Imprint_2010-02-26_v32_i28 by Editor Imprint

Impr int The university of Waterloo’s official student newspaper

Drug control

The drug issue on campus, the legislation, and initiating a legalization/regulation debate.

FEATURES 13

Friday, February 26, 2010

Vol 32, No

imprint . uwaterloo . ca

CollegeHumor

A look at the best — and worst — of what CollegeHumor has to offer.

ARTS

Warriors earn first win at McMaster in over 20 years to keep their playoff hopes alive.

Midnight Sun

The Midnight Sun Solar Race Team readies for 2010 Formula Sun Grand Prix.

Brent Golem sports & living editor

arriors’ men’s basketball team did not close out their season strong with a fifth place finish on the line. With a fourth quarter let-down in their final game, the Warriors dropped the Battle of Waterloo 67–63 to the Golden Hawks. Although they outplayed Laurier for the majority of the game, the team could not keep it together down the stretch to earn the victory. The Warriors started off the game strong, turning a four point first quarter lead into a double digit lead after a 9–0 run during the second quarter. Waterloo shot 44 per cent in the first half, while Laurier shot a dismal 26 per cent, and allowed them to enjoy a 37–24 lead at half time. During the third quarter, Waterloo took their foot off the gas and allowed Laurier to fight their way back into the game. Waterloo then went on a small run to close out the third with an eight point lead. The Warriors defence slipped again and the Golden Hawks attacked, going on a 16–2 tear early in the fourth to take the lead. Waterloo could not close the gap in the final few minutes as Laurier claimed the victory. This game was Waterloo’s to lose as they outplayed Laurier in many aspects of the game. Waterloo outshot the Golden Hawks from the floor by shooting 42.6 per cent against Laurier’s 36.9 per cent. The Warriors also outrebounded their opponents 36–30. The main flaw in the Warriors game was their three-point shooting as they dropped a dismal four shots on 16 attempts. Small forward Ben Frisby lead the Warriors on offence with 14 points, while center Matt Hayes had a great game as he earned a double-double by hitting for 13 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Guard Jesse Tipping was also a solid contributor on offense as he added 13 points. The loss was not entirely the Warriors fault as some key players are nursing injuries. Power forward Alan Goodhoofd was sidelined for the game, and shooting guard Cam McIntyre played just 12 minutes before taking the rest of the night off. This was Waterloo’s last home game of the season and, with no home court advantage in the playoffs, was the last home game for the four seniors on the team. Warrior nation bid goodbye to

SCIENCE27 Free speech

Why we should actively discourage intolerance instead of merely ignoring it.

OPINION 8 Remaining Feds Election results Senate — At Large Aboyeji Al-Khader Khalid Declined

405 327 1005 517

Arts Council Boilard Hanna Noble Brar Khalid Kularatnam Declined

128 146 133 124 291 156 81

After two weeks of silence regarding the election results of Arts Council and Senator At Large, the winners were finally announced. Chris Neal, Chief Electoral Officer and outgoing VPAF, refused to comment on the nature of the delay.

imprint files

Co-captain David Burnett (#20), seen in this previous match against Laurentian, led his team to victory as he missed only two shots in the game, on his way to racking up 18 points. Waterloo’s number. The task of returning a week later, to try and win a game against a team they have not beaten this season, nor have they beaten in McMaster’s building in over 20 years, was surely a daunting task. The Warriors chose a good time to beat the odds as this was an all-or-nothing match-up with the winner earning the opportunity to face Lakehead. Waterloo played hard and were clutch down the stretch as they earned a very tight 66–63 victory.

captains Ben Frisby and David Burnett, along with Matt Hayes and Jesse Tipping. The loss must have been a tough pill for the Warriors to swallow. With a sixth place finish the Warriors would now have to face the McMaster Marauders, a team that embarrassed them by 30 points at the end of January and handing them their first home loss of the season. Next they had met up only a week prior to their playoff match-up in Hamilton, where they were handed another loss. McMaster beat them by 15 points this time, and seemingly had

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News

Imprint, Friday, February 26, 2010 news@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

paula trelinska

People Power WICI presents “Open Source Democracy” panel Above: Hassan Masum, Mark Tovey, and Michael Nielson discuss the benefits of collective intelligence, the issues facing open source democracy, and encouraging participation.

Adrian Safati reporter

pen Source Democracy is the idea of distilling aspects of open architecture in an attempt to generate highly effective solutions for political problems. For years people have been using open source models for technological problems and, time and time again, they have been met with success, producing such projects as Wikipedia, Linux, and Firefox. As a result of people freely devoting their time and knowledge, each of these projects became highly successful. It stands to reason, why can’t the same principles be applied to help solve problems like climate change or poverty? People from across the world coming together to develop solutions in a productive environment and, eventually, coming up with the best solutions, is the goal of open source democracy. The “Open Source Democracy” panel, hosted by the Waterloo Institute for Complexity & Innovation (WICI) on Monday, February 23 featured three guest speakers who have experience with the different areas of developing an open source democracy: Hassan Masum, Mark Tovey, and Michael Nielson. The panel started with the idea that the larger the group of people, the stupider they behave, and moved on to discuss the benefits of collective intelligence in politics today. If information is gathered collectively by individuals we will have a better picture of the problems in the world, as opposed to seeing only the things the media can sensationalize, they explained. For instance, this past summer, the protests and election rigging scandal in Iran was blotted out by the death of Michael Jackson.

They moved on, discussing the various issues facing open source democracy, such as the differences in various open source models. If everyone is simply left to talk without moderation, you will end up with bickering between extremists and any chance of productive conversation is lost, the panelists said. If you have the proceeding moderated, the moderator is essentially a dictator and able to sway the discussion based on their own bias. There is also the option of power based on reputation, giving more administrative privileges to individuals whose ideas are more well received by the majority. However, this is also the kind of mob psychology that gave rise to national socialism. The next issue the panel addressed was the problem of encouraging quality participation. They are unsure it is better to encourage participation through prizes, such a contest, or to depend on people freely contributing their efforts as they have been with Wikipedia. There is also the problem of evaluating the final products: How do you rank the solutions that people come up with, making sure that they are not only valid but also unbiased? One of the best options the panel was able to come up with was to have separate groups discussing the same issue, and depending on how well all of their solutions converged, you would be able to gauge the accuracy of the final product. Finally they discussed the problem of implementation. How do we get an open democracy started? How can we set it up so that politicians actually pay attention to the solutions produced? Regardless of what becomes of the idea, open democracy is definitely an idea to look out for in the future.

IMPRINT NEWS TRANSIT SPECIAL

PAGE

OUR REGIONAL TRANSIT BECOMES NATIONAL ISSUE

War of words over LRT erupts in National Post

he current state of public transit in Waterloo Region came to the attention of many more Canadians in recent weeks, mainly due to an editorial in the National Post by local writer and commentator Peter Shawn Taylor. The editorial wasted no time in calling out the proposed Light Rail Transit (LRT) system as “Waterloo’s train to nowhere,” echoing fiscal conservative decries against Sarah Palin from her time as the Governor of Alaska in his January 29 article. Taylor believes that Waterloo Region’s LRT plan acts as a sort of economic barometer for the rest of the nation in terms of the government’s plan to cut back on spending in the wake of the stimulus plan. The $819-million tab is Taylor’s biggest point of contention, as he is certain that an unofficial pledge of $256-million from the federal Conservatives is taxpayer money being used for political posturing in our area, one that has recently become a fledgling Conservative holding. “Waterloo Region’s LRT makes absolutely no sense. If Ottawa approves this proposal, we will well and truly know its newly claimed commitment to fiscal

prudence is a sham,” said Taylor. In addition to the price tag, he also finds issue with the Region’s population in comparison to other cities with urban rail and the expectation of ridership growth upon completion. Taylor is hardly the definitive voice on the issue of Light Rail in Waterloo (although he has drawn support from Paul Wells), and much like the chorus of differing opinions about the project here in the community, another local academic turned up in the National Post’s February 18 edition to express his support for the plan. The University of Waterloo’s own transportation planning professor, author and transit planning consultant Jeffrey Casello, wrote his own editorial to rebutt Taylor’s stance against the project. On the issue of population, Waterloo’s projected future puts it at almost twice the size of the over 20 German cities with operating LRT systems, said Casello. He also calls out the concept that in the absence of an LRT system the current bus system would suffice as false, as many students and community members who

Travis Myers staff reporter

tmyers@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Digital displays now see more routes

GO makes 2011 train plans for Kitchener

You may have noticed some changes to the digital displays at the iXpress stops on campus and around town. The displays no longer only count down to the next arriving iXpress bus, but also let riders waiting at the stop know how much longer they have to wait before the the next bus sharing the stop will arrive. On campus, where iXpress stops outside of the Davis Centre, students will notice countdown times for routes 13 and 9, as well as route 7. The iXpress intelligent transportation system uses the Global Positioning System to predict the approximate time before the bus reaches its stop.

A new layover facility for GO transit may be finding its way into Kitchener. A tender was issued on February 24th seeking a consultant on the proposed temporary facility, and the possibility of a permanent station in the future. “Subject to funding, the inaugural train service to the Kitchener-Waterloo Region is scheduled to potentially begin in spring 2011,” said Vanessa Thomas, media liason for GO. The Minister of Environment has already approved the plan. Stay tuned to Imprint as this story develops over the coming weeks.

have been left behind on overcrowded buses already know. “...Buses do not compare well with LRT in terms of their ability to move large volumes of passengers. One bus (with one driver) can move about 75 persons while one LRT (with one driver) can move about 480,” said Casello. While Waterloo Region projects its image to the rest of Ontario and Canada as the city of the future, priding themselves

on recent track record and potential for development, it is interesting to see this bit of local dirty laundry aired out in the national media. In this perspective, Taylor’s assertion is that Waterloo has set its focus so firmly on the future that the present state of the Region has been forgotten. Casello counters that the present is just as requiring of LRT as the future, and now is the time to be thinking about both.

GRT BUSES USED BY THOSE WITHOUT ALTERNATIVE Recent study shows poor and students are primary riders, and there is little attraction for others

recent study shows what many bus riders already know to be true: the population of bus riders is made up almost entirely of students with mandatory discounted bus passes and members of the community who cannot afford any other mode of transportation. The study by the regional government shows that more than half of the region’s public transit users have incomes of under $20,000 a year, and regional transit users are more than twice as likely to make less than $10,000 when compared to the general work force. Grand River Transit’s current business plan outlines the programs

by which it hopes to increase ridership. However, it is not clearly stated whether or not the 2008 to 2010 business plan intends to lure private vehicle users by providing the option of a viable alternative to driving. The Region does clearly state, however, that one of the reasons they are going forward with the Light Rail Transit (LRT) plan is the proof in other communities that rapid transit “encourages commuters to choose transit over private vehicles.” The current ridership, however, are those riding without a choice, known as “captive passengers.” The GRT’s lack of ability to draw in middle income riders puts the Region

at a loss in a number of respects, most notably in the area of urban planning and renewal projects for the city. This study also explains the presence of the vocal opposition to the addition of Light Rail to the city’s core as part of its infrastructure — the majority of middle income families aren’t currently using the GRT, so its expansion and improvement becomes irrelevant outside of the hassle of construction and no-left-turn streets to those driving their own cars. Most of the GRT’s recent changes have again emphasized the population of its ridership — the iXpress (which began operating in the fall of 2005) weaves through mainly student areas

in Waterloo, and low income areas of Kitchener such as Charles Street and Ottawa. The stop at R&T Park remains almost wholly unused. Ridership has continually increased every year since GRT was incorporated in 2000, after absorbing the duties of Kitchener Transit (which also served Waterloo) and Cambridge Transit. It remains to be seen how the Region will attract middle-income riders in the lead up to the projected 2014 launch of the LRT system. If little is done over the coming few years, the Region may wind up with a situation on its hands similar to that of Detroit’s People Mover — an expensive, unused tram system in a city designed for cars.

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After allegedly slighting a rider, a GRT driver was punched twice

t approximately 9:00 a.m. on Sunday, February 21, a Grand River Transit bus driver was allegedly assaulted and robbed by a departing passenger. The passenger was departing the bus along King Street North at the Bridgeport intersection in Uptown Waterloo when the altercation took place. The alleged assailant is described as a black man who looks to be in his early 20s with a slim build. At the time of the incident he was wearing a burgundy toque, black and white coat, jeans, and carrying a backpack. The driver reportedly left the bus terminal without waiting for the man to board the bus. After catching the bus at its subsequent stop, the man rode

until reaching King and Bridgeport, at which point the man punched the GRT operator twice in the head and stole a box of transfers before exiting the vehicle. Violent encounters with public transit officials have seen an increase recently in metropolitan areas of Ontario, particularly Toronto. After a series of unfortunate events including a fare hike and a number of sleeping fare collectors, open hostility between the surlier end of both riders and transit operators has troubled the Toronto Transit Commision (TTC). It seems that the media attention given to the TTC’s plight and the airing of years of grievances on behalf of both sides has given way to a similar

situation and spill over into the transit systems of surrounding areas such as Waterloo Region’s Grand River Transit. Students, who have access to all GRT buses with their U-Pass/Watcard, reacted to the incident. “That is ridiculous,” said Kelsey Steeves, a third year student. “Sometimes the bus driver just can’t see you.” “[The alleged assailant’s] reaction was unnecessary,” said student Kayla Bilodeau. “I feel for the drivers. People can be very rude to them and they just seem sad most of the time.” Student and bus rider Taylor Seaton agreed, saying that there are “better ways to take out your frustration” than by punching a bus driver.

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graphic by Travis Myers

News

Imprint, Friday, February 26, 2010

World This Week

Azra Premji reporter

Alim Khamisa reporter

Fatal floods and mudslides in Madeira

On Saturday, the island of Madeira, a popular resort destination, suffered from heavy rains, floods, and mudslides. As the torrential rains continued, several homes, cars, and trees were swept away, leaving over 250 homeless, 120 people injured, and 40 dead. Having to navigate through the streets on inflatable rafts, rescuers are still hunting for people and, according to mayor Miguel Albuquerque, it is “very probable” that the death toll will increase. Emergency relief, including a Portuguese navy ship, helicopters, and other mobilized rescue teams are assisting individuals in Madeira by providing medical attention and relief supplies. Dengue virus: a possible solution?

The dengue virus, spread by certain species of female mosquitoes is potentially fatal. Currently there is no preventative vaccination or treatment. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), nearly half of the population is susceptible to the dengue virus, affecting up to 100 million people a year. Recent studies at the University of Oxford have suggested that releasing a genetically-altered male mosquito that will mate with certain species of

female mosquitoes, passing on their genes. The subsequent generation of mosquitoes will inherit the gene causing interruption of normal wing growth, possibly decreasing the transmission of the virus. According to BBC, lead researcher Alphey has said an “attractive feature of this method is it’s egalitarian all people in the treated areas are equally protected, regardless of their wealth, power or education.” The current research is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Town hall talks co-op and student experience

Lufthansa airline strike

On Tuesday, 4,000 pilots working at German airline Lufthansa went on strike in a dispute over job wages causing at least 3,000 domestic and international flights from Orly and Paris-Charles de Gaulle airports to be cancelled. Lasting up to four days, German Transport Minister Peter Ramsauer said this would hurt the country’s economy and the airline’s reputation. According to The Star, the strike will cost an estimated $135 million, not including the loss in ticket sales over the course of four days. Lufthansa has offered transfers free of charge or full refunds. Alternatives proposed are train journeys for domestic travelers and booking international travels with other airlines. — With files from CNN, The New York Times, The Star, BBC News, and The Medical News

paula trelinska

On Wednesday, February 24, the Federation of Students town hall meeting on cooperative education and experience on campus turned intimate as student were afforded the opportunity to ask representatives from the co-operative and career services a range of questions, as well as offer insights and suggestions on current and prospective programs. Discussions surrounded issues such as the new Jobmine website, professional development courses, and improving the capacity of career services to serve regular students. ABSTRACT_Vynil_imprint.qxd

9/27/06

6:16 PM

Page 1

Etiquette Essentials Dinner and Workshop for Graduating Students

on weekends i wear vinyl.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010 5:30 – 7:30 pm Festival Room, South Campus Hall Cost: $20/per person (includes three-course meal) *Business casual dress code

This workshop will cover:

The perfect introduction and greeting essentials The role of the guest and host Do’s and don’ts of dining Table manners and eating styles Strategies for personal branding and presentation and much more!

all request alternative thursdays with dj obi

big al’s retro fridays

new rock alternative saturdays

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News

Imprint, Friday, February 26, 2010

Campus Watch

Adrienne Raw

Ryerson University vows to improve campus diversity

news editor

China removes University of Calgary from list of approved schools

The Dalai Lama’s recent visit to and reception of an honorary degree from the University of Calgary likely caused the Chinese government to strike the university from its list of approved schools. Though the sanctions will not affect the legitimacy of University of Calgary degrees in China, it will restrict how Chinese students will be able to apply to the University of Calgary. The University of Calgary administration is still trying to determine what impact the sanctions will have on their relationships and research partnerships with Chinese universities, and on the 500 plus Chinese students at the university. York University students are in ongoing battle with the administration

Over one year after a strike closed York University for three months, more than 5,000 students remain engaged in an ongoing legal battle seeking $250 million in damages from the administration. The case is in the hands of law firm Juroviesky and Ricci LLP, who allege that the university failed to meet the required duties they owed to their students. In the past year, Juroviesky and Ricci LLP have been working towards getting the case certified so they can present it to a judge. The firm expects the hearing for certification to take place during the summer.

A report released in early February by Ryerson University’s anti-racism task force has resulted in assurances for improvement in diversity on campus. The taskforce’s report recommended reforms in education and administration such as employment equity, harrassment and discrimination, and an inclusive curriculum to promote inclusivity on campus. Ryerson University President Sheldon Levy announced that the university is planning to create a senior position to focus on the issues of equity, diversity, and inclusion. First Nations University of Canada may be on the brink of collapse

Funds provided to the First Nations University of Canada, amounting to over $10 million (about half of the university’s budget), have been cut by federal and provincial governments. The cuts come amid allegations of misspending and wrongful dismissal. The future of the school, a federated college of the University of Regina, is still under consideration. But it will not regain its funding without drastic changes. The school’s nearly 700 students will be able to complete their education. — With files from The Gauntlet, Excalibur, The Eyeopener, and The Sheaf araw@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Senate discusses proposed changes to the economics program E Aboyeji staff reporter

f the agenda for Monday’s senate meeting is anything to go by, more than marginal changes might be coming to Waterloo’s economics program. In an extensive report by the Undergraduate Council, the senate was asked to pass a couple of motions that would imply fundamental changes in some of the academic programs offered by the Department of Economics in the Faculty of Arts. One important change, which is expected to take effect on September 1, 2011, will render inactive the Environmental Economics specialization, the International Economics specialization, and the Political Economy/ Economic History specialization. According to the report, the programs had to be cut because the required courses for these plans were also cancelled. Another of these changes, which would officially take effect on the 1st of September, 2010, would add a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematical Economics to the array of programs already offered by the Department of Economics in the Faculty of Arts. The new academic program would be an honours program within which it will be possible to incorporate an arts and business designation. It will also be open to both regular and co-op students. Students who wish to qualify for this degree would need to have an overall cumulative average of 60

per cent, having taken 14 courses in economics in which they have maintained a minimum cumulative average of 75 per cent, as well as 13 courses in mathematics in which they have maintained a minimum cumulative average of 60 per cent. The proposal cited, as a rationale for the decision, concerns with the lack of adequate mathematical, statistical, and computational concepts in programs currently offered by the economics department. The last important proposed change will raise the eligibility for graduation in the four-year general economics academic plan. According to the proposal, effective September 1, 2011, these students will only be eligible for graduation if they score a cumulative economics average of 68 per cent. This is a three per cent hike from the present requirement of 65 per cent. Although it is unclear how, the report suggests that the rationale for this decision is to create a more efficient system for screening students as they enter their fourth year. Other issues discussed during the senate meeting included the redesigning of the school’s diploma in light of Waterloo’s recent rebranding, the adoption of the Ontario College of Academic Vice Presidents’ sanctioned graduate degree expectation as academic policy, and the establishment of the new Waterloo-Tsinghua Centre for Internet Information Acquisition in Tsinghua, China. eaboyeji@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

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Opinion IMPRINT

Imprint, Friday, February 26, 2010 opinion@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

The University of Waterloo’s official student newspaper

Harder isn’t better

Friday, February 26, 2010 Vol. 32, No. 28 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, Michael L. Davenport editor@imprint.uwaterloo.ca Advertising & Production Manager, Laurie Tigert-Dumas ads@imprint.uwaterloo.ca General Manager, Catherine Bolger cbolger@imprint.uwaterloo.ca Ad Assistant, Shirley Ma Sales Assisstant, Tony Tang Systems Admin., vacant Distribution, Sherif Soliman Distribution, Abdullah Asmat Volunteer co-ordinator, Angela Gaetano Board of Directors board@imprint.uwaterloo.ca President, Sherif Soliman president@imprint.uwaterloo.ca Vice-president, Anya Lomako vp@imprint.uwaterloo.ca Treasurer, Lu Jiang treasurer@imprint.uwaterloo.ca Secretary, Erin Thompson secretary@imprint.uwaterloo.ca Staff liaison, Caitlin McIntyre liaison@imprint.uwaterloo.ca Editorial Staff Assistant Editor, vacant Head Reporter, vacant Lead Proofreader, Katrina Massey Cover Editor, Rajul Saleh News Editor, Adrienne Raw News Assistant, Paula Trelinska Opinion Editor, Clara Shin Opinion Assistant, Mushfiqur Rahman Features Editor, Komal R. Lakhani Features Assistant, Parth Khanna Arts & Entertainment, Dinh Nguyen Arts & E. Assistant, Michael Chung Science & Tech Editor, Jordan Campbell Science & Tech Assistant, Erin Oldynski Sports & Living Editor, Brent Golem Sports & Living Assistant, Michelle Duklas Photo Editor, Ethan Oblak Photo Assistant, Abisade Dare Graphics Editor, Sonia Lee Graphics Assistant, Ian Cutajar Web Administrator, Paul Collier Web Assistant, Xiaobo Liu Systems Administrator, vacant System Administrator Assistant, vacant Production Staff Ivan Lui, Michael Shao, Stephen Kearse, Bing Sun, Alex Chortos, Jessica Pellow, Jacob McLellan, Adrian Safati, Jacqueline McKoy Lambert, Bogdan Petrescu, Keriece Harris, Michelle Sterba, Ronald Chui, E Aboyeji, Toyin Jibowu, Paul McGeown, Andrew Dodds, Sarah Gudmundson, Alicia Mah, Felicia Rahaman, Divyesh Mistry Graphics Team Alicia Wong, Majuratan Sadagopan Imprint is the official student newspaper of the University of Waterloo. It is an editorially independent newspaper published by Imprint Publications, Waterloo, a corporation without share capital. Imprint is a member of the Ontario Community Newspaper Association (OCNA). Editorial submissions may be considered for publication in any edition of Imprint. Imprint may also reproduce the material commercially in any format or medium as part of the newspaper database, Web site or any other product derived from the newspaper. Those submitting editorial content, including articles, letters, photos and graphics, will grant Imprint first publication rights of their submitted material, and as such, agree not to submit the same work to any other publication or group until such time as the material has been distributed in an issue of Imprint, or Imprint declares their intent not to publish the material. The full text of this agreement is available upon request. Imprint does not guarantee to publish articles, photographs, letters or advertising. Material may not be published, at the discretion of Imprint, if that material is deemed to be libelous or in contravention with Imprint’s policies with reference to our code of ethics and journalistic standards. Imprint is published every Friday during fall and winter terms, and every second Friday during the spring term. Imprint reserves the right to screen, edit and refuse advertising. One copy per customer. Imprint ISSN 0706-7380. Imprint CDN Pub Mail Product Sales Agreement no. 40065122. Next staff meeting: Monday, February 29, 12:30 p.m. Next board of directors meeting: TBA.

he purpose of university lectures is to have students learn things, correct? My time as Imprint’s editor-in-chief is drawing to a close, and I’ll be returning to class soon. For better and for worse, I’ve been thinking of my old physics days. I remember a complaint I heard from my compatriots was about the life-draining difficulty of UW physics compared to similar programs in other schools. When exposed to these physics students from other universities it seemed their classes were much easier, but they didn’t know any less than their UW counterparts. To what benefit were our more difficult classes? From time to time, you’ll see a letter to the editor in Imprint along these lines. “I’m an engineer, I’ve spent several years here cramming for my exams. Now I’m done, but I didn’t actually learn anything.” So the phenomenon exists outside of physics. In the spirit of physics, I’ve conducted a thought experiment, the result of which is the graph you see to the right. If a class is so easy that the challenge is zero, then the students in that class obviously won’t learn anything. If the class is so difficult that nobody bothers even attempting the assignments, then the students won’t learn anything either. There is an optimal difficulty for any given course.

editor@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

This is the critical point, and the thing some profs at UW fail to realise. So I’ll repeat it for emphasis: making a class more difficult does not mean that students learn more. This holds true even if students are forced to take that particular class to complete their degree requirements. The obvious and easy to discuss reason is that nobody can absorb an infinite amount of information. If the workload is reasonable, then a diligent student will complete the required coursework in balance with the rest of their life. Sometimes, an interesting assignment before good night of sleep can even be fun. But it often doesn’t work out that way. If a class requires too much to the point where students have to cram and pull all-nighters, that diminishes actual learning. It might make the syllabus more impressive, but the students won’t be better off. There is a darker reason why more difficult classes don’t result more learned students. When faced with an impossible challenge — be it a incomprehensible lecturer, too many assignments, whatever — students will cheat. Students will cheat. Page 11 of this edition of Imprint has a story about pirated textbooks, but do you know what else is on peer-to-peer file sharing services? Solution sets. Passing around last year’s assignments or lab

As the graph above shows, there is a “sweet spot” in terms of class difficulty. Too easy or too hard, and students won’t learn much. reports was incredibly common in the physics department. A net result of this is the honest among us (*cough*) will be unfairly punished with comparatively low grades. If sufficient numbers of students are bending the rules, then only the people who don’t cheat will fail. Here’s the thing, though: my peers didn’t simply copy these ill-gotten solutions. They actually tried to learn from them. But either the time was too short, the teaching too incompetent, or the specifications (for lab reports) were too vague that it was simply impossible to get good grades, let alone

learn anything, without violating university policy 71. If the courses were more focused on learning rather than cramming (and if profs bothered to come up with their own new problem sets every year) this problem wouldn’t be happening. I’m not saying that class shouldn’t be challenging. What I’m saying is that the challenge needs to be measured, and it needs to be the right kind of challenge. Here’s a hint, professors: if your students feel guilty that the time they spend in the washroom isn’t spent studying, your class might be too demanding.

The true north ain’t that free eaboyeji@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

here is little question about the fact that Canada is a mostly welcoming and fairly open— minded society. However, I fear that it might be taking its impressive strides in these respects a little too seriously. No doubt, as far as equality issues are concerned, Canada has gone several extra miles, from treaty rights for First Nations people, to granting and upholding charter rights to anyone even remotely connected to this country. In fact, many Canadians live off of the confidence that their society is more liberal and inclusive than their neighbours down south. However, this hardly validated assumption might just be the problem. The emphasis on law and policy as instruments of promoting tolerance and equality have created a false sense of fulfillment amongst Canadians whilst leaving behind the most defining aspect of any change: culture. The moment of truth for me was the Olympics. Splendid as the opening ceremonies were, as a foreign observer, the picture of Canada that beamed through my screen was certainly not the hub of urban centered multiculturalism that it likes to peddle. Vancouver, it seemed, put on a big show for the patriots of small town Anglo-Caucasian Canada. Apparently, Canada’s large coloured population is not hero material. Neither are they Olympic athlete material because even when Team America, despite its wide acclaim for exclusion of all sorts, featured a considerable number of visible minority American athletes,

while Canada did not. Heaven forbid coloured Canadians should also own the podium. Despite the temptation to simply tag this another “diversity fail” and move on, I think it deserves more attention and discussion. Counterintuitive as it is to general perceptions, our “snow white” games are not the only places where Canada’s visible minorities remain invisible. A cursory look at Canada’s parliament tells enough of this sad story. Far less than one per cent of its members are visible minorities. Even more appalling is overwhelming data evidence by Statistics Canada that suggests that the average incomes of immigrants who are visible minorities is far lower than that of other residents of Canada, even for the same jobs. This imbalance costs visible minorities two to three billion dollars of income. The painful irony is that this subtle racism has negative repercussions that go beyond the simple loss of critically needed talent to countries more appreciative of diversity. According to Statistics Canada these imbalances between the incomes of Canadians and immigrant visible minorities/ foreign workers has also contributed to a general seven per cent decline in the wages of skilled workers in Canada over time. The economics is pretty simple; cheap domestic labour beats outsourcing. From a more cosmopolitan viewpoint, even at our university, certain exclusive practices, long past their expiry date, persist. For example,

international students are technically barred from running for the Federation of Students presidency. How? Well, the president of the Federation of Students is one of the three undergraduate students who must sit on the school’s Board of Governors. Unfortunately, at our school, non-Canadians are not allowed to sit on this board. If there was ever an international student “Allan Babor,” we would have a constitutional crisis. And if you think international students have it bad, you might be shocked to find that international teaching staff and faculty have it even worse. As if the scorn of having their input excluded at the level of the university’s Board of Governors is not enough, they must put up with discriminatory hiring practices the university does not even try to hide. For instance, when the University of Waterloo puts out notices advertising faculty vacancies, it never neglects to place emphasis on the fact that international applicants, however impressive their accomplishments, will be for the most part, wasting their time by applying. In their own words, Canadian citizens and permanent residents will be given priority. Now, if that does not smack of the worst form of blatant discrimination, I really wonder what does (Comically, for the obvious reason of their cash cow potential, the reverse is often the case with international students). The unfortunate thing, though, is that when these issues are raised, many Canadians often resort to self righ-

teous justifications for perpetuating these injustices against its foreigner population. The most popular of such baseless justifications is the general perception that these groups leech off of “real” Canadians. Statistically speaking, this is pure baloney! Fairly recent studies by the Howe Institute have shown that immigrants on average contribute as much as $2.6 billion more to government coffers than Canadians. Another study by researchers at Simon Fraser University shows that over a lifetime, a typical immigrant family will contribute $40,000 more to the treasury than they will consume in services. This is because immigrant families are larger, work more jobs and thus pay more taxes. Also, immigrants are far less likely to use government funded services like employment insurance, social assistance, healthcare and subsidised housing. Even in the more relevant context of universities like ours, there is growing evidence that in recent years, international students have been increasingly bearing the unfair burden of government subsidies to education thanks to an absurd system of selective tuition regulation coupled with budget cuts to education. Now I wonder, who’s leeching off of whom? Seriously, I mean no disrespect, but Canadians would do well to realise that, especially considering its population size, it can own the podium, if it is first willing to share it.

Opinion

Imprint, Friday, February 26, 2010

Community Editorial

Do you really believe?

Do we have pride in our athletes or are we merely defending our own pride?

ow much do you really care about the Olympics? I’m not talking about just the summer Olympics, or the winter Olympics, where they’re held, or what year they’re in. I’m talking about whether we care about the athletes themselves, or just coming out on top. Let’s face it, aside from those cool looking commercials with a patriotic Donald Sutherland talking about their triumphs and challenges, you wouldn’t be able to name five Olympic athletes. Every two years, Canada manages to scrounge up some patriotism and root for our athletes, but the rest of the year we forget that they exist

and focus on what we consider to be more exciting sports. We’ve got Hockey Night in Canada, but when was the last time you followed Canadians competing in the biathlon? We can name the sports that we have won medals in, but we can’t name the athletes. It concerns me that as a nation we become disappointed in our athletes if they don’t win because of the effect that is has on our standings as a country. But what about appreciating the effort put in by our athletes? What about acknowledging personal bests and disappointments? While we may feel that we have been let down by our athletes when they don’t win, it could have been the best performance they have ever done. Instead of berating them, we

should be remembering that they are people who are doing the best that they can. The ads for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, while promoting Canadian athletes, have actually highlighted how little we actually know about the men and women that represent us. Now, I won’t deny that there are diehard fans out there who could probably name half the Canadian athletes competing. What I’m referring to are the people who check our standings online, but can’t name half the athletes that have won the medals to determine those standings. How much do you know about the rest of their career? Their life before entering the Olympics? I think it’s time to look at this from a different point of view. It’s time to

“

While we may feel that we have been let down by our athletes when they don’t win, it could have been the best performance they have ever done.

remind ourselves of the reason for the Olympics. This isn’t just a competition to see who’s got the bigger…pride. It’s about each country’s athletes being rewarded for their hard work and the time that they put during the other three and a half years. This is not an opportunity for us to just watch them and be entertained, but an opportunity for them to compete against each other and see who is the

“

Jessica Pellow 3B mathematics

best. Not for our sake, but for theirs. Gordie Howe once said, “You’ve got to love what you’re doing. If you love it, you can overcome any handicap or the soreness or all the aches and pains, and continue to play for a long, long time.” We should be celebrating their love of the game and encourage them to play for a long, long time not exploiting that love for ourselves.

Intolerance of Intolerance

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that our Western society prospers by encouraging open forums of discussion in which various views can be expressed freely without fear of reprisal. Democracy and free speech are thus important elements of this process and are critical to upholding our rights, collectively and individually, whatever they are advocating. Any repression of such rights, whether it be by vandalism, censorship, or intimidation of others who we may or may not agree with is not only despicable, but also an attack on your rights. As one of the Founding Fathers of America, Thomas Paine, pointed out, it is not only the right of the speaker to speak and be heard, it is also the right of the audience to listen. Fellow students, whether you agree with the goals of the SFPR or not, there is no question that the act of vandalism witnessed last Monday was a crime of censorship against you.

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only witnessed in person, but it also occurred in broad daylight at approximately 11:20 a.m. One of the suspects was described as a Caucasian of tall build with light brown hair, and his partner-incrime was an individual of Middle Eastern descent. The campus police has been notified of this act and there is currently an investigation pending. While some may question why the reporting and apprehension of the perpetrators is necessary or even important, the answer is

DATE STARTED: Jan8

ast Monday February 22, an act of vandalism occurred that reflected upon the intolerance and moral cowardice of two certain students on this campus. As some readers may have already noted from a campus-wide advertising campaign, the Students For Palestinian Rights (SFPR) have been busy organizing Israeli Apartheid Week, an event beginning on the 1st of March that aims to raise awareness about the Oc-

cupied Territories and the oppression endured by the Palestinian people residing there. Among the diligent efforts of three SFPR members was a large banner still visibly torn in the SLC as I write this article. SFPR members hung the poster for a mere half hour before returning, only to discover that it was gone. A nearby student then approached the activists and pointed out that the tattered poster had been unceremoniously stuffed into a garbage bin. The act of vandalism was not

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Bogdan Caradima 2B environmental Science

Just as the heckler drowns out the speaker’s voice so that the audience cannot understand the orator, so have these two uncivilized cowards decided to deny you the right to information. It is for precisely this reason that I argue that one should be intolerant of intolerance while upholding free speech. The politically-correct willingness to protect those who wish to infringe on the rights of others is nothing more than the willingness to be pushed around by the thugs of society. That two people attending an academic institution that uphold such values, are apparently unwilling to discuss their views in a civilized and democratic manner and would commit such a crime is a demonstration of the fact that they are simply not welcome here. Fellow students, stand up for your rights.

Opinion

Imprint, Friday, February 26, 2010

Community Editorial

Anti-Israeli vibe still exists at UW Oren Lahav 2B business/math

double degree

’m sitting at the Dana Porter Library, on the eighth floor. There’s a written note on an old desk here that says “Taliban 4 ever, death to America.” I don’t know who wrote this, or when, but I don’t like it. Over the past several weeks I’ve read in Imprint some articles and responses about Eyes in Gaza, a lecture about Israel’s alleged war crimes in Gaza. I haven’t attended the lecture. But I don’t like this. Today I happened to walk into the SLC and notice a big board ad-

vertising Israeli Apartheid Week, approved by Feds. On the SFPR (Students for Palestinian Rights) website I found out that it will run between March 1 and 7, and will involve lectures, discussions, and information sessions about the Palestinian situation in Israel. I don’t like this either. Let me tell you a bit about myself. I was born in Israel and I lived there for 10 years. My parents decided to leave the country after the second Intifada, a period of intense violence in Israel that started in the year 2000. As a kid I did not have the luxury of riding buses because my mom was afraid

I’d die in a terrorist attack. This was not delusional paranoia on my mom’s part, it was reality. Ten years later, and here I am, a proud Canadian citizen studying at one of Canada’s top universities. Yet as I enter the Student Life Centre, I’m bombarded with a message of hate. And I don’t like it. I’m not here to discuss whether there is apartheid in Israel. I think it’s a very debatable issue. But the word ‘apartheid’ itself is problematic. To me, seeing this sign in big letters at the main building of this university says that the University of Waterloo wants me to be ashamed of my origins, because I come from a country

that promotes violence and terror. Well, I’m not about to be ashamed of my origins. Let’s face it, Jews are a small minority in this university. We’re not as vocal as organizations at York and Western. But we’re here, and we don’t like it when people tell us we should be hated just because of who we are. I did not serve in the Israeli military. I’ve never shot a Palestinian person. I never even held a gun in my life. I do not deserve to receive this message of hate by a student organization that promotes Palestinian Rights. I have no problem with pro-Palestinian messages I encourage them and I think debates on that

topic are great. It’s the anti-Israel vibe I don’t like. Why not call it Palestinian Support Week instead of Israeli Apartheid Week? I think that’s a much more positive and effective name. We’re a university, an intellectual institution. The University of Waterloo has ties with an Israeli university. There are student exchanges going on. I used to be proud of UW, but now I’m not so sure. It seems our once quiet and tolerant university is becoming the grounds for anti-Israeli campaigns which personally make me feel unwanted here just because of my place of birth. Like I said, I don’t like it.

Re: Commercialized love Ronald Chui 1B accounting and financial management

t’s that time of the year again, when the red balloons, red streamers, red gift bags, and red candy boxes are all sold out. The entire city’s talking about it: “How was your Valentine’s Day?” And why not? It’s a subject of modest debate when it comes every year – and well, it just passed. Komal R. Lakhani, a staff member with Imprint, wrote a piece on the whole situation titled “Commercialized Love,” pointing out the faults of that special day. Although I feel that her points are valid, I would like to raise some other issues. First things first, we’ve all heard this one before: “Valentine’s Day is such a Hallmark Holiday; I refuse to buy into the corporations’ profit-seeking schemes!” which is quickly offset by the cries of, “Oh no, my lover will hate me forever if I don’t provide an adequate display of romance!” The former point is a valid concern, held by both romantics and cynics who despise the notion of being used by businesses for their money-grabbing

purposes. The latter is often the response of people who end up being suckered into the madness, buying something for their partner in order to manifest their affections through materialism. I’ll be honest with you: at one point, I agreed with that idea. I agreed that corporations suck, I agreed that manufactured romance is boring, and I agreed that we shouldn’t be forced to display signs of affection. But then I grew up, and I saw the practicality of this oft-denounced act. A common argument made in favour of anti-Valentine’s Day sentiments is that one could easily do the same Valentine’s Day things – buy some flowers, go for dinner, so on and so forth – on any other common day, without buying into the corporate bullshit. This is entirely true, and I agree with this: Your partner does indeed deserve to be shown affection from time to time. But look at what you’ve got to work with, and it’ll be obvious that romance isn’t particularly emphasized outside of the few weeks leading up to February 14. Prior to that date, you’ll have florists stocking up on roses, card shops with more emphasis

on love, and, for the penny-stretching romantic – which is probably the majority of us, Wal-Mart stocking up on cheap red-coloured objects, ready to show your affection. On the other hand, waltz around your mall any other time of the year and you’ll find yourself with a substantially smaller catalogue to work with. God help you if you try to look for it during another holiday – have fun sifting through the tacky Christmas ornaments, cheap plastic costumes or Easter bunnies. Simply put, when the time comes, businesses put out products geared towards Valentine’s

Day, and therefore businesses are putting out products geared towards romance. As consumers, this makes it extremely convenient for us to have our romantic outings in early February (note that early February does not necessarily mean specifically on Valentine’s Day) as opposed to any other time of the year. Yes, I agree that manufactured romance is boring, and yes, I agree that we shouldn’t be forced to display signs of affection, but that is no excuse to give Valentine’s Day hate and loathing. I personally have no problems with either take

Get a start

on the issue. You can soak it all up or you can reject it. My main gripe is the excess of hatred for the day itself. How often have you heard, “Forget Valentine’s Day, if you really loved your partner, you’d show affection some other day of the year,” or similar sentiments? It’s unnecessary, rather unoriginal and after years of repeatedly hearing about the same thing, it’s starting to get very, very trite – and isn’t that exactly what the naysayers don’t want to be?

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Opinion

Imprint, Friday, February 26, 2010

The rocky road to gold mrowley@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

n Wednesday February 24th, the Canadian men’s hockey team was playing a game that they were next to certain to win, en route to the gold medal game against (again, probably) the United States of America. This medal, out of all of those Canadian athletes are to bring home, is hugely important— if you were to take a shot of whisky every time a variation of ‘hockey is our game’ has appeared on CTV’s Olympic coverage, you’d have died three weeks ago. If we win, we’re safe. The ‘Own the Podium’ campaign will have more or less succeeded — we will have won the gold that counts for most Canadians. We can leave the Olympics awash in the afterglow of our athletic skill, and not have to worry about feeling inferior to the

rest of the world. There could well be an election before the summer; with prorogation a distant memory, Canadians could be tempted to elect a government that looks more or less the same as the curent one. If we lose, however, we’ll be forced to think seriously about quite a few things. The first on the list is the meaning of hosting the Olympics. Are we hosting them so that we can build facilities to let our athletes train in and keep others away from? Let us not forget Nodar Kumaritashvili, the Georgian luger, who was killed by the track itself. Our track, according to some athletes, stretched the sport to its limits, and Canadian athletes had far more time on it than competitors from other countries. Whether or not the accident was caused by driver error, it seems bizarre that

we would build a track that could potentially be lethal. Competitors who make errors should not suffer capital punishment for their misjudgements. Are we hosting the Olympics to showcase Canada as a diverse, multicultural nation? Why then, the snub of Quebec in the opening ceremonies? Certainly, the French language was integrated into the show, but not the rich, centuriesold culture of Quebec. Let us not forget the First Nations chiefs being ‘late’ to the salute to the Governor General and the singing of the national anthem. I find it unlikely that they all got stuck in the same elevator, or all tried to find the same little girl’s puppy. In fairness, given that their culture was represented by a giant bear lawn ornament and four erect phalluses, I find it hard

to blame them for their tardiness. I don’t believe that either of these are the reasons. We are, after all, Canadians. At our best, we are kind, generous, and hospitable. We work together and talk out our differences. We solve problems and generate ideas. We judge each other based on what we can bring to the table, not on stereotypes. The reason that Canada is hosting the Olympics is to put our best foot forward and show the world the best show they’ve ever seen. We need to welcome the world with open arms, the way Canada has always welcomed newcomers to its shores. This is the real issue, however. So long as we’re hung up on whether we win or lose, we forget that it’s really about how we play the game. We should celebrate all the accomplish-

ments of athletes in these games, and make them feel like they are welcome to our Olympic party. We should be encouraging programs to make sport accessible to even greater numbers of Canadians. We should be cheering passionately for great achievements in sports, not just those that are Canadians. In short, we could show the world a real, workable model for a 21st century international nation, where people matter, no matter where they’re from. Where we can celebrate a good idea that comes from any corner, and where we can work together to let everyone benefit from our enormous natural wealth and homegrown ingenuity. The Olympics, to me, feel like a test— are we happy with being the best at hockey, or do we want something more?

Community Editorial Has the Evolution of Social Networking Gotten Out of Hand? Michael Shao 1 b mathematics

and computer

science

umans have had a multitude of opportunities for communicating with others from outside of their geographical region. In the 1970s, the “digital age” emerged as the “In-

ternet” was born. With the original ARPANET, authority figures like professors, scientists and government officials could communicate messages in plaintext to be read by anyone else connected. As the “internet” evolved into the World Wide Web by the 1990s, more and more people who were unknown to one another could communicate

in ways unthinkable before their time. Thus, social networking was born. With the introduction of social networking sites, instant and text messaging, and portable cellular phones, the ability to communicate with anyone, known or unknown to a given individual, is beyond that of reasonable ra-

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tionalities. I mean, think about it. Before our generation, computers were barely in their infant stages — machine code was literally fed into computers using punch cards, where outputs could take as long as five hours to generate. Now, with the click of a button on a laptop (which, if you think about it, is a miniature computer), we can compile, run, and enjoy thousands upon thousands of outputs of software programs on a little display right before our eyes. We’ve come a long way, don’t you think? But has it gotten out of hand? Has social networking and the evolution of “communication” in general gotten to a point where even the government can’t control it? We display most of our public details on websites such as Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn or whatnot, and never think twice about what we write or how we write it. We leave so much up to chance — people can find out where we live, where we went to school, and if someone really wanted to, fake our entire identity and essentially become us without us ever finding out. We publicize our meticulous details of our address, our phone number, our birthdays and who we know on a public domain known as the Internet, never thinking twice about the possible ramifications. I think in a way, our generation allowed it to get out of hand. We’re the ones who made Facebook the leading social networking site, boosting the user base to well over 100 million users in less than five years. We’re the ones who choose to waste most of our free time chatting to friends, playing games, and just generally procrastinating on our computers, causing us to lose focus on our priorities and

instead vie towards a more lethargic lifestyle. Our parents, at our age (if they went to university), would be lucky to even use a computer to finish their assignment. Our generation is so over-privileged and so ungrateful of what we have that it is a firm belief of mine that some people would be unable to survive or function without their simple handheld electronics. I know I’m addicted to my computer and my cell phone, but given a few days without them I think I’d manage just fine by simply studying, eating, and doing homework, if I got into the right rhythm. I think, though, that the entire bandwagon of utilizing social networking is a combination of curiosity and peer pressure. Back in high school, I joined Facebook after being told by friends that they wouldn’t talk to me if I didn’t “get into the 21st century ASAP.” Sure, it was a bad decision, but I was young then, and I still have mistakes to learn from in the future. I wanted to know what it was, and I wanted to see how big of a fad it would get before it would instantly die down, just like Digimon. The thing is, Facebook never “died.” In fact, usage exploded by the time I had gotten to grade 12, and I was amazed at the fact that people would write every detail of their life on a website that anybody with a computer and internet could read. Social networking has really only gotten out of hand, I guess, when people start to make erratic life decisions such as go on Facebook instead of sleeping, eating or doing any work. Based on the previous premise, I think that it’s pretty safe to say MMORPGs like World of Warcraft have definitely messed up our generation.

Features

Imprint, Friday, February 26, 2010 features@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Illegal textbooks Are they really worth a shot?

Alex Chortos reporter

ian cutajar

The prevalence of the internet and the rise of globalization has opened up new opportunities in many markets, including the market for illegal textbooks. A study by the Student Public Interest Group conducted at two American universities in 2008, found that over a quarter of researched students had searched online for illegal copies of textbooks eight per cent of students were successful in acquiring the text for which they were looking. However, this statistic may underestimate the problem of illegal textbook use because it does not take into account sharing illegally downloaded materials. When asked how she obtained illegal versions of textbooks, a UW student replied, “I usually get it from a friend, who gets it from the internet.” Some publishers have hired outside agencies to scan for illegal versions of textbooks and send takedown requests to website hosts. However, this method of finding and eliminating individual infringements has met with little success, as textbook pirates often repost the files on different websites. Publishers have implemented more radical strategies, such as offering legal online versions of textbooks and “Espresso Book Machines” which can print only the chapters of a textbook that are required, and have considered strategies such as publishing a new edition of textbooks almost every semester. John Jongerius, the Feds Used Bookstore manager, said that publishers are already updating editions very often, and that the average shelf life for books in the Used Bookstore is only two years. Since the Feds Used Bookstore does not sell outdated editions of books, this further increasing rate of new edition publication could damage the business. Jongerius claims that in terms of textbook piracy, another substantial problem is that students purchase textbooks from areas of the world which have their own regional copyright laws, such as China and India. Therefore, Students can pay as little as $10 for books that cost $180 in North America. However, one should look into the legal issues that may surround ordering from international sources. Jongerius said, “We’re seeing it (the purchase of illegal textbooks) more and more,” and that some students who visit places without copyright laws

“come back with armloads of [illegal textbooks].” Some students try to resell the books through the Used Bookstore, but are turned away. The Used Bookstore cannot sell international versions of textbooks because it is against Canadian copyright law. If textbook piracy begins to significantly affect the profits of publishing companies and textbook authors, there could be ramifications for the availability of textbooks. According to Dr. Adel Sedra, the UW’s dean of engineering, he wrote the first edition of “Microelectronic Circuits” because he had a certain way of teaching that he wanted to make available to students and professors. However, due to rapidly changing technology, the book needed updating approximately every six years. Sedra said “If it were not for the monetary benefits that came out of it, I would not have done five more editions of the book.” Sedra stressed that writing a textbook requires a huge amount of time and effort, and he fears that textbook piracy “will cause a major disincentive for future authors.” Despite the prevalence of textbook piracy, the Used Bookstore has not been noticeably affected; textbook sales are currently increasing, which Jongerius attributes to the increase in enrolment. According to May Yan, director of UW Retail Services, “Course material piracy has existed since textbooks were available in print and is not a new phenomenon.” May added that “Even if the digital content is available for free, as in some business models, there is still interest and a market for a printed book,” suggesting that the motivation for online piracy is limited. Furthermore, Yan revealed that “Piracy is not the primary driving force that will influence pricing or availability of course materials content,” indicating that textbook piracy will not likely affect the cost of textbooks for legitimate buyers. Publishers are taking steps to ensure that legitimate versions of textbooks are necessary. Some publishers have added internet access cards to their textbooks so that students can do work online, and the results are sent directly to the professors. -With files from the Chronicle of Higher Learning

Get directions to your community Online interactive mapping systems

Divyesh Mistry reporter

Imagine being able to access a map online that you can play around with, where you can see where local events are being held in your community and advertisements that fit the local vibe (as opposed to the random advertisements that Google suggests to you). This is the objective behind COMAP, the Centre for Community Mapping, founded in Waterloo in 2005. COMAP is a not-for-profit organization that uses geomatic mapping to build interactive projects for many organizations. Fred McGarry, Executive Director of COMAP, came to the Faculty of Environment to discuss what he calls “collaborative innovation to strengthen civil society.” Through the cre-

ation of easy-to-use interfaces and mapping programs, the group seeks to use these tools to promote community development. The most simple interactive maps are for remote First Nations to relay information back and forth. Called “constrained” by McGarry, this is generally oral cultural information that isn’t usually written down.

On display was the currently running Mennonite Heritage Portrait. The goal of that project was to track genealogical information amongst the Mennonite community and to “strengthen the sense of local community.”

In collaboration with the location Mennonite community in Kitchener-Waterloo, Conrad Grebel Univeristy College, and local libraries, the project is a database of uploaded archive material that currently contained about 5000 – 6000 artifacts. Even now, it is still being compiled and updated in a fashion reminiscent of Wikipedia, with links to other sources directly embedded in the documents. Despite the similarities between COMAP’s unique database and mapping projects by other large corporations, McGarry asserted that the group has no desire to compete with Google. Whereas Google controls all the data it transmits through its services, COMAP, on the other hand, is all about giving the control of information to the community and the manipulation of data to serve needs. Another project dealing with these values is

News Atlas of Family Service Toronto. The service would be open and accessible to local community groups for free as a self-publishing news source, with an ad-based system that only displays local services. COMAP doesn’t just create databases for remote and non local communities. Several of their projects have been very local. Some of these include Playscape, a database created in 2007 to map and organize different sports and recreation groups and facilities in the area; VolunteerKW, is an application that connects volunteers with different organizations in the region, and Waterloo Region Arts and Culture, provides direct access for artists and groups to post events, venues, and directories. All of these databases are free of charge and can be used by anyone.

Features

Imprint, Friday, February 26, 2010

Before the oil runs out eoldynski@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

making Kitchener-Waterloo an official hat would you do if world “Transition Town.” So what exactly is oil production peaked? a Transition Town? Maybe you would start I asked Wilson and Kitchen this siphoning gasoline from parked cars. during the first potluck social event Maybe you would riot in the streets of Transition KW. For Wilson, a and loot gas stations. Or maybe, if Transition Town refers to the reyou could afford to, you would buy as tribalization of our culture by remuch oil as possible and either hoard thinking, simplifying, and localizing it or mark up the price and sell it for key areas of life such as food, energy, a nice profit. transportation, and health. Maybe you would resort to doing “What’s the next step for humanone of these things. But a local com- ity?” Wilson asked. “Species change munity group called Transition KW the most when they’re under stress. is hoping that you won’t. [Transition KW aims to] manage this Transition KW is, as the saying stress, build resilience, and develop goes, “planning for the worst and a mindset that will help us move hoping for the best” by acting now to forward.” prepare for the day when oil producIn other words, Wilson sees the tion peaks. The group expects that challenges of peak oil and climate this day is closer than what is popu- change as stressful for humanity, but larly thought so in preparation, they ultimately, as opportunities for us to are working within our community to radically rethink our current ways raise awareness about peak oil, climate of living. Kitchen explained that change, and the need to drastically creating a Transition Town is about reduce our dependence on oil. focusing on solutions rather than Not the easiest thing to do, is it? protesting or dwelling on problems. But when you’re trying to address as “The Chinese symbol for crisis is huge a challenge as peak oil, you have the same as opportunity,” he said. to start somewhere. For Kitchen, the goals of a For local community organizers Transition Town are simple living, Stephen Wilson and Jeff Kitchen, the self reliance, community reliance, co-spearheaders of Transition KW, thatPDF/X-1A and community sufficiency. 6”w x 8”h b/w, 170ppi required. starting point exists in the process of The Transition concept was

first developed in Kinsale, Ireland during 2005 by environmentalist and permaculture designer Rob Hopkins, who had been working with students to write an “Energy Descent Action Plan.” This plan looked at ways of adapting energy production, health, education, economy, and agriculture, to create a sustainable future for the town. The concept was presented to Kinsale Town Council and later to the small town of Totnes in England, and was adapted by both city councils. Today there are hundreds of Transition Towns across the world in the United Kingdom, Europe, Japan, Chile, Canada, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand. Not bad, considering the Transition Town idea had initially been a student project. But there is more to the Transition Town movement than having city councillors adopt sustainable plans. An important part of the movement, according to www. transitionnetwork.org, is that “the outer work of transition needs to be matched by inner transition.” That is, in order to rely less on energy consumption, we need to bring awareness to our view of the self, our community, and the natural environment.

What this means in practice is bringing community members together to meet one another and to learn and share skills in a positive environment. Potlucks such as the one recently held by Transition KW create a space for people to come together and talk about environmental issues they feel are important and should be organized around. People attend these events because, as Wilson said, “We’re talking about things that they’re thinking about.” There are many existing groups in the community that already address a wide range of environmental issues, from housing and water to transportation and energy. “It’s not about replacing these groups,” said Kitchen. “It’s about supporting existing groups.” One of these groups is Barter Works, a local not-for-profit that provides a currency alternative through bartering. The next project that Transition KW will be working on is identifying what’s already happening in the community through asset mapping, which involves creating a network of existing groups and then working together with these groups to

address key environmental issues. Eventually, Transition KW will launch a community-defined, community-implemented “Energy Descent Action Plan,” which will cover a 15-20 year timeline for decreasing Kitchener-Waterloo’s overall energy dependence. It is important to point out that the key word here is “community.” The success or failure of any community movement ultimately depends on us as individuals and on our willingness or unwillingness to work together, adapt our current ways of living, and to prepare for a future which, in one way or another, we will eventually have to encounter.

12 steps to creating a Tr a n s i t i o n Town: 1

.Raise awareness around peak oil, climate change and the need to undertake a community led process to rebuild resilience and reduce carbon

.Set up a steering group with the aim of getting through steps 2 through 5 and form a new steering group for steps 6 through 12

. Lay the foundation by networking with existing groups and activists

.Organize “the great unleashing” by holding an awareness raising event such as a film or potluck

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.Use open space technology, in which a large group of people comes together to explore a particular issue, with no agenda, no timetable, no obvious coordinator and no minute takers

.Build bridges to the local government

10 .Honour the elders by finding out how life used to be before the transition to the age of cheap oil

.Form groups to look at all the key areas of life (food, energy, transport, health, heart and soul, economics and livelihoods)

.Develop physical, visible manifestations of the project

8.Facilitate the great reskilling by organizing kick-off projects aimed at building people’s understanding of resilience and carbon issues and community engagement

.Let it go where it wants to go by allowing the collective genius of the community invent solutions

.Create and launch a community defined, community implemented “Energy Descent Action Plan” over a 15 to 20 year timescale

postgrad.sheridaninstitute.ca

michael L. davenport

Features

Imprint, Friday, February 26, 2010

Controlled substances and controlled liberty Drug regulation—the law and expectation from a university student Parth Khanna features assistant

university campus is a very dynamic place; the mystical force which a university life exerts on a student not only teaches textbook knowledge, but more importantly, also educates about life. During one’s university career, he or she is pressed to make independent and wise judgments. The drug issue, posing an ethical dilemma about choosing what is good over what may be pleasant does exactly that. In addition, it would be interesting to observe the existing drug control laws in place and if the government’s intervention in such a victimless crime is motivated by a sensed threat that drugs may pose to our nation’s intellectual capital. Awareness and knowledge of the law is a prerequisite for defending one’s rights and facilitating an engaging dialogue about the issue. Therefore, a brief outline of the legislation, as it stands is appropriate. In an effort to make drug regulation more effective and efficient, lawmakers in 1996 constructed the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. It repealed the Narcotic Control Act and some sections of the Food and Drug Act. Under the CDSA, a law claimed as being carefully articulated and molded, controlled substances are categorized in eight schedules of drugs and two classes of drug precursors (substances used to manufacture drugs). The classification is based on the degree of potential harmful effects of the substance (as perceived at the time by lawmakers, experts in public health and pharmacological domains). Scheduling also outlines the nature of the various possible offences and their penalties. Namely, these offences are: if a person possessed the drug, was seeking to obtain it or possessed it for the purpose of trafficking. For instance, the most serious punishments are for schedule I drugs such as cocaine, codeine, morphine etc. and trafficking, as one might expect, carries much more serious punishment associated with it. Schedule II consists only of marijuana and its derivatives. A belief which some-

times surfaces in casual conversations is—that it is “probably legal” to have a small amount of marijuana such as a joint; it is important to point out that possession or distribution of any amount of weed is in fact illegal. For anyone who is further interested, more information about the law can be found on the Department of Justice’s website and accessible to everyone. Nonetheless, the efficiency of the law in actually preventing drug abuse and creating deterrence from engaging drug trade is a topic of much debate. St. Thomas Aquinas, a very influential medieval legalphilospher, defined law as being “chiefly ordained to the common good, any other precept in regard to some individual work, must needs be devoid of the nature of a law.” Put in simpler words, according to Aquinas, law is a tool which must only be used to protect the society as a whole and should not concern itself with actions in the personal sphere. Much of Aquinas’ ideas hold true today. Hence, the issue of drug related offences, often referred by many socio-legal authors as a victimless crime, raises questions about the need for the government to step into the personal domain to control behaviour of citizens. The reasons are either viewed as political or logical, depending on which side of the debate a person is on. As it relates to the youth, such intervention may be explained if one weighs them as an intellectual resource in themselves. Building up reserves of a country’s intellectual capital is neither a coincidence, nor a by-product of any haphazard social mechanism. Rather, it is an end product of diligent planning and vast amount of resources that have been vested upon each young man and woman. The hope is simply that strong minds and shoulders will be able to carry our nation forward when the aging ones are done contributing their due share. If certain measures are required to protect such a massive, and on occasion vulnerable, investment, then their implementation becomes justified. Narrowing the focus on university students, marijuana’s usage and small-scale distribution has escalated and even

become normative in the present Canadian campus culture. To the anti-legalization and pro-regulation camp, this trend is especially perplexing and even counter-intuitive to some extent. It is perplexing because the group that they expect will rectify the infiltration of drugs amongst other more exposed sections, is instead advocating their usage through their actions. A university campus is often seen as an environment intricately designed to breed intellect and innovation. With infinite scientific discoveries, transforming political ideologies and sweeping social movements having born on campuses, high expectations of a society’s future prosperity remain ingrained here. The emergence of student-neighbourhood dealers is perceived as counter-intuitive; since relative financial security and implementation of fairly successful government financial aid programs should warrant any student from falling back on street trafficking. Also, the growing overt advocacy for legalizing weed by various youth action groups may be another blow to the government’s efforts in drug eradication effort—a battle which has been in a situation of stalemate for decades. In summary, the government’s position on drug control, as it relates to us, can be encapsulated by the fact that even though the state might not have any business in the bedrooms of the people, it may have a business in our classrooms; to assure that they remain a place of undiluted learning, something the government believes they ought to be. Hence, any idea about deregulating, decriminalizing or legalizing a drug should be thoroughly scrutinized. In order to protect our generation from a substance or drug that could erode our competence or a penal system that is overly invasive and disproportionate, there is a need to have an inclusive dialogue. Keeping this in mind, Imprint anticipates to initiate an intellectual discussion on campus by publishing an article shedding light on both sides of the issue in next week’s opinion section. Students are encouraged to e-mail their ideas and/or opinions about the drug legalization to opinion@imprint.uwaterloo.ca. pkhanna@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

graphic by majuratan sadagopan

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Sports & Living Thrilling Warriors hockey season comes to an abrupt end Goals

1st

2nd

3rd

Ttl

Windsor

Waterloo

Imprint, Friday, February 26, 2010 sports@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

OUA Bronze

Ryan Scott staff reporter

arrior men’s hockey traveled to the University of Windsor this past Friday, February 19 to take on the Windsor Lancers in the second game of the best of three series. The Warriors fell at home in the opener by a score of 4–2, making the game a must win or else the team’s successful season would come to a sudden end. However, the Warriors managed to put it together and pushed the series to a decisive Game 3 to be held on home ice, with a 4–3 victory. As the puck dropped, there was no doubt by looking down the bench at the determined faces of the Warrior squad that the team had one goal in mind and was prepared show why they were the second ranked seed in the Western Conference and in the top ten in the national ranks. The Warriors got the first opportunity of the game with the Lancers and former Sarnia Sting forward Brett Oliphant heading to the penalty box within the first two minutes of the game. The Warriors got their chances but were unable to capitalize. Warrior captain and leading scorer during the regular season Chris Ray got the Warriors on the score-sheet first netting a Shane Hart pass at 8:13 into the first frame. The team was unable to celebrate for long as the Lancers quickly answered 30-seconds later. However, the Lancers continued their parade to the penalty box committing their fourth penalty of the period and the strong Warrior power play made them pay. Veteran defenseman Kyle Sonnenburg knocked home his second goal of the series with assists from Hart and Ray. Neither team could capitalize on chances in the remaining six minutes of the period, and Waterloo carried the one goal advantage into the dressing room. Both teams pelted their opposing net-minders in the exciting first period of play as 34 shots on goal, but Warrior goaltender Keaton Hartigan shone after some clutch saves. The second period continued where the first ended as both teams led their high-flying offensive attacks onto the ice. The Warriors quickly added to their one-goal lead as rookie winger Mike Veysey scored one minute and 30 seconds into the second period. However, the Warriors were not in the clear as the Lancers continued to generate scoring chances, putting Hartigan to the test. The growing chances caught up to the Warriors and the Lancers cut the Warrior lead to one goal scoring just under six minutes into the period, shifting momentum to the Lancer side. This momentum would not last long though as Hart beat the Lancer net-minder for his third point of the game and put the team back on top by two goals. The hometown Lancers once again out-shot the Warriors in the second period by a tally of nineteen to sixteen and would not give into the Warriors as they looked to end their season. The Lancers relentless pressure once again got to the Warriors as former OHL defenseman Matt McCready scored with two-seconds remaining in the period and the Warriors lead was back to only one goal as the period ended. The Warriors entered the third period focused on their goal of typing the series as the team began to tighten up defensively. The third period was unlike that of the first two as neither team could generate solid scoring chances, with both the Lancers net-minder and Hartigan turning away the routine shots at ease. See STUNNING OT LOSS, page 15

Courtesy mike whitehouse/Laurier athletics

The synchronization team (above) performed very well and narrowly missed the podium, as they earned a fourth place finish. Brent Golem sports & living editor

he Waterloo varsity figure skating team competed in their final competition of the season. The team skating in the OUA championships held by Laurier at RIM park in Waterloo. They skated well on the first day, and held on to a narrow one point lead after the skating was done. During the second day, the Warriors could not find the success they had at the winter invitational, and they lost traction in the standings. When all was said and done Waterloo had finished in third place, which might seem like a disappointing outcome for the team that had the skill to earn another OUA championship, a first since their one and only championship 24 years ago in 1986, but the Warriors must revel in the fact that they performed well and are now a figure skating powerhouse. “The feeling when we heard we got bronze was a slight disappointment because we were right in the thick of things,” skater Kevin Dawe told Imprint, “but that passed quickly with a

feeling of accomplishment and everyone was really happy with what we earned.” Corbett echoed this sentiment, “Up until the synchro and final results were announced simultaneously, the gold was easily three different teams’,” Corbett said. “We skated a great synchro program and as a result we were hoping for that gold. However, bronze is still something to be very proud of.” The Warriors were lead on the podium by their seniors Kevin Dawe and Adrienne Corbett. These kinesiology classmates took gold in their respective events: Men’s Open Free skate and Sr. Silver Free skate. Dawe has been winning all season by sticking to his plan which involved some technically difficult moves that others couldn’t handle. “I believed I could win if I laid down a solid performance,” Dawe said, and that is exactly what he did. In his final skate as a Warrior, Dawe landed some tough jumps and had some really tight spins. Adrienne Corbett followed suit, dominating her event one final time. With the win came a sense of relief. “I have worked hard for four years for that, and it is nice to leave on a high note!” Corbett said.

Katherine Brown and Madeleine Wendland earned a solid silver as they performed well in a difficult Bronze Rhythm Dance Fours competition. Waterloo also had some Bronze winners with Mercedes Grzenda placing in the Open Gold Solo Dance, Adrienne Corbett and Tosha Medeiros in the Intermediate Similar Pairs, as well as Kelsey Kaster & Rhonda Rczendal in the Jr. Silver Similar Dance. Although the results were not as favourable as was the case at the Winter Invitational, they skated very well and were fortunate that they were able to win bronze. Other teams did not have such a lucky championship. The McGill team came in last as they were unable to skate their synchronization routine. The hotel McGill was staying at caught on fire and three of the girls were unable to compete due to carbon monoxide poisoning. A solid third place finish puts the Warriors in a great position moving forward next season, as they now know what it takes to be a winner. sports@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Quarterfinals, good time for revenge Continued from cover

The Warriors opened the first quarter with a strong offense for a solid crowd of followers who made the trip to Hamilton. Waterloo buried 19 points and earned a four point lead going into the second quarter. The Warriors never let up as they dropped another 21 in the second quarter to take a favourable seven point lead into the half. Coming out of the half down 33–40, the Marauders played some strong defence. McMaster outscored Waterloo 19–13 in the third to cut the lead down to only one point. In the fourth quarter, both team’s defences tightened up. Eventually the Warriors found themselves down with time going against them: McMaster had built up a four point lead with only three minutes left to play. The seniors, in do-or-die fashion, played their hearts out and played some of the best defence of their careers. Matt Hayes and Ben Frisby were a huge component of this, clogging up the paint to force low-percentage shots from the point, while the guards harassed their opponents from the perimeter to disrupt their shots.

The tactic worked as the Warriors took the lead with two minutes to go. McMaster was forced to foul and did so when Cam McIntyre had possession of the ball. Cam hit both free throws, but McMaster came back down the floor and drained a three. In another pressure situation, McIntyre found himself fouled and on the line. He drained both again, to go four for four from the charity stripe with less than two minutes left in the game, an incredible feat. McMaster had little time on the clock and their desperation three went wide, ensuring the Warriors a victory and sending them off to meet Lakehead. Captain David Burnett lead his team to victory with a teamhigh 18 points and five assists. “We moved the ball around well and when I got it I was open,” Burnett told Imprint. “I had open shot and I was able to knock them down. It felt really good.” With his career on the line, Burnett played one of the best games of his career. “It was very fun to do it with guys I’ve been playing with for five years,” Burnett said. “Now we can’t stop. We are taking our confidence into Lakehead.”

Matt Hayes had another solid game, narrowly missing the doubledouble as he posted 13 points and nine rebounds. Cam McIntyre also had a presence with 11 points, while Ben Frisby added six points and snagged eight rebounds. The Warriors now head to Lakehead this weekend to face a team they have yet to beat this season. They will be looking to take the no holds barred mentality to Lakehead and use their

underdog status to bring home a W to Waterloo. The odds aren’t quite as long against Lakehead as they were against McMaster. When Waterloo went up to Thunder Bay earlier in the season, the Warriors only lost by only two possessions in both games. The action will be great and can be caught online through Lakehead’s athletics website. sports@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Saturday February 27 @ 7:00 p.m. LISTEN LIVE ONLINE

Lakehead (17–5) Home (9–3) Last Six (5–1)

Waterloo (9–12) Away (2–10) Last Six (2–4)

PPG: 69.9 (36th) RPG: 37.0 (18th) TO: 14.5 (31st)

PPG: 73.4 (25th) RPG: 36.9 (19th) TO: 16.0 (19th)

Sports & Living

Imprint, Friday, February 26, 2010

Warriors suffer stunning double overtime loss Goals

1st

2nd

3rd

1OT

2OT

Ttl

Windsor

Waterloo

Continued from page 14

However, the Warriors were subjected to a late period scare as winger Kyle Schwende headed to the penalty box after committing a tripping penalty with just over two minutes remaining in the game. Windsor took the advantage and pulled their goalie, giving them a two man advantage for the final minutes of the game. The Lancers power play was once again unable to break Hartigan, who made some great saves in those final two minutes, and the Warriors tied the series up with a 4–3 victory. After tying the series at a game a piece in the best of three series, the Warriors welcomed the Windsor Lancers back to the CIF arena this past Sunday, February 21. The game would be the most important game of the season for both teams as the winner

Courtesy Trevor Mahoney

Assistant captain Shane Hart (#22) had a solid second game of the series with 1 goals and 2 assists. He was held scoreless in game 3.

would advance to the next round of the OUA playoffs and the losers would be sent home. The nationally ranked Warriors looked to win their second consecutive game and put their early first round struggles to rest. However, after a thrilling double overtime game the Lancers once again beat the Warriors on home ice and ended their promising season. The Warrior’s fifth line were in full effect as their cheers welcomed the Warriors onto the ice for the most important game of their season and the game got underway with the Warriors on the attack. Once again, the Lancers got into penalty trouble early and gave the Warriors an early opportunity to open up the scoring. However, the team was unable to take advantage and instead committed a penalty of their own as the power play came to end. The Warriors strong penalty killers limited the Lancers chances and killed off the penalty. As the period continued on neither team could generate quality scoring chances and the game became a neutral zone affair. The Warriors out shot the Lancers 13-3 in the opening period but were unable to break the Lancers netminder Jim Watt. Both teams headed to the dressing period after a scoreless opening period. The Warriors hit the ice determined to gain the momentum and take control of the game and the team did just that. Second year winger Kurt Thorner banged home the rebound surrendered by Watt just over three minutes into the period and the Warrior were off and rolling in the second period. The Warriors continued to build on the momentum they gained from the goal as the Lancers ran into more penalty trouble. However, Watt turned away the Warrior scoring chances on the power play and kept the Lancers within one goal until the line of Jarrett Schnurr, Kirt Hill and Thorner struck once again as Schnurr buried the cross crease pass and sent the Warrior crowd into a frenzy as the team went up 2-0. Even though the Warriors were

beginning to outplay the Lancers, the team would not lie down and play dead in the crucial game. The team answered the Schnurr goal with a goal of their own as the period neared its end. Lancer defenseman Steve Ferry scored with Warrior captain Chris Ray in the penalty box and the period ended with the Warriors up 2–1. The thrilling game continued as the puck was dropped to begin the third period. Both teams traded scoring chances early but the Lancers got the best of these chances as Hartigan was beat just under five minutes into the period and the game was tied 2–2. After the Lancers goal, both teams tightened up the reins and began a defensive battle. However, the Warriors received the only penalty of the period as assistant captain Shane Hart was given a questionable goaltender interference penalty. Hartigan and the Warriors penalty killers would not let the call jeopardize their season and limited the Lancers chances, killing off the penalty. Neither team was able to break the deadlock and the teams prepared for a ten-minute sudden death overtime period. After a whole period of play, the ice was chewed up and was in poor condition; however, the head referee decided the surface was good enough to play on and the flood was delayed until a 10-minute overtime period was played. The tension could be felt through the CIF arena as each team traded chances throughout the overtime period but once again neither team could break the deadlock, and the teams headed to the dressing room to rest-up before yet another sudden death period. As the second overtime period began the Warriors looked sharp as they pushed the play, but team was unable to beat the Lancer netminder. However, the Warrior momentum was impeded as winger Aaron Lewicki headed to the penalty box putting the Warriors season in the hands of their consistently strong penalty killers and goaltender Hartigan. The team killed the penalty and went back to work as they tried to regain momentum. However, the Lancers began to take control of the puck and generate some quality scoring chances on Hartigan. At 13 minutes and 37 seconds into the second overtime, the Lancers silenced the Warrior

Playoff Warriors can’t match Marauders’ intensity Ron Kielstra reporter

arrior women’s volleyball ended their season on the road last Saturday, dropping their first-round playoff match to top-ranked McMaster. Waterloo entered the weekend aiming to upset the Marauders, but couldn’t match a strong McMaster attack. The first set saw both teams get off to shaky starts, with the neither team able to pull away in the early going. “I think both teams just trying to work through the nerves of being in this particular match,” commented Warriors head coach Gabriele Jobst. After working hard in practice all week, the start seemed to give the Warriors some confidence. “It certainly appeared like we’d prepared the way we needed to for what was coming at us.” McMaster built a seven point lead after the second technical timeout, however, and held on to take the set 25-17. The second set started with the Marauders racing out to a 8-2 lead, but the Warriors were not going to go quietly. Waterloo fought back to tie the set, playing a team game with strong passing and good work from the outside hitters. “Laura Klein and Bojana Josipovic both hit at higher

ATHLETICS & RECREATION

than 50 per cent hitting efficiency in that set,” noted Jobst, “and we were able to run more of a tempo offence.” Despite a late rally from McMaster, the Warriors were able to complete the rally and take the set, evening the match at one apiece. The loss seemed to wake the Marauders up, however, as the Warriors were simply overwhelmed the rest of the way. Waterloo tried to rally from a 16–7 deficit in the third set, but strong play from Jenn Holt, Larissa Puhach, and Kaila Janssen — all three of whom had been named to the OUA all-star team the day before — helped the Marauders close out the set 25–19. Despite strong efforts from Josipovic, Klein and Stephanie Ebreo, the Warriors couldn’t recover, only managing nine points in the final set. Waterloo started the season 11–2, but never seemed to be able to put it together after the Christmas break. The playoff loss was just the end of the slide, as the team lost four of their last five games, and Jobst talked about the need to develop a killer instinct. “Every team at this point is fighting to stay in the race because there are no second chances,” Jobst said. “We need to play with consistency, and it was certainly not what it needed to be to overcome [McMaster].”

crowd and netted the series clinching goal, ending a Warrior season that was marked by 20 victories in 28 games, as well as an eight game winning streak in the season’s final month. The seventh seeded Lancers showed that the playoffs are truly a whole other season and the regular season no longer matters as the CIS seventh ranked Warriors were handed an early first round exit putting a damper on a thrilling season in Warrior hockey. rscott@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Forwards Kurt Thorner (#20) and Kirt Hill (#14) celebrate a goal by Thorner. Both were effective in Game 3 as they each scored a goal and added an assist in the loss.

ATHLETICS

KELSEY KASTER Figure Skating 1st year, Environment & Business Elmira, ON

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KEVIN DAWE Figure Skating 4th year, Kinesiology Severn Bridge, ON

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THIS WEEK IN

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Sports & Living Laurelwood Park Rink The main entrance to Laurelwood Park is off Gatestone Boulevard across from Baringham Place. Rink has alternating hours for Hockey and Skating and closes at 9:30 p.m.

Imprint, Friday, February 26, 2010

Outdoor skating rinks

Stillmeadow Park Rink

Sports & Living Culpepper Park Rink The entrance is off Mulberry Lane, at the end of Culpepper Drive and behind Beechwood Manor.

Empire Public School Rink

The park entrances are off Stillmeadow Circle and by the bend on Clairbrook Crescent. (technically members only)

This outdoor ice rink is located at 83 Empire Street, Waterloo.

Craigleith Park Rink

Our Lady of Lourdes Rink

There are entrances at the bend on Tatlock Court, and from Faraday Court. The ice rink is located on the tennis courts. (technically members only)

Located at 173 Lourdes Street, Waterloo; right behind a church and a school.

Regency Park Rink

Mary-Allen Park Rink

There are entrances to the park off Roxton Drive and Fischer-Hallman Road North.

The park entrance is off Allen Street East near Willow Street.

photos Brent golem, Graphic Alcina wong

Grab your skates and a friend, and hit the ice all over Waterloo. With over 55 outdoor rinks in Kitchener/Waterloo, there is always a place to play some puck. REV Residence Rink The basketball courts by REV are flooded every year. Just ask the front desk for a shovel to clear it off.

Brent Golem sports & living editor

inter season is in full swing and, with the groundhog’s predicting six more weeks of winter, there is plenty of time to get out and enjoy all that the winter wonderland has to offer. A perfect way to beat off the winter blues is by enjoying the outdoor skating rinks that are created and maintained all over the Region of Waterloo. From December to March, the City of Waterloo joins with local community groups and neighbourhood associations to creating and maintaining various outdoor rinks throughout the city. Waterloo and 200 volunteers put in much time and effort to build an outdoor rink program that is host to almost 30 outdoor rinks. The Public Works Service provide the backbone to the program by provid-

ing the delivery and managing the rinks. They supply the rinks with provide 2” x 10” rink boards, lighting and water service so that there is a stream of water to keep them in decent shape. All of the outdoor rinks are lit at night, so that you can play whenever you desire. The Recreation and Leisure services, from the City of Waterloo, is also instrumental the maintenance of the program. They are in charge of overlooking the administrative duties, such as by recruiting and coordinating all of the outdoor rink volunteer. Each rink has at least six community volunteers who oversee the maintenance of the ice surface and keep it in decent shape for skating. Whether you are learning how to skate, or wanting to play some shinny with your friends, spending it on any of these rinks will be sure to be lots of fun. Just don’t forgot your skates and a shovel!

One of the best winter past-times is playing a game of pick-up hockey, otherwise known as hockey. This sport is so great because of how easy it is to set up and how cheap it is to play. All you need is a stick and a pair of skates, both of which can be purchased fairly inexpensively either new or used. Then all you need to do is call up your friends and have them join you at a rink of your choice. While some of the rinks are first-come, first-serve, many of the rinks have created schedules to balance between shinny and skating. If you wish to do either or those, ee sure to check the City of Waterloo website for specific schedules. Want more information on the City rinks or where even more rinks are? Just check out the City of Waterloo website at www.city.waterloo.on.ca. sports@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Winston Churchill School Rink Located at 100 Milford Avenue, Waterloo. The rink is on the school’s baseball diamond.

Sports & Living

Imprint, Friday, February 26, 2010

Perfect playoff match-up #6 Waterloo (11–9)

Brent Golem sports & living editor

Away (5–5) Last Six (4–2)

en’s volleyball has playoff fever after taking a week break between the regular and post season. The Warriors are set to take on Western on a road game in London in an afternoon match-up on Saturday February 27. Waterloo scrapped into the playoffs after a two-game losing streak, seeding them in the sixth and final playoff spot. Luckily for the Warriors, they will have an easier road to the OUA final four weekend held at McMaster if they can build some confidence in the playoffs. Their path leads through teams that they have had some success against this season, and will not have to face #8 nationally ranked McMaster until they earn a spot in the final four showdown. Waterloo will be taking on number three-seeded Mustangs, a team they split with this season. The Warriors met with the Mustangs earlier in the year, right before Christmas break, in London. The match was not in the Warriors favour and they fell 3–0. The seemingly blowout was misleading as all three sets had Waterloo losing by less than five points, including a set settled by extra points. Back in the ‘Loo only two weeks ago, the Warriors fought hard and earned the victory. The match was a close one, with Waterloo taking the win by a score of 3–2. As expected, each set was a battle. Waterloo fell to an early 0–2 deficit by scores of 21–25 in both sets. In the face of defeat, the Warriors showed diversity by taking the next set

Kills/set: 10.9 Hitting %: 0.206 Blocks/set: 2.8 Digs/set: 8.90

#3 Western (15–5)

Home (8–2) Last Six (2–4)

Kills/set: 12.1 Hitting %: 0.240 Blocks/set: 2.4 Digs/set: 10.8 25–21, and forced a fifth set by winning 26–24. The fifth set remained a battle as they won in extra points 19–17. The game that the Warriors have been preparing two weeks for should be a terrific spectacle. The Warriors are extremely competitive against the Mustangs and will be playing hard for victory. “We match-up well against Western,” Coach Chris Lawson said. “We are ready to play them.” The Warriors will be relying on seniors Aaron Dam and Tyler Vivian to find the fire to build on the experienced they gained last year, as they lost in the semi-finals. Waterloo will be counting on some big games from these two

who are big components on the team. Dam was second in the OUA during the regular season with 82 blocks and ninth with a 40.0 kill percentage. Vivian was ninth in the OUA during the regular season with 190 kills. Waterloo will be looking to stymie a Mustang offense lead by Eric Simon who was first in the OUA with 32 service aces and fifth with 4.22 points per game, and Mathieu Poulin who was fifth in the OUA with 239 kills. They will have to smash the kills through Patrick Johnston who was second in the OUA with 184 digs. sports@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Canada owns more disappointment than podium

was watching the movie “Mean Girls” the other day, when I noticed that Lindsay Lohan’s career resembles that of our Canadian Olympics Committee’s “Own the Podium” slogan. In “Mean Girls,” Lohan was at that level of hotness where if you cracked an egg on her, you’d have no problem cooking it. Maybe she wasn’t the hottest girl in the world, maybe she wasn’t a sex symbol, but while watching the movie I asked myself an interesting question — would I give up one of my pinky fingers to kiss her? The answer, of course, was yes; and you think that would have been enough for Lohan, right? Being attractive enough that teenage boys would give up fingers to kiss her? But no, she wanted more. So she went on a crazy diet and dyed her hair blonde in an effort to become the more typical bombshell. And this is exactly where this whole “Own the Podium” idea comes into play. Canadians always do fairly well at the Winter Olympics, right? We finished third overall, with 24 medals, four years ago at Torino and received another 17 medals at Salt Lake City back in 2002. Best of all might be our global perception — we are that nation with a small-ish population, who produces good, solid athletes, and is humble and gracious in victory. Sure, we don’t go out and get first place in the medal count, but is that really expected? We’re realistic; after all, we have just 10 per cent of the population of the US and about 40 per cent of Germany, so we have a smaller pool of athletes to draw

jtoporowski@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

from (and much smaller budgets, I might add). This year, though, just like Lohan, we decided that being good wasn’t enough, we had to be the best — nothing else would do. Just listen to Roger Jackson, the head of our “Own the Podium” campaign; he really did say it best: “We’ll be winning medals pretty well every day. Some days four and some days one. We’ll be somewhere in the 25 to 30 range unless we really have a hot team and then we’ll be just above 30.” Wait, was Roger kidnapped and replaced by an American? There’s definitely something to be said about setting the bar higher, especially when we poured $117 million into our athletes for this Olympics (with a reported $66 million coming from us, as taxpayers), I’m not arguing against that. Nor am I saying that confidence in our athletes is a bad thing. But did Jackson really have to go out and state it all so boldly? Did we really need to put that much pressure on our athletes? Have you seen the Canadian Men’s Hockey Team’s games? John Mayer and Jessica Simpson running into each other would generate less tension! Jackson’s comments haven’t backfired simply because they’ve made us a laughingstock to our neighbours south of the border; no, it’s more than that. It’s the expectations that he set with them. When expectations don’t meet reality, people get disappointed, and when people are disappointed, it means they’re not appreciating what they have. Which is to say—our athletes aren’t being revered nearly enough for their accomplishments.

I’m not a huge fan of the Olympics (I’d argue they’re a waste of money), but I do understand that the core concept behind them is to celebrate the world’s athlete’s accomplishments, and in that regard, we’re failing. We’re too busy matching our results to Jackson’s dumb comments to truly celebrate our country’s victories. How about Ashleigh McIvor who won gold in women’s ski-cross, Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir who won gold in Ice Dancing, or Jon Montgomery who won gold in the Skeleton (and then walked down the street chugging beer from a pitcher)? I’ve seen coverage of them (especially Jon and his beer), but it seems like too much is being lost in not only Jackson’s quotes, but the defending of our “Glitch Games” (let it be noted that Canada spent about $6 billion on our Olympics—China, $100 billion on theirs. I’d rather have a couple malfunctions in the opening ceremony and spend 94 billion less, or am I crazy?) Just like Lohan should have, maybe we should sit back and enjoy our place in all of this. We’re still doing well as a nation, just not as well as Jackson’s lofty remarks. It’s time we appreciate an Olympics Games that produced the first ever Canadian gold on home soil and stop worrying about how grand our total medal tally is. Although, I must admit if Canada’s men’s hockey team doesn’t win Gold, the only sitting back and enjoying I’ll be doing is at the bottom of a whiskey bottle.

Michelle Duklas asst. sports & living

Track and Field team continues to impress as OUAs approach The Waterloo Warriors men’s much faster than my time at U of T, sprint team travelled to McGill this past which is a slow track for me and many weekend to compete in the Last Chance other hurdlers.,” Lopez told Imprint. “I meet in their last opportunity before the want to make it very difficult for the OUAs this coming weekend. The rest next person trying to beat my record. of the team travelled to Toronto to take There are always small parts of your part in the Hal Brown Memorial meet. race that have room for improvement Luke Govia finished fourth in and make a huge difference.” Jennifer Adebanjo ran the fastest the men’s 60m dash to lead the way for the Warriors with a time of 7.00. time by a Warrior woman this season, Matt Melnick dropped seven seconds finishing with a time of 8.24 in the 60m off his personal best in the 1500m run sprint. Monika Bolejszo ran just over the to finish sixth with a time of 4:10.15. five minute mark in the 1500m run, with Melnick has dropped his time by over a time of 5:00.01. Patrick Mckinnon ran 20 seconds since the beginning of the a personal best in the 3000m, finishing season, and just seems to be getting seventh with a time of 8:57.35 to break the nine minute barrier. better as the OUAs approach. Nancy Spreitzer was able to The men’s 4x200m relay team of Luke Govia, Jacob Muirhead, Eric record a seasonal best in the triple Roque, and Kofi Kwarko-Fosu each jump, leaping 10.66m to medal silver. ran a personal best time to clock a Andrew Good finished in a tie for team time of 1:30.27 and finish in third with his high jump of 1.86m. Jason Goetz continues to imfirst place. They are around two seconds away from the CIS standard press. He travelled to the Ontario time. In the 4x400m, personal bests Club Championships at York on were broken again as Jacob Muir- Saturday and competed in the triple head, Luke Govia, Oliver Grant, and jump. His jump of 14.73m was 0.01m Ben Terejko ran the second best time off of silver place. The Ontario University Athletat the meet, with a time of 3:22.74. This is also around two seconds away ics championships take place this weekend at York University. The from the CIS standard. Kat Vandervoot, the lone Warrior Warriors will be trying to improve woman to travel to McGill, jumped a on their seasonal bests, and qualify season’s best 10.70m in the triple jump some of their athletes for the CIS to finish third. This is 0.75m less than championships which will take place the CIS standard of 11.45m. She also at the University of Windsor in March. “Compared to last year, we are ran 8.28 in the 60m sprint to finish 12th. In Toronto, Hugo Lopez was the lower in numbers, but we have top Warrior, winning the 60m hurdles athletes that have had outstandwith a time of 8.69. In his upcoming ing performances throughout the meets, Lopez will be looking to beat the season.” Lopez said. “We are proVarsity record time he set last season. gressively getting better meet after “My win at U of T was a promising meet. Athletes have been beating indicator that my next meet at York, personal bests all season and look which is a fast track for me will be very promising for OUA’s.” Close game leads to bitter defeat for Warriors Forward Laura Becotte is gradu The Waterloo Warriors women’s basketball team have finished their ating from Therapeutic Recreation. season with a 4–18 record, losing to the She has earned 207 points this season Laurier Golden Hawks in a tight match. over the 22 games she has played. Laurier took the early lead in Becotte finished the season with a the first quarter and continued to 9.41 points per game statistic and dominate in the second quarter. By recorded 87 field goals. Forward Erin Button is graduatthe end of the second quarter, Laurier was leading 32–21, and it looked ing from Fine Arts/English. She has extremely unlikely that the Warriors earned 172 points this season over the 21 games she has played. Button were going to win the game. But the Warriors woke up in the accumulated an average of 8.19 points third quarter and netted 18 points. In per game throughout the season, the fourth quarter, it was Waterloo’s scoring 64 field goals. Guard Chelsea Brown is graduatturn to dominate, and they earned twelve points, while keeping Laurier ing from Therapeutic Recreation. She has earned 88 points this season over from getting more than six. Erin Button and Stephanie Shea the 18 games she has played. Brown had led the Warriors in points, both earn- an average 4.89 points per game, made ing 12 during the game. Laura Becotte 29 field goals and 10 three pointers. Point guard Reanne Holden is added an additional 11 points, and Reanne Holden and Chelsea Brown graduating and has earned 194 points this season in the 22 games she has both contributed seven apiece. The final score when all was said played. She earned 8.82 points per and done was 53–51 in favour of Lau- game, on average and made 64 field rier. This marks the end of their season, goals and 10 three point field goals. Guard Shephanie Shea is graduas they do not advance to the playoffs. The Warriors held a post game cer- ating and has earned 232 points this emony for five of their athletes, who will season in the 22 games she has played. be graduating this year. They are Laura She earned, on average, 10.55 points Becotte, Erin Button, Chelsea Brown, per game and scored 83 field goals and 38 three point field goals. Reanne Holden and Stephanie Shea. Warriors win gold in Nordic skiing The Warriors Nordic skiing team travelled to Orangeville to take part in the OUA championships. Warriors Henry Reich and Andrew Jeffery were named to the all-star team. Reich earned bronze in the men’s10km classic with a time of 29:25.50. Reich then teamed up with Jeffery and Tim Rhodes in the 15km classic relay to give the Warriors a gold medal. They came in at a time of 44:31.80, beating second place Carleton by 13 seconds. mduklas@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Sports & Living

Imprint, Friday, February 26, 2010

Strokes and chokes jsmith@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

anadians have really been taken for a roller-coaster ride throughout these Olympic Games. There have been massive upsets left and right with Canadian athletes feeling the brunt of some exceedingly high expectations. The “Own The Podium” program has not produced the type of results that were being discussed before the Games began. It hasn’t been all disappointments, however, as biathlete JeanPhilippe Le Guellec placed sixth in the men’s 10km sprint - the best finish ever by a Canadian. The real headlines have been stolen by the Canadian cross-country team, which isn’t receiving nearly as much coverage as they deserve. Canada had three men finish in the top ten in the 30km pursuit - not an easy feat. Canadian teams also had best-ever results in the men’s and women’s team sprints; the men claimed purple (fourth) and the women were seventh. People put too much emphasis on medals because they’re countable. Yes it’s great to rack up the medals but purple isn’t a bad result when you consider that cross-country skiing is historically dominated by Eastern European countries. While Canada doesn’t have the medal total that people were expecting, it’s hard to call the efforts of the Canadian Olympic Committee an abject failure. The alpine ski team was a bit of a disaster but Canada is beginning to be competitive in events that were a complete write-off in past Olympics (Canadian ski-jumpers exist?). While it’s a little premature to start making predictions, expect the 2014 Games to produce Canada’s highet medal total ever.

First Down... It’s sad to think about the large number of people who are missing the Olympics because they’re too focused on the men’s hockey team. Not sure if those people realize that it’s only one event out of 86. The Games are an excellent opportunity to see sports that are not usually televised; don’t get tunnel vision and forget to enjoy the Games. While we’re on the subject: isn’t it much more satisfying to watch amateur athletes win gold than professionals? Obviously Canadian pride dictates our desire for Team Canada to win, but Sidney Crosby or Alexander Ovechkin winning gold is not the same as Jon Montgomery or Evgeny Ustyugov taking it home... Speaking of Jon Montgomery: his celebration was simply classic after he watched Martins Dukurs finish the race slightly behind his own time. Too often champions hold back their reactions, but what would you expect from someone who goes head first down a path of ice at speeds over 100 km per hour? The best part of his victory was seeing him chug a pitcher of beer on the streets of Vancouver and nobody seeming to care. How bizarre was the Michael Douglas disqualification just before the third and fourth runs of the skeleton? First off, it’s the Olympics and you’re competing in one event; what else are you thinking about 30 minutes before your run? It’s not like these guidelines are a secret. Second, and possibly the most ridiculous part of the story, Douglas not so subtly called out his coach and Montgomery in an interview afterwards for not reminding him! Pretty sure it’s your own responsibility to do something you’ve probably done a thousand times previous - figure it out, sports fan.

Seventh Inning Stretch... Huge hat tip to Sven Kramer of the Netherlands for putting an NBC reporter in her place. After winning the gold in the men’s 5000m long track speed skating event an NBC reporter asked him who he was and what he had just won. Kramer replied with, “Are you stupid?”. The answer: yes. Kramer is by far the biggest star athlete in the Netherlands and is clearly just figuring out that if you aren’t an American, they have no knowledge of you whatsoever. Is anyone else confused as to how the South Koreans are so good at speed skating? Apparently this is a popular after-school activity for them. It’s not that the Canadians are choking in short-track skating, the Koreans are clearly just superior in terms of speed and strategy. After the first few days of racing it was evident that the Canadians had severely overestimated how many medal chances they had in short-track and the results showed it... Kevin Martin is destroying the field in men’s curling and it’s not even fair. It’s not a big story because this is what everyone expects Canadian teams to do at international competitions, but there are a lot of quality teams outside of Canada. The main difference between Canada and the rest of the world is the depth of teams. Canada has at least a dozen teams that could play in this tournament and have a legitimate shot at winning, whereas other countries have one or two teams that repeatedly make it. It makes you wonder if it would make more sense to drop one or two countries and let in an extra Canadian team. How about France gets a curling club and then their team can play at the Olympics.

While Canada isn’t in the race for the overall medal title (were people really talking like we had a shot?), it’s possible we can contend for the most golds. In all honesty isn’t gold what it’s all about? They can hand out medals for as many positions as they want but it’s all academic really. Overtime... As enjoyable as Shaun White’s 1260 was to watch in the half pipe snowboarding competition, the Olympics really could have done without his “I’m the greatest” attitude. Not only is this the absolute opposite message the Olympics is supposed to be conveying to kids but the snowboard half-pipe is one of the least impressive events in the Winter Games. As long as we’re talking about Americans: it’s probably time for them to stop winning medals. There is nothing worse than watching an American athlete stand on any part of the podium. You can see the smug satisfaction on their face knowing that they’re running away with the overall medal count. Any other athlete is fine (sans Canada’s prodigal son turned Australian, Dale Begg-Smith). The only thing tolerable about the US at these Olympics is Stephen Colbert. Congratulations to the Finnish women’s hockey team for hitting double digit shots during their semi-final match-up with Canada. An achieve-

ment that without a doubt had the fans on the edge of their seats. In the same game, Canada’s Meghan Agosta had a real accomplishment as she became the first player in Olympic history with nine goals (three hat-tricks) in one year. Both of these feats just underscore the fact that women’s hockey has a long way to go before it should be considered as an Olympic event. What is with the awkward commentary from the curling arena? Why is this allowed to continue? Vic Rauter, Linda Moore, and Ray Turnbull are, at the best of times, simply filling air time with confusing dialogue. Other times it seems like Turnbull openly dislikes Rauter and prides himself on exposing Rauter’s ignorance of intricate curling strategy. Whether this is a clever ploy to explain the game to novice curlers or not remains to be seen but Turnbull needs to go...quickly. Shout out of the Week: A general shout out this week is extended to all of the biathletes in the Olympics, and even those who weren’t in it. The natural combination of skiing and shooting is quite entertaining to watch and no doubt comes in handy during life and death alpine pursuits. Nobody is fooled, however; all biathletes are training for the same thing: an epic chase down the Swiss Alps with James Bond. (The Living Daylights is the movie you’re remembering.)

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Arts & Entertainment

Imprint, Friday, February 26, 2010 arts@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Concert Review Top right photo: Known as Shad K, rising hip hop artist Shadrach Kabango was born in Kenya and grew up in Ontario. Aside from his music career, Shad also has a business degree from Wilfrid Laurier University, and an liberal studies MA from Simon Fraser University. From Top to bottom left photo respectively: Grand Analog, Kidstreet, and Dog Bus are bands that opened for Shad at the Wax Nightclub in Kitchener. Dog Bus was recently on the MTV music show, DisBand. Photos courtesy: Shadrach Kabango (top right) Grand Analog (top left), Kidstreet (middle left), and Dog Bus (bottom left)

Hometown Hip Hop Heavyweight Rips Wax Stage Jamie Damaskinos staff reporter

aterloo’s very own Shadrach Kabango, also known as Shad, hit the Wax stage alongside opening acts Grand Analog, Kidstreet, and Dog Bus on Saturday, February 20, 2010. Despite facing minor technical issues, Shad, a rising hip hop star and a Wilfrid Laurier alumni, delivered a solid performance. Let me get this out of the way: the only complaint I have about the show dealt with the levels of the speakers. In certain places the sound was inordinately loud, while in other locations the sound seemed really quiet. The sound staff at the Wax didn’t really mediate for the destructive interference caused by the locations of the speakers. However, this did not ruin the night. This show defined itself through audience interaction. From Grand Analog’s invitation to the breakers in the audience to Shad’s ability to interact seamlessly with the audience, the performances were all characterized by a desire to see the audience get involved in the show. During the song “Touch Your Toes,” Grand Analog actually parted the crowd in order to create a space for people in the crowd to break dance. The four man hip hop group, Grand Analog, set the tone by delivering a solid performance. Each element of this group hammered out each beat seamlessly, demonstrating their musical prowess. Both DJ Catalist, the group’s keyboardist, and Warren Bray, the band’s bassist, showed more conventional musical skill. Bray, in particular, laid down some complex hip hop grooves. DJ OField displayed that he was no slouch with the turn tables, grinding out some grimy beats for unique frontman, Odario Williams. Williams, in a show of his distinct eccentricity, actually broke out into a kazoo solo for the song, “I Play My Kazoo.” As a big fan of Shad since the debut of his premiere album, “When This Is Over,” I have been chomping at the bit to get the opportunity to see him in concert. From

a musical standpoint, his performance was phenomenal. Despite his use of complex diction and the breakneck pace of his flow, Shad didn’t skip a single beat. Shad’s performance began with his DJ, DJ TLO, demonstrating the skills that won him a national competition. In addition, Shad debuted some new songs that are to appear on his upcoming album. Rumour has it that this album will be released in May. The setlist, which has equal parts to his first album, “When This Is Over,” and his sophomore album, “The Old Prince”— was stellar throughout. What really set his performance above and beyond was his interaction with the audience. While he sang the song that earned him his fame, “I get down,” Shad leapt off of the stage and moved through the crowd. During “Out of Love, Pt. 2,” Shad invited a member of the audience on stage to display some of his merch. That’s nothing to say of the moment in which Shad invited members of the audience to join him on stage and rock out. The performance ended with a freestyle bout between Shad, Grand Analog, and the other hip hop act, Dog Bus. DJ TLO spinned a beat and let these three artists lay down some extemporaneous poetics. Rather than setting the tone of a battle, these artists used the opportunity to play with one another. The trio demonstrated a real detachment from the hostility and one-ups-menship that has traditionally been associated with contemporary hip hop. The hip hop landscape in Canada has been bleak, at best. Between Classified and K-Os, there have been very few notable stars who have risen to prominence. Looking to American hip hop artists results in disillusionment, as many of these performers are characterized by arrogance and braggodocio (with a few notable exceptions). Both Shad and Grand Analog present a fantastic alternative to these artists. Look to these two phenomenal acts to define Canadian hip hop in the years to come. jdamaskinos@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Arts & Entertainment

Imprint, Friday, February 26, 2010

Interweb

The Tetris God tells a tale of a vengeful god of Tetris who reigns over the order in which Tetris blocks fall. phtotos coutesy College Humor

CollegeHumor CollegeHumor

ollegeHumor (CH) — “the number 1 comedy site on the internet,” as deemed by itself — has been, in recent times, subjecting its fans to blatant promotions, unfunny CH Originals, and totalitarian leadership. Coupled with CH’s unbearably dimwitted, insulting community, the site’s quality is decreasing fast. The CH domain was bought in 1999 by Josh Abramson and Ricky Van Veen, two Baltimoreans in high school who used it as a means to share funny essays, pictures, links, and videos. When the two went to different colleges, more of their friends started using the site and adding content. It became a rioting success among high schoolers and college students, often being revolted by high schools and revered by the students. CH spread virally and rapidly, built up a fanbase, and is now one of the main destinations of college, university, and high school students across North America. The fans often suffering adolescent angst, are easily wooed by the scantily garbed women, excessive cussing, and other content (labelled “inappropriate” by the parental authority figures). Eleven years later, CH is still producing what college students want to see in droves. The CH staff upload around ten videos a week, feature a “Cute College Girl,”

and upload a plentitude of other racy and hilarious content. But the site’s quality is suffering, as many do after 11 years. Originals are becoming less original, cute college girls are becoming more whorish, and that racy content is becoming simply racist. The members (or trolls) that occupy CH are one of the main problems with the website. With a required registration to view the comments, CH may appear to be a place where you must have intelligent comments to be allowed to join. However, the case is the exact opposite. The users appear to be only people from a community college (or as we UW students might better understand: Laurier students). Nearly all of CH Original’s comment boards are clustered with eight different members posting “furst!!1!” or some equally vacuous derivative. Using the phrase “worse than Youtube” is scary, but it applies to CH’s comments. They rarely contribute anything funny, interesting, or relevant. That’s not to say that a pompous New York Time’s-like sense of humour is expected since the site is directed towards college students, but it would at least be better if members at least contribute something funny or related, even if it’s sprawled with bad taste, spelling, and grammar. CH Originals are one of the highest visited sections of the site. They are videos created by the CH staff and often feature the staff doing something ridiculous in the office. Some of the original sketches include: “Streeter Theater,” involving Streeter, one of the staff, posing as a random character visiting the office; “Bleep Bloop,” the

Dark Void Airtight Games Capcom

will start off by stating that I had high hopes for Dark Void. The trailers excited me. I followed the development diaries. I even passed off the “meh..” demo on the sentiment that it represented a work in progress. In the end, Dark Void crushed my hopes, like a ten-ton-hammer on some helpless kitten. Dark Void has no excuse for failing miserably. It had everything that could have made a game amazing: a decent development team (from the guys who made Crimson Skies), innovative gameplay and a story involving aliens, the Bermuda Triangle and jetpacks. However, a bevy of bugs, lacklustre graphics, hobbled gameplay and poorly executed storyline prevent this game from even being a decent rental.

Grade

Story

D+ The Good Jetpack segments Interesting array of weapons Entertaining melee sequences

The Bad • • • •

Poorly executed storyline Incredibly stupid AI Too many glitches No “Tactical Freedom”

Screenshots courtesy Capcom Entertainment

Dark Void’s story is a little interesting, although poorly executed. The player is shoved into the boots of a pilot named William Grey (voiced by Nolan North), whose plane strays into the Bermuda Triangle. From the get-go, players face off against aliens, aliens in metal suits, alien walkers, and, to make things even more interesting, flying aliens. The dialogue is stiff at best, with someone constantly spouting about adepts, invasion plans and other crap. I recommend that you use subtitles, as the audio tends to skip. Unfortunately, for players who really want to get into the story, reading the manual is required. When one has to read the manual in order to get an understanding of the plot, it means the storyline hasn’t been executed too well.

Gameplay

One of the main selling points of Dark Void was the jetpack and the developers recognize this fact. The controls for the

gaming sketch in which they take a game and tear it apart; and “Jake and Amir,” following Amir’s creepy obsession with his co-worker, Jake. The sketches are produced in a small time-frame, and are generally high quality, original, and funny. But, now CH staff inserts blatant advertising into their videos. In “the New Years POV,” the guy stops to brush his teeth with “Colgate Wisp.” Shameless. They also started an unfunny, sketch last year called “The Crucial Man (presented by Phillips-Norelco),” where they teach people what Phillips-Norelco product will give them the best shave, haircut, and so on. The website always had a totalitarian philosophy, requiring all videos to be previewed, all writers to be interviewed, not letting users tag; their own video, and not letting anyone write their own tagline: Lately, they’ve used their power exuberantly and unfairly. Now, they have disabled commenting on “The Crucial Man” videos because of the negative comments they were getting. People resorted to commenting in other videos to talk about their distaste for “The Crucial Man” series. The website is no longer the one-stop destination for all comedy needs as it once was. Although it is still funny, there is more garbage to root through. For a taste of the website’s hilarity and audacious bits of comedy, check out “The Tetris God,” “I Gotta Feeling Parody,” and “Prank Wars.” Videos such as these keep myself, and many other users, sticking around since the videos scream hope for CH. — Jacob McLellan

jetpack segments are tight and responsive. Honestly, its very difficult to fault the jetpack segments. When combined with the ability to hijack enemy ships, pull off aerial maneuvers, and generally speed around, these segments are the most enjoyable aspect of the game. The weapons were rather interesting to play with. An added bonus is that the players gain upgrades to individual weapons if the person has enough “tech points.” A few weapons quickly became my favorite, including one particular gun that allows you to channel Emperor Palpatine from Star Wars as you electrocute your opponents and anyone surrounding them. Everything else, for lack of a better word, sucks. The ground combat sequences are horrendous and are ripped off from Army of Two. Sure it’s understood that the jetpack allows you to negate enemy cover, but when you can easily dispatch an enemy with a single punch to the face, instead of wasting an entire magazine’s worth of ammo into them, it becomes ridiculous. The cover system becomes obsolete, as epic fights end up becoming sequences where you jet around punching aliens in the face. To their credit, though, the developers did make the melee sequences entertaining. There are far too many glitches; they start to crop up later on in the game and consequently ruin it. The majority of these glitches seem to affect objectives markers. More than once I found that the marker often labeled the wrong objective or there were none whatsoever, leaving me gropeing around. This is unforgiveable. The jetpack sequences have been handicapped. Honestly, its as if you kidnapped Usain Bolt, shoved him in a tiny room and then ordered him to run at his fastest speed possible. Players are shoved into claustrophobic canyons and tiny battle zones. I would have greatly preferred the developers to allow a little bit more freedom in these segments. Perhaps a chase sequence would have helped

in adding a little variety to the monotonous escort missions. A high-speed strike mission would have been a lot more fun, rather than being forced to defend an objective. The supposed “tactical freedom” that the developers advertised, for the most part, is non-existent. Sure, one could technically attack a boss character from the back or front, but that’s all the variety there is. The developers missed an opportunity to allow players to utilize out-of-the-box solutions to situations, such as ramming a hijacked fighter into a monster’s face. It is utterly preposterous that I killed six bosses by kneecapping each one of their legs in turn. The A.I. is dumber than a sack of doorknobs. Both allies and enemies take part in this collective idiocy. More than once, I watched enemy fighters simply plow into canyon walls and, in one memorable segment (the “vertical” segment), one alien simply jumped to its death, seemingly in despair over its own innate stupidity.

Presentation

Dark Void’s graphics are not anything to write home about. Animations are stiff, expressions seem odd, and the cutscenes only highlight the inadequacies of the engine. The engine shows its age, as models look like oven-baked figurines. Graphical glitches abound in this game. For one, there were instances of floating corpses. The sound suffers from too many glitches. This might be the only game where it’s almost necessary to use subtitles, as the dialogue will skip occasionally and is sometimes unintelligible. Despite the developer’s best intentions, this is a game that has been hobbled by poor graphics, glitches, and shoddy gameplay. Dark Void is like an old shack; poorly constructed, not pretty to look at, and full of bugs. The only thing to look forward to in this game, is when it finally ends. — Tejas Koshy

Video game Review

Website review

• • •

Arts & Entertainment

Imprint, Friday, February 26, 2010

Thick and comforting

Questions, comments, want to get involved? arts@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

UPCOMING SHOWS mar

mar

23 mar

25 mar

27 apr

apr

JAY MALINOWSKI

(OF BEDOUIN SOUNDCLASH)

ELECTRIC 6

SPIRITS

WITH THE

dyoon@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

HIPPY MAFIA

BOCCE

o here’s the thing, it was my first day back to class and I’ve already given up. Wrote a midterm that I will probably, if I’m lucky, get 35 per cent on and received a test back for another class, and let’s just say that I’m toast. Anyways, as I was sitting in this midterm with absolutely no hope of passing, a quote from Julie & Julia came into my head: “You know what I love about cooking? I love that after a day when nothing is sure and when I say nothing, I mean nothing. You can come home and absolutely know that if you add egg yolks to chocolate and sugar and milk, it will get thick. That’s such a comfort.” This is exactly how I felt, and although this quote was in reference to chocolate cream pie, I was day dreaming of warm, thick, rich chocolate pudding during the last half hour of that midterm. The thought of pudding is probably the only thing that got me through this slushy, wet, and overall grey day. I stopped uptown and picked up some 65 per cent Madagascar chocolate from the supermarket

and then ended up at Casa Mia deli & café on Father David Bauer drive — which is fortunately and unfortunately on my way home from uptown. Where I managed to spend what little spending money I had left on a jar of sundried tomatoes, one large hunk of seven years aged cheddar, some gruyere, lovely fatty Polish ham, and kalamata olives. Beware the cheese man; he will feed you little tasters of unbelievable cheese that you absolutely cannot bear to leave the store without. So instead of sustaining myself on pudding alone, I tossed together a Mediterranean pasta with the gold I picked up from Casa Mia before getting ready to indulge in some luscious chocolate. Now, chocolate pudding is really just a custard with chocolate melted into it and so we begin with a custard base. Milk and/or cream are heated until the first gentle boil, while egg yolks are beaten with sugar in a separate bowl. Then the heated (but slightly cooled) milk/ cream is gently added to the egg

mixture and when all combined, added back to the pot to thicken slowly and languorously over low heat. Great care needs to be taken when adding the milk to the eggs that it is not too hot, or the yolks will cook and you will find yourself with scrambled eggs with sugar and milk. Also, don’t throw away the egg whites once separated pour into a ziploc bag and freeze until you find yourself a use for them, preferably meringue cookies or a pavlova. This recipe is derived from my favourite food blogger La Tartine Gourmande whose food photography whisks you away (pun intended) to her kitchen. She suggests serving this chilled in individual serving cups with fresh fruit but I doubt mine will last that long. After a day when nothing is sure, I love that I can come home and absolutely know that if I add egg yolks to chocolate, sugar, and milk, it will get thick, and that it will not make it to the fridge.

Dark Chocolate Custard

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Courtesy Alice Carrier / SXC.HU

Ingredients • 2 egg yolks • 3 tbsp blonde cane sugar • 1.5 oz dark chocolate, 65-70 per cent coca, chopped • 1/2 cup whole milk • 3 tbsp heavy cream

Directions

1 2 3 4 5 6

Heat the milk and cream together in a pot over medium heat until the first gentle boil. Remove from heat. Add chocolate to the heated milk to melt. In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks with the sugar until light in colour and fluffy. Add the melted chocolate milk mixture to eggs slowly and mix well. Pour the mixture back into the pot and heat over low to medium heat until it coats the spoon. Do not allow to boil. Pour the custard into glasses/ramekins/bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let cool in the fridge. Custard will be much thicker when cold.

Imprint, Friday, February 26, 2010

Courtesy of djsemtex.com

Snoop Dogg Malice N Wonderland Priority Records

f you’re craving a unique sound and interesting lyrics, turn away now, because this CD is not for you. On the other hand, if you’ve been to a dance club recently, you’ve most likely heard at least one song from Malice N Wonderland. The album boasts repetitive beats and lyrics that make for basic dance club music. Consider borrowing this one from a friend if you’re holding a dance party. If you’re a DJ, you’ll probably want to buy this one for your collection, as the background beats make for good mixing with other, more interesting melodies. I struggled through this album, forcing myself to listen to the whole thing, just once. All of the songs sound similar, musically and lyrically. Each song consists of the same two or three chords being played throughout. Quite often the same chords are repeated from one song to the next. The lyrics are similarly mundane and toned down, so that even the offensive ones are hard to comprehend. This album incorporates many guest artists, so many that it borders on being a compilation album. This album comes with Snoop Dogg’s label and stamp of approval, undoubtedly to help sell CDs to the masses.

bstract ’80s synths don’t make an album, no matter how many filters they’ve been run through. You’ve got to have soul. South Carolina’s Chaz Bundick, otherwise known as Toro y Moi, is the derivative spiritual successor to the already derivative Neon Indian. He brings little to the table that hasn’t been brought by the great deadbeat summer of 2009 where chillwave artists like Washed Out, Memory Tapes, and the aforementioned Neon Indian ruled the day. Bundick offers a little more than the terminally-chill-to-the-point-of-beingpretty-much-comatose Neon Indian, but doesn’t measure up to other contemporaries. He’s not as raw as Dâm-Funk or as polished as Four Tet. Causers of This is mildly interesting background music, but hardly challenging. The Guardian says the albums selling point is its “futuristic new pop sound,” but who cares when half of today’s music is futuristic pop? Last year, the Juan Maclean said “the future will come;” does that mean it’s here now? Does that mean we’ve reached a point where it’s impossible to sound fresh? Does that mean we’re over freshness? Does that mean we might just be interested in soul again?

— Alicia Mah

— Andrew Kai-Yin MacKenzie

ick Puppies is an Australian rock band formed in 1997, and Tri-Polar is their third studio album. Vocalist/guitarist Shimon Moore met bassist Emma Anzai in high school, and Mark Goodwin is the current drummer, replacing previous drummer Chris Mileski. Rock fans will recognize the boy-meetsgirl-in-highschool factor as one that usually leads to decent rock bands (case in point: Evanescence, pre-The Open Door). As a self-declared grunge/metal fan, I did not expect anything impressive from a band called “Sick Puppies.” What I expected was a load of tepid happy-go-lucky/Hello Kitty music. When I actually listened to the CD, however, I was basically following due process in order to end up ripping it up in my review. The first, second, and third track — “War”, “I Hate You,” and “Riptide” — strongly violated my predictions. The music is heavy, methodical, and highly enjoyable. Perhaps the best track on the record is “So What I Lied.” Everything comes together handsomely in this one. The guitar riffs have just the right amount of distortion, and the vocals are at their roughest quality throughout the track — which isn’t that rough. The album’s quality fluctuates from there. “Survive” is just a generic rock song that you have already listened to 100 times in every other rock song released in the past two years. To be fair, however, it does have a wicked guitar solo in the bridge, earning it an honourary mention. The rest of the record is characterized by Moore’s brilliant guitars, and equally impressive use of bass from Anzai. The drums are nothing to write to Rolling Stone about, but they never disappoint. The last track, “White Balloons,” is a wonderful song that has Moore and Anzai singing together in a heavy-butmelodic closing. This brings us to my biggest disappointment with the album: the vocals. Moore’s vocals don’t live up to the high hard rock bar by the guitar, bass, and drums. The instrumentals of the tracks deserve someone with a deeper and gruffer voice, and I am left craving some more growling. That said, Moore’s are better than most vocals I’ve heard from recent bands. In closing, I have not listened to many recent rock albums, so I am loathe to make an argument based on inference from a very small sample, but Tri-Polar is probably one of the top 10 rock records released in 2009. If you can, try listening to some samples on iTunes before you decide whether it’s worth your money.

ot Chip is known for their electropop music, full of dance floor-ready songs and a handful of ballads. On One Life Stand, these softer sentiments have leaked across the whole album. While retaining the band’s energy, the lyrical themes throughout the album are more concrete than before, focusing heavily on love and relationships. Self-described as “homely-sounding” by vocalist Alexis Taylor, the album begins with the upbeat “Thieves in the Night,” complete with lyrics such as “Happiness is what we all want.” The first half of the album is very immediate, each track’s melodies are very in your face. “I Feel Better” contains a strong synthesizer hook, but the vocals are inexplicably Auto-tuned. It is only a minor gripe, as the song as a whole is solid. The title track starts off with an infectious beat, before heading into a soothing chorus, as Taylor reassuringly sings, “I only wanna be your one life stand.” However, the album isn’t exactly flawless, “Brothers,” a track not about romantic love but instead a song about brotherly love, gets a bit cringeworthy as Taylor starts singing about how he can play Xbox with his brothers. The harmonization and vocal arrangements in the ballad “Slush” are impressive, but it’s hard to take the song seriously as it literally starts out with a chorus of “Humina humina humina,” repeatedly sung in the background. “Alley Cats” is another restrained track, with a catchy bass riff and accompanying synthesizer that don’t exactly explode with energy, but nonetheless make a pleasant song. The album closes up with the danceable, “Take It In,” containing a memorable chorus with a denouement that sees a change from the synthesizers and beats to a charming piano-driven end, all while airy vocals sing “And oh, my heart has flown to you just like a dove.” Hot Chip has shown signs of maturity. They haven’t channelled it perfectly yet, but they’ve come out with a strong album. There are songs you can dance to, and there are songs you can sit and think about. The emphasis on “warm and soulful” sound has paid off, and Hot Chip has come off with another strong album worth checking out.

— Sherif Soliman

— Ronald Chui

Courtesy of Sickpuppies.net

Sick Puppies Tri-Polar Victory

Arts & Entertainment

Courtesy of knoxroad.com

Toro Y Moi Causers of This Carpark

Courtesy of behindthehype.com

Hot Chip One Life Stand Astralwerks

Arts & Entertainment

Imprint, Friday, February 26, 2010

Gaming clichés: The shooter edition tkoshy@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

n many arguments I have heard between gamers and moviegoers, the subject of clichés often comes up. Many avid gamers are quick to point out that Hollywood recycles stories, characters, and even props faster than Madonna recycles orphans. The sad fact is, like an any mature industry, gaming developers often fall back on clichés in a bid to retain the familiar aspects for the gamer.

The Exploding Barrels If first person shooters are any example, militaries, both past, present and future take to placing high combustible barrels which explode if one so much as sneezes, right next to their soldiers. Some even go as far as to place them near important installations such as tanks, cannons, and on 10-foot tall monstrosities who wield flamethrowers. Why do game developers have a fascination with exploding barrels? First, it prevents players from being overwhelmed by the horde of enemies. By virtue of its explosive qualities and the enemies disturbing attachment to them, them give players a way out. Secondly, it also gives the developers an excuse to show off their game engine’s power by rendering a satisfying explosion. Right off the bat, this is inherently unrealistic. If history and science are any indication, firing a bullet into a barrel filled with fuel will not trigger an explosion. If Mythbusters is to be believed, conventional small arms would not ignite even a propane tank (it takes a minigun loaded with incendiary rounds, in which case you’re better off using the minigun instead). Assuming the military take special precautions with explosive fuel, they would be using special tanks. Then again, they did decide to place that one explosive tank in the middle of their position. Of course, some shooters twist their way around this logic and often replace the fuel with plasma/ radioactive waste/mysterious explosive alien fluid. In the end of course, I’m still firing on that “barrel”: my inner pyromaniac demands fulfilment. Mass Effect, Halo and Killzone are just a few of the games, which have a fetish for exploding barrels.

The Space Marine Yes, we have id Software (the makers of Doom) to thank for this one. Need to explain how the protagonist all of a sudden knows how to use assault rifles, pistols, rocket launchers, sniper rifles and even laser weaponry? Need to explain why this guy is stuck all alone on some world that’s filled to the brim with aliens who are all eager to introduce him to the business end of their laser gun/ sword/phallic device? Simple, you’re a space marine. Why do we, or at least game developers, share this fascination with the space marine? Well there are some historical reasons for it: Ever since the dawn of sailing, someone thought it would be a great idea to cram a ship full of battle ready men, armed to the teeth with weapons and sail them around the world to project their power. Sonia Lee

Given the nature of their assignment, these soldiers need to : A: Storm the objective B: Kill everyone who is not an ally C: Survive (optional) Given the nature of their tasks, these marines soon become regarded as a bit of an elite unit and soon their reputations, as mean sons of bitches begins to grow. Look at the marine force of any country and many will argue that they represent some of the finest fighting force available. Both WWI and WWII saw marines from all parts of the globe take part in some of the bloodiest fighting and come out on top. Soon the term marine became synonymous with badass in western culture. Given the history behind this, it’s not surprising that when gaming developers who have been exposed to popular culture think of a probable character who can handle an array of weaponry for a deadly purpose and yet can shrug off bullets and whatnot, they think marine. Most first person shooters take place in the oh so mysterious future. This makes it natural for the evolution of marines to become a space-based fighting force (because, God forbid the army move into space). Of course, this gives developers a bewildering array of armour, boots, helmet and weapons to slap onto their marines that probably alternate between weighing him down or lighting him up like a Christmas tree (I’m looking at you, Gears of War). It also gives them a plausible excuse as to why the space marine can wield a laser rifle and not blink twice. Of course, there are games that just ignore the space part and focus on the marine. The ability to withstand bullets and handle a dizzying array of weaponry still applies here.

The Crash Nothing else screams that the situation has gone FUBAR more than when you’re riding a death trap with its ass on fire towards the ground. It’s perfectly understandable, of course, from a storytelling perspective. The fact that your pilot is wailing that he can’t control “her” adds to the tensions of the situation. The assorted melody of alarms, beeps and klaxons reminds you that clearly in this case, the military went with the lowest bidder. The flax that just slammed into your vehicle reminds you that you are dealing with a foe that can aim and hit a moving target. Of course, the requisite crash and screen dimming reminds you that this shit just got real. A quick review of first person shooter series will remind you that many developers embrace the above commandment. Call of Duty, Halo, Quake, and Resistance are good examples of games series that embrace this. In the end, developers will continue to fall back on clichés, and we will continue to buy their products. Why? Because its familiar, comfortable and it works. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to pump some rounds into some ugly’s face with my laser rifle. Those fools just shot down my ship and the Corp ain’t paying me by the hour.

“

Nothing else screams that the situation has gone FUBAR more than when you’re riding a death trap with its ass on fire towards the ground

“

Arts & Entertainment

Imprint, Friday, February 26, 2010

BORING, SEXLESS, POLITE, AND WHITE: THE ART OF BEING A CANADIAN ATHLETE akaiyinmackenzie@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

’m taking a break from pop culture this week. This article comes on the heels of the crushing defeat that the Russians suffered at the hands of the Goliath Canadian team, who I just can’t bring myself to root for. Part of it is that I can’t bring myself to root for Sidney Crosby, who represents a vision of Canada that I can’t mesh with. In many ways, Crosby is as Canadian as it gets: white, polite, and inoffensive to a fault. Oh, and he really likes hockey — which is, of course, the reason why we all know who he is. In many ways, Crosby is comparable to Michael Jordan. He’s a dominant talent with no discernible personality. Like Jordan, he’s less a brand of his own than a vessel to carry a larger brand — Nike for Jordan, Tim Hortons for Crosby. Unlike Jordan, the brand he represents is not a mythological Superman — it’s an everyman. We knew very little about Jordan, and it’s likely that much of that was due to Nike carefully managing and mythologizing his image. Think about Jordan and a few powerful images come to mind: the cool Mike calmly countering Spike Lee’s manic Mars Blackmon, the silhouetted Jumpman adorning millions of Air Jordans, and the singularly focused 23 sticking his tongue out driving the lane. Jordan was such an intense individual that there had to be something going on beneath the surface. With Crosby, however, the only image that comes to mind is his awkward smile. Crosby seems to be an honest-to-God nice kid - prodigal in talent and work ethic, but a nice kid at heart, on and off the ice. You can manufacture dozens of charity PR stunts, but you can’t fake that dorky grin.

Jordan, on the other hand, had a lot going on beneath the surface. The intensity he displayed on court carried through into his personal life; he would sleep around, but thanks to Nike, this information stayed relatively private. Jordan allegedly paid lover Karla Knafel $250,000 to keep their relationship secret — after promising her $5 million. $250,000 is chump change for Jordan — if Karla was a one-time slip for him, he’d probably be a bit more generous to keep it under wraps. It’s pretty hard to talk about athletes sleeping around without mentioning Tiger Woods, who, until last November, was a Jordanesque Nike figurehead: prodigal, hard-working, and intensely private. Then he pushed Elyn a little too far one night. Whoops! Tiger’s ordeal has had the interesting effect of transforming him from a figurehead into a celebrity. We’re trying to get inside his head in a way we weren’t when he was just a golfer. This exploration of a celebrity’s character is what makes them celebrities. Sean Avery, a player of questionable ability but compelling personality, is more talked-about than Sidney Crosby. Some would call him a B-list celebrity. Plain old “celebrity” is more appropriate. Canadians have a curious habit of disowning their celebrities. We like our stars, sure, but the few Canadians who achieve celebrity status are cast out. Consider non-sports celebrities like James Cameron and Kiefer Sutherland, who are curiously as rah-rah American as they come, and want little to do with Canada. Meanwhile, Sean Avery, one of the few legitimate sports celebrities we’ve produced, has not disowned Canada — but we’ve disowned him as well.

Canadian academic John Ralston Saul does a lot to explain Canada’s lukewarm attitude to celebrity. In his latest book, A Fair Country, he attacks Canada for clinging to an enlightenmentera European tradition — a tradition currently best represented by the United States, he argues. Essentially, he delivers the common argument that Canada is America-lite, and that Canada needs to develop a unique identity of its own. This helps explain why Canadian celebrities feel inauthentic - we’re playing an American game when it comes to celebrity, and by trying to mythologize nice kids like Gretzky and Crosby, we’re denying their inherent Canuck. What’s interesting about the Canuckness of Gretzky, Crosby, and pretty much every hockey star Canada’s produced — save Sean Avery — is that it’s a very milquetoast Canadianity: meek, reserved, and white. It’s curious how Canada has two distinct national identities: the mosaic identity that we see in Toronto and Vancouver, and the Tim Hortons identity we see in the NHL. Hockey, by far the whitest of all major North American sports, is a curious national sport for a country which prides itself on its diversity. In A Fair Country, Saul alleges that the loyalist, family compact-descended elite have taken the three pillars Canadian identity is built on — English, French, and Aboriginal — and knocked out two of them. Guess which two! On that note, it’s curious how Canada crowned upper Canada’s Wayne Gretzky as hockey’s golden boy over lower Canada’s Mario Lemieux. There’s a definite bias in Canadian sports identity toward conservative, traditional Ontario players. Don Cherry, the paragon of the conservative, traditional Ontario boy, is well-known for shunning players for “playing European.” This mentality extends throughout the Canadian sports zeitgeist, and determines who we anoint as our sports heroes.

One Canadian sports star radiates the virtues of “mosaic Canadianity:” Steve Nash. Nash is a global citizen with a global conscience, yet remains proudly Canadian. His play style is singularly unique, eschewing the locked-in drive of Michael Jordan in favor of a Zen-like reactionist approach to playing the point. While Jordan would beat complex defenses by driving right at them, Nash reads the defense and figures out a way to pass around it. The way he’s redefined the game of basketball has led Globe and Mail sportswriter Michael Grange to dub him “the best athlete in Canadian history, bar none.” Yet Grange is the lone voice among a choir singing a chorus of “Wayne Gretzky!” Gretzky was a truly excellent player who put up astronomical numbers. Yet he didn’t quite redefine the game of hockey, nor did he singularly dominate — he had the benefit of an excellent team and some excellent enforcers. Steve Nash, on the other hand, completely redefined the way offenses were run in the NBA, single-handedly created the most potent offense on the NBA, and, perhaps most importantly, turned a team of role players into stars. It’s a good thing Amare’ didn’t get traded - he’d be a shadow of his former self if he wasn’t able to receive all those alley-oop passes from Nash. And he did all this without the support of the massive infrastructure that cranks out so many hockey stars. We like Gretzky over Nash because he represents a very upper Canada vision of our ideal athlete. It’s worth noting that Gretzky is from Burlington, while Nash is from BC by way of South Africa. Sidney Crosby, who’s from colonial Nova Scotia, represents that same Upper Canada ideal. I am a Canadian who does not fit that upper Canada ideal. I guess I’m kind of a “mosaic citizen”; my parents are from northern Manitoba and Hong Kong. Maybe this is why I can’t root for Crosby. And maybe that’s why I can’t root for the archetypal Canadian athlete. Yes, I identify as Canadian. But I don’t identify with Tim Hortons.

photos courtesy Ladiesdotdotdot (Sidney Crosby), panachereport (Michael Jordon), and thefastertime (Tiger Woods)

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Monday, March 1, 2010 Need help with your tax return? K-W Access-Ability is hosting free income tax clinics for persons with low incomes beginning March 1 on Monday and Tuesday evenings at 105 University Ave., E., Suite 2, Waterloo. To book an appointment 519-885-6640 Monday or Wednesday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday, March 4, 2010 2010 Global /Skills Conference: Insight into Opportunity – Bingeman’s Conference Centre, 424 Bingeman’s Centre Drive, Kitchener. A one-day, free conference, with limited space, first come, first served. For info/register online at www.globalskillsconference.com. Thursday, March 11, 2010 “Critical Thinking on 9/11 and the War on Terror” with speaker Michael Keefer from 7 to 9 p.m. at Arts Lecture Hall, room 113. uwaterloo911.wordpress. com. Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia – from chaos theory to carnal embrace lie the ingredients in the masterpiece comedy thriller Arcadia. Not a seminar, this play takes place March 11-13 ; 18-20 at 8 p.m. in the Theatre of the Arts, ML. More information at drama. uwaterloo.ca. Friday, March 26, 2010 Annual commemoration of the U.N. International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination starting at 8:15 a.m., Kitchener City Hall Rotunda. For more info crosscultures@bellnet.ca. Friday, April 23, 2010 CFUW book sale today and Saturday, April 24 at First United Church, King and William Streets, Waterloo. Donations can be dropped off April 21 and 22 at back door of church. For more info 519-740-5249. No textbooks, please.

Exchanges for undergraduates and graduates – 2010/11 academic years: MICEFA, Paris, France, IPO application deadline: March 17, 2010. For more info and application forms please contact Maria Lango, International Programs, Waterloo International, Needles Hall 1101, room 1113, ext 33999 or by email: mlango@uwaterloo.ca. Nominations are requested for two graduate students of the university to be elected by/from the full and part-time graduate students of the university, terms May 1, 2010 to April 30, 2012. Nomination forms are available from the Secretariat, ext 36125 and from the Secretariat webpage; see www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infosec/elections/nomelections.htm. At least five nominators are required in each case. Nominations should be sent to the Secretariat, Needles Hall, room 3060, no later than 3 p.m., Wednesday, March 3, 2010. Elections will follow if necessary. Waterloo Wolf Pack – Waterloo boys under 13A rep soccer team will be conducting bottle drives/ pickups to raise funds for registration and tournament fees. To donate call 519-578-9394 or 519-746-4568 or nevrdy@sympatico.ca or hadley7073@hotmail.com. Story writers wanted for free paranormal magazine. Short stories, articles accepted. Free for free exposure. Submit your scariest stories true or fictional. Distributed locally to ghost tours and online. www.kwparamag.com. Appointed the Dean of the Faculty of Mathematics, Professor Ian Goulden commencing July 1, 2010. Professor Goulden will succeed Tom Coleman, who completes his term on June 30, 2010.

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Houses for rent – Hoffaco Property Management presents a new release of student rental properties located close to UW. Clean, new or upgraded detached houses, townhouses, apartments and true loft space rentals available on many nearby streets including Ezra, Marshall, Hazel and Lester. Rentals to suit all group size from 1 to 13. Many start dates available. Please email uw@hoffaco.com (preferred) or phone 519-885-7910.

SERVICES

in a study on the effect of body weight on the knee joint. For more information, contact Kathleen, k4maclea@uwaterloo.ca. Career Services volunteers needed for 20102011 – two types of volunteer positions available: Student Career Assistant and Student Marketing Assistant. Depending on the position you will gain valuable job search, marketing, and career-related skills by either promoting events and services or by helping other students in their career planning and job search. Open to regular and co-op students who are creative and possess strong interpersonal and communication skills. Applications available from our webpage at careerservices.uwaterloo.ca. Deadline is March 19, 2010. Shadow needed to be paired with international students for spring and fall 2010. Show them around, help them resolve cultural shock and make their stay in Waterloo more enjoyable. Make great friends and learn things from another country. Visit www.iso.uwaterloo.ca. 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. City of Waterloo has volunteer opportunities. For info call 519-888-6478 or www.waterloo.ca/ volunteer. The Distress Centre needs volunteers to provide confidential, supportive listening on our crisis and distress lines. Complete training provided. Call 519-744-7645, ext 300. Volunteer Action Centre, 519-742-8610 / volunteer@volunteerkw.ca, for all your volunteering needs! Deliver or befriend through Community Support Connections. Deliver meals, drive seniors to appointments or visit one for a few hours each week. Contact Kate Lavender at 519-7728787 or katel@communitysupportconnections. org. Hey hot stuff! Volunteering at Imprint is fun, easy, helps you meet people and boosts resumes and grad school applications. All welcome, regardless of experience. volunteer@imprint. uwaterloo.ca. Volunteers needed – The English Tutor program is in constant need of volunters to tutor international students. Volunteering is an essential part of student life at UW. Apply online at www. iso.uwaterloo.ca. Speak Croatian or Polish? Volunteer visitor required for a woman with Alzheimer’s disease. Two hours per week. Training/support provided by Alzheimer Society. Jill jmercier@alzheimerkw.com. Resume builder. Volunteer required to rebuild website for Kitchener International Children’s Games Chapter. Call 519-886-6918 and leave message or respond to icgkitchener@hotmail.com.

CAREER SERVICES WORKSHOPS For updates/changes to workshops, please refer to www.strobe.uwaterloo.ca/cecs/cs/index. Saturday, February 27, 2010 Medical School Interviews (Standard Interviews)—12:30 to 3:00 p.m., TC2218. Monday, March 1, 2010 Career Interest Assessment (Strong Interest Inventory) – note: materials charge of $10 payable to Career Services prior to the session. Once you have paid, the Strong Interest Inventory must be completed online prior to the workshop – 2:30 to 4 p.m. ; TC 1112. Work Search Strategies for International Students – note: since the activities in this workshop build on the material presented in the online Work Search module (under Marketing Yourself) of the Career Development eManual, you will need to complete the Work Search online module as a first step before registering for this workshop. To access module go to cdm.uwaterloo.ca and elect the UW student version of the Career Development eManual – 4:30 to 6 p.m., TC 1208. Tuesday, March 2, 2010 Writing CVs and Cover Letters – 12 to 1:30 p.m., TC 2218. Interview Skills: Preparing for Questions – note: prior to workshop completion of Marketing Yourself must be completed at cdm.uwaterloo. ca – 3:30 to 5 p.m., TC 1208. Wednesday, March 3, 2010 Exploring Your Personality Type (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator-Part II) – second session of a twopart workshop. 2:30 to 4:30 p.m., TC 1112. Interview Skills: Selling Yourself – note: this workshop builds on the material presented in the online Interview Skills Module (under Marketing Yourself) of the Career Development eManual, you will need to complete the Interview Skills online module as a first step before registering for this workshop. Go to cdm.uwaterloo.ca and select the UW student version – 3:30 to 5:30 p.m., TC 1208. Tuesday, March 9, 2010 University Green Career Expo – buses will be available to and from the venue leaving the campus in front of Humanities Theatre. More details to follow – 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Bingemans, Marshal Hall. Work Effectively in Another Culture – 2:30 to 4 p.m., TC 1208. All about GMAT – 4:30 to 5:30 p.m., TC 1208. Thinking About an MBA – 5:30 to 7 p.m., TC 1208.

IMPRINT The University of Waterloo’s official student newspaper

Imprint

Weekend counsellors and relief staff to work in homes for individuals with developmental challenges. Minimum eight-month commitment. Paid positions. Send resume to Human Resources, K-W Habilitation Services, 108 Sydney Street, Kitchener, ON, N2G 3V2. Imprint has a work study position available – Systems Administrator – up to 15 hours/week at $11/hour. Candidates will have Webmail server administration experience, be familiar with medium scale Linux network administration, SAMBA file management, Windows XP workstations, LDAP authentication and Apache admin. Duties include maintaining and strengthening our office’s network system. Applicants must be full-time students and eligible for OSAP. Please send resume to editor@imprint.uwaterloo.ca.

Does your thesis or major paper need a fresh pair of eyes to catch English spelling and grammar errors? Thesis English editing. Five business day turnaround. Neal Moogk-Soulis, ncmoogks@ uwaterloo.ca.

Imprint, Friday, February 26, 2010 ads@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

FOR SALE Used computers – AMD Athlon 64 3200+ ; 2 GHz ; 1GB of RAM ; CD/DVD burner. No hard drive included. Provided as is – $25, cash & carry. Come to Imprint, SLC room 1116 between 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday to Friday.

Look at Life From a Different Perspective Visit www.imprint.uwaterloo.ca for more info. or come see us at the SLC

www.imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Science & Technology

Imprint, Friday, February 26, 2010 science@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

The Midnight Sun

UW’s student-made solar car

Paula Trelinska staff reporter

n preparation for the 2010 Formula Sun Grand Prix race, the University of Waterloo Midnight Sun Solar Race Team is building the new Midnight Sun X solar race car. The Midnight Sun Solar Race Team was formed in 1988 and, as the largest student-run project on campus, is the only

Canadian team to consistently compete in every major North American competition. After having placed fourth last year in the 2009 Formula Sun Grand Prix in Cresson, TX with the Midnight Sun IX design they decided to retire it and work on something new for this year. Having gone through nine different designs so far, the MS Team tries to design and build a new solar car every year. The cars work on a combination of both solar power and battery power. There is a solar array that covers the top of the car and collects solar energy. This energy is then converted to electric energy and then either used (if the car is moving) or stored in the batteries for later use. If it is a cloudy day the car uses the energy stored in the batteries to run. In 2005 the team used a previous design, the MSVII, to travel around North America. This car featured a solar array made of gallium arsenide from Emcore; this had an efficiency of 23 per cent, making it one of the most efficient solar arrays in the world. The car

also ran on lithium ion polymer batteries and a DC brushless electric motor, making the trip around North America possible in 41 days. The outer body was made from kevlar, carbon fiber and nomex honeycomb and it was covered in 8 square metres of solar cells. Inside, there were 30 kg of Kokam lithium ion polymer batteries to power the car on a cloudy day. The car itself stood 1.1 metres high, 5 metres long and 1.8 metres wide, weighing 600 pounds and up to 680 pounds with a driver. It had a maximum speed of 130 kilometres an hour. The design specifications for the newest cars have yet to be released as the newest MS car is just being constructed. The team is hoping to have it done for this year’s grand prix. This year’s competition will be the 20th anniversary of the grand prix. As a result, it will be taking a slightly historical route, piecing together routes from previous years in order to make the race track from Tulsa, Oklahoma to Chicago, Illinois. Teams from various universities across North America will bring

their cars to Tulsa for inspection on June 19, 2010 and will begin the 1,100 mile trek to Chicago on the 20th of June, 2010. With their new car, Waterloo’s Midnight Sun Solar Race Team is aiming to be the first to cross the finish line in Chicago on June 27, 2010. ptrelinska@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

graphic by xiaobo liu photo by abisade dare

The dawning of the Skynet Age Erin Oldynski assistant science editor

South Korean robots teach English

A shortage of English teachers in South Korea has led to a $45 million plan to build robotic teaching assistants. The robotic teachers still have several months of trials before they are officially approved. The robots will be deployed in 500 preschools by 2011, and in 8,000 kindergartens by 2013. South Korean robot experts expect that the robots will eventually replace more than 30,000 native English teachers from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia. The idea of replacing human teachers with robots has sparked debate in South Korea. However, many teachers interviewed by Korea Times expressed that they are not concerned

about being replaced. The South Korean government has stated that for the present time, robotic teachers will only be used to address the shortage of human teachers. Mobile application with face recognition technology

Swedish mobile software firm The Astonishing Tribe has created an augmented identity application called Recognizr that can identify strangers on the street simply by pointing your camera phone at their face. The application is a combination of face recognition technology, computer vision, cloud computing, and augmented reality. Recognizr works by using face recognition software that creates a 3-D model of the person’s face, which is sent across a server and then matched with an identity in the database. A cloud

server then matches the facial recognition with the person’s name and finds any information about that person that is available on a social networking site. The software uses photos posted to social networking sites (e.g. Facebook and Twitter) as a basis for identification. Recognizr is compatible with the iPhone but the current demo only runs on phones with at least a five megapixel camera and the Android OS. Ocean robot plans its own experiments

A research team in the U.S. has developed an underwater vehicle that is programmed to look for information that scientists want and plan its own route. The Automatic Underwater Vehicle (AUV) uses a piece of software similar to that in NASA’s Mars Exploration Rovers which helps them avoid obstacles. The AUV, however, carries the software with it; the Rovers receive

the software’s instructions remotely from the control centre on Earth. Before the AUV is put into the water, it is programmed to perform a range of tasks. According to Thom Maughan, an engineer from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute who worked on the project, “We tell it, ‘here’s the range of tasks that we want you to perform,’ and it goes off and assesses what is happening in the ocean, making decisions about how much of the range it will cover to get back the data we want.” The AUV is currently being used to monitor potentially harmful algal blooms. —With files from Popular Science and BBC eoldynski@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Science & Technology

Imprint, Friday, February 26, 2010

Examining lizards, squid, and dreams Ivan Lui staff reporter

Group tactics make squid hunting easier

Using hi-tech tags to get a picture of how some of the largest mammals hunt, Prof. Bruce Mate from the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Oregon led a study as to how whales behave when hunting. While whales have always travelled in groups, it was noted that individual whales also have individual roles while participating in hunts. Some whales observed and tracked while swimming around the Gulf of Mexico stayed closer together over the course of several months. As these mammals made their dives deeper into the gulf, Professor Mate stated that individual behaviours differed when hunting for squid. “We can see that they’re actually changing their role over time,” Mate said. Some whales have been noted to guard in lower depths to prevent prey from getting away while others take advantage of the surrounded animal. Mate notes that the animals may actually take turns going into these deep depths. This study, however, is challenged by Prof. Hal Whitehead, a

researcher from Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, who also studies whales. While it is true that whales will go to great depths, the possibility of them herding up squid is quite far fetched. To reply to this claim, Dr. Mate has claimed that whales have shown herding capabilities and that it was quite difficult to capture the full motions of the whales who have gone into the great depths. “Our next step will be to image the squid at the same time as tracking the whales,” Mate said. “And to tag more members of the same group so that we can track their movements.” Clear your mind, and then stuff it up again

The conclusion of a new study showed that napping has the same effect as emptying out the contents of a garbage can. This new study potentially explains why people spend many hours in a pre-dream state known as non-rapid eye movement, or NREM, during their sleep. Studies over the years have confirmed that a good night’s sleep or power nap helps the mind to collect material better than an overnight cramming session. Scientists show that information gathered in the hippocampus, the short term memory bank of the

brain, actually moves to the long term database of our cortex when sleeping. In essence, sleep allows our memories to move from short term knowledge to something known long term. Not only does this help us keep memories that might be essential like a lecture, but it also allows for new short term memories to be stored. “It’s not just important to sleep after learning, it’s critical to sleep before learning,” said study leader Matthew Walker of the University of California, Berkeley. “Sleep prepares the brain like a dry sponge, ready to soak up new information.” Having two groups of volunteers to conduct this study, Walker invited one of these groups to sleep for about 90 minutes, while the other stayed awake. Not only did the rested individuals perform better on a test provided after, but they also had different brain wave activities. Walker stated that the REM stage of sleeping also seems to have provided individuals with better problem solving abilities as well. Unfortunately though, while this new napping benefit may seem great, it may not be for everyone. Sara Mednick, a psychiatry professor at the University of California, San Diego, noted that some individuals wake up from naps with “sleep

inertia.” This is when individuals feel groggy and disoriented. If this happens to be the case for you, however, a small mental break might work just as well. “In some cases,” Mednick said, “quiet rest and naps give the same [memory] benefits.” Female lizards mating rituals: no male required

Some species of the whiptail lizard have only one sex. The aspidoscelis genus lizard species from Mexico and the Southwest US can reproduce without male fertilization. While it has remained unclear to scientists in the past, a team of researchers has been able to create a solution to this problem. “These lizards and other arthenogenetic species are genetically isolated,” explains Peter Baumann, an associate investigator at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research in Kansas City, Missouri, and co-author of the study. Komodo dragons and hammerhead sharks can reproduce asexually, but lizards like the ones studied have no choice. Normally, creatures that reproduce this way will inherit their parents’ weaknesses due to having the same chromosomes, causing them to be at a disadvantage when in a changing environment.

In order to combat this, Baumann’s research team has noted that these lizards start the reproduction ritual by doubling their chromosome count. This particular species of lizard caused a great amount of genetic diversity when the hybridization of different sexual species occurred. They also keep their special diversity by ensuring that they never pair up their homologous chromosomes. This discovery means that lizards have a way to distinguish sister from homologous chromosomes. Before the study was conducted, an activity like this had not been noted. The means to how they reproduce in such a way is still being studied . Another study that is occurring analyzes how the creatures may end up with two sets of chromosomes before their asexual reproduction begins. While some might find the thought of a creature asexually reproducing less exciting, Baumann noted its advantages. “You’re greatly increasing the chances of populating a new habitat if it only takes one individual,” said Baumann. “If [the female lizard] has a way of reproducing without the help of a male, that’s an extreme advantage. —With files from BBC, National Geographic, and Scientific American.

Did you know that a snail can sleep for three years? Write for Science & Technology, and share your dazzling intellect with the UW campus! science@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

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IMPRINT The University of Waterloo’s official student newspaper

Systems Administrator

Up to 15 hours/week at $11/hour. Candidates will have Webmail server administration experience, be familiar with medium scale Linux network administration, SAMBA file management, Windows XP workstations, LDAP authentication and Apache admin. Duties include maintaining and strengthening our office’s network system. Applicants must be full-time students and eligible for OSAP. Please send resume to editor@imprint.uwaterloo.ca.

Science & Technology

Imprint, Friday, February 26, 2010

Winter optimism thelferty@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

How to beat the icy winter blues ciety is becoming more and more conditioned against anything of the slightest discomfort. This winter season is slowly drawing to a close, but we can expect a few more hiccups of snow and cold snaps before the summer comes; and winter will be on summer’s heels as always. While winter and its snowstorms, wet weather, and coldness are not as relaxing and comfortable as a warm summer day, it is no less beautiful in its harshness. It simply takes a bit of optimism, a different mindset, and some new routines to appreciate the time of year that makes us Canadian.

When the roads are particularly bad, don’t drive. Take the bus, carpool with someone who has a winter-fitted truck or car, or simply walk. If you’re moving and have some music to accompany you, it won’t be as cold a walk and you can take the time to think and appreciate the snow. Aside from strong winds carrying hail, the feeling of a light snow fall is nice on the cheeks. If you’re bundled up, the sound of snow lightly thumping on your hat can be calming. If it’s a cold or windy day, then bundling up doesn’t hurt. If you’re complaining about the cold but are only wearing a millimeter-thick designer jacket and running shoes, you only have yourself to blame. It doesn’t take much to stay warm against a typical Waterloo winter day. During the fall, you can wear thin jackets or keep your clothing to a comfortable minimum so you can slowly adjust to the drop in temperature. That way when the winter comes along you’ll be better adapted to the cold. Also, when it comes to trudging through the snow, wear good shoes. They’ll keep your feet war mer and make it less of a workout than sneakers or designer boots. People also complain that there is less

“

It can’t be denied that today’s society is becoming more and more conditioned to anything less than utmost comfort.

to do outside in the winter. This is completely untrue. There are tons of both exhilarating and peaceful winter sports. Play a game of hockey or skate around the rink, go skiing, or snowboarding. Even an evening of tobogganing or tubing with friends followed by a movie and hot chocolate make a great time. If you just want to calm your mind, you can go for a hike, snowshoeing, or cross-country skiing. If you’re feeling particularly adventurous, most towns have a polar dip, where you dive quickly into a frozen lake to raise money for a cause. Try taking up ice climbing (though this is mostly offered only in more northern regions of Ontario, such as Thunder Bay). Winter camping is also more fun than you might think. Winter is a season often hated by many people for its cold, wet, and snowy weather, but I say why not love it? Complaining about it won’t make the summer come any faster and just makes your day more miserable. Instead, try appreciating the beauty of snow. This may be

photos courtesy public-domain-photos.com graphic by jordan campbell

“

onday’s full-day snowstorm brought on a wave of complaints about the cold, dreary weather, slick roads, and sore legs. It seemed everyone had something bad to say about the snowy weather. I mentioned in passing to a group of friends an opposite opinion, saying that it was a pretty fair day. My comment was met with angry glares all around. While it may have been the shift from a beautiful Sunday to overcast Monday that caused the pessimism, it can’t be denied that today’s so-

more difficult in a city where most snow is mixed with dirt and salt, but it is still possible. Instead of hanging your head low and cursing the blowing snow, take a moment at a time to hold your head up, eyes closed, and feel it hit your face (unless it’s particularly harsh). Look around as snow collects on trees and cars, or if you’re waiting at a bus stop at night watch the snow pass under street lights (particularly favourite sights of mine). Take the slow traffic and day as a way to slow your own life down. Appreciate the time you have instead of wasting it by worrying about being late. The world will still be there when you arrive at wherever you’re going. They may seem like simple and unimpressive techniques, but appreciating the winter weather and being more optimistic about the season can help winter pass by quickly and make you a happier and even healthier person.

Comics & Distractions

Imprint, Friday, February 26, 2010

SUPER sudoku ( )

1 $ ' : , % 6 ; 2 $ 9 % 4 ; 0 1 7 : 8 . 6 ' ; 8 5 1 * 6 : ' 0 , 5 0 & 4 - / ( % 9 < 8 ( , % & / < 4 : < ' . 5 3 / & ) ; $ 4 8 0 3 1 % : / 9 2 . 5 / , ( + , 3 $ 0 % $ 1 8 * % 7 . * 8 & 5 ' 6 2 < / ( * ) 7 4 0 8 & ; 7

6 & 2 * 5 ( * + - . $ , 7 3 5 8 1 % & 3 < $ & 3 * / 7 4 7 9 : 6 , 1 - / 4 $ ; 6 * + 3 $ ) 8 - 9 2 0 : . 3 + , & ; / ) + ; ( ' * 4 . 7 5 0 & ) 2 6 / . ; $ 5 , ) 0 & % - * 7 0 4 < 6 2 + : 1 3 ' %

; 3 4 & ( + * 9

/ 9 7 ' ; 8 < ) 0 . 0 : ( + ; 6 1 5 . 2 $ % ( ; 9 & 6 < ' ) % 8 2 1 5 / .

All columns, rows, and boxes contain the letters A through Y instead. Good luck! Solution:

1 2 8 6 7 3 4 5 9

5 3 7 4 2 9 6 8 1

4 9 6 8 1 5 2 3 7

February 19, 2010

6 1 9 7 5 8 3 4 2

3 8 4 1 9 2 7 6 5

2 7 5 3 4 6 9 1 8

7 4 2 5 6 1 8 9 3

9 5 3 2 8 4 1 7 6

8 6 1 9 3 7 5 2 4

Comics & Distractions

Imprint, Friday, February 26, 2010

crossword

MEDAL METALS

Across

1. Huck Finn’s mode of transportation 5. “In a _____” (soon) 8. Chainsaw, formerly 12. Type of Chevrolet 13. To love, in Romanian “a _____” 14. They’ve made an early return to campus 15. Very ill, possibly 17. Available in pints 18. Canadian Olympian Kristina Groves, and others 20. Country code for Israel 21. Interprise Application Integration 22. Vicious 26. Blue-green 28. TTC station St. _____ 30. Public-key cryptography algorithm 31. Official Airline Guide 34. Feeling of being covered in grease 36. Canadian Olympian 1

Alex Bilodeau, for example 39. Self-indulgent 40. Canadian political group 41. Cereal grain 42. Support column type 44. Attack, with “out” 48. Racing horse 50. CD-ROM wasting company 53. Lennon’s wife 54. Canadian Olympian Jenn Heil, for example 57. Chocolate liqueur Creme de _____ 60. Estranges 61. Oak nut 62. A, X, and 1010, for example 63. Demolish 64. Cincinnati MLB team 65. Large shoe size 66. Admitted guilt, perhaps Down

1. Fourth animal of the Chinese Zodiac 4

2. Disinclined 3. Indiana Jones’ hat 4. Natalie Imbruglia hit song 5. Relating to Hebrew traditions 6. “_____ to differ.” 7. A thin mane 8. Physiological method of perception 9. Dog or cat 10. Former enemy of 24-down 11. Weight-lifting count (abbr.) 13. Result of thinking 14. Was found guilty, perhaps 16. Common suffix 19. Hammer 23. Clear, like a lane 24. “Back in the _____” 25. _____ Vegas 27. I met her in a club down in old Soho 29. Led Zeppelin’s “Whole _____ Love” 7

32. It sums things up nicely 33. One of the UW colleges, in brief 35. Naugatuck Valley Pistol League 36. Prepare, with “up” 37. Prefix of -mom or -pus 38. Weaken 39. Speck 43. Individual in the USMC 45. Relating to an important artery 46. Semi-autonomous, convulsive expulsion of air 47. Was unruly, with “around” 49. Certain monarchs 51. Is in debt 52. They might steal your sunshine 55. Civil war General Robert 56. Old persons’ group 57. Common form of transportation 58. It’s high or low 59. Popular videogame series (abbr.) 10

18 21

31 36

28 32

40 42

54 58

44 51

L A B S

E M P T R R E C A E V S L E E T L F R E A K M R I E L Y

Y P P

C L O S E Y H O U N D

To my dearest locker room lover, I have a major problem, I AM A MEAT PEEKER!! I cannot help my temptations. I will be in the locker room putting on my slacks and all of a sudden could it be I peek at my “locker room lover’s meat”. I simply cannot avoid these emotions that I have not been hiding. I love you NUMBER 63.

I think that after that terrible shot you got a shoe issue. I know you has a money, but please, stop liking my face!!!

I’ve known you for so long and you’ve taught me so much over the years, but so much of it has been in theory. You tell me about carnal knowledge, but won’t let me embrace the meat. After all of our time together talking about Newton’s ideas of friction and motion, why can’t we experiment with our own bodies in motion? Yours if you will have me, – T.

Missed any connections lately? Got any ideas, gripes, or randomly entertaining thoughts? Send them (with utmost affection) to

distractions@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Which Olympic sport turns you on the most? By Bing Sun and Alex Chortos

“Snowboarding. Snowboard chicks are hot. The things they do.”

“Women’s figure skating. Hot girl.” Ian Osborn

Borna Almasi

4B Chemical Engineering

2B Computer Science

“Russian girl’s curling team.”

“Moguls.” Rachel Oliver

Michael Jefkins 1B Nanotech Engineering

Dear S,

I C H Q U G

O L Y M P I C L P S U B W A A S U B A K E R S S N G U I E I L A X I N G A E Z E M A R C H Y A I O N M I E T H G R E

– Cannonball

F E B R R U A A R E Y

February 19, 2010

Dear Dog,

Solution:

– MP

By Mike Koivusalo

1B Honours Arts

“Double men’s luge.” UW Dragonboat Club

Comics & Distractions

Imprint, Friday, February 26, 2010

(postscript@imprint.uwaterloo.ca)

JORDAN CAMPBELL (faculties@imprint.uwaterloo.ca)

MICHAEL TO (irresponsiblyoptomistic@imprint.uwaterloo.ca)

“J.T.” (geese@imprint.uwaterloo.ca)