topopinions

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POLITICAL CORNER: It’s time to abandon attack ads, Canada

Liam Wilson July 26, 2018

The 2019 Canadian federal election is still 15 months away, but already it seems that the major political parties are spinning up their campaign machines and starting to churn out everybody’s favourite piece of political propaganda: attack ads. Attack ads have a rich history in North America. Over the years, they’ve showed up in print, television, and on the internet as political parties have fought hard to paint their opponents in as negative a light as possible. Infamously, some attack ads — such as the 1993 “Face Ad” which mocked Jean Chrétien’s facial paralysis — have been so poorly received…

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2 min 0 1644

WHAT GRINDS OUR GEARS: Cheap assholes who haggle with you

Eva Zhu July 25, 2018

Don’t you just love the people who will spend a good half-hour arguing with you about why your already-discounted item on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace should be even cheaper? Dude, I already took 50% off the price of a laptop…

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6 min 0 1868

Why are we so complacent about child celebrities?

EIC July 25, 2018

If you’ve been online, you’ve probably heard of Lil Tay by now. She’s a nine-year-old girl who has more than 2.7 million followers on Instagram and an affinity for aiming swift kicks at luxury cars to prove her ownership. Her…

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8 min 0 1721

Losing Fall Kickoff, and jumping on board with UBC’s welcome-back, is a mistake

Zach Siddiqui July 23, 2018

Seeing how far one snag in event planning has snowballed, I wonder . . . when chaos theory pioneer Edward Lorenz coined the term “butterfly effect,” what was his real inspiration? Did his alma mater, MIT, have a student government…

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2 min 0 2531

Bus drivers who spam the “please move to the rear of the bus” button

Gene Cole July 19, 2018

I have a lot of respect for bus drivers. They have to deal with some of the scummiest people out there, such as those who get in the way of the wheelchair ramp, or those who stand ahead of the…

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6 min 0 2065

VAR in the 2018 World Cup has its pros and cons

Melissa Campos July 18, 2018

The FIFA World Cup this year has been filled with many unexpected turns. From Germany failing to advance from the group stages to Russia unexpectedly making it all the way to the quarter-finals, I can safely say that this is…

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2 min 0 1720

POLITICAL CORNER: The government needs to do something about Greyhound’s service cuts

Peak Web July 17, 2018

Written by: Eva Zhu (Opinions Editor) and Liam Wilson (Peak Associate) Starting October 31, Greyhound Canada will cut passenger and shipping delivery services in British Columbia, the Prairies, and Northern Ontario, citing a decline in ridership and competition from other…

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6 min 0 1956

Did anyone expect TanaCon to NOT be a disaster?

Victoria Lopatka July 16, 2018

TanaCon – This Year’s Frye Fest VidCon is an annual YouTube convention in California started by the Green Brothers, Hank and John. TanaCon was inspired by Tana Mongeau’s (a YouTuber with over 3 million views, most famous for her storytimes)…

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6 min 0 1511

There is an evaluation problem in Silicon Valley

Umer Altaf July 13, 2018

There was something irresistible about Theranos, the now-disreputed Silicon Valley startup, and its scheming founder Elizabeth Holmes. The possibility of revolutionizing the blood test, the cornerstone of a medical care technology industry worth over US$40-45 billion globally, created an itch…

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2 min 0 1323

POLITICAL CORNER: Is our world becoming more national and less international?

Liam Wilson July 12, 2018

Living in a first-world country, it now seems almost impossible to be disconnected from anything. For a long time, we’ve seen the increasing interconnectivity of our world through the internet, electronics, and international politics. Some have rightly argued the potential…

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