Imprint_2008-10-10_v31_i13

Impr int The university of Waterloo’s official student newspaper

Friday, October 10, 2008

imprint . uwaterloo . ca

vol 31, no 13

Render’s Dominion City typifies urban generation Page 24

Let the money flow

Feds budget provides much- needed funding to parched campus services

Michelle Bellefontaine reporter

Dinh Nguyen

assistant editor-in-chief

A

fter much delay by the Feds budget committee to pass a clubs and services budget for the 2008/2009 academic year, there were many satisfied smiles when clubs and organizations looked at their allotted budgets. Overall, most students services received an increase in funding, some — such as GLOW— as much as 300 per cent. Clubs and service Director, Dave McDougall, exclaims that it is “wonderful that they are getting the service increases that they are.”

According former UWSP co-ordinator, Rob Blom, (full disclosure: former Imprint section editor )the budget increase this year is a result of combined efforts put forth by clubs and services, as well as current and former members of the Feds exec. By drafting out extensive budget proposals demonstrating that, if given the funds, these groups put them to legitimate use, many clubs and services demonstrated to Feds that they are under budgeted. One service, GLOW even went so far as to gather data comparing other Canadian universities’ service funding — received from their equivalent of Feds — to UW, and attaching it to their budget proposal. In their comparison GLOW found that “queer services” funding for UW, at $.08 per student was the second lowest among 11 universities, which included third lowest, York University, at $.67 and highest, University of Regina, at $7.03. In their data, GLOW also found that their service funding has been decreasing since the 2000 academic term, and only started rising in 2007. Even then, their budgest last year was less than the year 2000.

How can they afford this, you ask? Well there certainly hasn’t been an increase in your

Feds tuition fee, which works to pay for Feds services, clubs; programs such as Feds bus, U-Pass etc. and general office fees. Instead, VP administration and finance Del Pereira has reconfigured some of the expenses, including moving part of his budgeted salary to administration costs, which isn’t paid by the students’ Feds fee. That Feds fee has been allotted to student services such as Campus Response, Cultural Caravan, Foodbank ,and the Woman’s Centre, amongst others.

Peireira, who assesses the budget each term acknowledged that many of the student services were under-funded, and in general the budget, having followed previous budgets from 1997, was outdated. Peireira committed over 200 hours toward updating the budget allotments by scrutinizing costs, and scraping from unnecessary expenses — such as marketing and administration costs — in order to provide more funds for services that actually affect students.

This kind of reassessment really allows for some long term planning in terms of the budgeting for the future. Students at the University of Waterloo pay one of the lowest student fees in the province. Peireira explained that “often Feds services run at a loss or just break even in order to help students.” They really have no interest in making a profit from students.

It may take some time for the current budget for each term to be released but in fairness it is essential that the projected expenses for the term be based upon the actual number from the previous term, which would have only ended a few weeks before. McDougall is excited about the changes that are being made, saying that what Peireira has done with the budget is, “truly groundbreaking,” and “fabulous.”

One of the Feds program that has received a major boost in funding is the Internal Funding

Committee. The IFC helps to finance student initiatives such as the event of a major project relevant to the school. The program in previous years has consistently surpassed the budgeted $20,000. By rearranging expenses Feds has projected $32,000 for the IFC program. This program is important, as it is open to all students and provides no barriers to those with a little initiative. It is one of the programs that contributes most to improving the quality of student life on campus.

The additional funding really benefits the program as it was previously strained. In the past, student would apply with uncertainty to IFC and have to wait two to three weeks to know whether or not their request for funding had been approved.

Unfortunately, the IFC was unable to cover all the requests that were made by students. With the additional funding, they will not only be able to provide those students who took the initiative but also encourage other students to take advantage of the program.

A great number of students also take advantage of the various clubs and societies found on campus.

Last year Feds was able to increase the amount allotted to each club per term from $50 to $75. The increase was decided upon to allow for inflation in club sizes. Funding has also allowed for an increase in the number of clubs on campusacknowledging gradual growth. Clubs must track their spending through their Feds account and show that they are taking advantage of the funds provided. If clubs require additional funding for an event they can apply through the IFC program.

McDougall highly recommends that students, “join a club and even better, become an executive.”

He believes that it makes it being involved more memorable and enjoyable. With the additional funding that has been provided to the clubs there will always be room for more.

tifa han

From left to right, proportionately filled glasses represent the budget increase for the following clubs and services: Campus Response Team, Food Bank, Women’s Centre, UW sustainability Project, International Student Connection, Off Campus Dons, and GLOW — The Queer and Questioning Community Centre.

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Imprint, Friday, October 10, 2008 news@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Maggie Clark editor-in-chief

Party platforms

The top four Kitchener-Waterloo candidates’ platforms on major issues for students Last week in the SLC five of eight KW candidates deliberated on questions posed by students.

Here are the top four parties’ positions on those issues:

Party Leader: Stephane Dion Kitchener-Waterloo Candidate: Andrew Telegedi (Incumbent)

Party Leader: Stephen Harper Kitchener-Waterloo Candidate: Peter Braid

www.telegdi.org

www.peterbraid.ca

Party Leader: Jack Layton Kitchener-Waterloo Candidate: Cindy Jacobsen

www.cindyjacobsen.ca

Party Leader: Elizabeth May Kitchener-Waterloo Candidate: Cathy MacLellan

www.votecathy.ca

Student Debt:

— Wants to add more needs-based bursaries, lower interest on student loans, and restore summer job funding.

—Cites successes to date (improved repayment plans: low-income students to pay no more than 20 per cent of annual income). Future plans in spring.

—Aims to enhance grace period on loan repayment, and place a cap on the percentage of interest that can be applied to student loans.

—Seeking tuition fee reductions and a loan forgiveness package of 50 per cent upon completion of post-secondary.

University Research:

—Plans for a $500 billion per year increase for peer-reviewed, not government-determined research projects.

—Funding numbers still forthcoming, but notes funding like $52 million to the Perimeter Institute will continue.

—No exact figure, but wants research in the public domain. Best way to get money is by rerouting “giveaway tax breaks.”

—Agrees with university/business partnerships,; wants government guidelines to push towards green energy funding.

—Feels international student issue also a matter of international professors, who can’t bring families over: “We need to open up the system.”

—Citing “destruction” of Aboriginal agreement under Harper, aims to fund 100,000 students through Access To Education Plan.

—Family reunification policies the “cornerstone” of immigration policies; wants qualified foreign students engaged to apply for citizenship while already here.

—Very proud of Conservative record on Aboriginal affairs; educational platform and Canada grants program targets low-income and Aboriginal citizens especially.

—Tired of campaign buzz words; says Layton will finally streamline and implement the plans that have been under talks for too long.

—Vows immediate ratification of the UN Declaration of Rights of Indigenous Peoples; strongly feels Canada needs an attitude change with regard to Aboriginal issues.

—Feels funding research is crucial to creating new spaces for international students; wants to enrich both Canada and the students’ countries of origin in the process.

—Wants to see Kelowna Accord ratified; notes that a good postsecondary education requires good secondary and primary: needs to work from the ground up.

Poverty:

—30/50 plan for child poverty; also advocates new housing and child tax programs, and the protection of exploited workers, especially those on temporary visas. Immigrant integration a priority.

—Notes Conservative reduction of lowest tax rate and GST as aiding low-income workers. In KW, notes that growth in the technological community will improve innovation and opportunities.

—Stresses need for $10 minimum wage; also wants goal-setting to reduce poverty by 50 per cent, making government more accountable, and an end to billion-dollar giveaways to companies.

—Feels lowering taxes does not help poor; instead, leaves fewer resources to support local organizations. Pre-university access and national funding crucial for stable policies on community poverty.

Copyright Reform:

—Needs to hear from all stakeholders, something he feels Bill C-61 lacked; feels it’s especially important to protect anything arts-related from prohibitive government interference.

—Feels acquiring budget for aid is first, most crucial step; cites drop in aid budget under Conservatives. “If we can promote democracy and prosperity, we don’t have to waste money fighting failed states.”

—“Canadians have done their share of heavy lifting” [in Afghanistan]. Wants others in NATO to step up; notes Liberal exit date of 2011 for combat troops. Area needs security before development.

—Not concerned about amount of consultation on Bill C-61; very happy with balance struck, but open to more feedback from constituents. Expressed strong support for the arts.

—Wants more CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency) working overseas. “We have to work closely with NGOs and people on the ground.” More money only when the budget allows.

—“We are making a difference” [in Afghanistan]. Feels it’s important to raise awareness in our communities as to the improvements — in school access and security — in Afghanistan.

—Feels Bill C-61 is very important, but creators need to be in on the debate; they need to be protected from businesses exploiting their work, to ensure they reap the benefits offered by the Bill.

—Stresses urgency of quick response, especially combatting corruption and ensuring aid reaches its intended participants. “Action, not words, is needed now.”

—Layton wants Canada out of Afghanistan as soldiers, but not as humanitarians. Feels it’s deceptive to suggest we were there to put little girls in school; stresses need for us to leave.

—Bill C-61 built for another time: feels a complete rehaul is required. Youth wing of Green party presently dedicated to copyright reform.

University Access -- International: -- Aboriginal:

Foreign Policy: --Aid: --Afghanistan:

Election Day is on October 14, 2008! Polls will be open in Ontario from 9:30 a.m. until 9:30 p.m.

Even if you are away at university you can vote in the Kitchener-Waterloo riding.

Requirements: You are a Canadian citizen; You are at least 18 years old on election day; and, You can produce proof of identity and your Waterloo address.

To find out where you vote, visit www.elections.ca and enter your postal code,

—Wants to know why CIDA isn’t heard from these days, though it was on the ground in Afghanistan before U.S. troops.

Urges review of trading practices with developing countries.

—Urges caution with numbers: Wants Afghanistan funding rebalanced from one of ten dollars for diplomacy and development to something that will help redefine Canada’s role in the region.

then click “Where do I vote?” on the right-hand side of the page that pops up.

You can establish proof of identity and your Waterloo address in one of 3 ways: 1) Provide one original piece of identification issued by a government or government agency containing your photo, name and your Waterloo address.

2) Provide two original pieces of identification authorized by the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada. Both pieces must contain your name, and one must also contain your Waterloo address. The list of acceptable ID is available at www. elections.ca 3) Bring along a buddy to vouch for you. So long as they have valid ID, and you swear an oath, you’re good to go. Happy voting!

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Imprint, Friday, October 10, 2008

5

Campaign conversations

Part 4 of 5: A chat with 19-year-old campaign manager Eric Merkley on youth engagement, environmental ratings, and Parliamentary loop-holes on MP mailings Brendan Osberg reporter

A

bout as far from campus as you can go in this riding, an old brick building, just off the main drag, houses the campaign office for the Conservative candidate in the riding.

The red bricks have a time-worn lofty aesthetic, and much of the window space is covered in blue — the colour scheme is jarring, but makes it a little easier to find Eric Merkley, deputy campaign manager for Peter Braid, the Conservative candidate for the Kitchener-Waterloo riding.

Catching up with Merkley hasn’t been easy — a full-schedule of training canvassers has ensured that — but the 19-year-old who defies statistics by being a major part of a national campaign meets me in his blue Conservative T-shirt.

His speech is tempered, he doesn’t speak before thinking, and he gives the impression he’s wary of media. I start by asking him why he thinks youth have such low voter turn-outs historically.

“I think youth are finding other ways to participate in the process, such as through social action groups or other organizations that are outside the party system.”

He elaborates on this, and after a few minutes of talking, his moniter flickers to a black background with a sleek, rotating three-dimensional logo of the United States Republican party, the starred elephant.

It is the perfect anachronism, underscoring the intersection of old-fashioned Conservative values of his party, and the new, technologically savvy generation of digital campaigners that he represents. I mention this to Merkley. “Yeah, I’d consider myself a moderate Republican if I were in the United States,” he says, “but I’m not a fan of George W. Bush. He let the debt get out of control; that’s not very Conservative.”

I ask if he thought the Conservative party would support some deficit spending if the current U.S. financial crisis leads to prolonged recession — many economists agree that deficit spending, if used sparingly at times of economic downturn (and then compensated for by surplus revenues during times of prosperity) hasten the end

of recessions and lead to greater economic security and growth overall.

“We don’t want to go down that road,” he replies. “We don’t want to develop again a culture of deficit spending like we see in the United States.”

ask the recipient to check their agreement for statements like, for example, “I think thieves and vandals should serve their time in jail,” or “I support a five per cent GST” as opposed to “I support a seven per cent GST.” Beside check-boxes, the flyers

“I think it’s perfectly legitimate,” said Merkley. “It’s a way of informing citizens of Parliamentary issues and allowing for feedback.”

“All parties do this.” he said, adding that “we currently have more MPs than [the other parties]

“I think youth are finding other ways to participate in the process, such as through social action groups or other organizations that are outside the party system.”

— Eric Merkley, Conservative Campaign Manager I ask him about the Sierra Club environmental report that got the Conservative party an “F+” on their environmental platform.

“The media hasn’t fairly represented our environmental policy.

The Sierra Club doesn’t consider that we are trying to find a balance [between environment and economy.] The Liberals signed Kyoto to put a plaque on the wall, but didn’t take it seriously” The mood becomes a little uneasy as I proceed to ask him about the pre-written 10-per center mail-outs that the Kitchener-Waterloo riding has been inundated with over the last few months.

A little context: 10-per centers are mailings that sitting Members of Parliament are allowed to send out to 10 per cent of a constituency using the federal mail at taxpayer expense. House of Commons rules state that these mailouts cannot contain “campaign material” intended to win votes, rather they are intended to “inform the public of Parliamentary issues.”

The aim of these mailings gets murky, however, when MPs like Chris Warkentin of Peace River, Alberta, distribute mailouts in Kitchener-Waterloo region.

In fact, the KW area happens to be one of a few ridings that has been the focus of mailings from Conservative party MPs across the country.

These flyers contain unflattering images of Liberal leader Stephane Dion, juxtaposed against a smiling Steven Harper, with quotes from the two leaders that invariably present the Conservative candidate’s view in a more positive light. The flyers being sent do not explicitly solicit voting for any party; instead they

also contain sections for the recipient to fill out personal information and mail back to the MP, again using public mail. By doing this, a database can be generated listing the residents of an area and particular issues they consider important; when election day comes around, lists like these are crucial in campaign efforts to get out the vote, and such a list allows campaign callers to personalize their phone call to the voters’ pet issues.

Getting these lists, and making these calls is standard practice for all parties, however, it costs money, and Elections Canada has strict regulations on where campaign money can come from, and how it can be spent. These flyers circumvent those regulations by going out just before the election is called and using your tax dollars. According to a poll by the Toronto Star, 49 per cent of Canadians feel that these mail-outs are inadmissable.”

which accounts for a large part of the difference in amount of money spent.”

This is true — to some extent.

According to the Hill Times, the Liberal party spent $1.9 million on 10 per centers, while the NDP spent $1.4 million, compared to $3.4 million for the Conservatives — however this doesn’t translate to equal mailings. Government House leader Peter Van Loan (Conser vative, York-Simcoe, Ont.) told the Canadian Press last week that there is no abuse and all parties use the perk. “I also know that the vast majority of our mailings go through this program of bulk mail, so it costs less than a penny per mailing,” he said, adding that other parties usually send addressed mail in envelopes which cost $0.54 per item. “You do the math on which party is the most cost effective in its external mailings.”

A four-page Liberal flyer Merkley supplied us with outlines Dion’s greenshift policies and were left as options for MP’s to distribute.

The flyer contains no mention at all of Steven Harper, and has three lines in the four-page document that make reference to the Conservative party.

The difference, said Liberal MP Andrew Telegdi, is the content.

“The [Liberal] party has been mindful about the content of the 10 per center ... the Tories have abused this mailout system by making their content in essence attack ads.” Regarding mail groupings, he added: “I don’t see any reason to send literature to anybody else’s riding other than my own.”

The 10 per center system may be on its way out soon; many MPs are pushing to either drop the system all together or restrict the mailings to MP’s own ridings. Given the attention the system has received this cycle, and the public response, it is likely that this fuzzy legal area on House of Commons rules will be clarified very soon.

Look forward to the final part of Imprint’s election feature next week: Talking with the NDP about youth engagement outside of election season

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Imprint, Friday, October 10, 2008

ANTI-ABORTION AGENDA

social change Second annual social cntrepreneurship conference promotes change and unity Bill Chang Reporter

I

photo by andrew abela Photo enhancement by tifa han

Chalk graffiti appeared in the Arts Quad on Monday, with messages protesting abortions.

The one shown above says, “every abortion there is there are two deaths: one of an infant and one of the conscience.” Another one referenced Pope John Paul II. The UW Students for Life club would claimed responsibility for chalk drawings in an email interview with Imprint. However, they did not include their organization’s name alongside the chalk drawings in the Arts Quad, but did acquire permission from the Feds club director.

f you ever ask Hamoon Ekhtitan, operations Leader of the Laurel Centre, about social entrepreneurship, you will get a rather interesting answer.

“Imagine a group of children playing on a merry-go-around,” said the fourth-year math student, “and now imagine a rural African community getting clean water.”

Okay. Where is this going?

“Disconnected pictures?” Ekhtitan asked. Not when you find out about “The Bridge” Play Pumps International had built between those two places by using the centrepiece of the merry-go-around to pump clean water and advertising on the centrepiece to cover the costs.

“That’s social entrepreneurship.”

Indeed it is.

The Bridge Ekhtitan described epitomizes a concept that may

to ozone depletion. Now more than ever, we need our business people to not only be ambitious profit-seekers, but also social problem-solvers.

Consequently, social entrepreneurship has seen an increase in popularity over the past few years and UW is acting accordingly to promote this new art.

On November 14 to 16, UW and WLU, in collaboration with Laurel Centre, will be co-hosting the second annual Social Entrepreneurship Conference. The conference aims to promote social entrepreneurship and unite current and potential social entrepreneurs under one roof. This year, the conference will be based around three key themes: health leadership, education, and international development. Each theme will be introduced to the attendees by a keynote speaker.

“The conference will be useful to all students interested in learning more about the growing field

“You can work towards changing the world if you arm yourself with the proper skills and knowledge.”

— Suzanne Gardner, Director of Communications

very well change the businessmen stereotype one day. A concept that UW will seek to promote in little over a month’s time.

That concept is social entrepreneurism or the art of using entrepreneurship principles to analyze, manage, and solve social problems.

Social entrepreneurs, like normal entrepreneurs, are ambitious individuals striving for success in the business sector. However, unlike their normal counterparts, social entrepreneurs are also dedicated to solving the world’s problems. From Florence Nightingale to Bill Drayton, history is littered with these remarkable individuals. And as we enter the 21st century, the world is facing increasing problems of every category from financial meltdowns

of social entrepreneurship and are considering pursuing careers in this area,” said Suzanne Gardner, director of communications for Laurel Centre. “With this year’s three main themes of health leadership, education, and international development, students will learn about a diverse range of topics that will further enhance their university education.”

The first theme, health leadership, deals with the link between social and individual health plus entrepreneurial measures that seek to improve overall health conditions.

The keynote speaker is renowned scientist and WLU economics professor Dr. Sue Horton.

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Imprint, Friday, October 10, 2008

7

emergency aussie landing, japan takes home the prize, and russia retreats Bobbie Swartman Reporter

Australian jet incident — 40 injured PERTH, Australia A passenger plane made an emergency landing in Western Australia after some passengers were hurt during the flight.

The Qantas Airbus A330-300 was flying from Singapore to Perth with 303 passengers and 10 crew members on October 7, when it experienced a sudden change in altitude, and was forced to land at Learmonth Airport near Exmouth where it landed without further incident, after making a mayday call.

Emergency services, including medical personnel, met the plane upon the landing site. Three cabin crew and 40 passengers sustained injuries — 15 of them serious, including fractures and lacerations, officials said.

Qantas said there were no details available at this stage as to what caused the altitude change, but one local police officer said it was severe turbulence.

“We have had some information that it possibly was turbulence, but we haven’t had that confirmed at this stage,” Sgt. Clifford told ABC. However, Western Australia Police Commissioner Karl O’Callaghan later told the Sydney Morning Herald that he understood the incident had been caused by “some sort of systems failure.” He said his force’s State Crisis Centre in Perth had been activated. Seven investigators are also preparing to travel to Learmonth in order to 40Crk_10.3125x7.5_Imprint_fin:Imprint investigate the incident.

The Australian flag-carrier prides itself on having a good safety record, but recent incidents have dented its image, correspondents say. In July, a Qantas Boeing 747 flying from Hong Kong to Melbourne was forced to make an emergency landing after an oxygen cylinder caused an explosion, blowing a large hole in the fuselage.

The Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority subsequently launched a review of the airline.

Officials said they had no evidence of falling safety standards, but that it was “prudent” to take a closer look.

— With files from CNN and BBC News

Scientists in physics win Noble Prize STOCKHOLM, Sweden

model of elementary particle physics. The model unifies the smallest building blocks of all matter and three of nature’s four forces in one single theory.”

According to the standard model in particle physics, quarks are the elementary sub-units of protons and neutrons, which together make up the nuclei of atoms.

The scientists’ investigations explain anomalies apparent in the very fabric of the universe. They will share $1.4 million US, a diploma, and an invitation to the prize ceremonies in Stockholm on December 10. It’s the second Nobel award to be announced this week. The honour for medicine was announced on Monday.

Sweden’s Alfred Nobel, who was credited with inventing dynamite, created the prizes in his will in the areas of medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and peace. The economics prize was created by Sweden’s central bank in 1968.

The 514-member Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences selects the Nobel laureates in Physics from a list of candidates prepared by a special committee. Committee members consult expert advisers to select the candidates, who have all been nominated through formal letters.

Two Japanese citizens and an American born in Japan won the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physics on Tuesday, October 7 for their work in the world of subatomic physics.

The Nobel committee for physics at Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has awarded Japanese-born Yoichiro Nambu of the University of Chicago for his discovery of a mechanism called — With files from CNN, CBC, and BBC spontaneous broken symmetry in subatomic physics.

Makoto Kobayashi and Toshihide Maskawa Russia completes Georgia pull out were awarded for their discovery of the origin of broken symmetry that predicts the existence of at MOSCOW, Russia least three families of quarks in nature.

“Spontaneous broken symmetry conceals Russia has started a troop pullback from buffer nature’s order under an apparently jumbled sur- zones outside the breakaway region of South face,” the academy said in its citation.

Ossetia.

Moscow has not confirmed the com- 10.3125 7.5 b&wpermeate 9/2/08 the4:01 PM Page 1 “Nambu’sx theories standard

pleted move but earlier Russian officials said five out of six checkpoints around South Ossetia had been dismantled. President Demitry Medvedev said the pullout — which is part of a ceasefire deal — would be completed by midnight October 8.

The pullback may ease tensions somewhat but will not resolve major disputes pitting Russia against Georgia and Western countries, which have condemned Moscow’s invasion of the ex-Soviet Republic and its recognition of the separatist regions as independent nations.

Speaking at an international security conference in France, President Demitry Medvedev said that Russia wanted some 200 European Union observers in the area to “act as guarantors” to prevent any further hostilities.

Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the BBC that Russia believes the EU monitors would ensure security in the buffer zones. “This is a European Union matter. We trust them,” he said.

EU monitors have been patrolling the buffer zone since October 1 under the withdrawal agreement, a supplement to the initial cease-fire French President Nicolas Sarkozy brokered on behalf of the EU in August.

Moscow plans to keep nearly 8,000 troops in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which it has recognized as independent states. Western leaders have condemned both the buffer zones and Russia’s recognition of the two regions. The EU wants its observers to have access to the breakaway regions, but Russia has repeatedly refused to guarantee that.

— With files from Reuters, CNN, and BBC

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Imprint, Friday, October 10, 2008

Student rep check-up

Part 1 of 2: Feds exec rate their progress to date; next week, Senate and Feds reviews Zoe McKnight staff reporter

Justin Williams — President

S

tudents on UW campus are tuned in but cynical, especially when it comes to government,” said Federation of Students President Justin Williams in an interview Tuesday. And that’s why he has made it his administration’s priority to try and engage the student population, to promote campus civic-mindedness, and connect students with the Feds. His would-be campaign platform in February (he was acclaimed) centred on what is weak about the way Feds engages students. “The area of my focus has been a hard look at the organization and finding out what the students do and don’t value about it,” said Williams. The over-arching theme of the administration has been institutions, the way Feds governs itself, and creat-

ing its capacity for long-term growth, to continue to provide student services long after the next election.

Beginning with extensive internal governance review, Williams has initiated a revamping of Feds policies and procedures, and by the end of March 2009 they will clarify the governance structures for all Feds clubs and services as well as the board of directors, providing more opportunities for students to get involved.

And the reason they do not get involved with the board and students’ council, he said, is because those bodies are viewed as ineffective. Once Feds tightens its laces and strengthens its bylaws, Williams is confident that they will be able to provide greater benefit to students.

For instance, the Promos and Meetings provision in the president’s budget was severely reduced and the money diverted to the Feds services budget. “I don’t need a free lunch,” said Williams.

Another plan laid out last February was to Green the Feds, making operations more environmentally sustainable.

But that’s still in the committee stage, with a board committee working with the UW Sustainability Project. Some small initiatives so far this term include recycling the plastic cups used on Bomber Wednesdays. And reaching out to the community is still something Williams wants to work on, through

starting a Shine-A-Rama type charity drive, outreach to at-risk and first-generation students in KW, and the Town & Gown committee. More work needs to be done to address the antagonistic relationship between UW and the community, a problem he says stems from the spread of undesirable student housing developments in the city.

Getting first-year students involved, especially during Orientation Week, was another of Williams’ initial priorities back in February. To acknowledge the demographic gap between the executive and the incoming students, he has overseen the creation of a First Year Working Group, to act as an advisory and activity body that will advocate for their specific interests and needs. Unable to get the ELPE online, other website improvements that have been held up are still in the works. Other future possibilities for this administration include public forums on general student issues like housing, a Last Lecture series, and website improvements that have been held up. With an executive focus on the long-term, Williams said that changes have been incremental and slower-going than he might have liked, but that the foundations are now in place. zmcknight@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

dalmba.ca Corporate Residency

Zoe McKnight staff reporter

Andrew Falcao — VP Internal

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n the wall of Andrew Falcao’s office is a list of nine areas of campus responsibility for the vice president internal: cultural diversity, political engagement, health, equality, social justice, community involvement, art, stewardship, and enjoyment. Now at the middle of his term as VPIN, Falcao said he has tried to address all of them with his involvement with all of the Feds clubs and services by focusing on three priorities: volunteer appreciation, building connections among campus organizations, and governance.

“Volunteer appreciation was simple,” said Falcao. “By finding out why an individual volunteered in the first place, you can find out how to recognize their efforts, whether it be an employer reference, a meet-andgreet, or a word of thanks.”

Falcao also said that by “forging obvious connections that have not been fostered” by previous VPINs, he has been able to increase the visibility of Feds services by such simple approaches as getting the Campus Response Team out to other clubs’ events, or connecting Feds groups with the faculty societies to share ideas, in an effort to fill the gaps in student engagement on campus. A major push was made by Falcao to increase the funding to Feds services, in some cases by a large margin.

GLOW’s budget was only $1,800 per year until they reworked their budget proposal to Feds, and received $7,200 for the next budget year. “I feel the

Maggie Clark editor-in-chief

Straight to the juicy.

Andres Fuentes — VP Education

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W

ith federal and provincial lobbying weeks just coming up this month, VP education Andres Fuentes has reason to be cautious about concrete measures of success and failure: It might be too early to tell, for instance, if his desire to work more extensively with the Canadian Roundtable for Academic Materials will bear much-needed fruit in combatting the strain of textbook prices.

Relations-building is a similarly cautious affair: with the federal election looming, Fuentes concedes that “anything to do with the federal government has been tough.” On the provincial level, though, Fuentes is confident that “strong relationships with open dialogue” form the framework of his relations with all local MPs.

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services were conditioned to ask for very little money [from Feds],” he said, and were struggling to meet expectations on a shoestring. Falcao, along with Dave McDougall, director of Clubs and Services, worked with the seven Feds service volunteers and co-ordinators to make “ideal” budgets that would enable them to run more effectively.

In keeping with the administration’s focus on policy and governance, Falcao also wanted to rewrite the Feds bylaws concerning services, which he said were much too vague to be accountable or to promote continuity with new coordinators. The services have been encouraged to write their own constitutions, and operate with a view to expanding beyond niche clients in the student body. If services are the flagship of Feds, Falcao wants to see them more known and more utilized in order to maintain longevity and funding, and become more relevant to more students.

The VPIN believes he has accomplished as much in his term as he had so far predicted although more can be done to address obstacles like campus divisions, lacking community spirit, and bureaucratic red tape. In addition, the future holds an SLC space review and a clubs review. The clubs review will go through each of the constitutions and analyze club functions. “There’s a lot of clubs that have extremely close mandates to one another. We need to take a look to determine where collaborations can happen [...] Are they really reaching out to more people or is this contributing to campus fragmentation?” asked Falcao. Clubs may be contacted to consider amalgamation. There is also a desire to streamline the process of clubs approval since the current process has proven controversial and though Falcao would not say which club, he did say there had been some “inspiration” in the past year for the initiative. zmcknight@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Easier to assess are his contributions to ELPE reforms and the enhanced visibility of his position, two promises made while on the campaign trail. With regard to the latter, Fuentes cites self-admittedly “small steps,” such as maintaining a stronger presence during Orientation Week, as well as other campus events and re-starting the Co-op Students’ Council, which he says allows him to “reach out to the faculty services.” Fuentes’ noted that this goal was complicated both by the need to balance this priority with his overall workload, and the added pressures of representing student issues to different levels of government during the election season.

Asked if he felt he’d accomplished as much in the first half of his term in office as he’d wished to, Fuentes cited Barack Obama from a recent US presidential debate: “It’s never the challenges that you expect. It’s the challenges that you don’t that end up consuming most of your time.” For Fuentes, this element of the unknown was well-known to him from the outset; in that context he is happy with his accomplishments to date, and especially how unexpected circumstances were dealt with. editor@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

See CHECK-UP, page 9

News

Imprint, Friday, October 10, 2008

Social Change: Laurel Centre Continued from page 6

CHECK-UP: VP A&F Continued from page 8 Zoe McKnight staff reporter

Dr. Horton’s work with micronutrients for children earned her top place at the Copenhagen Consensus.

She has worked in over 20 developing nations and has consulted for the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and several UN agencies.

The second theme, education, will explore the various types of education used to improve society. The keynote speaker here is Dr. Frances Westley who is the JW McConnell Chair in Social Innovation at UW. Westley spearheads an effort to build capacity for social innovation in Canada by working with Social Innovation Generation.

And finally, international development will look into how social entrepreneurs are looking to solve one of the world’s most pressing problems: poverty.

For this topic, the keynote is Marc Kielburger, CEO of the Free the Children and director of Me to We Social Enterprises. Many consider Kielburger to be the model social entrepreneur and someone who can sell this relatively unknown method of entrepreneurship.

“Kielburger (who is 31) shows that it doesn’t matter how old you are, what gender you are, what race you are, or where you live,” said Gardner.

“You can work towards changing the world if you arm yourself with the proper skills and knowledge.”

After the keynote speeches, there will be a variety of workshops for students to attend. These will deal with important entrepreneurship skills such as securing sponsorship, revenue generation, business planning, working with the media, and so on. The goal here is to inform attendees about the qualities that make a good social entrepreneur.

There will also be three panel discussions on topics related to social entrepreneurship. This year, the topics are success stories, words of caution, and round table. Each discussion will be monitored by conference directors but will be open for delegates’ questions.

The organizers are hoping for a great turnout. After all, it has involved a lot of planning and prep work.

The Laurel Centre leadership team, along with dedicated volunteers, started to organize the conference in mid-July. It was a long process as most of the organizers either had full-time jobs or were full-time students. But with more planning time than last year, many are optimistic that the 2008 conference will be bigger and better than the 2007 event.

Yet despite all the planning and details, the aim of the conference is a simple one.

“The conference will build unity between the two universities. It will bring together a lot of knowledge and ambitious people,” said Ekhtitan.

“From students to CEOs, there will be plenty of ideas shared.”

“Through lectures, workshops, panel discussions and an exhibition, the conference aims to inform, engage, and drive our participants towards changing the world,” Gardner concluded.

This is what the conference is all about: change and unity. This is what social entrepreneurship is all about.

A new form of business is here.

Del Pereira — VP Admin/Finance

D

el Pereira, vice president administration and finance for the Feds, credits his extensive experience for the smooth transition the executive made into office this year. His previous stint as VPAF allowed for a short learning curve for the incoming executives, and a foundation for executive continuity which he said is a real asset and which Feds did not have in the past.

He said it made for confidence in administration, in attempts to move the organization forward, by creating a less condensed decision-making process which is more inclusive of the five students on the board of directors.

Pereira, acclaimed in the February election, said that not having to run for office allowed him to work with Justin Williams to dig up the foundation of Feds and rebuild it. Together they recognized that the board procedures had not been changed since the 1990s in some cases and needed a once-over, since the board is truly in charge of the corporation and shapes it in terms of organizational direction.

It is also the board where students have the most input to the Federation of Students. Admitting that policy and procedure are not the sexiest part of Feds operations, Pereira said that in the first half of this term, he and the other executives along with the other five board members, the “policy wonks” as he called them, had tackled the most important thing — the Feds businesses..

The most visible of Pereira’s projects is Federation Xpress, a Feds business success. In comparing July 2007 Aussie’s revenues to July 2008 Federation Xpress, the increase is 250 per cent. Another project that was part of Pereira’s platform was getting a Halal food outlet up and running in the SLC, and Curry Up! now fills that space. The Feds website has been updated with an open posting event calendar although further changes are pending. Part of Pereira’s campaign promises included, like Justin Williams, greater sustainability on campus. Some

Interested in politics?

steps have been taken in that direction, like recycling beer cups at Bomber and using biodegradable take-out containers instead of the old Styrofoam. Feds is trying to move to a “less paper” system of communication internally and with the Students’ Council, and on the table is a proposal to move the Used Book Store cheques to an Electronic Funds Transfer system reduce paper use. The Bomber now uses hand-held terminals that servers use to take orders at the table, to reduce mistakes and food waste although larger-scale initiatives remain in council committee proceedings.

Pereira as VPAF has also focused on an internal spending budget reallocations in the first half of his term, shifting resources to get more money to Feds services. Most are now in the $3,000 per year range, with some as high as around $7,000.

He criticized past administrations for giving little thought to either the long term benefits of those services or the organizational purpose of Feds on the whole. Pereira said another major site of improvement going forward was contract negotiation with the UW administration and business operations, concerning Bomber and Fed Hall liquor licences, and especially the SLC Tim Hortons as it attempts to change its 24-hour policy.

Want to do hard-hitting pieces of journalism?

The news section of Imprint is looking for dedicated reporters to tackle the big issues of the week.

Stop by SLC 1116 between 8:30-4PM Mon-Fri. to dicuss your article ideas.

Spice up your resume Meet new people And hey, we have free food.

news@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

zmcknight@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

A federal general election is taking place on October 14, 2008.

For information on where and when to vote, check your voter information card.

It tells you where and when to vote. You’ll get through the voting process more quickly if you have it with you.

You will find the voting hours for your polling station on your voter information card or at www.elections.ca by clicking on “Voter Information Service”.

New identification rules to vote

If you haven’t received this card, you are probably not on the voters list. To register, all you need to do is go to your polling station on election day, where you must prove your identity and address.

For the list of acceptable pieces of identification authorized by the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada, please see the pamphlet you received by mail from Elections Canada or visit www.elections.ca and click on “Voter Identification at the Polls”.

When you vote, you must prove your identity and address.

To vote, you must: • be a Canadian citizen • be at least 18 years old on election day • prove your identity and address

Vote. Shape your world. www.elections.ca

1-800-INFO-VOTE 1-800-463-6868 toll-free in Canada and the United States, or 001-800-514-6868 toll-free in Mexico

9

TTY 1-800-361-8935 for people who are deaf or hard of hearing, toll-free in Canada and the United States, or 613-991-2082 from anywhere in the world

Opinion

Imprint, Friday, October 10, 2008 opinion@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

ELECTION FORUM

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ho are you voting for? With the federal election coming up in mere days and the heated ideological debate raging in the United States, it’s hard to go a day without being asked this question. What it boils down to is your opinion — how you feel about issues like the financial and economic crisis in the world, where you stand in terms of art funding, and what your views are on the environment and global warming. With the clock ticking before election day and so many minds

I

’m voting Conservative because of their track record in government even through they have had a small minority. They have introduced a textbook tax credit, made scholarships and bursaries non-taxable, and introduced a transit tax credit that even though we at Waterloo pay for it in our student fees, that we can still receive that credit.

They have introduced the Accountability Act, cut the GST two per cent and started paying off our national debt. If they become government again, they are going to introduce a first-time home buyer’s tax credit which will help us when we graduate and want to start our families and they are going to lower taxes for small businesses and entrepreneurs. They are going to lower the lowest tax bracket to exclude them from paying income taxes, and they are protecting our Arctic from those who want to take it away from us. This is why I am voting Conservative on October 14.

Sharlene Mohlman President of UW Campus Conservatives

still undecided, we have the opinions of five prominent members of campus life.

Sharlene Mohlman expresses her views on what makes the Conservative party her party, and what drives her as a student to run the Campus Conservatives Club.

Student politician Sam Andrey shares with us why it is that he is voting Liberal and how he feels their proposed student loan plan will help you. Student journalist and editor-in-chief of The Boar Ashley Csanady gives her take on why Jack Layton isn’t the best choice for 24 Sussex Drive

I

believe that the Liberal Party provides the best and most practical solutions for the most significant issues facing our country, including post-secondary education, the economy, and the environment. The Conservative government has done next to nothing to address a critically underfunded post-secondary system, which has allowed tuition fees to continue to rise at a rate far above that of inflation. The Liberals have promised to address several of the issues that students have been advocating, including turning current tax credits for students into an up-front grant totaling $1,000 per year; drastically increasing the number of needs-based and access bursaries, guaranteeing all students a loan of $5,000 regardless of parental income; and reducing the interest rate on student loans. Investment in higher education is a proven strategy for future economic success, and the Liberals continue to show they are the best stewards of our national economy.

I also think the Green Shift has the potential to help address the most critical challenge of our generation in a responsible and revenue-neutral manner. Unlike the Conservatives, who intentionally blocked international progress on climate change, the Liberals have a real plan endorsed by environmentalists and economists as a practical solution. While Dion may be painful to listen to, he truly does present the best plan for the future of our country.

Sam Andrey Science Councilor

33% Conservatives

but would instead make a better Leader of the Opposition in a Stephen Harper minority session. Former Federation of Students executives Jonah Levine and Darcy Higgins team up to speak on why the Green Party is their choice for Canada’s future not just in terms of the natural environment, but the social and economic environment of Canada. By reading the views of your peers, hopefully you can come to a conclusion yourself and form an opinion on who deserves your vote.

— Travis Myers, Opinion Editor

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illes Duceppe was right in the all-candidates’ debate when he said that, realistically, the only person seated at the table who had a viable chance at being Canada’s Prime Minister was Stephen Harper. The question to be settled by the election next Tuesday is hardly whose going to lead Parliament, but whether they will hold a majority, and who will stand as the official opposition.

Which means the question most left-leaning Canadians should be asking themselves is not how to bring Harper down, because his base is too strong to pull him from 24 Sussex just yet, but who they think can do the best job challenging him, who will stand up fiercely for the rights of average Canadians over Bay Street brokers, and who will ensure the future of our medical and education systems.

The debate last Thursday made one thing clear: Jack Layton, not Stephane Dion, is the best person to stand up to the robot-like patronization and blind self-confidence Harper embodies.

Whether you like him or not, everyone must admit that Layton excels at pissing off the rest of Parliament. He’s difficult, he’s pig-headed, and he’s tough — which is exactly what the leader of the opposition needs to be against Harper and his Conservative agenda. Dion may present himself well in French, but he loses confidence in translation, and he’s uncomfortable when he’s attacked.

Layton both relishes in it and is a master at it. He’s a Parliamentarian through and through, and if last Thursday’s debate is any indication, he may not be the man for the job, but he’s at least the man who should stand up to the man.

Ashley Csanady Editor-in-Chief of The Boar

29% Liberals

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he Green Party connects the dots.

Green party policies integrate social, environmental, economic, and international policies in a way that is inspired by the integrated nature of the world in which we live. Green policies prefer community, nonviolent approaches to conflict, social justice, regional economic development, and actual health care rather than our current system of sick care. If we are to achieve a higher measure of harmony with our environment, the values of our society have to change. The Green Party recognizes this and promotes policies to affect that change.

This year is a better year than ever for the residents of Kitchener-Waterloo to vote Green. Firstly, Elizabeth May has proven herself to be the strongest leader the party has ever had. On both national televised debates she has begun to show Canadians that she in knowledgeable and able to lead. Your local candidate, Cathy MacLellan, is a person who understands the hardship that faces our society, our economy, and our world without green leadership. This former UW AHS grad is a renewable energy business founder in KW and spent a great deal of her life volunteering in third-world countries with people who have end-stage diseases.

Most importantly, McLellan would represent your riding well. Both of us worked on some level with political leaders during our term in office, and have a very high opinion of Cathy MacLellan. The voice of UW students would be very strong with her as your MP. Vote for the future. Vote Green.

Jonah Levine (Feds’ VP Education 2007/08) Darcy Higgins (Feds’ VP Internal 2007/08)

Numbers taken from the CPAC Nanos Daily Poll for October 8, 2008

20% NDP

7% Green

Opinion

Imprint, Friday, October 10, 2008

11

BUSHED

Combatting the Canadian election blues

Friday, October 10, 2008 Vol. 31, No. 13 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 Ad Assistant, vacant Sales Assisstant, Lawrence Wang Systems Admin. vacant Distribution, Rob Blom, Ash Mukadda Interns, Matthew Lee, Brandon Rampelt, Holly Sage, Danielle Whittemore Board of Directors board@imprint.uwaterloo.ca President, Jacqueline McKoy president@imprint.uwaterloo.ca Vice-president, Sherif Soliman ssoliman@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 Head Reporter, Andrew Abela Lead Proofreader, Paul Collier Cover Editor, Kevin Shahbazi News Editor, Yang Liu | News Assistant, Nokyoung Xayasane Opinion Editor, Travis Myers | Opinion Assistant, Keith McManamen Features Editor, Duncan Ramsay | Features Assistant, Caitlin McIntyre Arts & Entertainment Editor, Mark Kimmich | Arts & Entertainment Assistant, Marco Baldasaro Science & Tech Editor, Anya Lomako Science & Tech Assistant, Eric Gassner Sports & Living Editor, Adrienne Raw Assistant Sports & Living, Tina Ironstone Photo Editor, Mackenzie Keast | Photo Editor Assistant, Ethan Oblak Graphics Editor, Tifa Han | Graphics Assistant, Jacqueline To Web Administrator, Sonia Lee Systems Administrator, vacant Production Staff Ange Gaetano, Tom Lavesque, Devin Howard, Susie Roma, Kate Kennedy, Rajul Saleh, Ryan Lee, Danielle Whittemore, Tim Clark, Zach Arnold, Sarah Schlorff, Alicia Boers, Tejas Koshy, Vicky Chung, E. Aboyeji, Jeff Kelly Graphics Team Geoffery Lee, Nikoo Shahabi, Peter Trinh & Sonia Lee 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.

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here are a many reasons for Canadians to be disenchanted with the 2008 Canadian federal election.

You can note as much simply by tapping into ongoing discussions about “strategic voting” — a phrase I’ve always found laughable since most Canadian votes are, by their very nature, placed strategically.

I was out of the province when Ontario weighed in, provincially, on the matter of proportional representation, but forms of the voting model have been considered in four provinces to date, and continue to be deliberated on by citizen councils all across Canada. While the tallying flaws in the First Past The Post system make up the bulk of discussion surrounding electoral reform, the fact is that until some variation of the proportional representation model is voted in most Canadians will always be forced to decide which question is the more pressing: “Who will be the best representative for my riding and region?” or “Who will be the best leader of my nation as a whole?” ­­ Yes, some lucky few will have answers to both that fall under the same party umbrella:

Second, we have a Liberal leader who simply hasn’t inspired a nation’s confidence, whether for reasons of his strong French heritage (possibly not a selling point for the West or northern Ontario, where garnering new Liberal seats is crucial) or his ill-timed stance on economic issues including the implementation of a carbon tax. As far as strong leadership is concerned, news media reported strong performances from both Jack Layton and Elizabeth May in the English leadership debate, and recent polls show a surmountable distance between Liberal and NDP in the polls, but here again, the best case scenario for many is NDP opposition to a minority Conservative government. In the midst of all this voter malaise, is it at all possible for us to run to the polls out of a sense of hope for our country’s future, or is fear of even worse governance really our only motivating factor?

If the latter, here’s a suggestion: We’ve all been following the U.S. election too closely.

And I’m as guilty as the next person.

See BUSHED, page 12

The blind leading ... the sighted?

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hile for some the election will be about the issues, and others about their local candidates, for most it will be about one simple question: Who is fit to lead? Seeing as how they have insisted that a proven track record is the one thing that matters, that leaves me no choice but to evaluate the only party leader who has been Prime Minister.

As a leader, you should stand up for and spread the truth, but that has not been the case. In just about every way imaginable — from commercials on TV, the web, and even a plan to have oil splotches speaking at gas pumps on their displays — the Conservatives have stressed that the Liberal Green Shift will increase the price of gas. It only ever takes a little bit of reading of the plan to find out that the current taxes on gas amount to the proper amount per tonne of carbon the Liberals are aiming for. As Harper pans the Green Shift as a carbon tax, ignoring the many tax reductions it gives to businesses and individuals, would it take labeling the current taxes on gas as carbon taxes to get him to remove them?

Another wonderful ad on their website quotes Dion as saying that he would cut the $1,200 child tax benefit, with the small print dating his answer two years ago. No mention, of course, of his change of position since then. Should we expect that Harper’s desire five years ago to join the Americans in Iraq is still on the table, only waiting for a

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The rest of us will have to prioritize, picking either a weaker regional candidate or national leader. So those vague feelings of disenfranchisement? Probably more legitimate than you might think: We could have a better distribution of the democratic vote, though the manifestation of that is realistically years away.

Further, we’re election-fatigued. Three elections in five years, and the knowledge that another minority government is the best many Canadians can hope for, really doesn’t do much to instil a sense of confidence in the effectiveness of our parliament.

And then there are our two front-running choices: First, we have a prime minister who polls show a full half of the population do not want to see handed a majority government, with arguments against Stephen Harper ranging from uncertainties about his environmental policies, plans for healthcare, or perhaps-too-rosy economic forecast, to polemic scare-labels like “BushLite” or “BushNorth” meant to tie Harper, by Conservative association, to the flawed judgment and reckless leadership of George W. Bush down south.

majority? Honesty, it seems, is a hard thing to come by.

Any good leader should stand up for those under his watch, so why does Mr. Harper stand idly by? In Toronto, Liberal candidate Carolyn Bennett has been trying to assuage concerned voters in her riding. Over 30 cases of vandalism have been reported in her riding, with 17 involving cars brake lines being cut, leading to some parents narrowly avoiding having their and their children’s lives taken when they discovered the sabotage at the last second. The only common thread linking all the cases? Liberal campaign signs on the victim’s lawns. Even now, as the tactic has changed to phone threats that “you’ll be next,” and no Harper widely speaking out against it has been found, regardless of who committed the offences.

Vision, too, is key to a leader, for without it, how can you lead? On Tuesday, defending his ability to save our economy from global woes, Harper said that “‘It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark.’ Which is why, when the rain came, Noah didn’t need to panic and he didn’t switch boats.” Noah built the ark because he knew the rain was coming, and yet it is only in the last few weeks that he has admitted there could be any trouble.

Harper has never said that he wants global warming to change the world, and yet one of his government’s boldest moves was in announcing a port in the territories to protect our sovereignty in the North, a move that is

only truly viable should all the ice continue to melt and disappear.

What kind of a leader delays the release of his platform until the very last week of an election, after 1.5 million votes have already been cast? It couldn’t be for lack of time, as there is nothing new, and Harper has proudly boasted how he will stay the course. What kind of a leader continues to beat a dead horse, as the platform promises another $200 million to auto companies to save jobs, when the last time money was given to them they still closed their doors?

What kind of a leader insists that cutting taxes and minimal government will save us when 85 leading economists write an open letter saying that we need an activist government to weather the coming storm, or continues to pan the carbon tax half of the Green Shift when another open letter this week from 230 academic economists declared a carbon tax as the best way to address climate change?

I would try harder to convince and persuade you who would be best to lead our government, but out of respect for those Toronto families, I will end any further rhetoric. Instead, I only hope that you can find the real information in this misinformation campaign, so that you can answer the question: What kind of a leader is Stephen Harper? adodds@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

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Opinion

12

Imprint, Friday, October 10, 2008

Border crossings

letters@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Re: Crossword I’m just writing to express an annoyance at the crossword puzzles this term. They’ve been a lot harder than in the past and it makes them more frustrating than fun. This week’s was better than the first couple, but it was still a challenge for a friend and I to get 3/4 of it done before giving up.

Jen Northmore SCI/BIOL Re: “Who doesn’t like a good debate?�

I was utterly disappointed with the editorial decision to cite a certain website in a misleading caption on the front page of the October 3 Imprint, which referred to a pie chart described as showing “KW candidate standings.. . according to VoteForEnvironment.com, which gives riding-by-riding statistics.�

One would tend to take away from that caption that this website is a source for getting election projections for each riding, and were it not for the name, there would be no reason to think otherwise. Upon visiting the website though, you are greeted with two side-by-side counts of the election seat projection “if we vote smart� versus “if we split our votes� and a call to progressive voters to completely abandon their principles and potentially hurt their preferred party’s future chances by depriving them of a vote this time in order to “defeat Harper� and prevent the Conservative Party from forming government.

Though the website does indeed offer riding-by-riding projections right down to an exact vote count, they can hardly be taken as current “standings� as their methodology merely uses vote totals from the last election and adjusts them with current national polls and regional biases, with no mention of a margin-of-error. Progressive voters are encouraged to strategically vote for an endorsed candidate in close ridings throughout the country to stop the chances of a Conservative winning. The lucky candidate is usually

a Liberal, but in some cases NDP, Green, and even Bloc Quebecois candidates are picked.

The notion of advocating a vote for the separatist Bloc in some Quebec ridings by a voter who has no connection to their fundamental reason for existence -- separatism - is especially beyond belief. Voters in our riding of Kitchener-Waterloo can rest assured though -- the website’s brain trust has evaluated this as a safe Liberal seat and so advises voters to “vote with your heart�.

Notwithstanding the fact that Harper is far from the caricature painted of him by the anybody-butConservative block and has actually governed as a centrist ever since taking power to the chagrin of some small-c conservatives, this practice of taking votes away from parties absolutely devastates a smaller party like the Green Party, which relies on the subsidy it receives from Elections Canada in the amount of $1.75 per vote as a result of getting more than two per cent of the national vote. Every vote parties lose because of some call to arms to support another candidate in a riding is a direct hit to their local and national efforts, while benefiting the other party that gets that vote (including the separatists) regardless of the outcome. Despite our first-past-the-post electoral system, every vote does matter to the parties and the popular vote directly affects how they will do in the coming years due to the old adage about money and politics.

Reg ardless of what one’s thoughts are on the strategic voting issue, however, it is irresponsible for a newspaper to mislead readers (whether deliberate or not) as Imprint did last week in giving the impression that this is a non-partisan website offering election statistics. I can only hope that in the final issue before the federal election, *Imprint* tries a little harder to be objective, at the very least in its coverage of the news.

Bahman Hadji Electrical Engineering Grad Student

It’s the economy, stupid T

his headline refers to a now-famous slogan, first used by Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton when he was running for the presidency against George Bush, Sr. One of Clinton’s advisors had hung the sign in their campaign headquarters to help focus on one of the key issues in the 1992 election: the economy.

The economy was still struggling after the largest stock market decline since the Great Depression.

There had been a war in the Persian Gulf, and the high price of oil led to further economic hardship. (Sound familiar?) Unsatisfied with their current conditions, people demanded change. Change is what they got: Bush Sr. lost his second term, and Clinton won the presidency.

Now, more than 15 years later, we find ourselves in a strikingly similar situation. War in the Middle East.

High oil prices. An economic market that has taken a dangerous decline.

South of the border, it’s been no secret that Republicans have been trying to scare up bad press on Democratic candidate Barack Obama. They appeal to the American capacity for fear by linking Obama to such personalities as violent protester Bill Ayers and the controversial Reverend Wright. But it’s also no secret that the ploy isn’t going to work. Pun-

Continued from page 11

Yes, I confess: On October 2, I, like many of my fellow Canadians, watched the US vice-presidential debate live, then streamed the Canadian debate online the next day. And in general conversation I’m just as likely to deliberate over the outcome of the American election as I am about the Canadian federal election — maybe even more so the former, knowing how mean Canadian outcomes look. It’s not uncommon to hear grumbling around me, either, that

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dits and press alike have noted, with accuracy, that Americans’ concerns with their economy will eclipse any personal attacks. Economic trouble makes people want change, and by all signs, change is what they’re going to get.

North of the border, we haven’t seen this same demand for political change ‌ yet. At press time, many seem to be resigned to expecting another Conservative government, be that a minority or majority. Harper was widely credited as having “wonâ€? the sole leadership debate. Yet the last few days have seen some of the greatest drops that the Toronto Stock Exchange has ever seen. Afterwards, polls have started to shift. HarrisDecima shows the Liberals a scant six to ten seats away from returning to power. Conservatives may drop by as much as 15 per cent (nearly 20 seats) from their current levels, while the NDP stand to increase their standing by more than 70 per cent (again, nearly 20 seats). Despite Harper’s reassurances to the contrary, the economy is not fine here. He’s not a fool – he knows that, when the economy is in trouble, people will want change.

With turbulence like this, Liberals could be capitalizing on the idea

of strategic voting. Sure, Jack Layton comes across as a great leader, and we all want to give the Greens their fair chance. But if those who generally are considered to be politically “left� band together behind the Liberals, the Harper government may be closer to being ousted than we think. Still, with this much turbulence, polls are to be regarded with some skepticism.

Electoral outcomes will be hard to predict. It certainly would be challenging for the Liberals to rally the public around a “strategic voting� message in less than a week left before the election.

The most important point: despite the recent scrutiny of all things election, I am surprised to find that one issue remains largely unexplored. On both sides of the border, whether or not political change will happen, economic change will be much slower to follow. The market-based problems that have come up in recent weeks will still be playing out their parts a year from now. Gas prices will stay high, unemployment will continue to be a problem, and businesses will continue to disappear. Political change can be an effective vehicle, but if you’re looking for the real heart of the problem, just remember: it’s the economy, stupid. — Andrew Dilts

Bushed: Your vote still matters

University of Ottawa

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we in Canada lack the kind of leadership embodied by the likes of Barack Obama — such remarks even linked, at times, to jocular speculation about bringing him north if he loses in November.

And yet, while it’s wholly Canadian to forget that being Canadian is something special, something distinct, it bears mentioning that, despite all the overwhelming news coverage merging these two elections, Canadian and American politics are immensely different beasts, with the attributes of one leadership race not necessarily the best fit for the other.

This becomes especially true as the bipartisanship of the US House of Representatives bleeds over into our understanding of Canadian Parliament, allowing us to think in equally binary terms. Certainly, save for brief stints in office by members of the Unionist Party and a temporary off-shoot merging Liberals and Conservatives (the National Liberal and Conservative Party, which unsurprisingly didn’t last very long), Canada’s prime ministerial office has always been held by a Conservative (of some form) or a Liberal.

But there is a crucial difference to Canadian government: While third-party alternatives like Ralph Nader and Ron Paul are marginalized outsiders in the American process, Canada’s dissent-

ers — the NDP, the Bloc Quebecois — are active, integral participants in parliamentary process. And when minority governments occur, as they have 11 times in Canadian history, this means that Canadians are tasked with something unheard of in the U.S.: They have to work with dissenters — co-operate, or be ousted.

Still more staggering is that some of Canada’s greatest historical leaders — William Lyon Mackenzie King (for all three terms), Lester B. Pearson (for both of his), and even Pierre Trudeau (for a term) — held office in minority government situations. Which makes, if you ask me, the Canadian story truly incredible: While President George W. Bush has amply demonstrated that with unchecked power, you can make resounding footprints in your country’s history, here in Canada we prove time and again that the real test of leadership is not how you rule in isolation, but how you manage to effect change while sharing power. My desire to maintain that proud Canadian tradition will see me out voting; I hope, come election day, you find something similarly inspiring about Canada’s story to encourage you to make your mark. editor@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Opinion

Imprint, Friday, October 10, 2008

13

Faith in democracy?

The electoral process, tarred and feathered

L

et us stop fooling ourselves and get right to the point: the democratic process in Canada is a joke. In America it is a farce of that joke and in Mexico, a satire of the farce of the joke. North America has a severe democratic deficit, and back-room, anti-democratic partnerships like the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) are only serving to make it worse. I’ll get back to that in a bit.

While breaking his own “Set Date” election law, Stephen Harper is sending Canadians to vote on October 14. Here the citizenry will

websites are appearing, wherein you vote for a candidate in your riding that has a chance of beating the “more evil” candidate, and in exchange (honour system please) someone in a riding where your preferred party’s candidate has the best chance will vote for your party (when they may not have otherwise).

This process, however, is flawed in a myriad of ways (too many to list) and does not solve the problem of not being able to vote with your heart due to an inherently undemocratic process. If you do end up voting with your heart, your vote could turn out to be quite

sustainable growth, sustainable economy, sustainable society and sustainable energy policies. Sustainability is not just centred on the environment; it is the realization that we must treat all our systems with precaution and respect. That there are undeniable ecological limits outside the realm of technological advances that direct the human life allowing layer of earth (the biosphere) we inhabit.

Everything is connected; we are all a part of Atleo’s Tsawalk.

The clean coal bipartisan orgy in the American election campaign mirrors the tar

Freedom is not the choice between the lesser of two pre-selected evils. Freedom is being able to choose between multiple evolving options to empower those who most closely mirror your ideological position. enjoy their one opportunity to participate in the government by stuffing their ballot in a box. It is not necessarily the vote that they want to cast — instead, in our backward system, they may be voting solely against a party they don’t want to see in power.

With our archaic first past the post electoral system, majority governments may form with a minority of the votes, and huge groups of voters will be underrepresented in the House of Commons — that is, if they are represented at all.

Increasingly, what this means is that people are forced to vote against a party they do not support instead of voting for a party that does adequately represent them. This is in an effort to block the less-desired party from forming the government. Alternatively, vote trading

meaningless if your candidate does not win.

Ontario had the chance to switch to a method of proportional representation in the last provincial election, but stupidity (ignorance, fear of change) prevailed.

Personally, I recognize the meaninglessness of my vote. It is more of a symbolic gesture that nets the party that currently has the sanest policies $1.35. From my first vote at the age of 18, I knew that it meant nothing for I was supporting a candidate who would not win.

That person’s policies were too sane — they supported too much equality and equity.

As my understanding of the natural world evolved, so did my voting patterns, and now I support the one party that has sustainability as a base premise which encompasses the party’s platform — sustainable development,

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sands development love-in surrounding our Canadian popularity contest. Both issues are under-discussed and arise from a prehistoric academic understanding of climate change.

Europe has had clean coal technologies for a while and since this only reduced the smog pollution without actually reducing the burning of coal, they experience the full effects of climate instability. The smog was actually reflecting solar radiation away from the earth, acting as a cooling blanket — we can’t just clean it up, we have to stop using it. Also, ripping the tops off mountains to dig coal and spreading mercury contamination as a result is not clean. The process, as much as the product, is unsustainable.

See PROCESS, page 14

Tifa Han

On Oct. 14, vote

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Opinion

14

Imprint, Friday, October 10, 2008

The nuclear question Community Editorial

O

ntario’s power industry needs to put nuclear power to the frontline and fossil fuels to the backburner.

Ontario is now facing a major concern that finds economic progress and environmental sustainability crashing head on. A new, eco-friendly energy source needs to replace our dependency on fossil fuels because of its alarming carbon dioxide emissions that catalyze global warming. In order to bandage the biggest environmental issue facing our province today, we must find this alternative while still meeting Ontario residents’ energy demands.

The answer to our energy problems now lies in nuclear power.

Since new technology has been developed to contain its wastes, the use of nuclear power has become cheap and environmentally safe. Unlike fossil fuels, nuclear energy does not emit harmful carbon dioxide emissions. If we continue to use fossil fuels and ignore the signs of global warming then an increase in global temperature could affect the distribution of rainfall and create deserts of much of the Northern Hemisphere, causing irreversible catastrophes of unparalleled magnitude, affecting all of mankind.

Nuclear power not only gives a greater power output than coal — by allowing shipping and accessibility to be more efficient — but, combined with its abundant supply, this leads to a much lower price compared to our prominent energy source of fossil fuels. A typical fuel pellet costs about $7. This one fuel pellet is equivalent to the energy of three barrels of oil, which totals about $84.

In addition to its minimal environmental impact and cost efficiency, there has been tremendous

time invested into the safety aspect of this industry. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission enforces nuclear power plants to abide by certain standards set by the government to protect the health and safety of the public. An additional aspect of the nuclear energy industry is the myriad of job opportunities it will create for Ontario residents. This is especially important for Ontarian cities such as Windsor, where the local economy has taken a recent downfall. Overall, nuclear energy is the key to the immediate future and is a healthy, convenient, and cheap energy alternative.

All great things are accompanied by minor complications and this is specifically true of nuclear power.

This energy source faces one major concern: where to store radioactive waste. Researchers have found a way to contain nuclear waste, yes, but as yet, no safe method has been found to release the waste back into the environment in an environmentally friendly manner. Another drawback to nuclear energy resides in its economics; while the price tag is lower than that of fossil fuels, it is simply no longer competitive with other forms of renewable power generation such as wind and solar power, which are less costly to install and run. Wind turbines are being installed at less than $1,000 per kilowatt compared to $3,000 to $4,000 per kilowatt of capacity for nuclear generation.

Despite the aforementioned concerns, the biggest obstacle that the nuclear industry faces is societal ignorance. Many people fear that another explosion such as Three Mile Island or Chernobyl will happen; they do not understand the improvement in today’s nuclear

power generation. It is hard to convince society to push the use of nuclear power when it has done such damaging things in the past. Therefore, although there are only a few drawbacks associated with nuclear power, negative public opinion continues to cause the most uproar against nuclear generation today.

In my opinion, nuclear power is the answer to our immediate energy needs. The alarming increase in carbon dioxide output into our environment is creating astounding damage, which will lead to devastating catastrophies. Right now, the condition and health of our Earth is in turmoil, and it is our immediate need to find a quick fix to this problem before detrimental effects take place — nuclear power is the best answer. The only drawback is that there is no precise solution as to how to release the waste back into the environment; however, it can be contained and controlled, unlike different trials in the past. This risk is worth taking because the decision to continue our dependency on fossil fuels will eventually lead to the death of millions of people. People may suggest using renewable fuels instead of nuclear energy because it beats the obstacle of nuclear waste, but the energy output produced by renewable sources is not really equivalent to the needs of society.

Society and human function have become so dependent on energy that they require a large source to sustain. In the long-term future, renewable energy will be the answer; however, for today and tomorrow, nuclear energy is the answer to our prayers.

Jessica Tracey Environment and Business

PROCESS:

Is our system flawed?

Continued from page 13

What is happening in Canada is even worse. Under the anti-democratic harmonization agreement known as the SPP that the Liberal party entered and the Tories now fully support, we are to increase our tar sands development. That’s right, the “energy security” working group of the SPP thinks that the tar sands – a development the size of Florida already using as much fresh clean water per day as the City of Calgary, not to mention the single largest point source emitter of greenhouse gases in the world — needs to increase production by a factor of five by 2012.

It is not bad enough that water withdrawal and poisoning means that the Athabasca River barely makes it to the Peace Delta, or that downstream First Nations communities cannot drink or eat from the river due to pollution, or that any water bird unfortunate enough to land in an open air effluent pond (which is placed precariously close to the river) die immediately, such as the 600 ducks that landed in toxic sludge last spring.

Particularly horrible is that under the SPP, with the complicity of the Conservative government, and Liberal, Bloc, and NDP opposition, this unsustainable attack on the Earth and indirect attack on First Nations will increase in scope. This will offset and dramatically dwarf any advances made in carbon sequestration, or the ‘greener’ energies of wind, solar, and geo-thermal.

The SPP, being not at all part

of the “democratic” process in North America, serves as a negative multiplier of the democratic deficit — and not the math equation type of negative multiplier that would make the already negative situation a positive, it makes it much, much worse.

Freedom is not the choice between the lesser of two pre-selected evils. Freedom is being able to choose between multiple evolving options to empower those who most closely mirror your ideological position.

To protest the futility in our voting system, some have decided to publicly eat their ballots (quite illegal), some have ass-stinked the ballot before putting it in the box, while others, whether inspired by Saramago or not, have simply cast blank ballots. Though these acts will not balance the democratic deficit, they do help to illuminate it.

When you go to vote in the upcoming election, please do so with a thought about sustainability, and knowledge of the recent histories’ of the traditional ruling parties.

Their preferences are not for social and environmental equity but for the in-kind friendship of big oil, big coal, and big money. dkellar@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Editor’s Note: Imprint does not condone ballot eating, and furthermore holds that the second example of protest only impacts those working as poll clerks — average citizens, students and elderly alike; there is no category in vote-taking for protestspecific ballots.

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Opinion

Imprint, Friday, October 10, 2008

15

commentary

thinking forward

Why Leftism is a backward philosophy

T

he recent financial crisis in the United States is a perfect example of what happens when a government absolves its citizens of the burden of self-responsibility.

Low-income families had a choice not to buy houses they couldn’t afford. Banks had a choice not to grant mortgages to people with questionable credit. But both groups were buoyed by an implicit guarantee that if things went sour, Uncle Sam — or should I say Mother Sam — would be there to nurse and coddle them back to life.

The government is now being asked to make good on that promise. In doing so, it is forcing your average taxpayer to pay for the mistakes of others. It is rewarding incompetence and punishing intelligence.

The mandate of the leftist movement led by the opposition parties in Canada is no different: collectivize individual risk.

Out of a job? Welfare. Didn’t take care of yourself ? Health care. Committed a violent crime? We’ll rehabilitate you. Victim tried to defend himself ? We’ll put him in jail instead.

A sense of individual responsibility, the knowledge that no one will swoop in to rescue you, motivates people to be proactive and make prudent decisions about their future. The looming financial crisis, for example, is encouraging me to save more money to prepare for the difficult times ahead.

But that’s just it — choice is scary. The thought that our choices today could drastically affect our lives tomorrow is burdensome. Why worry about all these grown up issues when we could just smoke pot and watch CBC all day instead?

When we ask how government can help auto workers, financial companies, aboriginals, or tall people with glasses who wear blue jeans, we fail to ask how these people could have helped themselves. Worse, we teach them that they need not make prudent decisions because government will be there to rescue them in the end.

When opposition leaders attack Prime Minister Stephen Harper for not having “a plan,” they highlight their ideological differences. Indeed, Harper does not have “a plan” for all of us — and that’s great news. He believes it’s up to us to plan our lives, not the government.

Furthermore, Harper acknowledges that all government money is borrowed money. Jack Layton’s talk of a “$50 billion give-away to oil companies” is amusing; in Layton’s world, taking your money and then giving it back to you is a “give-away.”

Government does have a role to play in our lives. It must do for us the things we cannot do for ourselves: manage relationships with other nations, encourage trade, defend us from invading armies, create sensible regulations and infrastructure that allow the free market to thrive, and so on.

As individuals, our biggest responsibility in this system is our responsibility to ourselves.

Embracing the fact that your choices today will define your life tomorrow is both exciting and scary at the same time. I encourage you to take the leap.

Tom Levesque UW Engineering Alumni

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Features

Imprint, Friday, October 10, 2008 features@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Post-secondary product placement

Marco Baldasaro Staff Reporter

I

t’s not just the construction of the Quantum-Nano Centre on the B2 Green, the main-floor upgrade of the Dana Porter Library, or the north-wing accounting addition to Hagey Hall that stand to alter the face of the University of Waterloo, according to one newly formed UW student coalition, Students Against Industry Interference. There are also more subtle changes taking place, longer in the making perhaps — and certainly less cosmetic in nature — that betray the presence of a slow shift in the underlining principles of the university as we know them.

“I think that many students are unaware of the extent to which business and industry have stepped in to fill a financial void created in part by a decline in government funding at the university level,” said Brooke, a SAII confederate who asked that her last name not be used. “Perhaps more important than this realization, though, is an understanding of the inherent risks involved in becoming bedfellows with large corporations. It’s gotten to the point where we simply felt something had to be done, and as a consequence, we established this group and our forthcoming watchdog website, www.managefreedom.com.”

Such risks have certainly been previously observed and documented by the likes of industry critic and journalist Naomi Klein.

In her 2000 international bestseller No Logo, Klein critically notes that as these corporations step in to fill the funding gap, “they are fighting for their brands to become not the add-on but the subject of education, not an elective but the core curriculum.” But surely, this left-wing, socialist, scare-mongering hyperbabble refers to conflicts far removed from the hallowed grounds of Ring Road?

Maybe not.

“As recently as 2002, students can observe for themselves a blatant example of both industry exerting pressure to introduce products into the curriculum in exchange for funding, and a willingness on behalf of the university brass to allow it,” said Brooke, referring to a hastily drawn up contract between Microsoft Canada and the University of

Waterloo that caught the critical attention of the media. At issue was the implementation of Microsoft’s C# programming language into the curriculum of the electrical and computer engineering programs and developing Engineering courses using Microsoft’s .NET Framework, all in exchange for approximately $2.3 million in funding.

“Unfortunately, the Microsoft fiasco wasn’t an isolated incident, but an indication of the true state of affairs,” said Brooke.

“It’s taking place, whether you care to observe it or not,” said David Halk, 4A English Rhetoric and Professional Writing and founder of SAII and its affiliated website. “The entire ethos of the university is changing, moving away from a traditional pursuit of a greater and well-rounded knowledge towards a specific, career oriented skill set. The more recent impingement of this mindset on even the arts faculty has led a few of us to establish this group and managefreedom.com.”

Of particular concern for SAII is the plight of the humanities departments, and their ongoing struggle to conform to or resist this changing academic mould.

“Increasingly, it appears that the humanities are under pressure to justify themselves in terms of the usefulness and applicability of their teaching to industry,” said Brooke.

“This interference,” continued Halk, “is manifested not only in the aggressive encouragement of co-op programs and industry specific courses, but in assignments conspicuously geared towards a workplace-like, resumé building experience that are slowly taking the place of more theoretical and critical methods of evaluation.”

As Halk sees it, the chief goal of the humanities should be the fostering of a critical perspective of the world and the ideologies we take for granted. Contributions to the leisure economy (books, plays, games, websites) and the encouragement of transferable skills such as reading and writing are necessary but secondary objectives, important in their own right, but supplements rather than alternatives. Citing a rhetoric course that assigned an advertising campaign project as an example, Halk mused, “Too often, even our own courses

How the industry tries to brand your education, too

Tifa Han

are blindly used to teach us how to make our current values more attractive. Rather than developing our potential to scrutinize, they merely serve to reinforce, which is precisely what we are in opposition to. Why must the humanities be made to justify their existence in tangible products and economical terms?”

According to Halk, SAII and managefreedom.com will eventually serve as a resource tool and database for students concerned about the extent of industry involvement in contemporary education. In addition to reading lists and meeting info, students will soon be able to submit posts to a searchable database that will keep track of instances of industry infringement

nationwide, and a list of programs, professors, and assignments that push products on students, all of which will be used to push back against industry influence.

“Students Against Industry Interference isn’t a conspiracy group. We aren’t so naive not to notice that most of us will end up in one form of industry or another,” Halk asserts. “An appropriate balance is all we are after. This university in particular has a strong tradition of insisting upon the well-roundedness of its graduates. SAII simply hopes to remind the establishment of this tradition. Our school motto is ‘Dedicated to Truth,’ not ‘Dedicated to Industry.’” mbaldasaro@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

American bigotry at its finest

I

t was 10 p.m., and I was in a pharmacy with a security guard behind me and a bus to catch.

I panicked, and I picked up the one case of beer that wasn’t Budweiser or Corona. That’s right, from a pharmacy. This was in New York City over the weekend; it was a small vacation where in I figured I had the perfect opportunity to sample the Yankees’ spin on beer, without our sophisticated Canadian import filter. Because of all this pharmaceutical chaos and my American culture shock, I accidentally bought Amstel Light. Not only is this a terrible beer, it’s also an European import. I failed! I failed myself, and worst of all, I failed my poor tongue, which had to be subjected to this menace. As well, I failed my liver, which was not adequately drenched in the percentage of alcohol it normally enjoys. Finally, I failed my readers, who once again have to be subjected to the analysis of a less-than-good beer.

But hold on snobs—let’s take a step back here and not jump to rash conclusions of the kind I was in fact just perpetuating. Amstel Light is brewed

by Heineken, in the beautiful Dutch town of Zoeterwoude. In 1614, the Dutch founded what is today New York on the tip of Manhattan, calling it New Amsterdam. Then in 1664, the English were totally grumpy about the Dutch power of world trade, so they captured the city and renamed it New York. Of course, New York State, along with the original 13 states of America, became

independent from the British crown in 1776.

However, let’s not forget that from its original conception, New York was a Dutch city. So if we think of it that way, Amstel Light, a Dutch beer, is among the most authentic New York beers I could be drinking.

Forgetting for a moment that I have a totally ridiculous justification for the filth I forced myself to consume, I have had some truly American beers, both good and bad. During the same trip to New York, I was able to visit a small pub in Greenwich Village called Jekyll and Hyde. It was a great local haunt, far from the overbearing ridiculousness of Times Square. For $12.99, I got a full breakfast with two draught beers included. Don’t sound too surprised about the price; I regularly passed signs in the Village advertising pitchers for $7 and pints for $3. I astutely chose Anchor Steam beer, brewed in San Francisco and damn delicious. Apparently, the type of beer is actually known as a “steam,” brewed the same way as a lager but without the use of refrigeration.

As for bad beers, there are definitely more to list off. For my 21st birthday, I held an American themed costume party, celebrating my ascension into the U.S. age of majority. All the beer was from the South, with all the usuals like Bud and Pabst making their respective appearances. I also tried Old Milwaukee lager, which is light and refreshing yet terribly underwhelming. A fellow Imprint

friend bought me Brooklyn Lager, an American classic with an overpowering caramel malt flavour and a lack of bitterness. It’s not that I think all American beers are bad, because I don’t. I just overemphasize the badness of their beers because I am anti-American and have a prejudice.

As for this awful beer, make no mistake, I am not hating on Amstel Light because I am an antiAmerican bigot. Besides, it`s brewed by Heineken, remember? Heineken is one of my favourites, and how they can produce such an awful beer in contrast is beyond me. Amstel Light does not display its alcohol content on the bottle. In the U.S., it varies from state to state, but New York does not require listing the alcohol percentage.

The point is, after googling it I found that the alcohol by volume is 3.5 per cent. The weakness is immediately apparent after taking your first sip, and it is so light that you would swear you were drinking water if it weren’t for the over-carbonization. With a non-existent head, the beer is next to clear with a blunt musky aroma. The taste is offensively watery, with a light hoppy flavour and a hint of skunky hops on the aftertaste. It markets itself on the basis of being low calorie, and low calorie it is.

But what is the point of drinking a low calorie beer when there is hardly any beer at all? Here’s a recipe for you weight-watchin, calorie countin’, pilates pumpin’, fitness-zealots that I cannot

stand: if you want a beer that is low calorie and low in alcohol content too, follow these steps: Step 1: Take 300ml of water and pour into beer-bottled shaped receptacle.

Step 2: Slowly mix in 55ml of Beck’s nearbeer.

Step 3: Add an eyedropper’s worth of vanilla extract.

Step 4: Eat the proportioned meal you received in the mail from Weight-Watchers because you are too lazy to reduce the sizes of your meals on your own or walk to the grocery store to burn calories. Then do your daily 20-minute Tae-Bo exercises that you forked out $80 for instead of altering your lifestyle in a way that is healthier.

After working up your minimal sweat, enjoy your very own low calorie beer that will most likely have more flavour than Amstel Light.

Price for 6: $12.40 Taste: Value: Getting to insult calorie-watchers at the same time as a beer: Overall: mkeast@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Features

Imprint, Friday, October 10, 2008

17

Campus festivities for the lone turkey Amna Iqbal reporter

T

hankfully, it is that time of the year again. No, not midterms, but rather the long-awaited Thanksgiving weekend. While most of the student population will hop on numerous forms of transportation for the weekend, many will be left here.

Admittedly, one of the downsides of university life is not being able to make it home for the holidays.

Chances are that the tickets weren’t booked on time, or the homeland is far away, or maybe there is just a lot of post- weekend work to get started on.

The end result is anticipating at least some of your weekend being spent on campus. If you happen to be stuck in this less than ideal situation, then be assured that your time will not be spent casting woeful glances at each retreating, student filled bus. UW campus, along with Kitchener-Waterloo, has many activities planned for the period surrounding Thanksgiving. You can dispel the notion that there will be only a few sure places with some semblance of life. This article was written to help some fellow strandees who might be feeling the blues, and to present them with local options to help them get the most out of their Thanksgiving.

The food and the feast: There are several options available for satiating your hunger this weekend. Starting from home, the University Club on Ring Road is having a Thanksgiving luncheon

buffet on Thursday, October 9, and Friday October 10. Reservations are available between 11:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., and the meal runs $18.50, plus taxes and gratuity, per plate.

The UW residences are also joining in on the festivities, with many of the various residence communities hosting Thanksgiving dinners. Examples include UWP South Waterloo Court’s Thanksgiving turkey dinner on Sunday and Minota Hagey’s potluck dinner on Sunday evening.

A full listing of on-campus events both in and outside of residences can be found at www.foodservices. uwaterloo.ca/promotion/.

Off campus options for breakfast include the 96.7 CHYM FM Oktoberfest Family Breakfast, taking place October 10 at the City Hall Civic Square from 7:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., for a minimum donation of $3.50. All proceeds will go to the Food Bank of Waterloo Region.

Other options include the Kitchener Council’s Grillfest in downtown Kitchener , October 10 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. This takes place in conjunction with the Oktoberfest’s opening ceremonies, where Kitchener Council and members of the Kitchener city staff will be serving sausage on a bun and soft drinks.

All proceeds will also go to the Food Bank.

Finally, the Woodside National Historic Site of Canada’s Traditional Thanksgiving takes place at 528 Wellington Street North, Kitchener. on Oct 10 to 18, between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. each day.

The parade: If you’re in the mood to enjoy Thanksgiving to the hilt, a good place to start would be at the KitchenerWaterloo Oktoberfest Thanksgiving Day Parade. It takes place Monday, October 13, 2008. Starts at 8:30 a.m. in uptown Waterloo. The event is free to those standing, however some bleachers do require tickets. Organizers anticipate that the parade route will be lined with audiences covering five kilometers from the intersection of King and Erb in Waterloo to King and Cedar in Kitchener. For those who want to stay indoors, you can catch the parade on TV through the CTV Network.

Volunteering in KW: With the season in full swing, there are several Thanksgiving-oriented volunteering opportunities within the Kitchener-Waterloo area. Among food drives there are: The Onkel Hans Food Drive — this drive will take place alongside the Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Non-perishable food items will be collected by volunteers along the parade route.

You can also volunteer with the Thanksgiving Food Drive with the Food Bank of Waterloo. This can include donations, customer service, moving products, general warehouse duties, and any other help you may be able to provide.

Other options for Thanksgiving fulfillment could include throwing a

feast for acquaintances in the area; especially grateful would be those who might not excel at cooking.

At some point during the weekend, you can also treat yourself to some home-made food. FoodBuzz, a university student’s online “how to” kitchen guide, is available on the UW Food Services website and offers advice on those who want to shop, cook and eat on their own.

All these would dispel the possible blues that the feeling of being stranded might have.

However, being stranded is also a rather relative term. Some students might enjoy the cultural opportunities it presents. As an exchange student from Spain, Paula

Geoffery Lee

Ibañez mentioned: “Being here for only this year experimenting the Canadian culture is a very important issue.” As such, being able to contribute to, and gain from these events is fulfilling. Also, students who don’t celebrate Thanksgiving can enjoy what third year nanotechnology engineering student Rajesh Kumar calls, “a nice dinner where students get to mix and interact with other students from other faculties.” Thanksgiving may be considered a time to strengthen ties with family and relatives, but if circumstances prevent one from taking that bus home, be assured that there are still ways to make this long weekend rewarding.

A Voice For You I was born and raised in KitchenerWaterloo, and my wife and I have chosen to raise our daughters here.

We live in a very dynamic community built on the values of tolerance, compassion, mutual respect and hard work. We also benefit from the presence of two of Canada’s leading universities, and

a community of students who are leaders in innovative thinking. It is these qualities that I will represent on your behalf.

Canada has a strong government and Kitchener-Waterloo deserves to be heard. I look forward to having your support as I work to become your next Member of Parliament.

ele ct

PETER

Kitchener–Waterloo

BRAID 519-888-8300 peterbraid.ca 21 Allen St. W, Waterloo

About Peter Braid • Attended the University of Waterloo and graduated from the University of Toronto in 1989 with a degree in International Relations.

• Youth volunteer experiences working with aboriginal people in northwestern Ontario, and overseas in India.

• Served in the constituency office of Hon. Walter McLean P.C., M.P. • Worked for 7 years with the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) in Ottawa and Toronto.

• Worked for 10 years with Sun Life Financial as a Communications Manager and then Director of Operations.

• Account manager with Quarry Integrated Communications in Waterloo.

• Member of the Waterloo Economic Development Committee.

• Coach for a local minor girls hockey team.

Authorized by the official agent of Peter Braid.

18

Photo Feature

Imprint, Friday, October 10, 2008

Photo Feature

Imprint, Friday, October 10, 2008

19

ONE WEEK TO GO: KW’s Parties Gear up for the election

Ethan Oblak

mackenzie Keast

Top left: Lori Woolner, office manager for NDP candidate Cindy Jacobson’s campaign, speaks with an inquiring member of the public.

Top right: Kyle Huntingdon, Canadian Action Party candidate for KitchenerWaterloo, and local citizen Jennifer Evans speak after an all-candidates debate at Kitchener City Hall on October 7.

Center: Andrew Telegdi, Liberal candidate for Kitchener-Waterloo, displays an anti-Liberal Conservative advertisement during an all-candidates debate on October 7 at Kitchener City Hall. The debate included candidates from both the Kitchener-Waterloo and KitchenerCentre ridings.

Andrew Abela

Bottom left: Nancy Curtin-Telegdi, wife of Liberal candidate Andrew Telegdi, oversees operations at the Liberal campaign headquarters on October 8.

Above, from left to right: Andrew Telegdi (Liberal), Peter Braid (Conservative), Cindy Jacobson (NDP), Cathy MacCellan (Green), and Kyle Huntingdon (Canadian Action) pitch their ideas to about 100 University of Waterloo staff and students during a debate in the SLC Great Hall October 2.

Bottom right: Aaron Lee-Wudrick, campaign manager for Conservative Candidate Peter Braid, talks with new volunteers during an orientation meeting on October 8.

Ethan Oblak

Right: NDP candidate Cindy Jacobson makes a point to students during the October 2 debate in the SLC Great Hall.

Ethan Oblak

mackenzie Keast

mackenzie Keast

20 Features A guide to student petitions Jeff Kelly Reporter

W

ith the deadline for adding and dropping courses having already passed for this term, (September 26 being the last day) the only recourse remaining to many students facing academic woes is to submit a petition requesting an exception.

Though the thought of filling out forms and going through a review process can be intimidating, students with serious and legitimate grounds should not be afraid to make their case.

The Petition for Exception to Academic Regulations (Form 70A) is just what it sounds like; a request for a special exception in the case of the petitioner. Essentially, this means that the student is aware of a given rule (such as the deadline for adding and dropping courses), and that it was applied fairly in their case, but would like to be exempted from the rule due to extenuating circumstances. The completed forms are submitted to the Registrar’s Office, which refers them to the student’s faculty for review. Each faculty has a committee dedicated to reviewing the petitions of its students and deciding whether or not an exception is merited.

The decision is then, via the Registrar’s Office, relayed to the student.

The petitions process is not a “get out of jail free� card, and isn’t intended to excuse lax or irresponsible behaviour on the part of students. Rather, it is a mechanism for students to work

together with the university to resolve problems resulting from serious personal circumstances. The privacy of students is of paramount importance to everyone in the process — Things like serious illness, death of a family member, and other personal tragedies are often among the reasons that students submit petitions.

Why do some petitions succeed where others do not? Since each case is unique, there is no easy answer, although there are things students can do to avoid The petitions process is not a “get out of jail free� card, and isn’t intended to excuse lax or irresponsible behaviour on the part of students. unnecessary delays and disappointment.

One of the most common problems is that petitions are submitted with insufficient supporting documentation, such as a Verification of Illness form, and the time it takes to contact the student to request this additional information can slow down the process considerably.

Even with all necessary documentation included with the petition, the request for an exception may still be rejected. The individual faculty committees have to balance the interests of the petitioning student with principles of fairness to all students, and only serious cases that lay outside of the control

of the student are likely to result in a favourable decision. Sleeping in on the day of a deadline will not land you an exception, nor will a mild cold, even if accompanied by a doctor’s note.

According to Gwen Graper, the Assistant Registrar for the faculties of science and engineering, one of the things that petition committees look for is the student taking responsibility of their own situation, and evidence that they have a plan to manage it in future. Students considering filing a petition should ask themselves: Have they already spoken with their course instructor or academic advisor? Have they spoken to student counselling services?

Have any steps been taken to resolve the situation before the petition has been submitted, and is there evidence of this? If an exception is granted, does the student have a plan to deal with the circumstances on a go-forward basis, or are problems likely to continue?

Even when a petition is rejected, committees may recommend other avenues of assistance to the student, such as academic advisors or counselling services. The most important thing that Graper wanted to express to students is the compassion of the petitions committees, and to assure students that the faculty members involved truly do have the best interests of the students at heart.

Though not all petition requests can be granted, students in the process will be treated with respect and empathy, and their request will be handled with proper discretion and privacy.

Imprint, Friday, October 10, 2008

Mission to hear Amna Iqbal Reporter

Audiology Services in Waterloo is planning on a nine-day mission to Egypt to give 6,000 hearing instruments to children and adults in need. The mission starts October 5 and is held in partnership with the Starkey Hearing Foundation (SHF). The first trip to Egypt, in November 2007 helped 309 children and adults with more than 600 hearing instruments.

The ongoing mission to Egypt comprises of a 12 person team of hearing care professionals are highly dedicated to their work. Dr. David Barr of Audiology Services will also be a part of the mission. The main city to be visited is Cairo; but people will travel from far and wide to be fitted with devices.

Approximately 200 to 300 people will be seen in a day.

could assist a nation that may not have the same level of access, it is a commendable mission.�

A lot of planning has gone into this specific mission. The services and facilities are focused on raising public awareness and also helping those in need. Through assistance from local schools, children in need of hearing aids and other assistance are identified. SHF seeks to identify and help children who are enrolled in school or who because of their lack of hearing aidsandamplification cannot be enrolled in school.

Hearing mission trips are paid for by donations to the Starkey Hearing Foundation. There are annual fund raising events, individual concerts and live bid at an auction.

With hearing impairments on the rise, audiology is increasing in importance. Hearing loss can take place if a person was born with parts of the ear

“it’s...very rewarding to know that we helped so many people hear, many for the first time ever.�

The Starkey missions have attracted attention over the past years. In 2007 NBA Cares, along with the Minnesota Timberwolves and team owner Glen Taylor joined with distributors from Starkey Canada and the Starkey Hearing Foundation in Istanbul.

There is support for this mission from Egypt as well. According to Caroline Lemelin, public relations for SHF, “local celebrities generally come out to support the event and all of the businesses involved greet us with open arms. Many of them are reducing the cost of our purchases.�

Students can contribute by making donations. There has been support for the mission from UW as well. UW fourth year biomedical sciences student, Kristen Reed’s perspectives were that “the mission is very new age. It seems beneficial to those less fortunate, which is what life should be all about. These audiologists are literally giving the gift of hearing.� Nikhil Ninan, a third year electrical engineering student, hailed the mission as “a great initiative, and exactly what the world needs in such trying times.� These sentiments were echoed by another student Kristin Valles, who felt that “anytime a school or nation with the available resources...

that did not form correctly and do not work well. According to the American Academy of Audiology, hearing loss is caused by medical problems about 10 per cent of the time. Other problems can be caused later by injury, illness, middle ear fluid, head injury or serious infections. Persistent exposure to loud sounds is also one of the causes.

Noise-related hearing impairment is also on the rise in Egypt. According to a 2007 study by the Egyptian National Research Center (NRC), within the city center noise levels reach an average of 90 decibels (dB) and never drop below 70 dB. As such, the Starkey Hearing Foundation’s efforts will be beneficial to those being impacted by these factors as well.

The Starkey Hearing Foundation has put in the effort to help the hearing impaired and their efforts seem more than rewarding. Glenda Vout from Vout’s Denture and Hearing Centre in Belleville and Napanee said, “It is incredibly fulfilling to be part of this hearing mission trip and to do so much good in such a short amount of time.�

Prior mission attendees voiced similar sentiments, saying, “it’s...very rewarding to know that we helped so many people hear, many for the first time ever.�

Apply Now! Fall 2009 Accepting Applications NOW! For more information call 519-748-5220 ext. 3751

Teaching English as a Second Language Post-Degree Program

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Features

Imprint, Friday, October 10, 2008

Gearing up for change:

21

The benefits of commuter cycling

Michael McHugh reporter

“T

he automobile has not merely taken over the street, it has dissolved the living tissue of the city ... Gas-filled, noisy and hazardous, our streets have become the most inhumane landscape in the world.” — James M. Fitch The popularity of the automobile as a primary means of transportation within North America has resulted in severe environmental degradation, and severed many communities by making other modes of transport, such as walking and cycling, more difficult. Yet, through the implementation of alternative transportation, such as commuter cycling, it is within our means to mitigate the problems associated with the overuse of the automobile. Commuter cycling, which is the act of travelling to work or school by bicycle, is an increasingly popular trend among students and staff alike at the University of Waterloo and offers numerous social, economic, and environmental benefits.

With the increased mechanization of society, levels of physical activity within our population are rapidly declining. Currently, less than 50 per cent of Canadians get any real exercise.

The World Health Organization has stated that a sedentary lifestyle is one of the most important risk factors for non-communicable disease and early mortality in Western populations. Living as a student means that continuous parades of assignments and exams make it understandably difficult to fit in a regular exercise regime. Yet, by cycling to and from school, the commuter cyclist gains the unique benefit of being able

to attain more than 2,000 kCal of the recommended daily exercise needed to maintain a healthy body without actually committing to a strict workout schedule. Half an hour a day of cycling decreases the likelihood of an individual developing heart disease and diabetes by 50 per cent. Furthermore, cycling reduces blood pressure and improves functional and cognitive capacity. Simply put, the increased physical activity gained through cycling improves overall psychological and physical health.

The importance of addressing the issue of transportation in an environmental context cannot be understated.

Cycling is an extremely efficient form of transportation. The amount of energy it takes to move a car 100 meters can move a bike five kilometers. Furthermore, cycling as a means of transportation influences environmental issues such as air and noise pollution and climate change. The increased use of cycling as a means of transportation is one of the simplest solutions to many environmental problems our society is facing today. Because 48 per cent of trips by vehicles within Canada are shorter than four kilometers, the potential for further growth in cycling is substantial. Cycling is a powerful tool that can be used to decrease carbon emissions and promote a more sustainable society.

In my experience, the choice to convert to commuter cycling as an alternative mode of transportation brought about an unexpected benefit. As John F. Kennedy once put it, “nothing compares to the simple pleasure of a bike ride.”

Many cyclists will agree that if for no other reason, the satisfaction gained from getting out of the car and onto a bike is reason enough to start biking to school. I have found that, unlike driving or taking

the bus, biking to school leaves you with a feeling often described by athletes as the ‘runners high,’ and the same sense of accomplishment you get after pulling an all-nighter to finish an essay.

Many cities throughout the world have been successful in adopting campaigns and policies to encourage commuter cycling; partly to mitigate the social and environmental harm of excessive automotive use, but also to accommodate rising demand for mobility within the physical constraints of congested urban roads, high-density cities, and limited land supply for parking. With enough public support, the University of Waterloo could easily promote the concept of commuter cycling as a simple and economical alternative to driving. It is now the responsibility of students to respond to the need for change by seeking alternative solutions to driving. In this way, whether it be to relieve stress, create social bonds, form a social identity, save money, help the environment, or improve health, commuter cycling can facilitate endless rewards to those who are willing to recognize its potential.

Check the Friday October 24, 2008 issue of Imprint for a photo essay on this topic.

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Features

Imprint, Friday, October 10, 2008

Through foreign eyes

A backpack in the Old World Devin Howard reporter

L

ast summer I took a three week trip across Europe. Why? Mostly for bragging rights.

Ever since Eurotrip hit the theatres (and maybe even before) I’ve always viewed backpacking as glamorous and exciting. I’m going to save you the agony of waiting until the end of the story for the moral: it isn’t glamorous, and it being exciting depends a lot on you being exciting.

Now that I’ve got my message out of the way, I’m going to give you an idea of what Europe is like. I started in Prague, which separates Eastern Europe from Western Europe. Their language reminded me of a cross between German and Russian, and, interestingly enough, so did the food.

Two personal favourites of mine were a German sausage and some kind of fried and circular pastry topped with sugar.

We left Prague after two days and made it to Munich in time to celebrate their 850th anniversary.

What’s interesting (but maybe not that surprising) about this particular celebration is that they aren’t quite sure of the exact month and day of Munich’s founding. Their solution is to have a celebration every single weekend for six months. I’m pretty sure the only reason the celebration ever ended was to make room for Oktoberfest.

After Munich came Normandy, France’s northern coast. We spent a whole day transferring trains through Paris, Rouen, and finally

ended up in Dieppe. After the Czech Republic (the country that drinks the most beer per capita in the world) and Bavaria (which, as a region, rivals the Czechs), France was different.

It was wine, cider, or a confused, “Bière?”

Dieppe was larger than I expected; it contains about 35,000 people. The French have an amazing cemetery of all the Canadian soldiers that died fighting for them. One of the key features of Normandy was the way in which the people were truly happy to see Canadians. There was a similar attitude in Pontorson, a town close to Omaha Beach that has an American war cemetery (that’s a D-Day landing site if you’re wondering). It wasn’t even the tourism workers; even in a grocery store on a back street people were glad to meet Canadians.

The next stop was Amsterdam.

If you have any stereotypes about Amsterdam, they’re probably true. To tell the truth, I don’t remember most of it for some reason. We did watch several episodes of Laguna Beach in the hostel. Amsterdam is really overrun with British and American tourists, and the Dutch culture has a hard time seeping through. I’d still recommend paying it a visit.

I usually summarize Brussels to people in one word: boring. The whole city seemed taken up by train stations and European Union buildings. We ended up taking a day trip to Brugges, which was way cooler.

It had older buildings, a market, and at 11:30 a.m. we went into a church to see a few coagulated drops of

the blood of Christ. Belgium and France seemed to be very religious countries.

When I mention Venice, people usually ask if it smelled. It didn’t, except in the figurative sense (“I hate you, you smell.”). It was a really stagnant town though. Almost everyone working there was involved in tourism or provided services for the tourism workers to spend their money on. Everything there was also expensive and crowded. Altogether, it was a beautiful town, but I think it’s probably one of the worst places to go in Italy. There is so much more rich Italian culture elsewhere.

We got to Geneva just in time for the Geneva Festival. It runs for the first 10 days of August, and it was a huge carnival that stretched around Lake Geneva. Interspersed with the carnivals were beer tents and free concerts. There was something like 130 free concerts that each lasted a few hours. I didn’t get to see them all, but what I did see was excellent — the Swiss can really make music.

For some strange reason there was also more than one dance-off between small children under age five.

I left my companions to fly out of Prague after a final two days in Vienna. I really loved the city, mostly because it was as old and interesting as Prague, but also they had money. There were museums galore, the world’s oldest zoo, and lots of castles.

Europe is criss-crossed by diverse cultures, but there are a few common links. Bikes and trains are hugely popular. Practically every country

Courtsty Devin Howard

Signs in Munich prohibiting items such as guns and ice cream. thought that they loved alcohol and chocolate the most. Australians infest hostels (apparently they all take a year between high school and university).

Really, although Europeans are rooted

in their history and past, they just seem to be more progressive. So, despite the lack of glamour, I still think budget travelling is the best way to find out that there are other ways to run a

TO THE STUDENTS, STAFF, AND FACULTY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO A message from Cathy MacLellan, Green Party candidate for Kitchener-Waterloo, about post-secondary education.

The Green Party of Canada’s central principles are ecological wisdom, fiscal responsibility, and social justice. We’ve built a full platform on these principles. Vision Green (available at www.greenparty.ca) offers Canada the best policies for dealing with climate change, for the creation of high-quality green jobs, and for protecting the health and welfare of every Canadian.

These principles also underlie our approach to post-secondary education. The values you have for universities and colleges are the ones we share. Now is the time to look to the future: now is the time to vote Green.

On October 14th, elect me as your Member of Parliament.

AFFORDABILTY

• The Green Party will forgive 50% of federal student loans for students who complete their degree or certificate programs.

• The Green Party will increase needs-based federal loans and bursaries with low interest rates and reasonable repayment schedules.

• The Green Party will restore and expand the federal government’s student summer job program.

ACCESSIBILITY

• The Green Party will increase ear-marked transfer payments to provinces for post-secondary education to enable institutions to increase capacity and lower tuition rates.

• The Green Party will support training and apprenticeship programs to increase job prospects and address Canada’s shortage of skilled workers.

QUALITY

• The Green Party will fund the creation of additional tenure-track and tenured positions, regardless of the perceived commercial value of the area of pedagogy and scholarship.

• The Green Party will create a fund to reward colleges and universities for reducing the student-to-professor ratio.

• The Green Party will increase research funds for renewables, conservation, and smarter growth.

Let us know what we can do for you. For information about voting, or to find out more about the Green Party, call 519-591-9707, or go to votecathy.ca.

Now is the time to vote Green. Now it’s our turn.

Campus Bulletin 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/ministrycentre.

ANNOUNCEMENTS 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.

VOLUNTEERING

Volunteer with a child at their school and help improve their self-esteem and confidence. One to three hours a week commitment. Call Canadian Mental Health at 519-744-7645, ext 229.

Best Buddies is a national charitable organization matching students with individuals with intellectual disabilities living in the community. Hours are very flexible - compatible with busy schedules. More information contact: bestbuddiesuw@gmail.com.

Resume builder! Volunteers needed to visit people with Alzheimer disease through Alzheimer Society Volunteer Companion Program. Two hours per week with training September 23/24 evening or October 27 day or November 30 day. Call Jill at 519-742-1422 or volunteer@alzheimerkw.com.

Drive.Deliver.Befriend – Community Support Connections needs volunteers to help drive seniors to appointments, deliver a lunch meal or befriend an isolated senior. Mileage is reimbursed.

Contact 519-772-8787 or info@communitysupportconnections.org.

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!

Volunteers needed – Trick or Eat 2008 – think you’re too old to dress up in a costume and go door-to-door on Halloween?? Think again – join us for Trick or Eat this year in our battle against hunger. Help alleviate hunger in Waterloo and get candy while you are at it!

Sign up on www.trickoreat.ca to join the national battle against hunger on Friday, Octobrer 31, 5 to 7:30 p.m. at the SLC. Over 40 campuses across Canada are joining forces to fight hunger. Email us for more info at waterloo@mealexchange.com.

UPCOMING Wednesday, October 15, 2008 Neighborhood empowerment – join us with renowned community builder Jim Diers. Learn how to empower and inspire your community. Two sessions available, register www.engageus.ca.

Free for students, refreshments provided. Info call 519-575-4757, ext 5020.

Friday, October 17, 2008 October Swing Dance – at 315 Weber Street, N., Waterloo. Beginner lessons at 8:30 p.m., then dancing from 9:15

onwards. For info and cost see www.waterlooswing.com.

Monday, October 20, 2008 “The Shadows of Consumption: Consequences for the Global Environment” presented by author Peter Dauvergne at Lecture EV1 132 from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.

Reception and book signing at EV1 Courtyard.

Friday, October 24, 2008 Faust, Part1: presented in German and English by the Shadow Puppet Theatre of Kitchener-Waterloo and the Waterloo Centre for German Studies, www. wcgs.ca in conjunction with live scenes in German by the Laurier German Drama Group at 8 p.m. and Saturday, October 25 at 2 p.m., Humanities Studio Theatre, HH180, UW. Rummage sale, houseplants and Christmas treasures at First United Church, King and William Streets, Waterloo from 3 to 7 p.m. Saturday, October 25 from 9 to 11 a.m.

Thursday, November 6, 2008 FemFest 2008 fundraiser – a celebration of women – from 6:30 to 10:30 p.m. at the Schwaben Club, Kitchener.

Come for an evening of free pampering and do some shopping in our silent auction. Check out www.sascwr.org for ticket and event details.

Friday, November 7, 2008 Lessingfest: 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Contact Prof John for more info at djohn@ uwaterloo.ca.

November 17 to 21, 2008 UW hosts its third International Education Week. Events and activities include exchange program info sessions, volunteer opportunities, film, music, theatre and more! Check the IEW website at www.iew.uwaterloo.ca.

ONGOING

THURSDAYS “in conjunction with FINE 290’?”

– ECH 1220 at 6:30 p.m. Free - all are welcome!

October 16 – “Dangerous Living: Coming Out in the Developing World” – 60 minutes. This documentary film shows the danger involved in coming out in developing countries.

October 23 – “Trembling before G-d” – 84 minutes. Dubowski’s film narrates multiple stories of Hasidic and Orthodox Jews who are faced with the task of reconciling their homosexuality with their faith.

October 30 – “Fire” – 104 minutes. Provoking riots at its screenings in Bombay and New Delhi, Fire portrays a dysfunctional Indian family and two women who develop an affinity for each other in the midst of familial chaos.

November 6 – “I am My Own Woman – 90 minutes. A true story of a transvestite who struggles through Nazi Germany and post-war Germany.

November 13 – “Iron Ladies” – 104 minutes. Hilarious comedy based on the true story of Thailand’s popular top-ranked volleyball team.

November 20 – “Shinjuku Boys” – 53 minutes. A docmentary, this film provides a glimpse into a transvestite bar in Tokyo.

STUDENT AWARDS FINANCIAL AID October 2: OSAP Application deadline (full funding) fall only applications. Deadline to submit Signature Pages and Supporting Documentation for fall only term.

October 17: OSAP Application deadline (full funding) - fall and winter or fall, winter and spring applications.

October 24: Deadline for OSAP Reviews (appeals).

October 30: Last day to submit FullTime Bursary/Award Application for fall only term.

October 31: Deadline to submit Confirmation of Enrolment for Canada Millennium Bursary.

Refer to our website for current loan/ grant release procedures and for a full listing of scholarships and awards at http://safa.uwaterloo.ca.

CAREER SERVICES WORKSHOPS Tuesday, October 14, 2008 Successfully Negotiating Job Offers – 3:30 to 4:30 p.m., TC 1208.

Snapshot of Graduate Admissions – 7 to 8:30 p.m., TC 1208.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008 Success on the Job – 4:30 to 6 p.m., TC 1208.

Thursday, October 16, 2008 Career Exploration and Decision Making – 2:30 to 4:30 p.m., TC 1112.

Law School Applications – 3 to 4 p.m., TC 2218.

Monday, October 20, 2008 Teaching Philosophy Statement – 12 to 1:30 p.m., TC 2218. Registration: go to CTE website at www.cte.uwaterloo.ca/ events_registration/CUT_events.html.

Exploring Your Personality Type, Part II – 2:30 to 4:30 p.m., TC 1112. First session: Monday, October 6, 2:30 to 4 p.m., TC 1112.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008 Applying to Teacher Education Programs – 2:30 to 3:30 p.m., TC 2218.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008 Professional School Interviews – 4:30 to 5:30 p.m., TC 1208.

Monday, October 27, 2008 Career Interest Assessment – 2:30 to 4 p.m., TC 1112.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008 Interview Skills: Preparing for Questions – 2:30 to 4 p.m., TC 1208 Wednesday, October 29, 2008 Are You Thinking about an International Experience? – 12 to 1:30 p.m., TC 1208.

Interview Skills: Selling Your Skills – 2:30 to 4:30 p.m., TC 1208.

Thursday, October 30, 2008 Work Search Strategies – 2:30 to 4 p.m., TC 1208.

Monday, November 3, 2008 Writing CV’s and Cover Letters – 12 to 1:30 p.m., TC 2218. Registration go to the CTE website: www.cte.uwaterloo. ca/events_registration/CUT_events. html) Work Search Strategies for International Students – 4:30 to 6 p.m., TC 1208.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008 Exploring Your Personality Type, Part I – 10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m., TC 1112. $10 material charge payable to Career Services prior to the first session. Second session November 11, 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., TC 1112. Once you have registered you will be given information on how to complete the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) online.

Are You Thinking About Dental School?

– 4:30 to 6 p.m., TC 1208.

Thursday, November 6, 2008 Business Etiquette and Professionalism – 3:30 to 4:30 p.m., TC 1208.

Monday November 10, 2008 Working Effectively in Another Culture – 3 to 4:30 p.m., TC 1208.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008 Exploring Your Prsonality Type, Part II – 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., TC 1112.

Once you have registered you will be given information on how to complete the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) online. $10 material charge payable to Career Services prior to the first session.

Interview Skills: Preparing for Questions – 3:30 to 5 p.m., TC 1208.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008 Successfully Negotiating Job Offers – 4:30 to 5:30 p.m., TC 1208.

Imprint, Friday, October 10, 2008 ads@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Classified HELP WANTED

LOST & FOUND

Pita Factory – healthy, fast food restaurant, is now hiring enthusiastic and hardworking part-time/full-time staff at its Waterloo location. Previous retail and/or food experience an asset.

Applicants can expect to be scheduled a minimum of one late night shift per week. Apply with resume after 2 p.m. at 170 University Avenue (University shops plaza beside UW). No calls.

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.

Weekend positions – permanent parttime staff needed for varied shifts.

Duties include set up and clean up meeting rooms, assisting caterers, cleaning and reception. Must be energetic, able to work independently and have good communication skills.

Drop off resume at The Club Willowells, 40 Blue Springs Drive (beside East Side Marios), Waterloo.

Looking for energetic, playful person to work with a bright seven-year-old Autistic boy. Required for a home based program, working as a part of our establishd team, using Intensive Behaviour Intervention/Verbal Behaviour. Supervision and extensive training will be provided for the right candidate. Some experience with children with special needs would be an asset.One year commitment preferred. Six to 12 hours per week, salary commensurate with experience.

Apply by email only: ibitherapist@ rogers.com.

Experienced servers/bartenders for Federation Hall are needed. Email resume to Adrian Moloney at apmolone@feds.uwaterloo.ca.

Whomever found lost credit card and turned it in September 19 please email proudy1717@yahoo.ca to receive “thanks.”

WANTED

Entrepreneurial partner wanted – Training included ; comp plan. Serious applicants only – 1-888-226-8151 or abstein@libertyleague.com.

Young athletes 15-30 years – hockey, soccer, speedskating, rowing for National Cycling Development Program.

Men and women welcome. Introductory camp in October. Contact Dina at info@ForestCityVelodrome.ca or www.

ForestCityVelodrome.ca.

PERSONALS

Are you pregnant – have you considered an open adoption? We are a loving family approved to adopt in Ontario. Please visit our website to learn more about us and the wonderful home we could offer your baby. www.hopingtoadopt.ca.

HOUSING

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.

SERVICES

Professional Go-For Service – don’t have time? Need a second pair of hands?

Dog walking, picking up dry-cleaning, groceries, Senior Services, are just a few of the many helpful services that is offered. Call Sheila at 519-590-4103 or progo-forservice@hotmail.com.

Get Involved!

VACANT - President position for the Board of Directors The President shall, when present, preside at all Board meetings and meetings of members. The President shall supervise the affairs and operations of the Corporation and with the Secretary or other officer appointed by the Board for the purpose, shall sign all bylaws and membership certificates and have other powers and duties that are prescribed from time to time by the Board or that are incidental to his office.

The President shall also be responsible for: 01) knowing and interpreting the Bylaw, Policies & Procedures and seeing that they are enforced; 02) ensuring, with the co-operation of the full-time staff, that the documents of the Corporation as defined in section 9.00 are maintained in order; and; 03) representing the Corporation to and maintain liaisons with both the campus community and the community-at-large.

Interested?

Send your Letter of Intent by Oct. 17 to board@imprint.uwaterloo.ca.

Arts & Entertainment

Imprint, Friday, October 10, 2008 arts@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Mini city magic

Michelle Bellefontaine

Dominion City in the foreground and Beaver City in the background display Seth’s vision of the mini-cities.

Seth’s mini representations of cities give much needed perspective Michelle Bellefontaine reporter

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tour of UW’s own Render Art Gallery calls for some serious cognitive thought and social reflection. Personally, I always enjoy the time I can afford to spend contemplating the mastermind that becomes unleashed through a series such as this fall’s Dominion City. The time and effort that Seth, local Guelph graphic novelist, has put into the series, over a 10 year period of development, is evident.

It seems that he has truly been on a tremendous exploration of his own. The depth of the comic stories presented unleashes the emotions of his journey. The drawings seem to represent the excitement found by looking toward the future as they encapsulate the mixed emotions of a parade through the very streets that Seth has focused the Dominion exhibition on. As Andrew Hunter, curator of Render, describes it, “Dominion City is infused with melancholy and an air of ambiguous nostalgia tinged with a healthy dose of cynical

humour…supported by an elaborate narrative vision that includes a detailed history and character studies that can be funny and amusing but equally dark.”

The title of the exhibition, Dominion City, suggests an urban demographic of buildings drawn from the early modern style found in many Canadian cities. It plays off the steady production of ever-expanding growth found within North America during the post-war period. Many of the buildings draw on the energy and excitement of the great expectations and hope for our nation’s potential. Many of the structures that Seth has developed tap into the growing population and new industries discovered in rural parts of Canada. As the comic drawings suggest, the excitement over the construction wasn’t bound to last.

Looking back on the continuing growth of the “urban renewal” period of the ‘60s and ‘70s, the newly built treasures of the post-war period were abandoned as focus shifted to a new style of construction. The new cities are now abandoned ghost towns as the industries that were founded around have

been wiped out, leaving no reason for people to stay. Seth is able to capture the hope and beauty that these buildings had at one point represented, while maintaining his portrayal of their current looming state. The balance seems to tell the history of these cities and what they had to offer.

The exhibition Beaver is not unlike its counterpart as it follows up with the story of “urban renewal” that brought hope to growing cities, which unfortunately resulted in the regressive state of the earlier development. The series of works that make up Beaver, is named after a brand of fireplace brick. The works were “lost for years until one of the original creators, Alfred Holdren, unearthed the artistic gem from a dusty attic,” explains Ashley Csanady, Special Projects for Render, in a press release for the exhibit. They have been revived and have been put up for display alongside Seth’s Dominion City to show the development of Canada through its historic buildings.

Readings for pleasure

See SETH, page 27

SJU reading series set to return with new lineup of Canadian talent Paul Parkman staff reporter

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his term St. Jerome’s is offering another installment of The Reading Series, which through the financial aid of the Canada Council of the Arts (“committed to promoting the value of the arts to the lives of Canadians”) brings guest authors to the college several times throughout the term to read and answer questions.

All the readings are free and open to anyone that wishes to attend to them, giving people an opportunity to hear an author reading from their own works and enter into a conversation about writing and how these writers approach their craft.

Authors previously featured in The Reading Series include David Gilmour (Winner of the Governor General’s Award for A

Perfect Night to Go to China), John Terpstra (Winner of Governor General’s Award for Disarmament), Lorna Crozier (Winner of Governor General’s Award and Pat Lowther Award for Inventing the Hawk), and many other established writers, spanning across the nation, as well as local writers and some new up-and-comers.

The series tries to offer a broad range of styles in the written word, from novelists to poets and traditional writing to other more experimental and exotic approaches. The key is to sample a little bit of everything that Canadian literature has to offer, to place writers in an intimate environment where they can interact with people who enjoy reading, and to even give prospective writers a taste of what makes other writers tick.

This month, author Nathaniel G. Moore will be reading and answering questions at St. Jerome’s on October 22, at 4:00 p.m., in room 3027. Moore’s work has been featured on CBC’s Zed TV,

and he is currently an editor at Danforth Review and Broken Pencil Magazine. Moore writes in verse and prose, while also delving into video media, and has an active blog at www.criticalcrushes. blogspot.com where he often posts poems and writes about the literary community and new projects.

Emma Donoghue (an Irish native currently living in Ontario whose latest novel, The Sealed Letter, was longlisted for the Giller Prize) and Lawrence Hill (whose most recent novel, The Book of Negroes, took home the 2008 Commonwealth Writer’s Prize) will be featured later in the term at St. Jerome’s, with the series picking up again in March with their Spring Festival.

For more information, visit http://www.sju.ca/reading_series.html pparkman@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Arts & Entertainment

Imprint, Friday, October 10, 2008

25

Onkel Hans and the Polkadelics

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emütlichkeit. Scheiss gesicht du wichsers. So here were go…again…the leaves are falling, midterms are about to wrap up, but more importantly, Oktoberfest has officially hit the boulevards of “Old Berlin.”

While the majority of us use this time to abuse the privileges of commemorating the ethos of a great nation by getting shithouse drunk and taking a dump on our neighbours’ lawn, we often confuse congeniality with ignorance. Now, before you premature e-germinate, I am just as OJ Simpson — guilty — as the next person, so much so that I feel morally obligated to highlight and educate you dear readers on the musical traditions and artists of Germania.

As the majority of you fumble through your closets to find the dirndl or lederhosen that you got at the Stag Shop forever ago to “accentuate” your German-esque heritage, the only true way to bring out the Günter or Birgit in oneself is to embrace the sounds of polka. German polka? You bet your German sausage German polka.

In brief, polka is defined as a vivacious dance/music of Bavarian origin in duple time; possessing a basic pattern of hop-step-close-step that is accompanied by a lively Bavarian melody in 2/4 time. During the mid 19th century, polka music became so popular in Europe that it eventually led to the introduction of several other European dances,

including the gallopade, which was introduced by both England and France.

While many individuals tend to stereotype Germans as very stout, hostile, and intense individuals–think Uter from the Simpson’s, the

#5 – Tokio Hotel Shit, I really didn’t want to include these fuckwads.

However they are the only German punk band to penetrate the North American market and sell a substantial amount of records. That said, I still don’t know what’s more sausage gagging–their awful excuse for a name or their aesthetically repulsive haircuts? #4 – Nena Courtesy of KW Oktoberfest

angry German kid playing Quake on YouTube, and Hitler–when it comes to musical accomplishments, the Germans were once a nation with extensive history in terms of prominent composers (Beethoven, Bach, Handel, Strauss,

Album Review

Paper Trail T.I. Grand Hustle/Atlantic Records

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hese aren’t T.I.’s last words, but sometimes it feels like they are. The self-ordained King of the South, and possibly the most commercially successful rapper of the past five years, has been fighting a serious bout of legal troubles since before he burst onto the major-label scene. His tremendous success has helped him stave off the law — nothing less than a $3 million bond moved him from prison to house arrest last November — but it’s finally caught up with him. After being hit with two felony gun-possession charges, there weren’t too many ways out; in fact, his prison term was reduced from 10 years to one. That year, though, looms pretty large, and you can feel it all over his latest LP, Paper Trail.

The other big T.I. story is that after a career of exclusively memorized lyrics, he’s finally writing his lyrics down–hence the album title.

It’s a surprising decision, and it’s not out of the question to think his ass got kicked into gear after the subpar critical reaction to 2007’s sloppy T.I. vs. T.I.P. But Paper Trail is far from damage control. T.I.’s emphatic acceptance of his fate on the dirgelike third track, “Ready for Whatever,” makes room for a surprisingly triumphant album.

It’s hard to tell if written lyrics made any real difference to T.I. Paper Trail sounds a bit sharper, a bit more concise than T.I. vs. T.I.P. and King. He drawls less and enunciates more.

Lead single “Whatever You Like,” which has

Wagner) as well as the forerunners of recording (Emile Berliner, anyone?)

However, somewhere after World War II proceeding into today, from a musical perspective, Germany lost its sauerkraut. Now don’t get me wrong, I appreciate novelty acts (Metallica) just as much the proletariat, however, I think its fair to say that Germany per capita, has produced the greatest amount of onehit wonders. As we brace ourselves for a week of Bavarian-debauchery, we shall pay tribute to the five most influential German artists post WWII.

been sitting atop the Billboard charts for a while now, is an interesting comparison to the swaggering smash single of a couple years back, “What You Know.” While “What You Know” was a brash assertion of his kingly status, “Whatever You Like” is a restrained assertion of his kingly status. T.I. has less to prove on Paper Trail, and it shows on songs like “Whatever You Like.”

Some songs take the nothing-to-prove thing to the next level. T.I. picks some pretty ridiculous samples on this album, including O-Zone’s “Dragostea Din Tei” (yes, the Numa Numa song) on the Rihanna collaboration “Live Your Life,” which she pulls off with the same aplomb as on 2006’s Soft Cell-sampling “SOS.” The highlight of the album is “Swagga Like Us,” an Olympian posse cut (Hova. Kanye.

Weezy.) that has the four hottest rappers in the game dropping glorious verses over a “Paper Planes” sample.

Tracks like “Swagga Like Us” make it pretty clear that T.I. wants to go out at the top of his game. This could be worrying. When he shines that bright, it almost seems like he wants to burn out, not fade away. Paper Trail is very much a dramatic culmination to T.I.’s career thus far.

T.I. claims to have cut 50 tracks recorded for the album down to 16. As a result, you take a longer look at tracks you’d normally write off as filler. Among them are the generic sex jam “Porn Star” and generic Swizz Beatz club banger “Swing Ya Rag” (if you can ever call Swizzy generic, that is–the song’s about swinging do-rags around your head as the new dance move). The fact that T.I. cares enough to grace us with relatively unambitious tracks like the above suggest Paper Trail isn’t his blaze of glory; that he seriously expects to come back and reclaim his throne in a year. When he claims “I’ll be here when the smoke clears and everything settles,” you take it pretty seriously, like he affirms in the next line, “for real, for real, for real.”

— Andrew Mackenzie

99 Luftballons, auf ihrem weg zum horizont, hielt man fuer UFOs aus dem all darum schickte ein general, eine fliegerstaffel hinterher, alarm zu geben, wenn es so war, dabei war da am horizont nur 99 luftballons

99 duesenjaeger, jeder war ein grosser krieger, hielten sich fuer Captain Kirk das gab ein grosses feuerwerk, die nachbarn haben nichts gerafft, und fuehlten sich gleich angemacht, dabei schoss man am horizont, auf 99 luftballons. #3 – Rammstein Rammstein were around for nearly a decade before they crossed over into North American airwaves with the infamous track “Du Hast,” or in English “You have.” The dance-metal group has sold over 22 million records worldwide and have recently reunited to record their sixth fulllength album. Moreover, they have established themselves as one of the originators of the Neue Deutsche Harte musical genre. #2 – Kraftwerk If it wasn’t for the music of Kraftwerk, artists such as Depeche Mode, Soft Cell, and the Human League wouldn’t exist. Truly, Kraftwerk is by far the most influential band hailing from Deutschland. Their sound combined driving rhythms with catchy melodies with vocals that were generated by computer software which was unprecedented during the late 1970s and early 1980s. #1 – David Hasselhoff Your music sucked, Knight Rider sucked, Baywatch was okay, and you can’t judge for shit on Americas Got Talent. In the quiet words of Uncle Hans, “Fick dich, Wichser.” hcolosimo@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

26

Arts & Entertainment Musings on matt

and the general state of the union Marco:

I saw Matt Damon spouting off about Sarah Palin the other day on YouTube. He was throwing out some pretty valid points, albeit he covered the standard fare: she’s inexperienced, we don’t know anything about her, she may or may not be a religious fundamentalist, she may or may not believe that the world is a few thousand years old, she may or may not be qualified to be president.

Valid points all around. But I think this warrants a discussion nonetheless.

I’ve nothing against Matt Damon. The Departed?

Solid flick. That Bourne trilogy? Pretty sweet. And I’m certainly in line with his observations regarding Sarah Palin. She scares the shit out of me too. But in spite of all this, I was a little dismayed to see his video critique.

Mark:

I hear that. I actually like Matt Damon, too.

Wikipedia says that he went to Harvard for a semester or something, so that basically makes him an expert, right? Well, no, it doesn’t actually.

As much as I like him, I think that our column last week was on how everyone just needs to listen to the issues and make political decisions for themselves, not be told by people who are no more an expert than you or I.

Marco:

Exactly. Damon has as much right as anyone else to run his mouth. But I can’t help but feel a little embarrassed by the fact that this video could jump to the most watched list on YouTube. For one thing, is Matt Damon really our voice of reason now? And are his observations not disturbingly obvious? I mean, this guy is polemically (and justifiably) lampooning the credentials of this woman, and doing it as if he is somehow filling a void. If you were still looking for an indication as to how out of hand celebrity worship has become, I’d say that was it.

Mark:

Maybe we’re being too hypocritical though. I mean, sure, I actually have a degree, but does that make me more qualified to speak than him? I’m not so sure. And as far as him filling a void, he certainly doesn’t, but neither do the “experts” on CNN.

Marco:

No, without a doubt, having a degree doesn’t necessarily qualify someone as an expert in a discipline. And on that note, I’d rather listen to a voice of reason lacking a degree than the converse.

There are certainly more ways to establish ethos than academic laurels. And while we probably don’t have time to get into it in this Attack, I’m as dubious of those CNN “experts” as you are, and I have a hunch that those hacks are part and parcel of this whole celebrity worship problem and “filling the void.” But I think we’re straying from the real tragedy in all this.

Mark:

Which one? That Sarah Palin is only a viable candidate in a culture obsessed with celebrity? That John McCain’s hopes for the presidency reliey on, and continues to be propped up by Palin’s celebrity?

That Matt Damon’s observations, while accurate and reasonable, only perpetuate the very cause of the problem? That as a culture, we turn to those who we celebrate essentially for beauty to provide guidance in our most trying times? Or the fact that we are complacently entertained by this bullshit and are content to accept the genuine possibility of Sarah Palin as Vice President of the United States of America in exchange for roughly two minutes of video on YouTube?

Marco:

(shakes head dejectedly as the sad realization hits home) . . . Christ.

Mark:

I’ll say. arts@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Imprint, Friday, October 10, 2008

Commentary

Understanding “queer” through film

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hate gays. Those words were once said out of frustration. But I have nothing against other homosexuals; I just strongly detest the generalized “queer cultures,”— the stereotypes that society, and largely the film industry, inflict on us.

Being a queer — pansexual — individual who believes that gender and sexual orientation should not define a person, but should perhaps be categorizes as traits — qualities — I cringe and become somewhat frustrated when I see queer culture being portrayed as it most often is on mainstream television: superficial sexual freaks, drama queens who live only for confrontation. As a sociology major however, a part of me has always been fascinated with understanding queer society — especially when it comes to why and how stereotypes about queers were created. Unfortunately, the agitation I felt towards stereotypical queer culture and the fear of finding truth in stereotypes kept me at bay, locking any possibility of research in a closet all its own.

This fall term, I took a risk, I allowed a crack in the closet door to take a newly offered course: FINE 290, Global Queer Cinemas. I didn’t expect much from the course, I suspected that it would be a bird course and would tell me things I already know.

I was wrong.

The course taught me to be open-minded.

It allowed me to study queer culture not as phenomenon to be angered by, but a topic to be understood.

The first film we watched, The Celluloid Closet

by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, offered me insight on the portrayal of gays and lesbians in the early Hollywood era. This was where the stereotypes began. Gay and lesbian were archetypes often used as comedic relief, or as villains. Queers were usually viewed as monsters (sometimes literally — think Dracula’s brides) and would most likely meet a tragic death. At one point they were even banned from the screen. However, at the same time, they started appearing in a subtle sub context, hinted at by a character’s personality or action and written in by clever, queer-friendly directors who allowed for

the open-minded public to read more into their art.

I saw, for the first time, queer beings as individuals pushed into roles of unwilling generalization, instead of flawed social groups with exceptions such as myself. The issue here is not stereotypes, but oppression, and discrimination made on a group in society, similar to racism.

My insights, continued through the film Paris is Burning. While the film reaffirmed many of today’s stereotypes (gays mean drama, queens mean attention, now! etc…), I came to understand that a lot of it is caused by media representation bleeding into reality. And when I say this, I don’t simply mean stereotypes become cultural-fulfilling prophecies; I am talking about an oppressed group in society creating dreams — false standards for themselves — underpinned by the mentality that one must be like a white famous person to be valued in society.

Last week we watched Adventures of Felix, by Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Martineau. This is the first time I’ve witness true gay acceptance in its society. The movie portrayed queer people as regular people. Felix, the main character, was able to be openly gay while on his — unintentional — quest to redefine the definition of family. Based on his sexuality, he was treated the same as anyone else.

Though not as serious as the previous films, Adventures of Felix confirmed the belief I find regularly challenged, that queers people do not have to fall prey to stereotypes, but can be their own individuals if they wish.

This week, FINE 290 is showing “Suddenly,” a lesbian Punk rock film set in Argentina.

I don’t know much about lesbianism, and can hardly wait to see what adventures into the mind it will lead me to.

FINE 290 has open screenings every Thursdays, and I invite you to come explore Global Cinema and queer culture with me ( as the screening is opened to anyone). The movie starts in ECH — Dinh Nguyen Assistant editor-in-chief

Imprint, Friday, October 10, 2008

A&E

27

Album Review

Kill Rock Stars

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ince the mid ‘90s, Deerhoof has been fighting the war on art-rock. After Genesis went all Phil Collins-y and the genre was banished to college radio stations, few have stepped forth as valiantly as they have.

Art-rock’s decline may have had something to do with the (not totally unsubstantiated) stigma that it can be, at times, boring as all hell.

Sometimes you may listen for 10 to 15 minutes before you hit that sweet spot (see Apple O’).

But, when you do get there, there’s a certain prestige that comes with it. It’s like you’ve won the battle of attrition and listen to better music now for it. Deerhoof are no strangers to that battle.

Releasing albums in pretty much every year since their conception, Deerhoof ’s unconventional approach to, well, everything, has become sharper and more vicious with time.

Offend Maggie, the band’s ninth full-length since 1996 (hot damn) is their most focused and straight-forward album to date. Their learned normality began with 2005’s The Runners Four, an honest-to-goodness beast of a guitar rock album, clocking in at just under an hour with 20 tracks. Next, they buckled down even more for 2007’s Friend Opportunity, with its guitar-driven, pop-oriented sound.

Offend Maggie takes what worked best on the last two records and masters it. John Dieterich’s Garage-Rock flamethrower guitar meets Greg Saunier’s heavy, over-mic’d drums on the opener, “The Tears and Music of Love.”

It’s an energetic foot-stomper that’s followed by five more energetic foot-stompers.

The first 18 minutes of the album are classic Deerhoof; they’re all songs with multiple movements, wacky time signatures, unusual song structure – you name it. It reveals itself to the listener immediately, something that no matter how accessible they’ve been prior, have never fully achieved.

Vocalist Satomi Matsuzaki is their most prominent anchor to the fringe, and perhaps the most noticeable aspect of their music to new listeners. The Tokyo-born, former film student never loses her calm, Japanese schoolgirl singing voice. Her ambiguous lyrics and hardly emotive tone are a great juxtaposi-

– Devon Shea

Seth: Render recaptures artist’s vision Continued from page 24

The exhibits are made up of various city buildings constructed in a similar manner to Frank Lloyd Wright’s principles of developing architecture using building blocks. What began as a childhood pastime developed into a mass city, which makes up the Beaver exhibition. Where one appears to be child’s play, Seth’s Dominion City comes across as sophisticated historical replicas.

While his constructions may not be exact copies of what existed, they certainly display the major characteristics of the era.

The exhibition is certainly something that may be enjoyed by all. The visual series is accompanied by film screenings which are free to the public.

Visitors can look in on screenings related to graphic art, comic books, or superheroes. There is no time like the present to re-live a childhood pastime of graphic art. The works themselves

are currently on display in UW’s Render Gallery, which is open every day.

The North Star Talking Picture House is one of Seth’s modelled constructions on display at Render Art Gallery. In addition to the exhibit, the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery is showing animated films in a life-sized replica of Seth’s model, the North Star Talking Picture House. Opportunities are still available to view the screenings at the Render Art Gallery found in our very own East Campus Hall. Animated films will be screened every Friday at 6 p.m. until the first week of December. Films that will be shown include Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez’s Sin City, (2005) and the Adventures of Oswald the Rabbit as well as Toy Story by Andrew Stanton.

For a complete list of the viewings visit www. kwag.on.ca. arts@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Day one and you’re part of the team

©2008 ERNST & YOUNG LLP. Ernst & Young refers to a global organization of member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young LLP is a client-serving member firm located in the Canada.

Offend Maggie Deerhoof

tion to Dieterich’s aggressive guitar work and Saunier’s heavy beats. Plus, if you’ve ever seen them live, she looks to be about 4’9”. Cutest.

Thing. Ever.

The palette-cleansing “Don’t Get Born” is a 49-second interlude into Act II of the album, a considerably mellower and more , dare I say, prog-ier, conclusion to a much more eruptive start.

This is not to say that the second half is any weaker than the first; it just doesn’t pack the same kind of punch. The first song of Act II is “My Purple Past,” which kicks off the second half in much the same way the first one did: with a choppy and forceful guitar riff. However, the song differs from “The Tears and Music and Love” in that a short, ethereal bridge around the two-minute mark leads to a slower-paced jam on which the song concludes. Things only slow down more with the next track, “Family of Others,” the most dissonant and old school Deerhoof song on the record. It features reverb-drenched acoustic guitar and Saunier on vocals. Thankfully, (with the exception of “This is God Speaking”) it’s the end of the aforementioned “boring parts.” “Fresh Born,” “Numia O,” and “Jagged Fruit” are all expertly crafted songs, shifting between the loud, straight-forward rock sound of Act I and the subverted, jarring tension of Act II. Split down the middle, Offend Maggie seems almost like two different albums: the first being what people want to hear, and the second being what people expect to hear. The major difference between this and their older work, like Halfbird or Apple O’, is that the self-indulgent, ambient filler is kept to a minimum. They’ve paced the album in such a way that the breakdown is as subtle as the build up was intense. This way there is no lingering adrenaline when they want you to pay attention to something softer, or delicate.

The truth is that if you choose to accept Deerhoof for what it is, you have to be ready to accept some of the obstacles that come with it. With Offend Maggie however, those obstacles shouldn’t be anything that even the tamest of music listeners can’t handle. It appears that gone are the days of 24-minute acoustic jams or 10 minute synth experiments.

Deerhoof ’s career has been working backwards since The Runners Four: going from abstract, independent, art-rock freaks to just regular art-rock freaks. Granted, regular for Deerhoof may be entirely different from the traditional definition, but the point is that they’re making poignant music that everybody can, and should, appreciate. Offend Maggie is the band’s most streamlined, and potentially best album to date. With their ever-growing, full-attack mode becoming more powerful, it would be no surprise at all to see Offend Maggie take its godforsaken genre out of the trenches and back into the limelight where it belongs.

Day one. It’s when you have the opportunity to focus on your career, your life and your community.

It’s when your experiences, ideas and opinions count.

And it’s when you’re welcomed into an environment embracing diversity and encouraging inclusiveness.

From your very first day, we’re committed to helping you achieve your potential. So, whether your career lies in assurance, tax, transaction or advisory services, shouldn’t your day one be at Ernst & Young?

What’s next for your future?

Visit ey.com/ca/careers and our Facebook page.

28

Arts & Entertainment

Imprint, Friday, October 10, 2008

Location in film

The second coming of webcomicists

F

rom what I’ve witnessed, webcomic artists venture in one of three directions: they choose to end their internet legacy and begin to make graphic novels for print, they extend their legacy through merchandise and printed comics for sale, or they approach what this weeks’ column is about.

A recent trend among many well-known webcomicists is the creation of a new series. Of course, the approach is a bit ambitious considering the time constraints involved, as many Megatokyo fans are aware of with Fred Gallagher’s still-tobe-released series Warmth (which I’m aware is meant to be a print series, not a webcomic). Suffice it to say, there are many webcomic artists out there who work on more than one project at a time.

Either it’s just a way to extend their work, or the artists/writers haven’t done a webcomic in a long time.

Let’s start with those who are extending their portfolio. Two webcomic artists come to mind when it comes to working on more than one series: Gisele Legace and Remy “Eisu” Mokhtar. Canadianbred, Legace’s Archie-meets-manga styling is extremely recognizable in webcomic circles, as she’s the artist of Penny & Aggie (www.pennyandaggie.com) and Cool Cat Studio, as well as the artist and co-writer of Menage a 3 (www.menagea3.net).

Eisu, hailing from Malaysia, has

comics such as Marry Me (www. marrymemovie.com) and No Pink Ponies (www.nopinkponies.com) on his belt. And these mentioned are just a sample of the things they’ve worked on.

Of course, having a ton of projects like these has affected their workload and schedules. Mokhtar completed the artwork for Marry Me a couple of months ago and has recently gone under an indefinite (but most likely, temporary) hiatus,

has only begun and may not be much of a trend, is the return of webcomicists who stopped making comics after a long while.

The first group of webcartoonists that come to mind are artist Ian McConville and writer Matthew Boyd. With their new comic Three Panel Soul (www.threepanelsoul. com), which has, so far, gone fairly steady in updates for the last half year, paling in comparison to the update schedule of their old webcomic, Mac Hall (www. machall.com) — which they would both admit was extremely atrocious. Lemuel “Lemmo” Pew and Aric McKeown have also risen from the dead and started Blank It (www.blankitcomics.com), which takes the concept of two characters living in a blank void of randomness. You may recognize Lemmo by his older nickname, Hot Soup, and from the classic webcomic Lethal Doses (www.lethaldoses.com). Yuko Ota of Fallen (www.fallencomic. com) has (finally) started a new webcomic too; with Applegeeks writer Ananth Peter Trinh Panagariya, they’ve started an auto-bio comic called and Legace has had to shift her work Johnny Wander (www.johnnywander. schedule with newer projects, leading com). For these guys, all it takes is to fewer updates for her comics. some time to consider a better and Of course, the same could be said fresher idea. for Canadian artist Ramon Perez, It’s never a bad idea to add to webcomicist of Butternutsquash your portfolio. Mind you, it may (www.butternutsquash.net) and end up forcing you to change your Kukuburi (www.kukuburi.com), as work schedule, but if all goes well, well as a comic artist for the Degrassi: you definitely stand to benefit.

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ocation, location, location.

As strong as these words are in real estate, they may be even more important in film. A good location is very important to making a movie, including everything from the city the story plays out in to the house the characters live in. A film’s location is the world in which its characters act out their parts, and that world plays an important role in the film itself.

Early in the history of cinema, most movies were filmed on studio backlots, where the worlds of the characters were created by set designers. Some sets were handpainted and when watched today seem very fake; yet many others re-created real world places — like New York City — and looked as real as if film-makers were taping on Madison Ave. This kind of filming does continue today but on-lot filming is usually reserved for green screen filming and huge elaborate sets are usually not created.

One of the earliest films to go on location was On the Town with Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, and Ann Miller. The film follows a group of sailors around Manhattan on their day leave from the Navy, and it develops into a search for a woman that Kelly happened to see while riding the subway. The film visits many of the major sights in New York, including the Museum of Natural History, Central Park, and Liberty Island, and it marks the beginning of the shift towards filming on location rather than on set.

Another early film that explored filming on location was Roman Holiday. The film, for those who haven’t seen it follows Princess Anne (Audrey Hepburn), who has escaped from her palace, through Rome with her reporter-guide Gregory Peck. The two visit all the famous sites of Rome, from the Spanish steps to the Trevi Fountain to the Bocca della Veriata, and creates a film that is both enthralling and beautiful to watch.

Now, as it was then, locations that only look like a certain city or town are often used instead of the actual location in order to save money. Many in southwestern Ontario have noted that the most

recent adaptation of The Incredible Hulk was set in New York but was filmed primarily in Hamilton, Dundas, and Toronto. I think we can all remember the fight scene that took place on Yonge St. and showed the unmistakable neon of such landmarks as “gentlemen’s club” Zanzibar or the spinning discs of Sam the Record Man. Location can be more than just an enthralling backdrop; it can become a secondary character. The idea is not new but it is still an important one. Films like Breakfast at Tiffany’s use the cities that they are filmed in as a secondary character.

In Tiffany’s, Hepburn’s character, Holly Golightly, is the girl about town that would not exist in any other place but Manhattan. She is the original “New York girl” and her character needs the surroundings of the city to make herself come to life. Even the titular Tiffany’s store, the landmark on Fifth Ave, plays a key role, creating a sense of romance and playfulness. I personally don’t think it could have worked anywhere else.

Location, as I said before, also focuses on the homes and neighbourhoods of characters. If you think of Father of the Bride (either the original or the remake), the house of George Bank (played by Spencer Tracy and Steve Martin, respectively) plays an important role for the character. He loves his home because it represents family to him and his memories of his daughter’s youth. It is an integral part in his life and gives the character the safety needed to exist and act the way in which he does.

Obviously, a location is needed in order to film a movie, but the selection of that location is what is important. Filmmakers need a location that can support the characters and create a world for their story to take place in, and they sometimes even need that location to act as a character within the story. Like I said earlier, real estate and movies have location in common; a good location can sell a house, just like a good location can sell a movie.

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Science & Technology Roger Penrose ... Offers up the emperor’s newest lecture at UW

Imprint, Friday, October 10, 2008 science@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Taylor Helferty staff reporter

First sustainable dance club

A new dance club has opened in Rotterdam, The Netherlands and is the first to have sustainability in mind. The club, called Watt, saves 30 per cent of its energy consumption, 50 per cent water use; carbon dioxide emissions reduced by 30 per cent, and waste is reduced by 50 per cent. This is done through LED lights, rainwater catchment system for the toilets, and waterless urinals. The coolest part is, the floor is completely powered by the people dancing.

The dance floor is full of LED lights which is powered by the kinetic energy given off by the dancers. Although their kinetic energy only powers the floor for now, they are looking for ways to have it power more of the club in the future. New sustainable clubs are also being planned for either London or Berlin. Nothing for Waterloo yet, but maybe one isn’t too far into the future. Until then, if you’re in The Netherlands and want to let loose, why not turn that energy into . . . well, energy.

GIMP 2.6 released

For all of you open source fans, or people who aren’t fans of spending a thousand dollars on Photoshop, the new GIMP Image Editor has been released. If you don’t know what GIMP is, it’s a popular open source and free image editing program, and with this release it is closer to being just as efficient as Photoshop. Version 2.6 addresses many of the issues that held professional photographers and other people back from it. These updates include a new interface and support for the Generic Graphics Library (GEGL). The user interface has been tidied up with some parts merged nicely into others. Additionally, the document window (the window that holds the image being edited) is always there even when an image isn’t opened. GEGL is a huge step forward for many professional image editors and photographers as it allows for the support of 32 bits of colour information per channel; previously GIMP only supported eight. For simple image editing, eight is fine, but 32 offers a lot more. The software is available at www.gimp.org. To find out more about open source software, see “Sustainable Living” on page 30.

Another reason to fear the LHC?

Jerry Bauer

Steve Chung reporter

L

ast week, I listened to a public lecture hosted by the Perimeter Institute featuring Sir Roger Penrose, entitled “Before the Big Bang: Is There Evidence For Something And If So, What?” I walked into a high school auditorium welcomed by big lights and cameras, taking my seat to watch a sold-out lecture.

It’s no surprise the auditorium was brimming with people — although the Waterloo region has grown accustomed to receiving high-end intellectuals, Penrose is of particularly high stature.

If you haven’t heard of Penrose, you should at least hear about Turok. It was on Neil Turok’s first day as executive director of the Perimeter Institute that the Penrose lecture was held.

The Penrose-Turok duo may attract Stephen Hawking to the area as Turok has intensive experience describing the birth of inflationary universes. This is interesting since John Penrose collaborated with Stephen Hawking on studying the black holes which form from the collapse of large stars. Hawking and Penrose share the 1975 Royal Astronomical Society’s Eddington Medal and the 1988 Wolf Prize.

Based on the Friedman Oscillating model, Penrose proposes that there isn’t just one big bang. Instead, the universe undergoes a series of oscillations, each one starting with a big bang

and ending with a collapsing “pop.” Then a big bang starts up again, starting the cycle.

The reasoning behind this is the second law of thermodynamics, which states that as time goes on there is more disorder or entropy.

Heat also follows this law from a low amount of high energy photons to a high amount of chaotic low energy photons. So eventually, the universe increases in entropy until the universe is colder then black holes. The black holes evaporate and “pop”. In this state, Penrose believes there that there are only photons, implying there is no mass and no time. At this point, the universe expands again. Like he said, “this theory leaves more questions than answers,” and Penrose is still working on proving his theory by examining cosmic microwave background radiation.

But Roger Penrose’s arrival is not radical to the physics community in Kitchener-Waterloo, which has been growing in the past decade. The physics community has been greatly affected by the founding of the Perimeter Institute in 1999 with an initial project donation by Mike Lazaridis, the co-founder of Research in Motion. “In the past three years, we have started to see more students coming to Waterloo because of the Perimeter Institute,” said Michael Fich, an Astronomy Professor at UW. A subsequent donation of $50 million was made by RIM in June 2008, it’s clear the physics community is using the intellectual momentum the KW area

is gaining to its advantage.

It’s also worth mentioning that Mike Lazaridis has donated $200 million to the Waterloo science community, a quarter of that going to the Quantum Computing Institute. Maybe that’s why the Kitchener-Waterloo area is so smart — according to the Canadian Council on Learning’s annual Canadian Learning Index, Kitchener places forth amongst the big cities, and Waterloo’s brains are growing fast.

“We are probably the strongest group in Canada in observational extragalactic astronomy — the study of the Universe outside of our own Milky Way Galaxy,” says Finch. The inclination of the Perimeter Institute towards astronomy is what drew in Roger Penrose to lecture here.

Furthermore, with the creation of the Quantum Computing Institute and the involvement in building the largest telescope ever launched into space, UW has been significantly contributing to the development of the physics community.

“We have one of the strongest, most active physics and astronomy departments in Canada,” says Fich. “Several years in the past two decades UW has been the largest undergraduate physics program in Canada.”

Hopefully UW and the Perimeter Institute will continue to brew intellect in the KW-area, attracting ambitious students and established researchers alike.

Even though it’s shut down for now, there could be another reason to fear the LHC. The fearful object is what is known as a BEC, or Bose-Einstein Condensate. The BEC is basically a type of particle that, at extremely low temperatures, lock together into a new particle. With enough energy thrown at these BECs, they could potentially explode into Bose supernovas, releasing vast amounts of energy. The LHC contains 120 tonnes of superfluid Helium 2.

Helium 2 is also a BEC and is being used inside a massive machine that juggles huge amounts of energy. CERN again has assured us it is safe and that (so far) none of the handling facilities for the fluid have blown up. Then again, it’s already had two — albeit minor — technical difficulties.

Solar balloon plant created

The company Cool Earth Solar has built inflatable balloon-like solar concentrators, and they are building a power plant for the inventions. In the plant they will test out different designs to improve the technology and will launch the first commercial-grade plant in winter. If it is successful, they will expand further.

The plant is small at only 1.4 MW, but plans for a plant sporting between 10 and 30 MW is slated for the summer. The actual device is a thin-film balloon that concentrates solar light into a point that goes into the photovoltaic cell in the centre.

This design creates 400 times more energy than the cell would without the balloon. As well, the device is cheap and easy to make. According to CEO Rob Lankin of Cool Earth Solar, the plastic material only costs two dollars per concentrator. If successful, this could become a great new energy source that will hopefully spread far.

— With files from Ars technica, Inhabitat, Slahdot News, And Clean Technica

graphics by Geoffrey Lee

thelferty@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

30

Science & Technology

Imprint, Friday, October 10, 2008

The future of e-waste T

here are a lot of expensive programs out there that students need (or just want). Photoshop: $699. MS Office Home and Student Edition: $149. However, what about the alternatives? GIMP Image Editor: $0.

OpenOffice.org Office Suite: $0. Both GIMP and OpenOffice are examples of open source software. Many of you have probably already heard of open source, as it is gaining new ground in the computer world.

Open source software is what its name suggests: the source of the program is open for everyone.

This is important for developers and programs, as they can download the source for a program like GIMP and change it around for their own liking or to make it better, then give it back to the community. Even if you’re not a developer, the software is usually free and always being updated by users, for users. Although it is generally associated with Linux, there are many programs out there that are compatible with both Windows and Mac. Chances are, you’re already using open source software. Firefox, VLC media player, and many Google products, such as Picasa, are open source.

So, how is software sustainable?

Not all means of sustainability have visual signs like running water or carbon emissions. Open source is sustainable in that it is available for free or reasonable charge to the community for further development and

evolution of software for the people, not the company.

The Free Software Foundation defines “free” in the following manner: “The freedom to run the program, for any purpose. The freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to your needs. The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbour.

The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits.” So by that definition, open source software is sustainable for the community. As well, since the vast majority of open source software is free, it is sustainable for your wallet.

The biggest example of open source software is the operating system: Linux.

This comes in many forms, some of which you may be familiar with. Ubuntu, Fedora, OpenSUSE, Debian, and the new and popular gOS are examples.

The belief that Linux is only for highly advanced computer users writing code all day is no longer true in the least.

Anyone and their grandmother’s cats can use Linux after a bit of getting used to it.

Code rarely needs to be used, and if you’re the type who uses a computer for web surfing, word processing, and media then Linux is ready to go with all of it from the start. If you want to leave Windows or Mac behind and truly take on the open source world, I suggest visiting the distribution websites (or visit the CHIP desk) for more information and

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the download for the operating system.

A full Linux distribution is not only sustainable through community and freedom of use, but environmentally as well. Linux distributions generally use less resources from your computer, and thus less power.

Even the newest distributions work on older computers (particularly Xubuntu and gOS, among others) that newer Windows or Mac operating systems would chug along on. This is huge since e-waste is a massive deficit environmentally. According to Greenpeace, in 2000 alone 4.6 million tonnes of e-waste ended up in American landfills.

This can only get worse with companies such as Microsoft making operating systems so demanding, people are forced to buy new computers to keep up.

Linux eliminates this problem, as there is a distribution of Linux for basically any age or type of computer that isn’t physically broken. Continuing with the topic of waste, Linux and many open source programs, including those for Windows and Mac, are downloaded directly from a website, and with a bit of easy tweaking Linux itself can be installed through a re-usable USB stick. This eliminates the need to manufacture and use compact discs or DVDs, especially with operating systems where you generally only use the disc once or twice.

So I recommend that everyone take a look at open source alternatives to their software needs. Check out the Free Software Foundation (http://www. fsf.org/) or the Open Source Initiative (http://www.opensource.org/) for more information on software to download.

Take a look through Linux distribution websites and forums and ask the communities about recommendations and tips (Ubuntu, OpenSUSE,

and Fedora have especially large and helpful communities), even if you don’t want to use Linux. There are many Windows and Mac users within those communities that can help you out or recommend some great software. The CHIP desk in the Math

and Computer Science building also has lots of software and install discs for Ubuntu. As IBM says in their various Linux advertisements: “The future is open.” thelferty@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Stop by Imprint in room 1118 in the SLC between 11:30 to 3 pm this Wednesday, October 15 to find out how you can contribute to your future or e-mail science@imprint.uwaterloo.ca to schedule an appointment at an alternative time.

Science & Technology

Imprint, Friday, October 10, 2008

31

Rules of attraction

T

his article carries bad news for all the buff guys pumping steel to attract the ladies’ attention: next time you’re at the gym, pause and take a look in the mirror and ask yourself, “Am I symmetrical?� If not, you may want to consider saving the money from food supplements to save up for an appointment with a plastic surgeon to maximize your lady magnet potential.

Facial symmetry happens to be an unmodifiable factor in male selection.

Thankfully, it is not the only factor determining attractiveness, or else plastic surgery would have to be included in health plans worldwide.

Although symmetry has been considered a cross-cultural idiom of physical beauty across time, only recently has scientific research shown that the preference for symmetry is actually linked to reproductive fitness. From an evolutionary perspective, it is theorized that facial and physical symmetry are associated with good health of the individual and the health of potential offspring.

Genetically, symmetry indicates health and “developmental stability,� according to Jean-Guy Godin, the former dean of the Faculty of Science of Carleton University. While reproductive fitness is not generally something a woman thinks about when initially being attracted to a man with symmetrical features, the physiological pull towards symmetry is undeniable.

It’s no surprise that women have symmetry on the brain, as the research of Randy Thornhill and Steven Gangestad of the University of New Mexico showed that “during the fertile time of the menstrual cycle, women have a preference for the scent of symmetrical men.� Furthermore, their study, which included 86 heterosexual couples, discovered that there was a positive connection between the symmetry of the male and the increased frequency of orgasms for the female.

Smell plays a further role in mate selection in helping to create greater genetic diversity. Claus Wedekind of the University of Lausanne discov-

Wael Elsweisi reporter

Early, non-invasive detection of Down’s syndrome

ered that women prefer the scent of men who are the most genetically dissimilar to them. Claus reached this conclusion after asking a sample of men to wear a shirt without altering their natural scent with the use of items like perfume, deodorant, and scented soap for two days. When females were asked to smell these samples, those who found the odour pleasant had a “different major histocompatibility complex genotype (MHC) than the men who wore that particular T-shirt.� Theoretically, the attraction of females to males with a genetic makeup different from theirs is for the purpose of creating genetic diversity in the offspring, which may lead to better survival chances against diseases. In terms of evolution, this “opposites attract� phenomenon may also have been a way of ensuring females mated as far outside the family line as possible.

The research on symmetry and body odour is somewhat disheartening, since these two factors are difficult to change. On the other hand, Alfred Prince’s research on the undesirable qualities for mate selection, which appeared in the Family Life Co-ordinator journal, provides a list of undesirable partner values that are easier to fix than symmetry and natural scent. The qualities listed by males, in order of most repugnant to tolerable, are 1) selfishness and inconsiderateness, 2) lacking personal cleanliness, 3) lacking homemaking ability, 4) low moral standards and 5) low intelligence. Similarly, women listed 1) selfishness and inconsiderateness as most undesirable, 2) lacking in ambition or lazy, 3) conceitedness 4) low moral standards and 5) lacking personal cleanliness.

Fortunately, the undesirable qualities listed in Prince’s research are mostly modifiable. At least it’s comforting to know that symmetry isn’t everything, although I’m not sure if I enjoy this new stance either — being a desirable mate seems like much more work Alfred Prince’s way.

Unfortunately, pregnant women at high risk of having a baby with Down’s syndrome must go through the tough decision of whether or not to allow invasive tests to formally identify their baby’s condition. The invasive procedure involves sampling amniotic fluid surrounding the fetus, and while it provides accurate results, the procedure carries a one per cent risk of miscarriage.

To ease the burden of testing, scientists have discovered a noninvasive testing procedure that involves analyzing fetal DNA from a sample of the mother’s blood.

The plausibility of this procedure depends on the fact that the placenta sheds fetal cells into the woman’s bloodstream, therefore providing an applicable sample for identifying Down’s syndrome.

In the case of the baby receiving an extra copy of the chromosome 21 from either parent, the tests provide positive Down’s syndrome results. The resulting extra DNA crosses the placenta and enters the mother’s bloodstream. Recently, a genetic approach called “shotgun sequencing� was performed on a drop of blood from each of 18 pregnant women. Nine were later correctly identified as having babies with Down’s syndrome, with no false positives. “There is no question that these non-invasive tests will be introduced in the next few years,� said Carol Boys of the Down’s syndrome Association. The study is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

A controversial component of Down’s syndrome testing remains the provided option of abortion for

mothers whose fetuses test positive for the syndrome. The option of abortion upon positive diagnosis is controversial because it clashes against the humility of the noninvasive method of testing.

Pollution may cause appendicitis

Although a definitive biological role for the appendix remains unclear, its inflammation, or appendicitis, has recently been linked to high pollution conditions. Other contributors include infection and obstruction.

A University of Calgary team has found a 15 per cent increase in patient hospitalization during high ozone alert days when compared to days with low levels. Other key pollutants include sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, and particulate matter.

Inflamed appendices have to be surgically removed to prevent their bursting into the bloodstream, with potentially life-threatening consequences. “If the relationship between air pollution and appendicitis is confirmed, then improving air quality may prevent the occurrence of appendicitis in some individuals,� said lead researcher Gilaad Kaplan.

Exotic pets pose risks to children

Reptiles, monkeys, and rodents surely qualify as exotic pets, but that doesn’t make them innocent. Exotic pets have been skyrocketing in popularity, even though they have been found to pose many health risks for babies, toddlers, and even adults with weak immune systems, according to the American Academy of Paediatrics.

In terms of exotic pets, “acquisition and ownership should be discouraged in households with young children,� said study authors from the University School of Medicine in Atlanta.

For instance, hedgehogs can spread ringworm; macaque monkey bites can cause hepatitis B; and reptiles or amphibians cause six per cent of all sporadic salmonella infections in the U.S. — around 74,000 instances annually.

Those of you that have young children at home, but refuse to get rid of your exotic pet(s): researchers advise that you educate your children about frequent hand washing, avoiding the pets’ living quarters, or even having them avoid direct contact with the pet(s) altogether.

Coma patients may feel pain

Recent evidence suggests that coma patients at a “minimally conscious state� (MCS) may feel pain as much as healthy people do. Study authors note that their research is enough to justify administration of painkillers to all MCS patients. “I think it definitely means [MCS patients] feel pain because they activate the whole pain matrix... but what they feel is still an open question, whether they feel it the same way we do,� said author Steven Laureys of the University of Liege in Belgium.

Those coma patients in a “persistent vegetative state,� however, did not show much evidence of pain sensation, but this wasn’t surprising.

The interpretation of patients’ brain scans has become a subject much debate among neurologists, however. MCS patients might activate neurological pathways for pain, but this doesn’t mean they actually feel it. The study is published in the Lancet Neurology. welsweisi@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

— With Files from BBC News, Newscientist.com, and Globe and Mail

alomako@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

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32

Comics & Distractions

By Kevin Shahbazi

Who is your dream Prime Minister?

“Mr. Dressup, because he pulls magic solutions out of his tickle trunk.”

Sheryl-Ann Schrik 3B recreation & leisure

“Gandhi.”

Sara Turkmani 1A arts

“Oprah.”

Ikran Aden

1A biomedical science

“Nobody.”

Rob Pettapiece 3B math

“Jim Carrey, because he’s funny.”

Saad Awan 3B electrical engineering

“Justin Trudeau, because I think he’s a good speaker and he will bring back what the Liberals used to stand for.”

Divya Karsanji

4B biomedical science

“Richard Dawkins.”

Samantha Widmeyer 1A life sciences

“Terrance and Phillip.”

Robbie Francioso (left) & Akshay Balakrishnan (right) 3B software engineering

Photos by Ethan Oblak

October 3 solutions editor@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Imprint, Friday, October 10, 2008

Crossword Maggie Clark

You can’t please everyone — or can you? After receiving a slew of comments praising the difficulty level of recent crosswords, and others condemning it, here’s a happy medium: Two crosswords, one mostly difficult; the other mostly easy. Pick the skill level you prefer!

Easy Puzzle Across 1. Short for robot 4. Who, ____, where, when, why 8. Bright thought 12. Sandwich shop 13. Lotus position discipline 14. Think over 15. Programmer 16. The sound of an alarm 18. Alternate name for Zarathustra; founder of Zoroastrianism 20. Part of a TV feed 21. Tokyo, formerly 22. Assembled 23. Oily 24. Chocolate chip, for one 26. Mine entrance 28. Boot part 29. Houses, when properly inhabited 30. Impersonator 31. Email, e.g.

32. What people typically spike at parties, 2 wds 35. Brad, for one 38. Condo division 39. “____ and puffs” 43. Devoured 44. Ran 45. Thrash (from the Dutch, larpen) 46. A kind of job 48. Allow 49. Santa ___ (city in California) 50. Some people of Middle-Eastern descent 51. Gathered bits of information 54. Archaic term for institutions dedicated to the treatment of chronic or long-term disease 56. Owner of the “razor” that highlights the philosophy that, of two competing theories, the simplest should always be preferred 57. Overseas Technology Information Service 58. Part of the eye providing some focus 59. Opposite of a coin’s head 60. Man with strong sexual desires; satyr 61. Reappropriated slang term for lesbian; also, a drainage ditch 62. . . . - - - . . .

Down 1. The room where you sleep 2. Old name for margarine (literally, oil) 3. Sponge cake soaked in espresso and cream 4. Poet who introduced the sonnet to English literature 5. What you dig in the ground 6. Vegetable gelatin made from algae or seaweed 7. Pitch 8. Spread or diffuse through 9. Deadline, 2wds 10. Ralph Waldo 11. Mixed with another metal 12. Excrement, if you’re three 15. The Republic that’s home to Prague 17. Store 19. Behold 23. Italian bicycle tour; also, a term for direct deposit (opposite of a cheque) 25. Saved 26. One member of the “cattle” wrangled by ants 27. Money owed 30. Face pimples 31. Offensive remark 33. Zero 34. Unspecified objects 35. Umbrella for sunshine 36. Repeat an action 37. Pertaining to, or causing, tetany 40. Name meaning “French man” or “Free man” 41. Pertaining to fungus; a kind of infection 42. Muscle movement that causes cramping 44. Clenched hand 45. Common letter group in “plead,” “glean,” and “fleas” 47. To make ashamed 48. Rent 51. Not quite white or black 52. What you click to jump from webpage to page 53. Institute of Charter Accountants of Ontario 55. Not young

AFM is a real downer but I’m really glad we’re in the same group, working on Mike’s Bike’s. I don’t mind giving you tips on our marketing pitch. But maybe if you check out my profile on Managefreedom.com, you’ll find more than just marketing tips! Let’s talk about it over some drinks – Sara 1A Hey Megan A, baby, i have been lusting for you for almost a year now, but ever since my best friend B.M asked you out i couldnt do anything. Now that he is finally gone on co op, and living in NWT i think we can start something while hes not here; you know my adress i live on spruce and i straighten my hair just the way you like it. I would have told you earlier but he just

Difficult Puzzle Across 1. Feds for masters students 4. Tibetan teacher of Dharma 8. Great addition to any cowboy boot 12. Atomic number 26, on the table of elements 13. Biological class for birds 14. Black forest, wedding, butter, upside-down...

15. Genus of most common African lizard 16. Tiny fish species that have their young gestate in the males’ bellies 18. Junior officer (military) 20. Discolouration in a mineral 21. What poor students should be careful not to start when drinking 22. Poetic “over” 23. Your brother’s mother’s sister’s son, to your mother 24. Ready to snap, 2 wds 26. Fill in the blank: ___ audition, ____ source, ____ door 28. Beer brewed from malted barley in topfermenting brewers’ yeast 29. Lines joining the center of a circle to points on the circumference 30. As with a sword 31. Ran off 32. To give in 35. A loud, echoing sound 38. Preposition formed from two others 39. Boredom 43. Lysergic acid diethylamide 44. A right to possess someone’s property until their debt is paid 45. Demands 46. Also known as the Painted Leopard 48. Third person pronoun 49. Jelly-like material formed from colloidal solution 50. After the moon waxed, it...

51. To foreshadow (archaic) 54. Pertaining to the outer-most layer of skin 56. Unthinking routines 57. Famous resort near Californian border once noted as a centre for divorce 58. Rank below marquee and above viscount 59. One who has a computer account 60. Was observed 61. The people who are always saying things about a wide range of topics 62. Maude Barlow is considered to be this by some in Canadian politics

Down 1. Took 2. The whole body of an organism, save for those pesky germ cells 3. Pertaining to an analogy 4. Theodore Maiman created the first functional one of these 5. Term for animal used in agriculture (and you thought just renaming them when they’re dead and tasty was bad!)

6. A kind of average 7. Egyptian god of oases; also the remnants of a fire 8. Ferrous material generally remelted and recast 9. Ancient name for Passover 10. Tiny, four-stringed instrument 11. Sewn again 12. Large tropical reptile sometimes kept as a pet 15. The Waldorf Hotel was founded by this prominent American family 17. Portent 19. Stand used in golf 23. What you might read when you’ve finished the crossword 25. Display on a radio 26. Greek hunter known for his belt 27. Ball-___ hammer; also, an engineer’s hammer 30. Fool 31. To manage without help 33. What your smoker friends keep saying they’ll do 34. Largest part of the human brain 35. Those who till the earth 36. The late Paul Newman, as the indomitable Cool Hand Luke, was one of these 37. Bonds with thymine or uracil 40. In logic, where a proposition does not hold it is _______ 41. Muscular duct propelling urine from the kidneys to bladder 42. Small islands 44. Vein of ore deposited between layers of rock 45. Unit of measurement of electrical resistance 47. Deceived, 2 wds 48. Dirty 51. Thai for “mother” 52. The alternate for “truth,” when you’re in primary school 53. This woman refused to stand up; and in so doing, stood up for a whole lot more 55. Resolution enhancement technology

left for his co op job today. Me and you can make sandwiches, i can be the bread, and you can be the butter baby. For ever and always S. Zangooi

tuesdays, times are up on the website. I’d love it if you’d stop in and say hi, or let me know if you read this if I see you in C+D again :). - Oppressed

Angel, When I saw you fly by me in your little white corset and adorable knee high socks,I saw a glimpse of heaven.I wanted to tell you that you’re just so cute. Slow down the next time you fly by the bus stop and look around, maybe you’ll like what you see and fly away with me. Soulless

To the gorgeous brunette in HIST 110 last winter. I had forgotten how beautiful you looked until saw you last Friday passing through the physics building,‘round noon.

I’m at the SLC Tim’s 12:30 everyday maybe we could make up for missing out last semester?

We trained together a couple of Saturdays ago, and you sold me a doughnut early last thursday at Sci C+D. I didn’t get much chance to get to know you, and I’d like to.

I’m in the office (you know which one) on

Missed a connection? Srsly, e-mail distractions@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Comics & Distractions

Imprint, Friday, October 10, 2008

POSTSCRIPT

33

BY GRAHAM MOOGK-SOULIS

IMPRESSION, BY JIM & LAN

LOOSE SCREWS

BY KURTIS ELTON

BY GEOFFREY LEE & SONIA LEE

IN THE WEEDS

BY MATT FIG, BRANDON FORLER, AND KEEGAN TREMBLAY

RUNAWAY RINGTOSS

BY PETER N. TRINH

Sports & Living

Imprint, Friday, October 10, 2008 sports@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Warriors PlayoffBound Courtesy matt hayes

Matt Hayes reporter

O

ver the past week the Waterloo Warriors baseball team had a clear cut goal in mind as they looked ahead to the last five games of their regular season: playoffs.

This was no simple task, as four of these games were against Brock and Western — who sit first and second in the OUA respectively. First on the schedule however was a Wednesday night thriller against UW’s cross town rivals: the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks.

The game began with little offence and the Warriors’ hopes looked grim; they were falling behind 4–0 after the fifth inning. The sixth inning marked an offensive explosion by the Warriors when they managed to march nine runs across the plate. They proceeded to capitalize on some sloppy defensive plays by the Hawks and clutch hitting from Travis Hendry, who managed two RBIs in the inning.

Pitcher Kyle Loeppky then blew away the Laurier batters, pitching four and two-thirds innings to close the game, allowing only one run and two hits. This secured an essential 9–5 win for the Gold and Black team. The Warriors then looked forward to Western the following day, but due to weather, the games were pushed back to Monday.

With the Western games postponed, the Warriors welcomed the number one ranked Brock Badgers to Jack Couch Field for a double header on Saturday, October 4. Game one had a rather interesting element added to it as former Warrior Wes Koch took to the mound wearing the Badgers’ red and blue.

Koch pitched a complete game, allowing only four hits and no runs. Adam Lentz started the game for the Warriors but ran into control problems with his pitches and ended up walking seven batters. The Warriors dropped game

one 6–0 and looked to rebound later that day in the second of the two games. However, they stumbled from the beginning of the game as pitching and defense led to an early, and what proved to be an insurmountable, 9–1 lead by the end of the fifth inning. Waterloo, although dejected by the two losses, knew that playoffs were not out of reach just yet.

With two losses to Brock, the Warriors team that fell one game short of playoffs last year needed back-to-back wins against a strong number two ranked Western team on Monday. Game one of this double header sent Anthony Douris to the mound against a Western batting lineup full of power and speed. However, Douris didn’t disappoint. He went the distance, allowing only one unearned run and two hits in a simply magnificent performance. Waterloo’s offence again came alive late in the game as a four-run fifth inning sealed a victory for the never-say-die Warriors squad. Elliot Shrive went two for three with two RBIs to lead the Warriors.

Game two was another exciting affair as everyone in attendance knew the stakes going into the game. The Warriors sent Nick Licskai out to start the game and after five strong innings the game sat at a 3–3 tie.

Derek Junkin came in to relieve Licskai in the sixth and he never looked back, pitching three scoreless innings and allowing only one hit. This set up the Warriors for an eigth inning rally to seal a 4–3 victory and, more importantly, a playoff berth.

Jason Diniz-Wood had a clutch two RBI hit in the fifth inning to spur the Warriors onto the post season. The Warriors begin their march towards an OUA title on Friday, October 10 in St. Catherines against the Brock Badgers at 7:00 p.m. Game two will be at Jack Couch Field here in Kitchener the following day at 1:00 p.m.

Men’s baseball team gains chances at OUA title; starts out Friday, October 10 to that end

Courtesy matt hayes

UW Warriors triumph over Laurier and OUA second-ranked Western, to secure a coveted place in the playoffs.

Staying fit while at UW Tim Clark Reporter

A

s a first year UW student and experienced weight lifter, I’m quickly finding out how hard it can be to adapt to the fast pace of university life. Having been used to working out two to three hours a day, six days a week, attempting to balance exercise with my class workloads has been a bigger challenge than I anticipated. Between classes, studying, and work, it’s hard for me to find any free time to hit the weights — even now, when I need exercise the most.

With the stress created through balancing work and school, maintaining a healthy body,

for me, is more important now than ever. It’s no secret that exercising is crucial to maintaining a healthy body, but what many of us don’t know is how important it is to our mental health. A strong body helps us withstand the effects of stress.

Victoria Bambrick, a conditioning and wellness co-op student working at Columbia Icefields (CIF), states that exercise “reduces stress, [and] is good for [our] overall health, helps us live longer, and takes our minds off school.” It also burns adrenaline stores, which build up from daily minor stresses such as tests and lectures.

With the need to find an outlet for my stress, I looked for time-efficient ways to exercise on campus and was shocked how easy it was.

When I asked around for directions to the gym, I learned that CIF is merely a 10 minute walk from the SLC. The staff informed me that the gym is open seven days a week and free for UW students. CIF is an ideal place to get a solid workout routine started.

If you are unsure about what exercises are right for you, the trainers are happy to answer any questions and show you the various exercise machines such as treadmills, stair masters, and exercise bikes, each with different speeds and settings for people with differing physical abilities. If treadmills don’t appeal to you, or if you’re worried about getting bored of a constant routine, there are basketball gyms and several sports fields that students can use during open gym and open field hours.

Students can also get involved in fitness, yoga, or dance classes. “There are lots of fun activities,” said Bambrick. “It’s easy to turn exercise into a hobby.” While you won’t find me in the yoga or dance classes, you will surely find me taking advantage of the dumbbells and weight lifting machines in the CIF. According to CBC News, health officials recommends that an average person exercise for 60 minutes a day — and you don’t have to do it all at once No matter what your schedule allows and whatever your fitness goal is, you’re likely to be able to achieve it at CIF. See FITNESS, page 35

Sports & Living

Imprint, Friday, October 10, 2008

End of the exhibition

tifa han

Matt Hayes reporter

T

he Waterloo Men’s hockey team travelled south of the border to battle the University of Michigan Wolverines cn Sunday October 6, 2008. This acted as the Warriors’ final exhibition tilt before the start of what is bound to be an exciting season.

The Warriors entered this game on a twogame winning streak that was going to be challenged tremendously as the Wolverines boasted a team with 13 NHL draft picks and

is currently ranked second in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).

The game was a relatively close affair as the Warriors battled valiantly through two periods of play. However after an aggressive Wolverines team stormed the net on several occasions, the men in Black and Gold found themselves down 2–0 to their American hosts.

The start of the third period finally saw the Black and Gold get on the scoreboard with a goal

by Kyle Schwende assisted by Doug Spooner at 5:04. After the margin was cut in half the Warriors penalty woes led to a second Michigan power play goal at 6:58. The game ended with the Wolverines on top 3–1 and undefeated in the preseason.

Penalties seemed to take a toll on the Warriors as the game progressed tallying 31 penalty minutes in total to the Wolverines’ 14.

The Warriors ended their exhibition play with a 2–1 record and now look forward to starting their season on the road this coming weekend with games at Western and Wilfrid Laurier. The Warrior’s first home games come on October 17 and 18 when the Lakehead Thunderwolves come to the Columbia Ice Fields in what will no doubt be a thrilling contest between two of the OUA’s elite teams.

35

Fitness: UW options Continued from page 34

If the stress reduction benefits aren’t enough to convince you to exercise, perhaps endorphins will. It is a popular misconception that all exercise is painful. While overly strenuous exercise can cause muscular pain and injuries, regular daily exercise should be pleasurable and relaxing.

Ten to fifteen minutes of exercise a day is all that is needed for the body to release endorphins, a compound produced in the pituitary gland that is responsible for minimizing discomfort, blocking pain receptors, and producing a strong euphoric feeling. Even the most intense of body builders describe the feeling they get in the gym to be pure ecstasy. In the words of Arnold Schwarzeneggar, former Mr. Olympian(prized bodybuilding title), lifting weights “feels different. It feels fantastic. It’s as satisfying to me as coming is…So I am coming day and night, I mean it’s terrific.”

It’s important to supplement your exercise program with a healthy diet. As someone who has tried every type of diet — from fasting to eating everything in sight — I’ve found the

most effective diet to be eating at least four to six small, low-fat meals per day. According to the Canadian Food Guide, people between 19 and 50 should eat seven to eight servings of vegetables, eight grain products, two milk servings, and two servings of meat per day.

Another of the plus sides to university life is how easy it is to find a healthy, nutrient-rich meal. In the SLC, you’ll find a wide variety of wholesome meals such as sushi and whole grain sandwiches.

Subway and Tim Hortons also offer some low fat, nutrient dense subs. At Juice Goose in University Plaza they have protein and energy shakes. They also provide a large selection of healthy food alternatives such as salads and grilled salmon sandwiches. Booster Juice at the corner of King and University also provides healthy drink options. Even the cafeteria provides healthy meal choices — minus the fries and gravy. And so, fellow UW students, the next time you feel tense or worried about getting assignments in on time, take an hour to have a quick workout at CIF and get some sushi — you might be amazed at how relaxed you feel.

MASTER OF GLOBAL MANAGEMENT

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36

Sports & Living

Imprint, Friday, October 10, 2008

When sports and politics mix

I

n the political scene south of the border, hockey moms are all the rage. Meanwhile, in the Great White North it’s all about hockey dads. In the last century, sports terminology and political platitudes have come together like peanut butter and jelly. In their attempts to connect with the proletariat, politicians love to spout popular sports clichés and tout their love for the sports of the working class. George W. Bush was the owner of MLB Texas Rangers before he became Governor of Texas. Gerald Ford was a star center for the University of Michigan and turned down offers from the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears to pursue a law degree. Rudy Guiliani was often spotted at the now closed Yankee stadium, showing off his Yankee fandom. Voters demand their politicians look good in a baseball cap while munching on a ballpark frank. But what happens when the reverse happens — when athletes and coaches make a foray into the world of politics?

Can people who have spent most of their lives trying to hit or throw a ball the furthest transition to a world where they have to deal with filibusters instead of curveballs, diplomacy instead of trash talking, and policy debates instead of touchdown celebrations? It certainly hasn’t stopped them from trying. Over the years many professional athletes, both active and retired, have thrown themselves headfirst into the rancorous world of politics.

To paraphrase H.L. Mencken, “to be good at politics, all you have to be good at is getting elected — not at the business of running a government.”

Professional athletes and coaches certainly have used their fame as a launching board for their political aspirations. Bill Bradley spent 10 seasons playing for the New York Knicks and was elected to the basketball ball hall of fame after his retirement in 1977. In 1978, he was elected to the New Jersey senate as a Democrat and held the seat for three terms until 1996 when he retired from politics. His

most famous moment came when he challenged Al Gore for the 2000 Democratic presidential nomination, which ultimately ended in defeat after losing the New Hampshire primary.

Jack Kemp spent 13 seasons as quarterback of the San Diego Chargers and Buffalo Bills and won a MVP award in 1964. He spent 18 years as a Republican House Representative of the Buffalo area, and was a cabinet minister under George H.W. Bush. In 1996 he was named as Bob Dole’s running mate in his unsuccessful campaign for president.

Mike Ditka, a former Super Bowl-winning Chicago Bears head coach and self-proclaimed “ultra-ultra conservative” was a serious Republican contender for the 2004 Illinois senate seat against Barack Obama until he withdrew in July 2004 citing “personal reasons.”

Montreal Canadiens legend and Toronto Maple Leafs president Ken Dryden was elected as a

Liberal MP in Toronto – York Centre in 2004.

He was named to a cabinet minister position in Paul Martin’s Liberal government.

Outspoken basketball hall of famer Charles Barkley declared famously on CNN’s Larry King Live that he was a proud Liberal and that he would run for Governor of Alabama as soon as he was eligible under Alabama’s residency rules.

Curt Schilling made controversial waves in 2004, when he declared himself an ardent BushCheney supporter and even hit the campaign trail stumping for the Republican ticket.

Most active professional athletes attempt to keep their political views quiet as they draw enough ire from fans and medias for their on-field bungles.

The ones that transition into civil service have the perfect springboard with their connections to the local community and national media. ylui@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Warrior Wrap-up Upcoming Games

Women’s Field Hockey

Men’s Soccer

Saturday, October 11 vs. Western at Toronto, 8:45 p.m.

Saturday, October 11 vs. Guelph, 1:00 p.m.

Football

Sunday, October 12 vs. York, 1:00 p.m.

Friday, October 10 At Windsor, 7:00 p.m.

Golf Tuesday, October 14 At Laurier Invitational, 10:00 a.m.

Men’s Hockey

Women’s Soccer Saturday, October 11 vs. Guelph, 3:15 p.m.

Sunday, October 12 vs. York, 3:15 p.m.

Game Recaps Baseball

Women’s Tennis

Saturday, October 4 Brock 6 Waterloo 0 Brock 9 Waterloo 1

Badminton

Saturday, October 4 Waterloo 12 York 1

Cross Country Saturday, October 4 Queen’s Open Men 5th Women 6th

Friday, October 10 At Western, 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, October 4 Waterloo 1 Windsor 0

Saturday, October 4 York 6 Waterloo 1

Sunday, October 5 Western 2 Waterloo 1

Men’s Tennis

Women’s Soccer

Friday, October 3 Western 5 Waterloo 2

Saturday, October 4 Waterloo 2 Windsor 2

Saturday, October 4 York 5 Waterloo 2

Sunday, October 5 Western 3 Waterloo 1

Football

Men’s Rugby

Saturday, October 4 Guelph 37 Waterloo 22

Saturday, October 4 Waterloo 26 Windsor 7

Saturday, October 11 At Laurier, 7:30 p.m.

Women’s Rugby

Women’s Hockey

Men’s Hockey (Exhibition)

Saturday, October 4 Western 56 Waterloo 0

Saturday, October 11 vs. Toronto, 7:30 p.m.

OUA Standings will return next week in the Friday, October 17 issue.

Men’s Soccer

Thursday, October 2 Western 7 Waterloo 0

Golf

Saturday, October 4 – Sunday, October 5 Waterloo Invitational Men 2nd Women 4th

University of Waterloo Campus

Sunday, October 5 Michigan 3 Waterloo 1

Field Hockey

Saturday, October 4 Waterloo 4 Carleton 0 Sunday, October 5 Toronto 2 Waterloo 0 Guelph 3 Waterloo 0

October 12

October 11

vs Guelph Gryphons

vs York Lions

[M] 1:00 pm [W] 3:15 pm

[M] 1:00 pm [W] 3:15 pm

CIF Field #2

CIF Field #2

Athletes of the Week

Katherine Olsen Warrior [M] Rugby

Warrior [W] Hockey

Field Hockey

October 10

October 11

4th year, Engineering Calgary, ON

3:30 PM, CIF Field #1

7:30 PM, CIF Arena

vs WLU Golden Hawks

Game 2

vs U of T Varsity Blues Warrior Baseball

Playoffs

October 11

Semi-Finals

1:00 pm, Jack Couch Park, Kitchener

vs Brock Badgers Luke Demeter Rugby Registered trademarks of Boston Pizza Royalties Limited Partnership, used under license. © Boston Pizza International Inc. 2005

IMPRINT | OCTOBER 10

4th year, Political Science Alymer, ON