A collective of concerned students lets their voices be heard on the matter of our return to campus Editor’s Note: This letter was drafted collectively by members of the Osgoode Hall Law Union, Disability Collective of Osgoode, and the Osgoode Mature Students Association. We are a collective of Osgoode Hall Law School students with significant concerns about York University and Osgoode’s...
NASA vs SpaceX: Deploying the world’s most advanced broadband internet system
In a letter to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) recently raised concern over Space Exploration Holdings, LLC’s (SpaceX) Starlink satellites, which hold the promise of providing low-latency, high-speed broadband internet across the globe. The American space agency highlighted their concerns over SpaceX’s mega-constellation...
What climate change means for the future of the Winter Olympics
There are a lot of things about the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics which are quite unique. The strict quarantine regime, the cozying up of Putin and Xi, the absence of foreign diplomats, and oh, the fact that none of the snow on the hills fell from the sky. All the snow that covers the ski and snowboarding venues at the Winter Olympics was made from water from reservoirs that supply about 400...
Is My Fandom My Personality?
The relationship a sports fan has with their team of choice is a sacred bond that words cannot adequately describe. It’s what drives someone to paint their face, dye their beard, or 3D print an entire Mandalorian suit and paint it in their team’s colours in order to wear it to each game. Oftentimes, for many, their mood can depend on whether their team emerged victorious, the elation of a win...
Some tears for good measure
There are three words I absolutely despise saying: I am sorry. See, remorse is funny. It’s the precursor to redemption and a byproduct of doing the wrong thing. Yet, we all feel remorse while simultaneously avoiding those two magic words. We let remorse fester and eat us up while we turn blue in the face, unable to blurt out those healing syllables. All too often, we just say “I’m sorry” not to...
The top five Super Bowl 2022 commercials
On Sunday, the Los Angeles Rams defeated the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20 in Super Bowl LVI, my favourite sports event of the year. Why is it my favourite, you ask? Because of everything unrelated to the game itself that comes with it. First of all, Odell Beckham Jr. (OBJ) caught the first touchdown of the game at betting odds of +800, so Drake cashed his $600,000 bet. The rumour is that he...
The life of The Afterparty
In Apple TV+’s new murder mystery comedy show The Afterparty, the cast is as killer as the plot… literally. This should go without saying, but bears emphasizing when the show’s cast includes such screwball comedy favourites like Dave Franco, Tiffany Haddish, Ben Schwartz, Ike Barinholtz, and Ilana Glazer. The storyline is also uniquely creative. It’s like watching the board game Clue in action...
Pam & Tommy: Capitalizing on trauma
The highly anticipated biographical drama miniseries, Pam & Tommy, aired on 2 February 2022. The show chronicles the tumultuous marriage of Canadian actress, Playboy Playmate and Baywatch star, Pamela Anderson, and Motley Crue founding member and drummer, Tommy Lee. After the couple married four days after meeting in 1995, their intense and internationally publicized four-year marriage led to...
February Photo Diary
A wild trade deadline
For once, the NBA trade deadline was explosive. The teams that were rumoured to be heavily linked to trades actually traded players. The Twitter-sphere received a heavyweight showdown between Shams Charania and Adrian Wojnarowski, the two greatest NBA transaction reporters of all-time. The general consensus has Woj as top-dog because of his “Woj-Bombs,” but in an upset, Shams broke eleven trades...
Russia, figure skating, and doping
Court of Arbitration for Sport decision to allow Kamila Valieva to compete is a slap in the face to sport integrity Figure skating has a reputation for corruption and questionable scoring techniques seen in the Olympic winter games. In 2002, at the Salt Lake City Olympics, the Canadian team composed of Jamie Salé and David Pelletier were belatedly awarded a gold medal due to a judging controversy...
Chelsea FC: The Best Football Club in the World
The Blues win the FIFA Club World Cup to complete their already bursting trophy cabinet When Australian referee Christopher Beath blew the whistle on 2022 FIFA Club World Cup, several Chelsea players collapsed to the Abu Dhabi pitch of both exhaustion and joy. For Thiago Silva and Cesar Azpilicueta, playing one hundred and twenty minutes of football in stifling heat at 37 and 32 years-old...
Altos Labs™: Billionaires fight for eternal life
Launched on 19 January 2022, Altos Labs™ (Altos) has been hailed as a breakthrough biotechnology company seeking to transform the future of medicine through cellular rejuvenation programming. In the company’s press release, the biotech start-up described its mission as seeking to “restore cell health and resilience to reverse disease, injury, and the disabilities that can occur throughout...
Exxon’s net zero goals
On January 18, the oil giant Exxon released their net zero strategy that boasts impressive and highly ambitious commitments to reach a net zero carbon emissions target by 2050. The strategy identifies 150 modifications of its exploration and production practices to help the company reach its goal including electrification of operations with energy from renewable sources. Essentially, Exxon...
In it for the long-haul
The disproportionate risks of returning to mandatory in-person learning For the last several months, the Disability Collective of Osgoode has been raising concerns about the proposed mandatory return to in-person classes during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, particularly amidst the current Omicron wave. There is widespread agreement that people with disabilities are disproportionately affected by...
Let’s talk about Bell Media
Every year at the end of January, my social media is bombarded with videos, images, and corporate messaging pushing for a general “awareness” of mental health issues. #BellLetsTalk has become a Canada-wide campaign to raise money for mental health initiatives. By sharing specific Bell Media content, we, the masses can contribute five-cent donations per view of Bell’s yearly mental health video...
My music: January
Hello there, fellow Osgoode students. I look forward to maybe meeting some of you this upcoming week. I am now about to finish my second semester of 2L, and I am yet to touch the actual physical grounds of Osgoode Hall Law School. Has online school had its downfalls? Well, certainly—but there have been positive aspects as well (not many)! As a result of school being online, I had much more time...
Wordle: The viral game you probably already know about
In a new year borne out by provincial restrictions and new COVID variants alike, one of 2022’s hottest trends is unsurprisingly tame—but it is addictive. Wordle, a free web-based word game invented by software engineer Josh Wardle, blew up exponentially in December through word of mouth—two months after its public release—when players started sharing and comparing their game results on Twitter...
Relevant repost: The virtual recruitment experience
A student’s account of the online recruitment process Over the past two months, I participated in an entirely virtual recruitment process for 2L summer positions in the Calgary market. This process included a formal OCI day in early September, followed up by a second round of interviews and networking events in October. I thought I would share my experience and tips on virtual recruitment with my...
Out of Office: My Winter Break of Rest and Relaxation
In a bid to wrestle with burnout, I hit the road As I neared the end of last term, searching deep within the cavernous depths of my being for a morsel of urgency in catching up on the Public International Law class I had let slip for a slew of reasons, I came to a conclusion. It wasn’t so much that I lacked an interest in what was an interesting topic (as poorly as it may have been taught,) but...
2022 NBA All-Star reserve picks
Note: This article was written before the 2022 NBA All-Star Reserve Picks Were Announced First off, congratulations to Golden State Warriors Forward, Andrew Wiggins for making his very first All-Star team. The Thornhill native was controversially voted in through the fan vote along with the rest of the starters. As a front court player, he joins the Western Conference Starters––Stephen Curry and...
The art of sportswashing
Sportswashing refers to the general practice of using premier sporting events or clubs to deflect from controversies. The scenario involves a country, organization, or wealthy individual hosting a premier sporting event or purchasing a sporting club to improve their reputation. Sportswashing should be a consistently relevant topic, especially for sports fans. In 2022 there was a rise of two clear...
Figure skating at the Olympics: Who will prevail?
I know what you’re thinking, figure skating in Obiter? I am a hardcore Raptors fan, but when the Olympics comes around, one of my favourite sports to watch other than hockey and short track speed skating is figure skating. For these Olympics, we will take you into each of the four-figure skating disciplines (men’s, women’s, pair’s, and ice dance) and make our predictions on who will achieve...
Where are the Black head coaches?
As the NFL continues to co-opt the symbols of the Black Lives Matter Movement, Black head coaches are pushed to the margins. Like most public-facing institutions in the summer of 2020, the National Football League faced a considerable amount of public scrutiny. In order to placate rising external demand for some sort of expression of Black solidarity on the part of the league, the NFL’s...
Benvenuto a Toronto, Lorenzo!
Toronto FC’s recent signing of Italian superstar Lorenzo Insigne is a stunning coup Soccer fans, Italians, and a combination of the two waited with bated breath as the England and Italy national soccer teams were performing penalty kicks on 11 July 2021, during the UEFA Euro 2020 Final. I can guarantee every soccer fan and Italian knew where they were while watching the final penalty kick save...