Gay Cancer

Why homosexual men are deemed the carriers of HIV

James McDonald, James McDonald and James McDonald

By the end of 2008, over 33 million people are infected with HIV/AIDS worldwide. 25 million have died in 30 years due to complications associated with the disease. Despite HIV/AIDS being widespread among various demographic groups worldwide, there continues to be a stigma put on gay men that they are the most infected. The stereotype stems from several hundred gay...

Year of the Tiger – time to save them

Zara Urvashi Ramaniah

The Chinese Spring Festival ushers in the most important event of the calendar – the New Year. The celebrations begin with the first new moon after the winter solstice and end with the next full moon. We are currently in the middle of the New Year festivities; the Spring Festival began on Feb. 14th and will end on the Feb....

What the fuck?

Four-letter fouls and how they’re invading our everyday language

Eleni Armenakis – The Fulcrum and University of Ottawa

OTTAWA (CUP) – It’s taboo, occasionally forbidden, and often cathartic. Swearing – once scandalous and vulgar – is fast becoming a very common part of everyday language. Cursing’s recent movement from the fringes of society into the mainstream means that it’s finally being examined by some sociolinguists, although they’re still nowhere near understanding everything about it. Researcher and linguist Ruth...

Relief highlights

Kenny Sharpe, James McDonald and Zara Urvashi Ramaniah

In heels for Haiti “We don’t have a goal of how much to raise, but the goal is to raise money,” said Danny Coombs, local activist and drag performer. Coombs and many patrons of The Zone on Water Street are organizing a drag-themed benefit, “In Heels for Haiti,” which will take place on Jan. 29. “We wanted to be different...

A pixelated timeline

The the history of video gaming

James McDonald and James McDonald

1947-1950 Precursors to modern computers, the Cathode-Ray Tube Amusement Device and MIT's Whirlwind Computer for graphic simulations of missiles and bouncing balls, created using vacuum tubes and manual overlays. They are known as the first electronic games. 1958 To some, Tennis For Two is known as the first video game, though it was not commercially available. The two-player side-view tennis...

Pixel power

James McDonald

Games allow us to exist in a way outside our own lives. Forty years ago, the only way to escape was through film and text. To create your own alternate persona meant being extremely crafty with a pen or extremely schizophrenic. Today, gamers can build a house, fight in the Second World War, and hit home runs in Yankee Stadium,...

From Pixar to Prada

The top 10 films of the decade

James McDonald

The arduous task of choosing 10 films from thousands upon thousands that were produced in the past 10 years – years in which film progressed into more artistic, character driven, and thought-provoking realms – has been a task that has proven difficult to say the very least. The decade has shown us that individuals in movies can have as big...

The decade’s ten best records

Nathan Downey

The ’00s were incredible years for music. There’s absolutely no question that this decade will dictate the course of sonic innovation for eons to come. The ’90s were a sere landscape littered with bloated Brit-pop anthems, sludgy piles of proto-, neo-, and post-grunge manure, soulless hip-hop, and Marilyn Manson. This decade, on the other hand, was a magical era in...

It's a bird; it's a plane; it's graphica!

Trevor K. McNeil and The Martlet (University of Victoria)

VICTORIA (CUP) – From their beginnings in the late 1930s, comic books have faced many challenges – at times to their very existence. Accusations of artistic bankruptcy and moral inequity abounded and, at times, they were nearly legislated out of business. While the fervour has died down to a degree, there remains an attitude about comic books and graphic novels,...

Living in a BlackBerry world

Perspectives on the convenience / dependence of owning a smartphone

James McDonald

Todd Sharpe has mornings similar to everyone else’s. He wakes up, has a shower, eats a healthy, balanced breakfast, possibly goes to the gym, and heads off to work – a morning routine that could belong to anyone. Last year, Sharpe received a BlackBerry as a birthday gift, and within weeks (if not days) his morning routine changed, ever so...

Rex Murphy’s got something on his mind

One of the nation's leading commentators speaks on Canadian politics, global warming, the implications of oil, and the future of Newfoundland

Kenny Sharpe

“You asked the man one question and he went on for nine minutes”, said Rex Murphy, recalling an interview he conducted in the early ’90s with a fisherman from L’Anse aux Meadows, not long after this province saw the collapse of its fisheries. It was with the help of this retrospectively suited alter ego that Rex Murphy was, in some...

Students as catalysts for change: The Earth’s best bet in the environmental crisis

180 student leaders in sustainability from across Canada come together in Ontario for the Impact! Conference

Zaren White

Unlike most of the conflicts and crises that have affected humankind throughout our existence, the environmental crisis is a unique, contemporary challenge. It’s time to re-evaluate – to allow a mind shift to take place, a reappraisal of priorities. Allow me to ask and answer a couple of questions: Why are we here, in university? To get a good education....

Canada vs. Japan: Two different approaches to education, two different results

James McDonald

Would adopting a Japanese education model make sense for Canada?

Plenty of e-fish in the online sea

Successes and frustrations in the universe of Internet dating

James McDonald

In the last two decades, the Internet has revolutionized the daily lives of millions of people. The introduction of e-mail, social networking, and access to unlimited information has allowed savvy Internet users to tap into a world of possibilities. However, as the web has become a necessity in the lives of many, there is, as Valleywag – a news and...