vol.1, no.7
DESCRIPTION
Published 12 March 2013.TRANSCRIPT
12 March 2013 Vol.1, No.7
New York City Travel Guidepg 9
The Twisted Tale of Copyright pg 10
SIM Locking pg 12Resistance pt 3 pg 13+ +
+
Blackberry 10:Too late for a comeback?
I Voted
EUS Elections 2013-2014pg 4
The Plumber’s Ledger is a publication of the Engineering Undergradu-ate Society of McGill University. The views expressed are solely the opinions of the authors and do not necessarilly represent the position of the eus. For questions, comments, and complaints, as well as more informa-tion on the policies of The Plumber’s Ledger, please use the contact information below. Use this contact information also if you have an interest in contributing content to The Plumber’s Ledger on a one-time or regular basis.
The Plumber’s Ledger
Vol. 1, No. 7
12 March 2013
ISSN 2291-3319 (Print) ISSN 2291-3327 (Online)
editor:Brigid Cami
cover design and logo:Kieran Mak
layout:Brigid Cami
writers:Frédérick Chagnon
Marc Chelala
Christopher Ho
Alessia Rocha
Erika Timoshenko
Malavika Subramanian
photography:Kieran Mak
Erika Timoshenko
Wikimedia Commons
artwork:Alex Foty
Justin Turcotte
advising:David Baileyco
ntrib
utor
s
information
2
| The Plumber’s Ledger
2013 March 12
from the editor:In the spirit of the recent Oscars, Abraham Lincoln once said “it is the people’s business — the election is in their hands. If they turn their backs to the fire and get scorched in the rear, they’ll find they have got to sit on the blister.” Candidate in-formation for the EUS 2013-2014 elections can be found on page 8. As for the rest of it:
We’re hosting Blues Pub!
Brigid Cami,Editor
3
Vol.1 No.7 |
12 March 2013
in this issue:
Letter from the Editor....................................................................................................................2
BlackBerry 10: Too Late for a Comeback?.................................................................................4
Sweet Potato and Caramelized Onion Quiche......................................................................6
New York, New York.........................................................................................................................7
EUS Elections 2013-2014..............................................................................................................8
The Twisted Tale of Copyright: How Creativity Became a Commodity...........................10
SIM Locking: Who Really Owns Your Cellphone?..............................................................12
RESISTANCE Part. III.....................................................................................................................13
3 AM Smurf by Justin Turcotte.................................................................................................16
View it in glorious technicolor at www.facebook.com/theplumbersledger
| The Plumber’s Ledger
4 2013 March 12
DeviceNews.org
www.martinhajek.com
Vol.1 No.7 |
5 12 March 2013
BlackBerry 10: too late for a comeback?
MARC CHELALA
Other notable features include a new version of BlackBerry messenger with voice and video support, a predictive key-board that suggests words depending on your messaging history, voice recogni-tion/control, and BlackBerry Protect.
To conclude, BlackBerry 10 today is much like Windows Phone 7 back in 2010. It is a solid operating system with many desirable features, but still lack-ing compared to more established op-erating systems (read iOS and Android). It is a large step forward compared to BlackBerry 7, which wasn’t designed for touch and was falling behind in terms of innovation and features. For those still yearning for a hardware keyboard, the BlackBerry Q10, expected to launch in the coming month, will combine Black-Berry’s renowned keyboard with its new touch-centric OS.
However, just like Windows Phone, the fact that BlackBerry 10 came in so late will definitely slow down adoption. The question that remains is: will BlackBerry 10 save the company from bankruptcy, or is it simply a parachute in BlackBerry’s free fall? •
is accessible at all times with a swipe to the left, and integrates alerts from vari-ous sources and applications (call logs, messages, twitter, email accounts, etc.). The various gestures thus involve a bit of a learning curve, but they contribute in making the experience a whole lot smoother.
BlackBerry has also worked a lot on making its new device suitable for both work and personal life. Thanks to Black-Berry Balance, users can seamlessly switch from the personal space to the workspace, allowing enterprises to en-force their security settings on the “work device” without affecting the “personal side” of the phone.
To make up for the lack of apps at launch, BlackBerry has developed a tool to easily port Android applications over to the QNX architecture. Although this move allows for the platform to have many of the most popular apps, such as Skype and Instagram, on a new platform, these apps still seem out of place seeing as they don’t agree with BB10’s design and gesture language.
ON JANUARY 30TH, RESEARCH IN MO-TION (RIM), officially renamed BlackBer-ry, finally launched its latest BlackBerry OS 10, along with its first flagship device, the Z10. BB10 comes after a year of de-lays and is the company’s first phone OS running on the QNX architecture. It has been designed from the ground up and is a touchscreen device, unlike the previous versions of the BlackBerry OS. With this new release, BlackBerry hopes to regain the market share it has lost over the past few years and reassert its position in the mobile industry.
With the Z10, BlackBerry has gone with a no-button design, like Google’s most recent Nexus phones. However, unlike the Nexus, which has a bar at the bottom containing the softkeys, BlackBerry has decided to rely on gestures to perform system-wide actions. In fact, the bottom edge of the screen is touch-sensitive, and swiping up from there can minimize the running application and display the notifications. You can also wake up the screen with a simple swipe, no buttons required. The unified notification center
| The Plumber’s Ledger
6 2013 March 12
PHOTO | Erika Timoshenko
preparation
Crust:1. Mix together flour, sugar, salt, and butter.2. In another bowl, mix water, egg, and vinegar. 3. Mix the two together, roll out into four balls, and wrap and
freeze the ones you are not using for later. That’s it!
Quiche:1. Preheat oven to 200C.2. Heat the oil in a saucepan on medium heat. Toss
in the onion and cook it until soft, stirring it oc-casionally. Add the sugar, and continue cook-ing it for another 2 minutes, or until the onion caramelizes (it will turn a dark brown, and will be more translucent).
3. At the same time, peel and chop the sweet pota-to into large chunks. Cook it in a saucepan until it is soft. Drain well (you can let it sit in a colan-der while you cook the onion).
4. Roll out the dough into a flat circle, and line the quiche tin with it, ensuring that it is evenly dis-tributed. Trim off any excess. Note that it will shrink a bit when cooked.
5. Bake the dough in the oven for 20 minutes, un-til it is a light brown colour. This will dry it out, which will avoid finishing with a soggy quiche. Remove from oven.
6. Lower heat to 180C.7. Cover the base with the caramelized onions,
spreading them out evenly. Then top with the sweet potatoes.
8. Whisk together cream, egg, basil, salt, and pep-per. Pour into the pastry base.
9. Bake the quiche in the oven for 40-45 minutes, or until it has set. It should not be hard, but there will not be any flowing liquid. Enjoy! •
HAVE YOU EVER WANTED TO MAKE A QUICHE or a pie com-pletely from scratch, yet always been afraid to mess up the crust? Well this recipe is guaranteed to succeed, no matter what your experience is. It’s simple, it’s fast, and the recipe makes four crusts, so you can freeze the ones you are not us-ing for later. Also, if the 40% cream daunts you, it really does yield the tastiest results!
ingredients
Crust:• 4 cups flour• 1 tbsp sugar• 1 tbsp salt• 2 cups butter, melted• 1 tbsp vinegar• 1 cup water• 1 egg
Quiche:• 1 tbsp oil• 1 large onion (white, brown), finely chopped• 2 tsp brown sugar• 2 large sweet potatoes• ¾ cup heavy cream (I used 40%)• 3 eggs, whisked• 2 tbsp finely shredded basil (fresh or dry)• salt and pepper to taste• a quiche tin
Sweet Potato and Caramelized Onion Quiche ERIKA TIMOSHENKO
Vol.1 No.7 |
7 12 March 2013
Station!) and then you have to buy a ferry ticket (cost: 17 dollars). This ferry has two stops: the first is on Liberty Island and the second on Ellis Island, home to the Immi-gration Museum. Liberty Island only has the Statue of Liberty, and although in the past it was possible to go up the statue, it is not permitted anymore. So if you want to save time, I recommend staying on the ferry and taking pictures from there. More-over, there is another FREE ferry in Man-hattan that takes you to Staten Island and Ellis Island, too. This one does not stop on Liberty Island but you can still see the statue from the ferry.
the entertainmentAnother good option during your visit
to NYC is going to a Broadway show. It is not the cheapest activity but it is certainly worth it. From my experience, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark is very entertaining. The excellent singing, amazing acrobatics, and special effects come together to make this show a fantastic experience for people of every age.
the foodFinally, a good and well-known restau-
rant is Bubba Gump. It is located on Times Square and on top of the great food you can buy Forrest Gump souvenirs. Alter-natively, a good recommendation if you are going on a short and low-budget trip to New York is trying the hot dogs sold on the streets. They are a good, cheap, and fast meal you can find anywhere around the city, making it a very convenient to-go lunch. Additionally, if you want to make it a more complete meal you can also find street stands that sell fruit shakes and you can even order them with protein powder. New York City has many places to visit so you do not want to waste any time! •
PLANNING ON GOING TO NEW YORK City this Easter? Here are some ideas to help you during your trip!
the hotelIf you are looking for an affordable and
well located hotel I have two recommen-dations. The first is the Carter Hotel: it is very cheap (cost: from approx. 80 dollars per night) and what is great about it is the location. The hotel is near Times Square, which means it is near many other tour-istic places like the Madame Tussauds wax museum and Broadway. The sec-ond affordable option is the Pennsylva-nia Hotel which is rather old but has a great location as well. If you are planning on visiting the traditional touristic places, being close to Times Square is essential since everything is walking distance from there. Also, I would advise you not to worry much about the quality of the hotel because there is so much to see in the city, at any time of the day (or night), that you will probably not even be in the hotel.
the sightsOn your visit to New York you might
notice that there are a lot of people giving out flyers in the streets. Some of these flyers are actually useful and include dis-counts for tours or museums such as the Madame Tussauds (cost: approx. 35 dollars) which you don’t want to miss. The wax celebrities are absolutely amaz-ing and the museum also includes a 4D experience of the Marvel superheroes. Also near Times Square you might want to visit the stores nearby such as M&M World, Hershey’s, and Toys R Us.
If you haven’t been there yet, you do not want to miss the Statue of Liberty. To get there you have to take the train (do not forget to visit the Grand Central
NEW YORK, NEW YORK Alessia Rocha
PHOTO | Kieran Mak
| The Plumber’s Ledger
8 2013 March 12
Zach
ary
Mor
elan
d | H
ello
eve
ryon
e! M
y na
me
is Z
ac M
orel
and,
an
d I’m
runn
ing
for E
US
Pres
iden
t. It’
s no
t unc
omm
on fo
r peo
-pl
e to
look
bac
k on
thei
r yea
rs a
t uni
vers
ity a
s so
me
of th
e be
st
year
s of
thei
r liv
es. T
he th
ings
that
we
lear
n, in
side
and
out
-si
de th
e cl
assr
oom
, as
wel
l as
the
expe
rienc
es w
e ha
ve a
nd
the
rela
tions
hips
we
build
, will
stic
k w
ith u
s fo
r lif
e. F
or m
e,
all o
f the
se e
xper
ienc
es c
an b
e su
mm
ed u
p by
one
acr
onym
: EU
S. I’
m c
urre
ntly
in m
y fo
urth
yea
r of u
nive
rsity
, and
I ha
ve
been
invo
lved
sin
ce t
he s
tart
. I h
eld
the
role
s of
Dire
ctor
of
Com
mun
icat
ions
and
VP
Fina
nce
whi
le a
t the
Uni
vers
ity o
f Vic
-to
ria, a
nd I
am c
urre
ntly
the
VP F
inan
ce h
ere
at M
cGill
.I’v
e le
arne
d SO
muc
h ov
er th
ese
year
s, a
nd s
urpr
isin
gly
little
of i
t w
as fr
om th
e cl
assr
oom
. I’v
e ha
d ex
perie
nce
in m
anag
emen
t, ev
ent
plan
ning
, bud
getin
g, p
ublis
hing
/edi
ting,
lega
l stu
ff (th
at’s
the
tec
hnic
al
term
, I s
wea
r), im
age
proc
essi
ng, c
omed
y, po
litic
s, th
e lis
t goe
s on
. Alm
ost a
ll of
th
is, I
’ve
lear
ned
thro
ugh
my
invo
lvem
ent i
n th
e EU
S, a
nd I
inte
nd to
con
tinue
bei
ng in
volv
ed fo
r the
nex
t tw
o ye
ars,
to le
arn
mor
e, a
nd to
pas
s on
wha
teve
r les
sons
I’ve
lear
ned
to th
e ne
xt g
ener
atio
n of
stu
dent
le
ader
s.Th
e EU
S ha
s so
me
impo
rtan
t iss
ues
to a
ddre
ss n
ext y
ear.
I will
now
exp
lain
a fe
w o
f the
se, a
nd m
y pl
ans
mov
ing
forw
ard.
As g
reat
of a
sch
ool a
s M
cGill
is, w
e pa
le in
com
paris
on to
oth
er e
ngin
eerin
g sc
hool
s w
hen
it co
mes
to
bra
ndin
g an
d sw
ag. N
ext y
ear,
we
will
be
focu
sing
a lo
t har
der
on s
ellin
g an
d pr
omot
ing
EUS/
McG
ill
Engi
neer
ing
item
s, s
uch
as b
rand
ed c
loth
ing
and
cups
. We
hope
that
we
can
star
t a tr
aditi
on a
roun
d on
e or
mor
e ite
ms,
and
that
stu
dent
s in
Eng
inee
ring
at M
cGill
can
wea
r/us
e th
em w
ith p
ride,
and
sho
w o
ff ou
r sc
hool
spi
rit o
n an
d of
f cam
pus.
As I’
m s
ure
man
y of
you
are
aw
are,
a la
rge
issu
e th
at w
e w
ill b
e se
ekin
g to
rem
edy
next
yea
r is
the
blue
s pu
b ca
paci
ty is
sue.
I pl
an to
mee
t ext
ensi
vely
with
the
fire
prev
entio
n of
fice
to s
earc
h fo
r way
s to
incr
ease
ou
r cap
acity
; how
ever
, we
may
nee
d to
acc
ept t
his
as im
plau
sibl
e. A
mor
e re
ason
ably
sol
utio
n m
ay b
e to
se
ek o
ut o
ther
ven
ues,
suc
h as
the
SSM
U b
allro
om. A
s a
tria
l run
nex
t yea
r, I w
ant t
ry s
ubst
itutin
g on
e or
tw
o bl
ues
pubs
for a
“Pub
nite
,” in
the
ballr
oom
, or h
avin
g th
em in
add
ition
to th
e re
gula
r blu
es p
ubs.
Thi
s in
its
elf h
as m
any
flaw
s, b
ut w
e w
ill n
ever
kno
w if
it w
ill w
ork
unle
ss w
e tr
y. S
ince
Pub
nite
has
pot
entia
l to
run
a m
onet
ary
loss
, the
EU
S w
ould
be
runn
ing
the
even
t, ra
ther
than
a d
epar
tmen
t (fo
r the
tria
l run
s at
leas
t).Th
is d
escr
iptio
n is
get
ting
a lit
tle b
it lo
ng, s
o I’l
l sto
p he
re. I
f you
hav
e an
y qu
estio
ns a
bout
any
thin
g th
at
I’ve
said
, or a
bout
oth
er p
lans
that
I ha
ve fo
r nex
t yea
r, pl
ease
do
not h
esita
te to
con
tact
me
at v
pfina
nce@
mcg
illeu
s.ca
, or c
ome
see
me
in p
erso
n in
the
EUS
offic
e, M
cCon
nell
room
7. A
lso,
don
’t fo
rget
to c
ome
to
the
cand
idat
e de
bate
s on
Tue
sday
at 5
pm!
EUS
Elec
tions
201
3-20
14
Pres
iden
t
Vice
-Pre
side
nt
Club
s &
Adm
inis
trat
ion
Lian
Alb
arda
wee
l
Lian
na Y
ang
| My
nam
e is
Lia
nna
Yang
and
I’m
runn
ing
for V
P Cl
ubs
and
Adm
inis
trat
ion.
I a
m a
goo
d ch
oice
for t
his
posi
tion
beca
use
I am
fam
iliar
with
org
aniz
ing
larg
e ev
ents
and
liai
sing
w
ith t
he E
US.
I w
as a
co-
chai
r fo
r Te
chW
eek
2013
and
am
cu
rren
tly t
he c
hair
of t
he U
0 En
gine
erin
g Co
unci
l. C
urre
ntly
, th
e cl
ubs
and
desi
gn t
eam
s ar
e di
scon
nect
ed f
rom
the
EU
S Co
unci
l. T
his
is a
n is
sue
beca
use
thes
e gr
oups
rep
rese
nt a
si
gnifi
cant
por
tion
of th
e en
gine
erin
g st
uden
t bod
y th
at is
not
ge
tting
a v
oice
on
the
EUS
Coun
cil.
I pl
an to
use
the
posi
tion
of
VP C
lubs
and
Adm
inis
trat
ion
to h
elp
inte
grat
e cl
ubs
and
desi
gn
team
s in
to th
e EU
S m
ore
fully
.Yo
u ca
n re
ach
Lian
na a
t lia
nna.
yang
@m
ail.m
cgill
.ca
Eric
Keu
per |
Hey
eve
ryon
e, fi
rst o
ff th
anks
fo
r tak
ing
the
time
to re
ad th
is. I
am
ver
y ex
cite
d to
be
runn
ing
for
the
posi
tion
of
VP I
nter
nal
in t
he E
US
for
the
2013
-’14
acad
emic
yea
r. I h
ad a
ver
y re
war
ding
ex-
perie
nce
this
yea
r org
aniz
ing
O-W
eek
and
E-W
eek
with
two
won
derf
ul c
omm
ittee
s. T
his
also
gav
e m
e th
e op
port
unity
to w
ork
with
the
curr
ent V
P In
tern
al a
nd s
ee e
xact
ly
wha
t it t
akes
to p
rodu
ce th
e ev
ents
put
on
by th
e EU
S; p
rovi
ding
fu
n, w
ell d
eser
ved
brea
ks fr
om s
choo
l. As
VP
Inte
rnal
I w
ould
lo
ok to
bui
ld o
n th
e ev
ents
of t
his
year
by
cont
inui
ng to
invo
lve
othe
r fac
ultie
s in
our
pro
duct
ions
with
in th
e M
cGill
com
mun
ity
as w
hole
(for
exa
mpl
e fro
sh e
vent
s w
ith o
ther
facu
lties
), w
hile
m
aint
aini
ng th
e id
entit
y an
d sp
irit o
f Eng
inee
ring
we
know
and
lo
ve. Y
our s
uppo
rt w
ould
mea
n a
lot t
o m
e, a
nd w
ith it
I be
lieve
w
e ca
n m
ake
next
yea
r the
bes
t yet
.Th
anks
,Er
ic
Vice
-Pre
side
nt
Inte
rnal
Luis
Pom
bo |
Hai
ling
from
Car
acas
, Ven
ezue
la, I
am
a s
ec-
ond
year
Sof
twar
e En
gine
erin
g st
uden
t pu
rsui
ng a
min
or
in E
cono
mic
s an
d I
aspi
re t
o be
com
e th
e Vi
ce-P
resi
dent
Co
mm
unic
atio
ns o
f th
e En
gine
erin
g U
nder
grad
uate
Soc
i-et
y. O
ver
the
last
yea
r I h
ave
been
invo
lved
in a
myr
iad
of
activ
ities
bot
h w
ithin
EU
S an
d th
e br
oade
r McG
ill c
omm
u-ni
ty. I
hav
e pl
ayed
intr
amur
al s
occe
r and
bas
ketb
all,
led
the
foun
datio
n of
a S
SMU
clu
b, g
otte
n in
volv
ed w
ith th
e Bu
ll &
Bear
, ref
eree
d EU
S so
ccer
mat
ches
, ser
ved
as V
P Co
mm
u-ni
catio
ns o
f the
Spa
nish
& L
atin
Am
eric
an S
tude
nts’
Ass
o-ci
atio
n, a
nd m
ost i
mpo
rtan
tly, I
hav
e do
ne a
ll th
is w
hile
tak-
ing
six
cour
ses
durin
g bo
th th
e fa
ll an
d w
inte
r sem
este
rs. I
am
not
som
eone
who
sim
ply
surv
ives
dem
andi
ng e
nviro
n-m
ents
, I e
mbr
ace
them
and
use
the
m t
o fu
el m
y dr
ive
to
succ
eed,
whi
ch is
why
I ha
ve d
ecid
ed to
run
for t
he p
ositi
on.
I bel
ieve
the
job
Jaso
n ha
s do
ne th
is y
ear h
as b
een
phe-
nom
enal
, the
web
site
boa
sts
a gr
eat i
nter
face
, and
the
EUS
publ
icat
ions
are
of e
qual
ly g
reat
qua
lity.
Yet
, the
re is
room
fo
r im
prov
emen
t. Th
e Fa
ucet
and
the
Ledg
er h
ave
the
po-
tent
ial o
f app
ealin
g to
a b
road
er a
udie
nce,
whi
ch is
exa
ctly
w
hat I
pla
n on
wor
king
on.
In a
dditi
on to
this
, I v
ow to
mak
e th
e EU
S a
mor
e tr
ansp
aren
t org
aniz
atio
n by
usi
ng th
e ne
wly
re
furb
ishe
d w
ebsi
te to
hos
t mor
e in
form
atio
n on
wha
t the
EU
S do
es b
y pu
blis
hing
the
min
utes
of e
very
EU
S Co
unci
l m
eetin
g, m
uch
like
the
SSM
U a
lread
y do
es, a
s w
ell a
s th
e in
form
atio
n th
at a
ppea
rs o
n ea
ch e
ditio
n of
the
pipe
line.
If
you
wan
t pu
blic
atio
ns t
o be
pro
ud o
f an
d tr
ansp
aren
cy, a
vo
te fo
r Lui
s Po
mbo
is a
vot
e in
the
right
dire
ctio
n!Yo
u ca
n re
ad L
uis
at lu
is.p
ombo
@m
ail.m
cgill
.ca
Moh
amed
Mos
tafa
| H
avin
g m
anag
ed th
e Te
N c
omm
ittee
for a
yea
r and
in o
vers
eein
g its
con
tinue
d de
velo
pmen
t I’v
e be
com
e w
ell a
cqua
inte
d w
ith th
e po
rtfo
lio o
f VP
Com
m, t
he E
US
and
it’s
IT in
-fr
astr
uctu
re. A
s a
U4
ECSE
I ha
ve th
e ex
pert
ise
to m
anag
e th
is te
chni
cally
dem
andi
ng p
ortfo
-lio
; hiri
ng th
e m
ost v
iabl
e ca
ndid
ates
to le
ad it
s co
mm
ittee
s an
d pr
ovid
ing
the
nece
ssar
y as
sist
ance
whi
lst p
ushi
ng fo
r im
prov
ed E
US
web
pre
senc
e an
d br
and
reco
gniti
on.
Ensu
re w
ork
of o
utgo
ing
IT d
irect
or is
con
tinue
d an
d co
mpl
eted
dur
ing
my
term
, min
i-m
izin
g di
srup
tions
to th
e op
erat
ion
of th
e so
ciet
y.Re
crui
t a q
ualifi
ed IT
dire
ctor
for a
t lea
st a
two
year
term
and
ove
rsee
a s
moo
th k
now
l-ed
ge tr
ansf
er.
Wor
k w
ith o
utgo
ing
dire
ctor
to d
ocum
ent e
xist
ing
IT in
fras
truc
ture
Taki
ng o
n yo
unge
r stu
dent
s ke
en o
n le
arni
ng b
y in
volv
ing
them
and
pro
vidi
ng g
uida
nce
as n
eede
d.Im
prov
e on
line
avai
labi
lity
and
acce
ssib
ility
of E
US
cont
ent o
nlin
e.Be
tter i
nvol
ve o
ther
exe
cutiv
es a
nd c
omm
ittee
s in
pub
lishi
ng.
Add
som
e w
eigh
t to
EUS
soci
al m
edia
pre
senc
e w
ith h
ighe
r mor
e co
nsis
tent
thro
ughp
ut a
cros
s al
l ch
anne
ls.
Driv
e fo
r bet
ter b
rand
reco
gniti
on o
f EU
S, fo
ster
ing
the
prid
e an
d co
mra
dery
we
lack
in th
e fa
ce o
f ot
her s
choo
ls a
nd d
epar
tmen
ts.
Wor
k w
ith th
e ex
istin
g br
and
com
mitt
eeD
evel
op t
he p
hoto
-rep
pos
ition
s, e
nsur
e th
eir
pres
ence
and
enh
ance
vis
ibili
ty o
f th
eir
wor
k: b
oth
onlin
e an
d in
the
fort
hcom
ing
year
book
.M
aint
ain
the
mom
entu
m th
e pu
blic
atio
ns c
omite
e ha
s ga
rner
ed o
ver t
he p
ast y
ear
Eval
uate
trou
bles
ome
publ
icat
ions
Whe
re th
e in
ters
ts o
f the
man
ager
s of
the
com
ittee
s m
ay o
verla
p, I
will
end
eavo
ur to
faci
llita
te b
e-tw
een
them
.Yo
u ca
n re
ach
Moh
amed
at m
o@fu
stat
.org
Vol.1 No.7 |
9 12 March 2013
Luis
Pom
bo |
Hai
ling
from
Car
acas
, Ven
ezue
la, I
am
a s
ec-
ond
year
Sof
twar
e En
gine
erin
g st
uden
t pu
rsui
ng a
min
or
in E
cono
mic
s an
d I
aspi
re t
o be
com
e th
e Vi
ce-P
resi
dent
Co
mm
unic
atio
ns o
f th
e En
gine
erin
g U
nder
grad
uate
Soc
i-et
y. O
ver
the
last
yea
r I h
ave
been
invo
lved
in a
myr
iad
of
activ
ities
bot
h w
ithin
EU
S an
d th
e br
oade
r McG
ill c
omm
u-ni
ty. I
hav
e pl
ayed
intr
amur
al s
occe
r and
bas
ketb
all,
led
the
foun
datio
n of
a S
SMU
clu
b, g
otte
n in
volv
ed w
ith th
e Bu
ll &
Bear
, ref
eree
d EU
S so
ccer
mat
ches
, ser
ved
as V
P Co
mm
u-ni
catio
ns o
f the
Spa
nish
& L
atin
Am
eric
an S
tude
nts’
Ass
o-ci
atio
n, a
nd m
ost i
mpo
rtan
tly, I
hav
e do
ne a
ll th
is w
hile
tak-
ing
six
cour
ses
durin
g bo
th th
e fa
ll an
d w
inte
r sem
este
rs. I
am
not
som
eone
who
sim
ply
surv
ives
dem
andi
ng e
nviro
n-m
ents
, I e
mbr
ace
them
and
use
the
m t
o fu
el m
y dr
ive
to
succ
eed,
whi
ch is
why
I ha
ve d
ecid
ed to
run
for t
he p
ositi
on.
I bel
ieve
the
job
Jaso
n ha
s do
ne th
is y
ear h
as b
een
phe-
nom
enal
, the
web
site
boa
sts
a gr
eat i
nter
face
, and
the
EUS
publ
icat
ions
are
of e
qual
ly g
reat
qua
lity.
Yet
, the
re is
room
fo
r im
prov
emen
t. Th
e Fa
ucet
and
the
Ledg
er h
ave
the
po-
tent
ial o
f app
ealin
g to
a b
road
er a
udie
nce,
whi
ch is
exa
ctly
w
hat I
pla
n on
wor
king
on.
In a
dditi
on to
this
, I v
ow to
mak
e th
e EU
S a
mor
e tr
ansp
aren
t org
aniz
atio
n by
usi
ng th
e ne
wly
re
furb
ishe
d w
ebsi
te to
hos
t mor
e in
form
atio
n on
wha
t the
EU
S do
es b
y pu
blis
hing
the
min
utes
of e
very
EU
S Co
unci
l m
eetin
g, m
uch
like
the
SSM
U a
lread
y do
es, a
s w
ell a
s th
e in
form
atio
n th
at a
ppea
rs o
n ea
ch e
ditio
n of
the
pipe
line.
If
you
wan
t pu
blic
atio
ns t
o be
pro
ud o
f an
d tr
ansp
aren
cy, a
vo
te fo
r Lui
s Po
mbo
is a
vot
e in
the
right
dire
ctio
n!Yo
u ca
n re
ad L
uis
at lu
is.p
ombo
@m
ail.m
cgill
.ca
Moh
amed
Mos
tafa
| H
avin
g m
anag
ed th
e Te
N c
omm
ittee
for a
yea
r and
in o
vers
eein
g its
con
tinue
d de
velo
pmen
t I’v
e be
com
e w
ell a
cqua
inte
d w
ith th
e po
rtfo
lio o
f VP
Com
m, t
he E
US
and
it’s
IT in
-fr
astr
uctu
re. A
s a
U4
ECSE
I ha
ve th
e ex
pert
ise
to m
anag
e th
is te
chni
cally
dem
andi
ng p
ortfo
-lio
; hiri
ng th
e m
ost v
iabl
e ca
ndid
ates
to le
ad it
s co
mm
ittee
s an
d pr
ovid
ing
the
nece
ssar
y as
sist
ance
whi
lst p
ushi
ng fo
r im
prov
ed E
US
web
pre
senc
e an
d br
and
reco
gniti
on.
Ensu
re w
ork
of o
utgo
ing
IT d
irect
or is
con
tinue
d an
d co
mpl
eted
dur
ing
my
term
, min
i-m
izin
g di
srup
tions
to th
e op
erat
ion
of th
e so
ciet
y.Re
crui
t a q
ualifi
ed IT
dire
ctor
for a
t lea
st a
two
year
term
and
ove
rsee
a s
moo
th k
now
l-ed
ge tr
ansf
er.
Wor
k w
ith o
utgo
ing
dire
ctor
to d
ocum
ent e
xist
ing
IT in
fras
truc
ture
Taki
ng o
n yo
unge
r stu
dent
s ke
en o
n le
arni
ng b
y in
volv
ing
them
and
pro
vidi
ng g
uida
nce
as n
eede
d.Im
prov
e on
line
avai
labi
lity
and
acce
ssib
ility
of E
US
cont
ent o
nlin
e.Be
tter i
nvol
ve o
ther
exe
cutiv
es a
nd c
omm
ittee
s in
pub
lishi
ng.
Add
som
e w
eigh
t to
EUS
soci
al m
edia
pre
senc
e w
ith h
ighe
r mor
e co
nsis
tent
thro
ughp
ut a
cros
s al
l ch
anne
ls.
Driv
e fo
r bet
ter b
rand
reco
gniti
on o
f EU
S, fo
ster
ing
the
prid
e an
d co
mra
dery
we
lack
in th
e fa
ce o
f ot
her s
choo
ls a
nd d
epar
tmen
ts.
Wor
k w
ith th
e ex
istin
g br
and
com
mitt
eeD
evel
op t
he p
hoto
-rep
pos
ition
s, e
nsur
e th
eir
pres
ence
and
enh
ance
vis
ibili
ty o
f th
eir
wor
k: b
oth
onlin
e an
d in
the
fort
hcom
ing
year
book
.M
aint
ain
the
mom
entu
m th
e pu
blic
atio
ns c
omite
e ha
s ga
rner
ed o
ver t
he p
ast y
ear
Eval
uate
trou
bles
ome
publ
icat
ions
Whe
re th
e in
ters
ts o
f the
man
ager
s of
the
com
ittee
s m
ay o
verla
p, I
will
end
eavo
ur to
faci
llita
te b
e-tw
een
them
.Yo
u ca
n re
ach
Moh
amed
at m
o@fu
stat
.org
Vice
-Pre
side
nt
Com
mun
icat
ions
Brya
n Gi
ngra
s | H
ello
eve
ryon
e! M
y na
me
is B
ryan
Gin
gras
, and
I am
runn
ing
for V
P-Ex
tern
al
of th
e EU
S. T
his
mea
ns r
epre
sent
ing
McG
ill E
ngin
eerin
g st
uden
ts to
all
orga
niza
tions
ou
tsid
e th
e U
nive
rsity
, whe
ther
they
be
com
pani
es in
the
engi
neer
ing
indu
stry
, oth
er
engi
neer
ing
scho
ols,
or t
he c
onfe
dera
tions
whi
ch re
grou
p al
l eng
inee
ring
stud
ents
in
Que
bec
or C
anad
a.Si
nce
the
begi
nnin
g of
the
scho
ol y
ear,
I hav
e be
en w
orki
ng a
s th
e VP
-Ext
erna
l of
ECS
ESS.
As
part
of m
y m
anda
te, I
was
the
chie
f org
aniz
er o
f las
t yea
r’s C
ode
Jam
@ M
cGill
, an
annu
al 4
8-ho
ur p
rogr
amm
ing
com
petit
ion
whe
re s
tude
nts
de-
velo
p so
lutio
ns to
real
-life
pro
blem
s. T
he C
ode
Jam
’s la
test
edi
tion
drew
a re
cord
-br
eaki
ng a
ttend
ance
of 1
29 s
tude
nts.
Par
t of m
y jo
b re
quire
d fin
ding
spo
nsor
s fo
r the
ev
ent.
I was
abl
e to
recr
uit fi
ve s
pons
ors
from
the
engi
neer
ing
indu
stry
, who
se c
ontr
ibu-
tions
tota
lled
$650
0.M
ore
rece
ntly
, I o
rgan
ized
a tw
o-da
y fie
ld tr
ip to
Otta
wa,
whe
re s
tude
nts
had
the
oppo
rtun
ity to
mee
t with
re
pres
enta
tives
from
pot
entia
l em
ploy
ers,
giv
e th
eir r
esum
es a
nd ta
ke a
tour
of t
heir
faci
litie
s. I
was
abl
e to
re
ach
out t
o si
x co
mpa
nies
in th
e O
ttaw
a re
gion
, and
to w
ork
with
them
to o
rgan
ize
the
who
le tr
ip.
As V
P-Ex
tern
al o
f the
EU
S, I
will
str
ive
to e
nsur
e th
at M
cGill
is b
ette
r rep
rese
nted
on
the
prov
inci
al a
nd n
a-tio
nal l
evel
s. I
will
do
ever
ythi
ng I
can
so th
at M
cGill
has
a s
trong
er re
pres
enta
tion
in th
e Q
uebe
c Co
nfed
era-
tion
of E
ngin
eerin
g St
uden
t Out
reac
h, a
s w
ell a
s th
e Ca
nadi
an F
eder
atio
n of
Eng
inee
ring
Stud
ents
. The
se o
r-ga
niza
tions
repr
esen
t all
Engi
neer
ing
stud
ents
in Q
uebe
c an
d Ca
nada
, and
it’s
tim
e w
e ha
d ou
r voi
ces
hear
d.Fu
rthe
rmor
e, I
will
mak
e it
a po
int t
o se
nd a
stro
nger
del
egat
ion
to th
e Q
uebe
c En
gine
erin
g Co
mpe
titio
n.
As V
P-Ex
tern
al o
f the
EU
S, I
will
upd
ate
the
form
at o
f the
McG
ill E
ngin
eerin
g Co
mpe
titio
n to
mak
e it
mor
e re
pres
enta
tive
of Q
EC. I
will
do
wha
t I c
an to
ens
ure
that
who
we
send
to Q
EC fo
r cat
egor
ies
like
Deb
ates
are
w
ell-e
quip
ped
to h
andl
e th
e la
ngua
ge b
arrie
r tha
t exi
sts
betw
een
McG
ill a
nd th
e ot
her E
ngin
eerin
g sc
hool
s in
Que
bec.
I’ll
also
bid
for M
cGill
to h
ost t
he n
ext e
ditio
n of
QEC
, and
if I’
m s
ucce
ssfu
l, I’ll
mak
e su
re w
e ha
ve
tran
slat
ors
avai
labl
e fo
r the
se la
ngua
ge-h
eavy
cat
egor
ies.
Last
but
not
leas
t, I w
ill e
xpan
d on
new
and
cur
rent
initi
ativ
es h
ere
at M
cGill
. Thi
s ye
ar, w
e sa
w a
new
co
mm
ittee
see
the
light
of d
ay: t
he E
ngin
eerin
g To
urna
men
t Com
mitt
ee. A
s VP
-Ext
erna
l, I’l
l mak
e su
re n
ew
initi
ativ
es li
ke E
TC a
re m
aint
aine
d an
d gi
ven
ever
ythi
ng th
ey n
eed
to g
row
, so
that
they
may
offe
r int
eres
t-in
g ev
ents
to s
tude
nts
thro
ugho
ut th
e w
hole
aca
dem
ic y
ear.
Furt
herm
ore,
with
my
expe
rienc
e in
ECS
ESS,
I’m
wel
l-equ
ippe
d to
brin
g m
ore
spon
sors
and
mor
e m
oney
into
MEC
, and
furt
her e
stab
lish
it as
one
of t
his
Facu
lty’s
land
mar
k ev
ents
.Yo
u ca
n re
ad B
ryan
at b
ryan
.gin
gras
@m
ail.m
cgill
.ca
Vice
-Pre
side
nt
Exte
rnal
Sand
ra B
uche
n | F
ello
w e
ngin
eerin
g un
derg
radu
ates
,I a
m ru
nnin
g fo
r VP
exte
rnal
in th
e ho
pes
of im
prov
ing
Mc-
gill’
s re
latio
nshi
p w
ith o
ther
eng
inee
ring
scho
ols
and
to re
pre-
sent
our
sch
ool a
t com
petit
ions
/eve
nts
to th
e be
st o
f my
abili
-tie
s. T
he s
kills
that
will
hel
p m
e m
ost a
re:
• Be
ing
a ha
rd w
orke
r and
det
erm
ined
to fi
nish
wha
t I s
tart
• Sp
eaki
ng F
renc
h, a
s no
t ev
ery
scho
ol r
epre
sent
ativ
e sp
eaks
Eng
lish
• M
y pe
rson
ality
and
pro
fess
iona
lism
I par
ticip
ate
in m
any
even
ts (
Engi
neer
ing
Gam
es, F
ROSH
, E-
Wee
k an
d pa
rtie
s or
gani
zed
by o
ther
eng
inee
ring
scho
ol)
and
have
had
mul
tiple
lead
ersh
ip tr
aini
ngs.
I am
a v
ery
soci
al
pers
on a
nd c
ould
eas
ily c
omm
unic
ate
my
idea
s to
McG
ill s
tu-
dent
s as
wel
l as
mem
bers
of o
ther
sch
ools
. I h
ave
witn
esse
d ho
w th
ese
even
ts w
ork
and
ther
efor
e I k
now
the
impo
rtan
ce
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| The Plumber’s Ledger
10 2013 March 12
Note: The above are public domain images of The Simpsons.
Vol.1 No.7 |
11 12 March 2013
The Twisted Tale of Copyright:HOW CREATIVITY BECAME A COMMODITY
(This is a response to last issue’s article on copyright. Whilst I agree with some of the points the author made, I wanted to delve a little deeper and attempt to shed light on some often forgotten aspects of the complex legal mess that is copyright law.)
In popular discussions on copyright, one often tends to lose sight of the origi-nal purpose of this legal apparatus. The official mission of the US Copyright Of-fice is “to promote creativity by adminis-tering and sustaining an effective nation-al copyright system,” or in other words, the fundamental goal of copyright law was to act as an incentive for artists to continue producing their work – to en-courage creativity and to promote artistic endeavours as a feasible means of mak-ing a living. This is exactly what copyright law is not today.
One would assume that any discussion of an artist’s rights over his/her piece of work would take place directly between the artist and the consumer. However, the artists, when signing to a record la-bel or getting funds from a production company also agree to hand over the responsibility of making legal decisions to these big corporations. For instance, let’s take the example of Jon Else, who, in 1999 wanted to include a scene in his documentary where a group of people were watching The Simpsons. Whilst Matt Groening, the creator, gave Else per-mission to use the footage, Fox Network,
who was authorised to have the final word, commanded a cool $10,000 . . . for four seconds of footage. Else managed to bring it down to $7000 but eventually gave up and replaced it with footage of a film that happened to be in the public do-main due to lack of funds. This incident is just one of countless horror stories but highlights precisely where the system is failing. What started off as a means for artists to make a living is now a means for corporations to go to exploitative ex-tents in order to squeeze every last pen-ny from every avenue.
Another example of copyright gone awfully awry is the fact that Martin Luther King Jr’s iconic “I Have a Dream” speech was copyrighted by the King Estate (the rights to which were later bought by the EMI music company). That is, it is il-legal to watch the speech in its entirety through any other source than a $20 DVD. Moreover, if a television channel or a film-maker wanted to use excerpts of the footage they would have to dispense exorbitant amounts of money purchas-ing often time-bound licenses. This is a strange case of history itself being copy-righted and a sure sign that the system is in dire need of an overhaul.
This is where an innovative, collabora-tive, and more flexible tool such as Cre-ative Commons can come in. The non-profit organization based in California has developed a range of licenses that work within the paradigm of copyright
but allow for a more open and natural sharing process. The fundamental con-ditions of the license allow redistribution of a piece of work as long as the original creator is attributed and as long as this redistribution is not for commercial pur-poses. More importantly, the creator and only the creator can decide when to waive these rights and when to enforce them, allowing for no outside intervention. Gi-ants of the internet such as Wikipedia use Creative Commons licenses and it is becoming an increasingly popular solu-tion in fields ranging from academia to media. Whereas it could be argued that embracing a ‘commons’ based approach is unrealistic, uneconomic, goes against the artist, and is decidedly hippy, it might be useful to remember that even the great Benjamin Franklin himself chose not to patent any of his inventions recog-nising that future generations could and would improve upon them.
The key is that information and knowl-edge are not excludable ‘properties.’ Any piece of work draws inspiration from its predecessors, builds upon existing foun-dations, and therefore evolves its field. Copyright in its present restrictive form definitely does not allow for evolution or innovation of that kind.
(Side note: Good luck to the editor in trying to find a fun image in the public domain to complement this article. I’d suggest the Simpsons but I’m not sure the EUS has that kind of money.) •
MALAVIKA SUBRAMANIAN
| The Plumber’s Ledger
12 2013 March 12
w a n t . The worst part is that the DMCA was meant for copy-right law, not contract law. This act was used to prevent the copying of music and movies that were sold online, and wasn’t even supposed to be applied to phones (it’s from 1998). The most you can do is go to the carrier and hope they will un-lock your phone without charging you an arm and a leg. Currently, there are peti-tions circulating to make unlocking your phone legal again. •
has many benefits, and is usu-ally a very simple process. To unlock your phone, you enter a code that you receive from the network provider, usually based on the IMEI code or MCC code of your phone. Your phone does not change and it doesn’t cancel your service with your current provider. All it means is that the phone is now entirely yours, mean-ing you can use it with any other national carrier, use it with a pre-paid SIM overseas while travelling, or sell it at full value. You can do what-ever you want with it now – it’s yours.
While unlocking a cell phone is easy, the regulations and legality of the process has recently changed. In Canada, Bill C-32 ensured that unlocking your cell phone remained legal. Other than that, it did not do much. Bill C-560 would have introduced a mea-sure that would ensure your cell-phone is unlocked at the end of a contract, but it failed to pass. That being said, most carriers will unlock your phone for a fee (ranging from $10-$75), or you can get third parties to unlock your phone. If you are a reader from the US, things have changed immensely. The Digital Millen-nium Copyright Act (DMCA) makes it il-legal to unlock your phone. It is illegal for you to use your own property the way you
MODERN PHONES AND HANDSETS ARE AMAZING PIECES OF TECHNOLOGY. Right now they are dominating the mar-ket. Most cell phones in Canada and the United States are bought through carriers and are paired with a contract in order to subsidize the cost and make them more affordable. The phone you bought is now yours, but in a sense, it’s not. You own the phone, are responsible for taking care of it and protecting it, but you cannot use this phone however you want. You want to sell your phone? It is going to be un-dervalued and difficult to sell. You want to switch carriers? Tough luck, it won’t work. You should be able to do whatev-er you want with it – I mean, you own it right? This issue arises from the practice of SIM-locking. To make your phone truly yours, and to be able to use it however you please, you need to unlock it. If you are in Canada, the worst case scenario is that it will cost you some money. If you are a reader from the States, it may even be illegal.
SIM-Locking is a capability built into modern cell phones that restricts their use to certain network providers. Most mobile phones are locked in this manner because they are offered at a discount or subsidized price along with a contract re-quiring use for a certain amount of time with the carrier. This allows the carrier to recoup the cost of the discount within the duration of the contract. If you try to put a SIM card from another carrier in, it will tell you that it is unauthorized and you won’t be able to use it. Unlocking your phone
SIM Locking: WHO REALLY OWNS YOUR CELLPHONE?
CHRIS HO
Vol.1 No.7 |
13 12 March 2013
Frédérick Chagnon
RESISTANCE Part IIIthose cleansings occur at regular inter-vals to keep the ship in order. Who knows for how long they’ve been doing this!”
“Where does the energy come from? And the material? At some point they will run out, no?” Sheranne asked.
“Yeah. There’s two possibilities. One, they haven’t run out yet. Two, they man-ufacture it onboard using those same meteors. As for the energy, maybe solar or nuclear. Or maybe even antimatter like us.”
Everyone seemed satisfied with the ex-planation, so they continued their obser-vation of the cleaning of the hull. Truth be told, it was quite a boring sight – rather similar to watching those pool-cleaning robots back on Earth. They decided to continue their search. Some time later, they finally saw it.
“Look! We found it!” Roy exclaimed. “Found what?” Nikola asked. “A straight line! How many of those
have seen today?” He was quite right. It was an odd sight over the giant metal beast.
“We’ll increase our altitude to have a better look at it.” They increased their own ship’s altitude and saw a big rect-angle with an additional line joining two opposite corners.
“Is this what I think this is?” Nikola
the hull, but none had penetrated com-pletely. Since the surface was solid, there was dust to be moved around upon colli-sion, as was the case with the rest of the natural celestial objects. They also real-ized that the surface wasn’t exactly flat. Meteors aside, the surface was regularly punctured by antennas and satellite dish-es. The alien ship was so massive that it had its own gravitational pull, the result of which was a myriad of space debris floating around which made navigation quite difficult. As they were about to land, though they had no clue what they were looking at, an object came flying out the other ship.
“What was that?” shouted Roy. “They are shooting at us!”
Sheranne looked a bit longer at the hull and replied: “I don’t think so . . . Look, others have gone out as well. They’ve all landed back on the hull. It looks as if they are repairing it.” All three of them looked down at the mysterious object that was moving around on the hull. It was a small robot rolling over the surface. Every time it encountered a defect, small arms sprouted out and quickly and efficiently made the repair.
As the engineering expert of the group, Nikola was widely impressed. “Wow, the ship is self-sustaining! I’m pretty sure
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN, IT’S A SHIP?” Roy and Sheranne had a hard time com-prehending what Nikola said.
“Look at it! There are no meteor cra-ters, it’s shiny, and the scans show it’s made primarily out of aluminum. There aren’t many giant spheres of aluminum floating around. And the sensors indicate that its mass is lower than it should be for a full sphere.”
“It’s incredible!” Roy continued. “The closest thing I ever saw to that is the Death Star!”
“Hopefully, it won’t destroy us with a giant laser beam,” Sheranne replied, hu-mourless.
“How soon will we get close enough to land?”
“In about 6 hours, Roy,” Sheranne an-swered.
The next few hours were the longest of the trip. They could see with their own eyes their objective, yet it was still some hundreds of kilometers away. On the viewing screen, the ship appeared bigger with each passing moment until it occu-pied the view completely.
They did a few orbits to determine where to land. Their previous assess-ment that the ship had been spared by the meteor was inaccurate. The surface was filled with small rocks encased in
In the previous issue, after discovering a way to create wormholes for interstellar travel, the crew of the Resistance discovered that the mysterious unidentified object they were racing to discover was nothing short of a gigantic spaceship. Now they must deal with this astonishing discovery.
| The Plumber’s Ledger
14 2013 March 12
have back home!” “I don’t care about the governments.
The Company will buy Peace. It wouldn’t be the first time they bought their way out of trouble.”
“But Captain . . .” “It’s an order Lieutenant.” “Yes, ma’am.”The Hermes continued its route with
its new-found death mission in the back of everyone’s mind.
***Roy, Nikola, and
Sheranne were now in spacesuits on the surface of what they believed to be a door. They decided to drill a hole through it and attach an explosive charge on the inside. This was done so that the explosion would push the door towards space rath-er than inside, risking damaging what was inside. Torches were out of the question due to a lack of oxy-gen, and they didn’t have a portable laser powerful enough to get through. Some 30 minutes later, ev-erything was set up
and they retreated to what they believed to be a safe distance. A flick of a switch later and a somewhat disappointing ex-plosion occurred. Because they were op-erating in space, there was no sound and no giant ball of fire. Part of the door fold-ed upwards quite rapidly and the shrap-nel joined the debris cloud already orbit-ing the ship. They approached the hole
and claim that nothing was too be found. A Company-issued vessel is much more believable than a make-shift ship piloted by criminals.”
“We can’t do that Captain. We don’t have enough fuel. We have to stop on an appropriate asteroid to refuel anyways.”
Hardened by all the death and disap-p o i n t m e n t which had
surrounded her in the past month, she made the most difficult decision of her career: “We’re going after them. They might get there first, but there’s no way we will allow them to come back to tell the tale.” Everyone on the bridge was shocked.
“But Captain . . . they are humans . . . Think of the political consequences it will
asked. “Sure looks like it,” responded Roy. “I can’t believe it. A door!” said Sher-
anne. “So . . . should we knock or something?”
Nikola said. “Let’s land on the door and try to make
our way in. If there’s any logic in their ship’s design, we should end up in a car-go bay of some sort,” Roy replied. The final maneuvers were made and for the first time in History, a human land-ed on an alien ship.
***Aboard the Hermes,
chaos was king. Roy’s message had broken everyone’s spirit. They had been through so much stress during the terror reign of the Faceless Killer1, that to now know that their mission would still be a failure was heart-shattering.
Quentin, the Nigeri-an detective who un-masked the killer, was the first one to regain composure: “Captain, we can’t let them get away! We’ve sacri-ficed so much for this mission already!”
Jennifer West, visibly shaken, replied: “I-I know, but you saw them. They’re so fast, they’re probably there already. Could we turn back now? We could reach Earth
1 See The Plumber’s Ledger, Vol.1, No.2 through 4. The Hermes was the theater of a serial killer who terrorized the ship hoping they would turn around and end their pursuit of the alien ship. It was revealed that the killer had been associated with Roy, Nikola, and Sheranne.
ARTWORK | Alex Foty
Vol.1 No.7 |
15 12 March 2013
and bent down to see . . . nothing. It was pitch black down there. They turned on their powerful flashlights and tried again. They were right to think they would end up in a cargo bay. The room was humon-gous – there was a single level, easily three stories high, with an upper ledge surrounding the room. As one might expect when going through a door, they weren’t looking down into the room, but rather at the floor level. They simply had to walk right in. They all looked at each other, fully realizing the magnitude and significance of what they were about to accomplish. They were all radio-linked, so they could easily talk to one another, but right now nothing was said.
They nodded and were about to step in when Roy stopped them: “Wait! Set phasers to stun.”
“What are you talking about?” Nikola asked.
Sheranne was the only one to under-stand the reference: “We’re not in Star Trek Roy. We got no phasers.”
Roy was all smiles in his helmet. “I know, I know. But I always dreamed of saying that!” Noticing the complete lack of response from his companions, “al-right, let’s go,” he said.
He was the first one to step in, the oth-ers following him closely. As one might expect from a cargo bay on a spaceship, there was no air inside. They continued walking straight ahead until their lights could reach the back wall, which was completely empty. They decided to go to-wards the staircase leading to the upper ledge. There, the notion that they were on an alien ship truly struck them. The stairs didn’t have the same proportions as those they were used to. They were deeper and much higher, suggesting that the builders of this ship were much taller than the average human. Up the stairs, they saw another door, with a single but-
ton to the right. Without having much of a choice, someone pushed it. Noiselessly, the door slid to the left and they entered the new room. The room was quite small – at least it must have been for those it was designed for.
“It must be the airlock,” Nikola said. Once again there was a single button next to the door facing them. After press-ing it, traps on the ceiling opened and they could feel air being rushed in the room. A few seconds later, the pressure stabilized and the door facing them slid open, inviting them to proceed in their ex-ploration of this strange new world.
They continued their walk in the hall-ways, which were fully illuminated. It was completely empty and silent, except for the sound of ventilation (they had a mi-crophone open on the outside to hear ambient sounds as well). The complete emptiness made them feel quite un-comfortable. The hallway was filled with doors with no knobs, but next to each was a black rectangle about two meters in the air.
“How about we take a look at those weird black rectangles now? Maybe they can tell us something about this place,” Sheranne said.
Nikola approached one, raised his hand, and since there was nothing else to do, pressed it in the middle. To their big surprise, the rectangle started to glow blue. “There seems to be some kind of writing now.”
Roy asked Nikola what was written. “How do you expect me to understand a completely alien language that I have never seen before?”
“Just take a look Nik!” “Alright, alright!” Nikola stretched his
neck to have a better look. “Well damn . . . It says ‘Enter Password’ . . . And I can slide a keyboard from the bottom!”
“What? You’re joking!” Sheranne, like
Roy, had a hard time believing this, but af-ter closer inspection it proved to be quite right. (In the coming centuries, it would become a widely-known fact that every intelligent species in the Galaxy had in-dependently developed modern English as their primary language. To this day, how such a thing could happen remains a hot discussion topic amongst histori-ans, anthropologists, and linguists alike.)
“What now? It’s good that they speak English, but we still don’t have the pass-word . . .” Nikola brought them back to reality.
“Maybe the occupant was lazy and his password is something stupid like ‘abc123’,” Roy said. Before Nikola and Sheranne had time to object to such a ridiculous idea, he pushed them aside and typed it in. To their surprise, a soft, automated voice was heard: “Welcome back John Smith.” Right now, nothing could surprise them anymore, not even hearing such a common name in such an uncommon place. After a couple of trials and errors, they managed to find the ship’s map. They agreed that starting by looking at the library would give them the best opportunity to learn about the strange beings.
Before they left John Smith’s room, Sheranne asked the obvious question that no one else had dared to ask: “Guys, we haven’t seen a single living thing yet . . . Our scanners can’t pick up anything either. Sure, everything works and is cleaned up, but . . . where is everyone?”
The conclusion of RESISTANCE is in the next issue of the PLUMBER’S LEDGER! Why is the alien ship empty? Will Jen-nifer West succeeds in her plan to take out the Resistance’s crew? Or will the Re-sistance succeed in her mission to take down the Company and take humanity out of its sleep? •
ARTWORK | Justin Turcotte
www.facebook.com/ArtJustinTurcotte