With only a couple of weeks to go before the official season starts, Dinos men's volleyball Head Coach Greg Ryan is quietly confident. The team is looking to improve on last years' finish in a tough conference, and with five returning starters, Ryan believes his team has what it takes to go the distance.

"This team is definitely top four material," he boasted. "We're looking at the playoffs for sure."

Saturday, Oct. 23 the Dinos football team met the Simon Fraser University Clansmen on a very snowy McMahon Field. In front of over 900 cold and shivering, but brave fans, the Dinos let a victory slide through their slippery fingers.

As you walk to class one lovely fall day, crunching through leaves, sun on your face, watching agile squirrels jump from branch to branch, you may not have noticed the shaved head sitting on the shoulders of a black leather coat in the midst of the picturesque fall landscape. It was the head of author Mingus Tourette, out of which much controversy has crawled into the light of a disapproving mainstream, most recently in the form of his book nunt, for which he recently toured Canada to promote.

Not since the days of Tom Jones, in his panty hoarding prime, have there been individuals worthy of the title "Lady Killer", until now. Calgary's The Neckers are four Casanovas of rock ready to start a panty collection and maybe a little necking on the side with the release of their self-titled album. With the garage sound of yore, The Neckers take their listeners back to the golden era of Fonzie, providing eleven new songs to neck to in the backseat of your jalopi.

The End is coming. Perhaps not on pale horses or brandishing flaming swords, but The End still broke into the hardcore scene in a big way with the release of their debut album Transfer Trachea Reverberations from Point: False Omniscient. Three years after, The End has survived the lost of a member, inked a deal with Relapse Records, and took their work to a new level of aggressiveness and maturity with the release of the album Within Dividia.

Alberta Learning has entered into an agreement with Microsoft Canada and technology solution provider Acrodex Inc., providing Microsoft Office software, system support and licensing to all school boards and post-secondary institutions across Alberta at a cost of $6.3 million.

Officials claim the Provincial Microsoft Licensing agreement aims to save school boards and post-secondary institutions $10 million, and set the standard for integrated technology within the learning systems across North America.

Hostility is brewing between the Students' Union and the University of Calgary's television station, NUTV.

Last week, a critical letter from the SU was sent to the executive director of NUTV, Kevin Allen, questioning the station's focus and direction. The letter declared that NUTV "to a large degree disregards its student constituency" and has an audience "rank[ing] in the dozens."

Allen, though initially reluctant to speak, responded on behalf of NUTV.

Haunted houses, spooky set-ups, and eerie encounters are generally the themes of modern day Halloween. Guys dress up in attempts to be funny, girls dress up in attempts to be sexy, and ghost sightings are at an all time high.

Although the original holiday was intended as a Catholic day for the observance of saints, today it is seen as an opportunity to frighten or be frightened--that and to consume an ridiculous amount of booze.

The Dinos field hockey team ended their season on a high note. Their final tournament was played Oct. 22-24 in Victoria, with the team going 0-1-2. Bright moments of the weekend included a one-all draw against the number two University of Victoria Vikes on their home turf.

"It was pretty satisfying, because we knew we could play like that," said Lauren McDougall. "It was nice to pull it all together at the end."

Editor, the Gauntlet,

Re: "Good citizens don't vote," Oct. 21, 2004,