Open access to academic publications, possibility or pipe dream?

The suicide of social justice activist and programming prodigy Aaron Swartz has brought forward once again the debate over the morality of online file sharing. Mr. Swartz was to face thirty-five years of imprisonment and a million-dollar fine for downloading four million academic articles from the online database JSTOR: a charge likened to that of borrowing too many books from the library

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A glimpse into the 2013 Lieutenant Governor’s Winter Festival

The Ukrainian Pavilion, located in the Ukrainian Reading Association Hall on Assiniboine Avenue, entertained guests with traditional song, dance, drink and mouth-watering dishes throughout the course of Brandon’s Lieutenant Governor’s Winter Festival, and on the final night, the building was filled with the lively music late into the night.

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Justin Trudeau and the cynicism of Canadian Youth

On Thursday January 31st, Justin Trudeau stopped by Brandon University to promote his bid for leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada and to meet potential supporters.  Manitoba does not have a strong base of Liberal supporters; of the 57 ridings represented in our provincial government, a Liberal holds only one of those seats. 

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The Producers: Absolutely Hilarious

From January 24th to 27th, Brandon’s 7 Ages Productions brought to life the hilarious, and arguably offensive comedy, The Producers. Originally a 1968 film, The Producers was brilliantly adapted into a play by Mel Brooks (Blazing Saddles, Silent Movie, and Spaceballs) and Thomas Meehan (Annie and Hairspray), hitting Broadway with Nathan Lane (MouseHunt and voice roles in The Lion King) and Matthew Broderick (Farris Beuler’s Day Off) taking the reins as money-hungry Max Bialystock and the mewling, incompetent Leo Bloom.

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CD Review: Don’t Swimmin’

If one were to listen to this unique treasure as a single song, the storyline would go something like this: the protagonist and his friends visit hell, and a bar, to save their lady friends. After meeting and conversing with Satan for a while, the prince of demons convinces his guests to join him in the dining room where the head of the waiter is served.

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I’m calling bulls#!t, and so should you

I suffer from depression. There, I said it. You know why I said it first? Because now you know someone who suffers from depression.  You don’t have to read the rest of this article if you don’t want to, because I’m going to talk about mental illness and whom it affects—but if I had started this article with a statistic about how many people suffer from mental illnesses in Canada, I would be willing to bet that quite a lot of you would have skipped to the next headline.

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The Best of 2012 in Entertainment

It’s 2013, and the Mayan apocalypse didn’t happen, so we are going to have to think about other things than the world ending as we look back on 2012. Why not entertainment?  2012 saw a number of highly anticipated projects come to fruition.  We were introduced to some great new creations and we said goodbye to some of the biggest and best commodities in history.

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Structual Inequality Threatens All Canadians

Structural inequality threatens to erode the societal fabric that binds together Canada’s social democracy. Fundamental Canadian values of fairness, cooperation, compassion and egalitarianism have been swept aside and forgotten by Canada’s public leaders. The philosophy of neoliberalism and its central tenants of competition, individualism, deregulation, and wealth accumulation are transforming the socio-cultural landscape of Canada.

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Shopping and services near BU

Whether you are looking for a carton of milk for your cereal or a container of ice cream for your late-night stress-induced cravings, it can be hard to find a grocery store within a fifteen-minute walk from campus. While larger shopping centres can be found at both the north and south ends of Brandon in the Corral Centre and the Shoppers Mall, they are at minimum twenty-five minutes away on foot.

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