Thursday, December 16, 1993

YESTERDAY'S meeting of the senate finance committee and senate long-range
planning committee had two main parts.  First came a discussion of the
financial situation -- which is, as yesterday's Gazette reported, extremely
uncertain until the provincial government announces some decisions about
grant and fee levels for 1994-95.  Second came reports from the deans about
the progress of academic planning in their faculties.  Another joint meeting
of the two committees is planned early in the new year.

THE ARTIST:  Several people have asked who drew the Christmas ornament that
was pictured on the front page of yesterday's Gazette.  It's actually signed,
but the artist is apparently so modest that his signature is well camouflaged.
He is Frank Esch, of the plant operations department, who's well known for
his drawings of Pounce de Lion.

CELEBRATIONS:  It's not beginning to look a lot like Christmas, but those
who celebrate the season are getting seriously into the mood.  Among the big
holiday events is the library's seasonal party, from 3 to 7 p.m. today in
the Davis Centre.

University librarian Murray Shepherd has been showing some of his colleagues
a list of Christmas trivia questions that he says were devised "for the plum 
pudding round, and following, at the dinner table" last Christmas.  He's
allowed the Daily Bulletin to include a selection of them today -- and has
even promised, in his capacity as temporary head of the University of 
Waterloo Press, a book prize for the most complete set of answers submitted.

Answers should be sent by electronic mail to credmond@mc1adm (answers sent
to other userids will be ignored).  The deadline is 12 noon on Tuesday,
December 21.  Librarians and others who have had a head start on ferreting
out the answers will please hold back from entering the contest.  The
university librarian will be the final authority on what answers are correct;
the editor of the Bulletin will be the final authority on eligibility
issues.  The questions all have something to do but Christmas -- all but 
the first one, which is particularly appropriate today, the last day of 
Hanukkah, the feast of lights and of religious toleration.

     1. What is the centre candle in a menorah called?
     2. Who sang "The Little Drummer Boy" with Bing Crosby on his last 
television special?
     3. What was Bob Cratchit's salary?
     4. What is the colour of the candle you light the third Sunday in Advent?
     5. Who has a brain full of spiders and garlic in his soul?
     6. How many "maids-a-milking" are there?
     7. Who had the first hit record with "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"?
     8. What story begins "Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents"?
     9. Who transformed Apple Annie into a facsimile of a society matron?
     10. If your plum pudding has "trinkets" inside, what does it mean to 
get the button in your serving?
     11. What Christmas plant decoration has its origin in pre-Christian 
legend?
     12. Who wrote the Christmas opera "Amahl and the Night Visitors"?
     13. "I made a snowman and my brother knocked it down and I knocked my 
brother down and then we had tea." These lines are from what poem by whom?
     14. What Christmas song did Judy Garland sing in the motion picture 
"Meet Me in St. Louis"?
     15. What is the name of Scrooge's nephew?
     16. Name the three wise men.
     17. Who was the female lead in "It's a Wonderful Life"?
     18. Who gets taken to the land of the Sugar Plum Fairy in "The 
Nutcracker"?
     19. Who played the role of Scrooge in the 1951 film version of "A 
Christmas Carol"?
     20. Where was Christmas celebrated in the movie "A Nun's Story"?
     
Chris Redmond
Information and Public Affairs
credmond@watserv1    ext. 3004