the iron warrior: volume 24, issue 3

7/27/2019 The Iron Warrior: Volume 24, Issue 3

1/12

The Iron Ring Stag, the party for gradu-ating UW Engineers, was not held atFederation Hall, as it has been for the pastfew years, due to the fact it was shut downby the University administration.

Gradcomms position, from an email fromKevin Kaczmarczyk, is that FEDS willNOT allow us to use Fed Hall on Tuesday,February 18th. Regardless of the fact thatuniversity administration was willing tocooperate.... However, Chris DiLulloresponded by saying the University didnot meet with us. This is important

because we have been instructed by theUniversity that NO ONE can serve alcoholin Fed Hall, this includes them., then ifanother event comes in and requests alco-hol service and we say no, they can pointto the IRS, say you're discriminatingagainst us and we could be sued. [Thiswill allow the University to say] howwell it runs with our bar staff, or maybesee how safe it is when we run the show.Which would lead to the loss of control ofthe bars to the University Administration.

Thus, the Iron Ring Stag party was held atthe Wax Nightclub in Kitchener, instead.

THE NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO ENGINEERING SOCIETYvolume 24 issue 3 | 26 February 2003

If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something. Murphys Laws, #8

http://iwarrior.uwaterloo.ca/

All of the University of WaterlooEngineering Society nominations arein, and the candidates are:

President: Josh LevitzVP External: Jeff AlfonsiVP Internal: vacantVP Education: Emma SaaskVP Finance: Dave Johnson

WEEF Director: Erin Young

All of the candidates are acclaimed fortheir positions, and have to be ratified dur-ing the next EngSoc meeting, held onWednesday, February 26th. By-electionswill be held in order to determine the VPInternal position, which is vacant.

Engineering Society

Candidates Announced

Over the last couple years, the EngSocweb site has undergone a lot ofchanges - some positive, some negative.This fact is in part due to the constantlychanging webmasters. Recently, though, alot of changes have happened to make theweb site not only more current and topical,but also more useful to engineering stu-dents.

Other than having new methods in placeby which the webmasters can easilyupdate the site's listing of EngSoc docu-ments and EngSoc events, a number of

features have been released this term.

The first and most popular feature is theEngSoc Exam Bank. This online reposito-ry of _____ midterm and final exams isprovided as an alternative to the hardcopies stored in the Orifice. These examscan be downloaded by EngSoc membersin a PDF format.

A similar service, which was also recentlyestablished, is an online Work TermReport Center featuring an OutstandingReport Repository - a source of Work

Term Reports that received a mark of"Outstanding", and a list of Peer Editors -a place for students to get help editingtheir reports. Still in its fledgling stage,this Center will house a large list of peereditors and sample reports.

Finally, EngSoc students now also havethe ability to make P**5 submissionsonline - something previously unavailable.

With these new features, and with a num-ber of additional projects still in the works(including new photo galleries and anonline suggestion box) the EngSoc website promises to be a useful resource forthe rest of this term, and for many terms tocome.

Additionally, available atengsocweb@engmail, the webmasters arewilling to work closely with directors to

post updates and information.

Next time you're not sure about whatEngSoc has to offer for you, it's recom-mended that you check outhttp://www.engsoc.uwaterloo.ca/www.

Useful links:Work Term Center:http://www.engsoc.uwaterloo.ca/www/wtr/Exam Bank: http://www.engsoc.uwater-loo.ca/www/exambank/

Joseph Fung

3N Computer

Changes in www.engsoc

This term, the Engineering Society willbe presenting a comedy calledMoonchildren by Michael Weller.Directed by Dallas Card and MattWoolsey, this play set in the late 1960spromises to be very hilarious. It involvesan impressive cast of more than 16 engi-

neers, supported by many other ones in thetechnical crew and the production team.

Moonchildren follows the story of 7 uni-versity students living together in an apart-

ment throughout a school year, in the 1968anti-war and free love environment,exploring the the mysteries of life, death,cats, sex, jealousy, hamburgers, and love.

Are you interested? The play will be pre-sented March 13th, 14th and 15th. Ticketswill soon be on sale in the Orifice, and bequick, because they might sell out veryfast!

For more information, and if you are inter-ested helping, email bsoc_drama@eng-mail.

Engineering Play -

Moonchildren

Sandra Le

4B Systems

Guelph Cub Prawl Pics

Top right to bottom

right: 1) A bunch of

fun-lovin female engi-

neers.2) This is the

Charm School for

Engineers? 3)

Wheee!!! Snow Angels!

Iron Ring Ceremonyand Iron Ring Stag

Pg.6-7

Fourth Year StudyRooms, Feds

Elections and OSPEPg.12

4 Stream and itsAssociated Costs

P. 9

IRS Not Held at Fed Hall


2/12

Alright, lets get this show on theroad!

1) Iron Ring Stag

There were a few non-Engineers(Mathies really, since other facul-ties did not have class that day)that took offense with us causing aruckus during Iron Ring Stag onTuesday, that took offense at ustrying to hold the party close tocampus (where it would be safer

for us), and took offense with ushaving the day at all. I don'tbegrudge the position ofGradcomm, who was trying toplan this event in spite of the factthat our on-campus bars were shutdown, nor do I begrudge the posi-tion the position of the Federationof Students, who has to deal withthe fact that they can't cater exclu-sively to the engineers. As amatter of fact, the Wax is a per-fectly fine nightclub and was ableto host our event quite nicely,

though the costs associated withthe operation are mostly likelyhigher than normal.

However, to eliminate IRS, or toreduce it to a mere formality,would be devastating to all futureengineers that would come out ofthis fine establishment. The IronRing is supposed to remind us ofthe burden to society that we haveto carry. We are only allowed towield the ring after we have madea binding oath that we will take

our responsibilities seriously. Tome, the IRS is the last day we willbe "free" - free of the socialresponsibilities that wait for us in

the workplace, lurking, just wait-ing for the chance for us to slip.

Now Im bound to the ring and itsresponsibilities. I will try not toresent them, because lives depend

on them.

2) Okay, What Really Happened

at IRS?

We had our champagne breakfast,we visited old profs and classes,we were in POETS for the count-down and some mingling, andgenerally had a great time.

However, I think the classes couldintermingle a little more. Thereare classes that Ive been with herefor all four years and Im familiarwith, and then there are classeswhom I havent seen for four yearsand would like to meet. I mean,these are the people who are grad-uating with you, show them somelove!

As for IRS night, a lot of peopledancing, a lot of cloth ripping, anda lot of Tool touching marked thenight.

All in all, a fantastic time, and Idont think I could trade this dayfor anything.

3) Nonsense Weather Patterns

Thursday: Nice, warmish weather.Friday: Nice, warmish weather.Saturday: A snowstorm hits.Dumps a lot of snow, causes a lotof traffic accidents.Sunday: Not much snow, but a lotof wind and cold.

Did the reading weekends weath-er make sense to you? Now, Isuppose two days of nice, warmishweather is better than zero days,

but right now its still cold out,and the on-again, off-again snowdoesnt seem to be diminishing.

At least theres only three moredays until March, which means

winter is ending soon.

4) Increasing Social Disconnect

There was a recent study byReuters that showed that youngpeople are starting to date less.There are a whole plethora ofexplanations surrounding this phe-nomena - that they didnt go ondates anymore, that they went as agroup, dinner and a movie becamemore expensive, they play toomany video games, etc.

But I feel that there is a growingsocial disconnect. Its not liketheres the place to hang out.There are some, but they are prettyloosely connected.

If someone knows the real placesto hang out please tell me.

And that, once again, wraps upanother edition of the Iron Warrior.

The Newspaper of the University of

Waterloo Engineering Society

Editor-in-Chief

Jonathan Ng

Assistant Editor

Jay Liu

Photo Editor

Cindy Zheng-Ming BaoSung Hon Wu

Layout Editor

Hiu Lam Yau

Technical Editor

Winona Tong

Copy Editor

John Olaveson

Webmaster

James Schofield

Distribution Manager

Naoreen Hasan

Business Manager

Vacant

Staff

Ryan BayneJenelle Chen

Kiran DhaliwalJoseph Fung

Jeff HenryJanna HicksonIllan Kramer

Sandra LeJose Penate

Contributors

Ruchi BhallaDave Clegg

Afsheen KhanMark MollisonDan Robinson

Kareem ShehataBrandon Sweet

Denis Viens

2 We d n e sd a y , Fe b ru a ry 2 6 , 2 0 0 3

Letter from the Editor

Jonathan Ng

4B Computer

Editor-in-Chief

Questions? Comments?

We welcome letters and feedbackfrom all our readers. Please email

us at:

[email protected]

The Iron Warrior is a forum for thought provokingand informative articles published by the EngineeringSociety. Views expressed in The Iron Warrior are

those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect theopinions of the Engineering Society.The Iron Warrior encourages submissions from stu-dents, faculty and members of the university commu-nity. Submissions should reflect the concerns andintellectual standards of the university in general. Theauthor's name and phone number should be included.All submissions, unless otherwise stated, become theproperty of The Iron Warrior, which reserves theright to refuse publication of material which it deemsunsuitable. The Iron Warrior also reserves the rightto edit grammar, spelling and text that do not meetuniversity standards. Authors will be notified of anymajor changes that may be required.Mail should be addressed to The Iron Warrior,Engineering Society, CPH 1327, University ofWaterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, N2L 3G1. Our phonenumber is (519) 888-4567 x2693. Our fax number is(519) 725-4872. E-mail can be sent to

[email protected]


3/12

3We d n e sd a y , Fe b ru a ry 2 6 , 2 0 0 3

Opinion

George Radwanksi, the PrivacyCommissioner of Canada, recentlysubmitted a report to Parliament illustrat-ing how the government is underminingthe whole edifice of privacy protection thathas been in place in this country for nearlytwo decades.

In 2001 Radwanski was commissioned toseek resolutions to issues concerning pub-lic privacy, and to report on his actions inthe spring of 2002. Despite several exten-sions of his deadline, he was unable to pro-duce a satisfactory report as the aftermathof the terrorist attacks on New York andWashington produced several major issuesregarding the balance between public pri-vacy and national security. WhileRadwanski states that the report is incom-plete, it still manages to bring attention toa number of issues in the Liberal govern-ments actions since 9-11.

While Radwanski claims he has no desireto interfere with measures and programsintended to defend against terrorist attacks,he maintains that the Government hasother purposes, and that some measures

involve intrusions on privacy that have no

demonstrable association with anti-terror-ism.

In his report, Radwanski focused onCanada Customs and Revenue Agency'snew "Big Brother" passenger database,enhanced state authority to monitor com-munications, a proposed national ID cardmaking use of biometric technology, andgovernment support for video-surveillanceon public streets by the RCMP.Radwanski purports that these intrusionsare not only disturbing, but also cross adangerous threshold towards an OrwellianCanada. In his report, Radwanski suggest-ed that in a short time Canadian mightresemble the following:

Any time we travel within Canada, wewill have to identify ourselves to police sothat their computers can check whether weare wanted for anything or are otherwise ofinterest to the state.

Police and security will be able to accessrecords of every e-mail we send and everycellular phone call we make. Informationon what we read on the Internet, everyWeb site and page we visit, will likewisebe readily available to government author-ities.

Our movements through the publicstreets will be relentlessly observedthrough proliferating police video surveil-lance cameras. Eventually, these cameras

will likely be linked to biometric face-

recognition technologies that will matchour on-screen images to file photos -- fromsuch sources as drivers' licenses, passports

or ID cards -- and enable the police toidentify us by name and address as we goabout our law-abiding business in thestreets.

Radwanskis concerns, however, havereceived less than widespread supportfrom Parliament members.

"He has a view, which is natural - he's theprivacy commissioner," said TransportMinister David Collenette. Collenette isresponsible for collecting air travelerinformation.

Similarly, Citizenship and ImmigrationMinister Denis Coderre dismissedRadwanskis comments. "We all know thecommissioner. He's got the right to saywhat he says; he's got the right to thinkwhat he thinks. I believe we need thedebate." Coderre submitted the proposedbiometric ID cards.

In fact, Radwanski went as far as claimingthat the Government is turning a resolute-ly deaf ear to these problems.

Since 1983, when the Privacy Act wasintroduced, the Canadian government hasabided by a convention of listening to aPrivacy Commissioner when they pointout a practice or initiative that is in conflict

with privacy rights. In recent history,

however, Federal initiatives have beenintroduced and debated with little attentionpaid to Radwanski.

His frustration with the government andwith the public is obvious. Despite sever-al public presentations on these issues,public support for his position has beenweak. Many citizens, he says, are hidingbehind a why should I worry argumentwhich is "at the intellectual level of abumper sticker.""We all have something to hide in terms ofour interests, our relationships, our atti-tudes, choices we've made, mistakes we'vemade, financial circumstances, our person-al habits," Radwanski said. Not becausethey're illegal. Not because they're shame-ful. (But) simply because they are private."

Radwanskis report covers the period fromApril 1, 2001 to March 31, 2002 for thePrivacy Act and from December 1 to 31,2001 for the Personal InformationProtection and Electronic Documents Act.His involvement with the second year ofthe Personal Information Protection andElectronic Documents Act will be includ-ed in his next annual report.

For more information online, see thePrivacy Commissioner of Canadas 2001-2002 Annual Report to Parliament athttp://www.privcom.gc.ca/information/ar/02_04_10_e.asp

Joseph Fung

3N Computer

Canadian Government Attacks Public Privacy

Last week brought a first for JohnManley. The 2003-2004 federal bud-get, however, seems as much JeanChretiens work as the successor of PaulMartins. In all, $25 billion in new spend-ing stretching well into presumably Mr.Martins reign adorned this fiscal yearsbooks in what Mr. Chretien called a peo-ples budget.

Indeed, for those across the floor of theHouse of Commons who demand nothingbut all of their tax dollars back it wasanother disappointing budget. After all,any surplus on the governments hands isonly there because of taxpayer dollars and what right does the government haveto spend that money on the social pro-

grams and priorities that Canadiansdemand the government to spend it on.

$34.8 billion for health care over the nextfive years through an accountable andtransparent series of federal-provincialtransfer payments agreed upon by most ofthe premiers is indeed a hearty spendingspree and conservatives certainly havemuch to complain about. Especially sincetheir provincial affiliate governmentsdemanded much more spending on thehands of the federal government.

With $3.1 billion over the next five yearsto the National Child Benefit, there isrelief for low-income families.Additionally $606 million over the nexttwo years is earmarked for affordablehousing and the homeless and more then abillion dollars is allocated to aboriginalhealth and social programs. The left wingand native leaders complain it isntenough.

The Alliance decries that the middle class

was snubbed this year after $100 billion inphased across the board tax relief from thelast two budgets. But the RRSP cap wasincreased from $12,500 towards a goal of$18,000 in 2006 and EI premiums weredropped by almost 6%. $1 billion willeventually end up in daycare providingmuch needed relief for many working fam-ilies.

Students and universities also got reliefthrough many CASA lobbying successesin student loan interest relief and perma-nent funding of the indirect cost ofresearch which could net this university $7million annually. $200 million was setaside to create Canadian GraduateScholarships mirroring the successfulMillenium Scholarships presented in apast Liberal budget. Still the CanadianAssociation of University Teachers gaveMr. Manley a failing grade on the funding.

The $800 million in new annual spendingfor the military was viewed as enough totread water and not nearly enough to keep

up our responsibilities.

The $2 billion on tackling Kyoto over thenext five years thus funding incentives andresearch necessary for implementationwas mostly ignored in budget reactionalong with the other $1 billion targeted forthe environment even though mostCanadians had wondered where the moneyto implement Kyoto would come from.

In all, this year holds the largest increase inspending since the last gasp of the Trudeauera twenty years previous and is labeled bymany as a return to the traditional tax andspend liberals. Very few people walkedaway happy not the left, nor the right.But with a decade of centrist liberal gov-ernments and a Canadian public that aboveall else values its social programs, all ofthat might just mean this budget hits thatunsatisfied middle ground covering mostof the Canadian political landscape.

Jeff Henry

3N Computer

Where Are Your Tax Dollars Going?

Iwas really fascinated by the effort madeto set up this whole Engineers WithoutBorders National Conference and washappy to see such a big number of UWengineers turning out to attend it. Theyhave shown great spirit and look forwardto prove themselves as engineers withoutborders and many of them have done so in

past during their work terms as well. Thetwo speakers who were supposed to speakon Friday Jan 31st, 2003 were StephenLewis and Flora Macdonald. But due tosome non-preventable reasons StephenLewis was not able to present his keynotespeech on "A Challenge to Make Change"and therefore Claire Danscreau, executivedirector of CUSO spoke, instead.

Flora Macdonald in the light of her ownpersonal experiences addressed the topic"A Life of Public Service". She related the

over seas problems and need of engineersto rebuilt and construct taking the exampleof war hit under developed countries suchas Afghanistan. She showed numerousphotographic slides to support her argu-ment and drew the attention of the crowdof UW engineers towards a place, whichhas suffered 24 years of continuous con-flicts, foreign invasion and civil war. Atthe same time it has been afflicted by 4years of drought and there are still 700,000troops with arms in the country. There are2 million men killed in the war situation in

last twenty years leaving the imbalancepopulation of 70 percent females. Shegreatly emphasized how important it is forfemales to get educated in such circum-stances and as a stepping-stone has laid thefoundations of first female high schoolduring her stay there. She praised thesewar widows greatly for their talents andtheir ways and means to raise enough

UW Engineers are Without Borders

Afsheen Khan

2A Chemical

Continued on page 5. See EWB

Conference.


4/12


EngSoc

ENGINEERING SOCIETY EXECUTIVE REPORTS

President Report

Over the last few weeks weve had veryfew events because of midterms and read-ing days, but what events have occurredhave been very successful! Our firstDUSTED ever went off without a hitch onFebruary 8th, and this past week wevehad Shadow Day, Arts Week, andWaterloos first-ever Pi-Throw. Wevealso had three Cub Prawls, two in townand one for the grads in Guelph. And ofcourse, who could forget IRS!

Congratulations to all the grads who haveworked very hard to get that ring. I guessthe POETS clock now counts down for theclass of 2004...How many days?

Coming up we have our Semi-Formal,Mudbowl, National Engineering Week,plus more trips to Blue Mountain and theBrunny. We also have WheelchairBasketball, the EngPlay and TalEng on thehorizon, so stay tuned!

Some good news on the on-line exam bankfront: as of February 18th 10981 examshad been downloaded! Thats incredible!Thanks for making use of this new featureguys! And keep sending those bugs thatyou find to engsocweb@engmail. Also,the Orifice is getting its badly needed

upgrade to Nexus very shortly, and it willcost less than $800 for the whole thing.Not bad for having to completely revamp3 computers, dont you think?

In FEDS-land I have submitted my firstreport to the Advisory Committee on theCollection of Incidental Fees, which canbe viewed at http://www.engsoc.uwater-loo.ca/www/documents/engsoc_fee_col-lection.doc. This is the committee that isreviewing the possibility of allowing stu-dents to pre-opt out of all refundable feeson the fee statement, including the EngSocfee. As for news on the Bomber and FedHall, it is looking increasingly likely thatneither of these establishments will re-open again this term. I will continue to letyou know if there is any progress in this

area.

Finally, EngSoc nominations closed on theWednesday before reading days, and allpositions except VP Internal had only onecandidate running for them (VP Internalhad none). Pursuant to the constitutionthese people sought ratification by the gen-eral EngSoc council on WednesdayFebruary 24th. A by-election will be heldfor the VP Internal and any positions notratified at the general council meeting.

As always, please feel free to send me anyquestions or concerns at bsoc_prez@eng-mail. Im here working for you, and Iwant to hear what you have to say!

Dave Clegg

President

Vice-President Finance Report

Hello everyone. I hope midterms wentwell and if you are reading this hope-fully they are all over by now. Myfavourite event is coming up B***5. It has

always been a blast. 4-hours of bowling,food, and perhaps some fermented and/ordistilled type beverages. I suggest youkeep your eyes open as there are only alimited number of lanes available. Semi-formal is also coming up, it has alwaysbeen an awesome time.

As for our money situation we havereceived our fees, which are more than I

had expected so our deficit has been less-ened, which is great news. I have been

very busy and I apologize to those thathave had expense forms in for the lastwhile. By the time you are reading thisthey have all been issued. From now onthere shouldn't be a problem in releasingfunds. Please ensure that you submit yourexpense forms as often as you can so I maybetter track what money has been spent.Remember I have finals too, so try and notswamp me with tones of expense form

near the end of the term. If you would liketo find out how much remains on your

budget please come see me anytime or youmay now follow the link on the website.

If you have any questions about your bud-gets or general questions please do nothesitate to ask.

I hope everyone has an awesome remain-ing term!

Vice-President Education Report

Hey guys,Well, the term is officially half over andwith that come elections, rankings andmidterms. On the co-op side of things notmuch has changed. The new system is

coming, and with that comes many newchanges. I would just like to take a secondto remind all of you who will be goingthrough co-op in the fall that you will needan HTML version of your resume. Withthis new online system mark submissionwill be optional and, hopefully, even sub-mission of your past co-op evaluationswill be optional as well. On an exam relat-ed note, as part of the extra $25 co-op fee,students reserved the right to use unusedrooms in the co-op building as studyrooms. This was not really possible overmidterms as co-op was in full swing withmost rooms being used for interviews, etc.

However, these rooms should be availablefor studying for finals. The process forusing interview rooms as study rooms hasyet to be determined, but it will most like-ly involve scheduled sign-outs for blocksof a couple hours at a time.

Basically whats been happening on theeducation front is a very informative basiccar care workshop; the development of anonline work report database and critiquingsite - check it out at www.engsoc.uwater-loo.ca/www/wtr. On this site you canperuse past outstanding work reports forideas on formatting and structure. Also, if

you are looking for help editing yourreport, a list of critiquers is also availableon this site. If you feel you would be agood work report critiquer you can sign upto volunteer your time as well.

One final note - watch for debt load sur-veys coming out soon. Please take the timeto fill these out as they provide very usefulinformation on how much the tuition hikesare killing us. Many of you (like me) havedouble school terms coming up and withthe extra 15% tuition hike that just wentthrough well need to start saving now.

Mark Mollison

VP Finance

Josh Levitz

VP Education

WEEF Proposals are open until March7th, please see the WEEF websitefor more info.www.eng.uwaterloo.ca/~weef

Please note that all proposals require ahard and a soft copy. And as a reminderfor some, late proposals will NOT beaccepted, under any circumstance.If you have any questions, dont be afraidto drop by the WEEF office or send me anemail at weef@engmail.

Denis ViensWEEF Director

WEEF Director Report

Denis Viens

WEEF Director

Mark your calendars! On February 27from 4:30-6:30pm in the DCFishbowl (DC 1301) the Women InEngineering (WIE) and Mathematics(WIM) committee will together host a

Women In Technology Night. Guestspeakers include Vivienne Ojala whoworks for SS technologies and is a gradu-ate of university of Waterloo systems engi-neering in 1984 and Diane McKelvie fromCo-op services coming in to talk aboutSexual Harassment and the protocol for usas a co-op student in dealing with it. Theywill be on hand to share their experiencesand provide some insight to how they have

managed. This night is anticipated to bevery informative regardless of gender andof course enjoyable! Food and refresh-ments will be provided free of charge. Allare welcome to attend!

For more information on this and futureevents such as Women In EngineeringReception (Wine n Cheese) and Pot Luckdinner for all the under graduates that are

coming up in March, please check out therecently updated WIE web site at:http://www.eng.uwaterloo.ca/~w-in-eng/

Women In Engineering Calls for Women in Technology

Night

Afsheen Khan

Initiative Developer, WIE


5/12


Your Campus

money by sowing and gardening to gettheir children a tutor to teach them something every evening.

After briefly clarifying the Geo-politicalsituation of Afghanistan she commentedon how countries walked away after thewar destruction and have backed out theirpledge of reconstruction. The frugality iseven more threatened looking at the s itua-tion in Middle East now. She described ingreat details the living style of the villagers

in the rural area with 75 percent of pastoralcommunity. There are millions of refugeesliving in tents and are deprived of theirvery basic needs such as food, clothingand proper housing to stand such harshwinters. People and children are highly tal-ented and enthusiastic with great spirits toimprove their situation and get educatedand trained.

An International organization futureGeneration America and Care Canada aretrying to overcome the impact of droughtand rebuilding regions heavily shelled.The land is very fertile and there are areasof mine lands but water is an importantresource needed in plenty to harvest the

land and make it in use.

Thus, proper network of irrigation is need-ed, and ways to use water intelligently forseveral different purposes. The sanitationsystems, rebuilding of schools, universi-ties and hospitals all these are the works ofengineers who can find their means towork in limited resources and bring a greatchange in the lives of these people whobeen victimized for years. In answer to oneof the questions she said that"The need education, security, and jobs -

so that they are able to do something withtheir skills. They have lost everything andneed our basic help."

Flora Macdonald inspired the UW engi-neers to the extent that they stood up inapplause and agreement to her speech andfar not the days when any one them in thehall get inspired and actually take an ini-tiative to go there and work with them.Claire Danscreau gave a brief introductionof her self and her organization. She hasbeen an executive director of CUSO forlast two years. It is an organization, whichhelp countries over seas in funding theirprojects. The major aims are recruitment,social justice, irradiation of poverty, and

removing gender imbalance. According toher: " Giving of funds is like an investmentin your future". She encouraged engineersto help make people's life better as theyhave a great role to play in reconstructionand building of the world.

She gave her three rules of thumb for allthe engineers to remember for all times intheir professional careers through theirlives." Go with the flow, Go in there withthe intention of learning, Go in there think-ing you will learn more than you can

teach". Her golden words of wisdom aretrue what ever we do and wherever we go,and are indeed a key to success.

Thus, the entire discussion was very mov-ing and inspiring. It lifts our spirits andencourages us to look further away andthink of possibilities of taking our ingenu-ity overseas and helping all those in mostneed of it today. We engineers are buildersof the world and we use our skills andknowledge to make this world a betterplace to live in.

Okay, guys, Im going to be as truthfulas I can with this. What do womenreally want? If we knew, wed avoid manydisastrous problems. This list of thingshas been compiled from my vast experi-ences throughout the world. Here we go!

Women want a place where they can besafe from the world, a place where theycan be free to do what they want and to bewhat they want. Somewhere no one elsewill ever see or desecrate. Now the sanc-tuary can come in different forms, depend-ing on the woman. The following are notthe only forms the sanctuary can take;theyre the ones I find are more popular.And theyre in no order beyond what Ithink of first. Fathers, boyfriends, bed-room or bed, art studio, car, chair or couch,bathtub, best friend. If anyone would careto refute these, please feel free to conducta survey of where women go when theyneed to escape.

Women want people to listen to them. Itdoesnt matter the subject. Women needto rant sometimes. (Im not talking aboutcomplaining about everything wrong in

their life; Im saying women need to saythings about life, their lives, others lives,or anything else. I know how they feel. Iwish I had things to say). Women need toexpress their feelings. Most often, womenonly rant to people they know or trust. Butwhen a women rants, for all you holdsacred, listen to her! You dont necessari-ly need to act upon everything she says. Infact, she likely wont expect anything tocome of her words. But you need to listento her. Support her where necessary. Rantalong with her (but be careful not to inter-rupt). And never ever contradict her dur-ing a rant. For all you best friends outthere, the last few points really apply toyou.

Women want independence and freedom.This applies to freedom from the world,freedom from their troubles, freedom fromtheir friends and family at times. This onelinks into the sanctuary. When a womanretreats into her sanctuary, its often best toleave them be for a while. In a grandersense, women want to be self-dependent.Guys, how would you feel if someone keptyou isolated from the world because it wastoo dangerous? Women like to faceadversity and challenge as well. Womenneed to know that theyre capable of doingthings for themselves. So let them. Dontinterfere with their plans or dreams or

jobs.

Women want personal space. Dont

always crowd them. Like men, womenwant time away to spend with theirfriends, with their family, and alone.

Women dont need someone watchingover them all the time. Guys, if you wantto have a healthy relationship, you needtime apart. You must let a woman knowyou trust her, and part of that comes fromletting her have her own time.

That being said, women also want supportwhen theyre in trouble, or support whentheyre lost. To be more precise (becausesometimes I can be quite vague aboutthings), women want someone to go to ifthings get out of hand. If a woman is inemotional turmoil, she wants someonewho can help her get back under control.But she may also want to sort things outfor herself. This is a subject to be carefulabout.

Closely related to that, women want secu-rity. They want something they candepend on, something steadfast that willalways be there. This may come in theform of a boyfriend/husband, best friend,family, or all of the above. Or even some-thing else, a pet perhaps. Maybe a houseto come home to or a car or a photograph.There are plenty of possibilities here.

When it comes to boyfriends, Ive noticeda few things girls want (not me, usually;Dave Girodat knows why). Girls want awell-dressed man. This doesnt mean

someone who always walks around in abusiness suit. This means someone with acoordinated wardrobe. Someone whowears things that stand out (but dontscream and yell at you). Women want aman who puts effort into his dress. Thisshows that the man has self-respect.

Women want a man whos not afraid to behimself. Theres nothing worse thanfalling in love with a man, and then find-ing out that hes no good in public. Well,unless the public guy just happens to alsosuit the womans tastes. But its muchsafer for guys just to be themselves sothere are no relationship-ruining surpriseslater on.

Women want a man to be respectable.They want a man who is responsible, funto be with, doesnt do stupid things (well,a few stupid things are accepted, luckilyfor guys everywhere). Women want a manwho doesnt go out with the guys everynight to get drunk at a bar. Sorry, guys,thats the way it is. Drinking is bad for thehealth, bad for the finances, and it can geta guy into too many compromising situa-tions. Drunk people cant be trusted. Andwomen want trust.

I think that covers the big things thatwomen want. To all of you women out

there, please let me know how well I didwith this article.

Men want girls with bigger boobs thanbrains. Now, that I have revolted,annoyed or amused most of you, I will goon to say that this article is based on mylimited experience in this fine world. Iconcede that there are exceptions to everyrule and the generalizations I make are doNOT apply to all men folk. Without fur-ther ado, I reveal to you the mysteries ofour male society.

Men want stability. When it comes to lifeand relationships, their goal is to feel safe.They spent their entire life tackling prob-lems and challenges and thus, when it'stime to come home, security is the thing tolook forward to. While women enjoy gos-siping about people, men find that theirtime is better spent talking about things.Hot lunch topics range from drinking sto-ries and video games to latest rendezvouswith the flavour of the month.

To put it this way, men enjoy comparingthings. Comparing the size of their malemembers is common and a great manyinsults are born from this specimen.Apparently, bigger male members aremore desirable and considered manly.Now that we are talking big, another thingthat comes to mind is ego. Some men have

egos the size of a room and others, the sizeof a peanut. And these egos need to be fedby their accomplishments, no matter howsmall. I would like to ask the female read-ers, ever notice that if your boy toy boughta new shiny monitor, everyone that comeswithin a 20 meter radius has to know aboutit. There are stories of achievements thatyou have probably heard over and overagain. And you find yourselves wonder-ing, if men were to hear themselves talk,would they think the same thing thatwomen, think?

Men want sex, regular sex. They are like a

landlord, only instead of monthly pay-ments, weekly or bi-weekly relief is need-ed. Will it be straight up or girl on top?

Losing their virginity is another big issue.If you are an 18 year old male and a virgin,the only options are to use clich phraseslike "I'm waiting for it", or to lose it as fastas you can and make sure that the this topsecret is never leaked to your friends.What happened to sex after marriage?Erm...That'd be a woman thing. As sacredas virginity is to women, for men, it is anembarrassment. Stories circulate amongclose friends about this virginity-losing rit-ual as memories of "back then".

When it comes to relationships, men wantto make women happy. The most dreadedphrase to hit the male ear must be "Honey,we need to talk about our relationship".According to guys, the fact that girls needto talk about their relationship with theirsignificant other indicates that there issomething wrong. Guys have an insatiableneed to fix things. When girls indicate thatthey need to talk, guys, assuming thatsomething is wrong, take it as a green lightto start fixing. Also, while women like toimprove on the good things of a relation-ship, men would much rather prefer forthings to stay the same, unless there is aproblem.

Men enjoy attention, especially from theirgirlfriends. They like it when girls playwith their hair, give them hugs and rub

their arms. They seem to respond withtheir senses. This is the reason why, forexample, if you are having dinner withyour boyfriend in a restaurant and a "hot"girl walks in, the guy's eyes will immedi-ately fly to her and follow her until she isout of sight. As shallow as it sounds, ifmen see something they like, they seemdrawn to it, like bees to honey.

So what do guys want? Stability, sex,admiration, happiness, and attention.Now, if only guys could figure out whatgirls want.

What Men Want What Women Want

John Olaveson

1B Civil

Ruchi Bhalla

1B Software

EWB Conference...continued from Page 3.


6/12


Iron Ring

Iron Ring Ceremony

The Iron Ring Ceremony, or IRC, is atradition dating back to 1922, whenthe seven past-presidents of the

Engineering Institute of Canada met inMontreal. Professor Haultain of theUniversity of Toronto recommended tothe group that an organization be createdto bind all members of the engineeringprofession in Canada more closely togeth-er. [1] His suggestion was well receivedby the group, and with their blessing he setabout pursuing this goal to unite engi-neers.

To that end, Haultain wrote to his goodfriend Rudyard Kipling, the famousBritish poet, whose works had oftenprominently featured engineers. Kiplingis mostly known to us through his poemsKim and If, and by his story The

Jungle Book. In his letter to Kipling,Haultain asked the poet to fashion an oath,or obligation, and a ceremony befittingthe goal to instil a sense of responsibilityand humility upon certified engineers.Kipling agreed, and in 1923 delivered toHaultain and the newly formed Camp ofthe Seven Wardens The Ritual of theCalling of the Engineer.

The ritual calls for the oath-taker to layhis hand on cold iron and to adheresolemnly to the highest ideals of the engi-neering profession. It is not a call forengineers to show the world what can bedone with their knowledge, but rather to

be humble and to use that knowledge toserve society in the best way they knowhow. The iron ring is given to the oath-taker and newly obligated engineer as areminder to them of the promise they havemade to themselves: nothing more, noth-ing less.

This being said, there are several mythssurrounding the ritual, the ring and theirorigins that are either deceiving or simplyuntrue. The first is that the ritual and theiron ring are a mandatory element of theWaterloo engineering degree, and that par-ticipating in the ritual is part of an acade-mic requirement to graduate. This is nottrue. The ritual, the oath and the obliga-

tion are all done voluntarily, and in factthere are some graduating students everyyear around this time who choose not toparticipate. Likewise, the ritual and thering are in no way connected to the pro-fessional designation P.Eng. that isbestowed upon engineers by provincialregulatory and licensing bodies, such asPEO (Professional Engineers Ontario),OIQ (Ordre des Ingnieurs du Qubec), orAPENS (Association of ProfessionalEngineers of Nova Scotia), among others.

The second myth is that the Ritual of theCalling of an Engineer is performed by allengineers the world over. In fact, both the

Dave Clegg

4B Computer

Humility and

Celebration:

IRC and IRS

at U of W

Though the Qubec Bridge Disaster of1907 is often erroneously cited asbeing closely associated with the estab-lishment of the Ritual of the Calling ofthe Engineer and the iron ring itself(please see the article Humility andCelebration for more details), the story ofthe collapse of one of the greatest engi-neering feats in history resonates clearlywith anyone who takes the oath. Thelessons learned from the story lie at thevery heart of engineering responsibility,humility and service espoused by RudyardKipling and the Camp of the SevenWardens.

In the latter years of the 19th century theQubec Bridge Company (QBC) granted acontract to the Phoenix Bridge Company(PBC) to build the largest cantileverbridge in history over the St. Lawrenceseaway, linking Qubec City to the southshore and facilitating trade with Maine andthe other New England states. They alsohired the renowned American bridgebuilder and engineer Theodore Cooper to

oversee the engineering design and con-struction. [1] This bridge, spanning 1800ft, was to be the largest cantilever bridge inhistory and the pinnacle of Cooperscareer.

Because of delays in funding from theQBC [2] and because of an over-zealousdesire to push forward with the project,construction on the bridge began after thepreliminary drawings from engineer PeterSzlapka of PBC were approved by Cooperbut before the working drawings werecompleted. When the working drawingswere finally examined by Cooper he real-ized that the initial estimate from the pre-liminary drawings on the weight of thespan was about eight million pounds lessthan what the weight would be in reality.[1] At this point Cooper had the choice torisk that this would not be a problem orcondemn the design and start all overagain, [1] which would risk the crowningjewel of his career, since restarting theconstruction might completely halt theproject due to the finan-cially precarious posi-tion of the QBC.

Cooper decided that theeight million poundswere within engineer-ing tolerances [1] and

decided to proceed withthe project. As thebridge neared comple-tion in the summer of1907 many troublingreports began to surface. In June somegirders were reported as being misalignedby a quarter of an inch, and in August itwas reported that the same girders had fur-ther moved and now appeared bent. [1]Though Cooper was concerned, the PBCassured him that the girders had been bentwhen they left shop, though they gave noexplanation as to how that bend had wors-ened over time. [3] The greatest warningappeared on August 27th when chord 9-Lof the south anchor arm showed an

increased deflection of an inch and a half

within a weeks time. [3] This alarmedCooper enough to send a telegram fromhis office in New York to the PBC stating:Add no more load to bridge till after dueconsideration of facts.

But it was too little, too late. At 5:32 PMon the afternoon of August 29th, chords 9-L and 9-R of the southanchor arm buckled,and the Qubec Bridgecollapsed. [3] 75 work-ers plunged over 150feet to their deaths thatday [1] because of amistake which the ensu-ing Royal Commissionplaced squarely on theshoulders of TheodoreCooper and PeterSzlapka. They stated intheir report that "Thefailure cannot be attrib-uted directly to anycause other than errorsin judgment on the partof these two engi-neers...A grave errorwas made in assumingthe dead load for thecalculations at too lowa value...This error wasof sufficient magnitude

to have required thecondemnation of thebridge, even if thedetails of the lowerchords had been of suf-ficient strength." [4]

The Qubec Bridgewas eventually com-pleted in 1917, thoughit had to suffer onemore disaster before itearned the right tostand. On September11 1916, when the newcenter span was beinghoisted into place afterbeing floated down theSt. Lawrence river, oneof the rocker arms lift-ing it into place failed,plunging the span intothe river below andkilling 11 workers. [5]

The history of theQubec Bridge is one ofthe few stories Canadianengineers will not soonforget. Though thebridge still maintains itsrecord as the longestcantilever bridge ever

built [5], that title cameat a huge cost for bothCanadians of the timeand for the families ofthose 86 workers.

Engineers of the day were perhaps think-ing of the Qubec Bridge disaster whenthey pushed for a more tightly bound engi-neering community in 1922, though thereis no direct evidence that connects them.Even so, the lessons of 1907 are still as rel-evant today as they were back then: engi-neers bear the burden of a greatresponsibility to society, and that burdencannot be shouldered lightly.

[1] Qubec Br idge Collapse,

http://www.mysteriesofcanada.com/Quebec/quebec_bridge_collapse.htm, accessedFebruary 23rd, 2003.[2] Qubec Bridge 1 - Prelude toF a i l u r e ,http://www.civeng.carleton.ca/ECL/reports/ECL270/Prelude.html, accessedFebruary 23rd, 2003.

[3] Qubec Bridge 1 - The Slow Fall,http://www.civeng.carleton.ca/ECL/reports/ECL270/Falling-Slowly.html, accessedFebruary 23rd, 2003.[4] Qubec Bridge 1 - Judgement,http://www.civeng.carleton.ca/ECL/reports/ECL270/Judgement.html, accessedFebruary 23rd, 2003.[5] Infamous Bridge Disasters,http://filebox.vt.edu/users/aschaeff/que-

bec/quebec.html, accessed February 23rd,2003.

All photos courtesy of the Department ofCivil Engineering at Carleton University,Ottawa, Canada.

Dave Clegg

4B Computer

Disaster on the St. Lawrence Seaway:

The story of the Qubec Bridge Disaster

The Qubec Bridge after its collapse in 1907. The disaster

killed 75 workers.

The Qubec Bridge after its center span collapsed in 1916,

killing 11 more workers.

The completed Qubec bridge as it stands today.

...engineers bear the

burden of a great

responsibility to soci-

ety, and that burden

cannot be shoulderedlightly.


7/12


Iron Ring

ritual and the ring are copyrighted and reg-istered respectively for use in Canada andby Canadian engineers only. This was atthe request of Rudyard Kipling himself,who wrote the oath and designed the cere-mony to solely be used by Canadian engi-neers. The current Camp of the Seven

Wardens has adhered to Kiplings requestand has not allowed the ritual of the ring toextend outside Canadas borders, despitemany requests. This restriction extendseven to our close neighbours, the UnitedStates.

Finally, contrary to popular belief, theoriginal iron rings were NOT actuallymade from the iron found in the rubblefrom the collapse of the Qubec Bridge.According to Robert Sabourin, Presidentof amibug.com, Inc. and lecturer for theMcGill University Software EngineeringPractices course, the ring is NOT actuallya reminder of the collapse of the QubecBridge and should not be viewed in anyother way other than what the originalseven Wardens intended. This is support-ed by the actual chronological timeline ofthe Qubec Bridge disaster, since the firstdisaster occurred in 1907 and the secondoccurred in 1916, a full 15 and 6 yearsrespectively prior to the Haultain address.It is unlikely that at this time Haultain andthe seven past-presidents had even consid-ered the iron ring as an emblem for theirorganization.

The story of the Qubec Bridge disaster,although unrelated directly to the iron ringand the ritual, is an appropriate reminderof the intention of Haultain and his com-

rades. Please see the article Disaster onthe St. Lawrence Seaway for details.

Iron Ring StagIf the Iron Ring Ceremony at Waterloo canbe compared to a wedding, then the IronRing Stag, or IRS, can be described as thereception afterwards. Though the couplehas been waiting a long time for thesolemn ceremony in which they are joined,there is an air of celebration as well, andthe reception is where they let loose andcelebrate in their own way this achieve-ment in their life.

The Iron Ring Stag functions much the

same way for engineers at Waterloo.Though the primary goal of the day is toreceive the ring in a solemn ceremony, thisis also a monumental achievement forengineers who have worked to get therefor the last five years, and they celebrate,in their own way, this achievement in theirlife.

The celebrations surrounding the IRC/IRS

day (commonly called IRS day, or simplyIRS for short) can be divided into two cat-egories: pre- and post-IRC celebrations.Some classes begin the pre-IRC celebra-tions by pulling an IRS prank in the earlymorning. These are traditionally harmlesspranks and are designed to start the day in

a festive mood. In the past classes havehung banners from the roof of the schoolor filled computer labs with candy. Thisyear the pranks included the constructionof a brick wall and the relocation of sever-al recycling bins into an engineering hall-way.

Barring those who get up early for theirpranks and for other events, the day startsfor most people at the class champagnebreakfast. IRS is an intensely class-orient-ed day, and at these breakfasts the class hasusually pooled their money to purchasesome assistance from volunteer lower-yearengineers. Called IRS slaves for short,the slave auction is organized by theGraduation Committee (or Gradcomm)earlier in the term as a fundraiser, and theyounger years volunteer their time to helpout with the graduating classes while at thesame time raising money for Gradcomm.This camaraderie in engineering is charac-teristic of many of the events that takeplace during the year.

At the champagne breakfast, usually heldas someones house, the slaves typicallyact as hosts, cooking and serving the mealwhile the grads socialize with one anotherand drink champagne to toast the occasion.Most people generally dress up in crazyclothes, the purpose of which becomes

more apparent at the actual stag in theevening. For now however, it remains partof the tradition and celebration surround-ing the pre-IRC festivities. Costumes canvary from pimps to astronauts to ninjas tosailors to Simpsons characters, and evencross-dressers!

At around 10 AM the classes usually finishtheir breakfast and head to school. Asmost professors cancel lectures on IRSday, the classes spend a few hours cele-brating in the hallways of the school inwhich they have spent the last five yearsearning their degree. This can involveanything from chilling in POETS, theengineering lounge, to visiting past profes-sors.

The school visitation can also involveinterrupting engineering classes and tutori-als in session. This is part of the celebra-tion that grads go through in order to markthe achievement of their day, and in mostcases this disruption is tolerated. This isanalogous to the way that newlyweds,their wedding party and their guests stream

from the church to the location of the pho-tos, honking horns and stopping traffic asthey go. In most cases the regular flow oftraffic is disrupted for a few minutes atmost while the wedding train passes, andmost drivers dont mind the disruption outof respect for the importance of the day to

the couple. In the same way do classes sel-dom get disrupted for more than a minuteat a time, and there are rarely any com-plaints so long as the students and profes-sors are aware of the significance of theday to the participants.

During the school visitation another groupof lower-year volunteers called IRSSecurity tends to walk around with theclasses to keep excessive rowdiness undercontrol and to guide the classes in appro-priate directions. These are once againengineering students helping out, and likethe IRS slaves, the engineering gradsrespect these people immensely, for theyare helping make their day more enjoy-able. This is another example of the engi-neering camaraderie alluded to earlier.

POETS begins to serve drinks at noon onIRS day, and by mid-afternoon most class-es usually convene there for a little relax-ation and to watch the IRS clockcountdown. The rollover of the POETSIRS clock is akin to the ringing in of theNew Year, and the celebration in POETSat that time is comparable. The clockcountdown usually marks the end of thepre-IRC celebration, as most students thenreturn home to change for their ring cere-mony or go out for dinner with family orfriends that have come to Waterloo for the

occasion.

After the ring ceremony the post-IRC cel-ebrations, or namely, the Iron Ring Stagitself, begin. In past years the stag hasbeen held at many places, including FedHall as well as off-campus venues. Thestag can generally be distinguished froman ordinary party or gathering by twothings: the attire of the participants and theappearance of the Engineering mascot, theTool.

The attire at the IRS is the first traditionassociated with the post-IRC celebration.All attendees end up wearing black, sincenon-black clothing is traditionally rippedoff once the person steps on the dancefloor. This is the reason for the crazyclothes mentioned earlier: many peoplebuy their crazy clothes, wear them all day,and then bring them to IRS and get themripped off on the dance floor. The traditionstates that all non-black clothing isremoved, and so underneath their crazyclothes most people wear the black IRSshorts that they received when purchasing

their IRS ticket. Girls additionally wear ablack t-shirt or sports bra.

The Tool is also of great importance at theIRS, since ringed engineers are the onlyones allowed to touch the mascot. Havingbeen obligated at the Iron Ring Ceremony

earlier in the day, all attendees at the IRSare eligible to touch the mascot. Again,this is an achievement and reward for fiveyears of work, and the IRS celebration isindicative of the hard work and dedicationthat these engineering students have putinto their degrees.

Similarities can once again be drawnbetween the events of the IRS and a wed-ding reception. Though the primary tradi-tions of the wedding day occur at theceremony itself, the reception is full ofadditional small traditions that areobserved without fail. The clinking of thewedding glasses to make the bride andgroom kiss, or the tossing of the bouquetand the garter are both examples of thesetraditions that contribute to the overall cel-ebration that is the reception. Similarly,the black attire and the appearance of theTool are traditions associated with IRS,and they contribute to the celebration thatis the stag. Where the clinking of theglasses celebrates and congratulates thenew union between man and wife, so doesthe appearance of the Tool celebrate andcongratulate the newly obligated engi-neers.

As well, the inclusion of alcohol in the IRSfestivities can hardly be criticized, as it isa traditional implement of celebration.

Most attendees of a wedding receptionwould expect drinks to be served, andwould be disappointed if they were not. Inaddition, the bride and groom are not crit-icized for missing the point of their wed-ding if they imbibe at the reception tocelebrate. Similarly engineers should notbe criticized for doing the same thingwhen, just like the bride and groom, theyfully realize the significance of the cere-mony in which they took part.

IRS is a celebration to mark a major mile-stone in the life of an engineer. Our livesare replete with similar milestones, andthere will be similar celebrations toaccompany them. To respect one and todeny another is to pretend that one under-stands the significance of all things to allpeople. A wedding day is just one day inthe life of a person where we makeallowances for celebration. IRS is just oneday for a different milestone.

[1] The Iron Ring, www.ironring.ca,accessed February 23rd, 2003.

Left to Right, then Top to bottom: 1)

How will that thing rise, anyway? 2)

Hugs are cool... 3) Cool duct tape job!

Extra points for originality. 4) IRS

night, dancing your troubles away, 5)

Wall? What wall? Though I think thewall of recycling bins are nice too... 6)

Hi June!


8/12


Your Campus/Opinion

Lisa Mack

Communication Associate, CECS

Since last August, besides our ownLester B. Pearson International, Ivehad the chance to take in Chicagos,Clevelands, San Franciscos, Beijings,Dalians, Shanghais, Qingdaos andSeouls airports. Until last week I wouldhave given the highly subjective BestAirport award to Chicagos OHare.

With its beautifully windowed promenadeand modern girder-based design, it wasdefinitely clean and efficient. The onlypoints where it fell down was its sheerability to process people with limitedstress. The combination of increased secu-

rity and limited moving walkways madetraversing the airport slow and arduous.

Last week, however, after a stressful timeof trying to get the cheapest possible tick-et from Dalian, China to Toronto, I foundmyself traipsing through Seouls IncheonInternational Airport.

This was not my first trip through Seoul,Ive actually been through there threetimes previously, but all I can rememberfrom those trips is that they sold me badmilk, the planes were painted powder blue,and the overhead speakers addressed peo-ple in a highly accented Radies andRentlemen, can we prease have your atten-

tion,. Now though, the airport can best besummed up as classy.

Where Pearson and OHare didnt seem tounderstand that people want to sit (i.e.there were insufficient chairs) Seoul hadover 240 chairs (I only counted those clos-est to me) for a single gate. WhereBeijings Capital Airport had uncomfort-able plastic seats that were pushed aroundat 3 a.m. to clean the floors (despite anyoccupants), Seoulschairs were comfort-able, elegantly uphol-stered and fastened tothe ground.

Incheon feels like aclassy corporate headoffice. With grey-stained hardwoodfloors, metal girdersand wall panels paint-

ed with a soft grey andchipped stone decorating the entrance toeach gate, it is relaxing and comfortable.The incalculable many moving walkwaysalso made navigation of the airport quickand pleasant.

When I went through the States on my pre-vious trips, I had to collect my checkedbaggage, go through customs then re-check it. The same happened when travel-ing through Beijing and Shanghai. InSeoul though, despite what I was toldwhen I checked-in in China, I did not haveto go through customs and I did not haveto collect my bags. We were kept on theone side of the secured area, and were

required to do nothing what so ever. Whatbliss.

At Pearson International most staff mem-bers speak English, but there are signsindicating you can request a French-speak-ing attendant. In Beijing they had mostannouncements in Chinese and English,and almost all the signs were bilingual. InSeoul though, every announcement I heardwas made in Korean, Chinese, Japanese

and English.Additionally, every signhad Korean and English,and some also hadChinese and/or Japanese.The finishing stroke tothis overwhelming multi-lingual atmosphere wasthat at the service desk, oneach attendants name tagwere little stickers sayingI can speak English, I

can speak Chinese or Ican speak Japanese. I knew which serverI could talk to before I waited in line.

In most Canadian restrooms we havewheelchair accessible facilities - to be sen-sitive to those people who need them. InChina they provided a selection of squat-ter and western style toilets - again, tobe sensitive to those people who needthem. In Korea not only did the wash-rooms have wheel-chair accessibility, butthey even had a special urinal with bars tohold for less ambulatory men.

The final pleasant feature was the servicein Incheon. While its possible I was just

lucky, and selected the one competent ser-vice attendant, Id like to think otherwise.When I checked in the attendant servingme was trilingual (Chinese, English andKorean) and very pleasant. When Iexpressed disbelief that my luggage wouldautomatically be checked through toToronto, he phoned downstairs, and read-ing my luggage claim-tags confirmed thatmy three bags had indeed been checked.He then asked me where I would like tosit: aisle, window or emergency exit(which I of course selected - three cheersfor unlimited leg-room).

So, in short, this time around they sold megood milk (they had 2%, homogenized,chocolate and strawberry), they improvedtheir English announcements (and addedChinese and Japanese) and they left me inawe.

The only failure was that their planes were

still powder blue. Either way, next time Ifly towards East Asia, Ill definitely gothrough Seoul.

Joseph Fung

3N Computer

The Worlds Best Airport

The only points

where [OHare] fell

down was its sheer

ability to process peo-

ple with limited

stress.

Co-Op Announcements


9/12


Your Campus/Opinion

With the Russians threatening tounleash nuclear terror from ever-airborne bombers and with communists inevery level of government, on every streetcorner, and in every restaurant looking togain an advantage, the United States of thefifties and sixties was a scary place to live.All you had to do was listen to the newsreports and the radio broadcasts and youwould have heard the national hero JosephMcCarthy bringing communists every-where to justice in one hearing after anoth-er.

Because of the Alien Registration Act of1940 to the House of Un-AmericanActivities Committee (HUAC) from 1938through the McCarthy era circa 1950, itwas a good time for Americans who want-

ed their government to make them feelsafe from the evils of communism in anera of communist expansion.

Of course, it wasnt so good if you had oreven were suspected to have left-wingviews, or even a sexual-deviant in theState Department.

Fast-forward to the post-SeptemberEleventh era and the US Patriot Act. Areyou an Islamic extremist? Do you know anIslamic extremist? Are you from a countrythat a known Islamic extremist has comefrom? Then you must support terrorism.But if you come forward now and registeryourself with the government you andevery other American will be safe. And ifyou come forward before the colour codedalert system moves up to Orange you get afree falafel.

Truly the time of government-ensuredsafety is upon the good moral and decentcitizens of the United States of Americaonce again.

Unfortunately, just like in the fifties whenthe government led show-trials and hear-ings rarely moved from the national spot-

light, the American people still feel unsafeand unprepared. After all, you could roundup all the communists in the country butthe Russians could still launch a nuclearattack while you were walking home fromschool or just watering the lawn.

Of course, television was the answer. See anuclear explosion? No problem! Justremember to Duckand Cover! Surelylittle Billy will be protected by hidingbehind his porch, the neighbours bush, orunder his desk at school.

Today is, of course, no different. Whilenuclear weapons are on the radar, weremore worried about chemical and biologi-cal agents, dirty bombs, and other *cuescary music* weapons of mass destruc-tion.

But fifty years later, technology hasadvanced well beyond the need for thereliable but antique duck and cover. One

has to go no farther thenhttp://www.ready.gov to learn Terrorismforces us to make a choice. Dont be

afraidBe Ready.

Did you know that in the event of a bio-logical attack you can protect yourself bycovering your mouth and nose with sever-al layers of tissue or paper towels? And inthe event of a chemical it may just be bet-ter to Stay Put which means lockingyourself in your house and covering thedoors, windows, and air vents with plasticsheeting and duct tape.

Still dont feel safe? If you look underNuclear Blast there is still the old stand-by, this time reduced to the much moreefficient Take Cover.

And if the terrorist threat isnt high, youcan support the cause of freedom by pur-chasing Freedom Fries from NealRowlands Cubbies restaurant inBeaufort, North Carolina(http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/South/02/19/offbeat.freedom.fries.ap/index.html).

Jeff Henry

3N Computer

Duck and Cover

The first wonder is, as you may know,the Dana Porter Library, which can beseen to be slightly leaning, much like thetower of Pisa. According to leadingexperts, the structure may collapse on anyday. This article aims to exploreWaterloos 2nd Wonder, and its wide-reaching applications in developing coun-tries and the field of thermodynamics.Please read on ye eager explorers of sci-ence.

Mentally picture yourself by the E2 photo-copiers, the ones by the Formula SAE car.Good, now walk out the doors towardsNeedles Hall. Next to RCH, you willencounter a daunting yet admirable flightof 16 stairs. After mounting all 16, turnright towards E2, and enter the doors nextto the bike rack. Now descend the trivialyet annoying 8 stairs. Now heres wherewe enter the 2nd wonder of Waterloo.

Simple algebra will show us to be at a netstair height of:

Hnet stair = 16 stairs up - 8 stairs down =

8 stairs

By walking along the systems hallway, weare able to return to our starting point, thephotocopiers, without encountering anystairs. We have got back to where we start-ed, but have gone up a net of 8 stairs!There is only one insignificant ramp, andminor fluctuations in ground level inbetween the two flights of steps. How isthis possible, and what a waste of energy!But wait, if we reverse our direction, wewill have effectively descended 8 stairs!Thus, the gain in energy can be found withthe equation for potential energy:

delta(PE) = mg delta(h) = mass x g x (8stairs) = 80 stairs.m.kg/s2

The units may not be precise, but theimplications of this discovery will shockthe leading entropy physicists for decadesto come. What does this mean? Where can

we go from here? These are all good ques-tions, and we shall try our best to explainthem in laymans terms.

Suppose we roll a bowling ball down the16 steps using a frictionless ramp. If westrategically position a perfectly elasticwall to deflect the perfectly elastic bowl-ing ball, it could theoretically climb the 8stairs, and have gained 80 stairs.m.kg/s2 ofpurely kinetic energy. As we allow this ballto continue, it will eventually approach aterminal velocity of approximately 8.53million m/s after a period of 270 hours orapproximately 12 days (please refer toArticle 37 in the Feb.30th 2002 edition ofMechanics and Models). This energycould be used to compress a spring, drivea magnetic field, rotate a turbine or split aUranium-235 isotope i.e. energy for all,energy for free. Eat that, Boltzmann! Longlive the perpetual motion machine, baby!

So What?Good question, young student. An energyproducing mechanism would be incrediblyuseful to developing countries. Just imag-

ine the possibilities.

For example, we have proposed to harnessthis free energy using the following inge-

nious scheme. Allow a ball to roll along alow-friction track that follows the mysteri-ous yet wonderous path. After a velocity of300 m/s (i.e. the speed of sound), the ballwill spin a turbine in the C and D, whichcould potentially power the two 750 Wattmicrowaves in POETS for 35 minuteseach, or the equivalent of being able tolightly brown 60 hamburgers. These ham-burgers will then be sold in the CPH hall-way at a profit of $1.35 each, of which$0.15 can be put towards funding a waterpurification system in Kenya. The remain-ing $1.20 can go towards EngSoc to fundPub Crawls and SCUNT. We calculate thatin 3 years, 25 new water filtration systemscan be installed throughout the country.

And you thought engineers couldnt makea difference! Think again, pal thinkagain.

Chris Lau and Drew Morris

3B Systems Design

The Second Wonder of Waterloo

So it's November and you're in OAC (orgrade 12 nowadays) and you think

"Hey, I wanna be a Waterloo engineer."You proceed to research the differentoptions available to you. You weigh thepros and cons. Some factors that mighthelp you make your decision include thejob you could get upon graduation, thesubjects you most enjoy in school, themarks required for acceptance, and manymore. These are the factors that (arguably)should dictate what type of engineeringyou choose to pursue. They might bejoined by something new; something thatuntil recently was not as significant anissue; something that could (arguably)influence prospective students to enter a

program they otherwise would not.

This issue is the cost of being an 8-streamvs. 4-stream (or if you're an elec, 4S-stream) student. With 15% tuition increas-

es coming in our faculty prior to everysummer term, the cost of being a 4-streamstudent is up to 34% (of 1A tuition) morethan it would be for an 8-stream student.That translates to a difference of $1033 ifyour 1A tuition was $3038 as it was thispast fall.

Is the stream in which you find yourselfupon arrival at Waterloo worth more orless than the other stream? Should twopeople who start their degrees at the sametime and end at the same time have to paydifferent prices? Could you argue thatCivil is more of a bargain than Systems?The argument becomes more compellingwhen you look at the programs that have

two streams. Mechanical, computer engi-neering, and now chemical, have both 8-stream students as well as 4-streamstudents. For the exact same degree,should one be paying more than the other?

Unlike most universities, Waterloo has aco-op program that has students doing var-ious terms at unorthodox times of the year,thus making tuition increases non-uniformfor those students who are in the co-opprogram. At any other Ontario school,tuition increases would happen in the falland every student (based on program orfaculty) would pay the same amount. Inessence, everyone doing the same degreepays the same fees.

There are factors that can improve the lotof the impoverished 4-stream student,however. Having co-op first means thatthey can pay those first year bills more

easily and don't have to go two terms intodebt before starting to earn some of thatmoney back. It also decreases the compe-tition of finding jobs; for the summer term,engineering students all over the province

are looking; during the winter, it's onlyWaterloo students.

Do these benefits add up to the extraamount of being a 4-stream student?Should the coop schedule dictate whattype of engineering a graduating highschool student picks? Can the Universitydo anything to address this issue? In thishumble writer's opinion, the answers tothese three questions are: no; no; and evenif they could do something, do they careenough to do it?

Illan Kramer

3B Electrical

The Cost of Being in 4-Stream


10/12

1 0 We d n e sd a y , Fe b ru a ry 2 6 , 2 0 0 3

Arts and Entertainment

There are three types of people whoread the Enginews (or Enginoods, orwhatever else you might want to callthem). There are the people who read thelists, look at the cartoons and then discardthe newsletter wherever they happen to be

standing. There are the hardcore fans, whoread every last letter of jokes, articles, andwitticisms hoping that the next will be fun-nier than the last. Then there are formereditors. These are people with humouris-tic egos big enough that their heads canbarely fit into RCH 101; people whobelieve that nobody before them or afterthem have been, or will be as funny as theywere; people who know in their heart ofhearts that they are simply the best.

I, O my brothers, fall into the last catego-ry, so as you read this article, keep in mindthat it may be slightly biased.

The Enginoods, as the editors have decid-

ed to call it this term, is quite simply notvery funny. There are the obligatory gutreaction laughs because of articles thatdeal with being funny when drunk, orswearing where swearing is not expected.There are problems, however, when itcomes to the actual articles. These articlestend to be long, politically (on a universityscale) based, and with a low SSR (sub-stance-to-swearing-ratio). This edition ofthe 'Noods fills the needs of the first cate-

gory of Enginews readers. The secondmight feel that something is lacking. Wewon't get too much into the third category,because as I have already mentioned, theywill never be pleased.

Let me say, however, that not everythingabout this newest edition of the Enginoodsis bad, and the these recent editions are farfrom the worst Enginews in recent years.In fact, aside from when I was an editor,they might be the best. I have been adevoted reader of the Enginews sinceSpring 2000 (Although I've only read themin B-soc terms). Unlike the low points ofthat Spring term, and the following winterterm, the Enginoods this term is not simply

full of email forwards and internet jokes.Much of their content is original; an essen-tial element to a successful publication. Itis clear that the editors have gone to sometrouble trying to write about the hot-topicsof the week, and are doing a good job get-ting reader submissions.

In the opinion of this former editor, theproblem could be one of two things: eitherthe current editors simply aren't funny

people, and should focus on writing forother publications; or that they need somemore inspiration.

Assuming for a moment that the editorsare funny, the problem must be the inspi-ration. "But what could be more inspiringthan a weeks worth of happenings from afaculty of over 3000 students," you ask?Perhaps we need look no further than themirror.

That's right people, you're simply notdoing that many interesting things any-more. Sure, going to the local bar anddrinking till you puke has that one-halaugh potential, but I'm talking about real-

ly funny stories. Stories that involve steal-ing all the toilet paper from the Mathbuilding. Stories that involve lightingJune's skirt on fire. Stories that ofteninvolve some body part interacting in away that it shouldn't be with some otherbody part (either on your body, or some-one elses). Stories that can inspire writersto write things for your Thursday morningreading pleasure.

In conclusion, I would just like to say thatthe Enginews was the best it has ever been,and will likely ever be in the Fall of 2001,but it's not that bad this term. Why notstop into POETS and grab yourself acopy? And remember, if you think itsucks, that's only because you do.

-Hollywood

Another Day, Another Comic Ryan BayneMutant Dog Creator

Hiu Lam Yau

3B Mechanical

Illan Kramer

3B Electrical

Heres the schedule of events for Arts Week (Feb. 24-28):

All events are 11:30am-12:30pm, CPH foyer.

Monday: fingerpainting.

Tuesday: Duct Tape Sculpture contest, with Prizes.

Wednesday: Make your own Arts Week event day. Youshow up to CPH foyer and make up an arts week event!

Thursday: poetry readings/improv limericks

Friday: "No event day" since Artsies all take Fridays off.

Plus there will be some music in CPH foyer during thelunches.

Arts WeekSchedule

Grant Holohan and Dallas Card

Arts Directors

The News vs. the Noods


11/12

1 1We d n e sd a y , Fe b ru a ry 2 6 , 2 0 0 3

Arts and Entertainment

Its that time of the year again - the awardseasons when people will inevitablyargue why one sentimental melodrama issuperior to another sentimental melodra-ma. As Im trying to place my bets forOscar, I found that 2002 was a productiveyear for films aimed at the female demo-graphic. This is reflected not only in thequantity, but the names associated with theproduction and, surprisingly, the quality.

Whats a chick-flick year without romanticcomedy? If not the icing on the cake, itscertainly great eye-candy seeing CameronDiaz dancing in underwear for half of themovie, while looking for The SweetestThing called love. Hopeless? At least Imnot the only one that thinks so. Tired of thejungle out there are two New YorkersHelen Cooper and Jessica Stein, who start-ed a relationship by placing and answering

a woman-seeking-woman personal in thepaper (Kissing Jessica Stein). If you like itmore exotic, there are the imports like

Monsoon Wedding, or a BollywoodHollywood hybrid. Dont forget the home-made, highest-grossing indie movie of alltime; My Big Fat GreekWedding was justreleased in video foryour amusement.

Of course, there aremany more to chickflicks than just sugarand spice, with tougher,smarter women.Jennifer Lopez tookcombat classes intend-ing to kill her husband(Enough). Erika Christensen attempted toput on Glenn Closes seductive charm inSwimfan, the high school remake of FatalAttraction. You have Spielberg too, in hisnot-so-chick-flick Minority Report, admit-ting the more gifted one is the female.

When pop divas partake in making thisgenre, the results are Golden Raspberrynominations (www.razzies.com). Britney

Spears road trip flick was targeted atanyone whose age is in single digits orwhose IQ doesn't exceed double digits

(Peter Howell, TheToronto Star). Even bet-ter, Mrs. Sexiest-Man-Alive (well, not quiteyet) left her block andmoved to Manhattan tobe a chambermaid. Thestory? Err, I dontremember, but be sure tolet me know if you go tosee a J. Lo movie for thesake of plot. Anyone?

Critics seem to give their vote to the por-trayal of somewhat troubled females. Yousee Lovely and Amazing women, whocould have been found next to you on thebus, or at the grocery check-out, beinginsecure about how their image is per-ceived by others, and ultimately, them-

selves. There are dancers accused of mur-dering their husband/lover (Chicago), anda wife suspected of having an affair

(Unfaithful). Nominated for the Oscars areJulianne Moore as a frustrated 50s house-wife in The Hours, and Julianne Moore asa frustrated 50s housewife in Far fromHeaven. Instead of Russell Crowes JohnNash in biopic A Beautiful Mind, GoldenGlobe this year nodded at The Hours, andNicole Kidmans struggling VirginiaWoolf.

In this extremely market-driven industry,the massive quantity of chick-flick pro-ductions can only be explained by a wideviewership, both gals and guys (who areforced to go if they make it to the seconddate). Exactly what makes chick-flicks sopopular? Maybe its our modernCinderella fantasy, or the instant gratifica-tion of seeing all problems solved in amere hour-and-half. Or perhaps itsbecause what Nicole Kidman had to sayabout women, We are very interesting!

Cindy Zheng-Ming Bao

2A Electrical

A Year of Chick Flicks

Monday March 10 is the EngineeringExplorations Day. On that day, hun-dreds of grade 6 to 8 students from the KWarea will visit our faculty to find out whatwe are really up to inside theseacronymed, architecturally-challengedbuildings. Organized by the EngineeringSociety as an annual event, Explorationsprovides the grade school children with aunique eye-opener experience. Eachdepartment will display their most creativeresearch projects. Everything from the

weird glue from ChemEng to the spiderrobot from Systems Design to the green-houses from EnvE, the events showcasesthe best toys that are otherwise kept well-buried deep inside the faculty intellectual

vault. Every time, the little future engi-neers get to understand more about the fas-cinating process of making things work,appear, or stick together forever (the latterby design or by accident). The happilystunned faces of these kids that appearwhen the robot starts to walk as if its oncrutches is, in a MasterCard sense, price-less.

Explorations not only lets kids be up closeand personal with the fascinating fields ofengineering, it also lets their parentsunderstand more about engineering. Oneof the most important aspects of being an

engineer is to inform the unsuspectingpublic of the benefits engineers contributeto society. In many instances, the presenta-tions leave longer lasting impressions onthe parents than they do on the children.

And to accomplish that with an eventdesigned for kids is simply amazing.

Of course, no event will be successfulwithout the enthusiastic support of theEngSoc volunteers. And thats where youcome in. Sign-up today by firing an emptymessage to [email protected]. You will get anice T-shirt, free of charge, with a nicefaculty logo, which you can proudly showoff to your UofT friends during your co-opterm. There will, of course, be free food.You also get to learn about the many inter-esting projects that are being developed

inside the faculty. But most importantly,you get to show off what a cool andimpressive profession you belong to toyour newly made thirteen-year old friends.You are guaranteed to have a great time.

Unless youd rather be stuck in a comput-er lab doing assembly debugging...

Jay Liu

3A Computer

Explorations Wants You (to Lead Little Kids Around)

...be sure to let me

know if you go to see a

J. Lo movie for the

sake of plot.


12/12

1 2 We d n e sd a y , Fe b ru a ry 2 6 , 2 0 0 3

Your Campus

Or so goes the words of Terry Weldon,one of the lab technicians inElectrical and Computer engineering. Yes,the Elecs and Comps graduating in Aprilcan now return to their study room, thoughthey won't be able to open any windows.Those have been bolted shut.

As I wrote in the first IW of the term, theECE Fourth Year Room was double-locked after a flood of coolant caused bysomeone leaving a window open. What todo with the room was a contentious issue.Many students and some of the staff feltstrongly that ECE undergrads really need aspace of their own on campus. There wasalso a vocal minority who shouted back"Who cares?" As usually, in between wasthe silent majority.

Those of us who wanted to keep the studyroom were left with a daunting task: find-ing a resolution with the support of only ahandful of people in the class. The actualcleanup and repair had already been done

by General Services, and it was waybeyond our means to pay for it even if thewhole class contributed. So, our contribu-

tion would have to be symbolic, somehowshowing that we really did care and thatwe will take better care of things in thefuture.

The first part wassolved by RemonaBasur. Her petition gotover a hundred signa-tures, and proved with-out a doubt that peopleactually cared aboutwhat was going on.Whether or not theywere ready to do some-thing about it is a differ-ent matter.

The second part could only be dealt withby talking with the powers that be to figureout what exactly was needed to restoretheir confidence in us. After a few longconversations with Bill Ott, we managedto reach some common ground. First, theclass reps would apologise to DominikGratzer, the Director of the Audio-VisualDepartment, and Roger Sanderson, for the

damages done to their offices. The secondis that we'd actually keep the place clean -starting with the fridge, which hadn't been

cleaned in over a year.

So, on Thursday 6 February Dave Clegg,Yun Chan, Geoff Hart, Neeraj D'Mello,

and I presented a letterof apology to DominikGratzer and RogerSanderson. The nextday, Rod, Steve, andGeoff from the Compclass gave me a handcleaning out the fridge.Afterwards, Yun andRemona from the Elecclass helped cleaning therest of the kitchenette.The fridge took less than

half an hour, and the wholething was done just in time for dinner. Weprobably made more of a fuss aboutwhether or not we should do anythingabout the situation than actually cleaningup.

As promised, Bill Ott unlocked the room,and it hasn't been locked since. There'sbeen many a foosball game, free comput-

ers for checking email, and couches torelax and possibly do some reading. Veryuseful stuff during midterms, and especial-

ly IRS.

So, what's the moral of the story? Well,the first thing I learned was that importantthings never get done by large groups ofpeople. Getting a class of people with dis-similar interests to do anything as a wholeis like herding cats - it ain't gonna happen.At the core of almost every successful pro-ject is a small, focused team.

The second is that that small team canbring a class together. Sure, there willalways be opposition, the people in yourclass that you're not fond of, that makeyour life difficult, and never seem to haveanything positive to add. Don't ignorethem, since they might actually say some-thing that's on other people's minds, butdon't let them bring you down. If you real-ly want to see something done, get theright people together, and get cracking!With some patience, you'll get through.

See you all at the foosball table!

ECE "Den of Iniquity" Restored

Kareem Shehata

4B Electrical

Waterloo The results of theFederation of Students 2003Executive, Students Council, and studentSenate elections have been calculated andreleased by the Elections Committee.

Full time undergraduate students were eli-gible to vote in the election. The totalnumber of eligible voters, including full-time Federation of Students staff memberswas 18,369.

President

Dan Colquhoun 213Andrew Dilts 625Chris Edey 969Alex Matan 788Declined 141Turnout 14.9%

Vice-President, Administration

& Finance

David Capper 646Tracy Haynes 634Robert Robson 486Rob Schmidt 595Declined 289Turnout 14.4%

Vice-President, Education

Aaron Lee-Wudrick 1109Liam McHugh-Russell 1273Declined 263Turnout 14.4%

Vice-President, Internal

Leo Dominguez 733

John Fedy 855Janna Hickson 821Declined 228Turnout 14.4%