Brett Wilson is a Calgary based billionaire and philanthropist with almost 100,000 Twitter followers and a closet full of colourful button-ups. He’s also a former dragon on CBC’s Dragon’s Den, author, proud father and all around cool dude. He recently humoured our questions.

The Gauntlet: I heard that you took a trip to Afghanistan. Why did you go?

Construction has begun on Smoke’s Poutinerie in MacHall.

Students’ Union president Raphael Jacob said he expects the vendor to openin six weeks.

“It has been shown to be really popular on university campuses and with our demographic,” Jacob said. “Furthermore, it is a Canadian tradition.”

Smoke’s Poutinerie beat out an undisclosed frozen yogurt vendor in a bid to replace Prime Box Office.

Other than Smoke’s, poutine is available at the Den and A&W.

Talks are underway about a merger between the departs of anthropology and archaeology.

“The decision hasn’t been finalized,” said faculty of arts dean Richard Sigurdson, “but both departments have now shown a willingness to take serious steps to move forward.”

A consolidation committee with members from both departments is currently working on a public report. Sigurdson said there will be more concrete discussion after the report is released.

For prospective students, admission to the University of Calgary is becoming more difficult as acceptance standards rise year after year.

The Haskayne School of Business and the Faculty of Nursing have seen the sharpest increase. At Haskayne, the average grade for acceptance was 82 per cent in 2012, compared to the low 70s in 2006. Nursing students coming from high school now need an 84 per cent average, while this number was in the mid 70s less than 10 years ago.

Tina Shaygan and Lexi Del gather the required signatures for their arts representative bids in MacHall. Students running for office need 150 signatures to get on the ballot. If you see someone with a clipboard, give them a hand.

Sexual and Gender Wellness Week will be held in MacHall from Feb. 3–7. The week — put on by the Students’ Union, the Wellness Centre and the Womens’ Resource Centre — will feature a series of workshops and discussions that focus on some of the more nuanced aspects of sexuality not covered in your junior-high health class.

“The week gives students the opportunity to learn lots of things that relate to their sexual health and gender wellness,” said Ashley Humeniuk, health promotion coordinator at the SU Wellness Centre.

Zac Trolley, an electrical engineer living in Calgary, is on the shortlist for a one-way trip to Mars.

Last April, the non-profit organization Mars One began accepting applications for a mission to establish a human colony on Mars, starting in 2025.

The application process was straightforward. Mars One asked for a written essay and a one-minute video. Organizers received over 200,000 applications from across the globe. In December, Mars One announced that the list had been narrowed down to 1,058 people, including Trolley.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s visit to Israel should raise speculation on the motivation for a friendly relationship between Canada and Israel, two dissimilar states.

Since the beginning of July all skaters at the Olympic Oval have been required to wear helmets. According to the Oval’s webpage, the new helmet policy was introduced as a “proactive safety measure … to ensure all users of the Olympic Oval enjoy their time skating.”

Although mandating helmets may benefit a handful of skaters — notably those unfortunate enough to fall in such a way that their heads strike the ice — the majority of skaters will find that donning a helmet detracts from the skating experience.

RE: Facebook fanatacism

Regarding the recent hate speech brouhaha concerning a certain U of C student of Palestinian Arab ancestry, I would address a few salient points that the Gauntlet regrettably overlooked.