Tropical Storm ALPHA will soon form. It will not become a hurricane but it is the first time that a hurricane has been named with the Greek Alphabet.
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/refresh/MIATCDAT5+shtml/221512.shtml …

I just read a blog that links (with a bit of comment prior to the link) to a NY Times article on Private Funding at Public Universities. It makes a good read on its own but especially in light of the debate about Coke that is occuring on the campus of McMaster University.
http://politiblogs.blogspot.com/2005/10/nytimes-public-funds-for-universities.html …

Just read about Nobua Fujita on Wikipedia. It is an interesting story about the pilot who flew the only plane to bomb the US mainland during WWII.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobuo_Fujita …

From the latest issue of The Sheaf (U of Sask Newspaper) ONLY PDF VERSION ONLINE
These are the articles on the CFS referendum at U of Sask. CFS has been distributing their materials at McMaster during this term and have an quiet but active campaign to try to get McMaster into the CFS. We are worth at least $285,000 dollars a year from students in just the regular fees let alone all the extra charges they have like the $5,000 fee to see the By-Laws!
As one will see in these articles, the CFS did a really sloppy job of stealing this referendum. Of course, they are not used to a mobilized NO campaign that forces them to change the rules as they go to try to “win” the referendum. I see this going to court, and I wish the NO campaign the best. The CFS has a large legal budget and are constantly in court suing students. It is a nice change to see that students will be taking the CFS to court.
Opponents looking to overturn results before ratification
Page A2

After two weeks of campaigning, over 1,900 students at the U of S voted in favour of joining the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS). USSU president Gavin Gardener was pleased with the result, calling it an extremely important victory for students. “I think students made the right decision,he says, we are effectively united for the first time in over twelve years and this gives us enormous power in a time when that power is needed more than ever before.”
Unification may have to wait, however.

…

The Inquirer has more on the Everywhere Girl and her latest travels.
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=26950 …

I have made a point of reading the OUSA (Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance) Blog for the last couple of weeks. It is really interesting and offers some great points of view. Yesterday, the OUSA blog mentioned about the situation with International Students and how they are still unable to work off-campus despite the government saying they would be able to.
Here is the OUSA Blog Entry: http://www.ousa.on.ca/sef/archive/id/9/International+students+working+off-campus%3A+still+waiting+for+government+follow-through.html
Some excerpts:

In April the federal government announced that they would begin negotiating a memorandum of understanding with the provinces to allow international students to seek employment off-campus. The Ontario government, in a July memo to OUSA and other stakeholders, announced that they would begin negotiations with a goal of having the program off the ground by the beginning of the school year.
A full 6 weeks into school, and we’re still waiting.
It appears that this initiative has been caught up in the politics of negotiating a broader immigration agreement between Ontario and Ottawa.
…
We’ve communicated to both the federal government and provincial government that this issue should be de-coupled from the broader immigration agreement. I’d encourage all international students to write the Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities in Ontario and the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration in Ottawa and ask them to put inter-governmental politics aside, and negotiate the off-campus work program separate from the broader agreement.

Go to the OUSA blog and find out how you can make a difference by contacting the revelent ministers.
As a sidenote to this, I am very impressed with OUSA blog and how it dicusses issues and offers interesting incite. …

Not too surprised when a friend told me this. Aramark was inspected by Toronto Public Health recently and failed.
http://www.theeyeopener.com/storydetail.cfm?storyid=2206 …

It is too early first of all. I have been up since 4:45 doing homework. I need to get a life! Actually, I have one – homework.
I got a cooling pad for my laptop yesterday, charged it to my student account. Note to self: have to pay off account or no transcripts at the end of the year. The cooling pad is awesome. It is quiet too. Definitely helping my laptop processing speed.
My biggest rant today: I want to go to Guelph and have fun! I was last in Guelph last Wednesday night and it was great. Just went for coffee with a friend. I have not been back since and I want to go up but I have mid-terms next week. Maybe I will go up next weekend.
I am going to get dressed and go to the Pancake House. Wow, I have a good idea there. Do my reading and have a good breakfast…. good idea. My essay that I have partially outlined is due in 6 hours! Dang need to get on that….
no more blogging till tonight…. …

The Excal (York University) has an article on the Pepsi agreement at York. This is an issue playing out at McMaster with Coke right now.
Read it here:
http://www.excal.on.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=926&Itemid=2 …

The Excal has an article about Tuition Fees in Ontario. You can read it here:
I will pick out this quote for comment:

In an interview with New Democratic Party (NDP) education critic, Rosario Marchese, he affirms that the Liberal government needs to do more.
“At the university level, students are paying 43 per cent of their own education.
[From] 1990 to 1991, they were paying 21 per cent. They have more than doubled. Deregulated programs have tripled or quadrupled in some cases. It has become an intolerable burden,” says Marchese.

Whos fault is that? Gee, would it be the NDP Government that started it all by hiking fees 53% in one term including one year where the NDP hikes tuition in September then turned around and hike it in January as well. Remember that these fee hikes were the trigger that sent tuition skyrocketing across the country and now the NDP is trying to be Knight in shining armour on the issue?
Mr. Marchese is definitely working hard to blame everyone else for what the NDP did.
He has tabled a private members bill to freeze tuition.
The CFS sent out a press release praising him for it.
(from the CFS)

Proposed Tuition Fee Freeze Legislation Welcome
- Private Member’s Bill Would End Tuition Fee Hikes until the Next
Election -
TORONTO, Sept. 7 /CNW/ – A private member’s bill introduced by Ontario New Democratic Party Post-Secondary Education Critic Rosario Marchese would, if adopted, ensure that tuition fees would not increase before the next
Ontario election says the Canadian Federation of Students.

…

Today the McMaster Daily News had the following story:

http://dailynews.mcmaster.ca/worthmentioning.cfm?id=2339

Street lights at Forsyth Ave.
Posted on October 12, 2005 at 04:00 PM.
Street lights at Forsyth Ave. by the Health Sciences Centre are currently not functioning. The lights are being repaired and should be operational by the end of next week. Those who use this area are urged to exercise extra caution, particularly at night.

You know the streetlights that have not been working since the beginning of August. The place where cars cannot see people and buses have to slam their brakes if anyone is crossing. Yeah, the lights have been operational next week for many weeks. This is old news, but they are probably saying this to protect the university from a lawsuit or something like that. …

“Politicians are the same the world over: they promise to build a bridge even when there is no river.”
Nikita Khrushchev
(1894 – 1971) …

Today’s Spectator features a cartoon from DeAdder. I have not asked permission to post it so I will not. But you can view it here:
http://deadder.net/dNews/cartoons1005/d51007aa.jpg …

Senator John McCain of Arizona was asked if he was considering being a Vice-Presidental Candidate in the 2008 US Presidental Election. He replied:
“I spent all those years in a North Vietnamese prison camp, kept in the dark, fed scraps, why the hell would I want to do that all over again?”
Another great McCain quote. …

Recently, many Canadian universities or their Student Associations/Unions have banned or been forced by student “protests” to effectively ban Canadian Forces Recruiters from their campuses. Recently, the York Federation of Students and York student groups forced the CF off-campus for the second time this term. http://www.excal.on.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=891&Itemid=2 I am in favour of recruitment on-campus and feel the opportunities should be presented to students. The CF is not for everyone and those that disagree with the CF should be allowed to protest provided they do not block access to the CF display. Forcing the CF off-campus is not acceptable to me as I feel that it is not peaceful protest but forceful protest.
There are peaceful movements to ban the military from McMaster. Considering that the CF currently has the most advertising violations of any group on campus, there is a possibility that the CF could be sanctioned by not being allowed on campus for a period of time. One cannot walk around any campus on the building without passing CF recruiting posters that are posting in clear violation of McMaster University posting policies. The Poster Monkeys (an MSU service group which is responsible for this policy area) have been very busy going around campus removing the CF posters. This is an issue that is causing some debate. It should be interesting to see what happens. …