THE NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO ENGINEERING SOCIETY volume 25 issue 10 | 21 July 2004

Prof: “So who’s ever seen a Z-transform?” Student: “I saw my parents doing one.” Prof: “Oh really? In public?!” – Prof. Lipshitz, MATH 211

http://iwarrior.uwaterloo.ca/

Ian Leung:Musician Adept

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Iron WarriorWeather Report

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Cassini-HuygensProbe

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Going Abroad for Exchange

There are many life-changing experi-ences that we get exposed to through

university life such as sitting in lecturehalls the size of your high school cafeteria,blowing your first co-op paycheck onelectronics or booze, befriending peoplewho actually know the name “Descartes”and getting randomly whacked in the headby a phonebook. As exciting as thesemoments are, the one that I chose to bringto attention today is the opportunity tostudy abroad as an exchange student. Ihave first-hand knowledge of the trials andtriumphs of the UW Engineering StudentExchange program since I’ll be blowingthis calculator stand in my 3B term. Assuch, the following tips should help youplan for an enjoyable term overseas.

Start Researching Early! While it is possible to get a last-minute

spot in an exchange placement, it isn’t awise idea because there are often languagerequirements for schools in Europe orAsia which might stop you from beingable to attend your school of first prefer-ence. You typically need to show that youcan communicate well in the host lan-guage, either by having learned it at homeor taken 3 university-level courses in thatlanguage.

You may need to plan for 4th year pro-jects which often need to be co-ordinatedin your 3rd year of school.

You may miss out on certain courses,or may have to take courses offered inlater terms for your program and make upother courses when you get back.

There is an academic requirement ofhaving a cumulative 70% average up to2B before being able to apply, so plan topull your grades up early if you think thiswould pose a problem for you (someexceptions for this rule have been made inthe past though).

Kiran Dhaliwal

3A Electrical

Pranks on the POETS Patio: 08SYS Soaked by SYaniDE

The baby systems class (08SYS) took aclass picture last week that they’ll

never forget. The high-spirited 1B sys-tems class has been really active this termcompared to my class (SYaniDE). Theyraised more money than us during VinceWeek, donated more blood than us duringthe engineering blood drive, and they beatour class in the genius bowl. They werestarting to think they were better than us,which is why we decided to show themwho's the best!

Similar to a prank that we pulled onthe girls in our class last term, we told the1B systems class that it was a systems tra-dition to take a class picture during everysummer term. Being as naive and trustingas they are, they were really excited aboutthe picture. Since I’m a nice guy (haha), Itold the class to keep their books and bagsin the classroom, as well as to keep theircameras at home, because I didn’t want toget anything important too wet. By sayingthis to them, I thought at least someone intheir class would catch onto the prank, butno one did.

The class picture took place outside

POETS, and we planned everything per-fectly so that the 1B systems class wouldbe trapped in a corner, so that we couldsoak them until they were all drenched.We had the standard arsenal for any waterprank: water guns, buckets of water, 75water bottles, and 100 water balloons. Wedidn’t do a good job hiding the water bot-tles and buckets, because the 1B systemsclass walked right by everything; howev-er, they still didn’t catch onto the prank.

First year students are way too trusting!Everything was in place, and it was

finally time to take the picture. The pic-ture that we took of them was great,because they were all happy and smiling.After the picture, I thanked them for beingsuch a great class, and I told them to yellout 08SYS as loud as they could on thecount of three. They yelled, “3, 2, 1,08SYS!”, and the battle began. 08SYSwas the code word for Battle Team

Number One, who sprayed 3 buckets ofwater for the initial attack. Instead of run-ning into an open field, the whole classdecided to run into the corner just as wepredicted. We blocked off the doors withthe two biggest guys in our class, and wesoaked them with water bottles and bal-loons. They were all thoroughlydrenched, but most importantly, this willbe a memory that none of us will ever for-get!

Karim Lallani

3A Systems

The spectacle unfolds as the upper year Systems class shows the first years what Summer term should be like.

Life in Purple

Newly-elected EngSoc President Karim Lallani awakes in the CPH Foyer to findhimself completely purple.

Continued on page 3. Please see “Tips toMake Exchange...”

Welcome to the final issue of the IronWarrior this semester. I’ve had a

blast being Editor-in-chimp. Of course, Iowe a great lot of thanks to my staff for allof their hard work throughout the term. Ithank them all often, but I want to recog-nize each one now, since we don’t haveenough room for a staff appreciation page(despite all my efforts to fit one in).

My assistants Phoebe and Kiran.Phoebe has volunteered to be the Editorone day, and has kept things moving in theoffice in the meantime. Kiran organizedthe editing duties to make sure typos werea thing of last semester. My layout editorsCindy and James. Cindy kept me awakeuntil 4 am the day of the first paper, thenmy lenient side came through and I sent herhome. She’s the most enthusiastic writeron staff and has threatened me if I don’tgive her one of the staff awards. James hasbeen a huge help in the office. The paperbefore your eyes has a lot of his hard wokin it. He will be taking over as EIC nextsemester, so let’s all give him a big thanks(while I sigh a breath of relief). And anoth-er pat on James' back for the new submis-sion system which makes everyone’s jobeasier (no more email tag!).

To all my copy editors. Old ManMusser kept me awake during lectures,always rudely and always getting a laughfrom those around me. Alyssa my belovedhousemate is leaving me for another man.Derek just appeared sometimes and disap-peared like a wraith but he’s another exam-ple of the wonderful first-years we havearound here. Keith tried to resist myrecruitng tactics while we were working atthe airport, but in the end I got to him.Kevin was also quiet during the semesterbut was a steady force. To all of you andthe first four people I mentioned, yourefforts spared me hours and hours of metic-ulous, detailed work with a red pen.

A shout out to all my writers, the peoplethat keep me from writing millions ofwords worth of meaningless garbage(because after the first few words, I’ve gotnothing left of value… except the next fewparagraphs, which I’ve been saving allsemester). Mike wrote about sports andconcerts and the ridiculousness of Villagelife, Ed related the benefits of MSG,Francis prepared a beautiful piece on

Professor Macdonald and then made fun ofme, Dan gave us all a history on the engi-neering profession, Huy was our biggestpoetry producer, Alicia told us all of life inWaterloo, Sung Hon was mostly quiet butgave us all a brief and accurate look at thenational leader’s debate, Elisa shared herliterary experiences, Tsu captured the opin-ions of the populous for each issue’s IronInquisition, and lastly High Rider for hissuperior attitude which led to many hilari-ous moments. I think LowRider! is offer-ing rewards for the capture of High Rider,but this is just a rumour.

My thanks to Mat for use of his camera,to Elliot for his camera when Mat was goneand the two pieces he sent in, Richard forhis random help, Naoreen for putting upwith me, and the other one- and two-timecontributors.

Some other people have helped bringme to this point. Jeff Henry kept things intop shape through the winter and left mewith lots of little problems to sort out (whoneeds a desk lamp?). Joseph Fung andMaria Simoes taught me how to lay out thepaper in an eye-pleasing fashion, andJoseph had the additional pleasure of train-ing me for the duties of Editor-in-Chief.

For those of you who will be followingthe IW next term, Andre Beltempo will bein the command chair. Good luck to him.We in the office now hope he can recruit ussome eager and eloquent 8-stream Frosh tojoin our staff next winter.

And what list of thanks would be com-plete without a mention of the Exec, thosehappy people who keep this school’s socialfunctions running and are almost alwayslate with their reports? Well, I hear theywere slightly better than last term, but notby much! Levits, Strickland, Grant, Emma,Alfonsi, and Erin, thanks for putting upwith my constant bi-weekly hounding.Grant and Erin were the only ones to missan issue. Grant says it was because nothinginteresting ever happens with finances.What a lame excuse!

To the new EngSoc Exec, look forwardto at least one semester of me hounding forexec reports. I have promised some of youthat I will be a chimp on your back and Iintend to stick to that. Oh, and congratula-tions. I’m sure all of you will prove to bewonderful workers and will keep our hallsfull of the cheers of excited students.

For anyone who is looking for an edi-tor’s position on the next Iron Warrior staff,on-line submissions will soon be available.There will be an email sent out to the b-socmailing list when the form is ready. Keepyour eyes open, and remember that I won’tbe there to harass you next semester. James

is a great person and won’t yell at you likeI do. If you just want to help us out in thefuture, look for meeting advertisementsearly in the winter. Or talk to James. Wealways like to see new people.

There are some people who brought mysemester down. Those people tend to sit inthe back of the lecture room during myclasses. These people never learned thefine art of shutting up. When they attendlectures (which is often, considering howextensive their personal lives seem to be),they talk and talk and talk, so loud thatmost everyone now knows too much abouttheir lives. These people have been toldrepeatedly by professors to be quiet. Myfavourite quote came from ProfessorRothenburg; "Paul, shut up!" Too bad Paulis just one of many culprits. I could namemore, but I am afraid I would miss somepeople and they would feel left out. I'msure they all know who they are, as does therest of my class.

The non-stop talking of these peoplehas caused problems for the rest of theclass. Those of us who try to learn fromlectures (hard enough to do when Calculusis involved) have to fight to hear the pro-fessor over the white noise coming frombehind us. Airplanes and fire alarms I canlive with, but these people never let up!Professors are warned that our class isunruly and impossible to control. Seniorprofessors are now allowed to refuse toteach our class. The professors you upperyear civils remember teaching your coursesare not the same as the ones we have,thanks to a bunch of inconsiderate peoplein the back two rows of my classes.

This behaviour has been going on since1A. Myself and my classmates and profes-sors have been hoping that they wouldmature enough to realize that they are beingrude. No such luck yet. They don't evenhave the decency to fail out!

I wish that they would leave my class inpeace so we can enjoy our academic daysin this school. Well, enjoy them as much asanyone can enjoy academics.

If anyone wants to hear the uncensoredversion of this editorial, come by the IWoffice, or stop me in the halls. It may sur-prise you to learn that I am capable ofswearing. But I will be professional andleave my bad words out of this fine paper.

The Newspaper of the University ofWaterloo Engineering Society

Editor-in-ChiefJohn Olaveson

Assistant EditorKiran Dhaliwal

Phoebe Su

Photo Editor[vacant]

Layout EditorCindy Bao

James Schofield

Technical EditorDerek Hans

Webmaster[vacant]

Distribution Manager[Vacant]

Offstream Editor-in-ChiefAndre Beltempo

StaffDan Arnott

Alyssa ClarksonMat Cool

Naoreen HasanFrancis Hope

Quoc Huy T. LeRichard LiJon MusserKevin Quan

Michael SimoesEdward TanKeith Wong

Sung Hon Wu

Contributors

Jeff AlfonsiEmma Bardon

Rahul BhardwajTsu Chaing Chuang

Neal DamgaardScott Griffiths

Ken HanesGrant HolohanDavid JohnsonKarim Lallani

Josh LevitsAndrea Rayner

High RiderMatt StricklandChristina Waters

Elisa Zhang

2 Wednesday , Ju ly 21 , 2004

Letter from the Editor

Questions? Comments?

We welcome letters and feedbackfrom all our readers. Please emailus at:

iwarrior@engmail.uwaterloo.ca

The Iron Warrior is a forum for thought provokingand informative articles published by the EngineeringSociety. Views expressed in The Iron Warrior arethose 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 toiwarrior@engmail.uwaterloo.ca

John Olaveson

2B Civil

Editor-in-Chief

As a 4th year student there are a lot ofimportant decisions to make. For

example, the decision on what to do after(gasp) I graduate. I could decide to pursuegrad studies, only to find out my marks arenot high enough. Or I coud start full timework, only to find not a single employerwill give me interviews, let alone hire.Then there’s the decision on where to live;go back and live with my parents, or strikeout to find a cave (house) to call my own.The decision could be to fulfill the dreamof backtracking through Europe at the costto my (meager) savings. These are alltough decision, but I recently found thetoughest one, what quote to put in myRigidbook spot.

You may laugh, but its true, it is somuch harder than the other ones. Thereare a hundred landmines to go through inselecting that perfect picture and quote.First the picture. There were eight for meto choose from. The first problem, thephotographer must have a grudge againstme because he seems to have messedevery picture. There’s one with my headoff center, another one where a pimple isso big its looks like my face has a volcanoon it. After two visits and a lot of soulsearching, I decide on what I think is theleast unacceptable one. Hopefully no onewill take my picture and put it into a hor-ror movie someday.

Then there is the quote, the oft-dread-ed quote. The last time I had anywherenear this amount of dread was in highschool for my yearbook, when I had tomake a 75 word quote. That was longest75 words I ever had to think up. I think Isweated blood trying to find the right com-bination of 75 words that would be inspi-rational, pay homage to my family andfriends, and still be interesting withoutsounding fake. And now they ask me tomake it 250 words, 250! Four times 75!This is like trying to kill me 4 times. SureI have the option of not having a quote, butthen I’ll forever be remembered as just aname and a face, an ugly face at that.

The first important decision, should Iput in a quote from someone else? In high

school I had my favorite quote and poemby the poet Robert Frost, Stopping ByWoods On A Snowy Evening,

“The woods are lovely, dark and deep,But I have promises to keep,And miles to go before I sleep, …”

So if I decide to put in a new quote, it hasto be different, but what and from whom?I could go for an inspirational quote, suchas,

“Our greatest glory is not in neverfailing, but in rising up every time wefail.” Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Or I could go for something witty like,“I don't know half of you half as wellas I should like, and I like less thanhalf of you half as well as youdeserve.” -Bilbo Baggins (TheFellowship of the Ring: J.R.R.Tolkien)

Or I could go for trusty Murphy’s law,“If at first you don't succeed, destroyall evidence that you tried.”

A very difficult choice indeed.Beyond just quoting someone else,

there is the personal blurb. Now this onegets very tricky. Should I acknowledgemy friends, for all the great things theyhave done for me and if so, how manyshould I acknowledge? Acknowledge toofew and some people are going to be hurt,thinking that I obviously have some secretgrudge against them. Acknowledge toomany and my blurb looks silly with refer-ences to people who I really never knew.Then there is the even worse minefield,how should I acknowledge my significantother of the moment? If I get one wordwrong, the explaining of why I would usethe words “mean” vs “meant” will neverend, as in “You meant a lot to me” vs “Youmean a lot to me.

I think the proper policy to emplyoy isto give a quote to all your friends and sig-nificant other(s) (for those who have morethen one the blurb may create some ten-sions!) and let them vet it. Its like howthey vet a potential vice-presidential can-didate, the candidate quote will be testedfor anything offensive, upsetting, political-ly incorrect and if found guilty, purged andnever to be seen in the Rigidbook.

After this exhausting work, I didn’tsucceed in getting that all-important quoteon the first try, so now I will followMurphy’s law, and destroy all evidence ofthis article. If you see my Rigidbookquote, well, I spent 5 minutes on it and itwas so easy to write one….

3Wednesday , Ju ly 21 , 2004

Opinion

Dear High Rider,If you owe a bookkeeper $50,000, and

you don't pay him, and he shoots offyour foot, why do you still owe him

the money?-I.M. Limpy

Dear LimpyI was going to comment extensively

on the interconnectedness of the laisezfaire economy, the astute observations ofMachiavelli on Florentine politics, andyour current difficulties. However, I havejust realized that, from the sound of it, youare not likely to pay this $50 000 anytimesoon, leading me to infer that in the not sodistant future, other and more essentialparts of you will be obliterated in the samemanner. Thus, you can hardly benefitfrom my wisdom.

-High Rider

Dear High Rider,I see you're enrolled in the co-op sys-

tem, but you have not applied to any jobs.What's going on?

-JM

Dear JM,The co-op system must be the most

flagrant fraud in existence. Of my manyterms here at Waterloo, only less than halfwill have been filled through co-op, andthey are easily the worse half. I am fortu-nate enough to pursue more worthy alter-natives, although there is the forfeit ofmore than $400 in order to avoid usingthis repugnant system.

I am the last person to unfairly gener-alize, but co-op jobs stultify creativity,pervert your morals, cause permanentbrain damage, increase suicide ratesacross the board, encourage the wantonuse of hardcore drugs in order to escapesuch an iniquitous life, and rob you ofyour soul. Finally, and worst of all, theymake you look forward to your engineer-ing classes as a respite from such a horridexistence. I could say much, much more,but I believe that is enough to answer yourquestion.

-High Rider

High Rider

3A Electrical

The Hardest Decision

4A Computer

Sung Hon Wu

TechbytesStop buying DVDs!

Bill Gates, the genius who oncereportedly predicted that 64k ofmemory would be plenty for every-one, and that tablet PCs would bereplacing paper in no time, is boldlypredicting that optical discs such asCDs and DVDs will be obsolete in10 years. He told a German tabloidthat CDs and DVDs are way tooeasy to lose and that no one wouldwant them. As an alternative, he sug-gested that people would have super-intelligent bots in their homes thatcan read minds and know exactlywhat you want to watch or listen andstart playing it the moment you stepinto the house.

It sounds freaky.That prediction came on the same

day when Microsoft, along with afew other companies, had decided toallow limited copying of next-gener-ation DVDs onto portable devices.Coincidence, or a marketing ploy?

Dot-com stocks

Analysts are predicting a generaldecline in the value of dot-com busi-nesses on the stock markets. AfterYahoo! revealed that its most recentquarterly results only matchedexpectations, net stocks took a dive.Competition on the net is heating uponce again, and many businesses arehaving trouble finding new, lucrativecustomers. As a result, many believedot-coms that “just match” analysts’expectations are no longer sufficientto ensure that a company will be ableto generate attractive growth in thefuture, especially since the currentshare prices of the internet sector arealready overvalued. Many of theseshare prices have already taken intoaccount the most ambitious growthprojections, and any result fallingshort of being spectacular will natu-rally cause investors to re-evaluatetheir options.

For example, Netflix, the leadingonline video rental service andretailer, saw its share price drop by aquarter after its results fell short ofexpectations.

Visit the Undergrad Exchange Officeand their website at www.eng.uwater-loo.ca/~exchange.

The exchange website has lots of usefulinfo from choosing courses in exchangeschools, travel tips, forms, links forexchange partner schools and much more.

You can also visit Cindy Howe at theundergrad exchange office for more specif-ic information after you have done yourpreliminary research into the school(s) ofyour choice.

Important deadline information is alsoavailable on the site, so pay close attentionto that.

Talk to previous exchange studentsThese students may have travel tips and

can possibly tell you about the fun placesthey visited.

They can tell you how they dealt withadministrative issues at the host school

such as timetabling, buying textbooks, get-ting into residence etc.

They can relate their problems with youas well, such as bad residences, bad cours-es, avoidable expenses, illnesses etc.

HealthCall the Waterloo or your hometown’s

travel clinic to find out which vaccinationsyou may need before you leave. Keep inmind that most of the vaccines are not cov-ered by OHIP, but your personal healthinsurance plan may reimburse you for thecosts.

Find out from the travel clinic orthrough your own research if there are anyother health risks you face, such as food-borne or water-borne diseases.

Investigate the necessity for extrahealth insurance while you’re overseas.Some health insurance plans cover you foronly 60 days out of the country, while theUW health plan usually covers up to 150days out of the country.

Miscellaneous InfoDon’t trust the deadline for exchange

since some exchange opportunities fill upwell before the deadline.

Look for cheaper flights through travelagencies that cater to a particular region ofthe world (e.g. European countries or Asia)whenever possible because they often holdtickets for members of their community, upto the last minute.

Check out www.iadora.com for reviewson exchange experiences at schools aroundthe world, by international students.

Make sure you have all the proper trav-el documentation up-to-date, such as yourpassport and visa, as well as copies of yourpassport, ID cards and other pertinent doc-uments.

You will probably need to open a bankaccount in the country you visit, so lookinto the necessary steps to do that with eachbank.

Apply to the scholarships offered by

UW for students going away on exchangein order to buffer some of the travel costs.

Find out about how the marks are eval-uated at other schools because many ofthem run on a credit/no credit system. Thismeans that your UW transcript will nothave numeric marks that term.

With this advice in mind I hope you canplan to take advantage of the socially andintellectually developing opportunity thatstudying abroad can provide. Being able towork or study in another country can be areal eye-opener to the way our global com-munity lives, learns and works. It alsogives us a chance to represent our owngreat nation and perhaps motivate moreinternational students to come here.Ultimately, going on exchange providesstudents and international communitieswith a unique experience that can have alasting impact on both. Now if only yourreprieve from the demands of UW engi-neering could last that long…

...continued from Page 1.

Tips to Make Exchange A Fun And Enriching Experience

Actually, it doesn't seem like anyonedoes. According to recent discus-

sions at UW on water privatisation, any-one could tap our ground water and drainit without paying for the water itself, solong as they could afford the nominal reg-istration fee with the local government.UWIHDA (UW International HealthDevelopment Association) and EWB(Engineers Without Borders) put on a dou-ble-header focused on water privatizationlast week. UWIHDA invited SaraEhrhardt, Water Campaigner for theCouncil of Canadians (SYDE '03) to intro-duce the documentary "Thirst", which wasrecently released. On Wednesday, EWBhosted a discussion group on water priva-tization and issues surrounding the world'swater supply. Here is what transpired.

Private comapnies own approximatelyfive percent of the world's distribution andtreatment facilities. Governments indeveloped and developing countries havecontracted out the development and opera-tion of water facilities to only five compa-nies worldwide--they are French, Britishand American. Reasons why these compa-nies are invited are very different in devel-oped and developing countries. As"Thirst" pointed out, the community ofStockton, California invited in a Britishcompany to manage its water because ofover US$170 million in potential savings.In Canada, Hamilton, Ontario has had aprivate company managing its water facil-ities for many years and whose contractwill come up for renewal this year. Indeveloping countries, private companiesare invited into developing countries toinstall new water systems that can result inincreased water prices of between 30 and300 percent, as in Cochabamba, Bolivia.In the poorest country of South America,increased water prices meant that the poor-est of the poor could no longer afford tobuy water. As a result, citizen resistanceforced Bechtel, the American companyinvited to operate Cochabamba's water, toleave promptly.

Bottled water is a seperate but equallyalarming issue in the privatisation ofwater. Marketing around bottled waterhas yielded billions of dollars in profit tomultinationals such as Coca-Cola andPepsi, even though water quality is oftenno different than what comes out of yourtap (You've heard of 4x filtered water? Goto Mississauga and you'll find the samequality water.) Why don't we just trust ourmunicipalities to supply us with the sameclean drinking water they always have?

So in the age of a looming "water cri-sis" we asked, what can we do? Perhapswe shouldn't be watering our lawns withvaluable and costly potable water and col-lecting rain water instead. Perhaps weshould resist the temptation to buy bottledwater, which encourages companies todrain our water tables and export the waterelsewhere. (By the way, one of the largestsources of water for bottling is just northof Waterloo, so in effect we are drainingour own water table.)

Next week's EWB discussion groupwill focus on genetically modified organ-isms (GMO). Please join us Wednesday,28 July on the Grassy Knoll (beside theGrad House) at 12.30pm and bring yourlunch. Remember to look up the articleswe've posted about GMO on our website,http://www.uwaterloo.ewb.ca/.

4 Wednesday , Ju ly 21 , 2004

Columns

Space... The Final FrontierNow It's Privatized

On Monday, June 21, 2004 at around8:15am PDT the first privately fund-

ed manned spacecraft landed safely 90minutes after successfully taking off andleaving Earth’s atmosphere. The jetnamed “White Knight” blasted off withthe rocket “SpaceShipOne” from MojaveCalifornia. At a height of about 15,240metres off the ground, the two separatedand the SpaceShipOne 63 year-old pilot,Mike Melvill accelerated to Mach 3 toattain the target altitude of 100 kilometres.There were a few glitches in the flight,though. The pilot reported that he heard aloud bang. It was later suggested that apart covering the nozzle on the back of theplane may have buckled causing the noise.

The spacecraft was designed by BurtRutan who also designed the Voyager air-plane that flew non-stop around the worldin 1986. Coincidentally, SpaceShipOnewas funded by billionaire Paul Allen whois a co-founder of the MicrosoftCorporation. SpaceShipOne is eligible tocompete for the Ansari X Prize whichawards 10 million dollars to the first three-member team to place an aircraft 100 kilo-metres above the earth’s surface, return,and then do it again within two weeks with

the same craft without government or mil-itary funding. The purpose of this contestis to promote private space flight.

This event is a historic landmark not somuch because of the fact that this is thefirst time private funding has put a maninto space. It is important because it is anindication that technology and applied sci-ence have evolved to the point wherespace-travel can be affordable and evenprofitable for the private sector. Eventhough, for the mainstream corporation,affordability is marginal at best, the notionthat super-atmospheric travel will becomeprofitable in either this or the next genera-tion becomes more of a reality as eachsuccessful trip is made into space.

The region just above our atmosphereis not the only target for private endeav-ours. Project LETO (short for LunarExploration & Tourist Organization) is thefirst major project that strives to make themoon a tourist attraction. There is even acompany called “Buried on the Moon”based in Kansas that is dedicated to plac-ing the cremated remains of 2,016 luckyindividuals on the moon within the nexttwo years. Now, whether these goals areattainable or not is not the point. Whatcounts is that there is both sufficientdemand and means for private companiesto begin to consider the possibilities thatlie beyond our planet.

On the flip side of things, one couldask, “Private corporations putting peoplein space? Is that a good idea?” Theseconcerns are not at all unfounded since the

goal of any corporation is money and prof-it. It is not inconceivable that corners maybe cut and “acceptable sacrifices” may bemade in the name of business. But whatelse would you expect from a future whereouter space will undoubtedly be ruled witha capitalistic philosophy? Unfortunately,it might take a few disasters before cor-porations will finally settle into an agree-ment with the ethics and cost of spacetravel. But it will be done. Afterall, isn’tflying, statistically, the safest way to trav-el? So, too, shall space-travel become asafe and economical mode of transporta-tion.

Speaking of safety and ethics, that’swhere we, the future engineers of theworld, come in. A new area of explorationand a new market of exploitation meannew challenges in both design and innova-tion. The balancing act between cost andsafety, functionality and simplicity, andspeed and accuracy ultimately lie in thehands of the engineers. With the spacemarket soon open to competition, the dri-ving force that was needed to push theenvelope of technology even further willhave finally arrived.

So here’s to Mike Melville and his pri-vately funded spacecraft. The doors tointerplanetary space have been openedand the moon is ready for business. Maythe future engineers of the world exercisetheir brains and talents to make this space-bound future a reality. Let the biddingstart. But remember, the sky is no longerthe limit!

Quoc Huy T. Le

4A Electrical

Who OwnsYour Water?

Scott Griffiths2003 Systems Design Alumnus

Wednesday, October 15, 1997: a threebillion dollar orbiter named after

Italian mathematician Giovanni DomenicoCassini and a probe dubbed in honour ofDutch physicist Christiaan Huygens islaunched from Cape Canaveral Air ForceStation in Florida. It travels a distance of3.5 billion kilometres. Nearly seven yearslater at 9:12 pm PDT on Wednesday, June30, 2004, Cassini-Huygens fires its mainnuclear-powered engine for approximately96 minutes as part of a complex insertionmanoeuvre designed to allow Cassini-Huygens to be captured as a satellite ofSaturn.

Cheers of joy rang out at the JetPropulsion Laboratory, a division of theCalifornia Institute of Technology, whenthe first close-up images of Saturn’s ringswere sent back from Cassini approximate-ly 1.5 hours after it entered orbit (about thetime it takes for a radio signal to travelfrom Saturn to Earth). Because of thismassive temporal delay Cassini’s orbitalmanoeuvres had to be completely auto-mated so there was much apprehension atheadquarters as to whether or not Cassinientered orbit safely. Fortunately, Cassiniwas able to enter in between two ofSaturn’s outer rings known as the F and Grings.

Cassini’s mission will span about fouryears. During that time, the Cassiniorbiter is scheduled to have a close flybywith seven of Saturn’s thirty-one knownmoons (Titan, Mimas, Tethys, Hyperion,

Dione, Rhea and Epimetheus. Fittingly, itwas Giovanni Domenico Cassini who dis-covered the moons Tethys, Dione, Rheaand Lapetus in 1684, 1684, 1672 and1671, respectively. During the course ofits seventy-six orbits around Saturn,Cassini will gather data about Saturn’sgaseous surface and stormy winds. Someof its time will be spent studying the ringsaround Saturn. (It was also DomenicoCassini who discovered the large split inthe Saturn rings which, today, is called the“Cassini Division”). This includes theseparation of the rings into concentricbands and the role that the “shepherd”moons (Pan, Atlas, Prometheus andPandora) have in maintaining the structure

of the bands.One of the primary missions of

Cassini-Huygens is the study of Saturn’slargest moon, Titan. Titan is of particularinterest to planetary astronomers becauseit is the only moon with an atmosphere.Scientists believe that the atmosphere onTitan right now is similar in chemicalcomposition to the atmosphere that waspresent around Earth before life began todevelop. The only difference is thatTitan’s development, because of its small-er size and its extreme distance from theSun, may have been retarded or halted dueto the lack of solar energy.

Cassini’s close flyby of Titan is sched-uled for Tuesday, October 26, 2004. OnChristmas Day of this year the Huygensprobe will separate from the Cassini

orbiter and head towards Titan. (Quite fit-ting, considering it was ChristiaanHuygens who discovered Titan in 1655).On Friday, January 14, 2005 Huygens willbegin its decent towards Titan which willtake the form of a twenty-day ballisticfreefall immediately before it hits Titan’satmosphere. During its parachute throughthe atmosphere Huygens will begin 2.5hours of intense scientific observationsduring which it will transmit data toCassini which will relay the informationback to earth.

So what’s so interesting about Saturnand its rings and moons that warrant theexpenditure of over three billion dollarsplus several hundreds of thousands of manhours from seventeen different countries?Aside from unlocking the secrets ofSaturn’s characteristically enigmatic ringsand Titan’s unique possession of an atmos-phere, the study of the Saturnian systemmay give hints and clues as to the originsof our solar system. The rings aroundSaturn provide a rough model of the parti-cle rings that orbited our Sun several bil-lion years ago. Another property that hasscientists puzzled is why Saturn is the onlyplanet in our solar system to have its mag-netic poles perfectly aligned with its orbit.What Cassini discovers may have geolo-gists rethinking their theories on how plan-etary magnetic fields form.

So keep your eyes and ears pierced forthe next four years while NASA, theEuropean Space Agency (ESA) and theItalian Space Agency (ISA) announcemore discoveries about Saturn and its side-kick, Titan. You can also find breath-tak-ing pictures at the official websites:http://www.nasa.gov/cassini and http://www.esa.int/Cassini-Huygens. In themeantime, buy yourself a high-poweredtelescope and exercise your imagination.

Cassini-Huygens: Saturn Up Close

Quoc Huy T. Le

4A Electrical

“The Saturnian systemmay give hints and

clues as to the originsof our solar system.”

On the afternoon of July 14, most of 2BCivil showed up to what was undoubt-

edly the best-attended Solid Mechanicstutorial of the semester. As a voluntaryattempt at extra credit, students of the CivE205 course had been encouraged to design,construct, and test their own Popsicle stickbridges. The requirements of this projectwere simple: the structures had to weigh atleast 200 grams and span 750 millimetres;dimensions were also given for clearancesabove and below the test level, as well asfor the maximum height of the bridge deck.The building materials were equally sim-ple: Popsicle sticks, florist wire, and gener-al purpose glue were all that was permitted.Bridge strengths were quantified by theircapacity divided by their weight squared,

with a maximum permitted deflection of30 millimetres.

Many types of bridges were foundamong the entries into the competition:there were trusses and suspension bridges,pre-stressed spans, arches and hangingdecks, pin-connected determinate struc-tures and composites of the above. Thestructures ranged from sturdy and low-pro-file beams to tall and intricate truss combi-nations.

Many of the bridges also showed alarge amount of imagination and intuition.Two good examples of this were Team 4’sinverse-parabolic suspension bridge,which was oddly evocative of a canoe, andTeam 7’s twinned-arch structure. Othersshowed a high degree of craftsmanship,especially the carefully constructed truss ofTeam 8, which was wonderfully symmetri-cal.

The amount of pride invested in the

structures was also evident. Students notgenerally given to outbursts cheered whenthe bridges flexed and failed. The teammembers watched intently while the struc-tures were tested, sometimes not wantingto look but at the same time finding it dif-ficult to turn away. Photographs were takenof the teams with their bridges, like proudparents with their children, and the spanswere often set up in the testing machinewith a care that could not be explained bycompetitiveness only.

First prize went to Team 10’s light-weight combination truss and inverse sus-pension bridge. This structure scored animpressive 868, weighing only 225 gramsand having a capacity of 44.0 kilograms.Second place went to the highest-capacitybridge of the competition, an uncomplicat-ed and brawny low-profile inverse suspen-sion bridge, the creation of Team 3. Thisbridge was able to sustain a load of 79.8

kilograms while weighing only 304 grams,giving the team a score of 863, only fivepoints behind first place.

The educational value of this competi-tion should not be underestimated. It repre-sents one of the few opportunities availableto the CivE people to independently exer-cise creativity and design philosophy.Much of what goes on in class consists of asimple true-false, correct-incorrect bifurca-tion, which, while obviously necessary inthe context of the studies, nevertheless haslittle in common with the engineeringindustry.

In addition to this, however, the com-petition was quite simply a lot of fun.Many of the participants enjoyed the expe-rience greatly, and at least a few werethinking of retooling and retesting in orderto prove the functionality of their designsto some of the more cynical observersamong the class.

5Wednesday , Ju ly 21 , 2004

Features

POINT VS. COUNTERPOINT VS. COUNTER-COUNTERPOINT

Which Diet is Worse, Atkins or Village?

Well, you have decided to go on a dietand have decided to go with the lat-

est fad. Although the McDonald’s is prob-ably the most renowned diet right now,made infamous by the film “Super SizeMe”, chances are you probably want tolose weight rather than becoming a big fatdynamo with liver failure. Since this isprobably the case you would default to thenext over-hyped diet - the Atkins.

The Atkins diet is supposed to “knowl-edgeably select which foods to eat basedon your need to achieve weight loss andweight maintenance, enjoy good healthand prevent disease.”

The primary principle behind the dietis that “Both carbohydrate and fat providefuel for the body’s energy needs.Carbohydrate is the first fuel to be metab-olized. However, when the intake ofdigestible carbohydrates is sufficientlyrestricted (without caloric restriction), thebody converts from the primary metabolicpathway of burning carbohydrate to burn-ing fat as its main energy source. Thisresults in weight loss.” Okay……, thenyou are supposed exercise and eat in mod-eration to keep the diet working. For moreinformation go to “http://atkins.com/why/index.html”. However, I am very scepticalabout whether the diet really works better

than any others and that most people thinkit is a miracle weight loss formula. Peoplewill lose weight when they exercise any-way.

Now I am already a very slim individ-ual so the people who know me may bewondering why I am taking on this assign-men. It’s simple, the editor told me to. Mylong and arduous diet with the Atkinsbegan on Wednesday. So I sat down,turned on the TV and tried to decide whereto go. That’s when Jared (the Subwayspokesman) said to go Subway, so I did.There I tried the Turkey Breast & BaconMelt; the next day I tried the TurkeyBreast & Ham. Then as I decided that Inever wanted to eat a Subway Atkins subagain. I had an epiphany why diets don’twork. Foods that people diet on are nasty,and are either bland or disgusting. Hey, ifI can’t keep on Atkins for two days, how isanyone supposed to keep doing it for life?Furthermore, these diets are a completerip-off. $11 for a sub with a bag of chipsand a pop. What? I can’t help but thinkthat Subway is pretending to performliposuction on the obese of America, but isonly ripping people off and disillusioningthem with false hope. Maybe Jerad didn’tever lose weight! After all, did anyone seethe pictures of him before he lost weight?Did I lose any weight? NO. MaybeSubway is simply a quick scam to getmoney off us. Could it be that Subway isthe new evil empire of the food industry?Step aside McDonalds and Starbucks.Maybe, maybe…

P.S. Please don’t sue me with slanderor send your corporate ‘hit men’ after me.

Living in Village 1 for my first year atthe University of Waterloo, I learned

many lessons that will carry with me forthe rest of my university experience. Thebiggest lesson is that home-cooked food isthe best thing to happen to me this term.

Having gone on the Village 1 diet forfour months, I can honestly say, I wouldrather take the time out of my busy engi-neering schedule to cook a nice hot meal.My diet consisted of chicken, more chick-en, and pasta. I mean seriously, I like vari-ety, but day in and day out, they continue tofeed us the same food over and over. Everyother day they have had a chicken dish forthe “dinner meal”. See, I do not mindchicken. There are barbequed chicken,grilled chicken, breaded chicken, friedchicken, spicy chicken, etc., but FoodServices seem to not understand this. Theygive us the same chicken dish every time.You all know the phrase that everythingtastes like chicken. In Village 1, they takethat to heart, and make you chicken.

Also, I have eaten so much pasta herethat it will make Italian restaurants jealous.The pasta does not even taste good. It’s thesame ravioli day after day. I must go intothe caf at least twice a day, and that is all Isee. The theory is, the un-eaten food thatgoes down the mystery shoot ends up as

beef ravioli. A lot of people do not eat theirfood because they cannot stomach it, or arejust too full from all the fat. So the beefravioli ends up on the tray every night.This is just a theory, but it makes one think.

Speaking of taste, Village 1 caf foodlacks it. I do not think they have heardabout salt and seasoning. Here is a lessonfor them: it is this lovely stuff that comes ina box from any grocery store and has bigletters on it saying “SALT”. I love how Ihave to put the brown mystery sauce on myfood to give it some flavor. It’s not thathard; they take our money, they bettermake my food taste good with it. Lately,the food has tasted better, but I think it isbecause they are hosting the girls 14-17year-old volleyball camp. It makes the uni-versity look better that way.

I feel bad for the girls staying here, andeating the food that I have to eat everydayfor a term. I put on my frosh fifteen in 4months in 1A. I did not even spend all mymeal plan money from last term, and I stillput on all the weight. How is that possible?The other thing that I have noticed whileon this diet is that I am easily frustrated,and raging a lot. I do not know if that isWaterloo Engineering’s fault or the food’sfault, that’s for you to decide.

Francis Hope

3A Electrical

Michael Simoes

1B Chemical

Editor’s Note: Point vs. Counterpoint isintended as a forum for objective andthought provoking debate on variousissues. The views and opinions expressedhere do not necessarily reflect those ofthe author(s), the Iron Warrior, or theEngineering Society.

The winning bridge proudly displayed before it got crushed.

Engineers Finally Build Something... and Then Break ItNeal Damgaard

2B Civil

Group 3 shows brawn to match the brain that went into their bridge design.

Thank you, and a bid adieu. This is myvery last exec article. In lieu of updat-

ing you on current issues (ok, there aren’tany pertinent ones), I wanted to take thischance to thank everyone.

First and foremost, I gotta thank mymother, because no thank-you speech iscomplete without a shout out to mom.Next, on to my dearest exec: I will missyou. Emma was always knee deep in theproverbial administrative BS; Grant hadsuch cute and witty remarks; Erin was wellendowed; Matt is a genius; and Josh wasthe man who got me involved with Engsoc(and it only took 2 trips out West to bribeme).

My directors have done so much forme. Charities were unbelievable, the SantaClaus parade and Canada Day were mas-sive successes, and WIE and Bridging theGap are taking on new and improvedforms thanks to their respective directors.Hopefully Vince Day and the Blood DriveCompetition (both started by systemsclass…SYS-DUMS) will continue tomark UW Engineering as leaders in thecommunity. There are so many directors Iwish I could explicitly thank here. You allrock like Neil Young in the free world!

To tie things up, I would like to thankMary for helping me learn the ropes asVPX (you are so much better than the restof those British wankers…haha). John andCindy, thanks for putting up with my tar-diness in submitting these articles.

I had a blast and wish I could havedone more. Right now EngSoc is hot likeCarmen Electra in chaps. With a tear and awave of my hand, I wish good luck to mynew exec.

Such an exciting time we are in! Examsare coming, coffee is being injected

intravenously, the end of term is approach-ing and the new exec is planning a take-over. Credit must be given to Jeff, who hasdone a wonderful job representingWaterloo engineering students and gettingus in touch with the outside world….atough act to follow for sure.

So, what is in the future? The well-rounded engineer theme is going to beexercised thoroughly in the Winter termand you can be sure that Bridging the Gap

will envelop a whole new meaning. I am also encouraging ideas to be

thrown at me. I have had a few peoplecome up to me with conference biddingideas, asking/begging to go on confer-ences, telling me which subjects theywould like to know more about withrespect to their Department, and just gener-al interest ideas..….I completely encouragethat!! The more ideas presented, the moreopportunities we can explore. Woo!

On a final note (a tribute, if you will):The old exec is finally gone.Now they are our lowly pawns.The spotlight dims, fading fast,They desperately want to make it last.Familiar jokes, surroundings fleeNewbies come, usurp kindly. Big shoes are left, which must be filled,We will never forget them, their mem-

ories instilled.

First off, thanks so much to everyonethat came out and voted in this year's

elections - that's awesome!! Secondly, thanks for voting for me!

You guys rock. The next few terms should be really

great. I'm very excited to work with thenew Executive. I've got a whole bunch ofideas for some really great events and I'mlooking forward to working with all thenew Directors. If you ever have anyquestions, or ideas you'd like to share,feel free to let me know. I don't bite...hard... I hope that everyone has a fantas-tic fun filled work term, and we'll see youagain in January!

Ladies and Gentlemen, after 32 monthsof being on exec, and about 184 Iron

Warrior articles, this is my final writeup asan EngSoc exec member. Before you allstart getting teary eyed and depressed,think about it this way: They’re newspa-per articles, that’s all! Now that we havethat cleared up, let’s get into my thankyous and goodbyes.

First of all, I’d like to say thank you tomy exec for the past 16 months. Jeff,Emma, Strick and Grant, I couldn’t havedone my job without you guys and Iappreciate everything you’ve done for meand the Society. I feel we left the Societyin an amazing state, and you should all beproud of a job well done. For the newexec, we’ll be watching you every step ofthe way (except maybe Wednesdaynights… Bomber comes first), so if youneed anything, don’t hesitate to ask any ofus. Karim, you look good in purple, but Ithink I may have looked a bit better…. yanot really….

To everyone else I’ve worked withover the years, it’s been a pleasure. Ourdirectors and volunteers make this societywhat it is, and I appreciate all the helpyou’ve given us. I’ve met some of mybest friends through EngSoc, and I can’t

explain how grateful I am to have had thechance to work with so many student lead-ers. Keep up the good work, and I’m stillaround for another term if anyone needssome extra help with directorships!

And a special thank you to MaryBland. Your help during my exec termsallowed me to do my job to the best of myability. I would’ve been completely lostwithout your guidance and I owe you forthat. Oh and I do appreciate your crazyBritish humour… it actually sounds fun-nier with that accent of yours! Take care,and good luck with the new exec—be sureto whip them into shape!

There’s one more person I’ve missedwho deserves my thanks more than any-one… Tom Jones, you’ve gotten methrough the hard times. And you’re rightTJ, it’s not unusual to be loved by anyone!Don’t know where that came from, butwe’ll go with it.

I would love to be able to thank every-one individually, and I’m sorry I don’thave the room to. I wish you all the best ofluck in the future though, and I am goingto miss the good times I’ve had being onExec. My university career would nothave been as amazing as it has been if ithadn’t been for the Engineering Society.So this is it for me…if anyone has com-ments or otherwise, you can still email meat bsoc_prez@engmail until the end of theterm, or at jalevitz@engmail from here onin. Take care and I’ll hopefully still be see-ing everyone around.

Josh “32 Months and it ends with anarticle” Levitz

Iam thrilled to be your new EngSoc presi-dent. On behalf of the new exec team, we

are all very excited and we look forward toworking with you over the next 16 months.

Starting in September, I will be workingfor YOU, and I will be YOUR voice. I wantto keep the lines of communication veryopen, so if you ever have any suggestions orconcerns, don't hesitate to get in touch withme.

Before I get down to business, I just wantto thank the current exec team, because theyhave done a spectacular job over these past15 months. During this time, I have seen anincrease in participation at EngSoc eventsand the creation of awesome new eventssuch as Genius Bowl. They have put outcountless hours of their time in order to keepthe Engineering Society up and running, sothey definitely need to be shown someappreciation. If you see any of the currentexec in the hallways, you should give them apat on the back (not with a phonebook), andthank them for doing a wonderful job.

My first order of business is to choosethe directors for Winter 2005. There are over

125 directorship positions available, so makesure you apply, even if you've never done adirectorship before. I'm on the search forsome new faces in the Engineering Society,so if you want to get involved and meet newpeople, you should be an EngSoc director.I've added a few new directorships, so besure to read through the descriptions ofavailable directorships. You can apply to adirectorship electronically on the EngSocwebsite or you can pick up a hard copy of theapplication in the Orifice. The deadline toapply is Monday July 26 @ 4:30 p.m. Therewill be NO exceptions to this deadline!

The foundation of the EngineeringSociety is its directors, so please spread theword and we'll hopefully have a great groupof spirited directors!

My goal as EngSoc prez is very simpleand it can be described using two words:BIGGER & BETTER. This will be mymotto, and the motto that I will spread toboth the directors and executive. I willmotivate everyone to strive to make everyevent and service that EngSoc offers biggerand better. While I’m president, I promiseyou that you’ll see a dramatic increase inparticipation, fun new events, and a dose ofsome much needed flavour to spice up theEngineering Society.

If you have any suggestions on how toimprove EngSoc or concerns about any-thing, don’t hesitate to e-mail me (klal-lani@uwaterloo.ca).

6 Wednesday , Ju ly 21 , 2004

EngSoc Executive

Engineering Society Executive Reports

A Teary-Eyed Goodbye

Josh Levitz

President

Conferences and More

Blood Drive, Canada Day

Jeff Alfonsi

Vice President,External

Andrea Rayner

Vice President,Internal - Elect

Karim Lallani

President - Elect

Christina Waters

Vice President,External - Elect

Apply for Directorships!

Great Events Next Term!

Pulitzer Prize Part Deux

Well, it’s been a slice. Since this is mylast report I suppose I should use

this space either to recap the term or tocrash and burn in 200 words of lewd com-ments and easily disproved lies. I don’tdoubt that you’d be more entertained bythe latter, but I’m going to stick to thetried, tested and true.

So what’s changed since I took office?I can honestly say that there is far morespirit, a ton of new wicked events, and

way more involvement. We’ve bolsteredour line up with brand new events such asthe Golf Tournament, the Genius Bowl,and the Dodgeball Tournament. Theamount of first years who are taking activeroles in EngSoc is astounding and ourevents are extremely well attended.

In what little space I have left, I’d like tothank a few groups who made my term funand action packed. First off, I’d like to shoutout to the other outgoing members of theEngSoc Exec for all the good times. Classreps deserve a huge thank you for keepingtheir classes informed and bringing a ton ofenthusiasm to EngSoc meetings. Finally, I’dlike to reiterate my appreciation of ourdirectors: it’s these people who ensure thatEngSoc is the biggest and easily the beststudent society on campus. Rock on!

Matt Strickland

Vice President,Internal

WEEF Funding Allocations

Icame to a realization the other day. Theproblem at this school isn’t with the

administration, but with the students.Students complain that tuition is too high,yet they don’t apply for financial aid.Students complain that they don’t knowwhat the requirements to graduate are, butwon’t look them up. Students complain thattheir profs suck, yet they won’t commit thatto writing either on course critiques or totheir departments when asked for feedback.Students complain that there aren’t anygood co-op jobs, but won’t do anything attheir jobs to try to make them better (likeasking for more/better work). Studentscomplain that there’s nothing interesting todo around Waterloo, yet they seem to go outof their way to be uninformed about thedozens of events run by directors and oncampus clubs. In other words, you all suck.

You can try bludgeoning these peopleover the head with information, but it won’twork. Students here like their apathy. Theywant to be babysat, and not do anything forthemselves. There are people at this univer-sity who are begging for your feedback.They are paid to listen to you bitch. In fact,you pay them to listen to you bitch, and theyend up getting a really easy job thanks to yourapathy. Your mommy is not going to call andcomplain-you have to do it all by yourself.

Here are some numbers for you. Therewere debt load surveys distributed to all of theclass reps a while back. This survey onlyexists because the administration wants toassess whether the tuition increases have hurtthe students, and how the students are coping.This was the perfect chance to complain, andyou know what-only 33% of you did. Twothirds of you didn’t even care enough to tellthe University that you are up to your eyeballsin debt. If I were in admin, this would tell methat you just don’t give a damn, and will paywhatever I ask. Big raises for everyone!

Can you imagine what would happen ifwe got 100% feedback on these things?Karen Dubois in the Dean’s office would notonly have to read over three thousand sur-veys, but she’d have to manually enter all ofthe results. At about 5 minutes per survey(especially if you all wrote nice detailed com-ments) this would probably take up about250 hours of her time. Of course, since 67%of you didn’t bother to fill these in, Kareneffectively got an extra four weeks’ vacationon you. Wouldn’t you rather make her workfor her salary that you, via your tuition, pay?

The same goes for financial aid. Aridicu-lous percentage of your tuition goes to finan-cial aid that very few people apply for.Imagine if every single student filled out abursary application-do you know how muchwork that would be for the registrar’s office?

Ken, you have a thankless job ahead ofyou. I wish you luck.

For the other three people reading this, Iwish you luck as well, and I hope that atsome point in the future you find somethingworth helping yourself over, since youobviously haven’t found it yet.

So, another term is winding down andsince I’m sure that most of you are as

busy as I am right now, I’ll keep this shortand sweet! As I’m sure you’ve heard bynow, I’m part of your new, (and improved)EngSoc executive, so you will be seeing andhearing me a lot over the next two terms.

I want to make it clear to everyone that Iam always open to suggestions and com-ments. If you have any pertinent education,administration, or co-op issues feel free toapproach me in the halls or email me and tellme what’s up.

If you haven’t heard yet, director appli-cation forms are available on theEngineering Society website, or in theEngineering Society office. Come out and

apply! If you don’t know what to apply for,feel free to come and ask me or one of theother new exec members what each of thedirectorships entails. The education direc-torships are all very important and I wouldlove to see each of them filled this term.From course critiques to student workshops,I hope to see all of your names on an appli-cation form, and I’m looking forward toworking with you next term. The next six-teen months are going to be awesome, and Isincerely hope that each and every one ofyou comes out and gets involved and makesnext term even better than the last few terms.

I want to take this opportunity to thankthe current exec for a job well done. If itweren’t for you guys, I wouldn’t have gotteninvolved with the Engineering Society whenI did. I can only hope that my partners incrime and I have a similar impact on EngSocand that we meet all of your expectations.

On that note, I hope that everyone has anexcellent co-op term, and enjoys the remain-der of the summer. Good luck on examseveryone, see you next term!

Well now that lectures are almost over,and we're all getting ready for finals,

it's time for everyone to bear down andfinally get to work on all those assignmentspushed aside since midterms. As for thefinances, I'm working with Grant to ensurethat we have a smooth transition from this

term to the next. Next term, I'll be holdingsome training sessions for new (and old)directors on how to fill out budget formsand expense statements. As I promised Ihope to increase availability of financialinformation by publishing it on the EngSocwebsite. I intend to do that as a project overthe next work term.

On that note, I've got to go study now.See you in January! The VPF job is, in myopinion, the most interesting one on theexec because its soo MONEY. It's going tobe my job to help directors in organizingeverything from athletics and semi-for-mals, to charities and drama productions.

7Wednesday , Ju ly 21 , 2004

EngSoc Executive

Emma Bardon

Vice President,Education

Engineering Society Executive Reports

David Johnson

Vice President,Finance - Elect

Ken Hanes

Vice President,Education - Elect

So this is my last exec spiel. My usualbrevity is the stuff legends are made of

– but not today. Today I depart from thenorm, and indulge in my last chance to pro-duce a column that no one will read.

Unlike most of you, who will be toilingaway on work terms in the fall, I’ll beenjoying my last work term overseas. Oh,but the fun doesn’t stop there. Chalk one upto only needing 5 of 6 work terms; the mostwork I’ll be doing will be trying to remem-ber where my hotel in Munich is as I stum-ble from Oktoberfest. Yes, it’s true: the 6thwork term is not for working, but amassinga rather large debt, in exchange for 4months of unimpeded backpacking throughEngland, France, Germany, Italy, andSpain. It’s about the only thing keeping mealive through the final month grind that is4A mech. I can’t promise to write you, orsend postcards… or even think about youfor that matter, but I can promise to thinkabout me… and isn’t that what it’s allabout?

Okay now, back to reality. What’s hap-pening in the EngSoc finances, you ask

(somewhat bitterly)? B**5 went down onJuly 20th. For the first time in B**5 histo-ry, the event didn’t fall on a Sunday. Thereviews were mixed about the change inday. One student said, “I like bowling, andI certainly enjoy a nice beverage with it, butSunday was my big drinking day. Now Ihave to drink again?” Overall, I can predictthat the event was a huge success, andeveryone enjoyed themselves.

I’m impressed that you’re still reading.You must still be looking for some financialreport. I guess I should make an effort toplease everyone. Your new VPF is my for-mer opponent Dave Johnson. Let it beknown, though, that there is no animositybetween us, despite me acquiring photos ofhe and my girlfriend “embracing” at thebomber. Let it stand resolved that there willbe a seamless transition in your finances. Infact, Dave and I have already had our firstmeeting.

And of course, it wouldn’t be an execspiel if I didn’t remind directors to get theirexpense forms in. Submit them by July30th if you want your money beforeJanuary. In addition to the orifice beingclosed, I won’t be writing cheques until theend of exams. If you wait until then, you’llhave to get Big Johnson to cut you a chequenext term.

That’s it. There ain’t no more. The endis near. Good luck to everyone, study hard.I can feel those Spanish beaches already…

Grant Holohan

Vice President,Finance

Dreaming of Europe

Finance Info to Be Online

Education, Co-op Issues?

The Peril of Apathy

8 Wednesday , Ju ly 21 , 2004

Features

The upcoming compilation CD“Warrior Nation”, due out in

September, features artists and entertainerswith ties to the University of Waterloo.The faculty of engineering is proud to berepresented with its own electronica com-poser. Ian Leung, currently in his 4A termin Electrical Engineering is one of theartists featured on the Warrior Nation CD.The Iron Warrior is pleased to present anin-depth interview with a promising talent.

When did you get started in this area ofentertainment?

I think I got into this kinda thing whenI was around 15....and the only peoplebeing entertained was myself. I rememberthe first few things I did....I'd grab randomtracks off CDs, sample them as WAV files,and cut out bits and pieces of sound thatsounded interesting. Rock CDs with bigdrum breaks were golden back then. Aftera while I had my own virtual drum kit,with all these samples of snares, kicks, hi-hats and everything. I'd take these soundssnippets and cut and paste them into loops,and form some semblance of organizedsound.

What types of music do you listen to?Which ones most influence your composi-tions? What inspires you?

I used to listen to a lot of big beat, backwhen it was still kinda cool. TheChemical Brothers, and the CrystalMethod are huge influences...I still listento them now. They've made me the personI am today. Not only do they rock, buttheir beats are so dense, you need a knifeto cut through them. Every time you putone of their albums on with a good set ofheadphones, you'll hear something newthat you didn't notice before. It was likefinding hidden treasure, and was veryinspiring. It shows that these guys workhard at making their beats quality, and thismakes me want to put the most into mytracks as well. Most of my earlier workwas me trying sound like these guys, andfailing. Check out the Chemical's DigYour Own Hole, and the first two CrystalMethod albums for some quality beat-work.

As the years progressed, I've diversi-fied and mellowed out, as most people do.It's all about the down-tempo stuff now. Afew years ago I was living quasi-alone inan apartment, and listening to a lot of trip-hop like Portishead and Massive Attack.Whatever you do, don't live alone and lis-ten to Portishead. It's quite depressing.Instead, check out stuff by Zero 7,Thievery Corporation, and Lemon Jelly.Very chill. They're all great around 2am,although the music will still work beforethen.

How do you come up with thesesounds? Do you hear them in your headfirst, or does it just come to you when youmix on your computer?

I usually have some kind of idea ofwhat I’m looking for when I start messingaround with sounds. It’s pretty hard tocome up with anything worthwhile by justsitting at the computer and blindly mess-ing around, at least with my current way ofdoing things. Tracks tend to work out bet-ter when I actually have a musical riff orhook in mind, and then I can just put itdown and build up upon it and see where ittakes me. That’s how “Sunspots” really

came about: messing around on guitar andcoming up with this guitar riff andbassline, and just taking it from there. Thebest songs tend to come from solid musi-cal ideas. Since the idea is already good tobegin with, they also don’t take as long toproduce because they’ll probably alreadysound good. “Sunspots” and “Phat Times”were both made in the same work term,which is probably the fastest I’ve evermade anything. Back in the day when Ididn’t know what I was doing or how touse the software properly, things wouldtake upwards of a year, working on andoff.

Things also tend to work when I’mmining a good (and copyright free) samplesource for ideas. Most of “Phat Times”was taken from about 40 minutes of audiofrom the camping video, which I could justlisten to and cut out interesting snippets.“Two in the Morning” was based onsounds from a 5 minute jam between a saxand guitar. I cut out a few segments thatwere loopable, or that could be made intohooks and riffs, and built everything upfrom there. I should make the originalavailable somewhere; it’s a pretty goodperformance. Those guys can really play.

What instruments do you play? Doyou have any formal theory training? Doyou ever use these skills to enhance yourmusic?

I was forced to learn Piano growing up,I picked up a guitar in Grade 9 and boughtmy friend’s drum set a few years ago, andspent quite a bit of time teaching myselfhow to play them both. All that time spentlearning music theory and harmony actual-ly became really useful in learning newinstruments, figuring out songs, and mak-ing my own stuff. It’s interesting howeducation works. You spend years study-ing things that are totally foreign to youand make no sense whatsoever, but onceyou start working in that field everythingstarts to click. I’m hoping I can say thesame for this whole Engineering bit,because right now I don’t understand adamn thing.

There’s also this issue with form andformula. There are some rules to writingsongs, which dictate how your musicalideas should interact with each other,which parts of the song should lead intoother parts, and whether the builds will allwork properly. If your song’s not builtproperly, your audience won’t feel whatyou want them to be feeling. However, ifyou build all your songs the same way, itbecomes formulaic. You’ll be writing thesame song over and over again with slight-ly different notes, like the way Linkin Parkdoes. I’m not sure where form stops andformulaic begins. That stuff they didn’treally teach in school. I’m working onthat.

Are there any specific recording orproduction techniques that you use tomake your music unique?

Recently, I’ve been playing with theidea of incorporating white noise into mytracks. Subconsciously, your mind picksup white noise and associates them to amood or a feel. You can hear this in allthose new-age songs, with the clichédwave sounds and whale calls and whatnot.You hear the waves, your brain relatesthem to the sun and the beach and beingcalm, and you just chill.

I’ve got these songs, “Phat Times” and“Two in the Morning”, which try to putthis theory into work. “Phat Times” isbased on the video my friend made of ourAlgonquin Park camping trip. Throughoutthe entire thing, white noise from a camp-fire is going through the left speaker, and

sounds from the beach are going throughthe right. Most of the beat is made withrandom bits of percussive noise as well.The rest of the track has this catchy camp-fire guitar riff, and sound clips of me andmy friends acting like retards.

“Two in the Morning” was based on alive jazz jam for the V1 talent show, backin the summer of 2001. My buddy was theorganizer, so he hooked me up with a tape.I cut up the track, and some good sax andguitar riffs out of it, and build the song ontop of that. Most importantly, the tapesdidn’t just capture the music playing, butall the other sounds around it. You canhear the audience clapping and talking toeach other, and the wind blowing into themicrophone. This all helps to make it feelreal and live, like something that actuallyhappened, and not like something somekid just cut up on a computer.

What instruments/tools (either hard-ware or software) do you use in yourmixes?

Here’s a list of what little gear I have:Yamaha Pacifica electric guitar, PeaveyRage 158 15watt amp, Yamaha classicalacoustic guitar, Shure SM58S microphone,Intel P4 2.5Ghz desktop computer, Brain,Soundblaster Audigy 2 ZS, Cool Edit Pro2.0, Samples.

Contrary to popular belief, the mostimportant piece of equipment in this list isactually not the Shure microphone, butyour brain. One of the great things abouttechnology these days is that you can cre-ate some really quality stuff with anabsolute minimum in gear and monetaryinvestment. As long as you have some-thing you want to express and the drive toget started, you can trust in your brain totake care of the rest.

You're in engineering, would you everconsider a career in music? Why or whynot?

This is always a hard question. Theproblem with a career in music is that it’svery financially unstable. It’s not that I’mlooking for money, I’m looking for moneyas a means to financial security. I want tobe able to afford everything I need andmost of what I want for myself and for myfamily. A decent engineering job with adecent base salary can hopefully providethis, and with these things some sense ofsecurity for my family and myself. Takingcare of my family, both present and future,is pretty important for me. Making a goodliving in music is like winning a huge lot-tery, or several consecutive smaller ones.Unfortunately, just having good musicisn’t enough. There are so many talentedmusicians out there with good music thatnobody’s ever heard of, because weren’tlucky, good looking, or interesting enough.

If things go moderately well in themusic industry, maybe I’ll be able toscrape myself a little living for myself as astudio engineering or producing small actsor something. That would be enough formyself to get by, and I’d be a pretty happydude. However, scraping by isn’t enoughin the big picture. I want to be able to sup-port my parents when they retire, and myfamily when I get one. Going for a careerthat you may enjoy more at the cost ofsecurity for the ones you love seemsalmost selfish.

If I can succeed in music then thatwould be great, but I’m not going to betmy future on it.

For a full transcript of the interviewand for songs created by Ian, please visit:h t t p : / / w w w. s o u n d c l i c k . c o m / e o n .Information about Warrior Nation can befound at http://radio2.feds.ca/warriorna-tion.

Ian Leung: Profile of an Artistic Engineer

Quoc Huy T. Le

4A ElectricalIt’s a Summer Olympic year. Worldwide,

athletes are beginning to feel the stressand anxiety of a big event to come. And soare the people running the games - theopening ceremonies take place on August13th and the city of Athens is nowhere nearready for the Olympic Games.

It is no small task to hold the mostwidely renowned athletic competitions inthe world, and the Greek government isspending over $7 billion for the occasion.New athletic venues, athlete housing,infrastructure, and even rail transit systemsare being constructed, and thousands ofpolice and soldiers are being deployed tokeep the peace. In addition to normal con-siderations, Athens has been plagued byadditional problems which have many peo-ple doubting the success of the games.

Even before September 11th, there hasbeen a lot of pressure on cities hosting theOlympics to provide a safe, secure, andessentially ‘terror-free’ environment forthe games. Although generally a stablepolitical area, Greece has been strugglingto eliminate all threats. Even so, AmnestyInternational has criticized the Greek gov-ernment for targeting refugees, immi-grants, ethnic groups and the homeless aspart of their ‘security measures’. The con-struction of one Olympic venue left 137Roma (Ethnic Gypsies) homeless, with nocompensation. However, there are approx-imately 70,000 Greek guards - seven forevery athlete at the games.

Although the Greeks seem to have thesecurity situation well under control, ticketsales are still lagging, with a reputed 1.95million of the 5.3 million available seatssold. For what it costs a city to host theOlympics, a lack of interest can have harsheconomic consequences. However, withGreece’s Euro 2004 football (soccer) vic-tory, ticket sales are expected to jump.

Despite fever-pitch construction, manyOlympic venues are still being finished.Although Herculean progress has beenmade on the Olympic stadium, it is stillnowhere near finished, currently lackingseats and landscaping. There’s apparentlystill a pretty big hole in the ground, andguards are preventing tourists from takingpictures. For what the games are costingAthens, this comes as no surprise, as anybad press will surely be amplified.However, in addition to the Stadium andother Olympic venues, local infrastructureis being greatly improved - light rail transitand subways, highways, and parks are onlya few examples of the $7.2 billion dollarOlympic legacy Athens will be left with.

Matters were complicated by an hour-long power outage across most of Athenson July 12th - during the first full trial ofAthens’s new rail system, nonetheless.With traffic signals disabled, trains notrunning, and air conditioners not function-ing on a 40°C day, it can easily be seenhow disruptive such an outage would beduring the Olympics. Although the black-out was attributed to poor grid manage-ment rather than insufficient power,Athenian citizens and internationalinvestors in the Games surely had theirdoubts.

Even so, among the incessant noise ofjackhammers and under the shade of scaf-folding, the sheer energy with which theAthenians do their job will likely make theOlympic situation a positive one in theend. The Olympic Games may have origi-nated in Greece, but hosting them is a chal-lenge for anyone.

OlympicsDan Arnott

1B Environmental

9Wednesday , Ju ly 21 , 2004

Your Campus

Sandford Fleming FoundationE2 3322, ext 4008, sff@engmailwww.eng.uwaterloo.ca/~sff

Student Travel Grants: Available to students participating in technical conferences. Please check our web site for furtherinformation.

Emergency Loan Funds: SFF has made available funds for short-term emergency loans, interest free for 90 days. These loans areavailable to engineering undergraduates, on either an academic or work term. Contact the Student Awards office for furtherinformation.

The John Fisher Award for Leadership

The John Fisher Award for Leadership is made from time to time to a graduating student whose activities throughout his/her academiccareer have made significant contributions to Co-operative Engineering Education. Nominations for the Award can originate fromstudent groups, faculty members and the Foundation. Nominations should document the nominee's contributions and other support forthe nomination. Contributions are to have a professional orientation and can involve student activities, the Sandford FlemingFoundation work or other appropriate functions. Letters from colleagues, faculty members, and others knowledgeable of thenominee’s efforts will be given consideration.

The Award at Convocation consists of a Citation and an Honorarium of $1,000. For more information, contact the Sandford FlemingFoundation. The deadline for nominations is April 1, 2005.

Semi-Formal Extravaganza

A newly elected EngSoc president gets the gang grind from crazy people off the street.

T’was a beautiful starry night, whenbeautifully dressed people stepped out

to dine on succulent delicacies and dancethe night away…Okay, so that wasembellishing the Engineering Semi-Formal somewhat, because at 7:30, it wasstill as bright as mid afternoon, and wear-ing such formal wear (a far cry from therequisite Engineering undergrad uniformof T-shirt and lounge pants) in this brightnatural light felt...unnatural. However, thefood was absolutely delicious. Numeroussalads, two pastas, and a main course oftender, moist, flavourful chicken cookedto perfection, plus three cheesecakes andmany other desserts made for a distinctlyscrumptious meal. I couldn’t believe that

we have such good food on campus. Yes,you read that right. On campus! Where isthis place that serves such ambrosia, youmay ask, while your teeth fight their waythrough another piece of über-fried and as-yet-unidentified mystery meat from the V1cafe? It was at the swanky University Clubtucked behind the SLC. This venue servesas a regular dining establishment, but isonly open to faculty. How unfortunate.

Highlights of the night included danc-ing to the music of the moustached, half-Swedish, half-German pop sensationGünther (make sure to warm up that neckbefore you attempt this), a photo-op withthe TOOL, and surprise gang grinding.No newly elected EngSoc presidents werehurt in this covert operation.

The night ended with square-dancing-like twirling about and a sing-along en-masse, but the evening did eventually turninto a beautiful starry night. All in all, adelightful evening and a wonderfullyrefreshing break. Big thanks to the Semi-Formal Directors Erin, Shruti, and Mark.

Alicia Liu

2B Computer

On what was supposed to be a specialday for the country of Canada, the

world of Arts and Entertainment suffered ahistoric loss. Marlon Brando died at theripe old age of 80 from lung failure on theevening of Thursday, July 1, 2004 atUCLA Medical Center.

Arguably the most influential actor ofhis time, Brando was the foremost practi-tioner of what is known as “method act-ing” in which an actor draws from his ownexperience to put him or herself in themindset of the character. His breakoutrole was in Tennessee Williams’ “AStreetcar Named Desire” in which he elec-trified audiences with his passionate por-trayal of the brutish Stanley Kowalski. Itwas in the film “The Wild One” that hewas asked, “What are you rebellingagainst?” To which his most famousresponse was, “Whaddya got?” His othermasterpieces include “On the Waterfront,”the disturbing “Apocalypse Now” and theunforgettable “The Godfather” for whichhe won the 1973 Academy Award for BestActor.

He refused the Oscar. He didn’t even

show up. Instead, Brando sent a womannamed Sasheen Littlefeather to read astatement about the treatment of NativeAmericans. The response was worse thanthe one received by Michael Moore whenhe delivered his acceptance speech lastyear.

Being a very private man and living asecluded life, Brando was never one torevel in the media. His off-screen appear-ances were mostly limited to politicalstatements about Native and AfricanAmericans. He married three times andhad at least nine children. His familytroubles came to a head in 1990 when hisoldest son, Christian, was convicted ofkilling his half-sister’s boyfriend. Marlontestified at his son’s trial, but Christianwas still sentenced to ten years for volun-tary manslaughter. Marlon’s daughter,Cheyenne committed suicide in 1995.

Even when all his life’s tragedies andscandals are considered, they still pale incomparison to the impact his work on-screen has had on the world and onHollywood. This man, who at nineteenwas expelled from military school forinsubordination, has influenced a slew ofamazing actors such as Al Pacino, RobertDe Niro and Jack Nicholson.

In a special memorial service MarlonBrando was cremated. Much like most ofhis life, the ceremony was private and theonly attendees were a small group of fam-ily and friends.

1 0 Wednesday , Ju ly 21 , 2004

Arts & Entertainment

Behind the Curtains

As the rest of you enjoyed another engi-neering drama production, the Iron

Warrior was able to score some exclusiveinside stories from the cast and crew mem-bers of the play.

This term’s play is Arsenic and OldLace by Joseph Kesselring, which wasselected by director Marcy Sanderson andassistant director Chris Fairles after amonth of reading different plays to lookfor “something that was funny and had abig enough cast so as many people as pos-sible could get involved.” Among the con-tenders was Steve Martin’s Picasso at theLapin Agile, which Sanderson has consid-ered three times, but dismissed for not hav-ing enough roles.

Having done Arsenic twice before inreal theatres, Sanderson thought the famil-iarity was a good place to start, yet sheadmitted, "I wasn’t aware of how big of achallenge we were taking on when wechose this play.”

In the original script, the story tookplace in a three-storey set, but due to spacelimitation in the ES2 Greenroom, it had tobe simplified considerably. To actuallyconstruct the second level turned out to bemore complicated than anticipated, and thecast didn’t get to rehearse with the set untila week before the show.

The complexity of the set, along withthe need for costumes and props, also pre-sented financial difficulty. Working on a

tight budget, the crew had to pull somestrings. Yet, Sanderson was not eager to gothe sponsorship route, and the play stuck toits limited resources. Impressively, in theend, “between EngSoc budget, the ticketsales and creativity, [they] managed to pullit off.”

Unsurprising, the cast and crew mem-bers found it hard to balance the long hoursof preparation and rehearsal, school andmaintaining a social life. At the same time,the play posed many unique challenges toeveryone involved. Grant Holohan, whiletrying to sound like a Brooklynite, startedoff with a hybrid Southern and Australianaccent. Huy Le found it hard to part withhis moustache for his role while living upto the expectation of looking like GenghisKhan. Yet, many claimed the experiencerewarding, especially for Brooks Turton,who decided that the lonely Mr. Gibbs wascreated for him!

Arsenic will be EngSoc’s last play inthe Greenroom. Although it is not yetknown where the new location will be,Sanderson has high hopes of moving toHagey Hall from the 60-personGreenroom theatre. Despite the fact thatshe will not come back as a director (assis-tant director Chris Fairles will take over),she is anticipating a bigger venue for thefuture.

When taking on the play, Sanderson’sultimate goal was for people to appreciatethe great latent talent in Engineering andundoubtedly she succeeded. When askedwhat she wants the audience to walk awaywith from the play, she said “I hope theylaugh.”

On July 17th and 18th, a group of engi-neers who have an itch for acting pre-

sented us Arsenic and Old Lace. The 1944screwball comedy incarnation of the playby Joseph Kesselring is perhaps betterknown than the theatrical original.

The entire play took place within onesetting, a house in Brooklyn which is hometo the Brewsters. Two old sisters, Abby andMartha, poison lonely older gentlemen witharsenic laced wine, to end their lives of mis-ery and grant them eternal peaceful rest.The bodies are buried in the cellar by theirnephew Teddy, a self-proclaimedRoosevelt. One of the ladies’ victims isaccidentally discovered by another nephewof theirs, the cynical theatre critic Mortimer.He is determined to hide the fact from thepolice, who frequent the house.

However, the plot takes a turn whenMortimer’s brother Jonathan, after years ofdisappearance, comes home with a newface. Along with him are Dr. Einstein, themasterful plastic surgeon and a companionso secret that his presence has to be kepthidden from rest of the family.

Running over two hours with a sizablecast of fourteen and rather complex staging,this production is likely one of the mostambitious seen around Engineering inrecent years. However, the strong talentdemonstrated by the actors confirmed thatthey were up to the dramatic challenge.

Every character in the play has an indi-vidual drama, and many of the highlights ofthis production are found in physical cuesrather than verbal. Having witnessed NeilCavan’s previous performance, I have

always thought of him as an actor who hasa sweet, gentle interpretation of his roles. Inthis production however, he portrayedMortimer with spontaneity and geared allhis energy to the character’s strong emo-tions to make the audience believe the onlysane member of the Brewster family has atleast some of the family genes.

In contrast to Mortimer, the role ofJonathan demands coolness and control,which Huy Le managed with calculatedprecision. The moment he walked on stage,he played Jonathan perfectly, down to everystep he took. Despite being the valiant fam-ily member, he added farce to the story withhis own cruel and forceful nature and there-by won the audience’s heart.

While the portrayal of the tension andhatred between the brothers commandedmuch of the scenes, others also stood out,with excellent performances. Aunts Abbyand Martha, played by Amy Gill andMelanie Roskell respectively, were crediblein every way, from their fondness of Teddyand Mortimer to their slightly wobblywalks. Their portrayal as being ever sosweet and polite is central in order for theaudience to view their characters as peoplewho think their of their murders as charita-ble work. Julia Kossowski as Mortimer’sconfused and neglected-feeling fiancée,Grant Holohan’s goofy police and play-wright wannabe Officer O’Hara, and ArickArslan’s Dr. Einstein with a German accent,all manage to steal scenes from more majorcharacters and provided the audience withsome hearty laughs.

Although my attempt to exact some-thing deeper out of this dark comedy failedas the curtain fell, the members of the pro-duction undoubtedly fulfilled the promiseof a funny yet solid play, directed and per-formed with talent and enthusiasm. As theend of term approaches, what better way toescape than by sharing the love of theatrewith your fellow students?

Arsenic and Old Lace

Cindy Bao

3A Electrical

Quoc Huy T. Le

4A Electrical

Marlong Brando: The Endof a Silver Screen Legend

Cindy’s Kitchen: DessertsNow we come to the best part of the

meal — desserts, as we conclude a term ofCindy’s Kitchen. Thank you for your con-tinuous interest and support. I had funexperimenting with the dishes and hope-fully those around me didn't mind beingthe guinea pigs.

Last, but not least, good luck with yourexams and don't forget to maintain healthyeating habits while you are studying.

Strawberry shortcakes

For the strawberry season, there is nodessert more satisfying than freshly madestrawberry shortcakes. It is also very sim-ple to make, as all you need to bake is thesoda biscuits.

For the whipped cream, a tinned one orCoolWhip will do if you are looking forinstant gratification, although I don't real-ly recommend the latter. For real whippedcream (30%), if you don't have a beater towhip, there is another way. Pour the creaminto a liquid-tight container, and repeat thefollowing steps: close the lid and shake fora couple minutes, then open the lid to letmore air in until you are happy with it. Theresult tends to be runnier than the whippedone, but it worked for us before we got abeater at home.

2 cups flour1⁄2 tsp salt2 tbsp baking powder3 or 4 tbsp butter3 tbsp sugar1⁄2 cup milk1 cup strawberry1⁄2 whipped cream

1. Mix flour, salt, baking powder, 2 tbspsugar, work in butter with hands2. Add milk and roll into a 3⁄4 inch dough.

3. Cut into 4 equal squares and bake at400º F for about 15 minutes.4. Crush strawberries slightly and add 1tbsp sugar5. Split hot biscuits, let cool and top withstrawberries and whipped cream

Makes 4 servings

Pecan Chocolate BrowniesCourtesy of Ann Olson’s Sugar

Brownies have a certain timelessnessto them. No matter what your age is, apiece of warm, soft brownie never fails toplease. I even had them chilled in thefridge and the result was not too bad: theywere a bit firmer and would have beenmuch better if I had used roasted hazelnutsinstead of pecan to get a better crunch.

1 cup unsalted butter 1 cup cocoa powder 1 3/4 cups sugar 4 egg, room temperature 2 tsp vanilla extract 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour 1 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 2/3 cup pecan pieces

1. Grease an 8 x 11 inch baking pan withbutter.2. Melt butter (over stove or inmicrowave) and pour into a larger bowl.Sift cocoa into butter and stir in. Stir insugar.3. Add eggs to mixture, blending well aftereach addition. Stir in vanilla.4. In a separate bowl, combine flour, bak-ing powder and salt (do not sift). Add tococoa mixture and blend. Stir in walnuts.5. Pour into pan and bake at 350º F for 35minutes, until firm when touched.

Makes 12 servings

Cindy Bao3A Electrical

1 1Wednesday , Ju ly 21 , 2004

Arts & Entertainment

ARTS CORNER

The Day of the Triffids is a book abouthow intelligent, ambulatory, carnivo-

rous plants take over the world. No, it’snot another jibe at W. Bush; and howeversilly this premise might sound, the book isan immensely enjoyable read. I too wassceptical as I read the blurb on the backcover during the last work term, but in theend found it much easier to pick up thanto put down.

The Day of the Triffids belongs to thesame genre as HG Wells’ War of theWorlds and such modern non-classics asIndependence Day and The Day AfterTomorrow. These are interesting works,insofar as they deal with the subject ofhow much better off mankind would be ifit was mostly dead. The author, JohnWyndham, preferred to call his works“logical fiction” rather than science fic-tion, and I think this suits Triffids better,since it differs substantially from the cor-pus of science fiction works, most notablyin its profound mistrust of technologicaladvancement.

The story begins with its protagonist,Bill, waking up in a hospital to an eerily

quiet world. A run-in with a triffid, a bio-engineered plant with a poisonous flailwhich is cultivated for its valuableextracts, had left him temporarily blind,so that he missed a highly unusual meteo-rological event. This works out to hisbenefit, as this same event leaves itsviewers completely blind, and thus exter-minates the vast majority of humanity.The rest of the book follows the adven-tures of Bill and a few of his accidentalcompanions as they set about surviving ina world which is at once very familiar andwholly different from the one we know.

While The Day of the Triffids is obvi-ously not a book that should be read tooreverentially, it nevertheless frequently(and less shrilly than some works ofAsimov, for example) touches on ques-tions of a philosophical nature, such asthe value of technology to humanity, theapparent purposelessness of modern life,and the relativity of ethics and morality toa certain set of circumstances. Its charac-ters are more real and more interestingthan the cardboard cut-outs of much mod-ern fiction, and it is written with enjoy-able wit and flair. All in all, it is anengrossing and agreeable read, well suit-ed to a bit of relaxation followingmidterms.

The Day of the TriffidsNeal Damgaard

2B Civil

So last week was Arts Week, and if youwere walking around CPH during your

lunch, you might have noticed somestrange activities going on. Here's a recapof what could have been seen, for thosewho for whatever reason don't walkaround CPH during lunch.Monday

Students using sidewalk chalk forartistic expression and mathematical pro-paganda, such as a Van Gogh-esque starrynight and an anti-decimals campaign tomake pi = e = 3, followed by a fierce gameof charades. The two teams were neck andneck, with neither failing to guess themeaning of any of the dramatic enact-ments. So the rules were changed such thateach team told the chosen actor of theother team what to act out. Even withextremely difficult and diverse topics suchas Dean Sedra, leprechaun, ménage-a-trois, Gay Pride Parade and septic-tankcleaner, each team still did not falter onany of these. We finally had to concludethe game with a sudden death round,where each team had to guess the samething. Appropriately enough, the answerwas “Arsenic and Old Lace”, highlightingthe acting talent that exists in the depart-ment.Tuesday

Students trying to construct a poemfrom a pile of words written on separatesheets of construction paper. The winningentry is as follows, titled “Live myKodachrome Thriller Spring” (punctua-tion added for effect):

A boogie dancing finger sizzles hersnot

I flattened my flying friend soaring hot

Reflecting on … talkingThinking is … fireDreaming of … freedomI love enormous ugly drunk ladiesThis was my eternity flowingThat was her flower explodingGirl girl beer girl heavenMe came.

An honourable mention goes to thepoem that generated “Diamonds cananswer jaded love.”

After the spontaneous poetry came thespontaneous art, with four people eachdrawing a different part of a figure withoutknowing what any of the other peoplewere drawing. The picture is availablefrom the Arts Directors for viewing.Wednesday

Students participating in the quintes-sential Arts Week event, sculpting withduct tape. However, this soon turned into a“duct taping”. The prize, consisting of theremaining duct tape, has been awarded tothe duct tapee. This may be of particularinterest to some in case he should consid-er avenging the loss of his leg hairs.Disclaimer: We, the Arts Directors, wouldlike to state emphatically that we do notcondone such behaviour with duct tape,nor, *ahem* any websites that such behav-iour may cause to arise.Thursday

The culmination of the week of coursewas the highly anticipated faculty-wideRock, Paper, Scissors contest, with manyworthy contestants coming out. The mostconsecutive ties stands at nine. After manybreathtaking, edge-of-your-seat matches,the final showdown included the defend-ing champion Jeff Alfonsi, who tenacious-ly won in straight sets to continue his reignas the Rock, Paper, Scissors champion.Friday

You should have noticed by now thatArts Week is a four-day week.

Thank you to everyone for participat-ing! And remember, submissions to theArt Contest are accepted until July 23rd.

Engineering Arts Week

Alicia Liu

2B Computer

Lost was i, in pain and sadness.A mind in immolation.Evil brought me near to madness.Bowing to temptation.

An empty Soul, devoid of love,Painting hatred art.Then, like a breeze, hugging a dove,You came and touched my heart.

Before, i was a wandering waif.For bread, i had to plead.To think of You, is to feel safe.You're all the food i need.

Through trying days, we sometimes fightAnd tears of hurt i'll cry.But strength in faith tells me You're right.Into Your arms i fly.

Your light so warm. Your touch so mild.You never let me go.As a mom who feeds her child,Your grace and mercy flow.

While we walk, You hold my handAnd breathe the life of spring.Experiencing what You have plannedMakes even nature sing.

At night, when i lay down to sleep,I feel Your tender kiss.I'm glad that i am yours to keep.Our marriage of peaceful bliss.

My Euphoric DreamQuoc Huy T. Le, 4A Electrical

Today she left me, Today she went away,That breeze which blows past my faceAnd I sit letting her words consume me,She still lives next door, but she leaves with

him tomorrow,And the breeze no longer passes over me, so

thin, so hollow

How amusing is the death of a lake?For every second I laugh, my heart cries,How amusing is the destiny of my fate?For every second I laugh, my heart dies

Fish buried under the dust, a suffocating hold,The sunrise calls, fly away, cut away from me,Take away my love, hang and execute me cold,

Runaway, runaway childFly away, fly away little butterflyGrace the trees of my insanity,And disappear into the leaves,

Runaway, runaway precious,Fly away, fly away as I loose you in the breezeRun away, and take my misery and pain with

you.......please,

The future is a shadow and my past has walked away,

Your thoughts that touch, on my knees, broken and thirsty I pray

Clouds above, dark and heavy,My sanity lies thin,Yet it will never rain on me,I cannot offer the peace you will find with him

But call out to me,Let me close my eyes,As the clouds roar above, dark and heavy,The mocking of the screaming sky

A Dream of you,Call out to me, let me sleep…as I let my heart

die…..A Dream of you, crashing down as I cry,A dying lake, a screaming sky,My dying lake………..my screaming sky

I was never perfect but something I will never regret,

That one thing that stands before no other,It’s the choice to love you, its that choice to

bleed for you, My sweet Angel, my sweet Lover

At my funeral, there will be no presence,No flower over my head stone,At my funeral, there will be no quiet sky meant,Without you, this lake will dry alone

And, She still lives next door, but she leaves with him tomorrow,

And the breeze no longer passes over me, so thin, so hollow

A Dying Lake, A ScreamingSkyRahul Bhardwaj, 3A Electrical

They are everywhere, and I am blind,Blood on my hands and fear on my mindDid anyone, someone, tell you to explore?Standing in the dark, I am searching the

floor

Blind I am, that gave me hope,And now I bleed, there are everywhere,The feel of glass, being blind is a joke

I feel for my kin in the darkness scared,But they’re everywhere, can’t you see,Piercing my skin, my own family….,

Mother, I thought you loved me?Father, I thought you cared?Brother don’t you feel me?God ! I am so scared …..

I reach out into a cloud,Scared, I stretch,I feel you Mother, I remember,But it is only pain and tears I recollectSweet pain of my memory,Sweet pain you deliver and I accept,

Blind yet picking glass pieces off the floor,My love has been shattered,

My mind has been broken and torn,

No longer a blue sky,No longer a sun tangerine,Love, the worst pain in the world,Make it stop please,

Countless nights I have cried,And countless I will more,Its not your fault, I tried,It was never your fault, I know,

I can see through the glass, reflecting love faked,

The pain of the pieces, deeper and deeper driving that stake…….

Deep are my thoughts, try to understand my plight

People I love are the ones I hate, that is my eternal fight

Blind but still for love I will search the red floor,

Forever that a love might exist, an Iron Maiden nevermore,

And though my hands will bleed and my arms grow sore,

I will pull out the glass pieces, bleed andthen search some more…………blind, and then ……….search some

more…………

Thorns of MayRahul Bhardwaj, 3A Electrical

1 2 Wednesday , Ju ly 21 , 2004

Regulars

“It didn’t, this has been one of my best 2Bterms yet.”Dave “Sideburns” Girodat, 2B Civil

Iron Inquisition Why Did Your Summer Term Suck?the

Tsu, Cindy, and James

In the movie world, they have so called“Chic Flicks”. This also applies to the

book world. When the editor asked mewhat I have read during the last twoweeks, I told him my guilty pleasure,reading “Chic Flick” books. They areessentially about nothing other than jokesthat most female readers are able to relateto. They are un-educational; they usuallydo not provoke deep thoughts; in fact,they are so useless that I decided to devotean article to them. Among the “ChicFlicks,” I am currently reading SophieKinsella’s Shopaholic series.

How many times do we hear guyscomplaining about their girlfriends’obsession with shopping? Being a girlmyself, I love to wander in the mall just towindow-shop sometimes. Psychologyresearch shows that some women eventurn to shopping whenunder stress. If shoppingis so popular among thefemales, why don’t wehave books devoted to it?With this thought inmind, Sophie Kinsella, afinancial journalist, start-ed to brainstorm her storyabout a shopaholic whileshe was riding on her reg-ular bus route. RebeccaBloomwood, the maincharacter of the book,was a financial journalistwho found herself con-stantly struggling to find

the balance between her limited incomeand her unlimited desire for shopping. Bythrowing away unopened bank state-ments, not answering the bank’s requestand giving ridiculous excuses to escapemeetings with a bank adviser, she tried toavoid her problems. She was stressed outover the on-growing bills. Every time shefelt stressed, she turned her head towardsshopping for relief. This vicious cyclecontinued on. We can see ourselves in her.Did we ever receive a bank statement andwonder what happened to our visa bill?Did we ever go to a store and load up theshopping cart with items that we did notneed but were on sale?

Despite her immature behavior whenit came to shopping fever, Rebecca was acharming, funny, creative and heart-warming character. She tried to fight anethical battle for her neighbors with theirinsurance company. Her actions were trueto her heart, which warms up our heart.

Rebecca’s adventure made me laughout loud in public when I was reading thebook. Sometimes, we just need to beentertained, and I found a source of enjoy-ment when I read these “Chic Flicks”.

Good literature is a piecethat we can relate to inreal life. I can relate tothe Shopaholic series.Does that also makethem good literature?

Sophie Kinsella’sShopaholic series consistof Confessions of aShopaholic, ShopaholicTakes Manhattan andShopaholic Ties theKnot.

Other books recom-mended by the sameauthor include Can YouKeep a Secret?

Elisa Zhang

Co-op student

Chic Flicks: Book reviewon the Shopaholic Series

“Cindy thinks Karim is cuter than me.”

Matt Strickland, impeached VP I

"Because I killed 12 people...but was onlyable to eat 9 of them."Jonathan Brewster

“Its too cold to take off my pants!”

Daniel Broten, 3A Systems

"Because of the sinful insanity ofBrooklyn!"Mr. Witherspoon & Dr. Harper

"Because we were looking for an escapedconvict...that we never did find."Officers Klein, Brophy, O'Hara & Rooney

"Because we found out that we wereBOTH Brewsters afterall..."Elaine Harper & Mortimer Brewster

“How can you sit around and do workwhen you look this good?”Craig Duffieco, 4A Enviro-Chem

GenE 100: Wrapping Up

Okay, to start off today’s lecture, here’sa question for you fourth-years in the

back: HOW MANY DAYS ‘TILL I.R.S.?(I’ll take your word for it—it’s somethinglike 1300 for me). Now does anyone stillbelieve that your Iron Rings are made ofthe metal from thatbridge that collapsed inQuebec in 1907? Sorryto disappoint you;they’re not. But thataccident did have a rolein starting the tradition.

I’m sure you’ve allheard how on August29, 1907, 75 people diedwhen a cantilever bridge over the St.Lawrence River collapsed during con-struction. The consulting engineer, anAmerican named Theodore Cooper,learned that you couldn’t lengthen a bridgeby two hundred feet without accountingfor the increased dead load. The bridgefailure increased awareness of the engi-neer’s obligation to safety and ethics.

In 1922, the seven past-presidents ofthe Engineering Institutes of Canadaformed the Corporation of the SevenWardens. Not associated with any educa-tional institution, the Corporation wouldadminister the Ritual of the Calling of anEngineer (or The Iron Ring Ceremony),wherein graduates would receive their IronRing to remind them of their commitmentto safety and the public welfare. Thewords of the Ritual were written byRudyard Kipling, who is also responsiblefor such classics as “The Jungle Book.”

Moving on, we may not all be Softies

or Comps, but we all use computers. Andalthough there are many larger-than-lifeengineers in the 20th century, we probablyowe Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hoppermore than any of them. Born in 1906 anddeceased in 1992, she revolutionized com-puter language to the point that non-math-ies like us could understand it. Despitebeing told that "Computers didn’t under-stand English," she developed the firstcompilers and was instrumental in devel-oping FLOW-MATIC and COBOL in1959. They say she also coined the phrase‘computer bug’: a moth flew into one of

the huge old machinesand shorted stuff out.Without Grace Hopper,computers would be asinaccessible to us asthey are to most artsies.

Since the turn of the20th century, the engi-neering profession hasgrown and changed in

ways once never thought possible. Fieldssuch as Computer, Software, Chemical,Systems Design, Mechatronics, Environ-mental, and Aeronautical engineering haveflourished, as well as dozens of sub-spe-cializations. Technological advances haverevolutionized long-standing disciplineslike Mechanical, Electrical, and Civil.Computers as we know them have onlyexisted for 50 or so years, and it’s hard tothink of our society without them.Chemical engineers have given us plastics,polymers, solvents, dyes, and many othermaterials which make our lives easier,more pleasant, and safer. And we don’thave to fear killer robots running amuck inour cities, because the Mechatronics engi-neers who build them are bound by thesame code of ethics as the rest of us.

Thanks for taking Engineering History100. If you want to fill out a CourseCritique, please slip it under the door ofthe IW office (across from the Orifice).

Dan Arnott

1B Environmental

“Without GraceHopper, computers

would be as inaccessi-ble to us as they are to

most artsies.”