Quintilius

Dear Quintilius,

What should I name my Guinea Pig? He is a male, is not very sociable and appears to do nothing besides nap and eat.

Sincerely, Names Are Hard

 

Dear Names,

Your description sounds like you are describing a boyfriend. 

Well I guess depending on your intentions with this little fury creature, whether you decide to eat him right away or not, might I recommend some badass names. First of all would be (obviously) Romulus. You know the King of Kings, founder of the worlds greatest city and destroyer of brothers. I think Romulus would be a very strong name for you Guinea pig, maybe even perk him up to do more and better now that he has a cool name. I was going to suggest Gaius or Julius but he ends up with a bunch of blades in him and we don't want to forewarn the pet/meal of his future fate, too much foreshadowing.

Second name would be Augustus or Octavian, the first true emperor of Rome. Now keeping that in mind to achieve this level of name your guinea pig would have to win a civil war, be the reason for the death of an Egyptian queen and murder a nephew. I know its not impossible, seeing as it was done before, however it can be tedious and time consuming. Also another requirement is the loss of an entire legion in Teutoberg forest. And I don't just mean like this legion gets lost while going for a walk, I mean they lose everyone in an ambush. Difficult to pull off but if you know of any traitorous germans, it can be far more achievable.

For the third name i’m going to suggest something a little less ancient roman and more adorable. Guacamole. Names of food or objects on living creatures are almost always just wonderful. Think of ‘Socks’ the cat or ‘Pepper” the dog, ‘Ground beef’ the legless cow. All super adorable names. 

Now I know it may be difficult to choose one name but at the end of the day just remember, you are going to long outlive this animal anyways and really they don't speak english sooo… ya. Best of luck.

Bobby Fischer: My 60 Memorable Games

With the final match in world chess championship happening now as of Nov. 16, 2018, perhaps you are curious to who is the best chess player of all time. Well, that is not quite an easy answer, there is Capablanca, Fischer, Lasker, Kasparov etc. However, the best player, and possibly the most popular chess player of all time, Robert James (Bobby) Fischer (1943-2008) is probably the safest answer. At the time Fischer became the youngest chess grandmaster in history. He was 15 when he became a grandmaster. Fischer dropped out of high school at the age of 16. Despite being a high school drop out, Fischer’s IQ score was found to be 185-187, making him have one of the highest IQ scores of any person; in comparison Albert Einstein’s IQ was 160.

In his book, My 60 Memorable Games, Fischer explains why he made the moves he did in his games. He gives objective, honest, and self-critical annotations on the games, he has won, drawn, and lost. This book is like if you were watching Leonardo Da Vinci painting the Mona Lisa with him explaining why he made certain strokes along with his interpretation of each stroke. When I was reading through the games, with his analysis of the moves, along with the strongest chess engine as of today, Stockfish; excluding Alpha Zero, most of his moves are exactly what the chess engine would have played, and the strength of Stockfish can easily beat the current top chess masters. So, Fischer, was playing extremely high-level chess long before the first chess computers even existed as well as long before the internet existed.

One of my personal favourite games from the book is game 17, Bobby Fischer versus the Magician from Riga, Mikhail Tal; Candidates Tournament, 1959, Sicilian Defence. Fischer did not win this game; however, his opponent was Tal, the greatest attacking grandmaster of all time and the youngest world champion at the time; 1960. Tal was the kind of player who would sacrifice a rook on a pawn just for something interesting to happen, and in this game, Fischer made some aggressive moves against the wrong player!

One does not have to be passionate, or serious about chess to see the beauty and artistic qualities of Fischer’s chess games, nor must you have lots of chess knowledge to see the genius of Bobby Fischer himself. So, whip out your chess boards and immerse yourself into the mind of Fischer. 

Brandon University Acknowledgement Of Service: Honor Roll

Brandon University proudly marked the Armistice Day centennial, which ended the First World War, by encouraging people to reflect and remember those who went off to fight by hoisting an Honor Roll with members from Brandon College who served in the war. The display is available for viewing in the Brandon College Alcove located on the second floor of the John E. Robbins Library.

The original Honor Roll was unveiled in the College Chapel in 1915 and an extra smaller Honor Roll is displayed alongside it as a continuation of the list. Both documents note the Brandon College students who served and/or were killed, wounded, gassed or imprisoned during the First World War. 

The Honor Roll was left incomplete for almost 100 years and was re-created by Suyoko Tsukamoto as part of her Brandon College & Great War Exhibit on display in 2014. The updated list contains the names of over 500 students, staff and alumni who have been identified in the proper paper work as participants in the First World War. 57 of the students and alumni have been identified as having died while in service.

The updated Brandon College Nominal Roll is on permanent display in the Brandon College Portrait Gallery in the North Stacks of the John E. Robbins Library. To honour the fallen, the library has included a display portion of its collection of books related to the First World War. The books are on display near the circulation desk. All who go are encouraged to pause at these displays and reflect on the sacrifices made by those who serve their country in the armed forces, whether a century ago or continuing today.

Another great place to pay respects and get some further information on the CAF in the community include the 26th Field Regiment RCA/XII Manitoba Dragoons Museum on Victoria street or the Royal Canadian Artillery Museum in Shilo. There are Gunners throughout the community who would love to help people understand the military and what it is they do and why they do it, why they’ve done it and why they would gladly do it again in service for their country.

International Programming Competition

BU students, Logan Praznik, Jason Klimack and Andrii Hrytsenko took part in an international programming contest in Winnipeg and topped all other Manitoba entries at the competition. On November 3rd the group of Computer Science majors competed at a site in Winnipeg where they faced off with several teams from the University of Manitoba and University of Winnipeg, where they posted the top score at the competition. Overall the men placed 23rd out of the nearly 300 entries across Manitoba and 8 central States in the US. All three men are products of Brandon graduating high schools from either Crocus or Vincent Massey.

The ACM North Central North America Regional Programming Contest, starts with the student being given a list of 10 problems they are tasked with solving within 5 hours. All three members have to work together on one computer, at times figuring out problems together and at others working on their own piece of paper to find the solutions. The BU team was the only team to solve 5 problems in Manitoba. To give a gauge of how difficult these problems were: only 16 teams solved more than 5 of the problems and there were two problems which were not solved by any team, at any site.

Dr. Ashraf Abdelbar, a professor of Mathematics and Computer Science and the teams coach, says “The test isn’t designed to be completely solved. Part of the challenge is looking at the problems and deciding which ones you can solve the quickest, because time is also part of your score. There is a lot of strategy involved.” Praznik, Klimack and Hrytsenko have been working together for 3 years now as part of this team and have done continually better as their latest results show!  Dr. Abdelbar has taken teams to this competition for more than 15 years and has hosted several events within the community to develop skills in programming.

The programming contest itself began in Texas in the 1970’s and has since grown to involve more than 50,000 students from six continents. After the regional results are tabulated, more than 120 teams will be invited to take part in the 2019 World Finals next spring at the University of Porto, in Portugal.

Congratulations on your success gentlemen! truly amazing work you accomplished!

Fall Reading Week

This week (November 12-16) is the Fall Reading Break. A week off in the fall is a relatively new practice for Brandon University and other universities in Canada as well. The fall reading break at the University of Winnipeg was October 8-12, while the one at the University of Manitoba is the same week as ours.  

We are accustomed to the winter term Reading Week, which is very common and often a chance for students to get away somewhere warm in the cold winters but fall reading weeks are a newer creation for Manitoban, and Canadian universities. The University of Winnipeg was the first in Manitoba to offer a Fall Reading Break. It began in the 2016/2017 academic year and was meant to give students some time to de-compress and have uninterrupted study time. They ensured no teaching days would be lost by adjusting the start and end dates of their term. (http://news-centre.uwinnipeg.ca/all-posts/uwinnipeg-to-introduce-fall-reading-week/). Universities in Ontario have been holding a Fall Break for a few years now and see it as beneficial to student’s mental health. (https://www.thestar.com/life/health_wellness/2013/10/14/ontario_universities_embrace_midterm_fall_break_to_ease_students_minds.html). The addition of fall reading weeks allows for students to have a bit of a break, or time to catch up on assignments before exams begin. The creation of a fall reading week makes sense as there is one second term, so why not first term? It is a good way to keep mental health in check and keep student’s from getting burnt out during the term. Being a student is stressful on its own, and many students have part time (or even full time) jobs, extracurricular activities, families and other things that take energy. 

What does this mean? An entire week for you to do whatever you choose! Stay in the library all week and get those papers done, work a ton of extra shifts for extra money, or take some much-needed time for self-care. Whatever you chose to do with your free time, make the best of it. Personally, I will be writing my five history essays due in the weeks after the break. 

Quintilius

Dear Quintilius,

What is the best way to not fall asleep in class?

Sincerely, So Tired

 

Dear Sleepy,

Alright the best ways not to fall asleep in class, I hope you’re ready for this one, this answer is about to get wild. What it’s going to include is three poached eggs, a string of semi cooked spaghetti, a comfortably made bed, 2 camels, an alarm clock, some green tea, a good book, limited amounts of stress and distractions.

Here it is, the best way not to fall asleep in class is sleep at night. I know it sounds crazy but hear me out. If you get 7.5-9 hours of sleep you are golden. You don't even need half the shit I mentioned in the above paragraph. You do need some supplies but largely lets discuss night routine and preparation for bed.

First decide what time you want to wake up. Then chart out 9 hours before that, that is now bed time. Now that hour before bed time, no screens. Set aside 10 hours for you night routine. 1 hour for cleaning yourself, making your bed, brushing your teeth, treating your skin whatever it is you do, but stay away from your phone and laptop. Read a book, drink some tea, reflect on your day. Get snuggly in bed. Be sure that your bedroom is completely dark as you fall asleep, a little bit on the chilly side, you have some water to drink when you wake up and your alarm clock is set. 

A big thing that messes with peoples ability to sleep is stress and work. Sometimes you have to work late, sometimes you don't eat until late then you want to eat those ‘rarely’ food items, sometimes your super anxious about person A who never texted you back yet or think about that one bad thing you did 10 years ago which was at worst ‘mediocre' that literally everyone else has forgotten. It’s tough, I know. But you are important. Your mental health and sleep ability is crucial to how you feel not only in class, but in life. Don't do drugs (or at least not a lot). Do workout (or at least a little bit).

Try to keep a consistent sleep schedule. I know sometimes it has to be compromised in order to complete this one really big task but there will always be a million reasons and excuses you make yourself to tell you its ok to do this because of blank. Really what comes first and foremost is you and your health. Take care of your body and it will take care of you later on

Professor Review: Dr. Emma Varley

Dr. Emma Varley is Associate Professor of Anthropology, specialising in Socio-Cultural, at Brandon University adjunct department of Anthropology and Archeology. She is the receiver of the 2016 Brandon University Alumni Association Excellence in Teaching Award, among countless other recognitions. She is currently a Senior Associate at WISE Development and Co-Chair at the Canadian Medical Anthropology Network. Dr Varley’s research interests include Critical Medical Anthropology and Global Public Health, Violenceand Conflict, Islam and Northern Pakistan, International Development, Disaster andHumanitarian Studies; Neoliberalism, Corruption and the State, Magic and the Occult, Participatory Ethnographic Research Methods and Evaluation; among others.

I have been a student of Dr. Varley’s since 2017 and by far not only is she the most enthusiastic, kind, and gentle professor I have met at my time at BU, but also one of the few teachers on campus who use their academic credentials, expertise, and experience as activism and advocacy. Emma has for the last two decades dedicated her time to numerous humanitarian causes, primarily in Pakistan and Canada, and contributed her voice tirelessly to helping mothers and women in her community. In her Applied Anthropology class we are currently learning research methods and theories needed to use the academic field of anthropology and other social sciences through a praxis approach to solve real world problems through advocacy. An example of this would be Emma’s comprehensive research in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Northern Pakistan which she has used to advocate for maternal health in the region. Her class Anthropology of Medical Systems goes into detailed discourse regarding the human history of these medical systems that many times define peoples and communities lives.

Dr. Varley is the mother of three wonderful kids and a cat, wife to Wudood, daughter to Deborah and friend and confidante to many, and even many more. Emma is fluent in English and Urdu, likes to watch Netflix drama shows, and helped me through surviving school and acing my courses when I was going through a rather difficult time. Brandon University is very lucky to have a brilliant person like Dr. Varley among us, and we hope to have for many more long years.

The Art Of Harmony

Perhaps one of the most influential philosophy books ever written, Laozi’s Tao Te Ching has given rise to many life philosophies. While Tao Te Ching is not a long book, it still can take hours to understand the meaning behind each of the 81 poems. Even for physicists, modern physics manages to show itself within the book, with things that sound like Einstein’s theories of relativity and quantum mechanics, Laozi’s 2500-year-old book still has high relevance to today’s highly technological world.

The name “Tao Te Ching” is translated to mean the ‘classic ways of virtues”. Each line in the book, are like zen koans, which basically are unsolvable enigmas designed to break the brain, or make one think deeply about the world, nature, and reality. I should warn people who are thinking about reading Tao Te Ching because the book can make one become self-aware, in the sense that you will start to make notice of your actions and thoughts more than you normally would. After all, sometimes the most mind-bending thing is being shown yourself. 

However, the Tao Te Ching can sometimes help people discover the meaning of life, or answers to questions like “why are we here?”. To read Tao Te Ching expecting to find answers is perhaps the most common mistake. A lot of the text in Tao Te Ching is not meant to be comprehensible, nor have definite answers to the meaning of the text. The best way to read the book is to read with no end goal or purpose. Each poem can be interpreted in different ways, each interpretation depends on the individual. It really does not matter how you interpret something from this, as long as it has meaning to you. “Art is not about perfect reproduction, it is about interpretation, identity, and ideas. Reality through your eyes… Art is, a part of you.” – N.M.

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“Deem ‘heavy’ as the root of ‘light’, 

Deem ‘calm’ as the leader of ‘uproar’.

Using this: sages walk all day

Without ever letting go of their heavy load, 

Even while at sublime overviews, 

Comfortably perched and transcendent.”

Review Of The Week: Extremity

Depending on your familial background, returning to university, or perhaps attending for the first time, can be a period of difficulty. Perhaps you feel that you are someone entirely different on campus, then you are when return home. Or, perhaps you have a gift, talent, or interest that is appreciated but not understood outside of the university space. For me, beginning university is a time when I struggle to reconcile who I am, who I want to be, and who I used to be, but, it also a time when I am able to express myself in a deeply satisfying way. 

In the 12-issue mini-series Extremity, writer and artist Daniel Warren Johnson, along with colourist Mike Spicer perfectly capture, albeit on a grand scale, the anxieties of personal change within the contexts of family, tradition, and belief. Based on the concepts of self-expression, tradition, and personal gifts, the premise for Extremity is simple; what if the one thing that defined you was suddenly taken away?

The story of Extremity follows Thea, a young artist of the traditional Roto Clan, who loses her arm during a violent altercation with the technologically advanced Panzina. During the battle Thea also loses her mother and the resulting conflicts threaten to tear Thea’s world apart. Who is Thea if she cannot create? How will her family mend, when Thea’s father becomes lost in revenge? Who will Thea become if she turns away from the art that defined her and towards the violence that consumes her people?  

Taking place in a world of floating islands and massive flying ships, Extremity brilliantly contrasts the power of technology with the wonder of natural beauty, within a fantasy setting. Johnson’s art, combined with Spicer’s colours, is breathtaking and spans everything from massive aerial battles and giant lumbering beast, to subtle differences between tribal communities and the soft beauty of memory. Easily one of my favourite comics in the last few years, Extremity is a deep, thoughtful, look at how the world moulds us and how the decisions we make shape the world. 

    

Quintilius

Dear Quintilius, 

How do you think the world will end? Buddy bet $20 on nukes, I think meteorite.

Sincerely, 2012 Survivor

#NatureWinsVSMan


Dear Captain Obvious,

You humans and your mortality, you always manage to amuse me with your trivial questions. Acting like life will ever end is never the proper way to look at the cycle of the world. First of all because as an immortal time traveling Demi-god I don’t have to worry about death and secondly because I have seen the world at the time of both its “creation” and “destruction,” and neither were exactly overly exciting nor substantial events. There is no end, all lines are continuous, all possibilities exist, they have happened, will happen and are happening around us everyday.

The world carries itself in a cyclical path. The only things that will possibly destroy the world include a black hole or the explosion/dying of our Sol, but he’s a pretty solid guy so we got quite a few hundred millennia till that point. Otherwise the world will burn itself down (nukes) or drown itself (global warming) or suffocate itself (meteorite), in order to clear out the old and get on with the new. Really the way it goes doesn't matter. You hairless apes weren’t the first and you won’t be the last. You’re just a rebound, the world just isn’t that into you, it’s time to accept that and move on.

Yep, humans wont last, but you know what will? The eternal glory of Roma. It is not a place but an idea, it is an energy. It will not die like humans nor wither like flowers, instead it’s energy shall live in the animate and inanimate world for eternity. Therefore it cannot end, but shall be reborn through disaster time and time again.


Professor Review

Due to the relatively small class sizes and few lecturers in the Bio Department it is likely that anyone taking courses in said department will get to know each of the professors. However for those new students with their first time being here, this is just a little heads up on what you can expect in the first two courses CGE and BFI. We'll begin with the Cells Genetics and Evolution profs. Dr. Ahmad, this is the prof that will be expecting turkey sandwiches come thanksgiving so make sure you bring a few. If you aren't prepared to answer on the spot question in class be aware that you might have to hide. He loves his multiple choice exams but you won't! In the old CGE dynamic Dr. Rutherford was the relief after a string of intimidating profs, not to say that the others were bad. She's the Chair of the Department, but as a lecturer she tends to not overpower students with information. She likes to get students to write so prepare yourself. First years though won't have to worry about that, at least for a bit. Dr. Melvin is new to BU so make sure to take note of how he does for the edification of future students. 

Onto the profs of the second term course Biodiversity Functions and Interactions. Dr. Untereiner will, as an introduction, likely give a lecture on how to properly formulate an email to your prof. Don't deviate from this, certain profs are less formal than others but you should still always address them properly as a rule. She tends to emphasize technicalities such as spelling and proper formatting of taxonomical names on her tests. Later on you'll find that she uses the white board an awful lot so show up to lectures! Dr. McGonigle is the same in that sense. He very much seems the role of plant person. He is very soft spoken so sit near the front. Closing out the first year profs is Dr. Cassone. He makes lectures quite interesting and likes to test you on the curiosities so pay attention to those. A Rate my Prof review says "I think he is hilarious and easy on the eyes", so there's that. He has a lot going for him not least of which is the best team of student researchers on campus! For the time being those are the profs that you'll be dealing with in your first two semesters.