Kind of like how the office feels.  It's quiet and quietly busy.  Everything that needs to be done is mostly done, but adrenaline is running high with everyone.  Little details that need doing keep popping up at add times... In the midst of brushing teeth, or falling asleep... Brain just overloaded with the thought of 25-27 concurrent places to be be!  25-27 different things that are going on in a few days!

The program is elaborate!  www.cuexpo08.ca

Nerve-racking but exciting! Can't wait to meet everyone, and am sincerely wising that I could be in 25-27 places at once!

The Ismaili Jamatkhana & Centre (Burnaby, BC), designed by Bruno Freschi, is a synthesis of traditional Islamic architectural principles and modern construction techniques. From reports of people who have visited the site, we can assure you a most memorable day.

These one-day tours are sponsored by the BC Ismaili Council and the UVic Centre for Studies in Religion and Society. The tours are offered free of charge, including bus transport to and from the Tsawwassen ferry terminal and a complimentary lunch, courtesy of the BC Ismaili Council.

March 4 and March 6, 2008

Register and Details

University of Victoria - Center for Studies in Religion and Society

 www.librarything.com/work/595873

Sandra Thomas, Vancouver Courier
Published: Wednesday, December 05, 2007

This Christmas, you can buy expensive gifts for people who don't really need anything.

Or for just $10, you can purchase an insecticide-treated bed net that will protect a child in Africa from contracting malaria for up to five years.

Rehana Meghani, an education for development specialist with UNICEF and spearhead of the UNICEF Spread the Net campaign in Vancouver, hopes people will choose the latter gift

"A lot of people don't know much about malaria," said Meghani, who's studying law at the University of Victoria. "But it's killing one child every 10 seconds."

The campaign wants Canadians to purchase 500,000 nets for use in Africa. To date 65,000 have been purchased. Across Canada industrialist and former Liberal MP Belinda Stronach and comedian Rick Mercer are championing the campaign.

UNICEF's Rehana Meghani hopes Canadians
give generously to buy special mosquito nets for African kids.

Malaria is a long-lasting blood disease that is often fatal. But Meghani is one of the lucky ones. Born in Tanzania, the 25-year-old contracted malaria five times before her family moved to Canada when she was eight years old.

"In Tanzania I used to sleep under a bed net," said Meghani. "The female mosquitoes that carry malaria come out during night time when people are asleep."

According to Spread the Net, malaria is the largest single cause of death among African children under the age of five and kills more than 750,000 children per year. Without concerted action the death rate is expected to double in the next 20 years. Malaria is transmitted by female, night-biting mosquitoes and once in the bloodstream can destroy thousands of red blood cells in a few hours. Children, with their small bodies and immature immune systems, are particularly vulnerable to severe illness and death.

"If you get treatment right away it's totally treatable," said Meghani. "But if you don't you can die."

The nets have been shown to reduce mosquito bites by 95 per cent and protect more than 500,000 children a year. Each net can protect as many as four children.

The mosquito nets can be purchased through UNICEF's Gifts of Magic catalogue, the Spread the Net website and through World Vision. The Gifts of Magic catalogue also allows the purchase of many lifesaving and community building gifts, such as complete first-aid kits for $35, School in a Box for $250, three shovels for $20 and 11 baby blankets for $45. One dose of medication to stop the transmission of HIV between a pregnant mother and her unborn baby costs $50 while the cost to support one child orphaned by AIDS is $110 and includes vitamins, medicine, school books and school fees.

World Vision offers similar gifts, but also allows for the purchase of larger items such as the materials needed to build a secure home, the cost to drill a well, livestock, schoolroom furniture or a fish farm. While a fish farm for a family costs $65, a beekeeping hive is $100 and clean water for a family is $150. Two hens and a rooster cost $55, a dairy cow costs $600 and three little pigs are $120. A mobile medical clinic can be stocked for $400.

For more information go to www.unicefgiftsofmagic.ca, www.spreadthenet.org or www.WorldVision.ca.

Source: Vancouver Courier

What gets the thumbs up:

So what's so great about UVic's profile? It's actually useful! First of all, they have added a Meebo application to their profile which allows the user to IM a librarian without even navigating away from the page. Very handy, and I imagine that users will certainly appreciate this feature.

They have begun to make excellent use of their wall and discussion areas to both disseminate information and collect feedback. While their only discussion topic thus far is "Suggest a book for purchase," I imagine this will be a hit, particularly with faculty. And the wall is used for promoting the library through occasional 'Did you know' type blurbs. There is an RSS feed of library news down the right hand column, a NY Times feed and a list of library events and seminars as well.

What could be better:

While the Meebo IM feature looks great, there were no librarians on when I tried to use it. It would be nice if they committed to responding at certain times and put some hours of Meebo availability up.

Obviously more could be done with the discussion board. I would encourage the folks at UVic to check out the UK's discussion topics for further ideas like 'what features do you want to see at your library' for example. I imagine they'll get to this in time. The profile has only been up for two weeks.

The UVic's Facebook profile includes a JSTOR search application that you would probably expect me to put in the 'what's cool' category but it actually kind of sucks. Apparently you can search JSTOR straight from the main page. But when I tried this out I had to click through a popup allowing JSTOR to have my info before being directed to JSTOR's main page. At the JSTOR main page, I was prompted to enter my credentials in order to access the database. Now I know you can get around this by setting up a proxy which is possible for any academic library, but it's kind of annoying and, in this case, there aren't any conveniently available instructions for how to do this. I guess that's what Meebo's for. Personally, I'd rather access JSTOR from my institution's library website instead. That way I'm not limited to just JSTOR. That said, if you're already set up with a proxy or you're using the campus wireless, I suspect the whole thing would go a lot smoother.

Но, с января начинаю учиться на втором курсе в University of Victoria. Подал документы в конце сентября, отослал текущие оценки и пр. документацию на свою учебную жизнь, включая пару рекомендательных писем. Через две-три недели поступил ответ, мол, добро пожаловать к нам в Computer Science департамент, являющийся частью их Faculty of Engineering. Начинаю учиться там с января (середина второго курса), а сейчас доучиваюсь этот семестр у себя в колледже.

Если сильно обобщить, то среди различных университетов Канады выделяются два типа Computer Science программ - те, что являются частью Faculty of Engineering и те, что ходят под Faculty of Science. В первом случае, в моём, преподают больше теории, фундаментальных основ. Во втором образование не столь фундаментальное, а скорее более практичное - современные технологии, и т.д. По крайней мере подобные высказывания я слышал от ряда своих профессоров и сокурсников. Причем, в устах некоторых из них это звучало как критика первого типа программ вообще, и UVic'а в частности.

На самом деле оба варианта обладают своими плюсами и минусами. Современные технологии это конечно здорово, но они постоянно двигаются вперёд, меняются, чуть ли не каждые пол года появляется какая-нибудь новая Django с Ruby on Rails... Но с другой стороны, выпускаешься - и проще найти работу. В теории. А вот первый вариант - пусть этому и не научат, но вот компиляторы и собственные операционные системы пописать ещё как дадут. Вот у меня как раз он и вышел.

P.S.: Профессор по астрономии (классный дядька, очень увлекается русской литературой) агитировал меня пойти на лето работать в одну из канадских обсерваторий. Говорит, обсерваториям нужны программисты. Да и разбросаны они по всей стране, можно попутешествовать. А можно и вне Канады. Подобная работа - часть ко-оп программы. Практика, в какой-то степени. Университет помогает в трудоустройстве по специальности в интересующей студента области. Работаешь, получаешь деньги, опыт, строчку в резюме, связи на будущее, а тебе ещё и учебные кредиты засчитывают.

Acadia University   

Augustana Faculty       

Brandon University 

McGill University

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ONUniversity of Toronto

Emily Carr Institute of Art & Design
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Grading System    0 - 4.3

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Grading System    0 - 4.5

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University of Victoria

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Grading System    0 - 100%

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