Once again, Alfie’s has been renovated. But while previous attempts to solve the bar’s financial woes by throwing more money toward renovations have consistently backfired, this year’s AMS executive is betting it has what it takes to finally turn Alfie’s into an atmosphere worth attending. It is premature to reach any certain conclusions about the fate of Alfie’s in the school year. However, last Friday’s re-opening seemed to be a successful night for the bar.

My sixteen-year-old sister tells me I should just let it go and lol. That’s when I get worried. I get worried that MSN messenger is a problem that is seeping into our every waking moment. But before I explain why messaging is bothering me so much I have to make it clear that I understand its benefits.

QCARD probably receives more use in September than during any other time of year. It’s hardly surprising then that the service’s largely fixable flaws become most noticeable during this time. QCARD is far more inaccessible than it needs to be. For a service that is essential to every single student at this University, it is inoperative far too often.

After a sleepy summer in Kingston, school has once again begun and I don’t think I’ve ever been so bummed out. I’ve tried to talk myself out of this funk. I listen to happy music like Devo every morning in attempts to cheer myself up. “Buck up, Molly Misanthrope!” I tell my droopy-faced reflection in the mirror each morning. But nothing seems to work.

Ontario’s Attorney General recently announced the province will take legislative action in an attempt to reduce the number of violent dog attacks. Although past efforts have focused exclusively on pit bulls, new efforts are expected to encom all dangerous dogs. Still, pit bulls seem to be receiving the most attention and it is possible that Ontario may soon ban pit bulls altogether.

On July 22, the United States Congress ed a resolution that used the term “genocide” to describe the situation in Sudan during the last several months. In the realm of international law, the term “genocide” carries significant weight. If the United Nations Security Council ed a resolution that used the term to describe the situation in Sudan then the international community, in accordance with the Geneva Convention, would be legally obligated to take all appropriate measures to stop the genocide.

Beer will now be served at Queen’s home football games. Campus activities commissioner Dave Homuth has arranged for a designated area to be established right next to Richardson Stadium where students will be able to purchase and drink beer. Although students will not be able to drink beer in Richardson Stadium, the designated area is expected to provide a good view of the football field and seat approximately 1,650 people.

I’ve always enjoyed a healthy dose of beer. I’m not a dangerous drinker by any stretch—I’ve never puked, ed out or forgotten events because of alcohol, and it’s not a pillar of my weekend. But when I arrived at Queen’s two years ago, it was only a matter of days before I was thanking the patron saint of Honey Brown that I’d turned 19 before September.

Kasra Nejatian, Comm ’05, claims Moore violated section 331 of the Act, which states that no one who is not a Canadian citizen or resident may “during an election period, in any way, induce electors to vote or refrain from voting for a particular candidate.” On June 19, while Moore was in Toronto promoting his new film, Fahrenheit 9/11, he publicly encouraged Canadians not to vote for the Conservative Party because of their positions on social issues and the war in Iraq.

Last year, Aurora Ont. was so insignificant to Elections Canada that the redistribution of electoral ridings tomahawked the town straight down Yonge St. and equally divided its 43,000 inhabitants into two separate ridings.

Queen’s wants to give University Avenue a major facelift. The University says the portion of the road running from Clergy to Stuart streets has deteriorated in the last several decades from a combination of poor funding and heavy pedestrian and vehicular use.

It has been a week since I wrote my last exam and already I have returned to my old ways. My summer job won’t really begin for another week and the idleness of each ing day has proven conducive to indulging in guilty pleasures. The other day I picked up a copy of the April issue of Flare magazine lying around the house. I only meant to peruse it, skim it, glance at a few pretty pictures. But I was eventually lured into actually reading it.

Queen’s is seen by some as being an Old Boys Club so it’s refreshing to see the University break from tradition and hire a woman for the position. Hitchcock is the first female principal in the history of Queen’s, which suggests the University is working to create a more progressive environment. That is certainly a trend that should continue.