the iron warrior: volume 10, issue 3

8/14/2019 The Iron Warrior: Volume 10, Issue 3

1/24


2/24

a m b l e ~I live in a hole

Chris Foster2A Mech - MechgyverEditor In Chief

I

Eve determined that wi thout a doubt that Imust live in a hole. It is the only logical explanation for why everyone else knows where I'msupposed. to be, or what I'm supposed to do, beforeIdo.

This hole I live in must be a very special hole as itallows the 552 hours that must exist past the 24 hoursthat I know of to past silently by without ever distu b-ing me. With some quick thinking you will realize thatup till now I was only aware of one of the 24 days in anoverall day - called a molday. It is the extra 23 days ina day that allows the rest of the world to become so farahead of me that only they will know what is happening in my life. This woulq likely also explain why therest of my class is so far ahead of me in the assignmentsand all other work that we have to do.

Now you may wonder what caused me to come tothis conclusion. My first clue was, as I have stated, thefact that the rest of the world so far ahead of me in

everything. But why 24 days in a molday? Well, it'sonly logical of course, there are 60 seconds in a minute,60 minutes in an hour and 24 hours in a day. ThereforefoUowingthe pattern there must be 24 days in a molday; it's intuitive. My second clue, and probably theone that really gave it away; when ever I'm in a groupre-telling stories of events I was at, they all seem toremember parts of the story that I know I was not therefor. Of course the only explanation possible is that Imust have been in my very special hole when whatever happened happened. Of course I will admit thatmany of these events did involved the enjoyment of arich golden beverage, but I see no connection there.My last piece of evidence came just a short time ago. Ipulled an all-nighter, and of course when what Ithough was morning came, it still felt like the daybefore. Iwas caught in the molday.

Admittedly my guess at the extra 552 hours of theoverall day that I'm in my hole for is only an estimate.An estimate based on the cruel logic I learn during the .24 hours I know exist. Therefore, I can not guaranteethe actual number of hours or days in an overall day.But what I am sure of is that there must be more thanthe mere 24 that I know fot: sure exist.

aught in GreatWhite WhaleMike HermannIW ssistant Editor2A Systems - The Far Syde

l m writing this from deep in the bowels of thegreat whale called midterms. I managed to send. out to the rest of the IW team with the help ofmy class (caught here in the great whale with me),who happened to have a carrier pigeon which Icould use to send out my thoughts. My thoughtsare unfortunately so filled with squishy things,D.E.'s and the Game of Life, that they may seemsomewhat muddled and confused. But that's ok. na few weeks I should feel much better.

As I write this my classmates and I are currentlyworking on an assignment in Software Engineeringbased on a well-known programming chaIlenge calledthe Game of Life . As was pointed out to me by Sanjay, a fellow whale-dweller, this assignment, and it'sname, have a scary resemblance to our current real

lives. This Game of Life is actually a very simple program but we've been asked to implement it in such away that it ends up being a lot more complicated anddifficult. Sounds familiar to me. Many of us are verybehind on this Game of Life , and most have had touse the flex-days grant ed to us by our gracious instructor, Todd. Sounds like the classic second-chance at lifeto me. The assignment has no defined worth, but weknow it could be a lot, so we're put ting a lot of effortinto it. This gets more and more depressing as I realizelife has sunk to an assignment in front of a computerterminal. I've been asked to refrain from making anyjokes aboutcompilin& so I llhave to cut myself offhere.

As you all know carrier pigeons c an't cany a lot sothis has to be short. I1l just remind everybody of twothings: check out the Shadow Day article elsewhere inthe paper, and remember, not to be like Ahab. Don't getobseSsed with the whale, it's only self-destructive.Mike ermann

Editor-In-ChiefChris Foster

Assistant'EditorMichael Hermann

Iron Warrior StaffAllison Annan

Ryan Chen-WingAudrey FaintAlison KudelkaRichard KuttnerAmy KimAaron LeibaDylan LuhowyAlexMatancaroline PageAdvertising.ManagersBre:noa Bouchette

Cherne NixonCaroline PageKeith ParkerChris PotvinChris SharpeTIm WhiteMicheal Worry

I.nJIDCt llUiln Zbou


3/24

Darren DicksonChris Sharpe997 Pledge Coordinators

J 1989 the graduating class initiat-ed the lummer s Pledge Campaigns a complement to the VoluntaryStudent Contribution for the newlyformed Waterloo Engineering Endow-ment Foundation (WEEF). In thePlummer s Pledge Campaign, gradu-ating fourth year students are asked topledge a set amount of money on ayearly basis for a three year period.This money goes directly into theWEEF balance and the interest will beused to support student projects andpurcha se capital eq uipment toimprove the quality of our engineeringeducation at Waterloo.

Why should Icare'Now you might be asking yourself,

after 5 years of busting your ass to getyour degree and to get out of here, Whyshould I care' what the quality of educa-tion is like after I am gone? Why shouldyou spend hard earned money on otherstudents when you will not see the bene-fits of it yourself. Here are a few answersto this and other common questions youmight have about the Plummer s Pledge.

It s the reputation of WaterloomEN, not now, thatwill matter

PRIDE, we are, and always will beWaterloo Engineers, sure ly you alwayswant to be known as the best With thebudgeting shortfall that has been createdat all universities due to governmentfunding cuts, it is harder and harder tomaintain a level of technological excel-lence. We are the technological leadersof tomorrow Gust ask Mclean s maga-zine), but maintaining this position takesmoney. WEEP has been crucial in keep-ing Waterloo Engineering technological-ly superior, but this will continue tobecome more and more expensive to do

RON OR

1997 PLUMMER SPLEDGE CAMPAIGN

this in the future.Every dollar youdonate throughPlummer s Pledgenow will becomehundreds of thou-sands of dollars ofinterest tobe spent inthe future.

to remain number one long after we'regone, but what will contributing reallydo Or you aside from that warm fuzzyfeeling we all love? The answer is sim-ple. If five or ten years down the roadyou are up for a new position or a pro-motion at your current job, it is the repu-tation of Waterloo TI-IEN, not now, thatwill matter. If Waterloo is no longer atthe forefront of engineering, you maylose out to someone else who s degreehas risen in value compared to ours.You don t even have to consider it as ahandout to future generations of Water-loo engineers but as a small investmentin YOUR OWN FUTURE as well.What you re broke?After five years of having your pocketpicked by the school, the governmentand of course the local taverns, you havesuch an armload of debt that you reallydon t think you can afford to contribute?Well to solve that problem there havebeen two different approaches taken bythe Plummer's Pledge visionaries.

The first is a waiting period of oneyear before the first installmen t isrequested. That will give you plenty oftime to get your finances into somethingthat resembles order, and to arrangeyour priorities Or spending. Also, thereare preset spending plans that rangefrom very small, to extravagant, or, youcan always set your own dona tion limits,we will accept anything.

To avoid the problem of having tocome up with a lump sum donation at atime when money may be tight, a new,monthly pledge option that directlywithdraws your pledge (min. $10) fromyour bank accounthas been initiated.

Finally, for those of you who don tknow, WEEP is classified as a charitableorganization This means that any dona-tions are tax deductible on when com-pleting your income tax return. You canlook at it then as though pledges will notactually cost you what you donate, justreally reroute the money out of the gov-ernment coffers.

Why the Plummer Pledge though,aren t there 8 lot ()f Alumni requestsfor other donation ?

Yes there are. But WEEP is different inmany respects that make it the uperiorchoice. First, your donation will neverever be spent. It will remain in thWEEF balance for as long as there isengineering at Waterloo. Your moneywill not be used to ftmd on importantpiece of equipment but htmdreds ofthem. WEEP is the gift that keeps on giv-ing

The second reason is that unlike otherAlumni donations, WEEP is controlledsolely by students. WE DEODE what simportant, we decide where our pliori-ties lie and we decide what we feel is thedirection tha t the technological improve-mentswill take.The Final Reason .... The Faculty ofEngineering has taken a

leadership role at the university by insti-tuting WEEP and the Plummer's Pledge.Since WEEP was initiated, the Math andScience faculties have both started their

own v rsions of the Plummer's Pledge.This year we ha e initiated a fri ndlycompetition between ourselves and theMath Society Pink Tie Pledge, to bringin th most Pledge dollars. Th Mathieshave been busy already and have to thisdate amassed $10,000 of graduatepledges. Let us show th same spirit andbelief that we should put a littl back intoth system that has provided us with somuch. Please Pledge.

Anyone that has further que tionsabout the Plummer s Pledge can havethem addressed in the future. As thisyear's pledge Coordinators we will beapproaching every graduating class atsome time over the next two weeks.Also, feel free to approach us at any timeor ask for us in the WEEP office. Keepthe tradition alive

THIS YEARS GOAL $60,000. WECAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE

the Wire essSide etve otcareeropporttAnnies for:


4/24

RO

OEC 98 - obe a winnerMicheal Worry8 Electrical - Omega Sector

It is with great pleasure that I present this award to ...Waterloo "Once again I'm on my feet cheering and shouting for

Waterloo. It's the OEC 97 Awards Banquet, and aroundthe room every Waterloo Engineer is glowing withpride. No University could match our spirit, or success.I watched in awe as category after category Waterloogrew the pile of awards in the middle of our table. It'snot every day I get to see [Dean] Burns smile.

OEC is the Ontario Engineering Competition and itoffers student s an opportunity to hone their Engineering skills and talents. OEC 98 is right here in Waterloo,and though I will be off shrouded in Iron I know Waterloo will continue to set a tradition of excellence. Iencourage you to become involved either as a competitor or an organizer. There are six categories in the competition.

Corporate Design provides students with the oppor-tunity to develop a solution to a problem currentlyfaced by industry. This year our own Leif Bloomquistwon first with his Navigation System for Robotic Mining Vehicles. Glen Aitke n also had an impressive entry

Parliamentary Debate requires perhaps the leastpreparation but arguably the most experience. Engineers are often required to make critical evaluat ion of agiven proposal on short notice. This categ ory challengesentrants to present a well-fonnulated argwnent despitelimited preparation time. The Silver Tongue Award forfirst place was licked by Doug Suerich, Ritcha Gupta.Third place was triumphantly seized by Jason Worryand Michael Worry.

We will graduate from Waterloo

Canada, Nortel, Sandford Fleming Foundation, Profesional Engineers of Ontario, Consulting EngineersOntario, and ComDev. To carry within the self-mndence, persuasive skills and passion to sway the leadof today is to lay the fOundation for a thresho ld careermake yourselfamong the leaders of tomorrow.

OEC 98. University of Waterloo hosts. Are you reato taste success?

with a wealth of technical skills. How-ever, without an outlet to expressthose skills the dreams we have nevermake it off the pillow. In an ever complica world, it is necessary to beable to express a new technology tothose that rruiy not have your experience in the field. For it may be thoseindividuals who have the money, contacts or the title Manager . At OEC

Attention Graduates-. Waterloo , ~ ~ : : . : c~ T X

the student is given the opportunity toconvince a panel of Engineers of thevalue of their idea. The Engineerscome from well respected organiza-tions such as Ontario Hydro, Bell

8 8 6 - 1 2 0 0 ~ANYWHERE ANYTIME. FOR PEOPlf OR PARCELSAIRPORT SERVICE FAST COURTEOUS SERVICE

withhis600TonPortableWirelessLoadCellSystern.Entrepreneurial Design encourages students to

design a marketable product or servke currentlyun v il ble in Canada. Winning projects will combineboth technical feasibility and innovation with a solidmarketing plan. This year Aqua Flow, by Mark Phillips,Joyce Uu, Siva Sanmoga, Maroon Rashid seized second, as well as the The Canadian induStrial Innovatio nCentre Award. There was also this cool giant walkingant, officially known as a Hexotica Modular WalkingRobot System entered by Dylan Horvath and StefWilliams.

New Team Design is a new category created to recognize that Engineers are often required to work onprojects in groups under various constraints of time,cost and materials. First year Engineering students arechallenged to work as a team to solve a design problem.It's sort of like a tame Scunt. This year we were represented by John Struel, Shwan Nandi, Rob Wood andScott Redmond.. Editorial Communications encourages students to

develop their communication skills, as well as to fonnu-late and support a personal viewpoint. Discussion ofcontroversial subjects is encouraged. Tonya Sull y captured first with The Release of Biologically EngineeredMico-organisms into our Environment.We were lucky to have two entries in this category, soof course Kenneth Yip got second with his topic:Embrace the Next Generation of Wireless Communica-tion TechnologyMore Cautiously.

Explanatory Communications requires competitorsto explain a c omplicated technical issue or process interms that other professional can clearly understand.Here, the development of effective communicationskills is emphasized. Chris McRaild captured the goldmedal for Waterloo with Personal CommunicationsServices (PCS): The Next Wave in Telecom for theMasses. Christina Mitchell also made an impressivepresentation with Plasma Arc Technology: Applicationin Hazardous Waste Management., . . . . ... .

ossible:hadow Day

Mike HermannShadow Day Co Director2A Systems - The Far SyDe

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is tointroduce and promote the Engineering faculty at theUniversity of Waterloo. You will be assigned a highschool student who is interested in Engineering, and itis your assignment to show them what daily life is real-ly like. They will accompany you to your classes andlabs, covertly evaluating our faculty to see if it meetstheir needs. These are the next class of engineers, yourpotential fellow students, and you are to assist them asneeded. They will ask you questions,and seek out youradvice. You will of course be equipped with the properresources and assisted by the PMF (possible MissionForce) directors, and activities to educate your chargeshave been arranged for the afternoon. This is yourchance to pay back those who told you what you needed to know when you were evalua ting the faculty. Thismessage will self-destruct in five seconds.So, now that a cryptic message has grabbed yourattention, let me explain what Shadow Days are. OnTuesday, March 4th and Wednesday, March 5th highschool students will be joining us for a day. The shad-ow program works by pairing up an interestedprospective student with a current student, hopefully inthe discipline they are interested in. The shadow getsto accompany the shadowee to their classes and labs,seeing what really happens in UW engineering. This isan incredible opportun ity for the shadows to see

beyond the brochures and marketing, and actuaexperience the real deal", good and bad. There walso be seminars on admissions, the c:o-op process, ea~ g i n r i n g program, and other parts of engineerilife (such as student projects like Midnight Sun or Cocrete Toboggan, the Engineering Society, anexchanges). T he focus of the program is on engineeriin general, and is ideal for anybody considering it, njust at UW.

Now you know what it s you should be asking youself; How do I help out?"

Volunteering to be a shadowee is easy. Simplymail me at rnherrnann@novice or Monica Milanowsthe other Shadow Day Director, at rnmilanow@noviWe'll tell you when and where to be, and whatinvolved. By the time you read this the volunteemeeting will have already happened, but that's OYou can still be involved, and we want to be ablematch shadows to shadowees one-to-one, so the mothe better.

If you know somebody who might want to registo be a shadow, perhaps a cousin or sibling at a hischool we didn't mail too, they can still do that. Hathem contact us immediately, and we can probably stfit them in. Ideally they should send us an e-mailphone the orifice and leave a message with 13etty. laregistrations are not a problem

Finally, an emphatic THANK YOU to all those ware volunteering to be shadowees or conduct seminaWith everybody's help, these will be the best ShadoDays ever

. , I


5/24

DEC 97 AwardsEntrepreneurial Design

lst Place: Ryerson Polytechnic UniversityName(s): VemonKeeProject Title: Refreshable Tactile Braille Cell2nd Place: University of WaterlooName(s): Mark Phillips, Joyce Liu, Siva Sanmoga,

Mamon RashidProject Title: Aqua Flowrd Place: University of Windsor

Name(s): Joseph J. Place, Ariel Deluy, Gary BillardProject Title: Desktop Video Conferencing

Corporate DesignlstPlace: University of WaterlooName(s): LeifBloomquistProject Title: Navigation System for Robotic Mining

Vehicles2nd Place: University ofTorontoName(s): Pratima Ramkhelawan, Sevana Yousefian,

Steve Sweeney, Eddy W uProject Title: Ceria Zirconia Productionrd Place: Carleton University

Name(s): Mark Heinemann, Eric St. Jean, AndrewRichards, Daryl Lafleur

Project Title: Sll..A as a Technology DemonstratorTeam Design

lstPlace: McMaster UniversityName(s): Chris Parker, Josh Capogna, Andrew Baerg

Tom Reeve2nd Place: CarletonUniversityName(s): Laura Kneebone, Anna Minichilli, Jean l im,IreneCasey3rt Place: University o fGuelphName(s): Penh Tov, John Hayes, Adam Federer, Shel

lie Boudreau

Editorial Communicationslsi Place: University o f WaterlooName(s): Tonya SulleyProject Title: The Release of Biologically Engineered

Micro-organisms into our Environment2nd Place: University of WaterlooName(s): Kenneth YipProject Title: To Embrace the Next Generation Wire-

less CommunicationTechnology More Cauti ously3rd Place: Queen's UniversityNarne(s): Etienne de Villiers, Laura HemstockProject Title: The Future of Engineering Research

Parliamentary Debate1st Place: University of WaterlooNarne(s): Doug Suerich,Ritcha Gupla2nd Place: Queen's UniversityName(s): Dilip Andrade, Sanjay Nath3rd Place: University of WaterlooNarne(s): JasonWorry, i c h . ~ c l Worry

Social Awareness Award: (sponsored by PEO)Ryerson Polytechnic UniversityName: VernonKeeProject Title: RefreshableTactile BrailIeCeJJ

Funding InCanada The Technical Excellence Award: (sponsoredby the Council of Ontario Deans of Engineering: Outstanding

Explanatory Communicationslsi Place: University of WaterlooName(s): Chris McRaildProject Title: Personal Communicatio ns Services

(PeS):The Next Wave inTelecom for Masses2nd Place: University of TorontoName(s): Peter D. Grant, Paulo BorgesProject Title: Medical Stents: Alternative Life Saving

Technology3rt Place: Royal Military CollegeName(s): OCdt. Barbarie Whalen, OCdt. Kathleen

MerrickProject Title: Material Characterization of Retr0gres

sion and Re-aged 7075-76 Aluminum Alloy

Technical Design)Carleton UniversityNames: Mark Heineman, Eric St Jean, Wayne Yuke,

Daryl LaFleurProject litll ': SILA T h ll logy I : o n ~ l r . l l I r

Canadian lndustriltl Innovation CentreAward: MoM P(lb. nb.ll (2 AWiln1o. no p.utIcllklro"II-r)

1,University of WaterlooName(s): Mark Phillips, Joye Llu, iva Sunmoga,

Mamon RashIdProject litle: Aqua Flow2 University of WindsorName(s): cx;eph J Place, Ariel DeJuy, Gary BillardProject Title: Desktop Video Conferencing

Congratulations to all OEC 97 Winners

In 1998 OEC will be held right here at the University of Waterloo, Volunteers being gathered now to helporganize the event. If you are interested in helping, p lease email oec98@shim. There is someth ing here foreveryone.

,


6/24

RO

race a toboggan with a running surface made completely out of Portland based concrete. All toboggans are also

e q u i ~ p e d with braking systems to bring these highv e l ~ t y snow o k ~ to a SCTeeching hall For safety, afunctional roll bar 15 also a requirement. Teams areaw:rrded ~ o i n t s for overall design, thoroughness oftherr technical reports, creativit y in theme and presentation, as well for race performance. To make the eventinteresting, there are a numb r of constraints whichmust be satisfied. For example, the toboggan must belarge enough to accommodate 5 riding participants andthe entire toboggan must weigh less than 3OO1bs. Eachyear this vent brings together between 300 and 500ambitious engineering students who do their best tobring home the title of The Fastest Concrete TobogganIn the World'."

The first GNCIR was held n Red Deer, Alberta, in1974, with four teams competing from Alberta. Thisyear there were 23 tearns competingat Carleton University in Ottawa, two of which "Were American and therest Canadian.

The University of Waterloo traditionally enters atoboggan in the GNOR each year. Waterloo teams arerenowned for their spirit, strong participation a nd innovative designs. In 1995, WaterLuge became Waterloo's first t oboggan to take home the trophy for firstplace overall. In 1996, Waterloo's "Sharctic Toboggan"took third place overall. This year we continued the tra-dition by taking both first and third place overall, aswell as numerous category nominations for both teams,which constitutes the strongest showing ever by Waterloo. Other awards to Waterloo's credit in recent yearsinclude: 2nd in braking systen. design in 1993, 4th and9th overall out of 48 tearns with the second fastestdescent in 1994, 2nd overall in 1987 and '1989, and various strong finishes in individual categories.

This year, both Waterloo teams did extremely well inevery category. S now Fear, the new trophy owner, wasnominated in five categories: Fastest Descent (2ndfastest at 53 km/h), Best Overall Design, Best BrakingSystem, Best Concrete Design, and Best Team Spirit Anomination indicates a top three finish in the given care-:gory. Snow Warrior, the other kick-ass Waterloo teamwho finished third plac overall, had nominati ns in ixcategories: Fastest Descent (3rd fastes t at 52 km/h), BestOveralJ Design, Best oncrete Mix, Best Technical Display, Best Aesthetics, and the People's hoice. Theirreport was also selected as th ~ Technical Report,although there was no formal award for it.

TIle speed of descent was clocked midway down thehill, which means that both Waterloo teams wouldhave actually reached approximately 60 km/h by thetime the sled crossed the finish lin . University ofMaryland clocked the fastest speed midway down thehill at 57 km/h. However, th i r braking system wasnot allowed to be used since it needed someone standing up to activate it, and standing up was ruled out byrace officials. When they went up for the award ofFastest Descent, they chanted, 'Who needs brakes? "

Activities t ook place between Wednesday, February5th and Saturday, February 8th in Ottawa. Wednesdaymorning at 9:00, the two tearns headed out to Ottawaon the bus and arrived at the Citadel Inn around 2:00p.m., thanks to our o'azy bus driver. Wednesd ay night,team introductions were held n the hotel ballroom inthe basement. Waterloo's big entrance was noted in thefollowing day's newsletter put out by the organizers atCarleton University. Water loo's Snow Warrior hosted a

batch party in the hotelfor all of the teamsWednesday night, andit was a huge success.

The technical exhibition was held Thursday and Friday at Carleton University. Thetwo Waterloo teamshad two of the onlynon-theme displays.Themes by otherteams included a barsetup by the U. ofMaryland Rum Runners whose sled wadecorated with bamboo; a big banana sledby U. of T. called the r : : - ; - ; ; - - ; ; - ; : ; ; - ; - ; - - - ; - ; - ; - ; - ~ : - : : : - - ; - ~ 7 - ; : ; ~ - ; : - : : ; : - ; - = = ~ 7 : - ; : - ~ : - ; - ; ~ - : = - =-=--Frozen Banana which ukRow (L-R): HallY MaJek, Klirk Pllp/ins a Mark Shifflet im TeefyRick CoIUrlS, Nat/ifill ProperMark PhillipsGmerlle SkillllerDarrel, DixolITIl'OOr Ross JeffDilez.,Mike Hamstra Siall Alia,ris W dd/IS,arris Shl11pe AlltlxJIIYZlIpri gtr, James Siroeincluded a team in yel- Middle Row (L-R): Ioya UII, Axel Nonega, Tmcy Smith, Uz Ncruson, Mike KTl?siIl, Rob /Xm,binolow hats and t W d lfu ;- Frollt Row IL-R): Delli/is HickesAlexonder DomallltzkiAmyDomllllltzJaFlllnkal/mg Cory Zure/I, Trewr Bailie

LM_.l_._L_RJ.;..:_S/UI__ an_ I1.2.'gtl..;..,Dawr r y : : . - M _ _ r c Ma tt_HoeJ y_U_lU/ EI 1.;.._ .....:,by:.:... l O ~ icots dressed as abanana and a gorilla; a sled that looked like a coffin by with other pressing coursework deadlines. Our teMc{;ill called the Coffinboggan (appropriately named, captain, John Scholte, put a lot of time in doing a littleas we found out at the race on Saturday when their sled of everything.fell apart at the top of the hill); and a sled that looked We can credit the success of Snow Fear's design alike a big fuschia high-heeled shoe by Concordia Uni construction to Tim Houtsma and HarnishMartin wversity called the Flaming Heel which included a team designed and produced the drawings forour sled wof cross dressed men. on work term together in Vancouver, and began bu

Snow Fear is the first."eight stream" class to place in ing it January 7th. Their main objectives were to desthe top five, let alone to take the trophy. This is due to a lightweight sled that was easily constructed given the preparation required to enter the event. It takes a lot time constraints, with innovative reinforcing and cof time, energy, and fund raising to put together a good crete design.entry. Classes on the eight stream program basically The Snow Fear toboggan weighed in at 201 lonly have a month to build their toboggan when they which was the lightest one at the competition. Tget here in January after the fall work term, while four average weight this year was 280 - 285lbs., with amastream" classes are here for two terms in a row. The mum allowable weight of 300 lbs. We were ablewhole team of 17 people pulle d together well when we achieve an unusually lightweight sled because ofgot back to Waterloo in January. Everyone worked high tech reinforcement. Our slab was only 3/4 thhard, and was co-operative getting things done even with lightweight concrete. Usually this would not

thick enough to withstand the forces that come iplay with 5 r iders screanLing down an icy hill Hower, the reinforcement we used is six times stronger tthe usual reinforcing steel, so this allowed for an unually thin slab. The reinforcing material, called carbfibre reinforced polymer (CFRP), was donated to usSika. The concrete slab itselJ was slightly hourglshaped, following snowboard and ski technologyturning.

Snow Fear and Snow Warrior could not have doany of this without our sponsors. Snow Fear wouldto thank Sika, Jacques Whitford Environmental limed, Golder Associates, Reid Crowther ConsultiHogg Fuel & Supply Ltd., the Federation of StudeErb Transport, Waterloo Engineering EndowmFund (WEEF), and Waterloo Concrete Products. SnWarrior would like to thank Boehmers, Traces, Waloo Concrete Products, Concast Pipes, Pakmail, XC

,Con ultants, Lyle Electrical, Forwell's, ConestoRovers Associates, Autocon Composites, DaWorld Foods, Vachon, Morval, Farah's Foods, Rdan's, Josten's, the Federation of Students, the FacultEngineering; the Dean's Office, WEEF, Mark's WWearhouse, Atlas Alloys, Home Depot, GraphExpress, Polycon Industries, Paragon Engineeringwell as various other sponsors who aren't forgotten.


7/24

RON

row DearTim White8 ivil - Road rewThe GNCIR Cfl was a gr eat time. Many thin&, con

tributed to our team, Snow Fear, taking first place overall Most of what happened. in Ottawa was confusedand seemed a bit beyond our control (well, maybethat's just the alcohol talking). What really s ts you incontention for winning is what you do before you getthere, and the events that prepare you for the week ofthe race.

Snow Fear consisted. of students from the 4B Civilclass, EngSoc B, known as Road Crew. You probablyhaven't seen or heard of us, because we basically donothing. Most of us haven't been to POETS since FroshWeek (yes, our Frosh Week) and you could count ourP '*5 points on your left hand, even i you didn't haveany fingers. We did partake in a few Scunts. One ofthem we thought we had a very good chance of win-ning, but then we came in third. So after wasting timeand money, we decided. that we would have nothing todo with EngSoc events ever again. To this day that isstill true. Why go to Poets? There's just abunch of guysthere, why not go to the Bomber or Louie's and at leasttry to get laid. We have had some bitching class parties,but invitations were always somewhat limited.. Thatpaints us as a bunch of apathetic, sorry losers, but wekind of like it that way.

Well, 38 rolled. around and we realized that it wasour tum to start working on tbe Concrete Toboggan, a

Our professional staff can help youwith all types of printing - frombusiness cards to four colour work.Give us a call:PRINTING - ext. 5176DESIGN - ext. 2079PHOTO IMAGING - ext. 6807

fourth year tradition. At first, there wasenthusiastic support from the class, butafter we started collecting money andappointing tasks, the numbers droppedrapidly. I mean would you rather workon a stupid toboggan or justgo and havea pitcher at the Bomber? The remainingdiehards began to work on raiSingmoney to fund the Snow Fear initiative.Nobody really thought seriously aboutdesign. This trend carried on into 4A. Atthis point organizational work on thesled was well underway, but still next tonotrung was done on the design. On thenext work term the crunch hit. Thedesign had to be done, and one of ourproject managers quit. Things lookedbleak for a bit But a few of our boys out I -in B.C. put there heads together and decided, Damn itWe are going to do this "

They got down to it and designed a small technicalwonder. 'Then they made people commit to the team(by making a hefty donation). After this requirement,there were merely seventeen left out of a class of fiftyseven. When we got back to school, constructionbegan. Much work was done. It is a danm good thingwe were in 4B and not 3A or many of us would be failing out right now.

This determination carried. right on through to ourlast run down the hill. After this we were drained.. At

COPY CENTRE LOCATIONS E n ~ i n e e r i n gGraphics Express*South Campus HallSCH 126, ext. 5740; Fax .(519)746-2698Monday to Friday: 8:00 am - 8:00 pmSaturd ay: 12:00 - 4:00 pmDana Porter libraryLIB 218, ext. 2956; Fax (519) 746-3590Monday to Friday: 8:00 am - 5:00 pmCall for evening/weekend hours

E22353, ext. 2334; fax (519) 888,. 197

Davis Centre Library*DC 1501, ext. 3878: Faic (519) 746-3163

o n d ~ y to Friday: 7:4hm ...9:46 pmSatllrday: 12:00 pm - 5:00 pmSunday closedMath Centre*Monday to Friday: 7:30 am"- 4:30 pm

the awards ceremony most of us were on our fourthday of a hangover and just generally pissed off. Itlooked like none of this work was going to payoff. Theawards ceremonydragged on, whilewe ($nor Fear andSnow Warrior) were being nominated left right andcenter, but we weren't winning anything. Snubbed atevery comer All we really wanted to do at that Pointwas get up and kick the shit out of the annoyingQueen's Engineers. Then we won. Then we broke thetroph y (but that's another story).

So how do you get Snow Fear out of Road Crew? Idon't know. The closest I've gotten s Crow Dear.


8/24

RO R

First place at the Great Northern Concrete Toboggan RaceA Snow Fear chick's perspectiveCherie Nixonnow Fear winning team)

Road Crew, 8 Civil

W e came, we saw, we kicked ass. Werocked the house. We took home the b'ophy - First Place Overall. Holy shitWow .Ah-Uuh-Ga.

The only thing NOT fun about our five day benderwas sharing a hotel floor at the Citadel Irm in Ottawawith the sheep boys (ba-a-a) from Queen's who successfully set out to prove the limits of unwarranted humanarrogance. But Julie reigned terror on the one that triedto take down our banners at the race hill on Saturday -she tackled ru to the ground. Go Julie But Queen's

got what they deserved at the awards banquet on Saturday night - absolutely nothing.

At the team introductions Wednesday night, ' weloudly announced our arrival for all to admire with ourawesome banners, bandannas, flags, and uniforms.Our once arch-rival, Snow Warrior (the other Waterlooteam), quickly became our biggest ally. They were verysupportive when we walked into the hall. Together webrought the house down chanting, "Water-WaterWater", "100-100-100" across the room, and crowdsurfed the announcer. And no one's ears will forget thecontraption Rich prepared - a Waterloo engineeringhard hat with an old"Ah-Uuh-Ga" car hom attached tothe top, powered by a car battery and wired to a handswitch. Waterloo overall was greeted with a bit of ani-mosity from some of the other Ontario schools, and(did I mention?) open hostility from Queen's whothought sportsmanship meant being pricks to everyoneelse.

After the team introductions, Yuk-Yuk's sent somecomedians over. We didn't like the first one, so wewent up to our rooms to prime for the batch party thatSnow Warrior was hosting later on that night. Thebatch party was a wild success with no room to move,and everyone became victims of the sneaky, evil batchmix.

The technical exhibition was held Thursday and Friday at Carleton University. Waterloo had the only twonon-theme displays. Themes by other teams included abar setup by the U. of Maryland Rum Runners whooesled was decorated with bamboo; the Frozen Banana

sled by U. of T. which included a team in yellow hatsand two mascots dressed as a banana and a gorilla; asled that looked like a coffin by McGill called theCoffinboggan (appropriately named, as we found outduring Satur day's race);and a sled that looked like a bigfuschia high-heeled shoe by Concordia Universitycalled the Flaming Heel which included a team of cross-dressed men. These guys were kind of funny until theygot up on stage and started shaving each other's 1:xxlies(excuse me whil e I puke). There were 23 teams in total.

Thursday before supper, there was a talent showwith skits by every team I wasn't there personally, butapparently our skit was pretty good. The topic we weregiven was If Engineers Ruled the World". Everyonereally liked it and cheered for us until the end whenHamish said, "So get your ass to a REAL school -

. Waterloo "By the time we got

back to the hotel aftersupper Thursdaynight, we were reallygetting sick of beingtold where to be andwhen. So instead ofheading to the bar onthe itinerary, some ofus stayed in to recover from the evil batchwhile the res t of usheaded out for moreat Zaphod's,Ottawa's answer toan alternative bar. It

was a cool bar and a great time, and Anjum met theman ofher dreams - Jolumy Vegas. How could any girlforget the man in magenta? "Here's to feelin' goodALL the time .."

Friday afternoon, near the end of the technicalexhibition, Anjum, Jenn, and I headed to the second-handstore, Phase Two, to look for the cheesiest, most outrageous outfits we could find to wear to the pub crawlthat night. While we were .there, in uniform, the managercame over to find out what"Snow Fear" was. When weexplained, he gave each of us afree thick, long-sleeved t-shirt tokeep us warm for t he race.

The pub crawl that night inthe market was a blast We hadalready thought U of Albertarocked when we met them atthe batch party, but we becameeach other's favourite team thatnight. Apparently they weretalking about the famous four"Snow Fear chicks" the nextday. Hey, what can we say?

When Bill and I ducked out

While we were gone, Jerm provided the entertainmewith her table dancing.

Everyone (except for U. of Saskatchewan - ''Wherethe chicken?'') was crazy that night A lot of mashin(including one of the Snow Pear chicks but I won't tyou which one) and chanting went on, and our leadeWagle, was the craziest of all In fact, a lot of our spipoints could possibly have been scored here. Waglthe head of Carleton u.'s EngSoc was definitely thright guy to befriend and buy drinks for.

Finally, the big race day arrived. This was the dathat mattered. Any given team could have been in firpace up until Saturday, but without performance on thill to back it up, it meant nothing. We made ourselvknown with our banners that could be seen for mileRich's ahooga hom that could be heard for miles, ocheerleader pom-poms, flags, bandannas, and unforms. We thought the guy from the radio station wasbit of a goon, but it's good that he didn't know thbecause he liked us, and we found out later that he wone of the spiritjudges.

We held our breath while shivering as we waited four sled to take off. Having chosen to be the third sledown the hill we started to wonder if it had been sua wise idea after all since the first two sleds didn't makit down without several collisions into the side walBut we were ecstatic as we watched Aaron "Ai.rbaBellamy, Julie Waddell, John Scholte, and Tim Houtsmbecome the first to make it s uccessfully down the hwith Hamish's good steering (an d a little help from tevil Ldtd Mongo - you can ask Hamish about thaThe exciting flight down the hill slammed to a snowflying halt as they did a side-winding, hockey stop inthe sidewall in combinationwith the aggressive, sprinactivated brakes. Not only was it awesome to watch,earned us one of the shortest stopping distances on thill that day. This was worth BIG points.

All of the races were fun to watch. A few of ttoboggans actually fell apart on the way dowMcGill's Coffinboggan completely collapsed near ttop of the hill, so that the riders had to pick up t

to go to the bank machine and r = - ; : ~ ~ : : : ; ; ~ : : : : : ; : : ; ~ ; ; = : ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ : : : : : : ~ - - - - : : - - - : - ~get coffee, we lost our group for Back Raw l-r): Bill Hoogevien. Rich Zigrouic Ian Stevens Linam Attong, Ian MacDoawhile and partied with a few aid, Cherie Nixon Wayne Jenkinson, Jenn Muller Steve Goaiman njum Mullick Tother groups until we caught Shenood Tim Whiteup with our group again. Front Raw l-r) Hamish Martin, Tim Houtsrrul, John ScJrolte, Julie Waddell


9/24


10/24

theof the Solar System from ristotle to Isaac Newtonnlversethrough our lives we get so caught up

in our everyday activities that we forgethat we really are. I mean that some of

we are as people, but what we are isthought about during periods of loneliness,

times of temporary enlightenment .To get a good picture of what we are we

look at and appreciate what we are a partLIFE (not the magazine), The Universe, GaJaxand more locally, our Solar System. We have

heard of the Space Age and all the buzzwordsgo aJong with it and that's it. We know that

is contained in the Solar Systembut none ofreally know what lies past it and some of us

don't know what it contains. It's mucha sun and nine planets, there are inter

moons, asteroids, comets, and mete-that are awe-inspiring and should not be

for granted.One of the first models of the Solar System(Uni

k then), was proposed around two thouyears ago called the Geocentric Universe.rehed heavily on the assumptions that

beings were a very special race and that,children of God, we must be the centre

rything. The second assumption was thatmove in perfect circles or a combina

f circles. One reasoning of this was If we arein orbit about the Sun, why don't we feel

It was a good argument then. In 2a Greek astronomer named Ptolemy con

very elaborate model of a Geocentricthat was not very precise, and it was

but the Church seemed to like thecentre of everything and, since ita primary sourc of education, this theoryaround for about 13 centuries. Necd.lcss to

these were th Dark Ages(fith to tenth centuThe Copernican Revolution finally got scientists

out of their asses and realize that the Earthhave to be the centre of the Universe. This

was part of the Renaissance startingrly fifteen hundreds. After careful thought and

of observation, Nicholas Copernicus pro-a model of a Heliocentric Universe thatsimpler and followed more closely theof the planets. (New details continuously

to be added to the Ptolemaic model so that itwith new observation). The only prob

with the Copernicus model was that he main-the circular motion that Greeks were soof. He published his theory in 1543, the

he died, but no one took his theory too seribecause it went against 13 centuries of

Galileo Galilei, the firs t modernsupported this view in the early

and the Roman Catholic Church bannedin 1616 and put Galileo under

arrest in 1633. He was publicly apologized

to by the Church in 1992Surprisingly, proof of the Copernican system

did not surface until the mid-nineteenth centurywhen a stellar parallax measurement was firstconfirmed. A stellar parallax is the apparent dis-placement of the stars When moving to differentpositions on Earth. This is measured using trian-gulation and was impossible to measure duringAristotle's and Copernicus' time. Full acceptanceof the Heliocentric Universe came gradually anddidn't fully occur until the space probes of the19605 70s and 80s.

Over the course of thecenturies since Copernicus's death many scientists and mathematicianshelped form the model that we live by today.Johannes Kepler, a mathematician, was the first todescribe planetary motion as elliptical This wasjustone of Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion thathe derived during the 29 years he studied theastronomicaJ data ofTymo Brahe.

The next great contributor to the study ofastronomy was Isaac Newton, most famous forhis Laws of Motion. Newton was born on Christ-mas in 1642 the year Galileo died. He spent all ofhis life questioning motion and much of his lifestudying the motion of our moon. All of his theories are the results of problems of planetarymotion. In this time he developed the Three Lawsof Motion, the Law of Gravity, NewtonianMechanics, CaJculus, the phenomenon of force, aswell as other theories that are too detailed to mention here, basically Newton was no slouch. Alltheorists and scientists before Newton sought todescribe motion, Newton showed us why.

Newton was not completely right in all of hislaws especially when it came to objects movingn ar the velocity of light. It took the Theory ofRelativity and many theories, too numerous tomention, in the 20th century to describe andmodel more complicated systems of planets. Thepoint is that it took two thousand years to solvethis problem of the planets .. you think you haveproblems.

Recently, while up late writing a MateriaJs lab,my roommate lamented to me in despair, Wheredoes this all fit in the Great Scheme of Things?,and it really doesn't. How humans became sodamn smart, and why we have become the racethat we are is way beyond me. But every once ina while when I'm fighting with my girlfriend,stressing about school, or worrying about wheremy life is going, I think about how small andmeaningless my problem is compared to my position in The Universe, I m speck nd my problem isthe problem of speck. nmybe things get t ken too seri-ously. I think about those people before me devoting their lives to the observation and study of theUniverse trying to unlock mysteries. They're gonebut their contributions will continue, I mean success is great but no one is going to look back andsay,'Wow,s/hehadalotofmoney.

Geocent riC Model o f th Solo.r SystefY

On the Side ..The Wond s Most Powerful LaserThe US Department of Energy has developed a new way to asthe quality of their aging nuclear warheads: mathematical models.can no longer randomly pick and set off a warhead in the stockpile sthe signing of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty .The quality checkthe 10,000 nuclear weapons will be theoretically approximated thana new $1.1 billion fusion reactor called The National Ignition Facility(Scheduled for completion in 2002, the NIF will use inertial laser fusioproduce temperatures seen du ring nuclear detonations. There w192 ultraviolet laser ''beam lets '' housed in a building the size of a foostadium. The lasers will be focused on a BB-sized capsule contadeuterium and tritium. Ignition of the isotopes will cause a self-sustafusion reaction, equivalent to that inside the sun, releasing 10 timeamount of energy required by the lasers. Results will be used to formmathematical models linking reliability and age of the warheads .Feeling Gravity s PullThe Caiifomia Institute of Technology and MIT are currently consting an instrument to locate gravity waves, as predicted in Einstein's Try of Relativity. This device consists of two perpendicular vacuum tun21.2 miles long and 4 ft. diameter with lasers travelling through thegravity waves exist then the their passage will slightly dlange the lengone of the tunnels and a difference in laser travelling time will be sTunnels are being built in Washington, Louisiana , and Italy to rulefalse signals.Superheated IceA new form of ice has taken science by suprise. Scientists fromU.S . Geological Survey and Lawrence Livermore National Ubrary disered that when fine ice granules are mixed with cold, pressuromethane gas, the ice could be heated 20 F above its normal meltingwithout a phase d1ange. A possible explanation could be the formatia molecular latticeworK giving extra strength to the molecular strucThis latticework is composed of calthrates, solid compounds of metand water. Compounds such as these are formed naturally belowocean floor and on distant, icy moons.


11/24

peakand y u shall be heard Write and y u shall be readListen and you s h ~ : ~E ery day of classes last week I attendedlectures by guest speakers.These eventsrich opporhmities for learning frommore experienced and interes ting folk. Youcan use them as a of things to glean' signpostsof insight of things to do and things to avoid inour path through life. the people are the oldmen the knights etc. sages on the cobbled.road to where you go speaking of things tocome. It is valuable to listen and speak tothese people to avoid the apprehensive anticipation that is rooted in ignorance.Don Amos, a vice-president of MagnaInternational, spoke to a room of aroundabout a hllildred co-op students taking up thegreater part of Magnas hour and a half presentation to co-op students.

He was wearing a dark suit with a turtleneck which clearly stated he meant business,casual Don narrated a series of POWerpointTMslides which outlined the structure and philosophy of Magna.

Just like a salesman he opened the case andshowed us the goods trying to get us to buy.Fast-talking to prove that his product beatsheck out of anything else.

We were never given a chance to ask questions whic h made it seem more and more likethe propaganda session that it became.

It is unfortunate that what could have beena valuable learning experience, just didn thave much value. I just got this opinion fromthe appearance that Amos just wanted to talkat us without getting a ny feedback. Ironically,some feedback I would have given, if asked,was to let us give more feedbackOn h u r s d a ~ I attended the Entrepreneurs.Gub meeting where Wblf Kessler, presiden tof SkyJack would speak. About eightymechanical engineering stud ents packed intoa classroom to see Wolf.

In a friendly conversational sty le he meandered between the title, "The Growth of SkyJack," and perhaps the more interesting subject of entrepreneurship.

During his talk he encpuraged people to askquestions which was a welc ome du:mge. Wolftalked about his thoughts on business withgreat interest like a good 01 uncle telling you

about how he started hisbusiness, which Wolfdid.

company when someone told him thateveryone needed these lifts. Every timeanyone set up a new plant they got 20 Jor more of these scissor lifts. D \ \ L 'rr: (In between anecdotes of his rom- , ~ j J.,l . ' .-:panys growth he d bring up '1 - \ 1- L \ rimportant thoughts about creativi- . )\ f f :::: . rty and entrepreneurship before r \ L f ' \ \ \ \ -he d cheerfully hop back to stories r 1 jof SkyJack. \ \ \ ( '

What made seeing Wolf Kesslerspeak was his enthusiasm in addressingus and his noticeable desire to share histhoughts with us. Additionally he valued whatwe had to say to him.

It is unfortunate he couldn't stay for longer;he had to leave to ha e lllilch with the president where, Downey woUld probably ask himfor a donation for UW.Peter pulled out his laptop onto the podi-um at the front of the dining room in the basement of the Xerox building but spoke not fromthe screen but from his mind.

Peter Cheney addressed everyone atImprint's student journalism conference as thekeynote speaker last Friday.

O1eney is a features writer from the orontoStar He, perhaps most notably, wrote thelongest newspaper sto1)' in Canadian ~ 0 1 )which followed the life of a Somalian nomadboy and the life of the Canadian soldier whokilledhim.

One message he had for us, strong and clear,was that print media would be saved in thetelling of stories. Stories are what people likeand what people respond to and newspaperscan do that for them; and stories he told. Petertalked with verve and style as though thesethings were happening to him right there andhe was telling what he saw.

We heard of his interviews with Madonnaand James Brown and his got the diary of theCanadian soldier. He told us of his expcri 11 Sin Iraq with the Ku rdish refugees. With his stories he let me sec these things so clear.

MelWards we all relaxed at Wc


12/24

RON ARRIOR

Bill s continuing adventuresBill Gray4B Comp - Sun of A Bit

Bula August 8-18 FijiH vi ng reserved the last two available seatsou t of Auckland, we settled back for ourour hour flight north to the tropical p aradise of Fiji. We landed in complete darkness andimmediately fe ll in to the du ty free trap, w here litrebottles of 116 p roof Fiji Rum were selling for fivedollars. After the oppressive liquor prices of Australia and New Zea lan d , and wan ting a taste ofhome, we snatched up a bottle of Canadian Club .The staff a t the duty free store wanted us to buyextra and sell it to them ou tside the airport, but wedecided that breaking the law was not the ideal 'firstactivity' on our vacation itinerary. Once we werethrough customs, we were accosted by taxi driverswho all had the cheapest fares and were willing tobring us to the best hotels. We had decided on onebefore arrival and we were soon in the surprisinglyclean Nadi Bay Hotel, planning how we were goingto spend the next three weeks here in paradise.

Fiji is a nation comprised of ov er 800 islands covering1.6 million square kilometers in the South Pacific Ocean,2100km north of New Zealand. Only 105 of the islandsare populated, with the total population being around800 XXJ . This population is roughly half native Fijiansand half Indians, descendants of field workers fromwhen Fiji was a British colony. These two populationshave many differences, which carne to a head in 1987when the ruling Fiji-dominated party was defeated byan Indian-backed coalition. A peaceful military coupensued, and by 1990 the new constitution was in placeguaran teeing Fijians a perm anent legislative majority.

The next morning we realized. that 'rniI\utes from theairport' in Fiji means that you could probably hit therunway with a stone if you tried. As the 747's landed,we were forced to wake up and take stock of our situation. After some searching and questioning in Nadi(home to Fiji's only McDonald's where ketchup costs

O.25/packet but chili sauce is free) we decided to firsttry a budget resort, then a more up-scale one for the lastweek. The next day we caught the bus from adi tolautoka, where we boarde d the boat that was to take usto the island of Tavewa of the Ya..d lu urious.In addition to lying on th ' b


13/24

(a:rdinu:rlfn:m rage 12)dried) in water. The result is a drink that looks slightlylike muddy water, and tas tes slightly worse. Thegroup sits in a circle, and coconut shells full of yoqanaare passed around the circle to the recipient. Whenaccepting I bowl of yoqana, proper etiquette is to drinkthe entire bowl in one go - no sipping allowed. Giventhe taste, chugging is the best idea anyway. The drinkis supposed to have many medicinal benefits, but theonly thing I noticed was that it instantly nwnbed everything it touched on Us way down my throat. The endresult was not unlike a visit to the dentist. Anotherinteresting fact is that, like UW Engineers and Batch, aweaker version of yoqana is mixed up to serve to foreigners. I learned his the hard way, when offeredsome real yoqana by the chief during the village visitwhile waiting for the rest of our group to return fromtheir wanderings. While I experienced no effects pastnumbness, continued imbibernent supposedly bringsupon euphoria and other fun feelings. As such, kava is

not allowed into the UnitedState , but can be broughtinto Canada with no difficulties.

After nine glorious days itwas time to leave, however.We all loaded our stuff ontothe boat the small, smallboat) said our good-byes andheaded towards the mainisland of Viti Levu as the taffof the resort sang theirFarewell Song from thebeach. This trip was evenless fun than the first one andeveryone on-board lookedfairly queasy by tlle time wearrived back in la utoka.

And thus our first weekand a half in Fiji was over.We were tanned, relaxed and

content. We

RO

were also completely saturated withsand and dying for a hot-shower andsome vegetables other than cassava andeggplant. 0 time to worry about that,however, as we had to scramble aroundlautoka to get traveler's cheques cashedand our tab at the resort paid off before

Photos:

OR

boarding another boat to bring us to the second resoron our Fiji tour.

Bure (far left), Yoqana-d.rinking ceremony (above left), Islandof Tavewa (above right)

Rafting n OttawaKeith Parkerhe arSydeSystems Design Class o 2

Ust year, on May 31 1996, some fifty

fearless Waterloo Engineers and friendseft the friendly confines, of Waterloo,

Toronto, Ottawa or wherever it was theywere stuck in school or on co-op, to brave thefrigid whitewater of the Ottawa River. Thisyear it's happening all over again And thistime it's going to be even bigger than last yearand the water will be warmer too )On July 11 1997, leave civilization for two

days of fun-in-the-sun, ups-downs and chumyou-alI-arounds, som e pa rtying and maybeeven time for a breather here and there... . Ohyeah, and getting a little wet

It only costs $160. For fuis you get a full day ofrafting, all meals (including a steak dinner on theSaturday night), a party on the Saturday night

(bottomless beverages), and camping. However spaces are limited There are also otherpackages available if you are interested.I highly recommend goingJust talk to anyone that wentlast year Check out the IWfrom last summer with raftingon the cover.

Deposits are $60 and are dueon March 12. However, it'sfirst come first serve, andare a limited number of spotsavailable, so you may want tocontact me sooner.

f you have any question,in tou.ch with me Keithat 884-2752 or email [email protected].

See You on the FreakinCrazy wildly' flippin' River


14/24

RONanadian

rossroadsInternational

Georgia Albert8 Chemical -WMHI first cliscovered Canadian Crossroads International

two years ago. I had long wanted to experience life in adeveloping country and finally decided that the timingwas right. After looking into many different organizations I decided tha t Canadian Crossroads Internationalwas the right group for me.

CanLUiian Crossroads International CCI) S dynamicnon-profit organimtion made up ojhundreds ofenergetic volunteers and small full-time staff whose joint goal is to promote global understanding and cross-cllltliral awareness.This is done by sending Canadian volunteers on short-termwork placements in developing countries, bt placing volun-teers from deve/opillg nations in Canada, and by sponsoringcol11munity educntion programs. CCI has 11 political or religiOlIS affil iations.

I just took that last paragraph from a CCI flyer. Ithought you might want the official word. Now I'll tellyou my version. Last spring I was selected along withfour other applicants to form the 1997 Kitchener-Water-100 Canadian Crossroads committee. The selectionprocess consisted of a six page application with threeletters of reference and an interview.

Fund raisingAfter the 1997 committee was formed, we were intro

duced to the joy of fund raising. Each person mustfundraise $2250 although fund raising is generally carried out as a group effort. It is quite challenging to raisesuch a large amount of money and it requires a largetime commitment. Fund raising is a rewardi ng learning experience but I will be relieved when it is finally

ARRIORfinished.

Self Assessment WeekendIn October the committee attended the first of three

mandatory orientation weekends - Self-Assessmentweekend . The self-assessment weekend is designed tohelp an individual assess their readiness and motivation for involvement with Co. With midterms looming in the near future and assignment due dates, we allhad misgivings about committing a whole we ekend toCo. Anxietyover final selections did nothing to aid thesituation However, at the end of the very enlighteningweekend we were all extremely happy with the results.One notable highlight was meeting Crossroaders fromother committees.

Final SelectionIPlacementIn late November we received our selection/accep

tance package. For the majority of Crossroaders, thatincluded their placement country. None of us wereplaced in the country of our choice but it was hard to bedisappointed when I discovered that I was going to Fiji

Crossroads placements start in May, September orDecember and last for approximateW"l'4' Weeks. Mostcrossroaders live with host families and receive community work placements from ~ - c o u n t r y representatives. This work placement can vary but is often with alocal non-governmental organization. The work placement provides a medium to participate in the commu-nity and to meet people. Crossroaders are not paid awage but are provided with funds to meet the cost oflivingin the country.

Development EducationSome of our time is devoted to what we call develop

ment education or DevEd for short. DevEd is any typeof activity that we do as a group to educate ourselvesabout local or global development issues or to prepareourselves further for our placements. DevEd is largelydirected by each new committee but there is an officialDevEd coordinator who facilitates events. For example,we ve attended an Anti-Racism workshop, a ConflictResolution workshop and listened to presentations bypast Crossroaders on their experiences.

The Sandford Fleming Foundfition4306 Carl Pollock Hall, University of WaterlooWaterloo, Ontario, N2L 3G 1

The 1997 CommitteeThis year, three of the five 1997 Crossroaders ar

Waterloo Engineers. Christa MossmaI\ a 3rd year ASoc Systems Design engineer, will be off to Indonesia iSeptember. Kirk Schutz, in 4B Ow, will also be off iSeptember but he won t learn his placement countruntilMay.

We have two main fundraise:rs happening right nowWe just got some really cool t-shirts in. You may havseen some of the Civils wearing them because Kiralready conned his friends into buying some. KiddingThey're 20. Summer is coming, buy a t-shirt

Our big, big fundraiser on the go right now is callethe Feast or Famine Dinner. The Feast or Famine dinner is a banquet with a twist. The essence of the event that the distribution of the meals is proportionate to thdistribution of food in the world. As guests arrive, theare given an identity that determines who they arwhat they will eat and how they are treated. The goal to provoke thought on global food inequities. It's gointo be a fun and educational event so please come ouand support us. The Feast or Famine dinner will takplace on Saturday, March 15 at 6:30 pm at St. MarkLutheran Church. St. Mark's Church is at 825 King SW.,Waterloo between the hospital and Kitchener Collgiate Institute. Tickets will be 6. To reserve ticketplease call Georgia at 886-9746 or Kirk at 747-1821.

I ve already been involved with Canadian Crosroads International for almost a year. It's been hectbut it's been a great experience and I've had the oppotunity to work with many fun and interesting peoplThis weekend, I'll be putting my school work aside foRegional Orientation Soon I'll be off toFiji for over months and I m getting pretty excited and pretty terrfied. If you think you might be interested in Canadi aCrossroads International get in touch with Kelly Barneat 746-1427 or Christine Main at 725-5112. Kirk andwould also be happy to answer any questions. Thapplication deadline is May I, 1997 for Crossroaderleaving in 1998, so act now

Waterloo Campus Activitiessff@dean(519) 8884008WINTER 1997 TECHNICAL SPEAKER COMPETITION

' ; i t t 4 t ~ : Ernest Yeung, Electrical & Computer EngineeringVideo De-Interlacing using a 3-D Interpolation System

Chris Visser, Mechanical EngineeringImprovements to an Industrial Water Softener

Faisal Karmali, Systems Design EngineeringPiazo Electric Motors for Space Based Robotse. ,4Clil4tlM4 t 4IJ Jetlf41U

SFF Debates:

Kenton Ho, Chemical EngineeringISODEWAX Feed Quality Prediction Model

The Sandford Aeming Debate Rnals will be held the week of March 10. Contact your departmental UndergraduateOffice if you are interested in participating.Funding for these awards comes from your student contributions and depends on it for continuation.

An organizationdevoted to the advancementof engineering education.


15/24

Off on atangentZhan Huan ZhouFlying Circuits 8 Comp

Throughout the entire existence of our race, we have struggled to find the meaningof our being. From this primal need tofind purpose in our lives, we have developed concepts of spiri-tuaIity in the form of various religions and beliefs. As humanity evolved and developed logical thought, the sciences andmathematics were invented to aid ambitious minds explain the

. physical world about us. Many of the theories put forth byfamed scientists of the past such as Galileo and Olarles Darwinwere scrutinized and rejected by the church. Even withimmense scientific basis, the chu.rch did not accept anythingthat would intervene with the common belief that God createdhumans and the Earth as the centre of the universe. Darwin'steachings were banned from schools. Galileo was sentenced tohouse arrest Both prevail in modernscience.

Like the immortal names of Galileo and Darwin, I too chal-lenge the basic principles of understanding and propose a revo-lutionary theory that will dramatically alter the way we per-ceive the world. From years of observa tions, subject to intensemathematicalcriticism, I have uncovered the secret of life. I amnot talking about how life originated or the purpose of life, butthe essence of life itself. Prepare yourself for this is the line thatwill change the way you comprehend the world Life is a sinewave.

That's it Or rather, that is a large simplifica tion of my theo-ry. Let me explain from the beginning. First there are two po&-tulates that must be understood. The first is that every phenomenon can be descnbed by a function of time. The second

reing that every function can be y,Ti.tten a sum of oth r func-tions.

For some, this may be difficult gr >p. Consider physiclass. Virtually e\'ef)' equation nceming. lewtonian mechan-ics is a function of time. They are aU based on distance, \'eb::ity,acceleration - functions of time. From these equation'>, we get tothe crux of the first postulate. The general_ lUll n to simpleharmonic motion is f(t) = cos(wt + phi) which can be easilyderived from the aforementioned equations. At this point,there are probably two points disturbing you. The first is thatthe equation I gave contains th ca ine function, not the inefunction. T he second being, What the hell does ph have todo with life? There is a rather simple explanation to the firstquestion. f you remember your high school math correctl ,thecosine function is merely a shifted sine ,ave. This can also beexplained with my second postulate that1will attend to shortlyafter answering the second qu tion. f you accept that aLIphysical phenomena can be explained with mathematical ftmc-tions, is it not conceivable that mental phenomena can beexplained along similar arguments? Let us consider how thebrain and body functions. Thoughts are nothing more thanelectronic impulses. Movement and reactions are also electron-ics impulses. You are merely a collection of atoms and mole-cules very carefully arranged. There are countless equationsdescribing electron and photon behaviour. According to cur-rent theoretical physics, if the position, Velocity, accelerationand all other pertinent information of every partide in the uni-verse is known exactly, we can predict the future of the uni-verse. ow if his can be done for the entire universe, it can cer-tainly be done for a single person's life. Of course this is impo&-sible in practice for many factors, one of which we can thankWerner Heisenberg of Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle fame.This problem can easily rectified through appropriate use ofapproximations. After all, what is calculus but an exact approx-imation? Now that you accept that equations can be applied tolife, we can discuss the next postulate.

The second postulate is rather easy to defend. f you are

[edjaServINFORMATION ARCHITECTS

Graduating Students Career

familiar with Fourier analysis, this paragraph is trivial amay kip to the next. If, howe er, you are not, I wille plain using an excerpt from my physics text [Fourier's] theorem tells us that every elm'e, no matter

nature may be, or in what way it was originally obtainbe l'xact1y reproduced by superposing a sufficient num. imple hannonic curvesn n brief, eVeJY curve can be bby piling up waves. I This theorem has been accepted si~ a r l ) 1800's and has many uses in the modem world. Thexplains the in anomaly previously menti ned.

To lunmarize, eVef)' physical and mental phenomenbe explained with mathematical equations. This implithey can be written as a um of sine waves. My originament Life is a sine wave should m re correctly be sta''Life is an interval of a sinusoidal wave that can be descnthe um of many sine waves. As you can see, it does nothe same dramatic effect TI1e reason for this convolutedment is because life is not infinite, you only live for aamOtU1t of time. Everyone's life is different and is not ansine wave, but of course, is approximated by a sinusoidation.

For those of you who still do not agree with me, forgetmath and physics. Just take a look around you. Everytsinusoidal. The ligl1t which illuminates this paper operaAC current, a sinusoidal ftmction. Sound from your speaalso a wave. I can roll off example after example, but thexample would be to look at your own life. We all havetimes and we all have down times. We go through alstages in our life. Why?Because LIFE IS ASINE WAVE.

ote:This supersedes the previous theory that tne answer t

the universe and everything is 42. (i.e. 7x8=42) previouforth by the magnificent Douglas Adams.1Halliday, D. et al. Fundamental of Physics. Fourth E

Extendeci rsion. Toronto: Wiley Publishing, 1993.

ightHave some Beer and Pizza with us at the Fi hbowl

Software Engineering opportunities in New York nd TorontoInternet Specialists witb Java, JScript, VB Script and/or Active erver experience

Software Developers with Visual C++, MFC, OLETuesday, 11 March from 7-9pm at the FishbowlDavis Centre 1301)Telephone: +1 416) 2149711 Fax: +1 416) 2149686 Email: [email protected]

Parlner


16/24

Ryan ChambersFBI HeadquartersWashington, DCJanuary14 10-.34 am

Mulder sits reviewing a file in his office when Scullywalks in. She holds a copy of the same file in front of her.'What's all this about, Mulder?"'1t seems like a bunch of u n v ~ t y students in Canadawere attending a lecture, and then something strangehappened. They all seemed to lose consciousness, thenwoke some time later on, with no recollection of what had

just happened."Scully frowns. "So what happened?"'Nolxxiy seems to know. That's why we're going."Do _you_ have any idea?" Scully asks, sounding slightly skeptical.

'Well, parts of the tudents' accounts are similar to thoseof reports given by alien abductees. The loss of time, forone thing."

Scully gives a wry smile. 'Why would aliens abduct awhole class? Have they moved from anal probing tosorority parties in space instead?"

"You sound jealous," Mulder says, returning the smile.University of WaterlooWaterloo, ONJanuary 15 10:02amMulder and Scullty are somewhere in Engineering,interviewing one of the students.Mulder asks, "So you were in the classroom. Thenwhat happened?"The student looks at Mulder, then Scully, then Mulderagain, looking nervous. 'We got here for the start of thelecture. I took out my pen and started writing what the

" ... Innocence LostTim rownBMechOrgasmech Innermost secrets flow as toffee.into delicate probing fingers

pursed lips electrically caresssalty sweat driven torsoLong legs christen innocent hands.And I tremble from inside out.I could spill you forever.(A bomb explodes between my ears)And into a puddle of me.Superimpose you on my shadowSex thrillion miles away.- Sweet 16

prof was saying. But then I don't know wha t happenedThe next thing I knew, everyone around me was wakingup .. I didn't know what happened. The professor waserasing the blackboard .. I was frightened, but I was goingto be late for the next class, so I just packed up and left. Acouple of people made jokes about it on the way, but wedidn't talk about it again."

Mulder frowns. Do you remember anything? Any-thin 7"g. ,The student just shook his/her [gender withheld] headand says, "Nothing at all.Mulder just shakes his head. Then Scully says to the

student, 'Thanks for your help. You can go now." Thestudent stands up and leaves quickly. Scully then says,'We've interviewed all of the students, Mulder, and noneof them remember anything.

I think we should take a look at the room next."University of WaterlooWaterloo, ONJanuary15 2:09pm

Mulder and Scully walk down the hallway in EL Jheading towards the classroom where the group of students had lost consciousness. They passed a beggar in thehallway, saying "Seventy-five dollars .. can anybody spareseventy-five dollars?" Mulder tosses him some sunflowerseeds.

'This is the room," Scully says as they entered the room.She looked around the room. Rows of desks and chairs.A blackboard. An overhead projector. Her analyticalphysician's eye could not detect anything out of place."Looks prettyordinary to me."

Mulder nods, but didn't say anything right away. Helooks like he is trying to sense something, but nothingcomes. 'This looks like an ordinary room to me."

"But this is slightly smaller than other rooms. there was a gas leak, and they all passed out." Sculto Mulder to a reply.'No, the doors are always kept open. Besides,fessor was not affected at alL Mulder paces aroufew seconds, then he turns to Scully and asks "Hever heard of a revenant?"Scully looks puzzled. A little. Aren't they suppbe some kind of dead person comeback to life?"

'There are stories from Medieval Europe of deple coming back to life and sustaining their undetence off the energy of living people. They had aof tricks enabling them to grab the attention of aence, and then slowly suck the life out of themcrowd would then go home, and get the feeling thwere somehow drained of ife.''Mulder, that's ridiculous " says Scully in her that's-ridiculous voice.

"Maybe. But we should talk to the professor."Davis CenterWaterloo,ONJanuary 15 2:17pmIs this the place?" Mulder asks Scully, pausing of OC _ Scully nods.They hear a muffled, "Come in " from the otherthe door. Scully and Mulder walk in the door."Professor_ ?" Mulder asks.

"That's right. Oh .. you're with the FBI, abunconscious students?"'That's right," Scully says. ' '[)o you remember athat happened on that day?"

The professor looks a little embarrassed. 'Welladmit I don't remember seeing anything. I justwriting on the board. The class didn't seem anythan usual"


17/24

Mulder narrows his eyes, and says in an angry voice,'What do you mean you didn't see anything ? Thooe students happen to fall unoonscious and looe any memory oftime since the beginning of the lecture, and you didn'tnotice a thing? You are hiding the truth"

Scully cuts in.. 'Mulder It is a well-documented factthat when giving a lecture, professors enter a differentmind state, and become focused on their lecture. Theirsensory 'perception diminishes, and sometimes even themost terrific stimuli cannot rouse them from this state "

The professor nods, looking at Mulder. ''Yes, that isquite true."

Mulder gives the professor a hard stare, but has nochoice but to agree. 'Let's go, Scully."South Campus HallWaterloo, ONJanuill)' 16 1:23pm

Mulder and Scully are sitting in the Festival Room, eating lunch. Mulder shakes his head in frustration 'We'renot getting anywhere What is this stuff, anyway?"

Scully replies, ''Is that the special? It's pork"A student sitting at their table says, 'No, it's chicken."Another student sitting at the table says, 'No, it's turkeytettrazini. "Scully ignores them. 'What are we doing here, Mul-

der? We haven't got any more leads."Suddenly they hear the sound of a cell phone ringing.

'Mulder." A few seconds later, he says "Thanks" andhangs up.'What is it, Mulder?"'We're not leaving yet Scully .. another class, a different

one this time, has just woken up, and can't remember thelast forty-four minutes "

Scully smirks. 'To the batrnobile."EngineeringWaterloo, ONJanuill)' 16 1:28pm

Mulder and Scully arrive just in time to see a large mobof students pass by, scurrying for their nextclass. Mulderholds up his badge, standing ir1 the path of the stampedeof students. "FBI Stop I just have a few questions " Butthe students pay him no heed, and after a few seconds heis standing alone with Scully in the hallway. "Damn "

'What do we do now, Mulder?"'We're going to one of these classes, Scully .. we're going

to see for ourselves."

So, the time has come. Midterms, for the most part,have come and gone, yet finals still seem to loom far awayon the horizon. You have settled back into your everydaylife and, yes, you are bored "What to do .. what to do ..",you ask, clicking away at the remote control. You realizethat TV is repetitive. Rather, you realize that TV beingrepetitive actually bothers you today. You pick up the TVguide and are confronted by sitcoms and other mindlessdrivel. But your mind seeks excitement You search yourCD collection, but realize that it all sounds the same anyway. Even the internet looks boring. There'sno where togo .. or is there?

If you really want to have some good old fashionedfun, excitement & adventure, there's plent y foryou to do.If conventional media catch your attention, czech out oneof these:

surgery on the Learning Olannel at 1 am. Juicy braingoo, fun for alL Funky Squad, 12:50 am (why is it not on the hour??)on Global. Tuesday nights. Seventies porno music, Aussieaccent fun, czechout Stix'shair

Scully frowns, but nods.Engineering, Room _ _Watedoo,OJanUill)'16 _: pm

Mulder and Scully sit in a room, preparing to waitthrough the lecture to see if they can see for themselveswhat happens. ''Scully, you sit in the front, fll sit here inthe back"Scully at Mulder distastefully. "Mulder, why is it thatyou give all the orders? fm not your ubordinate."

Mulder doesn't know what to say. "Alright, Scully, IUsit up at the front."

Mulder makes his way up to the front rO\ , then thesecond, then the third before finding an empty seat. Scully sits down at the back and stares off into space, preoccupied. Mulder then looks up at the professor, beginningthe lecture, and waits.

Mulder looks at his watch after what seems like an eternity. 'Ugh. only five minute s gone?"

Before long, Mulder gets drowsy, then all turns darkSuddenly he regains consciousness, but everything ishazy.

'Mulder ". He hears his name called out. Mulder triesto look around, but suddenly finds the face of Mr. Xstar-ing at him. t\I

'Mulder1 You are in a very dangerous place "Mulder tries to blink, but is too disoriented. "But thestudents .. what about them?""Forget about the students There is a bigger conspiracy

going on here, Mulder. You've got to find the key, andexpose what's goin g on "Mulder shakes his head. "But we haven't found anything

yet..."Mr. Xconsiders this. ''In that case, I tell you ..Engineering, RoomWaterloo, ONJanUill)' 16 _ _ pm plus 45 minutes.

Suddenly Mulder is awakened by the sound of a commotion. Students around him are dazed, but they appearto be hurrying to leave. ''Scully '', he calls out. He cannotsee her. ''Scully ''

Mulder pulls out his gun and a flashlight from histrench coat. He s h i n s t h ~ flashlight under some of thedesks, looking for Scully. The professor finishes erasin g

Urantia, a new religion. Bare-chested man wearingEgyptian headgear, aliens & dead spirit chanelling fun.Spookyhttp://www.scs.unr.edulhomepagelrorylschwalsclrwa. tlml(yes, there really are two 'schwa's). Alien protect ion fun.Spend your hard earned money to protect yourself whenET comes backAlthough these tasty alternatives to boredom seldomail, some of you out there are probably still oying out fordeliverance. So for the more outgoing among you, havesome renl fun

have some fun in an elevator. for example, giggle thewhole time while reading a book, especiallya phone book

rediscover the wonderful & insightful world crankphone calls, but this time add panache .. (if you don't don'tknow what panache' means, you don't have any ..)

head to Taco Bell & dissect a 7 - layer burrito. Foradded excitement, try to name those mystery layers ..

Now for the amazing conclusion . are you ready???

the black board, then leaves the room.'Mulder fm over hear ", Scully calls out. S

disoriented as well, and tries to stand up. The reclass have left the room.

Mulder rushes over. ''Scully, are you all right?"Scull nods, ''Yes,TIn fine .. just a little tired."''Scully, I spoke to Mr. x...he told me of the con

at this University "Scully frowns. ''But Mulder, that's ridiculous "Mulder says in a raspy voice, ''Scully, listen to

op is all a hoax They get the best and brightest sto come here, luring them with co-op and th proa career in technology. But then th y give them aor programming jOOs; and even the ones which using the theory they havebeen forced to learn, this at such an advanced level that their skills areAnd their mind is sapped by eight terms of drepointless courses, the content of which they will nein their professional careers "

"Mulder, listen to yoursel1 These studentscoerced into coming here; this university has a gootation, and sometimes these co-op jobs are the onlycontinue to afford it Besides, they take courses fofession in which they are interested "

Mulder shakes his head, and almost moans "Ied ? Scully, obviously you have never taken E&CE

Scully says simply, "Mulder, I t:hinK yo u've lohead."FBI HeadquartersWashington, DCJanuill)' 17 3:25pm

Scully sits at her typewriter."Special Agent Mulder remains convinced of so

of nefarious plot, in which the University of Watervarious employers connive to oppress universdents, but he is at a Joss to provide evidence or evevation for such a scheme.'TIle official reason for the unconsciousness ofdents is faulty pipes, releasing carbon monoxideclassrooms; at a level high enough to put themscious, but not high enough to kill them. This dmake sense, as there are no pipes in some of theaffected.

'Since there have been no repeat occurrences shave left, the File has been closed, although oveMulde r's objections. As we have other cases, he wto put of his search for the truth in this case indefin

Tim BrownBMechOrgssmech


18/24

RON ARRIOR

ESSCO OlympicsMichael Worry8 lectrical - Omega Sector

ESSCO Olympics is an opportunity for Engineers from across Ontario to get together for aweekend of fun events. This year it was hosted by Queen's in Kingston. Friday night delegatesfrom across Ontario head to AI's Hangar a nice Pubset aside by two full-size airplanes suspended fromthe ceiling. It was still Chris's birthday so there wasmuch singing and rapid consumption of the goldenbeverage. The highlight of the evening was watching Vanessa and Bill swap bras. Bill's famous quote:"1 have a new respect for women. I think I threw myback out getting that bra done up."

Saturday was when all the events took place. Eachteam of four was grouped with about four other teamsfrom different Universities to form design teams thatparticipated in five different events. The first event wewere given pap er, tape, paper-dips,etc and each designteam had to produce one plane that would go the furthest This seemed a little too simple, and we asked forthe specifications and rules. "Oh, No Rules," the organizer said casually. Don't they know who they're dealing with, I thought? Bill just shook his head in disbeliefas I headed out to the Van.By some misfortuneI d n tpacked the rocket engines (where's the Van checklist?),so we created a "demonstration" plane stocked withfireworks. We lit it with the propane torch and Iremember the Engineer from U of T who was holdingour "plane" asked "How long does the fuse last?" "10

STYL S T

seconds," I replied, "Giveor take 10 seconds." At whichpoint he launched the plane, perfectly timed, as itexploded with a resounding B(X)M at the peak of it'sarc. I'm not sure if ours went the farthest, but it couldcertainly be heard the farthest

The second event we had to build the highest free-s tanding tower out of newspaper and tape. Thisinvolves rolling the newspaper to create reasonablystraightbuilding sticks. Our complete design involved alarge tripod base, with a tapering triangular antenna.We were aiming for about 40 feet. We'd only got thebase and first section completewhen the judge camebyand said "Okay, you've won, move on." But the creation wasn't complete So we kept building addinganother two tower sections and about another 10 feet inheight. It wasn't until the judge became annoyed thatwe were late for the next event that we .reluctantlymoved on. Truly a good design event.In the third event we were provided with straws andpins and asked to build a "machine". The machinewould have two parts, some sort of launching mechanism and some mobile portion. Marks are assignedbased on how far the mobile portion goes. We got theorganizer to agree that we could also make use of anything in the room in our design. At which point webrought out the bungy cords we'd been carrying. Ourdesign group actually produced two designs. TheWaterloo structure was a chair upside down with sixbungy cords duct taped in a slingshot fashion. Lyingdown, Mitch would brace his feet against the chairs andI would brace myself on his shoulders to get sufficient

leverage. The rest of Waterloo would bracethe sides. We were quite restrained by thesize of the room, since our mobile portion(my keys with some straws thrown in tomeet the rules) was still on it's way upwhen it slammed into the wall on the farside of the room Mitch was happy to learnthat when buried under six leather jacketsthe recoil from the bungy cords hurtsmuch less. Our group produced asecond design- we stacked all th tables inthe room into a giant ramp and rolled acylindrical straw structure down theincline. This also produced quite impressive distance results. Our opponents werealso quite creative. They rolled theirmachine down a table, out the window,and into a car that d rove away. As I recall,we got something on the order of 3,850points for the event. The best team beforeus got something around 800

FE Opy UiS r - -is owned and operofed by I STUOENT LIFE CENtRE, lOWEl/lEVElI MON-FRI 80m-80m W 12noon-5pm

The fourth event was building the highest structure from playing cards. I think theorganizer had been warned about us bynow. (In the background I could hear themachine guy next door saying "You mayONLY use straws a nd pins in you r design.NOTHING else ") We asked if we couldmake use of furniture in the room. She saidno. We asked if we could use duct tape.She Sc ud no. We asked if we could bend orcut notches in the cards. She said no. Weasked if we could make use of the walls orceiling. She said no- all we 're allowed ishe Federation ot StUdents I 8884567 eJd.6868

the floor. We asked if we ripped up the floor tiles anraised the floor a few feet if that would add to the heigof our design. Quite exasperated she said, No, we havthe cards and the floor that's it. No using anythinexcept the floor and the cards. Hmmm ..

So we sat around and watched this guy who seemeto know what he was doing build a card tower.

We didn't get to do the fifth event because they raout of duct tape. n most provinces, I understand thatgrounds for a divorce. I believe the event was a racwhere one member from each team lay down ontable. Other members were provided with duct tapeThe first team to flip the table and have the membesuspended upside down won. Not to miss a chance play with duct tape, we brought in our own supply anduct taped Orris to a pipe. On the ceiling. Tenfeet up .was kinda neat. We had to build this pyramid out otables to reach the pipe, get Ouis to hold on and thewrap several rolls around him. We even fed him luncwhile he was up thereThe afternoon was a self-guided trivia tour oQueen's University. We.were provided with a list oquestions and a map and had to run all over campuNot bad event, though Mitch and I thought the quetion of "What time does the clock say in the Arena." tbe a little general. Another one that took us a long timto understand was Looking through the lobby, whatthe big blue thing?" After asking EVERYBODY whathe "big blue thing" is, we finally figured out themeant lake Ontario. ;)After trivia we retired to the hotel and a large batcparty. Gee I wonder who organized that? Dinner aBiggs and then off to Clark Hall Pub. At the Pub it waannounced that Waterloo B won ESSCO Olympics 97Wu-hoo There was much rejoicing Later in theveni

the iron warrior: volume 10, issue 3

Documents