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Tom and Annabelle had a wonderful time over their first dinner together. They talked and laughed all evening, until the check arrived. Since Annabelle had invited Tom, a fellow attorney, out for the evening, she offered and proceeded to pay the check. She was taken completely by surprise when Tom began to divide the total on his calculator, and then paid for “his share”. Annabelle was hurt, feeling that a great evening had been ruined. So, who pays? Well if this were about 60 years ago, or anytime before, that answer would be simple, obvious, and I’d be construed as strange for asking. However, that is no longer the case and if you took a poll while walking down the street you’d find a lot of different attitudes about the financial etiquette of dating.

Some men still do not believe that a woman should pay…ever. I think you would find most men to be relieved when a woman offers to pay, and some might even be offended to always be expected to pay. Most people agree that the person who asks for the date should be responsible for the financial end. That’s great for first and second dates, but what happens when you mutually agree to meet for coffee or at the movies?

Well, before you two get into your first argument at the movie theatre ticket booth…talk a bit about it. Now, you don’t have to get into a two hour discussion about each other’s opinions on investments and your 401K’s, but just mention that either A.you’d feel more comfortable paying your own way (especially if you’ve been seeing a lot of each other) or B. making it clear beforehand who would be responsible for the “bill” of that evening. If you’ve gotten past the formalities of the first and second dates, you should probably be comfortable enough to do this. Just remember, it’s nice to insist on picking up a tab once in a while, just like it’s nice to hear that he’s willing to pick it up for you. When you do “pay your own way” it will make those occassions all the more special, and you won’t feel like you or he has wasted a fortune if things don’t work out between you.

Now, as you get further into your relationship you may find that the two of you have very different attitudes about money. You may have decided to never tell a date what you make or where you have your money invested, whereas the new guy you’re dating may enjoy telling you and everyone else that he makes $100,000/year and has a multitude of stock options.

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As if stressing out over grades, and obsessing over that cute co-ed weren’t bad enough, many college freshman have one more thing to worry about: gaining weight. While this phenomenon is often called the “Freshman 15” (a reference to gaining 15 pounds during the first year of college), in reality, students can gain five 20, or even more pounds. But plenty of freshmen manage to maintain or even lose weight while in college. How? By understanding the diet-busting dangers and learning how to avoid them.

Why does the freshman fifteen happen in the first place?

Usually because college students have a lot more opportunity to eat (and overeat!) than they are used to.

Culprit: Cafeteria. Being on a college’s cafeteria plan usually means that having one healthy salad costs the same as having two burgers, a side of fries, and a . Also, students often socialize in the cafeteria, slowly munching away the entire time they are there. In other words, it’s easy to go overboard on calories. Solution: Control portion sizes. There is no need to try a bit of everything in sight. Those food options will be there again soon enough. Choose low-calorie filling options like water, salad, and fruit as dessert.

Culprit: Late-night cramming sessions. There’s something about the stress and darkness that just begs for fattening comfort foods like pizza, chicken wings, or at least a double mocha. Solution: Students should study where they can’t eat, like the library. Don’t wait until the last minute, either… stress loves food. In other words, practicing good study habits not only translates to good grades, but helps keep off the freshman 15.

Culprit: Social events. Free food draws people, and there’s often a lot of free fatty food to be had at everything from extracurricular club meetings to parties. Solution: Eat beforehand. Starved people are much more likely to overeat. There’s no need to deprive oneself completely – staring down all that party food is stressful at best and leads to binging at worst. Instead, people should come to parties with a plan: choose one or two of your favorite treats, and then limit yourself to a certain quantity (“I will only have one slice of pizza” or “Half a cupcake and seven tortilla chips – that’s it!”) Without a plan, it is too easy to keep walking by the snack table all night long, nibbling one’s way to excess calories.

Culprit: Snacking on the run. Building snacks into the day can be a smart dieting technique, if people choose low-calorie, high-nutrient snacks. Problem is, it’s easy to do just the opposite. Solution: People who like or need to snack should carry around healthy snacking options (think nuts, yogurt, carrots or soy crisps) so they won’t be tempted by all those not-so-healthy selections like chips, snack cakes and sugary drinks.

Culprit: Drinking calories. Solution: A calorie is a precious thing to waste, but too many college students end up downing hundreds of calories in sodas, energy drinks, coffee drinks, smoothies and even juice drinks. Choose flavored water, herbal teas and skim milk instead.

Culprit: Laziness. Solution: Most college campuses offer a variety of different ways to move one’s body, from jogging trails to gyms to intramural and club sports to just walking from the dorm to class to the library. Take advantage of the opportunity to burn those calories. Students who feel too tired to exercise should examine their life and figure out what’s out of balance. Cut back on the partying, but don’t skimp on exercise!

Students who follow these tips won’t have to worry about how …

Omdurman was a transitional event, linking 19th Century tactics with modern technology to overcome an enemy armed chiefly with spears and swords.

In early September 1898, General H.H. Kitchener, commanding at Omdurman in the African Sudan, informed his government that, “The remnant of the Khalifa’s forces has surrendered, and I have now a very large number of prisoners on my hands.” Omdurman was located up the Nile River, across from Khartoum where Major-General Charles Gordon had been killed by the Mahdist forces fourteen years earlier. Kitchener, at that time, was part of the relief operation led by Viscount Garnett Wolsey. The expedition arrived too late; Omdurman was to be the long awaited act of revenge. Yet Omdurman was also a transitional object lesson perpetuating the belief of European superiority.

Avenging Governor-General Charles Gordon of Khartoum

General Gordon had returned to the Sudan to confront the Mahdi, whose personal ambitions rested on Islamic mysticism and posed a serious threat to Egyptian hegemony over the vast expanse of desert. It would not be until Kitchener’s victory at Omdurman in 1898, however, that, as the London Times postulated, the territory would be re-opened, “to the benefits of peace, civilization, and good government.”

Following the death of Gordon and the destruction of Khartoum, the Mahdi himself died, succeeded by the Khalifa Abdullahi, who turned the fort at Omdurman into a citadel housing his palace and the tomb of the Mahdi. According to writer Philip Ziegler, Omdurman was “Africa’s largest slum.” Kitchener’s army, composed of a well-trained Egyptian contingent as well as the British Brigade, began the long and arduous march up the Nile to Omdurman, vastly outnumbered by the dervishes. But, as Ziegler writes, “…arithmetic counted for nothing in the fierce joy of battle.”

Omdurman Victory Attributed to Several Factors

As a transitional event, Omdurman would witness a heroic cavalry charge by the 21st Lancers, as well as the use of heavily armed gunboats and a significant advantage in artillery. The London Times correspondent pointed out that the siege of Khartoum several years earlier lasted 317 days; the siege of Sevastopol during the Crimean conflict took slightly over 300 days. Omdurman fell after five hours. This can be attributed to Kitchener’s planning as well as modern weaponry.

Kitchener’s success was due to excellent planning as well as moments of good luck. The Khalifa, for example, was frequently guided by dreams. These dreams caused him to withdraw his troops from points along the Nile such as Berber, concentrating his men at Omdurman. Further, the battle would be fought on the Kerreri plain rather than a house-to-house battle within the city.

A notable exception was Atbara. 20,000 dervishes took part in the battle of Atbara under Emir Mahmoud. It was a foolish move. Sandhurst military historian Philip Warner argues that had those 20,000 men been available at Omdurman, “the outcome of that critical battle might well have been different.”

Role of the Forces under Kitchener’s Command

Both Egyptian and British forces were eager to fight. According to the London Times, the lesson of Omdurman showed that British soldiers “will go anywhere and do anything.” Lt. General Francis Grenfell, commander of the British contingent, wrote that, “…never, in the course of my service, have I seen a finer body of troops than the British contingent…as regards physique, smartness, and soldier like bearing.” (The London Gazette, September 30, 1898) To this must be added the contributions of loyalist Sudanese units.

Detractors like the young Lt. Winston Churchill, involved in his first conflict, showed their arrogance with criticism of Kitchener and fellow officers. Churchill became a …

From November 16 – 19, the Waterloo Festival for Animated Cinema will present “the best of feature animation from around the world.”

This festival, as the name indicates, is the only festival dedicated to feature-length animation. It shows many movies from around the world, that you’re not going to see at your local Mongoplex. Hopefully, that should ensure a minimum of wise-cracking animals in these films (although the little &$^%ers are pretty pernicious).

The 2006 edition of the festival will happen at the Gig Theatre (formerly the Hyland Cinema), on 30 Duke Street, in Kitchener. Tickets will be available online at www.wfac.ca, on Monday, October 16. Prices are $10 for adults, $6 for children under 12 or full-time high-school students (ID required). Full passes are $90 for adults, $60 for kids. Tickets are also available at the door for $12/$8.

The first 10 films have already been announced. They will play in their language of origin, with English subtitles:

– Fimfarum 2 (Jan Balej/Aurel Klimt/Bretislav Pojar/Vlasta Pospilov, Czech Republic, 2006) — rated G

– Fire Ball (Wang Toon, Taiwan, 2006) — rated PG

– Origin: Spirits of the Past (Sugiyama Keiichi, Japan, 2006) — rated PG

– Kirikou and the Wild Beasts (Michel Ocelot, France, 2005) — rated PG

– Prince Vladimir (Yuri Kulakov, Russia, 2006) — rated AA

– Pettson and Findus: Pettson’s Promise (Anders Sørensen/Jørgen Lerdam, Denmark, 2005) — rated G

– Princes et Princesses (Princes and Princesses); (Michel Ocelot, France, 2000) — rated G

– Princess (Anders Morgenthaler, Denmark, 2006) — rated R

– Robotech: the Shadow Chronicles (Dong-Wook Lee/Tommy Yune, U.S.A., 2006) — rated PG

– Shisha no Sho (Book of the Dead); (Kawamoto Kihachiro, Japan, 2005) — rated AA

The festival will release the full 2006 program on November 1.…

In April 2003, the United States invaded Baghdad and failed to provide security to the Iraq Museum that housed some of art history’s greatest treasures. There was no surprise that this cultural looting would happen.

The US government had been threatening to invade Iraq since September 11, 2001. Art historians, curators, and other arts professionals had asked the US government to protect the repository of the Cradle of Civilization. The US government had responded positively that the Iraq Museum would be protected, but did absolutely nothing to follow through on this promise.

Following the invasion of Iraq, over 50,000 works of art and antiquities were stolen from the Iraq Museum, some dating back as far as 5,000 years. What’s more, the entire museum card catalog was destroyed, so that there is no record of all of the art and artifacts that were lost. We will never know what we lost as a world community over those chaotic first days of the new Baghdad.

And now…the crime of the looting of the Museum of Iraq is being investigated by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation. Does anyone else see the irony here? If you check out their site, there is only a bare minimum of description as to the artwork that was taken. Of the 50,000 historical items taken, they only have an image of one piece. There is not even a link to other sites that have made an attempt to put together images of missing artworks, such as the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago.

Want more irony? If you look at the FBI’s Top 10 Most Wanted People, you can see several pictures of the wanted suspects with age-altered photos as well.

You could make the argument that the 10 Most Wanted people are more important to picture because they could also be out there committing other crimes. Stolen works of art are not criminals, BUT webspace is cheap and I think if the FBI is supposed to be a part of the investigation (Interpol is involved also), they should go all out and include photos of the stolen artwork, or at least links to other places that show pictures. By neglecting to beef up this part of their site, the FBI sends the message that art crimes are not really a priority.…