Imprint_2008-06-27_v31_i05 by Editor Imprint

Impr int The university of Waterloo’s official student newspaper

Friday, June 27, 2008

Part 4 of 6, page 11

Maggie Clark editor-in-chief

federal copyright reform bill tabled in Parliament this spring could have serious consequences for students both inside and out of the classroom if it passes without amendment in the upcoming fall session. Bill C-61: An Act to amend the Copyright Act outlines user rights and restrictions in relation to the copying of a wide range of media, with a particular focus on digital technologies. Among the changes are a defining of Internet Service Provider (ISP) roles and responsibilities, the creation of “remedies to address internet piracy,” and explicit permissions for making copies of “legallypurchased books, newspapers, videocassettes and photographs onto devices you own.” DVDs are not included in this latter permission. A successor to Bill C-60, which was tabled by the then-Liberal government in June 2005, the Conservative government’s reform bill is promoted by Jim Prentice, Minister of Industry, and Josee Verner, Minister of Canadian Heritage, as a “made-in-Canada approach that balances the needs of Canadian consumers and copyright owners, promoting culture, innovation, and competition in the digital age.” Nonetheless, critics as far-reaching as Dr. Michael Geist, the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-Commerce Law; the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA); and over 79,000 Facebook users who have joined the group “Fair Copyright for Canada,” are not convinced this bill lives up to such claims. “We feel this bill is a let-down for students,” said Feds VP education Andres Fuentes. “There is a lack of balance between the user’s rights and the rights of the copyright holder.” Among these critics’ concerns is the government-touted cap on possible damages awarded to persons seeking monetary compensation — a $500 maximum per private use infringement lawsuit, but up to $20,000 in personal liability,

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according to a public government information sheet, for infringements such as posting music to the internet, uploading copyrighted images or videos, and “selling, renting, or giving away a device that contains copies of music ... originally copied ... for personal use.” Bill C-61 also drastically reforms fair dealing policies from the original 1985 Canadian Copyright Act. Section 29 of that document reads quite simply: “Fair dealing for the purpose of research or private study does not infringe copyright.” In contrast, Bill C-61 sets out a very specific one copy per student, not to be shared with non-students, policy for copyrighted material — as well as restrictions for lecture content being destroyed “within 30 days after the day on which the students who are enrolled in the course have received their final course evaluations.” (Section 30.01.5) During question period in the House of Commons, Prentice described some of what he sees as the other legal precedents offered by Bill C-61: “For the first time in Canadian law, format-shifting will be permitted, time-shifting will be permitted, [and] the private copying of music will be permitted.” But Prentice was responding to comments by NDP MP Charlie Angus, who raised the matter of digital locking — an industry practice supported by the bill’s anti-circumvention provisions (Section 41), and which, critics say, negate any of the aforementioned allowances. Specifically, for most Bill C-61 clauses that allow Canadians to record time-shifted TV shows (which must be deleted after they’ve been viewed) or format-shift certain legally-owned content, there is a sub-clause that gives distributors and creators final say in whether or not Canadians can realize these freedoms. See C-61, page 4

JOYCE HSU

News

Imprint, Friday, June 27, 2008 news@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Policing our campus UW police and Waterloo Regional Police team up to keep campus peace

The president’s priorities Jamie Damaskinos assistant news editor

Waterloo] where you have a mixture of students and permanent residents.” However, this does not mean that the UW police will not be taking a hardline stance against certain misdemeanours, such as public urination. “The university will look at certain behaviours and say: Look, we have had enough of this for a while so let’s start a zero tolerance policy and get the message across. That type of thing is not going to change,” Mackenzie said.

niversity of Waterloo President David Johnston submitted a two-page list entitled “President’s Specific Priorities 2008-2009” to the Board of Governors on June 3, 2008. The list contains the specific goals that Johnston intends to accomplish over his coming term as president. The list is divided into three sections with each section corresponding to one of Johnston’s over-arching goals. These goals are to promote excellence, increase income diversification, and strengthen the community. Under the heading of “excellence” are many of Johnston’s sub-goals. These include improving undergraduate programs, fleshing out graduate and post-doctorate programs, improving research experience at the university, and facilitating excellence at the university through recruitment of the highest calibre of staff. According to Johnston’s list, he aims to improve the quality of undergraduate programs at UW “by raising admission standards systematically in every faculty.” Raising admission standards will encourage the acceptance of students with the highest academic integrity. Furthermore, Johnston intends to bring a greater number of international students into the university to further promote diversity and innovation on campus. The list also details his intention to further increase student housing both on and off campus. The increase of available student housing coincides with his intentions of expanding the graduate program. His goal is to raise the number of graduate students from 2,600 to 8,000 over the next 10 years. Johnston proposes to expand the research being done at the university by focusing on “five core research themes of information.” The themes he wants to focus on are technology, health, environment, materials and systems, and society and culture. Another crucial aspect of his plan to improve research experience at the university is to develop and strengthen relationships with other institutions. The list states that he wants to “increase large multi-partner projects with top priority on building out the Institute for Quantum Computing, increasing links with Perimeter Institute and the Centre for International Governance Innovation.” For “Income Diversification,” Johnston stated that he wants to “enhance direct and indirect research income by at least 15 per cent per year for the next five years and broaden grant, contract, licence, [and] royalty sources.” Johnston also states that he wants to work with differing levels of government in order to secure greater support for Quantum Nano Centre (QNC) and the School of Pharmacy. The last section of Johnston’s list deals with strengthening the community. He wants to continue working with the government on his proposed “Smart Nation Act.” The proposed act asks for greater public support of research and development done at the university and other universities in Canada. Additionally, the president wants to work on strengthening the relationship between the university and the greater community of Waterloo. The president’s specific goals are designed to work in conjunction with the Sixth Decade Plan. With the reappointment of David Johnston, the Sixth Decade plan on the horizon, and the advent of the QNC and Engineering V (as well as numerous other construction projects), students and staff can expect a lot of changes at the university. These may disrupt life at the university for a time but as Johnston’s list asserts, “ambitious plans cannot be achieved through business as usual.”

jdamaskinos@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

e hsu aphic by joyc niel Lewis, gr photo by Da

UW office. Ray Logan at the r ce ffi O e lic Po ) poses with UW l Mackenzie (left A or ct ire D es ic university community. A lot of [the UW Police Serv Jamie Damaskinos assistant news editor

“W

ith everything that’s happened at Virginia Tech, there’s an increased awareness among many of the universities and colleges, especially in Ontario, across Canada, and the States that we [had] better be prepared for these types of things,” said Al Mackenzie, director of UW Police and Parking Services. This desire to develop an effective system for dealing with major situations, along with a desire to streamline UW Police operations, is in large part

and the University of Waterloo is further enhanced with this unique opportunity to collaborate and continue strengthening our collective efforts to ensure public safety,” WRPS Chief Matthew Torigian said in a UW news release. Mackenzie echoed Torigian’s sentiments regarding the potential benefits of collaboration. “The reason we did it was to look at how we could provide a better service to the university as a whole,” Mackenzie said. Furthermore, having a WRPS staff sergeant working directly with UW Police Services will allow for more efficient communication. Due to discrepancies between the WRPS and UW Police operations, “a routine check that should take

change] will be here, how we improve our operations and how we streamline our operations,” Mackenzie said. Although the WRPS has adopted a zero tolerance policy for dealing with all public nuisance behaviours, the UW Police Services will not be adjusting their operational policy. In the event of extenuating circumstances, UW police will be giving out warnings rather than proceeding to issue tickets immediately. “We do give warnings. I know that just recently Regional Council asked that there be zero tolerance, but it will depend here. We’re a little different,” Mackenzie said. “Each case is looked at individually, the circumstances are a little bit different on campus than [Uptown

Although the WRPS has adopted a zero tolerance policy for dealing with all public nuisance behaviours, the UW Police Services will not be adjusting their operational policy. why UW Police Services (UWPS), in conjunction with Waterloo Regional Police Services (WRPS), is appointing a WRPS staff sergeant for a one-year term as second-in-command for UWPS. The inter-department collaborative effort was announced on June 19, and the selected officer (as of yet unnamed) will report to the superintendent of WRPS Division #3 and to Al Mackenzie. “The ongoing partnership between the Waterloo Regional Police Service

no more than a minute and a half to two minutes takes us about 20 minutes.” “We thought, what if we brought a regional officer in here… to be the manager of Police and Security Operations? But also have that person look at how we can better integrate our two operations to make [the university] a safer and more secure place,” Mackenzie said. Despite the magnitude of the change, it shouldn’t be noticeable by the overall campus, Mackenzie noted. “We don’t anticipate changing anything that will be visible to the

News

Imprint, Friday, June 27, 2008

C-61: copyright law Continued from cover

These anti-circumvention provisions emphasize that attempts to circumvent “technological measures” (“any effective technology, device, or component that, in the ordinary course of its operation ... controls access to a work, to a performer’s performance”) are generally infringements, even if the content is being compromised solely for personal use — though Section 41.1.3 states that copyright owners “may not elect ... to recover statutory damages from an individual who contravened that paragraph only for his or her own private uses.” Encryption students and those seeking to break technological measures for the purpose of improving interoperability between computer programs may also rest easy: Sections 41.13 and 41.12 respectively protect their work with few restrictions. Breaking these measures to ascertain if your media is recording personal information about you, and if so to prevent it (Section 41.14), or for the benefit of making content accessible to a specific person with a perceptual disability (41.16) is also acceptable. But for the average consumer, these measures might offer distributors incentive to revive an otherwise faltering industry of digital rights management technology; and should distributors take more steps to encrypt their content, Bill C-61 offers no balance for the consumer. Elsewhere, heavy onuses lie on educators to protect media copyrights. Section 30.2.5, for instance, allows librarians to make digital copies of print materials for a patron only if they or their institutions have taken measures to prevent said patron from keeping that document for more than five days. Distrust for this bill, which was coined by some as the “Canadian DMCA” (the U.S. Digital Millienium Copyright Act condemned by Dr. Geist, among others, as “draconian”) is only heightened by the obfuscating politics surrounding its introduction, which interested parties have been worrying since 2007, when its development was first announced. Among the more difficult elements to parse is the matter of truth-telling versus genuine confusion as to what Bill C-61, in its present form, actually permits and restricts. Prentice, for instance, recently featured in a ten-minute interview

with CBC Radio’s tech-savvy Search Engine podcast. When host Jesse Brown pitched a viewer question regarding what portion of court-awarded statutory damages would end up in the hands of the work’s copyright holder or creator, Prentice was very precise in his response. “Every single penny of it goes to the creator,” Prentice told Brown, “because they’ll be the person initiating the lawsuit. The only one who can prosecute the action is the owner of the work.” Not so, according to Section 41.22.1 through 4, which states that “any person or persons deriving any right, title or interest ... may individually for himself or herself ... protect and enforce any right that he or she holds,” lists court conditions for cases wherein the copyright owner is not undertaking legal proceedings, and grants the court ultimate power to apportion damages won between “the person who took the proceedings and the copyright owner.” But Stephen Weber, president of the Waterloo Students for the Information Commons (WSIC), was quick to highlight that, amid all the political tapdances surrounding Bill C-61, its abandonment of fair dealing practices and consequences for average media consumers should be most alarming to university students — and UW students in particular. To illustrate his point, Weber noted how quickly the Prentice interview on Search Engine was turned into a techno-remix by engaged members of our generation. “It’s more the sealing of knowledge, and making it so consumers can’t use their own content, that we should be worried about. To take snippets [of Search Engine] and remix them into their own music just shows the cultural diversity and creativity of our generation. But if this legislation passes, the digital rights management cracks likely needed to access that source material would make consumers liable up to $20,000. And this does nothing to foster innovation and growth.” WSIC has already staged one awareness event on campus, and is in the process of arranging for relevant speakers and movie sessions. More information about the group is available at www.wsic.uwaterloo.ca/wiki. The House of Commons reopens on September 15, 2008. editor@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

RADIO WATERLOO Notice of Annual General Meeting Thursday, July 10, 2008 7 p.m. Needles Hall, room 3001 Meeting registration begins at 6:30 p.m. Proxy forms are available at our studios, volunteers and programmers will find these forms in Studio A. Members of the corporation who are not active volunteers or programmers may make an appointment to pick up a proxy form by calling 519-886-2567, ext 201.

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING AGENDA 1. Call to Order 2. Review of Agenda 3. Review of Minutes 4. A New Directive for CKMS 5. Budget 6. Members Forum 7. Adjournment

Continuing to raise funds for orphans

Nikoo Shahabi

The University of Waterloo’s Muslim Student Association (UWMSA) hosted their annual fundraising barbecue to promote support of the Orphan Sponsorship Program. The program helps provide aid for orphans worldwide. Above a group of eager volunteers is seen handing food to one of their customers, at the barbecue held on Wednesday, June 25 and Thursday, June 26. Last year’s barbecue raised over $1,000 — this year the UWMSA hopes to raise the bar. So far, the association has managed to support six orphans.

Casey Song reporter

Kentucky factory shooting leaves five dead 25 year-old Wesley Higdon opened fire on five colleagues at work before turning the gun on himself. Higdon worked at an Atlantis plastic factory in Henderson City, Kentucky. After an argument with a male supervisor, he warned his girlfriend that he would kill his boss. According to BBC News, two hours after the warning, Higdon shot his 30-year-old supervisor, four other male and female co-workers, and eventually himself. A sixth female victim was brought into the hospital and is now in a stable condition. Higdon was a night-shift worker. According to BBC, he had an argument with his supervisor about wearing safety goggles on Tuesday night, and decided to kill him.

Typhoon Fengshen hits the Philippines The deadly typhoon Fengshen lashed the Philippines and capsized a ferry with over 800 passengers. The ferry — Princess of Stars, departed from Sibuyan Island on Saturday with 626 passengers and 121 crew members on board, according to The Globe and Mail. The ferry capsized in heavy seas off the Central Philippines in the aftermath of Typhoon Fengshen.

Upon the arrival of the rescue ships, the Princess of Stars reported no sign of life. Only four known passengers were rescued; more than 700 others are still missing. Officials still hope that other passengers managed to swim to safety. On Wednesday, hopes faded for the ferry passengers as bodies in life jackets began to wash up on islands and were adrift at sea. Hundreds of divers are preparing to get in by drilling the ship’s hull, in hopes of survivors in air pockets. 155 people were estimated to have died across the country in the wake of Typhoon Fengshen.

Mugabe knighthood revoked by Queen According to the New York Times, Queen Elizabeth II has officially withdrawn Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe’s ceremonial knighthood on Wednesday. Considered an anti-colonial hero, Mugabe was made an honorary knight in 1994. Condemned over violence and intimidation ahead of a presidential runoff Friday, foreign secretary David Miliband advised the Queen to withdraw Mugabe’s honorary knighthood. The New York Times stated that Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that Britain no longer recognizes Mugabe as Zimbabwe’s legitimate leader. Former South African leader Nelson Mandela also spoke of “tragic failure of leadership in Zimbabwe” in London.

“This action has been taken as a mark of revulsion at the abuse of human rights and abject disregard for the democratic process in Zimbabwe over which President Mugabe has presided,’’ the Foreign Office said.

Capital punishment for child rape rejected The U.S. Supreme Court struck down a law that imposed the death penalty on child rape this Wednesday. In Washington, the nation’s highest court ruled by 5-4 vote that the death penalty is unconstitutional as punishment for the rape of a child, according to the New York Times. The court stated that this law violated the US constitution’s ban on “cruel and unusual punishment.” Even though the rape of a child is a devastating crime, there is a distinction between it and a planned first-degree murder. The Court struck down a law that imposed the death penalty on adult rape in 1977, but five states still allowed such penalty when child rape had been committed. Following the court’s decision, two men that had received death penalty for child rape will immediately receive new sentences of life in prison without parole. — With files from BBC News, the New York Times and The Globe and Mail

News

Imprint, Friday, June 27, 2008

Under construction Campus The main floor of the Dana Porter, closed for renovations, is set to reopen mid-August

Events Canada Day @ UW Tuesday, July 1 2 p.m. – 11 p.m. @ Columbia Ice Fields

UW staff and students make up the volunteers at this 24th iteration of a campus and community classic. Celebrate Canada’s 141st birthday with live music, headlining Kreesha Turner, and activities for the whole family — including an arts and crafts fair, Mini-Olymics (care of Waterloo Engineering), and of course, fire works (weather permitting) at 10:00 p.m.

Zhibai Tang

The construction team has begun work on main floor of the Dana Porter Library, closing it down for renovations. In the mean time, a temporary entrance can be used to access the library — located opposite Needles Hall. Sean Fraser, a worker on the construction team, is seen hard at work in front of the regular entrance to the library. The project is expected to be completed by mid-August.

UW Farmer’s Market

All of the renovation decisions were made with the help of students and faculty. Members of the renovation team stated on their website that they would like to “create a welcoming, vital space that members of the campus community will find inspiring and enriching.”

Every Thursday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. UW students in the SLC Atrium p.m. bring fresh produce, as well as honeys and preserves, from Waterloo County farms and UW Village Bakery. Through July 31, 2008. photo by Dinh Nguyen

Joyce Hsu

Above is a graphical rendition of the projected results of the renovation. The renovations team is adding ten public workstations and increasing seating for group work, with a choice of table or lounge settings. A laptop counter is being installed with stool seating for eight. The renovations team is adding a group “collaboration booth” equipped with a large monitor to allow students to plug in and display content from their laptops and also two LCD monitors, which will promote library resources and events.

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Opinion

Imprint, Friday, June 27, 2008 opinion@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Thinking... Swiss?

Friday, June 27, 2008 Vol. 31, No. 5

e are a lucky few. In the last 15 years, as the internet exploded into public consciousness, our generation constantly pushed the limits of what new technology could allow us to do. Record music with band members halfway across the world, then network with the greater community? No problem. Film, edit, and distribute movies and videoclips from the comfort of our homes? Easy as pie. Reshape mainstream media through citizen journalism and more interactive news readership? In a heartbeat. But a decision in May 2008 by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) puts our internet freedoms — taken for granted almost since their inception — under greater scrutiny. For all our presumptions of net neutrality, an “internet for all” that enhances global citizenship and democracy, the truth is that the internet is fundamentally a business, and all our free software, web hosting, and online accounts are only made possible because a great many corporations are able to make money as service or equipment providers or through online advertising. This doesn’t negate the existence of net neutrality, but it certainly makes the defence of internet freedoms tricky. When the Canadian Association of Internet Providers (CAIP) turned to the CRTC in April, they wanted a cease-and-desist order issued to Bell Canada, which they claimed was “throttling” internet access by slowing data flow for consumers using peer-to-peer applications. Such policies are regularly attributed to the perceived need to keep applications like BitTorrent from overwhelming online traffic. Though the CRTC recently demanded that Bell Canada release traffic data to support its claims of congestion, the CRTC also denied CAIP its original appeal for relief. A final verdict won’t be issued until the fall after

Student Life Centre, Room 1116 University of Waterloo Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1 P: 519.888.4048 F: 519.884.7800 http://imprint.uwaterloo.ca Editor-in-chief, Maggie Clark editor@imprint.uwaterloo.ca Advertising & Production Manager, Laurie Tigert-Dumas ads@imprint.uwaterloo.ca General Manager, Catherine Bolger cbolger@imprint.uwaterloo.ca Sales Associate, Laura McQuinn Systems Admin. vacant Distribution, Mitch Sanker, Christy Ogley Board of Directors board@imprint.uwaterloo.ca President, Jacqueline McKoy president@imprint.uwaterloo.ca Vice-president, Sherif Soliman vp@imprint.uwaterloo.ca Treasurer, Lu Jiang treasurer@imprint.uwaterloo.ca Secretary, vacant secretary@imprint.uwaterloo.ca Staff liaison, Peter Trinh liaison@imprint.uwaterloo.ca Editorial Staff Assistant Editor, Dinh Nguyen Lead Proofreader, Ashley Csanady Cover Editor, Michael Gregory News Editor, Andrew Abela News Assistant, Jamie Damaskinos Opinion Editor, guy Halpern Features Editor, Tina Ironstone Arts & Entertainment Editor, Emma Tarswell Science & Tech Editor, Adrienne Raw Sports & Living Editor, vacant Photo Editor, Daniel Lewis Graphics Editor, Joyce Hsu Web Administrator, Sonia Lee Systems Administrator, vacant Production Staff Steven R. McEvoy, Susie Roma, Scott “Tex” Houston, Mohammad Jangda, Janice Wong, Ryan Lee, Paul Collier, Wael Elsweisi, Kaitlan Huckabone, Rosalind Gunn, Sharif Soliman

Next staff meeting: Monday, July 6 12:30 p.m. Next board of directors meeting: Wednesday, July 2 10:15 a.m.

the CRTC has assessed all the information gathered in its public inquiry on the matter of net neutrality. What is net neutrality? In simplest terms, it’s a principle of equality: all internet users should be able to transmit all forms of information, use all kinds of applications, access all sites of their choosing, and have all of those sites load in the same way — without interference of any kind from ISPs. In practice, of course, it’s not that simple: internet users generally favour ISP practices that slow or discourage the spread of spam or viruses — a form of traffic shaping. And obviously the issue of legality intercedes with regard to our access to child pornography websites, and similarly exploitative content. On what basis, then, do we draw the line with regard to more complicated, “middle-ground” issues — peer-topeer software that is more vulnerable to the spread of spam, takes up immense amounts of bandwidth (in turn impeding access for other users), and which is regularly used to distribute music and video content in ways that amount to copyright infringement? CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein has said that the CRTC’s study of net neutrality “could evolve into a major public consultation in order to obtain the views of interested parties.” After some 15 years of privileged internet use, it’s high time we let the government know just how committed we are to the freedoms and civic opportunities this technology provides. Go get ‘em, tigers. editor@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Days since Kambakhsh’s arrest, as of the dateline: 244 Days since Kambakhsh’s sentencing: 157

Rights fall on both sides of the copy

Graphics Team Joanna Sevilla, Armel Chesnis, Tifa Han, Sonia Lee, Emran Mahbub Imprint is the official student newspaper of the University of Waterloo. It is an editorially independent newspaper published by Imprint Publications, Waterloo, a corporation without share capital. Imprint is a member of the Ontario Community Newspaper Association (OCNA). Editorial submissions may be considered for publication in any edition of Imprint. Imprint may also reproduce the material commercially in any format or medium as part of the newspaper database, Web site or any other product derived from the newspaper. Those submitting editorial content, including articles, letters, photos and graphics, will grant Imprint first publication rights of their submitted material, and as such, agree not to submit the same work to any other publication or group until such time as the material has been distributed in an issue of Imprint, or Imprint declares their intent not to publish the material. The full text of this agreement is available upon request. Imprint does not guarantee to publish articles, photographs, letters or advertising. Material may not be published, at the discretion of Imprint, if that material is deemed to be libelous or in contravention with Imprint’s policies with reference to our code of ethics and journalistic standards. Imprint is published every Friday during fall and winter terms, and every second Friday during the spring term. Imprint reserves the right to screen, edit and refuse advertising. One copy per customer. Imprint ISSN 0706-7380. Imprint CDN Pub Mail Product Sales Agreement no. 40065122.

Neutrality in question

emember all those FBI warnings that would play before your old VHS movie? Something about big fines, jail time, and copyright? The long arm of Canadian law is now prepped for a not-so-little growth spurt. Introduced just before the House breaks for summer, the new copyright bill spells out in clear terms the ways we can use copyrighted material — which had previously been muddled. The new provisions to let us use our media how we would like are dimunitive under the large shadow cast by the rest of the bill. A simple Google internet search of “C-61” will yield the mile-long text of the full bill — while a news search will reveal all the scary rules that lie within. For all the uproar over the impending ‘police state’ the bill will create, balancing our rights with those of the copyright holder is anything but simple. It will be a $20,000 crime to break a lock on media, even as simple a lock as DVD region coding. Should it really be a crime to use what we have paid for? The point of buying

copyrighted material is to have legal right to use and enjoy it. It is ironic that as I head out on a long journey home to Ottawa, I wish I hadn’t upgraded my iPod’s software, erasing the movies I put there by breaking DVD content protection, which could soon cost me more than half my UW education. At the same time, it is necessary to uphold the copyright holders’ right to their material, in the same way we uphold a patent. Without that protection, what reason is there to become a movie star or invent the next must-have gadget? It is important to remember that copyrights are needed to protect our work so that we will be the ones profiting from it. Those who suggest that we should have full access to copyrighted material for free — yes, that’s all you people torrenting The Incredible Hulk right now — are pretty much suggesting we should all be a little more communist. There needs to be clarity as to what it means to own copyrighted material. I believe that if I bought Wedding Crashers on DVD, I should

be able to put it on my iPod or computer, and even download it from the internet, albeit now while uploading it to others who potentially have not bought it. I paid for my DVD and the ability to watch a movie until the laser burns clear through the disc, and I should be able to watch it however I want. The sad reality is that the new laws are not about what you have the right to do, but what you are doing or might do, and none make any exception for your intentions. Some parts could even be compared to the current tax on our blank media, which assumes we will use CDs to copy borrowed music, or DVDs to burn pirated movies. Basically, it’s a pre-emptive fine for a crime we are assumed to be intending to commit. Given how little uproar there has been over that, one hopes that the tighter our restrictions are now set to grow, the bigger our voices and protests will grow in turn. Otherwise, should we remain silenct and inaction, we deserve everything this government brings upon us. adodds@imprint.uwaterloo.ca Sonia Lee

Opinion

Imprint, Friday, June 27, 2008

The Power of Prayer

“I

f you give a man a fish he’ll eat for a day, if you give a man religion he’ll starve to death praying for a fish.” This anonymous quote shows that the purpose of prayer is often assumed and confused, and that being insensitive to someone’s beliefs can be funny. Prayer is an important aspect of religions but despite its significance, the purpose and nature of prayer seems to be misunderstood, which hinders the potential benefits of this spiritual practice. Prayer is a time for reflection and provides hope and comfort. People often turn to prayer even before they turn to a god, not because they believe, logically, that it will help, but because it is the last possible thing left to do. While prayer shouldn’t be used to try to get that fish, it can help you feel better about not having it. An aspect of prayer that people seem to have trouble with is the idea that a god, if it exists, can hear all our prayers at once. To most people this seems as improbable as a god existing. Even if people do believe in a god, they ask other people to pray for them and there are even websites that allow you to pay churches to pray for you,

as if the more people that pray for you the better the chances are of God hearing the prayer. If there is a god, it would have to exist outside of the nature and laws of our universe, in order to have created it. Time for God is different than how we perceive it, and therefore hearing everything “at once” could mean hearing everything one at a time. Either way, getting more people to pray for you and paying for people to pray for you won’t help those prayers reach the God phone any faster, clearer, or more effectively. So let’s say God hears everything, what are you praying for? The idea that you should only pray when you need something is what makes praying misunderstood. There are many other reasons to pray. You can pray to show gratitude for everything you have, you can pray for the safety and care for your loved ones, you can pray for virtues that you struggle to maintain, and of course you can use prayer as a type of worship. Praying for these things allows you to refocus your values. While you may have been worried about your hair all day, being forced to face this problem in prayer will help put things into perspective.

It is unlikely that you will still feel as worried about your hair after you have prayed about how lucky you are to have all the food and the friends and family that you have. Prayer can also provide hope, or delusions depending on your perspective. When there is nothing else left to do, prayer can be the last effort to keep you from giving up. In the end when you have done everything you could there is always the choice between prayer and complete abandonment. There is the choice to either give up or pray, and in the end most people turn to prayer. While it won’t help anything it will give comfort by providing the hope that maybe things will be ok. This is perhaps the most powerful use of prayer. John McIntyre, a retired professor of divinity at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, said that “there can’t be religion without prayer but there can be prayer without religion.”A belief in a god is not needed for the comfort and spirituality of prayer, just a belief and understanding of prayer itself. Joyce Hsu

mharvey@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

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Opinion

Letters Had a reaction to one of our articles, editorials or columns? Write a letter to the editor at letters@imprint.uwaterloo.ca Re: “An Evolving Attitude of Faith” — June 13 Disclaimer: For those who don’t know, evolutionary theory is a fact. Yes, some clarifications and improvements will be made to it in the future, but it has been proven to be accurate time and again. Anyone claiming otherwise about fossils or DNA evidence is either willfully ignorant of the facts or deliberately attempting to deceive. If you doubt or disagree with evolution, please do yourself a favour and have a conversation with a biology professor.

Imprint, Friday, June 27, 2008 Fortunately, Harvey agrees. She accepts evolution and attempts to reconcile it with her religious beliefs. After rightfully dismissing intelligent design and the watchmaker argument, Harvey states, “While evolution appears to eliminate the need for a god, it doesn’t necessarily mean that there isn’t one.” She puts forth a few ideas as to what would suggest there is a god. Given the limited space for her column, I’m assuming she chose the best ones. First, she suggests deism. (Deists believe a god set everything in motion, but does not interfere with the universe anymore.) This viewpoint is not in conflict with evolution, but there would be no point in praying to such a god, defending his supposed existence, or the possibility of him ever writing a holy book for people to follow. Next, Harvey says that the modern comforts that science (not God) has brought us such as running water, electricity, and medicine are somehow evidence that god cares about us and is preventing the universe from be-

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ing the harsh place we would expect it to be from a naturalist viewpoint. The only people who could hold such a view would be those from the first-world born in the last 100 years or so. I would urge Harvey not to forget how far we have come in such a short time, and remind her that even my grandparents, who lived in Canada, did not have running water or electricity in their first home after getting married. Her argument is ignorant of how most of the world lives today, and how all of humanity subsisted for 200,000 years. Such a view is insulting to those men and women who are responsible for our current prosperity. Finally, Harvey presents a number of weak arguments relating to actions humans take that don’t fit into the paradigm of killing off weak children and reproducing as much as possible. All of these observations are easily explained with evolutionary psychology or because they simply feel good and fill a physical or psychological need. It is the conclusion of this article, however, that I take issue with the most. Harvey accepts evolution and realizes that this (along with many other things) discredits the Bible from having any divine authorship, calling it “a book of poetry and symbols.” Yet somehow she concludes that since she doesn’t know exactly how the human brain works, the human brain is a miracle and that must mean God exists. This is a classic example of an argument from incredulity. Quite simply, this is not good enough. Answering a mystery with “a miracle did it” is lazy and irresponsible, especially when

Campus Bulletin CO-OP/CAREER SERVICES

Prerequisite Workshop Information – since the activities in some of the workshops build on the material presented in online modules from the Career Development eManual, you will need to complete the pre-work(as noted in the chart below) as a first step before registering for a face-toface workshop. If you have submitted any of these modules in PD1, COOP 101 or Co-op Fundamentals for Engineering, you have satisfied this requirement and may register for the workshop. To Register: Interview Skills: Preparing for Quetions – complete module Interview Skills. Interview Skills: Selling Your Skills – complete module Interview Skills. Networking 101 – complete module Work Search. Work Search Strategies – complete Work Search. Wednesday, July 2 – “Interview Skills: Selling Your Skills” – 3:30 to 5:30 p.m., TC 1208. Note: there is a prerequisite for this workshop, see above To Register. Thursday, July 3 - “Interview Skills: Preparing for Questions,” 2:30 to 3:30 p.m., TC 1208. Note: prerequisite for this workshop, see above To Register. “Career Exploration and Decision Making,” 2:30 to 4:30 p.m., TC 1112. Wednesday, July 16 – “Career Interest Assessment” – 10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m., TC 1112. Note: there is a materials charge of $10 payable at Career Services prior to the first session. Once you have registered, you will be given info on how to complete the Strong Interest Inventory online prior to the workshop. “Business Etiquette and Professionalism” – 2:30 to 3:30 p.m., TC 1208. Thursday, July 17 – “ Work Search Strategies” – 3:30 to 5 p.m., TC 1208. Note: prerequisite for this workshop, see above To Register.

“Exploring Your Personality Type” – Part 1, 2:30 to 4 p.m., TC 1112. Part 2, Thursday, July 24 from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m., TC1112. Note: there is a materials charge of $10 payable at Career Services prior to the first session. Once you have registered, you will be given info on how to complete the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) online prior to the workshop. Wednesday, July 23 – “Successfully Negotiating Job Offers” – 3:30 to 4:30 p.m., TC 1208. Note: this workshop is geared toward graduating students. Thursday, July 24 – “Getting a U.S. Work Permit” – 4:30 to 6 p.m., TC 1208.

ANNOUNCEMENTS “Morning Drive Radio Show” – 6:30 to 9 a.m., www.ckmsfm.ca, click on webcast for the latest news, traffic, school closures, interviews and a great mix of music! To get your important events on the air, e-mail morningdrivel@yahoo.ca. If you have an interesting person that CKMS should interview call 519-884-2567 between 6:30 to 9 a.m....qualify for a prize! The Grand House Student Co-operative is a non-profit housing co-op comprised of architecture students from UW, community members and professionals. Workshops are being organized on environmental techniques, solar power, non-toxic materials and more. For info/registration visit the website at www.grandhouse. wacsa.org. Your garbage can be very worthwhile! UW Community Garden (behind Columbia Lake on north side, behind a row of tall hedges) needs any compost items that you might regularly throw away such as coffee grounds, egg shells, oatmeal, veg or fruit bits or garden waste such as dead leaves, etc. Meetings on Wednesdays, 5:50 p.m. and Sundays 4 p.m. For further info/questions, e-mail cwormsbe@ gmail.com.

VOLUNTEER

City of Waterloo, 519-888-6488 or volunteer@city.waterloo.on.ca has many volunteer opportunities. Check out the website today. Volunteer Action Centre, 519-7428610 or www.volunteerkw.ca, has many opportunities available – visit the website or call today! The Kitchener Youth Action Council is currently seeking volunteers aged 14-24 who are concerned about issues facing youth and young adults across Kitchener. For more info e-mail youth@kitchener.ca. Summer volunteer opportunities with Family and Children’s Services of the Waterloo Region. Summer buddies, reading club, special events assistants and drivers needed. Contact 519-576-1329, ext 3411 or volunteer.services@facswaterloo.org.

UPCOMING

Thursday, July 3, 2008 Rotunda Gallery presents “Traces” by Julie Rene de Cotret. Artist reception from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Gallery, Kitchener City Hall, 200 King Street, W., Kitchener. For info call 519-741-3400, ext 3381. Tuesday, July 8, 2008 Islamic Information Booth – today and July 15 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., in the SLC Great Hall, Vendor Ally. Lots of info available or visit us at www.uwislam.com or send e-mail to info@uwislam.com.

STUDENT AWARDS FINANCIAL AID 2nd floor, Needles Hall, ext 33583. Please refer to safa.uwaterloo.ca to view a full listing of scholarships and awards. Stop by the Student Awards and Financial Aid Office to see if your grant

“I would have hoped Imprint did not abide by the double standard.” —Maximilien Schirm discussing something as important as a worldview. Furthermore, scientific inquiry has historically revealed these miracles to have rather mundane answers. Past examples of this weak argument by theists include the sun “revolving around the earth,” the “miracle” of conception, and most recently, the “irreducible complexity” of the bacterial flagellum. All of this leads me to wonder: If the Bible is just a “book of poetry and symbols,” with Christians and Atheists laughing at the Book of Genesis and similar stories together... how exactly do you justify believing in the god described by that same book? Isn’t that a bit like worshipping a character from Chicken Soup for the Soul? In conclusion, it is possible to reconcile the proven fact of evolution with a belief in God. However, this requires the adoption of deism, and that means throwing out your holy book. — Jim Walkoski 3B mathematics Re: Advertising in Imprint While flipping through the June 13 issue of Imprint, I turned to a full-page ad from the Qatar Foundation entitled “Wanted: Inventor.” At first, such an ad seems completely harmless. The

second line of the ad reads “You are an Arab Student.” Herein is where my problem lies. The ad is obviously looking for students of Arab descent, and only Arab descent (which has been confirmed after visiting the site listed in the ad). If you were to replace “Arab” with, say, “Caucasian,” shit would be flying in from all sides, with many, many people citing racial inequality. Since it is a non-Caucasian race, however, everyone passes it off with little more than a glance. This is the double standard by which we live today, unfortunately. Now, before you start shouting at me for being against equality for all races, or even (in the extreme) racist, I will have you know that I am like the great Stephen Colbert in that I do not “see” race. I believe in true equality for everyone, and I do not take racism lightly. This is why I am disappointed in Imprint for printing an ad targeting people of a certain background. I would have hoped Imprint did not abide by the double standard, and instead held the same standard for everyone. Replace the word “Arab” with “Caucasian” and you can be certain that there would be many more letters then the one I am sending. — Maximilien Schirm 4B mathematical physics

ads@imprint.uwaterloo.ca cheque has arrived. June 30 – last day to submit Undergraduate Bursary Applications for spring term. July 17 – last day to sign Confirmation of Enrollment for spring term or winter and spring to ensure full OSAP funding.

CHURCH SERVICE St. Bede’s chapel at Renison College offers worship on Sundays at 10:30 a.m. Come and walk the labyrinth the second Thursday of each month, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. For more info contact Megan at 519-884-4404, ext 28604 or www.renison.uwaterloo.ca/ministry-centre.

Classified HELP WANTED

HOUSING

Weekend counsellors and relief staff to work in homes for individuals with developmental challenges. Minimum eight-month commitment. Paid positions. Send resume to Don Mader, KW Habilitation Services, 108 Sydney Street, Kitchener, ON, N2G 3V2. Office Manager required – contact bestfabrics@live.com for more information. Excellent student work opportunity! The Survey Research Centre (SRC) here at UW is currently seeking parttime telephone interviewers. The SRC is an on-campus research centre that offers a variety of survey services. Telephone interviewers are responsible for conducting quality-oriented interviews and performing other administrative tasks. Must be fluent in English and have a clear, strong speaking voice and excellent communication skills. Experience in telephone work, data entry, or customer service is helpful but not required. Ability to speak French fluently is an asset. 12-15 hours per week required, mainly evenings and weekends. Starting wage is $11.50 an hour. Please send resume to Lindsey Skromeda, at e-mail address lmskrome@artsmail.uwaterloo.ca. For more nformation e-mail or phone 519888-4567, ext 36689.

Attention Cambridge School of Architecture students! Live conveniently and comfortably right across the street from school in this beautifully renovated apartment. 4, 8 and 12-month leases available with excellent signing bonuses and rental incentives! Call Darlene or Joanne at 519-746-1411 for more details. Room for rent for a quiet individual in a detached house near both universities. Parking and all amenities. Please call 519-725-5348. Summer sublet – May to August 08 – $300+negotiable. Call Jason at 613-9895210 or kenkaniff02@hotmail.com. Spacious, well maintained house available to rent at 11 McDougall Road. Only five minute walk to UW campus. Utilities and internet included in rent of $395/month. Contact 519-893-2000 or rooms4students@gmail.com. 193 Albert Street, Waterloo – shared accommodations, $490/month, June to August 2008. Call Haney PM 519-7461411 for more info.

FOR SALE Mattress/boxspring – never used, still in sealed bag. Will sacrifice at $195. Brand new futon and frame, still unopened, $175. Call 519-616-3289.

Comics & Distractions

Imprint, Friday, June 27, 2008

Crossword

Angela Gaetano Across 1. Conflict stretching from 1959 to 1975, abbr.

14. American Medical Association 15. _____ melanoma: cancer of the eye

17. Good, as the French would say it 19. Lenya, Actress in From Russia With Love

What crime will you be guilty of when Bill C-61 passes?

38 41

by Roz Gunn and Paul Collier

44 47

45 49

20. Past tense, bartered better than

18. South African slang for guts

31 37

16. One who entices

28 33

4. WWE Diva; also, a small carnivorous

9. Love or worship

mammal

53 58

23. Nazi lover 64

24. Controversial heredity science 28. Ninja turtle home 32. Married Spanish woman 33. Pretend, professionally

36. Leafy greens 38. Seed cover

3. Ray, sometimes

34. Like ripe lettuce

39. What PDEng is supposed to teach

4. From Sudan

35. Torso, plural

43.Vampire parent in Buffy

5. To confidently affirm

37. Italian leader

44. Major Toronto street

6. Small Town

40. Ferocious

45. Kin Faculty

7. Dalai ______.

41. Puppy bite

46. Arts students assignments

8. Famous Borden cow

42. 1990s movie about a snake

49. Floral leaf that protects the bud

9. Insinuate

47. Not googles

51. Meadowsweet shrub family

10. Glandular

48. Ocean

53. Native Canadian traditional boat

11. Dehydration therapy, acronym

50. Lenient

57. Curtain fight

12. Reitman’s stock exchange ticker symbol

52. Change to suit

61. A “no-no”

13. Bard’s before

54. Small role to fill

64. Repeat

21. Clear a table

55. Parody publication, with The

65. American spies

22. Singapore’s oldest university, acronym

56. Gadzooks!

66. Texas battle ground

25. Machines for lifting water into an

58. Eye lustfully

67. To join together, past tense

aqueduct

59. Serve tables

68. Acronym for doggie bone disease

26. They fight at Notre Dame

60. Coffin stand

69. Roman Catholic priest title, plural

27. Windless periods

61. Open a keg

70. Itty bitty fish

29. Used to be

62. Keg contents

71. Acronym for lonely parents’ syndrome

30. “If all ____ fails.”

63. 62-down’s home

Down

31. Boxcar mediums

1. Coffee brand

33. In ecclesiastical architecture, where the

2. Love in Nice

alter is placed, plural

Sudoku

Maggie Clark

5 1 4

7 9 4 8 7 6 5 2 3 6 1

3 5 6 7 9

4 8 2

Dear VM, I see you at the gym sometimes, pumping that iron makes me think of Arnold. Can’t wait to see you in the Sauna, ;). You can terminate me anytime you want, right? — <3 John Conner Dear A.M., Why did you make your FB profile private? - Your secret fan group Admins

5 Dear Stuff-Strutter, You handed me a GLOW pamphlet the other day. Are you SURE you aren’t straight? Absolutely positive? — Hopelessly into your svelte swagger. Dear Egoist Students of Waterloo, Please stop putting your handup to discuss your own piddly, insignificant theories with the prof. If you feel the need to waste the lecturer’s time, do it during office hours

Amanda Goncalbes & Faduma Abdi

“I wouldn’t be guilty of anything.” Heather McLaughlin 4A Economics

4B & 4A, Political Science

“Is streaming porn illegal?.”

“I plead the fifth.”

3A Chemical Engineering

3B Accounting & Financial Management

Geeta Jhamb

Clark Wang

June 13 solutions

editor@imprint.uwaterloo.ca A N T I R E I N M E E T D R E R R O S C O T T E C H A P C E L T O R E A D E M M A G I A D I T E A S Y

7 2

“I’d be screwed for music. I haven’t bought a CD in like...five years.”

4 7 1 9 5 3 8 2 6

3 6 2 4 1 8 5 7 9

P A S S S H E O E R T E L P E R C Y T I O N

9 5 8 7 6 2 3 1 4

O S T I A

S C O T L Q U A T U R N R A N D E K S K E D E R H O L O O T A S B I T S O S E Y

8 2 9 5 7 1 6 4 3

O P E N

6 3 7 8 4 9 1 5 2

P I N G

1 4 5 3 2 6 7 9 8

D O U A B I T D T V E Y E I N N S G I E S T

E A R L

E P S T S A E

D E R M A

E A S E R

S A K E

E R N I T C H

2 9 6 1 3 7 4 8 5

7 8 4 6 9 5 2 3 1

5 1 3 2 8 4 9 6 7

W R E N S

“Downloading pornographic videos at the innocent age of 13.” Nike Dattan

“No, I haven’t done anything.” Oscar Ariza 3A Civil Engineering

3C, Math Physics

& save the rest of us from manslaughter charges. — The Rest of Us To Not Michelle, Tuesday, 12:10 p.m. You, me, a chance encounter on a Lakeshore 9 bus, and an awkward Facebook question followed by awkward laughter. Same time, same place, next time? I’ll get on at the same SCH stop. — Adorably Awkward

“My radio parodies will violate it a few times - but thank God I record my own sound effects!” Sonia Lee

2B Environmental Engineering

“This will affect my sexuality. Porn gives great insight and now we’re losing that. Whoever disagrees with that is lying.” Luxsan Krish 2B Math & Business Administration

Comics & Distractions

Imprint, Friday, June 27, 2008

POSTSCRIPT

BY GRAHAM MOOGK-SOULIS

IMPRESSION, BY JIM & LAN

GUEST COMIC BY SONIA LEE

1986 O

BY PETER N. TRINH

Fed Hall Nixes “No Puking” Buttons

n June 27, 1986 Imprint reported that Fed Hall had decided to stop using its “no puking” buttons to “identify customers who have had too much to drink.” The buttons, designed by Fed Hall, depicted the cartoon character Herman crawling across the floor toward a toilet, with a red diagonal line across it. The buttons were used by Fed Hall staff to identify drinkers who had been “cut off”. Students who were too drunk to be served had the choice between wearing the button and leaving the bar. Although the buttons were meant to reduce the dangerous consequences of turning drunk students out onto the streets after a night of revelling, the Federation of Students voted to get rid of the buttons because of the negative stigma attached to them. Fed Hall continued to use their “Thanks but no Thanks” buttons to identify minors, and souvenir Herman pins were sold at Fed Hall to bid the button good bye.

—Angela Gaetano, Staff Reporter

How green is my campus? A six-part series on environmental sustainability at UW

Part 1: The Way We Eat

Part 2: Spaces We Inhabit May 30, 2008

Part 3: Stewardship and You

May 16, 2008

June 13, 2008

Part 4: Human Communities June 27, 2008

Part 5: High Tech, Low Impact July 11, 2008 Part 6: Growth for the Future July 25, 2008

Joanna Sevilla

Sustainability is... 1. The measure of how and what we consume, and the impact those choices have on our ability to maintain present practices indefinitely. 2. How we inhabit buildings and similar surroundings — are we building for today and tomorrow? 3. How we share communal spaces — are we protecting the longevity of natural resources, flora, and fauna as well? 4. How we interact and build social networks together, to spread awareness and to entrench more environmentally-friendly living habits. 5. How we develop and treat new technologies, as well as other consumer goods — are we enhancing our society in ways that reduce waste and promote habits that can be sustained over time? 6. How we plan for tomorrow — are we learning from the past, and leaving a better mark for generations to come?

Counting our footprints Guy Halpern staff reporter

lobal climate change is, like many changes, a frightening prospect. The threat it poses has emerged, with good reason, as the galvanizing issue for popular environmental concern. The reaction to this manifests itself in a myriad of ways, ranging from calls for taxes on carbon emissions to a complete rethinking of the economic system to de-emphasize the need for continuous growth. Aimed at an individual level, consumers are encouraged to do their part: airliners now frequently offer the option of including “carbon offset credits” with the price of a flight, and some grocery chains (notably UK-based Tesco) have begun labelling individual products with their carbon footprint, so consumers know exactly how much (or how little) they’re contributing to the problem. Although Tesco’s initiative is of note, the calculation of carbon footprints is more popularly associated with individuals and populations. In the 1970s, Dr. Mathis Wackernagel and Prof. William Reed at the University of British Columbia created the idea of the “ecological footprint”; essentially a means to roughly estimate how much land was needed (hectares per capita, in the original literature) to support a given individual’s lifestyle. As concerns about greenhouse gases in general and carbon emissions in particular grew, the idea of a carbon footprint was created. It’s similar to the ecological footprint except that instead of land, the calculation will theoretically give you an idea of how many tonnes of carbon your lifestyle produces. The Canadian environmental organization zerofootprint recently partnered with the University of Waterloo to create a carbon footprint calculator specifically for the campus community. Launched on March 6th of this year, the idea behind it is to provide a way to aggregate informa-

tion about average carbon footprints from a particular organization or area. In the interests of science, I decided to calculate my own carbon footprint; considering that I do my best to reduce my impact on the environment, I entered the process fairly optimistically. The calculator, found at http://zerofootprint.uwaterloo.ca/, began by asking about my transportation habits. The first question was concerned with how far I travel in a given form of automobile a month; for once, I thought, being a poor student works in my favour. With no SUV, no car, and no hybrid, I left the box zero. From there, things started to go south pretty quickly. Air travel? 1.47 tonnes of CO2. Public transit? Another 0.6 tonnes. Good thing I sold my yacht. Although I was heartened to note walking and bicycling do nothing to my footprint, I knew the section on food was going to be troublesome. Being in the Environmental Studies faculty, my meat eating habits sometime make me feel like I’m part of a dying breed. The zerofootprint calculator reinforced that; selecting “moderate meat eater” cranked my footprint to almost double what it had been before. Following a series of questions about my organic and local food buying habits (there, I also disappointed the calculator), I made some final dismal realizations about the unsustainable implications of the two-storey home I share with one other person. Overall, my footprint score of 8.7 tonnes of CO2 fell just under the Toronto and Canadian averages (9.8 and 10, respectively). UW’s average score, based on just over a thousand responses, is 13.2 tonnes of CO2. These comparisons are arguably the most useful aspect of the carbon footprint figure. The calculation used to derive ones carbon score is inherently simplistic; there are far too many variables than can be captured in a series of questions. Because of the imprecise nature of the calculations, the footprint functions more as an indicator than a measurement; knowing ones carbon footprint in relation to that of others may at least help galvanize change, but it’s definitely far from an empirical measurement. The focus on individual action to combat climate change, and the enthusiasm that has convalesced around it, is definitely a positive thing. The realization that nearly everything we do, on whatever scale, will have an impact on the environment is one that has taken a long time to become commonsensical. The only downside of all this is the possibility that community initiatives and government actions may be allowed to deteriorate in favour of everyone “making a difference” on their own; a very unattractive scenario.

HOW GREEN IS MY CAMPUS? Part 4 of 6: Human communities

Urban research in transit Cait Davidson head reporter

ustainable living is often looked at as an addition to our lives — more work, extra costs, and oftentimes a hassle. When we — especially students — live with convenience and efficiency, the idea of doing something extra that only has a minuscule effect on the environment often seems to be more work than it needs to be. Recently, researchers and activists have been working together to incorporate sustainable living into our day to day activities. For instance, recycling bins are just as convenient as garbage cans, and duplex printing is not just available, but the default, in most places on campus. The bus pass on our Watcards is not only convenient, but also encourages students to get in the habit of using public transit. Moving forward on campus, Waterloo has a number of initiatives that are researching and designing sustainable communities. AHS and ES are working together on the healthy community initiative. As well architecture masters student Chris Black has created his thesis around designing and building sustainable cities. The reality is that more people live in cities than ever before. In 1900, 13 per cent of people lived in urban areas,this number has increased to 49 per cent in 2005. According the UN, as urbanization is expected to continue, it is projected that in 2030 the urban population will be 60 per cent of the world’s population. These statistics seem to indicate that as we continue to migrate to urban centers, it will be impossible to live sustainably unless we design and adapt to new ways of life. An interesting fact that Black mentioned during the interview is that 45 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions are due to the built environment.

Black, in the first term of his M.Arch, has designed his research to study the connectivity of urban environments, making transit more efficient and accessible, and the appropriate density of a city. In his view, sustainability is more than environmental; in order for a city to be sustainable it must be economically and socially sustainable as well as ecologically. Public transit is a large part of the future of a sustainable city, and as suburbs are disconnected and become separated communities, public transit is neither accessible nor efficient. Urban sprawl and the current density of population in suburbs is detrimental to efficient and accessible bus systems. His goal of reconnecting the city into one large community would allow for designing the city around transit. The idea of reconnecting the communities would also help eliminate the separation of economic classes and provide a more economic and social sustainability. As it stands, Black sees taking the bus as a utilitarian effort, and that the current system of public transit does not make riding the bus enjoyable. His goal is to see a bus trip in the city as a pleasant experience. In the future, bus shelters could be warmer in the winter, a place to display public art, make them somewhere you could meet someone. Using the example of Curitiba, Brazil, he outlined his goal for bus systems in North America. With thoughtful city planning and careful consideration for the future, the bus system in Curitiba is everything a city planner could hope for in a city. Communities are self-sufficient, bus routes run quickly, the shelters protect people from the weather, and are set up to serve clients with disabilities. Because of this, 85 per cent of the population of the city uses public transit. As well as doing his masters in sustainable communities, Black is also involved in the Solar Decathlon as a graduate level research

elective. The Solar Decathlon is a competition put on by the United States Department of Energy, that challenges 20 university and college teams to build a house that runs solely on energy from the sun. Running biennially, the first Solar Decathlon ran in 2002; Waterloo Architecture has entered the competition as “Team North” for the fourth competition to run in 2009. Black’s research in this project involves again studying the community connection — once you get the house functioning as a home and a functional piece of its landscape, how does it function in a community of similar designs and houses? Does it still function as efficiently, and how will the community develop as a set of sustainable houses? Making a house sustainable means that a person could live functionally off the grid. Building the houses for a reasonable price, guaranteeing that there’s not a loss of money from owning and operating, in order to make it economically sustainable. In the Solar Decathlon competition there is the main research that develops the house for living and for competition and peripheral research for the school and for the sake of knowledge and passion. The project itself has been ongoing since January 24, 2008 when UW Architecture and its partners (Ryerson University and Simon Fraser University’s School of Interactive Arts and Technology) were accepted into the program, as it will continue going after the grad elective ends. The core team for the Solar Decathlon competition from Waterloo Architecture include Andrew Haydon and Lauren Bernhyrd, both grad students, and are lead by professors from the school of architecture and engineering , which includes Geoff Thun and Kathy Velikov. cdavidson@imprint.uwaterloo.ca Joanna Sevilla

Green thoughts from students and staff in...

Talking “Green” with Dr. Rick Haldenby, Director of Architecture Emily Yau Reporter

ur built environment is a major part of our ecological footprint and greatly affects the sustainability of our lifestyle. Architects are responsible for the design of this environment, and this week Imprint speaks with Rick Haldenby, an associate professor at the School of Architecture and a fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada. He is also the O’Donovan Director at the School of Architecture. 1. How does sustainability fit into the architecture curriculum? The principle that architects are stewards of the quality of the natural and built environment underlies virtually every course in the architecture curriculum. There are four ‘streams’ in the school’s curriculum Environment, Culture, Technology, and Design. In the Environmental stream we have courses Arch 125 Principles of Environmental Design, Arch 226 Environmental Building Design, Arch 327 Architecture of the Urban Environment, [and] Arch 425 Theory and Design of Contemporary Landscape. These explicitly and exclusively deal with environmental issues, but all the Building construction, building science, and building systems courses are taught from a sustainable perspective. Also in design studios, we teach from a sustainable point of view. The Studios that deal most explicitly with environmental issues are Arch 292 (sustainable housing and urban design), Arch 293 (green institutional buildings), Arch 392 (large scale urban architecture and sustainability) and Arch 493 (comprehensive building design — we do a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) analysis of every building. 2. What kind of student-led environmental initiatives are there in the program? There are many initiatives but three of the most obvious are Grand House — the students have designed and are just finishing the construction of a 12 bed student residence building in Cambridge. It is straw bale construction, recycled material, recycled water — green in every way. The second high-profile initiative is a student/faculty project called North House that is about the design and construction of an advanced solar house for the 2009 U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon. We will be building the house on the Capitol shopping mall in Washington, in front of the Capitol building in October 2009 in competition with 19 of the top universities in the world. The third is the exhibition that was created in partnership with the Cambridge Gallery called 41 to 66: Regional Responses to Sustainability in Canadian Architecture. This exhibition was first mounted in the Design at Riverside Gallery in the school of architecture in Cambridge. It is now travelling throughout North America. A new version of it was selected to be the exhibition at the Venice Biennale of Architecture in fall 2008. This is the largest and most important exhibition of architecture in the world. The show opens September 15 in Venice.

We will continue to advocate for environmental responsibility. We have signed on [to the] 2010 and 2030 challenges to get carbon neutral buildings. My colleagues are leaders in the Canadian Green Building Council, Society of Building Science Educators. They will not only provide leadership within the school, but across the nation and the continent. 5. What are you currently doing to manage your resources and waste? We have a widely distributed system of recycling bins in the architecture building. We have operating windows to use fresh air to cool the building. We use waterless urinals and low water flush toilets. We installed a white roof to reflect radiation, vastly reducing the cooling costs. The lights are on motion sensors to reduce electricity costs. 9. How well versed do you feel your faculty is with regard to the environmental initiatives of other faculties? Are there reliable processes in place to receive information about such activities in a timely fashion? Over two thirds of my colleagues conduct research and design in the area of sustainable architecture. They are among the most qualified in the world. The courses, design studios, regular guest lectures, and colloquia all keep the school

Architects have the ability to make a big difference the long term and buildings have a major impact on consumption. — Micheal Feinberg It’s thought not money that needs to go toward this. — R. M.

Where “ten” means students think environmental sustainability should be very important to their faculty.

A school of architecture has the opportunity to set an example for the profession as a whole. — James Andrachuk

Cait Davidson

I feel that, as a student from the cambridge architecture Campus, we would not receive the same environmental benefits as those on main campus. — Sarah Taslimi Architecture schools should practise what is taught! — Sebastian Bartnicki Our school does claim to discuss environmental issues a lot, although I think they could do even more. Certainly sustainability is a very hot issue among architects these days. — Elisa Jansen

Joanna Sevilla

3. Are there any future plans to broaden the scope of environmentalism within the school? I am not sure how much broader it could get in the area of coursework. We are working on improving the environmental performance of the building. One of the graduate students has rated the energy use, and we are doing quite well relative to other academic buildings. You can go to the web site of the Sustainability Workshop we hosted last summer and view the presentation of Barbara Ross.

Number of respondents, by willingness to support environmental initiatives (Yes, No, or Indifferent) in their faculty financially.

Architecture

On a scale of one to ten, with “ten” being very important, how important do you feel environmental sustainability should be to your faculty? And are you willing to see more of your faculty’s financial resources dedicated to environmental sustainability?

Today’s architecture is leading the way in sustainable designs and it’s important for this to become a part of our mentality. — Matthew Barbesin

Buildings make up 40 per cent of the energy use of North America... Architects have a duty to reduce that and create biophilic (restore the environment) buildings. — Sam

The architecture school has a really strong sustainable curriculm and research and I think more should be put into social issues. — Virginia Fernandez

The school is teaching and stressing the importance of environmental sustainability without practicing it. — Kathryn Schwartzkopf

More money shouldn’t be spent, instead the money that is spent on cooling this building to super cold in the summer should go to improving ventilation and use of the windows. — Maria

Photo Feature

Imprint, Friday, June 27, 2008

Waterloo Park

Jim Wallance

Squirrel

After the storm

Michael Seliske

Mimi Xia

ampus licks

Logarithmic

Wen Zhang

Themed Photo Submissions! Suggested theme:

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Standing out from the crowdâ&#x20AC;? Red-tailed hawk

Greg Mayer

-- Remember to be creative! --

Send your campus photos, along with the names of consenting individuals in the photos and a brief description, to photos@imprint.uwaterloo.ca.

Features

Imprint, Friday, June 27, 2008 features@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Olympic controversy

Thoughts on what a politicized Chinese Olympics means in light of the earthquake

Through foreign eyes

Phuong Tram reporter

hile preparing for the 2008 Olympics China is also busy providing aid, food and shelter for more than five million homeless victims from the earthquake, which occurred in Chendu mid-May. With the country going through a rough time (first with the Tibet riot, then follow the earthquake), disussions among many people have been surfacing about whether or not hosting the Olympic Games in China is a good idea. Preparations started six years ago when China was chosen to host the 2008 Olympics. Billions of dollars were spent polishing the city of Beijing, turning old alleys around, and remaking traditional communal neighborhoods into multimillion-dollar high-rises. China even redesigned roadways, and added five new subway lines. The Olympics are very important to China. It is an opportunity for the country to showcase its rich culture and civilization. Unfortunately, that’s not how many from the rest of the world see it. There are people who argue that China should not be allowed to host the Olympics. An example is the Tibet riots that started in March as a results of unsatisfying response from the Chinese government. According to state media report, 30 people were sentenced between three years to life in prison for leading deadly riots in Tibet. Among them were Buddhist monks who are believed to have started the riot. China has said 22 people died in the riots while Tibet’s government-in-exile announced that approximately 203 Tibetans were killed during the violence. Official Xinhua News Agency said the riot left seven schools, five hospitals, and 120 homes vandalized and more than 900 shops destroyed. The total damage was estimated to more than $35 million. China’s response to the riots has drawn attention to the government’s human rights record and other countries around the world, as the communist country prepares to host the Olympics Games this August. According to Online NewsHour report, “protestors disrupted the Chinese-led Olympics torch relay in Paris, London, and elsewhere. Some European leaders said they’d boycott the game’s opening ceremonies.” The process of hosting the Olympics is quite bumpy, for it has disappointed many Chinese citizens through replacing and transforming rural homes that’s been around for many generations into fancy high-rises, to make room for tourist attractions. In Hutong Beijing, two-thirds of the city’s neighbourhoods of low courtyard houses have been demolished and turned into high-class housing. Even though residents were offered compensation , they were ordered to move elsewhere. To those evicted no place will ever feel like the homes they inherited from their ancestors generations ago. Further report from Online NewsHour Ma Lian Fu, a resident from Beijing Hutong said “Because of the poetic spirit of this slogan [New Olympics, New Beijing,] they started to tear down the old Beijing.

They started to tear down peoples’ houses. In my opinion, it should have been “Old Beijing, New Olympics.” Even though Ma has disapproved of the ‘New Beijing’ and filed hundreds of petitions to protest the demolition; he believes the voices of poor people like him in China will not be heard. Ma’s family was ordered to move within two months, along with many other residents. “I’m not going to go, even if I have to die. And even if I do have to die, I’ll die here,” Ma declared. The housing renovations, Tibet riots, and last month’s brutal earthquake have damaged the Olympicsspirits. The earthquake was the loudest wake up call for China to reconsider what’s best for its citizens. It also led to China’s residents helping one each other through a difficult and highly contrasting time of celebration and mourning. Zhang Qiang, a media company consultant shared her experience after the earthquake “Most of us are the only child in the family, and we don’t usually care about others. But this time, most of us realized that we should care about others in the same society, especially those who suffer.” According to Chinaview’s report, a veteran jounalist Hu Yong said “The torch itself is neutral, but people attach different meanings to it, pride or protest ... China had been trying to declare to the world that it bade farewell to darkness and was surging.” He also wrote “After the quake, China doesn’t need to show its growth and friendliness to the whole world, but should let people see the dignity of human beings and how they helped each other amid difficulty.” Meanwhile angry parents are accusing Chinese officials of negligence toward construction procedures when many fragile schools collapsed instantly during the earthquake. This led many parents to look for answers and justice. Xia Xueluan, a sociologist at Beijing University commented, “These events served to cool people’s blind optimism. The crises had prepared people for adversity, rather than superficial work, [so] they could be more down-to-earth and focus on real problems. After all, the Olympiad is not our sole task.” However, “the psychological changes don’t mean that China will downplay the importance of the Olympics,” said Yuan, a member of the sailing committee. “Hosting a successful Olympics Games would encourage people in the quake zones,” he added. “We will treat it seriously as always.” A ChinaView article stated last Friday, “No matter what difficulties and challenges we face, we should conform to the aspirations of the people of all ethnic groups and fulfill our promise to the world to host a good Beijing Olympics. “We should work even harder and be more meticulous in the preparatory work to ensure that the Games are distinctive and of a high standard,” the article said. This is the kind of spirit China needs right now; what’s done is set in stone. China has gone through a great deal of challenges, it seems likely that their most current task is to prove to the world that they can pull together a great Olympics season and stand up even stronger after an unwelcome tragedy from Mother Nature.

Features

Imprint, Friday, June 27, 2008

Brains, philosophy, and science Cindy Ward reporter

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the never-ending question â&#x20AC;&#x201C; â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;who am I?â&#x20AC;&#x2122; If you ask UWâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Dr. Paul Thagard heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s more than likely going to refer you to the white and gray matter packed between your ears: your brain. But what really is your brain? On the surface, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s truly a miracle. Yet, realistically, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just a three-pound mass of biological matter inside our skull that is purportedly responsible for everything we do, think, and feel. So, one wonders, can biological matter explain the extraordinary workings of the mind â&#x20AC;&#x201D; that which we view as unique and possibly divine? Often called the mind-brain identity dilemma, a popular position tends to be that we have a body and a soul. The brain being biological, ceases functioning when one dies, whereas the soul survives death, is unique to individuals and provides us with our â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;essence.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; Dr. Paul Thagard, a philosopher and cognitive scientist at the University of Waterloo has spent his lifetime investigating the cognitive workings of the miracle of life. Plato and Descartes asked the same questions about the mind and brain some 2,750 years ago. Although progress has wavered from one train of thought to another over the centuries, Thagard has some fresh answers, and they may be hard to digest. Working on his ninth book, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Brains and the Meaning of Lifeâ&#x20AC;?, Thagard is immersed in what is called â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Brain Revolutionâ&#x20AC;?; unequalled in time, history and significance perhaps only by Copernicusâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; view that Earth is not the centre of the universe and Darwinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Theory of Evolution. â&#x20AC;&#x153;My claim is that human minds are brains â&#x20AC;&#x201D; people resist that,â&#x20AC;? said Thagard. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The brain revolution now in progress is even more threatening to humansâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; natural desire to think of ourselves as special, for it implies that our treasured thoughts and feelings are just another biological process.â&#x20AC;? Artificial Intelligence researchers, neuroscientists, philosophers, anthropologists and psychologists have been working in concert as of late â&#x20AC;&#x201C; developing a relatively new area they call Cognitive Science â&#x20AC;&#x201D; trying to determine exactly what it is that has made human brains evolve into minds (or whether or not this is even the case). The major difference between human brains and those of say monkeys, cats, pigs or dolphins is typically the size of the frontal lobes, those which are responsible for processing stimuli, judgment, attention, reason, and decision making. Social scientists feel the advancement of human social interaction has slowly required extra mental capacity to deal with the complexities of such tasks within the human environment. This possibly led to enriched neural networks and hence larger frontal lobes â&#x20AC;&#x201D; potentially leading us to the awareness of being aware. Recall that Darwinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s trademark description of evolution is â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;survival of the fittest.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; From an evolutionary standpoint, increased capacity to judge and reason our way around the social playing field of neo-modern human life is a compelling argument for the

necessary development of brain tissue to handle such tasks. This brings up some interesting questions: Have humans always felt that we are special? Or have we just been passing along our genes in the best way we know how? and When did our certain sense of uniqueness surface? Also, At which point did we need to define a sense of knowing that we think we have consciousness? Without a complete review of history, one could argue that communication in written form might be an indicator of enlightenment. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It is amazing that human literacy has only been around for under 10,000 years,â&#x20AC;? said Thagard. â&#x20AC;&#x153;And I do wonder whether our species will last for the 2,000,000 or so years that is the lifespan of most vertebrate species.â&#x20AC;?This planet of ours has been dated by scientists to be approximately 14 billion years old. Speculations of this nature about human evolution are not as uncommon these days as they were only a couple of hundred years ago. Prof. Thagard felt the need for an inter-disciplinary approach to these questions about evolution and the mind and in 1995 founded the Cognitive Science program at UW. Paul Thagardâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s contributions to science and philosophy have earned him numerous distinctions and awards over the years including the recent 2007 Canada Council Molson Prize for Social Sciences and Humanities Research. In the words of the adjudicating committee, Paul Thagard is â&#x20AC;&#x153;one of Canadaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most distinguished philosophers, whose virtually unparalleled work on the conceptual aspects of cognitive science and scientific reasoning has helped make the University of Waterloo a magnet for top graduate students in these fields. He is [â&#x20AC;Ś] a ground-breaking scholar and one of the most important thinkers of his generation.â&#x20AC;? As professor, University Research Chair and cross appointee to computer science and Psychology at UW, Thagard has his roots in philosophy. Over the course of his career he expanded his research into the arenas of science and medicine, computer modeling, artificial intelligence and psychology. Combining

scientific rigour with extraordinary multidisciplinary breadth, he has published eight books spanning numerous topics including the computational philosophy of science, scientific conceptual systems, the cognitive mind, and comp u t a tional modelling of the mind. In his upcoming book, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Brains and the Meaning of Life,â&#x20AC;? Thagard presents overwhelming evidence that human minds are brains. He states, â&#x20AC;&#x153;The mind-brain identity theory that I defend has ancient roots, but only began to be defended by philosophers in the 1950s. It follows a long line of theoretical identifications that have marked scientific progress: sounds are waves, combustion is chemical combination with oxygen, water is HÂÂÂ20, heat is motion of molecules; and so on.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Brain Revolution is an important change in the way we think about our existence and our place in the universe,â&#x20AC;? said Thagard. By finally establishing that human minds are brains, he says we can now explore the consequences. For example, what is reality? How do we know it? What is morality? Why is life worth living? When asked how he feels about being a human in existence at this point in evolutionary history, he said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t much think about my luck in existing at a state of advanced civilization.â&#x20AC;? Although relentlessly determined in his pursuit of epistemology, Thagard comes across as a most approachable and easygoing man. He stated, â&#x20AC;&#x153;I mostly teach courses relevant to Waterlooâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s undergraduate and graduate programs in Cognitive Science.â&#x20AC;? With eight â&#x20AC;&#x201D; almost nine â&#x20AC;&#x201D; books under his belt, thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s no doubt Dr. Paul Thagard also enjoys his research and his writing enormously. Look for his upcoming book, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Brains and the

Meaning of Lifeâ&#x20AC;? to hit shelves sometime next year. cward@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Emran Mahbub

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Arts & Entertainment

Imprint, Friday, June 27, 2008 arts@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

more than just music Andrew Dilts special to imprint

Hundreds of bands. Forty-three bars. Three loo-ong nights. Unlimited access to Queen West. Sound appealing? Then you shouldn’t have missed North-by-Northeast (NXNE) this year. The weekend of June 12, 2008 saw thousands descend on Toronto’s trendy Queen Street West for three nights of music, dancing, and general good times. Shelling out just over $40 for a weekend pass (or $20 per night) festival-goers travelled from band to band to band as they stumbled from bar to bar to bar, catching musical acts until the bars closed at the special time of 4 a.m. NXNE grew in part from the success of its compass-pointed sister, the Austin, Texas-hosted South-by-Southwest music festival. While SXSW has historically drawn larger names like Morrissey and Amy Winehouse, NXNE focuses almost exclusively on independent bands. This has been a welcome change to many — especially the hundreds of acts looking for exposure. Still, with opening acts taking stage as early as 8 p.m., those attending the earlier shows are

often treated to nearly-empty venues. Alanis Morissette may have launched her Jagged Little Pill to fame at the Velvet Underground, but that venue’s Friday night’s 8:00 p.m. opener “Guitar” reminded me all too clearly of a high school garage band. They played to a crowd of 20. Even talented acts like Spain’s FRIDA had to compete with the sheer size of the 40+ NXNE venues. As a result, crowds were thin for many earlier shows. Still, by midnight, I found myself at the Reverb, rocking out to the talented Meligrove Band along with hundreds of fans, all broadcasted live over CBC Radio 3. Another hot NXNE tip is that some venues are destined to become the place to be. The queue to get into the Legendary Horseshoe Tavern on Saturday night was more than a hundred deep, with fans drawn to a lineup featuring Matt Mays and El Torpedo followed by the D’Urbervilles. Still, having braved the lineup, the bands delivered on the promise of a great performance delivered to a great crowd. A must-attend for any true lovers of independent music. Keep in mind that music isn’t the only draw to NXNE; it’s also a high-calibre music confer-

ence, film festival and more. During the day, various venues hosted panels of music industry leaders, while more than 25 independent films were screened throughout the city. Festival passes also allowed limited access to shows like the theatrical cult hit Evil Dead: The Musical. A true-to-cult-status rendition of the ’80s Evil Dead films, the comical play’s plot sees Cardassian demons torment a group of young people stranded in a cabin in the woods. The wacky musical started in Toronto in 2003 and remains a hit to this day, performing to a sold-out crowd throughout the festival. Perhaps it fits in to NXNE because it screams (pardon the pun) cult status: among other quirks, the first two rows of the audience are designated the “splatter zone” where fans end up covered in fake blood by the end of the performance. North-by-Northeast: perhaps the only time you can drop $40 and catch an independent film, spend the rest of the afternoon in the sunshine on the Black Bull patio, come out of an evening play covered in fake blood, and then bar-hop until 4 a.m. to some of the best independent musical acts in Canada.

too much music, too little time Andrew Abela staff reporter

photos Emma Tarswell Graphics Armel chesnais

his year’s NXNE music and film festival and conference was exactly like every other NXNE — too many musical groups to see, too little time to see them in, and too many venues to get to, spread out across Toronto. Those that made it through the pouring rain on the night of Friday, June 13, to Queen West — a historical, alternative rock breeding ground — were lucky enough to catch some great up-and-coming Canadian and international acts, such as hometown princess Laura Barrett and Detroit’s solo electro act Carjack. On that night, Hidden Cameras and the Adorables starlet Laura Barrett performed a hushed yet modest solo set with her seemingly ever-flowing rhyming prose and quick-fingered skills on the kalimba, an instrument known as the African thumb piano. The convenience that is offered by having three great venues in one building — namely, the Reverb, Kathedral, and Holy Joe’s — contrasts with the fact that it drowns out soft-spoken artists like Barrett who would be better appreciated in some quiet, attentive beat poetry cafe in Greenwich Village circa 1962. Soon after Barrett’s set — just down the hall at the hole in the wall that is Holy Joe’s — Carjack set up his keyboard, drum machine, and guitar. Carjack’s fierce, passive-aggressive passion was evident by his movements as a prepared. He moved around the floor-level stage as if he had something to say, sort of whispering to the packed room of awkward drink-holders things like “you should consider listening.” When the music started, the audience had no choice but to listen. Carjack’s digital drum beats were rough yet consistent, a perfectly loud backup to his eclectic synthesizer hooks and ripping, distorted guitar riffs. What’s even more impressive is that he was the only performer onstage. If I had been blind at that moment, I would not have believed that fact in a money bet — nor would I believe that Carjack wore an ET mask for his entire set. At the end, a fiery blonde backup singer joined him onstage to provide equal parts intensity and vocals for the last couple songs of his short yet sweet performance. With the next day came the NXNE Backlot BBQ behind Six Shooter Records in the beaches area of Toronto. At a venue pouring intimacy from all pores with a lineup including Newfoundland six-piece lyrical pop group Hey Rosetta!, catchy songman Hawksley Workman, and mournful blues folk king and queen Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland, attendees knew that they were at the right place for the afternoon. Amid the fifteen-minute time limit on the slot durations, the acts had a very short amount of time to wow the audience. Hey Rosetta! were technically and melodically impressive, but not in any kind of pompous, better than thou way. Their instrumental folk, including a wonderfully deep tonal cello, really set the relaxed, daydreamy summer mood for the whole back lot BBQ. They could have played

four more sets of the same duration and we wouldn’t have grown bored, but their short set only left us wanting more. Canadian chart hotshot Hawksley Workman played accompaniment at the tail end of Hey Rosetta!’s set, and came on for his “15 minutes of fame.” His catchy tracks like “Your beauty must be rubbing off ” and another with lyrics like “I’m jealous of your cigarette, and everything you do with it” resonated in the ears and hearts of the media and delegate BBQ crew. Backup guitarist Luke Doucet added his folky lead melodies to the mix, furthering the themes of working together, sharing and other concept artefacts learned in our kindergarten years. Perfect for the family-friendly group and performers. Up next, Doucet and wife McClelland in all happy matrimony played their familiar down to earth, blues folk reminiscent of late-night tales of sorrow, seeming to recount the excessiveness that freedom can sometimes unfortunately afford. Their combined set left echoed waves of enjoyment amongst the elbowto-elbow backyard crowd. Later that day, back at Queen West, Toronto band Dance Yourself to Death began to set up late for their 9 p.m. set at Holy Joe’s. The bands coolness and kindness was eclipsed only by their amount of appreciation for our praise. The connection between audience and performer was too obvious to ignore — lead singer Jen Marko wooed us all with her siren-like vocals and rhythmic, postpunk-like bass. They sounded like Vancouver’s The Organ, but in more of an Ian Curtis/Joy Division way than a Morrissey/The Smiths way. After hearing DYTD live, there was no confusion in my mind about the fact that Sir Elton John apparently claims that he is one of DYTD’s biggest fans. DYTD’s abrupt song endings left just enough time to catch local band Spiral Beach at the Legendary Horshoe Tavern at 10 p.m. — the venue being recorded that night by CBC radio 3, which is now available for listening at www.radio3.cbc.ca. Four energetic, teenaged musicians danced across the stage as if it was just announced that the rest of math class had been cancelled for the day. Vocalist and raw synth master Maddy Wilde alongside vocals from fellow bandmates Airick and Daniel Woodhead called to mind a new, younger B-52s — and no, I don’t mean the original B-52s with Botox and plastic surgery, although apparently they are still releasing new material. Their live energy made it all too clear that their sound could never be captured by any conventional audio recording methods known to humankind. After pushing through a sardine-can Horshoe tavern, and walking past the street length lineup, travelling the long trek to west Queen West to Wrongbar was not even worth it. I arrived early to make sure I had a chance to see DFA-backed New York newcomers Hercules and Love Affair, but 30 minutes past their stage deadline Nasty Nav was still spinning his unique mix of soul, funk and disco. A disappointment, yes, but I had already heard enough music to last me until next NXNE. All in all, NXNE lets you see more music in four days than you might see all year round. If bands are late, or don’t show up, you can always rest easy knowing there’s some other new band to discover just a block down the road. aabela@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Arts & Entertainment

Imprint, Friday, June 27, 2008

more fun at the Y.M.C.A.

Gallery recommendation

Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery

round this time two years ago, I found myself drunkenly stumbling toward Uptown Waterloo decked out in pink converse and matching pink hair. Making my way down King St. toward Phil’s, an alpha-male douchebag wearing a blue Abercrombie and Fitch polo (with the collar popped) passing our group said to me, “Hey! Alex-on-fire, nice hair… fag!” I was offended for a variety of reasons. Firstly, the idiot mispronounced Alexisonfire’s name. Secondly, he stereotyped me as a homosexual because I had pink hair and pink shoes. Obviously, since I’m a huge shit disturber, pretentious music snob, and a person who doesn’t back down from dicks chirping out hate crimes, I yelled back to him “Hey… don’t be so gay and make out with me!” The alpha male didn’t know how to react to my clever yet inane call out and mumbled a losing “whatever, fag!” comment as he walked away (hopefully into oncoming traffic). My friends thought it was funny, and we had a great night regardless of the incident. I will always remember that night, not because I was verbally harassed , but because I’m almost certain that the naive jerk probably listens, likes, and supports gay music and gay musicians, and truly underestimates how much gay artists have contributed to the creation, development, and foundation of music. It is no surprise that music — specifically the genres of rock, rap, and metal — much like professional sports are testosterone-driven and often under the reign of men. However, the history and evolution of pop music has shown us that gay artists have had an influential role in the development of genres, trends, themes, and styles of music while also educating, promoting, and advocating gay rights across the globe. Homosexuality and music go hand and hand. I’m sorry to disappoint the few who think Lance Bass was the first openly gay musician, because he’s not. In fact, some of the earliest and most influential composers were homosexuals including Tchaikovsky, Noel Coward, and John Cage. Moreover, straight and gay musicians have been writing about homosexuality since the rise of rock’n’roll. Seeing as it is Gay Pride Week, I thought it would be fitting to come up with the top five most influential gay artists from both a musical and emblematic perspective. By making this list, I do acknowledge that I am snubbing a myriad of influential gay musicians, but in doing so I hope to shed some light to those who may or may not know about the impact, accomplishments, and influences of these artists.

5) David Bowie David Bowie is a fucking god... plain and simple. He is a true chameleon with regard to his sound and image as well as a pioneer and innovator of glamrock and androgyny. During the ’70s Bowie undertook a flamboyant alter ego as Ziggy Stardust with the release of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust, and spearheaded a revolutionary trend in alter egos, concept albums, and visual presentation. Bowie bridged the use of fashion with stage presence during live performances all while creating new and innovative music each and every decade. Many can argue that Bowie truly isn’t a homosexual and that his bisexual culture was more a product of the times and situation than his own feelings. Regardless, his “product” was revolutionary for both gay and straight audiences during his time period. Moreover, to certify his superiority and deity-like status, he has been rumoured to have slept with iconic legends Mick Jagger, Iggy Pop, and Andy Warhol.

4) kd lang After coming out as a lesbian in 1992, kd lang has been a monumental advocate and champion of gay rights, HIV/AIDS research, as well as animal rights. Being a country artist, lang has become a role model for gays and lesbians within the genre. By becoming an openly gay artist, lang has crossed the threshold of possessing a “safety net” and has tolerated deep criticism by a typically unaccepting evangelical Christian based audience in the

midwest and southern United States. That said, with the rise of homosexuality in pop music, kd lang is one of the few godmothers of powerful, outspoken lesbian activism. More importantly, even after coming out, she has garnered as much critical acclaim and success as she did pre-outing and has shown both women and the world that you can be successful regardless of your gender and sexual orientation.

3) The Village People Probably the most stereotyped and recognizably homosexual group of all time, the Village People have become the gay poster boys of disco and popular music as a whole. More importantly, they were one of the first groups to target a gay audience with their overtly gay personas and costumes. In addition, the V.P. provided the all time uber-anthem for gays and lesbians with their 1979 hit “Y.M.C.A.” In many baseball stadiums, including Yankee stadium, “Y.M.C.A” is played in between innings and used as a form of group participation amongst crowd members. What makes the Village People so iconic is that nearly 30 years later, the song has transcended the borders and zones of heterosexuality such as professional sports via baseball and has paved a path for the acceptance and appreciation of queer musicians.

2) Ani Difranco Ani Difranco is the queen of queer folk music. An open bisexual, Difranco has been legendary in promoting, advocating, and uniting gays and lesbians with her music for nearly two decades. Her music has inspired millions while her live performances have been described as social and cultural hubs for gays and lesbians. While she may not be as popular as other gay artists such as Melissa Ethridge or George Michael, this is because she has turned down major labels, prefering to stay independent and in control of her own career. This ultimately has been done through her own record label, aptly titled Righteous Girl Records. Difranco is a feminist icon who has supported numerous grassroots, cultural, and political organizations, supporting causes ranging from abortion rights to gay visibility. Lyrically, her songs address important issues, varying from racism, sexism, homophobia, poverty and war. More importantly, Difranco is an example for both straight and gay women, demonstrating that they have the ability and capability to achieve great things in a very misogynistic industry.

1) Freddie Mercury Farrokh Bulsara, or Freddie Mercury to the majority of the world, was the lead singer of the critically acclaimed British rock group Queen. Mercury was a true performer who was known for his flamboyant live performances as well as his expansive vocal range. If you don’t believe me, just youtube his performance of “Under Pressure” at Wembley Stadium in 1986. Unfortunately, Mercury died of bronchopneumonia as a result of HIV (AIDS) in 1991, just 24 hours after publicly acknowledging his disease. While he had been criticized for keeping his sexual orientation and ethnicity a private matter, he never denied or lied about his lifestyle. Many gay critics have indicated that he chose the “I am what I am, so what?” mentality. Regardless, Mercury’s death represented a monumental event that has defined the history, significance, and seriousness of AIDS. The creation of the Mercury Phoenix Trust, as well as the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert for AIDS Awareness, was a pivotal moment in the 1990s. Today, his legacy can be seen in Broadway musicals as well as the growing popularity of Queen — they still sell millions of records. The classics “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “We Are the Champions” have been voted the number one all time songs in the UK while his music and unfortunate death have both been influential and monumental regarding the awareness of HIV/AIDS. hcolosimo@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Emma Tarswell

The Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery, which is located on 25 Caroline Street North, Waterloo has recently celebrated it’s 15 years anniversary on June 19. From now until September 14, the Gallery will be showcasing its newest exhibition: “Touched.” As of July 26, as part of Touched, the gallery will be adding a showcase called “ArtExpress,” with the inclusion of children artwork. Students are invited to share and enjoy. Tickets are $ 3 per student or senior and $5 per adult, Tuesday to Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Free admissions are granted from Tuesday to Friday, 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. and on Sundays, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. For more information please contact then at 519-746-1882, or visit their website at www.canadianclayandglass.ca

Arts & Entertainment

Imprint, Friday, June 27, 2008

How animation can be â&#x20AC;&#x153;awesomeâ&#x20AC;?

few issues back, I commented a lot on the pros and cons of Flash animation. The cons were mostly directed toward the quality of animation in Flash, such as automatic tweening â&#x20AC;&#x201D; or the animation of frames between keyframes â&#x20AC;&#x201D; seems all too mechanical. This method is commonly adopted form from TV animation studios such as Nelvana , as well as in-house studios like Teletoon and the Comedy Network. To be honest, I prefer watching rough-style Flash animations where the frames are almost all hand-drawn. Unlike full-colour Flash animations that use automatic tweening, I find the former to be a lot more engaging and dynamic. Of course, that is mostly because of my bias towards classical animation methods, but it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t mean that I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t see flaws in fully-handdrawn Flash. Quality of production can

severely suffer, though there are some exceptions, like former Disney animator Bernard Derrimanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bunny animation of the song â&#x20AC;&#x153;Everyone Else Has Had More Sex Than Me.â&#x20AC;? But this week, I wanted to promote an amateur Flash animator Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been a fan of for the past few years and who Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve recently rediscovered. Arin Hanson, also known as â&#x20AC;&#x153;Egoraptor,â&#x20AC;? is an aspiring voice actor known professionally for his voice-work as the Hulk in the video game Marvel Ultimate Alliance. For those who are deep in the world of video games and the internet, you know him as the animator of the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Awesomeâ&#x20AC;? series on Newgrounds (www.newgrounds.com): a set of parody animations that recap Hansonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s experiences and opinions with popular video games. Arguably, his most popular Flash animation is Metal Gear Awesome, based off of the

His animations have also appeared on MTVâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s G-Hole, dedicated solely to video-game based programming. game Metal Gear Solid. His animations have also appeared on MTVâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s G-Hole, dedicated solely to video-game based programming. The production quality of his artwork is, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll admit, below par, but he knows how to make his animations exciting and hilarious despite that. His cartoons can best be described as array of classic animation techniques played on fast-forward. I love it when a subtle expression and pose of his characters instantly changes to one of them screaming while flailing his arms about in pain. Hansonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s voice acting has a pretty nice range, too, allowing him to speak like a gruff man, an over-excited teenager, and a nerdy child. The yells and

panic attacks that he can express are gut-wrenchingly funny. As a voice of parodied characters, heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s spot-on and worth the listen. On his site (www.egoraptor.net), you can find a gallery of artwork that heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s done that proves that he can in fact draw. The main reason for Hansonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lack of quality artwork is his previous lack of talent with using Adobe Flash. If your eye is keen enough, you can tell how his skills with the program have greatly improved. For example, take a look and compare both Metal Gear Awesome and Metal Gear Awesome 2, and you can tell that the qualityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been amped up. When the arms flail in panic, theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re more recognizable as rubbery arms, rather than quick-

moving motion lines. The characters are slightly more detailed in the sequel, yet still hold their highly exaggerated expressions and actions. Hansonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s animation work isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t meant to be his main focus; as he explains on his site, the only real reason he animates is to promote his voice acting work, which I would love to hear on cartoons like Robot Chicken and South Park. I wish him all the best and I hope you take the time to check out his animations. If you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know the source material for the animations, at least enjoy his work based on the wackiness, wittiness, and great amounts of profanity. ptrinh@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Book Review

Jhegaala Steven Brust TOR Books

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t really is amazing that the eleventh novel in the Vlad Taltos series is as captivating as the first. Author Steven Brust attempts to write each novel so that it can stand on its own, and in this one he has again done so.

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When I recommend books to people, I vary my approach. I always start with Jhereg but to some friends I recommend reading in order of publication and to others in order of chronology. This book steps back in time from the last few and tells of an earlier tale. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a tale of a man in search of his past and his family. It is also a tale of murder, intrigue, confusion, and misunderstanding that all leads to a high body count. Each of the Vlad Taltos novels, Brust approaches differently. He has created such a believable world that the side stories and other books mentioned become something the reader would like to possess. In this book each chapter begins with quotes from a play Six Parts Water by a playwright named Miersen. These snippets leave you wanting to read or watch the play. It is hard not to like the witty and humorous Vlad Taltos, even if he is an assassin by profession, and even if he betrayed his â&#x20AC;&#x153;crime familyâ&#x20AC;? to save his estranged wife. also, even as he got most of his distant family murdered because he did not understand a situation he blundered into. This is

Vlad Taltos, a man with an impeccable taste in food and drink, who lives by a motto akin to â&#x20AC;&#x153;Life is to short for bad food or drink.â&#x20AC;? In this book we see a very different side of Vlad. He is not an Easterner trying to fit in; in Dragaera Empire, he has returned to the land of his ancestors in the East. He is a human among humans and yet he fits in even less than we are used to, in part because he has lived his whole life in the West. Therefore, in this book, we see for the first time Vlad take a major misstep and pay a personal price, he is injured worse that we have seen yet in any of the books. This book will be a great summer read for any fan of the fantasy genre, or for people who are already fans of Brustâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s works. It fills in some of the story between earlier books, and answers some of the readerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ongoing questions about Vlad. Unfortunately it also raises many new questions. But those will hopefully be answered soon in another tale. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Steven R. McEvoy

Science & Technology

Imprint, Friday, June 27, 2008 science@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

A thousand theorems

Ongoing research seeks concrete applications of mathematics for image interpretation Aletheia Chiang reporter

aybe you’re an avid traveler. Maybe you’ve tried to order a Big Mac combo in English in Quebec. Maybe you’re just a student who makes his way around this multicultural campus enough. One way or the other, you know that in every place where there are people, language is the key to communication. So what if there was one language that enabled you to communicate with people of every tongue? In an interview with his research team, Dr. Edward Vrscay, a professor in the department of applied mathematics, gave Imprint a glimpse of just that. Beyond mere multilingualism, Vrscay and his graduate students have uncovered the secret to universal communication — images. “The images speak for themselves,” Vrscay said very simply. And it’s the mathematics behind the .jpg that allows it to be universally interpreted. “When you download an image from the internet,” Vrscay explained, “that .jpg is based on what’s called the Fourier series.” The Fourier series is a branch of mathematics involving the decomposition of periodic functions into a sum of simple oscillating functions, such as the sine and cosine. The discrete cosine transform allows images to be compressed — which is how we see them on the Internet — reducing file size without sacrificing too much of the quality. Still, Vrscay and his team are not just talking the

Wail Elsweisi reporter

The North Pole: Ice-free this summer?

Scientists studying climate change have found further evidence supporting global warming. Recent observations show the North Pole consisting mostly of first-year or thin ice, which typically forms during the winter months. Given the right conditions, such ice could melt by the end of this summer. One disquieting factor is last summer’s 65 per cent decrease in ice in the Northern Hemisphere. “We didn’t even think it was possible...to lose so much ice at once,” says David Barber from the University of Manitoba in an article published in National Geographic News. He further suggests this loss was due to an atypical combination of warm ocean currents, sunny weather, and fluke winds. The North and South

language — they’re developing it, too. Combining theoretical models with applications, his graduate students are finding concrete ways to make use of their math. Nataliya Portman, a graduate student under Vrscay’s supervision, has been modeling biological growth based on image data, a sequence of images depicting a growing organism. The ultimate goal, she told Imprint, is to classify the observed growth pattern as either healthy or unhealthy. “For this, I need quantitative characteristics of growth,” Portman said. “And that requires calculations of changes in the area or volume of a growing organism, [both of which] can be extracted from images.” Later, Portman elaborated on the mathematical basis of such an extraction and its ability to actually give an idea as to the actual cell location of abnormal growth. “We are trying to figure out the location of this active cell that has caused the change that we observe,” she said. She said it is the inverse problems based on shape changes that tell something about the source of the change. “What has caused this change? It’s a hidden source basically. We do a [grey-scale value] seed in an image, and based on this grey-scale information, as well as the shape of the organism, [we can extract the shape information] from the image using image-processing tools,” Portman said. “The locations of these cells are being modeled as random seeds, and if I see one is active, that basically means that this gene is turned off at this location and causes a certain structural change.” In terms of biological accuracy, the beauty of Portman’s model lies in its ability to demonstrate the one-to-one correspondence between gene expression pattern and the observed shape change. The probabilistic model also takes into account genetic variability. “If you’re looking at the development of a mouse brain, you don’t look at just one brain in particular. You look at a family of brains at a certain developmental stage,” she explained. “The shape of the brain is subject to variability. The brains are not identical. “This variability is taken into account in our model [and is] the stronger point of our model.” Greg Mayer is also a graduate student under

Poles are of special interest to climatologists who expect to witness temperature increases in these zones three times as fast as the rest of the globe. This is due to the ice albedo feedback effect, in which newly exposed water absorbs more heat that helps accelerate further melting of ice. Estimates point to an ice-free arctic during the summer as early as 2013 to 2030. Twin births and your diet

The rate of twin births has tripled in the last 30 years. Known contributors include in vitro fertilization and a preference for having babies later in life. Recent studies by Steinman and colleagues of Long Island Jewish Medical Center, however, also implicate the diet as being involved. The suspect is believed to be bovine growth hormone (BGH). This hormone allows the release of insulin-like growth factor, which

Dr. Vrscay’s supervision, and is on what Vrscay calls his “super-resolution team”. Like Portman, Mayer’s research in mathematical models is also versed in medical applications. His work focuses on image processing algorithms, working on various spatial resolution enhancement algorithms to improve the image quality of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) data. Explained Dr. Vrscay: “Greg wants to work with the raw data that comes out of the machine, which is frequency data, as opposed to the already-altered image that comes out of the MRI machine.” “In MRI, you have limitations on what the machine hardware can do in terms of resolution,” explained Mayer. “And there’s only so much time and so much the machine can produce in terms of spatial resolution. “There are only so many pixels that can be put into these digital images, and what we’re trying to do is get more pixels. “Without the understanding of how the physics determines [the creation of] the image, you lose a lot of information,” stressed Mayer. “In just treating it as a general image, without that knowledge of where it’s coming from, you throw out a lot of information and constraints that you can use to determine whether or not an algorithm is even going to work.” Ultimately, from modeling biological growth to improving MRI data quality, Portman spoke to the need to develop mathematical models that “serve a certain purpose.” “For biomedical research it is important to diagnose a certain developmental disease, a deformed pattern, a pathology,” she emphasized. “How is it possible to recognize pathological growth based on imaging? We are addressing this question.” “[As applied mathematicians],we have to understand pure math but we also have to find a concrete application, proving theorems, finding algorithms,” said Dominique Brunet, applied mathematics graduate student and new addition to Vrscay’s team. “We’re straddling the line between theory and application,” said Vrscay. And Vrscay’s team is well aware that this straddling is not immune to difficulties. “One of the

increases ovulation and also seems to increase the chance of giving birth to twins. A recombinant form of the hormone (rBGH) is sold in many states as a way of increasing cow milk production. However, it is banned in both Canada and the U.K. due to its controversial nature. Leukemia virus — and protection

Human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV1) is known for causing leukemia, but a recent study in Japan implicates the virus in protecting us against stomach cancer. Matsumoto and his colleagues of Narao Hospital in Nagasaki, Japan sampled a population known for its high rate of infection with HTLV-1, but was just as likely to be infected with the bacterium that causes stomach cancer. The study found a three-fold increase in the incidence of stomach cancer in those virus-free versus those carrying the virus.

challenges in applied math, is that you’re either speaking to people who are experts in the mathematics, not necessarily in your application, or vice versa, the application but not the mathematics,” said Mayer. “So you have to prepare your presentation in a way that people can understand.” For Portman, the challenges lie in “choosing an appropriate language of communication that both sides understand really well.” “I make big efforts to communicate with biologists and I’m still learning how to do this in an effective way,” she said. “But mostly, I can feel the distance between another professional biologist. There’s still a long way to go.” Still, Vrscay’s team remains optimistic about the future. “The thing that’s good with imaging is that you can at least show the image you get,” Brunet pointed out. “If you do pure math, abstract math, then it’s really impossible to show what you are doing.” “Mathematics is really the language of science,” said Vrscay. “A picture speaks a thousand words. An image speaks a thousand theorems.” Contact Dr. Edward Vrscay: http://www.math.uwaterloo.ca/ AM_Dept/members/vrscay/ Read all about Greg Mayer’s exciting adventures (mathematical and nonmathematical): http://www.math. u w a t e r l o o. c a / ~gsmayer/index.html

This might make HTLV-1 the first known virus with possible protective effects. Supermosquitoes...an end to malaria?

Millions of people continue to die every year from parasite-containing mosquito bites, despite the availability of mosquito nets and insecticides. Once inside the human body, the parasites lodge in the liver, where they feast and replicate before moving on to attack the body’s red blood cells. Scientists in the UK have created mutant mosquitoes that carry genes resistant to malaria, but their application is of much debate as these mutants may disrupt the ecosystem with unintended consequences. Still, some believe the benefits would outweigh the risks. — with files from Scientific American, National Geographic News, and Newscientist.com

Science & Technology

Imprint, Friday, June 27, 2008

Perception and personality Fundamental attribution error affects our perception of personality

ave you ever had a professor who was a real ass? Someone who was mean, angry, and just all-around unpleasant? Now that you have someone — or a few someones — in mind, think about what incident or habit makes you think of them this way. Was it a rude comment on an essay or in class? Was this professor scrunchy-faced and angry-looking all the time? What specific things about this individual made you think he/she was a jerk? Now that you have a short list of the aggravating things this degenerate did and are suitably irritated by the recollection, stop. Take yourself out of your own perspective as an external observer for a moment, and put yourself in the professor’s shoes. What could’ve made Dr. Ass-hat so repugnant? Perhaps she got a parking ticket just before writing that demoralizing note on your paper. Maybe Wednesdays, the day of your class, were chronically bad for him because he had to attend PTA meetings before class. In other words, perhaps there were external factors that caused your professor to behave in an otherwise uncharacteristically cranky way, leading to your perception of them as an insufferable bag of guts. This tendency to explain behav-

iours in terms of stable, internal traits, as opposed to considering the influence of external factors is called the “Fundamental Attribution Error.” Research has shown that we are all apt, to some degree, to assume that behaviours are results of stable, internal traits — like a nasty personality — rather than fluctuating external circumstances — like having a bad day. Research by Mary B. MacPherson and Stacy L. Young (2004) has shown that even when students were able to identify a concrete reason for a teacher’s unpleasantness, such as student misbehaviour or lack of effort, they still attributed the teacher’s upsetting behaviours to the teacher’s personality. Why, then, do we persist in assuming that a person’s isolated behaviours are indicative of their whole personality even when, as the MacPherson and Young study shows, we are aware of external factors that may result in uncharacteristic acts? The literature on why the Fundamental Attribution Error exists is not crystal clear, but there are two theories that have garnered some popularity — personal responsibility and salience. The first theory, personal responsi-

bility, posits that in our individualistic Western society we expect individuals to take responsibility for their behaviour, an expectation that explains our tendency to attribute behaviours to the person rather than external factors. Although many psychological text books introduce this theory, there are still contradictory data on the subject. At least one 1999 study done by a group of researchers from America, Taiwan, and mainland China found significant application of the fundamental attribution error in both Western and Eastern more collectivist participants, challenging at least the hypothesis that the error would occur less in collectivist cultures. Salience theory suggests that we focus on the actor in a situation because we can directly observe them while we ignore the external factors leading to that behaviour because this information is less readily available to us. This may be supported by literature that suggests that we are more likely to apply the fundamental attribution error when we don’t know much about a person. Knowing someone more intimately may increase our access to information about the external factors influencing their behaviours, and may consequently diminish our tendency to make fundamental attribution errors

Pick up lines for STIs

when dealing with them. For example, I have a lovely and almost-always charming engineering friend with whom I often have interesting debates. Once, during such a conversation, he retorted with “Well, your major (psychology) doesn’t contribute anything to society!” Now, I could’ve assumed that he was an uneducated meanie and stopped talking to him entirely. Instead, I considered the fact that, as an engineer, he has a heavy course load, is over stressed, and (for stereotypical hilarity’s sake) undersexed. In the end, I chalked his outburst up to a stress-filled day at school, and assumed that he’d revert to the friendly and semi-intelligent guy I had known before, which he did. The point is that in this case, I knew enough about my friend’s life to list off a number of external factors that I could attribute his behaviours to, which allowed me to avoid making the Fundamental Attribution Error. In our previous example of you and your cranky professor, your limited information about his or her life may have prevented you from doing the same. Obviously, the fundamental attribution error has some pretty powerful effects on interpersonal relationships. For example, if I had erroneously

assumed that my engineering friend’s snip was evidence of a nasty personality, we might not still be friends. This cognitive bias can have further implications, however, if you consider widespread beliefs and the politics that arise from them. For example, if you assume that someone who doesn’t get much done in a day is lazy, you might apply that belief to an entire group of people without considering external factors that apply to that group. If that group of people is, for example, physically or mentally challenged, you would be failing to consider their disabilities, or other limiting factors, when you called them “lazy.” If you extrapolate from this example, it is easy to see how the fundamental attribution error can negatively influence social policy and other political decisions. Whether dealing with others in everyday social situations, or in larger, more politically charged arenas, it is important that we remember that all of us exist in a complex environment that affects our behaviours, and that ignoring the influence of external factors in determining a person’s — or a group of people’s — personality can lead us to make grave errors in judgment.

Taylor Helferty

requirements, the project must be carried out with as little government involvement as possible. The contest — named the Google Lunar X Prize — emphasizes the philosophy that space “should be open to anyone and everyone,” according to Becky Ramsey, the director of communications for the project. Although there are only 13 teams in the race as of now, the number is expected to grow to about 25. The teams are currently made up of university scientists, business people, engineers, robotic experts, and students. Any Waterloo teams ready to take this on?

staff reporter

LHC will not destroy Earth

ear virgins: if you have sex, you will get pregnant and you will die. When I was a teenager, many faulty cautions similar to this one were drilled into my head. Needless to say, they failed to work. What did keep my raging hormones under control was the realistic possibility of catching something from a partner I don’t know well. It’s true: spreading some love can cause the spread of viruses, infections and bacteria that affect the southern regions of your body. Unfortunately, some of the things you can pick up are difficult, and sometimes impossible, to get rid of. Like crabs. No, not the lovely sea creatures that go well with a slice of lemon. “Crabs” is a slang term for Pthirus pubis, commonly known as pubic lice. These tiny parasites get the name from their appearance, which, under a microscope, resembles a real crab. Crabs need blood to sustain their existence and have the lifespan of anywhere from 24 to 48 hours, which requires them to constantly lay eggs on their host. Sexual activity is not necessary to catch crabs; personal items such as towels, bed sheets or underwear can pass them on. People with public lice suffer from burning and itching sensations in the genital regions. Like regular lice, crabs are very difficult to get rid of. They require frequent sanitation of clothing and personal items, repeated cream treatments, pubic hair combing and trimming to reduce the number of eggs and lice. Fortunately, crabs are curable.

The names of syphilis, chlamydia, and genital herpes are very well known, but would you be able to detect the symptoms and adequately identify them when to see a health physician? Take a minute to brush up on the details to protect yourself. Syphilis, another common but much more harmful STD, is caused by Treponema pallidum bacterium. It can be transmitted through oral, vaginal and anal sex, or through the birth canal during a natural delivery. Despite popular belief, it cannot be caught from toilet seats, kitchen utensils or doorknobs — only direct contact with a syphilis sore can cause a transmission, which occur on the genital regions or mouth. It is important to conduct an annual health check-up because many diseases like syphilis can be cured easily in their early stages, but can cripple internal organs if left untreated. In the early stages of syphilis a shot of penicillin is enough to cure a person who has been infected for less than a year. For women, chlamydia is both a damaging and a common STD. In the United States, is it also the most commonly reported STD, affecting over a million women in 2006. Chlamydia can be transmitted through oral, vaginal or anal sex, and symptoms for both genders include pain urinating. Women may also experience changes in vaginal discharge, abdomen pain, itchiness in the vagina and bleeding during or after sex. Males could experience a milky substance coming out the head of the penis, pain in the testicles and itchiness around the head of the penis. Symptoms occur within

one to three weeks from exposure, but for women, untreated chlamydia could lead to Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID), pregnancy outside the uterus and infertility. Like syphilis, chlamydia can easily be treated with antibiotics. Azithromycin (a single dose) or a week of doxycycline are the most commonly used treatments. Unlike all the STDs previously discussed in this article, genital herpes is an incurable one. The herpes virus will bring on an attack four to eight days after initial exposure causes sores on the genital area and rectum. These sore later produce pus before turning into painful ulcers. The attack is accompanied by flu-like symptoms. Genital herpes can be transmitted during an attack or even between them, when symptoms are not visible. Antiviral medications can shorten the lifespan of outbreaks, but there is currently no cure for herpes. These some of the most common of the nearly 30 different bacteria, parasites and viruses that can be transmitted through sexual activity. While all sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) start off as sexually transmitted infections (STIs), they will not develop into a disease until damage to the body is done. Obviously, the only way to halt STDs from flourishing in your body are to be selective with your partners and to conduct annual sexual health check-ups. There may be plenty of fish in the sea, but there are plenty of crabs, too. alomako@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

For those worrying that Cern’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) was going to destroy the Earth and possibly the universe: stop. A new safety review was approved Friday by the governing council of the European Organization for Nuclear Research stating that the project is no threat to our planet. The report’s authors consisted of five physicists, whose main argument was that whatever the collider will do, nature has done many times already. The LHC will speed protons up to energies of 7 trillion electron volts and then smash them together to create tiny primordial fireballs, simulating the Big Bang. This can help find forces, particles, and even new laws of nature that may have existed in the first trillionth of a second of time — a major breakthrough in the physics world. However there was plenty of criticism that the project could create a black hole that would suck in the Earth or create a new dangerous particle. The safety report mentions that anything the LHC will create has been done over and over by nature, but the universe, galaxies, and Earth are still here. Google starts competition to reach moon

The massively popular internet company Google has just created a new moon race: to be the first privately funded team to successfully land a rover on the moon. The rover must travel for 500 meters or more, and send back data, photos, and video by December 31, 2012. The prize for the winning team is $20 million U.S. After the deadline, the prize drops to $15 million U.S., and then disappears after 2014. Besides the aforementioned

agaetano@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Indie films hit the internet screen

YouTube, the online video sharing monolith, has recently released its new dedicated area for independent films called the “YouTube Screening Room.” The site will feature four high-quality short films from indie directors, both well known and new to the spotlight, each week. Films will be coming in from all over the world, the only restriction being a maximum of a single GB file upload. Even a producer of Juno, Daniel Dubiecki, will have his short film premier on the site on July 4. Users can watch films, rate them, and discuss them in the site as they would for any other YouTube video. This could result in a massive step forward for indie film makers as the site can give their films more exposure than the downtown independent cinemas. So hook up that laptop to a TV, grab the popcorn, and enjoy some great films on demand — including an interesting little short that is now up starring John C. Reilly asking if you’re the favourite person of anybody. The website can be found at www.youtube. com/ytscreeningroom. thelferty@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Sports & Living Dinh Nguyen

Imprint, Friday, June 27, 2008 sports@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

A beginner’s guide to tennis

assistant editor-in-chief

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Clarification In the last issue of Imprint, the Campus core land fitness class entry requirements were erroneously described as open to all who showed up. In fact, students must pre-register, as there are maximum numbers the instructors can accomodate in one class. Imprint apologizes for any confusion.

Putting the racket to use Grips

In tennis, there are three main types of grips that players use to hold the ball:

Western grip

When using this grip, the player holds the racket close to the bottom of its handle at a 90 degree angle, clockwise from the flat string surface. The racket is tilted downwards and the ball is hit by stretching out further forward.

Eastern grip

The Eastern grip is taught to and used most by novice tennis players. According to www.about.com “it places your palm on the side plane of your handle, parallel to the plane of your strings. With your wrist straight and relaxed, the Eastern grip results in a vertical racket face when your racket is even with your front hip.” This technique is used with the class tennis swing, something most people think of when they think of tennis.

Continental grip

The Continental grip places your palm on the upper right slant bevel, 45 degrees counter-clockwise from the Eastern. This makes the racquet face tend to tilt upward. It is most commonly used as a backhand swing.

The Serve (or service)

The serve takes place at the beginning of a game and is the starting point where the ball is first put into motion. There are five common types of serves:

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Flat serve

A flat serve is said to be hit when the server hits the ball directly through a straight swing path with a Continental grip so that it doesn’t spin. In order for a flat serve to be effective it must make the ball travel very fast and the ball must land close to the net. For this reason, it is most often hit straight down the center, where the net is lowest.

Topspin serve

This serve is usually hit using a Continental grip or an Eastern Backhand grip. It is hit with a forward spin imparted by brushing the back of the ball upward at contact. The topspin serve travels slower than the fast serve but is aimed higher, making less likely to hit the net. Unfortunately the topspin may also bounce higher, making it easier for experienced player to counter.

Slice serve

These are usually hit using a Continental grip, or an Eastern backhand grip. The ball is hit brushing the back of it leftwards. The Slice serve is hit very low and has a higher chance of hitting the net. It usually skid when it bounces, pushing it further left and causing the receiver to move a great distance in order to counter it.

Topspin-slice serve

As its name suggests, the ball is hit with a combination of both sidespin and topspin, brushing the back of the ball upward and rightward at about a 45 degree angle. In flight, the ball is served higher than the flat or slice serves but is lower than the topspin. It usually travels, spinning upwards and then leftwards onto the court.

Twist serve

When hitting a Twist serve, the Eastern backhand is most commonly used. A Twist serve is thrown up somewhat behind the server’s head and the racket brushes the ball from the 8 o’clock position to the 2 ‘clock position. Upon bouncing, it jumps high and to the side in the direction of the server’s racquet arm and is said to be one of the hardest serve to learn. For more information about tennis contact Campus Rec tennis or visits the Waterloo tennis club located in Waterloo Park. dnguyen@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Rogers Cup 2008 — Men’s Tennis Tournament Discounted prices are available to UW staff, stdents, faculty and alumni as part of an Ontario alumni event special. Type in the discount code 28736985076 online at: http://www.rogerscup.com/groups for discounts. Location: Rexall Centre at York University Price: Ranges from $8.50 to $96 (discount included) depending on day and seating of the event. Free level 300 tickets available at the gates on Sunday July 20. When: July 19 — 27

graphics by Joyce Hsu