Well, it’s that time again: rushingaround for notes and solution sets, *actu-ally* attending our lectures in hopes of areview session, (for some of us) finallymeeting our TA’s, and of course, for the4Bs, the last lecture ever.

Before we all head off to study 20hours/day in hopes of returning to do it allagain this fall, here’s a little bit of info onwhat’s been happening on the Educationscene and what to expect in the fall.

Debt-Load Survey Results:Well, the survey was a success with

33% response rate (not too shabby). DeanChaudhuri would like to see this takeplace every winter and spring term to beable to track how the students are doingfinancially over time. The overall resultsare to your left and breakdowns by termcan be looked at in the Orifice.

Final Exam Tidbits:Here’s a bit of information I dug up

from the Educational Policies: all studentsare allowed to see their marked finalexams, so if you’re worried about howyou did, or want to see how you weremarked, just ask the professor.

This Fall: Get yourself some $$$I think that I’ve got your attention

now. In response to a large number of stu-dents unaware that we can apply forBursaries, I’m putting together a bursaryFAQ which will be online this summer.This will outline what you need to do toqualify for a bursary and when the dead-line is. If you want to apply for one, makesure you apply for OSAP *even if youdon’t think you’ll get it*. The bursaryapplication process allows for this, so ifyou’re rejected by OSAP you actuallyhave a better chance at getting a bursary.Look for more info from your academicrep this fall.

So there you go. Best of luck toeveryone on their finals and have a greattime on your workterms.

ARRIORWRONITHE UN

IVERSITY OF WATER

LOO

ENGINEERING

The Newspaper of the University of Waterloo Engineering SocietyFriday, March 31, 2000 Volume 24 Issue 6

“The only way to get rid of temptation is to give into it.” - Oscar Wilde

In This Issue...Editor’s Rant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Explorations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Women in Engineering. . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Bitter Rant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Restaurant Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3The Big Picture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Arts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Exec Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6No Fixed Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

“Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers.” - Lord Alfred Tennyson

even Science, and was moved into thewinter term so that it could be offered as atechnical elective to 4B chemical andenvironmental chemical engineering stu-dents.

Prof. M. Salama has been a part of theElectrical and Computer Engineeringdepartment since Fall 1990. He has taughtthe energy systems course E&CE 261,464, and ME 269. He also helped todesign the double weight first year course,E&CE 100. Prof. Salama has also beeninvolved in the development of the firstyear circuits course GEN E 123 which isoffered to engineering students in otherdisciplines. During 1999, he taught tomechanical, systems design, and electricaland computer engineering students, aswell as overseeing seven graduate stu-dents.

The third winner of the TeachingExcellence Award is Prof. G. Heppler ofSystems Design Engineering. Prof.Heppler serves as the Systems DesignUndergraduate Associate Chair, whilemaintaining a high level of research, pro-ductivity, and an exceptional teachingrecord. In recent years, he has frequentlytaught SYDE 281, Mechanics ofDeformable Solids, and SYDE 352,Introduction to Control Systems. Prof.Heppler has introduced specialize coursesoftware (ZAP!) along with the use ofMaple into the controls course. He hasalso introduced design projects into thecontrols course, and the cardboard bridgedesign project in the mechanics ofdeformable solids course. In addition tothe above, Prof. Heppler has also intro-duced the graduate level course SYDE553, Advanced Dynamics.

Congratulations to Professor Duever,Professor Salama and Professor Heppleron receiving the Sandford FlemingFoundation University’s DistinguishedTeaching Award for the year 2000.

Teaching Excellence AwardsIn 1998, the Faculty of Engineering

with the assistance of the SandfordFleming Foundation, established an awardto recognize outstanding teaching. Theaward provides recognition for outstand-ing teachers in Engineering who have notyet received the University’sDistinguished Teaching Award.

This year three winners were selectedby the Faculty of Engineering AnnualPerformance Review Committee as part of

its assessment of all Engineering facultymembers. The winners for 2000 are TomDuever of Chemical Engineering, MagdyM. A. Salama of Electrical and ComputerEngineering, and Glenn Heppler ofSystems Design Engineering.

The winners of the award eachreceive a certificate, and funding for twoUndergraduate Research Assistants. Also,their names are listed in the calendar, andtheir names will be recorded on a plaque

in Carl Pollock Hall foyer.Prof. Tom Duever teaches the intro-

ductory course Ch E 101, Statistics forEngineers (Ch E 022), EngineeringEconomics (Ch E 044) and Introduction toProcess Control and Optimization Ch E041). Prof. Duever also teaches the grad-uate course Ch E 622, Applied Statistics inEngineering and Science. Ch E 622 is avery popular graduate course attractingstudents from across Engineering and

Debt Survey Results

VPEducation

Jenn Motuz3B Mechanical

It’s odd. In some ways I’m quite gladto be writing my final editor’s rant, and inother ways, I’ll miss having this forum toprove what a raving lunatic I am.Admittedly, some of what I’ve written hasmade sense, but in other ways, I’m sureit’s been obvious that I was writing therant at 3 in themorning. On thatnote, Mutant Doghasn’t been a delu-sional tired piece ofwork. I’ve actuallybeen “drawing”Mutant Dog comicssince high school.Personally, I thinkthey’re pretty bad,and I continue to aim low, but I’ve hadfriends who really like the comic, and Ifigured I’d give it a shot. Feel free to try totrack me down if you want to see some ofthe strips that I didn’t publish.

What else has been fun about work-ing on the Iron Warrior? I had the chance

to meet a number of people, both on andoff campus. While the EngineeringSociety is kind enough to fund most of thecosts of this newspaper, it would be hardto print it without advertisers. Also, I’vehad a chance to learn. A few new functionsin Photoshop will come in handy for the

future, and I canalways put QuarkXPress on a resumé,even though I doubtI’ll be applying tographic design co-opjobs.

S u r p r i s i n g l ydeadlines have been abit of a joke this term.I set them two days

early in most occasions, except for when Imade the mistake of setting the deadlineduring Reading Two Days. This still does-n’t avoid the problem of people sendingme articles on the final day before sendingthe paper out to the printer. The worst wasthe one article I received approximately

News & Editorial2

The Newspaper of the University ofWaterloo Engineering Society

Editor - in - ChiefRyan Bayne

Assistant EditorsMargaret Parkhill

Daniel Clarke

Layout EditorJessica Gross

StaffAaron Egier

Sasha GutfraindJasen HigginsRaymond HoWill Patterson

Micah PotechinIan Tien

ContributorsJon Bida

Mark CesanaPeter CresswellNiki CzerniakJenn Motuz

Navindra PersaudIan Pollock

Sunny SodhiStephanie Thompson

D. J. Swan

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 1323B, 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

ARRIORWRONITHE UN

IVERSITY OF WATER

LOO

ENGINEERING

That’s It! I Resign!

The Iron Warrior, Friday, March 31, 2000

ten minutes before I burned the issue todisc. Surprisingly enough, that article ranin the following week’s paper.

Finally, I want to thank a few peoplefor helping out this term. Will Pattersonhas been extra keen this term, writingrestaurant reviews without even beingcompensated. Jasen Higgins has beengreat with his tales from Europe, and heisn’t even a student anymore. RaymondHo has once again provided his view ofthe big picture every issue. Aaron Egierhas made it possible for the Iron Warriorto be printed, by lending me his CD burn-er every two weeks (and sometimes longerwhen I want to burn my own discs) inorder to get the paper to the printers.Daniel Clarke and Margaret Parkhill havebeen great in helping out with layout anddistribution of the Iron Warrior. And final-ly, Jessica Gross has helped me out withthe layout, often resulting in me showingup to start work on the newspaper andfinding it half done. Thanks to everyonefor helping out this term.

Editor’sRant

by Ryan Bayne

Rugby Tournament a Success!Seven full teams, eventually, showed

up and put in a good day of rugby. Witheach team guaranteed 3 or more gamesand with some teams playing back toback, there were a lot of tired faces by theend of the day.

All the teams put up a good fight, butit was the “Untouchables” that prevailed.The top team composed entirely of engi-

neers was “Brett’s Bullies” (and may Iremind you all that if you don’t make upyour own team name, you will becomevictim to my sense of creativity - or lackthere of).

Congratulations to the prize winnersand a great job done by all! I just hope allof you who took part aren’t suffering theafter-effects of sunburn - such as myself.

NAVINDRA PERSAUDExplorations Director

Well another successful Explorationshas come and gone. Patrick and I wouldlike to thank the 91 volunteers whoshowed up to make the evening a success.We would also like to thank the Professorsand students who did a great job at the dif-ferent displays. Finally a special thanks tothe guys in hard hats, bright safety vestsand walkie-talkies, Professor RoydonFraser who organized the tours, SueGooding who fed us well and KarenDubois who provided us with our t-shirtsand was security for the evening. The sur-veys students have filled out about theevening have been very positive; they andtheir parents learned a lot and are nowconsidering engineering as a future occu-pation (the brain washing actuallyworked). Most parents commented onhow friendly and personable the guideswere, however a few also commented onthe fact that their guide got lost, but that’sok. The fact that most people wanted theevening to be longer and also want us tohost it for more than one night shows howmuch they enjoyed their few hours withus. We also raised over $340 for theRotary Children’s Center. So as you cansee the whole night was, as Micah wouldput it “Excellent.”

NIKI CZERNIAKAthletics Director

The sun shined bright and the air wascrisp and 10 am seemed a bit too early tobe up on the day after St. Patrick’s Day.Nonetheless, players started trickling ontothe field ready for a day filled with run-ning, tackles, and of course... scrums!

STEPHANIE THOMPSONWomen In Engineering Director

Contrary to popular belief, theWomen in Engineering Wine and Cheese,which was held Wednesday March 22ndin the DC fishbowl, was not a glorifiedmale bashing session with free food anddrinks. The main focus of this event wasto present an opportunity for women of all

my goal for the night. Being in a discipline that is 50%

female (chem eng.), I have never felt theneed to establish myself as a woman in amale dominated faculty. But for themajority of the engineering faculty, thereis little opportunity for women to interactwith female peers.

Please see “Wine & Cheese” on page 3.

disciplines and years, as well as profes-sors, and grad students to meet and talkabout things that interest them. Thisterm’s event brought out undergrads fromevery discipline as well as various profsand grad students, and even two Britishexchange students who gave a decidedlyinteresting outlook on Canadian versusEnglish University life. I even met myfirst female computer engineer, which was

Women In Engineering

tion of food and beverages available. Ourserver greeted us shortly, and asked if wewere ready to order. Yuki ordered theFamous Homemade Breakfast includinghash browns, bacon or ham, two eggs,beans and toast with iced tea todrink($6.08).

I ordered a roast beef sandwichcombo ($5.10), which includes fries andiced tea. Service was quick, as it was theprime lunch rush (12:15 p.m.) and we

received our mealswithin 10 minutes.My meal was simplypresented with thesandwich taking upabout half of the plateand the fries takingup the other half. Thesandwich was verythick; as the slices ofbread were thick,there was a good pileof meat, crispy let-tuce and freshlysliced tomatoes &onions on it. Thefries were a little toogreasy for my taste.The fries had potatoskins on them, addinga bit more crispiness.The sandwich waslike any other, withmoist, fresh breadand good, juicy meat.My iced tea wassweet, and the pow-der wasn’t complete-ly dissolved, so itcould still be tasted(giving a slightly grit-ty texture).

Yuki decided to

News & Opinions 3The Iron Warrior, Friday, March 31, 2000

My Last Bitter RantWell, my undergraduate career at the

University of Waterloo is about to come toan end. In this length of time I have seena lot of things change and a lot of thingsstay the same. The most amazing thing iswhat you can see while you sit on abarstool.

One of the things that has always baf-fled me is the use of volunteers. It isamazing what you can get done withabsolutely no money. You just ask stu-dents to give up large quantities of theirtime and they do! For some stuff likeFrosh Week, you can actually convincepeople to give up entire weeks of time andpay money to do it! There is also theentire process where people apply fordirectorships. A process based on peoplehoping to give up more time on the biggerdirectorships. Keep in mind that I don’tregret volunteering for any of the thingsthat I have done, I am just surprised athow easy it is to get slave labour to helpdo something. It took probably about 15, 000 man hours to run frosh week. Justimagine how much it would cost eachFrosh if we had to pay all of these leadersminimum wage.

My next beef is with people whowhine about student apathy. I didn’t com-pletely understand why students at this

university really don’t care about a lot ofthe big issues in life until the last littlewhile. The best answer is: Why shouldthey? It was pointed out to me once thatthe Co-op system tends to give a higherlevel of professional-ism to its students.After you haveworked in a cubiclefor at least 4 monthsyou see things a littledifferently. The con-cept of organizingsomething like a “sitin” to protest risingtuition seems point-less to us, but other universities still dothings like this. My second thought onthis issue is that most student issues arestupid! Have you read the big headlines inthe Imprint lately? They don’t exactlyshake the very foundations of what itmeans to be a student at UW. I understandthat tuition increases greatly affects ourlives. Our government is making big cutseverywhere. So, it can’t be any real sur-prise that we got hit too. I don’t knowabout you, but I would much rather be fis-cally responsible for my education thenhave the same level of post secondaryeducation that is available in a lot of other

countries across the world.Is the University of Waterloo that bad

a place? Everyone says that Engineeringis such a great program here. Are they allwrong? People should just appreciate

what they havebecause most don’tknow how fortunatethey really are. Doyou honestly thinkthat English is thefirst language of allthe TA’s at everyother school?

I also believethat co-op is meeting

their objective. Co-op tries to place asmany students as they can in the appropri-ate jobs. They still have the rather impres-sive placement rate that you heard whenyou were considering coming here. Theydo have a few problems, and nobody willargue that. But, is it fair to expect co-op toprovide the perfect job for each and everyone of the thousands of students they aresupposed to serve every term? On top ofthis, we expect them to do it with onlyjobs that exist in the marketplace. Whenwas the last time you saw any other orga-nization do this as effectively. If you havea better solution, then I am willing to bet

that they would love to hear it.And finally, I would like to impart a

little advice on anyone still willing to lis-ten to me after reading all of that. Now Iremember way back when. Having to lis-ten to what all of the previous 4th yearsused to say. I used to ignore them all, likeall of you will probably ignore me, but Iam going to say it anyways.

1. Question EVERYTHING. Youwould probably be surprised to find outhow many times there isn’t a reason.

2. Only get involved in the things youwant to do. Your time is valuable, so bal-ance it wisely.

3. Don’t forget your academics.Parents don’t always understand that thereis more to university then the classroom.

4. If you don’t like something, try andchange it. Remember that your vote is justas important as everyone else’s and if youhave a good reason, then others will listen.

5. The only way things will get doneis if you do them yourself. If you leavesomething half done, the next person isjust as likely to reverse your decision asfinish your work.

Well, I should stop this now. I hopeeveryone just learns to appreciate howlucky they really are to be here. Well Ishould go study for my finals now...

Bitter? Me?

by D.J. Swan4B CivilEngineering

Yes, You Can Still Get Ice Creamwas surprisingly comfortable. The seatingmatched the décor in colour scheme, andthe use of mirrors on the walls. The wallswere blue, and the ceiling was sky bluewith light red/pink/purple mottledthroughout. We browsed through thelunch menus as they were sitting with thesugar and condiments. We noticed thatbreakfast is served all day, but costs a dol-lar more after 11:00.

For a diner, there was a decent selec-

have sunny-side up eggs and bacon thatwere pretty good except that the baconwas a bit over-cooked. The hash browns,were ok but they were a bit too greasy,even though they were grilled instead ofdeep fried. It’s definitely a good choicefor anyone who likes fried food.

Yuki really enjoyed the beans andtoast with jam because the beans weretasty and there were four half pieces oftoast which could keep you full till dinnereven though it was meant to be a break-fast. Yuki’s iced tea was good because itwas sweet and cold enough to cool herdown in this early summer time.

Due to time constraints, we couldn’thave dessert, but there was a good selec-tion of them, including ice cream all yearround. Most of the items are not unique toa diner, but if you want a good Canadianmeal at a good price, then make your wayover. I give this diner 3 1⁄2 stars and Yukigave it 3 stars out of 5. Overall, 3 1/4 starsout of 5.

WILLIAM PATTERSON3A Environmental Chemical

This week, for the last IW for thisterm, Yuki and I went to Pemi’sGrill/Diner in University Plaza. Wewalked into a bright, warm, friendlyatmosphere and took a seat. There werechrome plated high stools, chrome-platedchairs and benches. All seats were cov-ered with a metallic green vinyl, which

Wine & CheeseIt is through events such as this that theissues involved with being a minority canbe discussed. Regardless of popularbelief, men and women are different, andthey respond to situations in completelydifferent ways. Judging from the close tofifty people who attended, there was defi-nite merit for more attention to Women inEngineering events in future terms.

A big thanks to all those who cameout, to the profs who showed interest andalso to the Dean’s office for their financialsupport. Hopefully, this event can serve torenew interest in this area from all thosewho have been involved in the past.

4 Opinions The Iron Warrior, Friday, March 31, 2000

I Hate EmailEmail has been very good to me. It’s

been a valuable tool at the workplace. It’sbeen an indispensable part of my universi-ty education. It’s also let me keep in touchwith friends and family all over the world.That said, there ismuch I despise aboutthis technologicalwonder. And so I’vededicated an entirearticle to itsdenouncement.

I hate spamThere’s been

enough said aboutthis subject byenough people in the past. Also, I have nodoubt that everyone has received annoy-ingly useless emails before from unknownsenders. So that’s all I will say about it.

I hate FWDsWhen people forward useless junk

like chain letters, quizzes, jokes, and sto-ries to me, I find it annoying. Some ofthese emails even urge you to forward themessage to others, for example by threat-ening you with “bad luck” or promisingyou “a prize”. Forwarded messages withlarge file attachments are ten times as irri-tating. On occasion, I may find theseemails mildly entertaining. Sometimes, infact, there are some real gems. Most ofthe time, however, these emails are metimmediately with a pressing of the<Delete> key. If I really wanted to readthese things, I could get on the Internetand find them myself.

I hate >>>>>>>multiple FWDsA message that is garbled with unnec-

essary characters will waste bandwidthand storage space unnecessarily. In addi-tion, it’s a telltale sign of a junk email.People should at least have the courtesy ofcleaning up their text if they want some-body to read it.

I hate careless usage of Cc:When it is necessary to send a mass

email, people should be more thoughtfuland careful of how they go about it. Mostof the time, it is not necessary to displaythe addresses of every single recipient.Yet on many occasions, I have foundmyself scrolling through a list of hundredsof email addresses just to read a two or

three line message. This is a waste ofspace and it also makes the recipient listfreely available for anybody to use. Thesimple solution: use “Bcc:” (blind carboncopy) instead, which hides the addresses

from everybody.I hate Reply

All“Reply all” is

close relative of“Cc:”, and I thinkthat rather thanbeing an automaticcommand in someemail programs, itshould be a hidden

feature that requires seven different key-strokes to activate. Email exchanges suchas “Congratulations Joe”-”Yeah, way togo”-”Thank you” are clearly idiotic anddo not need to be sent to fifty individualsfor their reading displeasure.

I h8 ppl wHo rItE LiKe dis!For some odd reason, a lot of people

seem to assume that normal spelling,grammatical, and other general linguisticrules don’t apply to emails. Many peoplehave deficient written communicationskills to begin with, and it doesn’t help thereader very much if he has to learn to deci-pher a new dialect in every email.

I hate messages that are urbanmyths and virus hoaxes

Everybody by now has heard that youshouldn’t flash your headlights at night oryou’ll get shot. Everybody knows thateach copy of that email sent will con-tribute five cents towards saving a littlegirl’s life. And everybody was on thelookout for the Good Times virus. Thesetypes of emails are your typical junk, andthey are typically annoying. What I do geta laugh out of, however, are the many peo-ple who actually believe these things.

I hate slow repliesEven worse than a slow reply is no

reply. If your intended recipient doesn’tcheck their email frequently, and you areaware of this, then a slow reply is accept-able. When people do receive your mes-sages, however, it is frustrating when youdo not get a timely reply. They should atleast send a short, even automated reply,telling you that your message was

The BigPicture

Raymond Ho3A Mechanical

received and that they intend to send areply. Not only is this courteous, but inthe workplace it is good business practice.

Other points to ponderAs an indication of the impact email

has had on society, dictionaries nowinclude “email” and even “emoticon” asreal words. What I fear is that computerjargon and increasing keyboard lazinesswill continue to creep further into thenorm, and that our already abominablecommunication skills will soon disinte-grate altogether.

Email, as a communication tool, is awelcome addition to our daily lives.Problems have arisen, however, when weattempt to replace other forms of commu-nication with email. In the workplace,how many times have you received anemail from a co-worker who sits but tenpaces away from you?

Greetings and cards sent via email aresometimes nice to receive, but I often findthem lackadaisical and devoid of mean-ing. It just isn’t the same as the real thing.Why not write a letter, or make a simplephone call?

Most people, I believe, have a lax atti-tude towards using email. They don’ttreat it as a serious form of communica-tion. This attitude would be unacceptablein other forms of communication, such asin a spoken conversation, or in the well-known memorandum, a prehistoric formof email.

If we are going to use email as areplacement for other forms of communi-cation, as I suspect will be the case in thefuture, then we had better learn to treatemail as we have learned to treat our oldcommunication tools. When writing a let-ter through email, treat it the same as youwould a pen and paper. When composinga work-related email, treat it the same as acompany memo.

I am grateful to have emailing capa-bilities, as much of my life is tied to it, andI could not imagine how I could live with-out it. But this beast has not yet seenenough evolution, and I can only hope thatemail, or should I say, our use of email,will someday evolve to the point of com-plete effectiveness.

JON BIDA3A Computer

Enigma Variations, starring DonaldSutherland and John Rubinstein

I remember once being criticized forenjoying a play that featured only fourcharacters; this one stars two. The playcan be summed up, as a lengthy conversa-tion of two people throwing witty remarksat one another for 2 hours. Many of thetwists, that are shoved into the plot arepredictable; I am not sure whether this isdue to good acting or poor writing.Though slightly predictable, the play ishardly cliche. The set is dull, there is nointermission (thank god), and DonaldSutherland is a lot shorter than you wouldthink.

Sutherland plays a world famous nov-elist, who, through his ridiculous eccen-tricity, has chosen to abandon civilizationand live in seclusion on his own privateNorwegian island. It was his latest novelthat had drawn a newspaper reporter to hisprivate island for an interview of sorts.The reporters simple questioning result ina more complex and twisted story thananyone in the theatre could have imag-ined. I suppose that the play was wellnamed for this reason, that this derangedstory, about the nature of love, started withsome simple questions.

Though my opinion of the play mightseem obvious at this point, it is not; it isone of the best plays I have seen in years.Enigma Variations is an intelligent andhysterical production of Eric-EmmanuelShmitt’s writing. Without ruining most ofthe play, it is best described by its title, sosimple and complex, an Enigma of itsown.

The production is presently at theRoyal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto, untilthe April 1st. After the production leavesToronto, it will find its way to Broadway,so if you cannot see it by the 1st of April,which is likely, then I recommend the tripto New York.

Information about the play can befound online at

http://www.onstagenow.com/

Enigmatic

5ArtsThe Iron Warrior, Friday, March 31, 2000

MutantDog

Story by Ryan Bayne3A Computer Engineering

Art by Nick Wolfe(c) 2000

Claiming KW’s CultureJESSICA GROSS

3B Chemical Engineering

In the last issue of the IW, I promisedI’d talk a bit about the various culturalattractions in KW. But wouldn’t you knowit, my school work got in the way of morecultural pursuits. As a result, this isn’tmuch of an article, but more of a contactlist and some brief notes about galleriesand museums in KW. I would suggest

The studio is located at 59 Erb Street(right across the street from the LCBO)and is open Tuesday through Saturdayfrom 9:30 to 5:30.

KW Art Gallery (579-5860)Housed in the Centre in the Square at

101 Queen Street North in Kitchener, youcan get to this gallery by taking the route8A bus (Fairview via Courtland) from thestop across the street from the HMV onUniversity. Get off at the corner ofMargaret and Queen, and if you can’t findit, then you should head to Optometryupon your return to campus! This galleryhas over 3000 pieces in its permanent col-lection, and is currently showing a selec-tion of these pieces. It is open Tuesdaythrough Saturday from 10 until 5, and onSundays from 1 until 5.

Rotunda Gallery at Kitchener CityHall

This gallery features the work ofartists from the Waterloo Region. It isopen to the public during City Hall hours,and the admission is free. Enjoy!

10:30 to 6, and on Saturdays from 10:30until 5.

Canadian Glass & Clay Gallery(746-1882)

This gallery is housed in an awardwinning building at 25 Caroline Street,and I would say that it is the gallery easi-est to get to from campus. Just follow thetrail next to the railroad in behind CPH allthe way until Erb Street, and you’re right

behind it. It’s openWednesday throughSaturday from 10 until5, and on Sundays from1 to 5.

Peter Etril SnyderStudio (886-3230)

This studio featurethe work of, youguessed it, Peter EtrilSynder. He is a localartist and theMennonites in the KWarea are the inspirationfor much of his work.

calling the galleries before showing up tosee if they are displaying something thatwould interest you.

Harbinger Gallery (747-4644)The Harbiner Gallery is one of the

closest to campus, located at 22 DupontSt. (at the corner of Dupont and Regina).It shows various media, including clay,jewellery, glass, and sculptures. It is opento the public Tuesday through Friday from

An Ode to EDCOMNIKI CZERNIAK

2A Geological

“E” is for educated - The wisest leaders around;Frosh learn to worship what they walk onCement, water, or plain old ground

“D” is for debonair -Amazingly stylish in black;Holding heads high, walking aroundKeeping lowly frosh on track

“C” is for caring -Explaining the ropes;Sharing their knowledgeAnd feeding frosh hopes

“O” is for original -One of a kind;Look in other facultiesAnd no EDCOM you will find!

“M” is for myriad -28 members to be exact;Not as many as us humble froshBut wiser, that’s a fact!

Frosh Week wouldn’t be the sameIf there was not EDCOM to run the games;The facts are known by the orange team...EDCOM rules supreme!

WEEF & Humour6 The Iron Warrior, Friday, March 31, 2000

Funding is Almost CompleteFinals are now upon us. That means

it is time to bury yourself in your booksand learn 4 months of material in 5 days.But in the world ofWEEF it is time togive out somemoney. This termwe had $60,000 toallocate to labsand equipment toimprove ouru n d e r g r a d u a t eeducation as wellas student projectsand teams. This term we had over$176,344 requested from various depart-ments and teams. I was pleased to see allof the quality proposals that were submit-ted and it is a shame that we cannot sup-port them all. On Thursday, March 23,2000 the WEEF representatives from allof the Engineering classes came togetherand as a funding council decided whichproposals merited the $60,000 we had tospend. It was a long night where each pro-posal was meticulously looked at and dif-ficult decisions had to be made. Therewere many arguments and differences ofopinion but by the end of the night a com-promise was reached and the fundingdecision was unanimously passed. Youcan see the breakdown of the proposalsand the money allocated to each proposal.If you would like more information oneach individual proposal, they can befound on the WEEF webpage (http://www.eng.uwaterloo.ca/groups/weef/).

Now on to some disappointing news.The total participation of students donat-ing to WEEF is the same as the last twoterms. A total of 65.66% of engineeringstudents donated to WEEF this term. Thisis down from 66.4% in the fall and thesame as the 65% from the last spring term.The individual class participation num-bers can be seen in the accompanyingtable to this article. A special congratula-tions should go to all of the first yearclasses as well as the 2A, 3B, and 4BSystems classes who showed great sup-port for WEEF. This is not surprising, asthe System Design classes have alwaysbeen large supporters of WEEF. Otherclasses that should be proud of their par-ticipation are the 4B Comp and 4BEnviro-Civ classes. This was one of thebest participations by 4th year classes inmany years. What concerns me is thepoor support from most of the second andthird year classes. As for these classes andall of the 36% of the students that gottheir money back....I don’t know what tosay. With the increased tuition andincreased fees it has become harder to

afford to go to this university and it isunderstandable that people in financialNEED must get their money back to sur-

vive another term. Butit makes me cringewhen I hear people say-ing that they are takingtheir WEEF moneyback to protest tuitionhikes or that WEEFshouldn’t exist becausethe university shouldprovide everything stu-dents need. What most

people don’t realize is that for every extradollar you pay from a tuition increase onlya fraction is spent directly on your depart-ment and even a smaller fraction is spenton lab and equipment upgrades. If we

want to see up to date technology and gainhands on experience on equipment that isused in industry than it is up to us try andimprove our labs.

That is the beauty of WEEF. It is sim-ple, it is student run, and almost every dol-lar you invest comes back out to improveyour education. We contribute every termand we spend the money the way we want.The added bonus of the endowment fundis that it will continuously grow andbecome more and more powerful. WEEFwas created because some students hadthe foresight to realize that it was theirresponsibility to look after themselves andtheir education. I think it is time thatevery student realized this. I hope everystudent decides to take an active role intheir education and support WEEF. I

encourage everyone to take a look at theWEEF webpage and look at the WEEFdisplay case on the first floor of CPH tosee what projects have been funded in thepast. It is amazing how much of an impactWEEF has had on undergraduate engi-neering education.

With that all said, I would like tothank all of those who did donate theirmoney to WEEF and anyone who wants toknow more about WEEF don’t hesitate toask myself, or the assistant WEEF direc-tors Stephanie Thompson or JohnCuddihy. We will all be in the WEEFoffice at sometime or another in CPH1323C (x4893)

WEEF

Mark Cesana3A Mechanical

“OD” Plan Unveiled in CBC InterviewPETER CRESSWELL

3A Off-stream Systems Design Engineering

In the boldest move ever made by anOntario Government, the Mike HarrisTorys have unveiled a new plan, called“Operation Downgrade” (or “OD” as it issometimes called) to generate cash forfinancially strapped schools. In essence,“OD” calls for schools to begin liquidat-ing their resources like a cheap Persianrug store going out of business.

“OD should be looked upon not as along term solution, but rather as a tempo-rary fix.” said Mike Harris in a CBCinterview yesterday. “We’re not saying

market due to deregulation!” A smugsmile soon followed. Mr. Harris did saythere could be some problems with theplan, though, and that he would “have tolook at the numbers.”

The interview concluded shortly afterwith a few words of advice for futureUniversity students. “Ontario continuesto support post-secondary education but isalways looking for new ways of fundingit.” What one piece of advice did he thinkwould be the most useful for incomingstudents? “I’d buy a new pair of runningshoes,” he said.

(Editor’s note for the humourimpaired: the above was satire)

new productive Ontario should at leastmake 40 hours!” When it was pointed outto him by the interviewer that he himselfbarely averaged 20 hours per week ofpseudo useful working hours, Mr. Harriswent on the offensive. “That’s beside thepoint! I imagine that if you gathered allthe students at any one time, who were oncampus and not in class, you could gener-ate a tremendous amount of energy.” Mr.Harris followed along this path, detailinga plan to enslave students, like Mexicansweatshop workers, and have them run agigantic treadmill like generator whoseresulting electricity, he was quick to pointout, “could now be sold on the electricity

‘Sell the farm’; this is Ontario remember,not Saskatchewan. We’re only saying,maybe there are some things thatUniversities could afford to lose.”

When asked what he had in mind, thepremier was slow to respond. Computers,classroom equipment such as excess chalkand tables, office supplies and potentiallylumber from on-campus trees were allpossible untapped revenue sources. “Youcould probably make a killing just by sell-ing all the chairs from a typical Universityclassroom.”

“Also,” continued Mr. Harris “I’vebeen told that students don’t even attend40 hours of class a week! Everyone in the

Exec Reports 7The Iron Warrior, Friday, March 31, 2000

Light at the End of the TunnelWell, the end of another term is upon

us. Hopefully finals will go well, andwe’ll see everyone again in the fall (withthe exception of thosecursed Watt the Fluxguys). For myself,the joy of seeing thesuccessful testing ofour design projecttouched me deeply.Then there was a littleincident, but nevermind that now.

This issue willcome out just in time to give you some-thing to read before going to EOT tonight.For those of you who have been directorsthis term, or are going to be directors nextterm, I’m sure you’ve all remembered themeeting in POETS this afternoon. Checkthe posters for the exact time. If you’restill interested in being a director, talk to

Ladies and gentlemen, this is my lastVPX report of the Winter 2000 term, andas I expected, the term went extremelywell.

Three confer-ences and two com-petitions weregreeted with muchenthusiasm byWaterloo engineer-ing students. CCES,the CanadianNational confer-ence, took place thefirst week of January, with a strong dele-gation in attendance in Winnipeg. We senttwo teams to Toronto to compete in theESSCO’lympics, where they had a lot offun. Hamilton hosted the second annualFirst Year Integration Conference inMarch, where Waterloo again sent a verystrong delegation. Also in March were theCanadian Undergraduate TechnologyConference, which Waterloo attended infierce numbers, and OEC and CEC, wheresome of our best speakers and designteams brought home more than our “fair”share of trophies.

On campus, we had a large number ofguest speakers throughout the term: alandmine expert and a space Engineer,some professors and some ambassadorsfrom the PEO.

We also hosted some great events toraise some money and to raise the aware-ness of engineering within the community.Shadow Day, the first of these events,drew an amazing number of high schoolstudents to follow an engineering student

around for a day, to see what university isall about. Bus Push, Waterloo’s contribu-tion to National Engineering Week, raised

over $2000 for thelocal charity BigSisters of Kitchener-Waterloo. Thencame Explorations,our opportunity to“show off”, to letgrade school childrenand their families seewhat engineers do.Campus Day, the uni-

versity-wide open house, followed the dayafter Explorations, and it was great seeingall the high school students wanderingaround learning more about our school,and about UW Engineering.

Two major events are happening dur-ing the summer when we will be away onwork term. For Physics day at Canada’sWonderland, we have been asked to senda few volunteers to help grade school chil-dren with science, and to judge theirdesign contests. E-mail me at<mipotech@engmail> if you would liketo attend.

The summer conference is ESSCOAnnual General Meeting. If you wouldlike to attend a free weekend in Guelph,you can apply on the website <http://eng-soc.uwaterloo.ca/> before the end ofexams.

I hope everyone has a great summerat work. Thanks and congratulations tothe people who organized, volunteered at,or attended these activities, for makingthis such a smooth term.

VPExternal

Micah Potechin3B Systems Design

This Term in Review

Waterloo’s software engineering pro-gram, scheduled to roll out in 2001, willbe a joint venture between the Departmentof Electrical and Computer Engineeringand the Department of Computer Science.Students will belong to both departmentsand take both ECE and CS courses.

The program offered will be compati-ble with the requirements of the CanadianEngineering Accreditation Board (CEAB)and graduates will have the opportunity tobecome licensed engineers.

The software engineering program isplanned to have no net effect on the num-ber of students enrolled in engineering.The new stream of software engineers willreplace one of the three streams of com-puter engineering students admitted eachyear. Since 1996, the computer engineer-ing program at Waterloo has tripled in

size, in part due to the Access ToOpportunities Program (ATOP) instigatedby the provincial government. Softwareengineering studentswill be equivalent tocomputer engineer-ing and computerscience studentsunder ATOP and assuch there should beno net change toWaterloo’s statusunder the policy.

The Universityof Ottawa was the first school in Canadato offer a software engineering program.Their program is now in its third year andnext year it will be reviewed by the CEABfor accreditation.

Right now, the proposal for the new

resources? How will ECE and CS splittuition fees? Will softies be engineers orwill they be mathies? Do we give themhard hats or pink ties during frosh week?

All things considered, software engi-neering seems to be a step in the rightdirection. It’s important for Waterloo engi-neering to keep up with the times and tocontinue to expand the programs it offers.Computer engineering at Waterloo hasonly been around since the mid-1980s,environmental engineering (civil andchemical) received accreditation in themid-1990s. Over the years, both programhave risen to rank among the best in thenation.

So what’s in store for the Waterloosoftware engineering class of 2006? Onlytime will tell.

software engineering program is passingthough a series of reviews by variouscommittees on campus. It was approved

by the FacultyU n d e r g r a d u a t eStudies Committeeon March 22, andthe proposal will bepresented again atFaculty Council.Then it’s off to sen-ate, which will havethe final say onwhether it’s

approved. There are a number of outstanding

issues in regard to the program’s imple-mentation. How do we coordinate stu-dents split between faculties? How willthe new program affect first year

President

Ian Tien3A Computer

No, I’m Not in Civil...

Hello, I hope your term is going well,I can not believe that it is almost over. Ialso hope that finals are not stopping youfrom enjoying the warmer weather. TheD i r e c t o r s h i papplications areonline now andwe are still look-ing for a Financedirector, so all ofyou who areinterested applytoday. Contraryto popular belief Iam not in 3ASystems, I am in 2A Systems and justcame in first place in the bridge project

(For any one who cares, the 2A systemsclass get into groups of 2-4 people andbuild a bridge 38 inches long and 3 incheswide out of one large sheet of mill board

and a bottle of whiteglue.) Good luck withfinals and have fun onwork term. My officehours are Thursday @1:30 to 2:30 and Friday@ 1:30 to 2:30.

(If I am not in theOrifice during thosehours, check in POETS)

My email is gsod-hi@engmail.

VPFinance

Sunny Sodhi2A Systems Design

CS + ECE = Software Engineering

one of the exec, or email engsoc@eng-mail.

Recently, the wheelchair basketballtournament wentsuccessfully, andpotluck was, asalways, a lot of fun.

This term hasbeen a busy one forme, so for those ofyou who were dyingto spend more timewith me but could-n’t, I apologize.

Now that I’ve got the hang of this wholecrazy thing called VPI, next term shouldbe a breeze........maybe. So I wish you alla fun summer. The next time you see me,I’ll be a married man, so feel free to stopme in the hall and offer your condolences.

Adios.

VPInternal

Ian Pollock3B Mechanical

Travel8 The Iron Warrior, Friday, March 31, 2000

Short on time, money and three coun-tries shy of a dozen, Mike, Eric and Jasenset off to conquer Venice. Little did theyknow, the next few days would be themost grueling that these mighty travelerswould encounter. But before we concludeour little journey,let me express mysincere hope thatyou have enjoyedmy little tirades.If I have done myjob, you havegleaned a few use-ful tidbits of infor-mation that mayserve you well inyour future European adventure. Butwithout further ado, the conclusion of ourepic saga.

LOOKING LOST Unless you are theamong the most organized individuals,there will no doubt be occasions whereyou arrive in a city with absolutely noplace to stay. After our overnight trainfrom Vienna, we arrived in Venice inexactly that predicament. Weary from ourexcursion, we were ready to ditch ourpacks in a locker and go hostel hunting.Suddenly, 7 weeks of experience kicked inand we decided to keep our packs, walkaround the train station looking lost andlet accommodations find us. No soonerdid we step out the front door and we werein hostel heaven.

ALBA D’ORO Imagine a camp-ground, but with little huts and cabins tohouse backpackers. Low prices, (muchcheaper than in Venice) an on-site store,restaurant, bar, and a great swimmingpool. We found Alba D’Oro to be anotherone of those out-of-the-way gems thatreally made our stay. Clean and friendly,it’s worth the 40-minute bus ride from thecity. The buses don’t tend to run fromVenice all that late, but most guests com-pensate by partying at the bar until allhours of the morning. This we did on bothnights, enjoying the company of a greatbunch of Canadian girls, a Finn, a Swede,a Dutchman and three very conspicuousgents drinking Labatt Blue and smokingCraven A cigarettes. The latter turned outto be three Canadian soldiers on 72 hourleave from their peacekeeping duties inBosnia.

Venice itself was all right, but havingseen old buildings already we only spentabout a half a day walking around. We didthe gondola tour, which cost more than

our accommodations for the night, butwas worth while if for no other reasonthan to say we saw Venice from a gondo-la. The canals are a lovely shade ofgreen... not entirely unappealing until youget down to water’s level and realize that

these also serve as thecity’s sewers. So, thewalk around was goodbut if you have apigeon phobia, avoidthe Piazza San Marco.

The sights andsounds of Venice weretoo much for our wearysenses so the followingday was spent enjoying

the beautiful sights of the beach at Jesolo.About an hour and a half bus ride fromVenice, Jesolo is ideal for sitting, sunning,swimming and leering at beautiful Italianwomen. It was these women, and indeedall Italians that had the last laugh at thefoolish Canadians, however. Next time,no matter how it looks, we will apply sun-screen to each other’s backs. We didn’tand wound up with matching sunburns inthe centers of our backs.

CLOSE BUT NO SALAMI After alate night of drinking and carousing, wecaught an early morning train to Genoa.Genoa has a reputation as a dirty port citybut that couldn’t be farther from the truth.We stayed at the HI hostel which, while abit sterile, was clean and had a great viewof the city. It is also within walking dis-tance of some really cool fortress ruins onthe tops of nearby hills. A great eveninghike even if you got little sleep the nightbefore and had almost nothing to eat allday. From the top of the hill, Genoa lookslike something you might create inSimCity... lots of windy roads, bridges andtunnels. Very cool!

THE DEATH MARCH The next daywe had our Cinque Terre death march.The dilemma was, we wanted to make it toLucerne, Switzerland that night. In orderto do so, we had to be up to catch the earlytrain to Cinque Terre and then do a forcedmarch through the 5 seaside towns inorder to catch a train back to Genoa, thento Milan, then to Zurich and then back toLucerne. Taking the train to the southern-most town of Riomaggiore the first kilo-meter back to Manarola was very easy...everything was very level, paved andwide. No problem we thought. Well, letme tell you, the five earths are NOT ATALL level, paved or wide. The scenery is

No FixedAddress

by Jasen HigginsRINGed

Why I Don’t Wear Tightie Whitiesgreat, however, when you turn around fortwo seconds to take a look at it.

Some web sites suggest that CinqueTerre be seen and explored in two days ormore. Labeled signposts suggest a briskerpace of 4.5 hours to do the entire trek. Weblasted through the towns at a recordbreaking pace, halving the suggested timeand earning many comments that we weregoing too fast. Nonetheless, people arefriendly and may be greeted with a smileand a “bonjourno”. That is, until younotice they have Mountain EquipmentCoop logos on the packs. Then the natur-al comment is “Heeeeyyy, you’re notItalian”.

Arriving at Monterossa and the end ofour trek, we discovered that we had a half-hour before the train arrived. By thattime, my shirt was sodden with sweat,even though I only wore it half way.Needless to say the Ligurian Sea waslooking pretty nice but I brought neither abathing suit nor a towel. But hey, said I,we’re in Italy... there’s enough Speedosaround that nobody’s going to notice mestripping down to my jockey shorts andrunning into the sea. Well, if anybody didnotice, they didn’t care... it was worth itand the water was FANTASTIC.

THE DAY OF MANY TRAINSAfter my dip, I spent the rest of the daydrying out on trains. The first train wasfrom Cinque Terre to outside Genoa, thento the secondary train station where all ourstuff was. Here we sprinted off the train,got our packs at the lockers and sprintedback. Getting yelled at in Italian, we nar-rowly caught the same train and headed tothe main station where we could catch thetrain to Milan. From Milan we caught thetrain to Zurich... hoping to be able to makethe 4-minute overlap connection toLucerne. Long story short, 6 trains laterwe were in Lucerne and only minutesbefore the hostel canceled our reservation.

DEATH BY ALP The next day it wastime to climb an Alp. Armed with foodand water we set off up the 1600 verticalmeters of mount Pilatus. After 900 meterswe figured the gondola wasn’t a badchoice for the last bit. Nonetheless, after afew hours checking out all the tourist trap-pings at the top, we set off down the otherside. This put us on the wrong side of themountain so we took the train back toLucerne. Note for next time, climbing isrough on the muscles but going down ismurder on the knees. Hungry and tired wefound a Subway and promptly blew $40

Canadian on three subs and three drinks.Our few remaining hours of daylight werespent enjoying the old town of Lucerneand trying not to blow any more money.

MORE TRAINS We spent a mere 30hours in Switzerland, but that was about15 minutes more than we bargained for.Before arriving in Basel to switch to thetrain bound for Paris we were delayed for15 minutes on the tracks. Deciphering theGerman announcements, we understoodthe Paris train would be held for us. Sothere we were, 12:30 am, running throughthe Basel train station looking for what weunderstood to be track 33. Naturally, theextremely fit Canadians, all charged upfrom their mountain climbing the sameday... were in the lead of the pack.Comically, when we made wrong turns,everybody behind us did as well. Soonenough, however, we found the train andenjoyed a Gravol induced coma for the sixhours to Paris.

DESTINATION PARIS Oh Paris... atleast we’ll always have Paris. Let me tellyou, it was nice to be in a city where thelanguage is familiar. Ate too manybaguettes but had a good time all in all.Saw the Eiffel tower, Arc de Triomphe,Louvre, Versailles, Notre Dame, MoulinRouge and the Catacombs but narrowlymissed getting into the cemetery to seeJim Morrison’s grave. Had some fineFrench wine and even made it out for aswanky French dinner on our last night,complete with oysters and a snooty Frenchwaiter.

EPILOGUE We arrived back inCanada 58 days after we left and two daysbefore convocation. At that gloriousmoment, I had $50 to my name, about1000 undeveloped pictures and memoriesto last a lifetime. The good news is that 9months later I’m just over half way to pay-ing off the trip. The bad news is, well, Iwant to go back but I have to work.

In 58 short days we covered 12 coun-tries and about 40 cities and towns.Looking back, I wouldn’t change a thingabout the way we did it, we saw lots, didlots and had a great time wherever wewent. If I were to travel again, however,I’d travel a lot more slowly. I’d take thetime to savour the language, traditions andculture of each town visited. Most of all,however, I’d take time to meet the people.It is the people that give each place its joyand character. And, after the memories ofmuseums and churches have faded, thesmiles and faces of friends will remain.