"SEPTEMBER 27, 2005

Textbook... cont. from page 4

purchase less expensive used books,” the study found.

By issuing pin codes for access to textbook affiliated websites, resourceful textbook publishers have found a way to cash in on the used textbook market. Students, including some at Fanshawe, who buy used textbooks are at times required to purchase pin codes in order to access information and even assignments from the course websites.

According to Smith, individual teachers decide whether or not the pin codes are necessary for courses. He also said that supplementary material found on the Internet and course specific WebPages are valuable sources of information.

The GOA study suggests textbook prices will continue to climb, due to publishers lack of consideration for students when developing the text, who will be ultimately forced to

Federal money to help Atlantic Universities... cont. from page 4

smaller universities conducting more specialized research earlier in the developmental stages of those projects than has ever been seen before.

“It’s a two way street,” said Paskauskas. “Both parties can gain knowledge on the research and development front.”

Representatives from Springboard Atlantic were not available for comment.

The members of Springboard are: Acadia University, Cape Breton University, Dalhousie University, Memorial University, Mount Allison University, Mount Saint Vincent University, Nova Scotia Agricultural College, NSCAD University, St. Francis Xavier University, Saint Mary’s University, St. Thomas University, l'Université de Moncton, the University of New Brunswick and the University of Prince Edward Island.

'| . Sloan... Continued from page 1

album, fans were treated to classic tunes like ‘other man’ and ‘the good in everyone’.

“Earlier in this year, like in May, we put out our greatest hits record ‘A Sides Win’. It was kind of like singles from 1992-2005,” said Ferguson. “It was time to reflect. We really needed to just look back on our career and think about what we’ re supposed to do next... .no it was completely a cash grab (laughs). No I’m just kidding.”

The real reasoning is actually fairly boring, says Ferguson. Their distribution company (Sony) merged with another company (BMG) and they felt it would be a safer bet for everyone involved to release a greatest hits album, rather than have a newrecord possibly fall through the cracks.

“We were going to make anew studio album and then do it [greatest hits],” said Ferguson. “But we decided to switch it.”

During their show, several cups filled with beer were thrown at the members of the band, mostly at an increasingly frustrated Chris Murphy. By the time the fourth cup had been thrown and soaked frontman Patrick Petland, Sloan was fed up. They left the stage and although this reporter has heard from some people that they think the whole incident was staged, as someone who was backstage when they came off] can tell you firmly this was not a planned event. They were pissed. ‘

“Tt’s too bad, it happened a couple times during the show and I could see Chris getting frustrated,” said Ferguson. “After the fourth time when Patrick got hit, it just got too much.”

“Whatever, it’s happened before, it’s no big deal. I thought the crowd was good, there’s always a couple of goofs who try to ruin the show....”

Ferguson says there is always a chance of something like this

happening at a university gig, especially

in smaller places like PEI and Antigonish.

“Tt’s hit or miss with universities sometimes,” said Ferguson. “Sometimes I feel you can just get a bit ofa ‘what’s going on at campus tonight, I guess we’ll go.’ And you get a casual crowd. What I prefer, I want everyone there to be in to the gig instead of being distracted and drinking or whatever.”

“Antigonish was a bit ofa drag. There was a large contingent of our fans there, but there was also a large contingent of people who were just there because it’s the one thing to do this month in Antigonish. “So we’re all going to go and get plastered and ‘who’s playing?’ ‘oh I don’t care’, and ‘hey ~baby, how you doin’. It’s a very

disassociated kind of crowd.”

“Other than that, it was fun. Getting a glass of beer tossed on you is a bit of a drag, it makes it hard to do your job. [fit had been a glass of ginger ale, I would have been psyched (laughs).”

“T wasn’t hit with anything, but I was once hit with a full un-opened can of beer, that was fun. It was like: ‘I’m going to buy a full can of beer to throw at this idiot on the stage.’ It was in Newfoundland actually. These things happen once in a while.”

Despite the beer throwing incident, Ferguson says it was one of the best shows of their maritime tour.

“That one and Halifax were definitely the best ones of the tour so far,” said Ferguson. “We really liked the location, it was a good stage.”

“We thought the encore was good, it had kind of cooled off and we played just for fun.”

Sloan went on to play in Halifax on Friday night and Fredericton on Saturday before heading back to Toronto. They have a few more one- off shows at various colleges before settling in to record their new album.

“We gotta get down to making a new record, so we’ve sort of been preparing for that,” said Ferguson. “I

Tur CADRE © 16

think there’s probably a healthy amount of songs, there’s gotta be a good 50 songs or so ready to go. A lot of them are left-overs from the last few albums and new ones as well.”

“Everybody sort of makes demo recordings at home in general or writes on their own, then gets together.

“We have to start recording properly, a lot of them are just demo’d. Ideally early next summer, May/June of next year, would be the ideal time to have it done then, hopefully then.”

Ferguson also mentioned the possible creation of four solo albums, but it’s not set in stone.

“T’d like to make a double album, we’ve also been talking about the idea of doing four solo albums, so that might be in the future, we don’t know for sure, it’s an idea.”

While they will be working on their new album for the foreseeable future, Ferguson says the beer-throwing incident hasn’t soured them to the idea of coming back to PEI to promote it. He says the other members hadn’t mentioned it, but he didn’t think it was weighing on their minds.

“Tt don’t know when we’d be back, we’ve got a record to make,” said Ferguson. “But I don’t really think it will sour us on coming here. But that’s just me speaking personally.”

The right picks... cont. from pg 12

Chicago Blackhawks: An historic team that seems to be perennial cellar-dweller may finally be on the upswing. With Eric Daze, one of the most underrated players in the league, to lead youngsters like Tuomo Ruutu, as well as the addition of defensemen Adrian Aucoin and Jaroslav Spacek, should bring some respect back to this once-proud team. Oh yeah, they now have Khabibulin, too. Prediction: 3" in West. They should win their division.

So there are my picks. Please keep in mind that come April, these will probably all be wrong, with the exception of my pick on the Leafs. And Nashville. Actually, they'll probably all be right, I’m great.