Category: Opinions

Those who were at Loyola Gym last Friday will remember Dwayne Buckley’s two free throws with six seconds left on the clock. They will remember that five-foot-seven Chris Blackwood played bigger than his height, scoring a team-high 11 points in the first half and pestering Laval’s six-foot-seven Marc-Antoine Horth throughout the second. They will remember how hard it was for them to finally step outside after the game, wanting to remain wrapped up in an atmosphere that hadn’t been experienced there in many a year. More than any of those things, however, they will remember that Philippe Langlois finally won his Provincial Championship.

When Langlois joined the Stingers three years ago, everyone that was around then knew he would one day likely have the chance to lead the team back to this point. Back then, however, the team belonged to a guy named Gavin Musgrave and Langlois was still just a sharp-shooting rookie. Then again, he was a sharp-shooting rookie who had played for Kentucky the year before.

But as Langlois embraced his mother after the victory, received a framed Stinger’s jersey with his number five on it, and finally helped cut down the mesh off the basket, there was no denying it. It will be a long time before this team belongs to any single player as much as it did to Langlois.

The Concordia men’s basketball team will now travel to Halifax to take part in the National Championships this weekend. It would be great if the Stingers could march in there and dethrone the defending champion Carleton Ravens. Are they capable? Anything is possible in sport. I look forward to taking the 15-hour bus ride to see if that’s the case for the Stingers.

From midterms to money matters, student life is rife with stressors. In juggling schoolwork, part-time jobs and personal relationships, we’re forever in flux between breathing easy and burning out. And while a certain level of pressure keeps things interesting, too much stress over a long period may be damaging to our health, performance and relationships. That’s because our bodies simply weren’t designed to handle the stress of modern life.

Our reaction to stress is a primitive response from the age when life-threatening dangers were omnipresent. That rush of adrenaline, the so-called fight-or-flight response, came in quite handy when charging a wooly mammoth or fleeing a horde of barbarians.

Fast-forward to the present day, where new and challenging situations still evoke this instinctive reaction. But today it might be a looming deadline or a spat with your significant other that provokes the stress response, resulting in a spike in blood pressure and heart rate, reduced stomach activity, causing the feeling of “butterflies”, and increased perspiration. These physical changes, while helpful in the face of danger, are useless and potentially harmful when induced by modern-day stressors. Your body is unable to use the extra adrenaline produced, which leaves you wound up with no release. If you stay in red-alert mode for a prolonged period, problems such as insomnia, headaches, reduced immune function and stomach upsets may persist. Stress management is key if you hope to avoid these related discomforts; read on for strategies to help you keep your cool while everyone around you is losing theirs.

Manage Your Minutes

Time management is an essential skill to master when trying to keep your stress level in check, because it can help you find precious extra minutes in your day.

Begin by assessing how effectively you’re using your time, and brainstorm ways you might improve your time-use habits. Aim to complete essential tasks first and avoid multitasking. Prioritize less important jobs, delegating where possible and dropping low-value tasks completely, and strive to manage and avoid distractions.

You must also learn to differentiate between mandatory tasks and those you committed to out of guilt or to satisfy others. It’s okay to say “no”, and doing so will greatly lessen the demands on your time and energy.

Monitor Your Intake

Caffeine, sugar, fat, alcohol and tobacco all tax your body’s ability to cope with stress. Try to eat foods high in fiber and protein but low in fat, with an emphasis on fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and low fat dairy products.

Move!

Rigorous exercise stimulates the release of endorphins, your body’s “feel-good” hormones and natural stress-fighters, and also helps lower levels of cortisol and other stress hormones. The result is a happier, healthier you, far better equipped to deal with both physical and mental demands.

Meditate

Creating emotional distance from troubling thoughts and stressful situations is another key tactic in stress management. You must train your body and mind to relax effectively to allow for temporary respite from the demands of daily life. Traditional relaxation techniques such as yoga, meditation and deep breathing are all worth trying and can be practiced in the comfort and quiet of your own home.

In the end, stress management all boils down to one basic concept: Balance. By sticking to a schedule, skipping the junk food, working up a sweat and tuning into your spiritual side, your days of feeling frazzled should be few and far between.

I have already participated in two online pools, and there are some developing trends that are truly shocking. Even in the opening rounds I’ve seen some risky picks. I love Miguel Cabrera’s potential in the revamped Marlins’ lineup, and I see him going .300,40,110 in the not too distant future, maybe even this season, but on Sunday I witnessed him going no. 1 in a mixed-league head-to-head. Yup, before A-Rod, Pujols, Vladdy and Beltran, but its not as far fetched as it sounds. After all, Pujols is hurt coming into the season, A-Rod has developed the reputation of being soft, Beltran hit .260 in a contract year, and Vladdy’s back is always a cause for concern.

People are willing to take chances on younger guys, knowing that at least one or two of them will take the next step. The same goes for all positions, where owners would rather draft last year’s ERA champ Jake Peavy, who only pitched 166.1 innings last season, than 42-year old Roger Clemens, who still strikes out more than a batter per inning.

Here are some trends I’ve noticed thus far that could affect your draft strategy:

Stock falling: Mike Piazza is by no means the catcher of old, but how many backstops can claim they even remotely have a shot at 25 homers? If you don’t get your hands on Javy or V-Mart, Piazza is your next choice. So why is it that one-season-wonders like Johnny Estrada and Michael Barrett are being taken in the first 10 rounds, but Piazza is barely a starter in a 12-team mixed league?

Adam Dunn: When I drafted him for $19 in an auction league last season, a rival owner joked that Dunn would be more valuable if strikeouts were a category. My reply was simply that his unbelievable power would finally translate in 45 homers. We were both right, since he did hit 46 dingers, but he also set the major league record for whiffs in a season. Apparently all anyone remembers are the strikeouts, because I was chastised for taking him in the fifth round this season. He has as good a chance as anyone to lead the league in homers this season.

Erubiel Durazo: Grab him in Yahoo pools, since he’s only listed as a utility hitter. It’s a contract year for the DH; so 30 homers are not out of the question. I snagged him in round 15, while the other prominent DH, Travis Hafner, went in round 5.

Stock rising: Dallas McPherson has been going at around the same time as David Wright. This despite his early season injury that could keep him out opening day, and his horrendous K-BB ratio. His power potential is amazing, and he’s great for keeper leagues, but to expect Adam Dunn-like production is foolish for this blue-chipper

Boston Red Sox: Everyone becomes a chowd on draft day. You can forget about David Ortiz and Man Ram after the first round, but overrated Sox are going early too. I saw their new SS Edgar Renteria go in the late second round. Matt Clement is considered a top-20 starter. Even Bronson Arroyo is being taken ahead of established NL starters Brian Lawrence, Brandon Webb and Kip Wells. If it’s an auction league, I suggest calling up the overrated “idiots” early.

Beware the Ides of March. No, I’m not talking about Mark McGwire crying out with one final breath, “Es tu Jos

The Concordia Stingers had three players selected to CIS All-Canadian teams last week. Goaltender Cecilia Anderson followed her first-team birth last season with a second-team appearance this season. She was joined with top scorer Dominique Rancour who also was named to the CIS second-team.

Fifth-year defenceman Roxanne Dupuis was honoured with her first first-team All-Canadian birth.

Dupuis had 11 points for the Stingers this season.

“It feels really good,” Dupuis said after the naming of the team.

“She is probably the best one-on-one players we’ve had here in five years.” Head coach Les Lawton said about Dupuis, who played her final game for Concordia this weekend. “She plays with her emotions on her sleeve and she displays leadership on and off the ice.”

Defender Sandy Roy, the QSSF Rookie of the Year, was named to the CIS All-Rookie Team.

Saint Mary’s Courtney Schriver won Rookie of the Year and Alberta’s Danielle Bourgeois won her second straight Broderick Trophy for Outstanding Player of the Year.

If you were one of the several hundred people that turned out to vote in last Wednesday’s general assembly where Concordia University students decided to go on strike for one day, (Mar.16)- you heard a lot of talking.

When it comes to an issue like tuition, everyone sounds like an expert and seems to have a logical argument. Unless you’re really on the ball you don’t have a chance to verify the validity of their claims before yellow voting cards are flying into the air. The side’s capability to win your vote may very well have more to do with which side of the bed you got out of than your beliefs on the given issue.

One of the points hammered home during the assembly was that students in some European countries don’t pay tuition. That came in response to a claim by the government that Quebec students have it way better than the rest of Canadian students. Judging by the applause at Loyola, a lot of students liked the idea of free tuition. You would be crazy not to.

However, unless someone is willing to brave Scandinavia’s chilly climate, there isn’t much chance they will find an institution of higher learning that currently offers free tuition. The few institutions that do, may not continue such support a few years down the road. It is true that up until eight or nine years ago, free tuition was all the rage in European countries. Germany, Austria, Italy and Holland were all about the free tuition until Britain decided it was no longer capable of offering such assistance.

Britain’s average tuition fee is currently about $2,276 a year. Students there didn’t like the idea of such drastic tuition hikes either. Their government has continued to seek out ways to increase education costs and it has resulted in some of the largest protests in the country’s history.

It was only two months ago when the German high-court decided to allow individual federal states to start charging tuition fees. The original law was deemed by the high-court to be “unconstitutional” and a violation to the principle of equal opportunity. Bavaria and Hamburg are among the first states that will have tuition fees put into effect; they will cost in the neighbourhood of $650 (CAN) per semester.

One of Germany’s main reasons for changing the law was to prevent students from exceeding regular terms of study. In other words, they had a large contingent of students who were taking over six years to complete their degrees, a factor that ran the risk of causing overcrowding. That’s exactly what could happen at Concordia in the event of a prolonged strike — which thankfully is no longer a concern.

So what’s the point? Is the suggestion that Quebec’s current education dilemma be disregarded just because foreign governments are now clueing into the idea that student money could build more reputable institutions? No.

The point is that if today (Mar.16) you were one of the many who took to the streets in protest, make sure you know why you were out there. If it’s because Quebec has the lowest student employment rate in Canada and not everyone can get a job to contribute to their own education, that’s fine. If it’s because you feel the government didn’t give student enough warning in advance, and many could have been better prepared, that’s good too. If you truly believe, deep down in your gut, that Quebec can maintain a strong education system without converting bursaries or raising tuition, then by all means make your voice heard. But if you’re just doing it because someone told you that Swedish kids don’t pay a cent in tuition fees, and you like the sound of free schooling, then take a step back. I doubt either of us is truly an expert on the subject, but we certainly owe it to ourselves to be informed.

Evolution critics should take a seat

The slew of misleading anti-Evolution pamphlets that were distributed around campus this past week by cowards afraid to put their name or organization on them were nothing more then a pathetic attempt to discredit all of the incredible things “New Evolution” has managed to accomplish over the past year. The pamphlets smacked of the propaganda that was routinely employed by the Concordia Student Union in past years before Evolution came to power.

Without question Evolution has served students to the best of their abilities over the past year. They’ve made our student union more environmentally sustainable, they’ve fought the government to ensure that education remains accessible to students and that the tuition freeze remains in place, they’ve organized dozens of student life events, they’ve worked closely with the faculty associations, and they’ve formed new and important links with external community organizations like the FEQU. If anything the problem for Evolution’s critics is that they’ve become too successful and there are no longer any reasonable things to call Evolution out on. The Evolution student union has done an incredible job of creating a more welcoming, more progressive, more sociable, more transparent, and more sustainable campus experience. Evolution is proud to put their name on all their incredible accomplishments, why are their critics unwilling to associate publicly with their remarks? Our student union elections are only a few weeks away. Here’s hoping the Evolution continues.

Andrea Urman

Psychology

Comments against Mark Small unfounded

I was shocked to read Chris Schwartz’s letter to the editor in last weeks edition of the Link in which he makes petty personal and irresponsible comments about Mark Small, the Concordia Student Union’s (CSU) Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) and the CSU’s election process. I had the privilege of working with Mark as a Deputy Electoral Officer (DEO) during the fall by-election and I witnessed firsthand how hard Mark was willing to work to ensure the impartiality of the electoral process. We were able to run an extremely successful election which received the highest voter turnout ever for a by-election.

Schwartz’s comments are completely unfounded and ridiculous and I would ask that he exercise more caution in the future before making such serious accusations. Obviously, Schwartz is unhappy that Mark defeated him in the recently competed ASFA election, but he should get over it. Furthermore, his personal attacks on Peter Schiefke and Allie Turner (whose name he should learn to spell) are immature and have nothing to do with the CSU’s election process.

Rather, then bring forward any reasonable or legitimate problems with the CSU’s electoral process, Schwartz spends his time disguising personal attacks as reasonable political discourse. The fact that Schwartz didn’t win his ASFA election or that he doesn’t like who won in the CSU election last year doesn’t make the process unfair.

In the end, it seems that Schwartz is taking out his frustration at being politically unsuccessful at Concordia in the pages of the Link. Still, I’d suggest that he grow up and assume a more professional level of association with his fellow Council colleagues and students. Students deserves at least that much respect from an “elected member of the Concordia Student Council of Representatives (which isn’t unrepresentative simply because Schwartz disagrees with the decision they make).”

Mitch Kahan

Fall 2004 CSU DEO

Announcement
Investigating Montreal’s Cultural Identity

The Canadian Centre for Architecture, in collaboration with the Faculty of Fine Arts at Concordia University, will hold an interdisciplinary colloquium entitled Montr

“We can rebuild it. We have the technology. Better than it was before. Better…stronger…faster.”

Okay, maybe we’re not talking about something as drastic as building the world’s first bionic man. But this list of free software will protect you and your computer from the worst the web has to offer.

The first thing you need to do is replace Internet Explorer with Firefox. Internet Explorer has a lot of security issues, and I mean a lot. I’d give you a number, but I’ve been told numbers that big don’t exist. Firefox is faster and safer. Don’t worry about your favourites, the transition is silky smooth, Firefox will import them automatically.

Next you need some anti-virus protection. If you’re cheap like me, you’ll like AVG Anti-Virus free-edition. It’s a fully functional anti-virus program that includes a “real-time” scanner and an email scanner. What does that all mean? It means you don’t need to spend $60.

Spyware is crap that, one way or another, gets onto your computer, records your computing habits and reports back to its boss like a snitch that needs to get shivved. Spyware is generally annoying and mucks things up. Grab Ad-Aware and Spybot-Search & Destroy to rid your computer of these pests.

While you’re at it you should probably consider a firewall, especially if you have broadband. Think of a firewall as your computer’s doorman. It lets friendly packets into your computer while keeping the riffraff out. You can just Google “Free Firewall” for all sorts of options. I like Sygate Personal Firewall. And no, Windows XP’s firewall is not good enough.

Windows users should visit Windows Update – www.windowsupdate.com – periodically to get the latest security patches. Hmm…I wonder why Microsoft doesn’t make the site Firefox compatible?

Even with all the precautions taken, chances are something bad will eventually happen. Most nerds recommend you perform a complete backup of your computer regularly.

Yeah…I’m lazy, so how about no. Instead of investing the time and money into making full backups, just burn a CD of all the photos you’ve taken with your digicam and can’t live without. While you’re at it save your important school projects, CV and internet favourites on a floppy disk or USB flash drive.

So what do you do if a virus deletes all you’re mp3s and every school project you’ve had since you were eight years old? Once you stop crying like you’re on LiveJournal you can grab a file recovery program.

“But the files were deleted. They’re gone, forever…just like fluffy.”

The files aren’t really gone. Think of your computer’s hard drive, the place where files sleep at night, as a big book. Imagine two parts: an index and the actual chapters of the book, which represent files. The index tells you where each chapter is and each chapter contains certain information.

Say you decide to “delete” a chapter. The chapter itself doesn’t get erased, the index just gets modified so the chapter isn’t listed anymore. The information is still there, but from the operating system’s point of view anything that is not listed in the index doesn’t exist.

Here’s where file recovery software comes in. It will go through the book page by page and find the missing chapters instead of just checking the index. There are a few free file recovery applications out there. I’ve had success with PC Inspector File Recovery.

If you’re going to try recovering deleted files, do so as soon as possible. The longer you wait the bigger the chance you’ll lose them for good.

Potentially Offensive Site O’ the Week: www.bash.org

-The IRC Quote Database

If you ever used Internet Relay Chat you’ll find this hilarious. Check out the Top 100 quotes.

Webcomic O’ the Week: www.whiteninjacomics.com

-white ninja comics

Genius!

Free Application O’ the Week: www.bsplayer.org

-BSPlayer

If you use your computer to watch movies or TV shows you’ll appreciate this media player. BSPlayer has more options then Windows Media Player, uses less system resources and is more likely to successfully play that corrupted, bootleg copy of whatever Hollywood blockbuster you questionably procured.

RIAA Safe Album O’ the Week:

-Picaresque – Decemberists

Screened with RIAA Radar www.magnetbox.com/riaa

Gmail provides 1000 megabytes of storage and is, generally speaking, everything you wished Hotmail was. It’s still in the testing phase so you can’t just sign up. Luckily for you isnoop.net’s Gmail invite spooler – isnoop.net/gmail/ has over 400,000 invites to distribute for free.

This past week has seen a resurgence of the video game violence debate. The ‘age old’ question has resurfaced: “Do violent video games really make you more prone to violent acts?”

It seems that Grand Theft Auto (GTA) is being blamed for the deaths of three police officers in an Alabama police station. The rationale (and the lawsuits) behind this blame can be linked to the similarity of the crime to a scenario from Grand Theft Auto: Vice City in which a character escapes from a police station, shoots officers along the way and steals a police cruiser.

In an interview on the news program “60 Minutes”, Jack Thompson, the attorney in charge of the civil cases against the makers, marketers and the vendors of GTA, stated that the game’s creators are responsible “at least civilly.”

At least civilly? Tell me now, are we to criminally charge developers for the actions of a minority of the population?

In another interview done by GameCore, a weekly column by CBSNews.com’s William Vitka and Chad Chamberlain, Thompson likens it to serial killer Ted Bundy’s pornographic escapism.

I had large problems with the “60 Minutes” piece. Whenever anything about games is reported in the media, it’s painfully obvious that the level of research put into it is obviously sub-standard. I noticed several glaring mistakes, omissions, and misconceptions in the story. Gaming is still very much a niche in modern society, and not many people would be aware that these errors even exist.

I have several problems with our collective tendency, as North Americans, to systematically point the finger elsewhere when most of those doing the pointing should be pointing at their children and, even more appropriately, at themselves.

Don’t get me wrong, I agree that violent games have no place in the hands of young children. But after a certain age, most people realize there is a line between fantasy and reality that should not be crossed. People who say they commit violent acts because of video game violence were disturbed individuals long before they ever picked up a controller. Often, a suspect’s claim that the violent act is caused by a video game is a way to escape culpability on their part.

The trend is for a media outlet to pick up a particular angle, in this case, that the developers are at fault, and then have it become the media’s “norm”.

I hear rumblings of a large campaign to make sure stores card minors to prevent them from buying games. Parents buy their kids games anyway, and some don’t particularly care about the content. When a story like this breaks, they’re the first to be up-in-arms, calling for the heads of those monsters responsible for making a game like GTA. Anything to take the blame away from themselves, I suppose. It’s easier to blame children’s behaviour on an outside influence rather than on bad parenting. And just what is “violent content”? If you handed me a hundred different games, I’m sure most of them would have something that someone would consider violent. One has to ask: Where does the slippery slope flatten out?

If a case like this sets a precedent, it will probably open a Pandora’s box: if the legal precedent is there, there’s no telling what could happen to censorship,virtually everything could be fair game.

So until next week, remember: be careful around us gamers. Years of playing “death simulators” have obviously left us unpredictable and ready to snap into a violent frenzy at any moment.

Sticks, helmets, gloves, and basketballs were among the items being heaved into the air Sunday at Loyola Campus as it was a very fortuitous day for Concordia varsity teams.

Prior to Sunday we had to deal with the elimination of our men’s hockey and women’s basketball teams. The women deserve some serious credit for getting past a favoured Bishop’s squad and making it to the Quebec Championship where they lost to Laval on Saturday. Sadly, it marked the final game in the Maroon and Gold for co-captains Pascale Morin and M.J. Raposo, as well as Graziella Charles.

Fortunately, there was plenty to cheer about the next day as the women’s hockey team captured their first QSSF Championship since 2002. They accomplished this by narrowly defeating the McGill Martlets in a nerve-wracking third and decisive game. While it may not have been as convincing a victory as some were expecting, hopefully it has placed the team in the right mindset as they head into the National Championships, which start Thursday at McGill. They will be facing-off against the likes of the three-time defending champion Alberta Pandas, who are unbeaten in their last 108 CIS contests. Needless to say, they have their work cut out for them.

This next matter is one I mention with great caution so as not to use any language that may jinx our men’s basketball team. They beat Bishop’s in the Quebec semis on Sunday. They will play Laval in the finals Friday at Loyola 7 p.m. That’s all I’m saying.

Finally, I can’t go without saying how nice it was to see not just one, but two, CFCF12 cameras at the basketball game Sunday. The one complaint I have concerns the poor post-game questions some of these guys came up with.

After a killer lifting session and a 5k jaunt on the treadmill, what’s the first thing you reach for as you exit the gym? A power bar? A protein shake? An ice-cold bottle of water? What if I were to tell you that up until two weeks ago, my answer would have been a cigarette?

A regular smoker since the age of 13, I had long been undermining my efforts to get fit. Hours spent at the gym building my cardio endurance were undone the moment I stepped outside and sparked a du Maurier. Despite the hypocrisy of being a fitness fanatic while remaining a smoker, I couldn’t kick the habit.

It wasn’t until I started penning this column that I began to seriously consider the effects of cigarettes on my athletic performance. It also seemed ridiculous to be writing a regular fitness column while maintaining such an unhealthy habit. That’s why I decided to kick the butts once and for all, and I have been smoke free for exactly two weeks today. Now I’d like to provide those of you who are ready to stop smoking, or are even considering it, with the necessary information and resources to increase your chances of quitting successfully.

The most important tool in your quest to quit smoking is your own willpower. If you aren’t committed to kicking the habit, there isn’t a quit aid on the market that can help you. That said, there are a number of products available to help smokers quit gradually. To learn more about these options, I consulted Dr. Stephan Probst, a resident at the Montreal General Hospital.

Nicotine Replacement Therapies (NRTs)

Designed to ease the symptoms of physical withdrawal by delivering a measured dose of nicotine, NRT is available in several forms including patches, gum, lozenges, inhaler and nasal spray. All come in different strengths that you decrease over time.

The patch is a time-released aid that is worn all day to keep nicotine cravings at bay. The others are taken as needed to quell cravings. “All these products are effective,” said Probst, “but methods that replace the act of smoking, such as gum and the inhaler, help with both the physical and psychological addictions.”

Side effects of NRTs may include nausea, dizziness and sleep disturbances, but these products are very safe when used correctly, said Probst.

One of the big problems with the use of NRTs is overcompensation, which causes symptoms that are often confused with those of withdrawal. “Someone who goes from smoking four cigarettes a day to wearing a patch that supplies a pack’s worth of nicotine is obviously going to feel the effects,” said Probst. The key to success with replacement therapy lies in matching your current level of nicotine consumption, then gradually reducing it.

Zyban (Bupropion)

Zyban is a non-nicotine prescription medication that helps to reduce withdrawal symptoms including anxiety, irritability, frustration and difficulty concentrating.

It is thought to work by affecting the same neurotransmitters in your brain that are short-circuited by nicotine. Treatment is started about a week before your chosen quit date and continues for a total of seven weeks, during which time NRTs may be employed to further reduce withdrawal symptoms. “Combining quit aids stacks the odds in your favour,” said Probst, “but be sure to consult your physician before taking another medication in tandem with Zyban.”

The most commonly reported side effects of Zyban are insomnia and dry mouth, but both are usually mild and disappear in a few weeks. Many people also experience a reduction in appetite. “The prospect of gaining weight often discourages people from quitting, but quitters who take Zyban gain significantly less weight than those who don’t,” Probst said.

Alternative methods

If you’re wary of pharmaceuticals, there are other options available. Both acupuncture and hypnosis have become more popular in recent years.

Proponents of acupuncture claim that targeting specific pressure points on the body stimulates the brain to produce endorphins, the same “feel good” hormones that are released by cigarettes. Effects are usually felt within two hours and last four to six weeks–long enough to overcome the psychological cravings.

Hypnosis, on the other hand, is said to work by placing positive, smoke-free suggestions into the minds of those looking to quit. It also claims to help to modify thinking and behaviour, so events that previously triggered cravings–like the end of a meal, driving, or having a cup of coffee–are no longer associated with smoking.

These treatments can be expensive, however, and Probst added that there’s no guarantee they will work. “Scientific support for both acupuncture and hypnosis is weak,” he said.

Cold turkey

Nicotine is addictive. It’s a drug your body has become accustomed to and will crave once you stop smoking. Quitting cold turkey is a scary thought for most smokers, but while cravings may be intense, this method is still the most effective.

It’s also wise to plan ahead, anticipating situations that will provoke the urge to smoke, and planning specific strategies to deal with them.

You must also be prepared for relapse.

Probst stressed that smokers trying to give up the habit first need to realize that they are not alone. Over 75 per cent of adult smokers would like to stop, and 60 per cent have tried at least once. Unfortunately, over 90 per cent of attempts to quit end in failure. “Most smokers relapse several times before they quit for good,” said Probst. “Learn from the relapse and try again. Eventually you’ll kick it.”

By the time you read this, the General Assembly will have already spoken. Whether it has been decided that Concordia should join the 70,000 C

Greetings and salutations once again from the realm of electronic entertainment.

It’s been a relatively unimpressive week, as far as games go, so I’ve decided to touch on something that plagues virtually all entertainment mediums nowadays. I’ll get right to the point: entertainment suffers from a very large lack of originality. This is especially true of games in the last few years.

Endless sequel after sequel.