Perhaps upon the purchase of your latest PC you installed freemium (n. business model, especially on the Internet, whereby basic services are provided free of charge while more advanced features must be paid for) malware to protect your files. Or maybe you’re a fan of microblogging (n. the posting of very short entries or updates on a blog) and read up on Perez Hilton from time to time.
Although it’s mainly self-proclaimed geeks who label these words, Oxford legitimizes them by slapping on official definitions and putting them into print.
Has techspeak taken over our society to such an extent that grade five students throughout the country are using ‘becuz’ and ‘rofl’ in their book reports? Perhaps — but outside the world of academia, techspeak is widely accepted. It isn’t deteriorating our vocabulary, it’s enhancing it. The English language is constantly evolving. The addition of terms enriches our understanding of new phenomenons encountered on the Internet. And that is nothing to ‘lawlz’ about.
Sunday, 23 October 2011
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