Note: This document is hosted here for archival purposes only. It does not necessarily represent the values of the Iron Warrior or Waterloo Engineering Society in the present day. 1 THE NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO ENGINEERING SOCIETY Volume 26 Issue 5 | Wednesday, March 30, 2005 http://iwarrior.uwaterloo.ca/ WPIRG vote cancelled Student-built robots battle in Both campaigns oppose decision IRON WARRIOR STAFF statement on behalf of the refer- FIRST Robotics Competition endum committee declaring the Following a series of complaints referendum to be void. Voting to the referendum committee last was halted Monday morning, and week, the WPIRG referendum the online ballot was removed. was abrubtly cancelled on Both sides of the campaign Monday. have expressed opposition to the Students had been expecting decision to halt the referendum. to vote Monday and Tuesday on The yes campaign stated that the question of whether the cur- “our posters were not taken rent $4.75 per term WPIRG fee down, because to take them down should be terminated. Instead, the would be unfair, especially con- online election page was sidering that the ruling is still in removed and replaced with an appeal.” announcement that the referen- The no campaign, meanwhile, dum had been cancelled due to sought to reinstate the referendum non-compliance by the yes cam- to bring closure to the issue which paign with a decision by the ref- has been dragging on for as long erendum committee. as six years. In an email to the ref- The cancellation stems from erendum committee, they wrote an decision last Thursday that dis- “removing the ability of students qualified the yes campaign for to vote on this important issue affixing a “yes” poster on top of a will leave the question with no “no” poster. The yes committee indication of a real answer.” was ordered to remove all posters The Federation of Students within 24 hours. Nicholas Weber, has indicated that it will not uni- chairman of the yes committee laterally restart the referendum. refused to remove the posters, The decision rests with the PHOTO BY CHRIS HUGHES. COPYRIGHT © UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO, GRAPHICS. REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION. and immediately appealed the appeals committee, but with the minds and metal that was the since 1992. Teams of high school decision. academic term drawing to a FIRST Robotics Competition. students, usually sponsored by As the posters were not close, it is unlikely that any defin- Indeed, it was a battle of epic pro- some science-, technology-, or removed, Chief Returning itive resolution to this issue will portions that would pit mechani- engineering-related company, Officer Brandon Sweet issued a be reached anytime soon. cal masterworks against each will design and build a semi- DAN ARNOTT other in a quest for glory, fame, autonomous robot to perform 2A ENVIRO and a trip to Atlanta for the various competitive tasks. nationals. The pits and machine shop Elec student prepares n Thursday, March 24, high FIRST, For Inspiration and opened Thursday morning in the Oschool students from all Recognition in Science and PAC, as the teams streamed in across Ontario and even various Technology, a not-for-profit orga- with their creations. After prac- to defy gravity locations in the United States nization whose goals are made tice rounds and seeding matches study the effect of varying gravita- descended upon the University of clear in its name, has been run- Continued on page 9 tional pull on the human vision in Waterloo, for the meeting of ning the Robotics competition See FIRST a specially-converted passenger plane, often used for astronaut training, in Bordeaux, France. The CINDY BAO aircraft can simulate weightless- End-of-school predictions 3A ELECTRICAL ness for up to 25 seconds by flying be a stinker. The trailers for a ripoff!”. The domination of in a roller coaster pattern. Phantom Menace and Attack of Japanese cars will continue, hat will you do for the sum- The team, which includes two the Clones were really good and including the much anticipated Wmer? Move to a rather dis- students in medicine, is intending tantalizing, but become remem- 2006 Honda Civic. Okay, I am tant and probably unfamiliar place to investigate if human’s peripher- bered for such classics as “Jar- the only one excited by that for your co-op? Sit in a lecture al vision will change under differ- SUNG HON WU Jar”, bad acting, and cheesy underpowered subcompact car, hall, while hoping for a lazy day in ent gravitational conditions. The 4B COMPUTER teenage temper tandrums. I saw but I am cheap and it is really the sun? For Benjamin Sanders of setup involves two mechanical the trailer for Return of the Sith, good when you have bad parking 2007 Electrical class, it will be arms which will swing from the t’s the last issue of the term, so and wow, it was the best trailer skills. “the chance of a lifetime” to ride back of the test subject’s head Iits time for this writer to put his out of all three movies, therefore I 3. Marijuana will become the Vomit Comet. sideways towards the front. Just as reputation on the line and make conclude it is going to be worst legalized. Despite my feelings, I Sanders and his three team- they enter the peripheral vision of some predictions. As I look at my then the other two. Despite that, can see where the trend is going mates, Farron Blanc from Queens, the participant, the angle will be crystal ball, I see all of the fol- the movie is going to make hun- and that marijuana is viewed as Meghan Grant from McGill and recorded with great precision. lowing happening by 2010. Why dreds of millions of dollars as I “cool”. Personally, I cannot Jeeshan Chowdhury from the While sounding not so compli- 2010? Only because anyone read- and millions of other people will understand a society that con- University of Alberta, were select- cated in the earthly environment, ing this article will have graduat- dutifully sit through two hours of demns tobacco and smoking as ed by the European Space Agency much more considerations have to ed by then, so no one can actually torture. worse then any of the seven sins as the finalists of its 8th Annual be given to a cabin where every- check if any of them become true! 2. American cars are still yet professes an addictive drug Student Parabolic Flight program. thing will float while the experi- So here are my serious (and not so going to suck. GM will continue like marijuana as cool. I chal- For two weeks in July, the team Continued on page 4 serious) predictions: to be known as “we’ll give you Continued on page 8 will conduct their experiment to See SPACE 1. Star Wars III is going to $3000 to buy our car, and still it’s See PREDICTIONS 2 Wednesday, March 30, 2005 Letter from the editor Unfortunately, this is more representative be seen roaming the halls of the engineer- of the interests and opinions of the stu- ing buildings seeking out victims to The Newspaper of the University of dents who submit opinion articles to the answer the Iron Inquisition question. Waterloo Engineering Society newspaper than the actual editorial policy To the other writers: Katherine, Neal, of the newspaper. While I would like to Andrew, Francis, Chun, Alicia, Jay, Huy, Editor-in-Chief JAMES SCHOFIELD always present both sides of an argument, Ian, Michael, Edward, Sung Hon, and James Skofield EDITOR-IN-CHIEF there is sometimes nobody willing to LowRider, thank you for all that you’ve write the other side. contributed. Without your articles, there Assistant Editor ell, here it is, the final issue of The The WEEF issue is certainly some- would be no paper. There have also been Dan Arnott WIron Warrior for this term. It’s been thing worth discussing, but it is difficult a number of other students who have sub- a great experience being editor-in-chief, to have a meaningful discussion with an mitted an occasional article throughout Photo Editor and thanks to some great help from my anonymous group who communicates the term. They also deserve thanks for John Olaveson staff, it was a much less traumatic experi- only through posters. adding their unique contributions to the ence than I had expected. I even managed newspaper. Layout Editor to avoid spending a night sleeping on the There are many people who have made And without people to distribute the Gabriel Chan couch in the office. the production of this newspaper bear- paper, nobody would read IW. Thanks to Before I get into thanking my staff, able. Dan Arnott, my assistant editor, has Richard Li, our distribution manager, for Technical Editor I’d like to take a few moments to detour been immensely helpful in every aspect ensuring that every issue was distributed [Vacant] into a some comments about the purpose of the production of the paper. He has all across campus, and to all the other of this newspaper. There has been some- amazed me with the speed at which he staff who helped with distribution. Webmaster what of a recurring controversy over the learned to do layout, and has been single- There are some things that could have Cindy Bao past two terms, as students opposed to handedly proofreading most of the con- gone more smoothly in the production of WEEF, the Engineering Endowment tent you see before you. When I was very the newspaper. Our proofreading was Advertising Manager Fund, have placed posters throughout the sick during the production weekend for poorly organized this term, and as a [Vacant] engineering builders, only to have them issue 4, Dan stepped up to fill what I was result, some obvious errors that should torn down.