Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Wednesday, november 7, 2012 canada’s only daily student newspaper • founded 1906 volume 106, Issue 36

thegazette

www.westerngazette.ca • @uwogazette

Hiding nerf guns since 1906

Murray tosses hat inOntario minister of training, colleges and university resigns in hopes of heading party.

>> pg. 3

todayhigh6low-4

tomorrowhigh7low-1

HIV vaccine trials show positive resultsCam Smith

News editor

Promising results have emerged from Western laboratories in the quest to provide a vaccine for HIV/AIDS.

Yesterday, at a press conference in the Siebens Drake Research In-stitute, Western and Sumagen Canada announced the results of phase one of human clinical tri-als on the trial vaccine, called SAV001-H.

“There have been no adverse effects and immunological re-sponses to date,” Dong Joon Kim, a spokesperson for Sumagen Can-ada, announced. “This is a very important milestone for us. It has given Sumagen Canada great en-couragement to proceed on our long journey to reach the final goal for all human kind.”

To bring the vaccination to frui-tion, Sumagen Canada has com-mitted enormous resources.

“Up to now, our company has invested up to $16 million,” Kim said. “In order to finish phase two, I expect $30 to $40 million, and to finish phase three, up to $100 million.”

While this is not the first poten-tial vaccine to make it to human clinical trials, none thus far have appeared as promising.

“Up to now, we’ve had no suc-cessful vaccine,” Kim said. “Theo-retically, we expect our [newest]

vaccine will be able to prevent HIV/AIDS.”

Phase one is the first of three that need to be accomplished be-fore the vaccine can be distributed and used by the greater populace. In this phase, researchers admin-ister the trial vaccination to pa-tients already infected with HIV to ensure there will be no adverse ef-fects from the medication itself.

With the success of phase one, Kim is already anticipating positive results from phase two.

“In phase two, we will need much larger treatment groups, and we expect strong immune re-sponses from healthy humans,” he explained. “And, in phase two, we can almost expect the success of our vaccine.”

While the first phase of trials was only intended to ensure there would be no negative side effects, the researchers found much more than that.

“If the vaccine works, you do ex-pect to get an increase in the levels of the antibody,” Chil-Yong Kang, lead researcher of the vaccine, ex-plained. “We do see as high as a 32-fold increase [in the antibod-ies]. So that’s why we are so excited […], and we are now proceeding to phase two of human clinical trials.”

This particular vaccine is unique, according to Kang, be-cause researchers are using what is known as a ‘killed whole virus,’ which uses inactive samples of

the virus in the vaccination. Killed whole virus vaccinations have proven successful in curing ill-nesses in the past, like polio.

“Many others are using recum-bent viruses and protein-based vaccines. Unfortunately, none of those strategies have worked,” Kang explained. “We are using the killed whole virus, the advantages are to provide the native structure of the virus.”

This method has been unpopu-lar in the production of HIV vacci-nations because of perceived risks and quantity issues, all of which

have been resolved by Kang and his team.

“No one knew how to pro-duce a safe vaccine, and we ge-netically modified it to make sure the virus we use is safe,” Kang ex-plained. “People didn’t know how to make larger quantities of killed whole virus. Again, we genetically modified it, and over the years we learned how to produce it in larger quantities.”

For Kang, the ramifications of his research are enormous. How-ever, his focus remains on the ben-efit of humanity.

“My personal motivation is that I am a virologist, and I like to save lives,” he said. “If we can eradicate HIV, or prevent infection, certainly that will be the happiest achieve-ment I can accomplish.”

Despite the promise of the vac-cine, even in the earliest phases of its trial, Kang acknowledged the fu-ture remained uncertain.

“We don’t anticipate any prob-lems because our results are clean and clear,” he explained. “I have no doubt about phase two human clinical trials. Phase three, God only knows.”

Andrei Calinescu GAZette

ITS patches accidental OWL security breach

file pHoto

Jesica HurstNews editor

Some Western students may have noticed a difference in the con-tent available on their OWL work-space last month, as the university has confirmed the online learning management system was compro-mised on October 22.

According to an email sent to af-fected students by John Doerksen, vice-provost academic programs and students, the compromise granted 97 students access to ad-ministrative areas within the pro-gram, including Gradebook, the grades management component.

Doerksen explained it was a Western student who discovered the flaw.

“This happened to a student, who brought it forward to a faculty member, and they informed ITS,” Doerksen said. “In a nutshell, it was a defect in the software whereby if a

user pressed the ‘enter’ key repeat-edly, it would open up administra-tive functionality within OWL.”

Although Western was made aware of the compromise on the 22, the email explaining what hap-pened wasn’t sent out to affected students until November 1—over a week later. According to Doerksen, the university delayed to avoid rais-ing concerns without a complete

analysis and understanding of the situation.

“It affected 390 course sections, so we needed to try to understand the scope of what had happened,” he said. “The sense of urgency around the announcement wasn’t quite so great because we knew a fix was in place.”

“Although the information that students may have been able to view fell outside of our privacy policy with respect to student in-formation, it’s not really sensitive personal information.”

Deana Ruston, a second-year health sciences student, was one of the 97 students affected by the breach.

“I was actually on one of my class sections on OWL, and then all of the sudden I could see all of this administrative stuff, like different quizzes and options I’ve obviously

Going into the future, its should take a step back and actually do some seri-ous testing ahead of time when implementing a new software.

—Keith HorwoodUniversity students’ Council elections hacker

>> see its pg.3

Saturday, November 17, 2012 VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES ARE YOU:

• Available to contribute your time for the day November 17, 2012 • Interested in meeting prospective students and their families • Involved in campus activities • Enthusiastic and positive about your Western experience • Articulate, pleasant and responsible

TO APPLY: • Review the volunteer posting details on the Career Central website

www.westerncareercentral.ca • Email your completed application information to [email protected]

OR pick up a hardcopy application outside Undergraduate Recruitment in the Western Student Services Building – Room 3115

• Drop your completed application off to Undergraduate Recruitment in the Western Student Services Building – Room 3115 DEADLINE: THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2012 Please note that you must attend one of the following MANDATORY orientation sessions: November 12th at 4:30pm OR November 13th at 11:30am OR 4:30 pm. If selected as a volunteer, location of the sessions will be sent to you via email.

121106

FALL PREVIEW DAY FALL PREVIEW DAY

Look here each Wednesday for special offers to Western students on health and wellness products and services from local businesses

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2 • thegazette • Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Crossword By Eugene sheffer

The Cryptoquip is a substitution cipher in which one letter stands for another. If you think that X equals O, it will equal O throughout the puzzle. Single letters, short words and words using an apostrophe give you clues to locating vowels. Solution is by trial and error.© 2002 by Kings Features Syndicate, Inc.

Caught on Camera

News Brief

orser offends onlineLondon city councillor Stephen Orser sparked a public response earlier this week when his ques-tionable behaviour was thrown into the spotlight after he made two separate controversial com-ments online.

As an active follower of Lon-don city council and local blogger, London resident Brian Gibson re-cently initiated an online petition outlining his request for the mayor to agree to a temporary resigna-tion. The petition comes in light of the controversy surrounding the potential misuse of government funds for personal affairs.

Upon emailing council mem-bers regarding the matter, Gibson received a rapid email response from Orser that read, “Duck off.” Orser was unable to be reached for comment, and it remains unclear whether or not he intended for the message to be profane. Regardless, the response left Gibson in a state of disbelief.

“I actually did kind of a triple take. Not only did he reply that way, but he did so from his council-lor email, so of course I was pretty shocked about that,” Gibson said.

Several council members have reached out to Gibson to offer sup-port and their apologies on behalf of the City of the London. Atone-ment from Orser, however, re-mains elusive.

The off-the-cuff nature of Ors-er’s response is characteristic of his behaviour over the past week. Prior to his email to Gibson, Orser made a comment online stating, “[Mi-chael Rafferty] is an asshole that should kill himself.”

Orser’s controversial comments have stirred up concern amongst fellow council members, and are likely to reflect poorly on a city council already facing scrutiny.

“Councillors are elected with a public expectation that they carry themselves professionally, respect-fully and with a high level of ethi-cal conduct,” Joni Baechler, Ward 5 councillor, said. “When a council-lor’s conduct is called into ques-tion, it [can] potentially discourage active public involvement in civic issues.”

—Lily Robinson


IT’S GETTING HAWTIN HERE. dJ richie Hawtin and guests spoke at western yesterday as part of their North American tour CNtrl Beyond edM. the goal of the tour is to engage fans of electronic dance music and show them the roots of the genre.

Solution to puzzle on page 8

CORRECTION NOTICE Please note, that due to a production error, an incorrect offer appeared in The Athletic Club ad on page 121 of The 2012 Westernizer. Please refer to The Athletic Club’s January divider ad for the correct offer information. The Ad & Marketing Office apologizes to The Athletic Club, its clients and Westernizer read - ers for any inconvenience caused.

www.theathleticclubs.ca www.facebook.com/TheAthleticClubLondon

thegazette • Wednesday, November 7, 2012 • 3

never seen before,” Ruston said. “It also didn’t have my name in the top right corner—it seemed like some-thing a teacher or someone on the other side would see.”

Ruston knew something wasn’t right, so she logged off and tried again. Even though her workspace remained the same, she didn’t say anything to her professors as she wasn’t sure if she was the only one with this access, or if other students were experiencing the same thing.

However, Keith Horwood, no-table for his hack of the University Students’ Council elections website in February, was quick to speak out about his opinion on the incident.

“Can we seriously take a good, hard look at ITS now? Shame these things happen,” Horwood tweeted.

The Western graduate, who is quite familiar with online breaches, believes ITS should start taking re-sponsibility for these occurrences.

“There was another security compromise, and yet again ITS kind of strayed away from taking respon-sibility for their actions. That’s the thing I found most unfortunate,” he said. “Going into the future, ITS should take a step back and actu-ally do some serious testing ahead of time when implementing a new software and think about what could go wrong and what contin-gencies should be put in place to make sure it doesn’t.”

“From that point on, if some-thing were to go wrong, they’d be prepared to accept responsibility. I feel like that’s just part of competent software engineering—I don’t think it’s too much to ask.”

ITS needs “good look”>> continued from pg.1

Former minister enters race to head Liberals

murray vies for leadership

megan devlinGAZette stAff

Former cabinet minister Glen Murray announced his bid Sun-day to succeed Premier Dalton McGuinty.

Murray stepped down from his position as the Ontario minister of training, colleges and universities in order to run for leadership—a prerequisite set out by McGuinty.

McGuinty announced his res-ignation on October 15 after lead-ing the Ontario liberals for 16 years.

“I think I can do the job very well. I’m the only one running for leadership of this party that’s ever run a government before,” Mur-ray said, referring to his tenure as mayor of Winnipeg. “I led a large urban government and faced similar challenges with signifi-cant debt and deficit issues, and a struggling economy.”

Murray said he was looking forward to the challenge of im-proving Ontario’s economy and job market recovery, and that he had important ideas about the challenges Ontario is facing.

“We look forward to what [Murray] will bring as a leader-ship candidate. OUSA has always advocated for a comprehensive financial aid system, and we’ve given the government feedback

on how to continue to expand the Ontario Tuition Grant eligibil-ity for students,” Alysha Li, vice-president university affairs for the University Students’ Council at Western, said.

One of Murray’s central cam-paign points is his idea of a “no-money-down” tuition fee program for post-secondary education.

Murray described his plan as having three points.

His first point was that, under his new plan, attending college or university would have no upfront cost.

“You go to school for three, four, five years, and you don’t have to pay anything in tuition fees,” Murray said. “Right now, the upfront costs are a real barrier for a lot of students when you realize the average household income

in Ontario is $63,000. The cost of tuition becomes quite a barrier—especially if that family has two or three kids.”

The second point of Murray’s plan was for students not to pay tuition fees until after graduation, once they became employed and entered a certain income bracket.

“When you complete your ed-ucation, you would not pay until you had a job, and your earnings exceeded a certain minimum threshold of income,” Murray said. “Then you would pay a pro-portion of your tuition based on your ability to pay as a percentage of your income. But it would be a modest percentage, not like the kind of debt challenges students face today.”

The third point of Murray’s plan was for there to be tax in-centives for graduates, and for employers to help graduates pay down their tuition. Murray de-scribed the option of employers “buying out” their new hire’s tu-ition fees and being able to write off this purchase as a tax-free benefit.

He pointed to a similar sys-tem in Australia, where students don’t have to pay tuition fees until they’ve graduated and found jobs.

Murray summarized his overall vision as wanting to protect mid-dle class families with his plan.

i’m the only one run-ning for leadership of this party that’s ever run a government be-fore.

—Glen Murrayontario liberal leadership candidate

Courtesy of Nahid Keshavjee

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Create your own visual style. let it be unique for yourself, and yet identifiable for others.

—orson welles Style

Accessories to help you battle the cold

warming up for winter

Just because the temperature is dropping doesn’t mean your sense of style has to. Bundling up during the chilly winter months doesn’t have to make you look frumpy—instead, the right accessories can make you look chic while also staying warm and toasty. You don’t have to spend a fortune either. There are tons of high-quality op-tions at your fingertips. Hats, mittens, gloves and scarves are wintertime staples, so here’s a look at some of the Gazette’s favourites this season.

aldo – Knit headband$12.00

For the ladies, one of the age-old winter dilemmas is dealing with hat hair. Keeping the ears covered is definitely a priority come December, but the resulting flat hair is not a desirable look. Solution—headbands. Often the problem with headbands is they can look bland and juvenile, but the knot detailing at the front makes this headband sophisticated and mature, un-like the one you wore as a six-year-old.

It’s also available in purple, taupe and black, so if you’re not a fan of the rust colour, then you’ll certainly be able to find a colour that suits you best.

aldo – Knit gloves$15.00

A solid pair of gloves is a necessity for the winter weather. These gloves come in the classic fingerless style, so when you have that urgent text that needs answering, you won’t have to suffer completely in the cold. But with the fold-over mitten option, your hands can stay completely warm while they’re not busy typing. These gloves, it seems, provide the best of both worlds.

They come in a mustard or black version so it’s easy to match these with your own winter gear.

>> For women

>> For men

Banana republic – merino wool waffle-knit cap$50.00

If you thought the scarf price was steep then you’ll likely not want to splurge on this winter cap. But they say that most of your body heat es-capes through the head, so shouldn’t your hat be of the utmost quality?

The reason the price is hefty on this chapeau is because it’s made from the wool of the Merino breed of sheep, known to produce some of the best and softest wools on the market. The hat’s thick fold gives it nice de-tail and eliminates the possibility of looking like you’re wearing a swim-ming cap for a hat. The cap comes in this charcoal grey or a light brown.

—Kaitlyn McGrath

H&m – Jacquard-knit scarf$29.95

This wool blend scarf is sure to keep you warm on a cold winter’s night. But even better, the vibrant bursts of orange and turquoise will allow you to stand out amongst the drab hues of grey that permeate the winter sea-son, especially here in London. The splash of colours also ensures this scarf can be paired with an array of winter coats, from a navy peacoat to a sleek black bomber jacket. With the navy trim, a pair of navy gloves to ac-company this scarf would finish the ensemble nicely. Although the price may seem a bit steep, it’s versatility will allow this scarf to last beyond the year.

Victoria’s Secret’s Seduction– dark orchid Fragrance mist

Price: $25.00/ 250ml bottle

Fragrance type: Warm

Smells like: Midnight orchid, crushed plum and oud wood

roberto Cavalli– Eau de Parfum

Price: $80.00 / 50ml bottle

Fragrance type: Intense

Smells like: Orange blossom, ben-zoin, pink pepper and vanilla

Viktor & rolf– Spicebomb

Price: $78.00 / 50 ml bottle

Fragrance type: Explosive

Smells like: Chili, saffron, vetiver, grapefruit and pink pepper

Chanel– allure Homme Sport

Price: $62.00 / 50ml bottle

Fragrance type: Musky

Smells like: Sicilian mandarin, mint, cypress and clary sage

—Jesica Hurst

>> For women

>> For men

Product: NARS Larger Than Life Long-Wear EyelinerWhere to buy: SephoraCost: $25

If you’re looking for a creamy eye-liner—not quite liquid, but not quite pencil—look no further than NARS’ new Larger Than Life Long-Wear Eyeliner. For a seasonal look, try the eyeliner out in Via Appia, a

rich copper brown that adds the faintest hint of a penny-inspired sparkle to your eyes. The main selling point of this eyeliner is its smudge-free appearance. After 12 hours of use, there isn’t even the slightest trace of a raccoon-eyed look. The liner also features a stealthy sharpener tucked away in its back tip.

—Gloria Dickie

Gazette tested > long-wear eyeliner


Nicole GibillinidepUty editor

A little devotion can go a long way.

This was the case for Diana Charabin, a London native and former Western student who is now the proud owner of Tiny De-votions, a company dedicated to making jewelry out of mala beads, and, most recently, scarves.

Charabin had no intentions of starting the business. After com-pleting law school in Australia, she travelled to Bali, Indonesia for three months to finish her train-ing to become a yoga teacher.

During her travels, Charabin became fond of the mala beads,

which are grown in Hawaii, In-donesia and India and are said to have sacred healing properties. Charabin’s newfound interests—yoga and mala beads—led the adventurer to a new path.

“One day after finishing law school, on a whim, I booked a flight to Bali for three months and I had already received a set of mala beads when I lived in Australia, and I thought they were really cool,” Charabin ex-plains. “I’ve always been a self-proclaimed ‘cool hunter,’ and so when I received these mala beads in Australia, they were just on my radar.”

When Charabin came back to London, she worked at a law firm

for a bit, but decided law wasn’t for her. She then pursued a career in marketing and business. While at a job fair, she came across a booth promoting the idea of small business grants.

“I remember going home to my boyfriend and saying, ‘This is what I’m going to do’,” Charabin recalls. “I’m going to write a busi-ness plan and asked what busi-ness [he thought] I should do—so even at that point I wasn’t really sure that the mala beads were a business, but I remember receiv-ing several signs that it was.”

After making her own mala bead necklaces and wearing them around, people started chasing her down for her homemade cre-

ations. Soon enough, she made a Facebook page where she start-edselling her handcrafted jewelry.

Now, roughly three years later, Charabin has international cus-tomers, mostly in the U.S., Can-ada and Australia, and has caught the attention of celebrities like Melissa Etheridge and Chip Wil-son. While currently sold in about 200 yoga studios, spas and bou-tiques, Charabin’s goal is to have her products in over 1,000 shops.

Her business is rapidly ex-panding, proving the realm of yoga and spirituality is growing in North America and around the world.

She encourages students to become entrepreneurs them-

selves—especially since there aren’t enough in London, accord-ing to Charabin.

“Our lives are so fast-paced that we need some kind of way to add in peace and tranquility to our lives,” she says. “I think espe-cially in our generation we’re re-ally looking for meaning—we’re really looking for purpose in what we do.”

“I think yoga is a really great entrance to connecting with your purpose and aligning with who you really are,” she adds. “And for us, our mala beads are just an ex-tension of that.”

To see all of Charabin’s prod-ucts, visit www.lovetinydevotions.com.

Editor’s Picks > scents for winter

Local entrepreneur beads her way to success

file pHoto

file pHoto

ATTENTION

STUDENTS USINGSERVICES FOR STUDENTS

WITH DISABILITIES We would like to remind you that you must meet with a counsellor at Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD), in the Student Development Centre, to arrange academic accommodation for your 2012 fall/winter courses.

If you have not yet requested accommodation for your courses, and you wish to use accommodation for December 2012 exams, you must meet with a counsellor by Thursday, November 15th. Accommodation for December 2012 exams cannot be arranged by SSD if requested after this date.

To book your appointment please call519-661-2147

1210

31


Arts&Life word of the daydraconian Adjective. excessively harsh or severe.

a-list star successfully flies highBradley metlinCoNtriBUtor

GGGGFFlightDirector: Robert ZemeckisStarring: Denzel Washington, Kelly Reilly, Don Cheadle, Tamara Tunie

A trip to any house party dur-ing homecoming would not elicit nearly as much drugs and alco-hol as depicted in this film. You likely also wouldn’t witness any-one as compelling as Whip Whita-ker (Denzel Washington) is with his dependence on intoxicating substances.

Flight opens with one of the most exciting crash sequences in the history of movies. Whip has just saved the lives of all but six passengers on his plane that was headed for disaster. He es-capes with minor injuries and is promptly declared a national hero, but his night out before the flight causes his actions to come under scrutiny. The pressure mounts, a government investigation initiates and a history of addiction resur-faces, launching into a deep char-acter study.

Whip is not a particularly lik-able character, but what addict is? What makes Flight compelling is that addicts are all too common and relatable. The audience is drawn into Whip’s increasing pile of lies, waiting for them to all top-ple over at any point.

In the hospital, Whip befriends

another addict, Nicole (Kelly Reilly). This panhandled sub-plot complements the main story, but feels a little out of place. Nicole isn’t a particularly thrilling or com-plex character, and the way she is introduced is odd. If she was not included, more interesting char-acters could have been developed, and the film—at a long 138 min-utes—could have been shorter.

One of these secondary charac-ters was flight attendant Margaret (Tamara Tunie), who is only seen in two scenes, but makes the best of both. Her panicked assurance that she loves her son during the crash will pull at anyone’s heart-strings. More interesting is watch-

ing Whip manipulate Margaret into perjury during the investiga-tion despite her insistences that he was an addict.

Hugh Lang (Don Cheadle) makes the best out of a limited character. If he was given more to do, he likely could have created a well-layered performance. Un-fortunately, he merely serves as someone who works in Whips’s interest during the investigation, despite some contempt for him personally.

Director Robert Zemeckis gen-erally does a good job of crafting a film that works, but one weakness is the horribly obvious musical cues. Zemeckis seems to have little

faith in some of his editing choices and created drastic musical differ-ences to denote a change in many scenes. The screenplay also seems to make things a little too obvi-ous when it comes to religion, re-ally aiming for the lowest common denominator.

The bottom line is that Flight isn’t about anything else but Washington’s performance and his character’s journey. To say his per-formance isn’t amazing would be foolish, because his internal strug-gle is perfectly conveyed through his eyes. Flight gives Washington full reign to deliver a powerhouse performance as an addict and al-lows this film to fly high.

file pHoto

We want to answer your health and fitness questions!

Send them to [email protected]

GGGHFBorn Gold Little Sleepwalker Audraglint

Born Gold, the musical child of Canadian experimental pop art-ist Cecil Frena, showcased a total overhaul in sound with their new album Little Sleepwalker. Gone is the loud, highly produced elec-tronic shrill that attracted many listeners to the band initially, and left is a much calmer, more pol-ished sound.

At first, the album almost makes it seem like Frena’s music has re-gressed, as it lacks the powerful in-tricacy of his past works. The songs take on an eerie and dreamlike state.

The album starts off strong with the percussive “Pulse Thief,” then transitions quickly into “That Way,” which most resembles the band’s work in Bodysongs.

Little Sleepwalker then moves into a darker, quieter lull—which is impressive considering how bla-tant some of the electronic noises in the album actually are—and al-lows the listener to get lost in time.

—Ryan Hurlbut

on disc

thegazetteVolume 106, Issue 36www.westerngazette.ca

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Editorials are decided by a majority of the editorial board and are written by a member of the editorial board but are not necessarily the expressed opinion of each editorial board member. All other opinions are strictly those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the USC, The Gazette, its editors or staff.

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News Alex CarmonaJesica HurstCam SmithAaron ZaltzmanArts & Life Sumedha AryaBrent HolmesKevin HurrenSports Richard RaycraftJason SinukoffRyan SternOpinions Ryan HurlbutAssociate Kaitlyn McGrath

Photography Andrei CalinescuRitchie ShamCameron WilsonGraphics Naira AhmedMike LaineIllustrations Christopher MiszczakLiwei ZhouOnline Julian Uzielli

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Gazette Staff 2012-2013Greg Colgan, David Czosniak, Megan Devlin, Elton

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Opinionsdear Life

Christmas is the disneyfication of Christianity.

—don Cupitt, english philosopher

Your anonymous letters to life.

dear Life, posting the preliminary exam schedule during midterms just adds to the stress.

dear Life, ‘member when them ugly Canada Goose jackets were popular... oh...

dear Life, pop pop!

dear Life, thankfully Always’ marketing department finally stopped telling women to “Have a Happy period.” that was pretty much the equivalent of telling someone to have a happy rectal exam.

dear Life, i’m so glad that i got to start off my morning by seeing that piercing gaze of Kevin Hurren’s in the Gazette.

dear Life, if plan A doesn’t work, the alphabet has 25 more letters. Keep calm.

dear Life, is it just me or has there been a massive influx of super shiny loonies in the market?

Submit your letters to life at www.westerngazette.ca /dearlife.

Kaitlyn mcGrathAssoCiAte editor

Deck the halls with boughs of holly Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la. ‘Tis the season to be jolly.

Stop right there. It is not yet the sea-son to be jolly. It’s far too early for jol-liness to be occurring. And I certainly don’t have time to be decking any halls—at least not if my impending es-says and presentations have anything to say about it.

It’s too soon for Christmas tunes, and apparently I’m not the only one who feels this way. Recently, the Shop-pers Drug Mart chain rescinded their policy of playing Christmas music this early in November. The music, which began playing on November 1, was met with outrage from customers who flocked to Facebook to air their frustra-tion over the holiday tunes.

Shoppers responded aptly to the concerns, and agreed the music would be shut off until further notice. The chain’s spokesperson, Tammy Smitham, said the music would likely return towards the end of the month.

In Canada, it’s an unwritten rule all Christmas music, holiday accessories and store decorations should be kept locked away in storage until after Re-membrance Day.

And in the United States, it’s not until their Thanksgiving has passed that the marquee winter holiday is pushed to the forefront.

I agree with the overriding argu-ment—November is much too soon to be playing Christmas music. But the shame that came out of this contro-

versy is the ignorance shed on the issue of Christmas. Many commenters on the online forum felt this was Shoppers conforming to political correctness—shutting off the music because new-comers to Canada do not celebrate the Christian holiday, and therefore would prefer the music not be played.

But why does the casual Shoppers customer really care? From my own ex-periences, trips to Shoppers Drug Mart aren’t day-long quests. Rather, it’s often a five-minute expedition, and listen-ing to a few verses of “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” shouldn’t spark such antagonism, even if it is November. But for the employee who suffers through hours, it’s a different story.

This might be my own crazy conspir-acy theory, but it wouldn’t surprise me if at least half those complaints came from Shoppers’ employees—or former employees—who are desperately try-ing to delay the onset of the Christmas music barrage.

I was an employee at a grocery store that began playing Christmas songs roughly by mid-November, and would play them up until New Year’s Day. As an employee, even if you’re only work-ing two or three shifts a week, you’re still looking at a month and a half of Christmas music for up to 20 hours a week.

And it’s not like there is a plethora of songs to choose from. Likely, you’re going to hear the same song at least twice during a shift. If you’re lucky, you’ll get a variation, maybe the same classic by a different artist—but it doesn’t matter a whole lot. By the end of the day, every song will sound like “We Wish You A Merry Christmas.”

I’m no Grinch, and when December rolls around I’ll welcome the cheerful tunes with open ears. But until then, they can wait—not for my sake, but for hard-working employees.

Early November no time for festive tunes

Bids for leadership could hurt LiberalsMinister of training, colleges and universities Glen Murray formally resigned from his cabinet post Sunday, throwing his hat into the ring to run for Liberal leadership in Ontario. As per the request of Premier Dalton McGuinty, all those interested in running must give up their positions within cabinet in order to put time and effort into their campaign to head the party.

Due to his background, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to hope Murray will have students and universities in mind when running his campaign, and potentially even running the party in the future. His bid to succeed McGuinty could ultimately prove beneficial to the interest of Ontario’s post-secondary students, and Murray seems to already be making headway in his promises to students. As part of his campaign’s five-point platform, Murray has proposed a “no-money-down” tuition program for college and university students.

However, with the Liberal party granting 30 per cent off tuition to Ontario students just last year, there’s no reason for Murray to court post-secondary students anymore than he already has. Instead, the Liberals will most likely seek to gain favour with other demographics, rather than continuing to please an age group they’ve already won.

Perhaps a bigger concern for students, and Ontarians as a whole, should be the alarming rate at which Liberal leaders are jumping ship. Murray is the third leader to abandon his position in the past month, following in the footsteps of both McGuinty and Chris Bentley, minister of energy. Reports indicate minister of health Deb Matthews is also considering entering the race. In a time where the Liberals are floundering to stay afloat, losing so many major players doesn’t inspire much hope the party will be able to recapture its former glory.

While having a leader with Murray’s background could be advantageous for students, in this instance it seems the costs outweigh the gains. Murray could end up in power for, at most, three more years, however on a larger scale, this reshuffling of cabinet has seriously maimed the party and could hurt its chances at re-election.

—The Gazette Editorial Board

wrath of mcGrath

#wintoday’s win goes to figaro, a cockatoo who has defied expectations by creating and using tools—a skill which was once thought incapable by the parrot family.

figaro fashions wooden rakes and beams out of sticks to reach food out of his regular range of motion. this ingenuity has amazed and bewildered scientists, who are likely in agreement that this bird is the word.

#faildrug addictions have the tendency to put people in a pinch. pennsylvania resident Charles shumanis iii—despite having an awesome name—learned this lesson the hard way. shumanis iii could spend up to 25 years in prison for stealing lobsters to support his drug habits.

shumanis iii pleaded guilty to the charges in september, and will likely serve time at an institution that allows him to deal with his drug and alcohol problems.


Sportsrundown >> the Mustangs rowing team travelled to British Columbia this past weekend for the Canadian University rowing Championships > the Mustangs won three gold medals in the tournament while also claiming third place in both the men’s and women’s events.

saywhat?“these are games that we have the opportunity to win, or get back in the game. At this point, everything has to be dead on. you can’t miss, and you almost have to be perfect on every drive.”

>> Michael Vick after the team’s loss against the New orleans saints

Victory elevates Western to challenge for OUA title

Gryphons take a nosedive in bout against ‘Stangs

richard raycraftsports editor

The Mustangs men’s rugby team will be advancing to the Ontario University Athletics final after de-feating the Guelph Gryphons by a score of 21–15. The semifinal showdown took place in Guelph, and featured a determined drive by the Mustangs in the second half to take the lead and hold on for the win.

Western now has the opportu-nity to win their second straight championship. Western has argu-ably had the most successful rugby program over the last five years.

The Mustangs were looking for some revenge in the showdown, as their only regular season loss came at the hands of the Gryphons. The Mustangs fell 12–5 at Guelph’s Var-sity Field.

“The first game [versus Guelph] could have gone either way,” Ste-phen Thomas, Mustangs head coach, said. “I personally thought we didn’t give them enough respect.”

Both teams got off to slow starts, as the Mustangs failed to put any points on the board in the first half. Guelph struck first when Joe Newman scored a penalty goal to put the Gryphons up by three. The score would remain static until the end of the first half with the Mus-tangs trailing 3–0.

A different Mustangs team came out for the second half of the contest, however.

“We made a few changes to beef up the front row,” Thomas com-mented. “We thought we had seen the best that Guelph had to offer, and felt as though we could step it up a gear.”

Western scored all 21 of their points in the second half. Sebas-tian Pearson started things off with a try to put Western ahead, a lead they would hold for the rest of the game. Western would go on to score two further trys and two pen-alty goals, putting them up 21–3 midway through the second half.

Guelph was not prepared to go down easy, however. Newman kicked a conversion for the Gry-phons to start the comeback, and

the Gryphons would score two trys late in the half. It would not be enough, however, as the Mustangs would take the game 21–15.

“[Guelph] played exception-ally well, but they are young, in-experienced lads, and we are slightly older and hopefully wiser,” Thomas said. “We knew we had to be patient and the result would come.”

Western will now take on the Queen’s Golden Gaels for the title

of OUA champions. The teams finished the season with identi-cal 7–1 records, but Queen’s will have home field advantage as they scored more points than Western.

The match-up replicates last year’s final, which the Mustangs won 21–15 on home turf. Three of the last four finals have featured the Mustangs facing off against the Gaels, setting the stage for what looks to be a heated grudge match.

The Mustangs also bested the

Gaels in their regular season show-down, winning by a score of 22–20.

“Very strong and athletic,” Thomas said of the Gaels’ squad. “We need for everyone to be on their game, the lads know what it takes to win this championship.”

“We need to be patient, play for each other, stay disciplined and enjoy the moment,” he elaborated.

The gold medal game will take place on Sunday November 11 at Queens’ Nixon Field.

Piotr Angiel GAZette

Mike Laine GAZettePiotr Angiel GAZette

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UPCOMING EVENTSBFA VISUAL ARTS Studio Class presents their firstshow Free Association in the Artlab located withinthe John Labatt Visual Arts Centre until November16th. Hours: Mon to Fri, 12 noon to 6 pm; Thurs 12noon to 8 pm.

PUT YOUR SUDOKU SAVVY TO THE TEST! To solve a sudoku, the numbers 1 through 9 must fill each row, column and box. Each number can appear only once in each row, column and box. You can figure out the order in which the numbers will appear by using the numeric clues already provided in the boxes.

For solution, turn to page 3

Going out for the night and want to use your coupons? Just tear some out and slip them in your bus pass.

You’ll have them handy when you’re on the go!

Student Saving Tip: Use the coupons inside your Westernize r

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the Goodit seems everybody is predicting the los Angeles lakers and oklahoma City are the two teams to beat in the western Conference. for some reason, they are forgetting about the perennial powerhouse that is the san Antonio spurs. the spurs may have excellent players like tim duncan and tony parker, but they do not rely on the best players the NBA has to offer joining forces in order to win. instead, they rely on good fundamentals and superb coaching to win basketball games.

the spurs finished off the season last year with a record of 50–16—good enough for the best record in the NBA. they played well in the playoffs before being beaten by the thunder in seven games in the NBA semifinals.

the spurs began this season where they left off last year—going undefeated in their first four games.

even more impressive, three of their four wins came against extremely talented teams like the Utah Jazz, the indiana pacers and the thunder themselves.

the spurs should never be underestimated by anyone and will continue to dominate this season.

the BadJust before the 2011 NFL season, the Philadelphia Eagles made a huge splash in free agency—picking up players like Jason Babin, ronnie Brown, dominique rodgers-Cromartie and Nnamdi Asomugha. Combined with an already potent roster, which included the likes of Michael Vick, Jeremy Maclin and desean Jackson, the eagles were being dubbed a “dream team” by football fanatics everywhere.

However, the 2011 season didn’t go as planned for the eagles. they started off the season abysmally, but ended the campaign with an 8–8 record. Everybody thought the Eagles had finally hit their stride after going through the slump all “dream teams” seem to go through.

However, just like last year, the eagles got off to a rocky start this season. They are now 3–5 on the season—losing four of their last five games. this is unacceptable for a team that spent so much money on free agents just a year ago and has also had a full year to gel as a team.

Now starting quarterback Michael Vick, and head coach Andy reid, are in the hot seat and may see their tenure with the eagles end if the team doesn’t improve quickly.

the Uglythe American college football Bowl Championship series is at it again. with four major conference teams—not including louisville as the Big east is basically a mid-major—with undefeated records this year, the end results could cause more backlash than ever before.

Voted second-best team, the oregon ducks are still in the process of climbing the BCs standings, which, if successful, would leave undefeated Notre dame and Kansas state out of the title picture.

either way, without a playoff, the BCs system has put itself in an unenviable spot. the thought that an undefeated team, with a strong non-conference schedule could be left out of the BCs National Championship is ridiculous.

if the title game does end up as expected—featuring oregon and Alabama—and one of the other two significant undefeated teams finishes the season without a blemish, the cry for change will be louder than ever.

with the implementation of a playoff system still slated for 2014, this year’s nightmare might just be enough to push that date up a year.file pHoto

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Wednesday, November 7, 2012