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Transcript of Iron Warrior: Volume 9, Issue 9
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W RNovember 25 1988 THE ENGINEERING SOCIETY S STUDENT FORUM
ears In pace
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Pa e 2 ron Warrior
About the Cover ..My sister and I sleep in bunk beds.
It's good. The other night I yelledBears in Space " and threw Nick
at her from below. Nick is whi te and
fuzzy.
We also have a frog - a frog wit.h
no name . I have the frog, actually,and my sister has Nick. I have abear too - he's red with one greeneye - but he's at home.
On Thursday we had a friend overand we played Battling 'fops Oil my
sister's bunk. It's a good game. We
lost the spinner strings so we usedorange yarn instead. Orange yarnworks really well in Battling Tops.I sang the entire Gilligan's Island
theme song that night.
My friend that was over is sick .She has cancer. She's good at Bat
tling Tops though. She's scared.She wrote me a poem about beingfriends and about being scared. Everybody should write more poems;
it made us both feel better.
I don't know very much about
cancer. I'm learning a lot about being scared. It means I'm not in control. It means things just happen.t means bears in space.
This is juvenile; I don't know,maybe that's the point. Beingscared leaves you without any bigwords. I love my friend. I love herlike a child because I don't understand.
Thanks For Coming OutSomething a new editor of a pa-
per such as the Warrior lTIust learnquickly is how to delegate work. If
you can find someone who's willing ,get them to do it. That's not to saythat we just sat back all trrm andordered people around, only that
if we hadn't received the enormousamount of help that we d
X
we'd bea couple of pretty frazzle editors.The Warrior would not e ist without the many hours (days) put in byquite a few people.
The IroD Warrior is a forum for
thought-provoking and informative articles
presented by the academic community ofthe University of Waterloo. Views
expressed in the Iron Warrior. other than
the editorials, arc those of the authors anddo not necessarily reflect the opinions of
the editors or the Engineering Society.
The Ilon Warrior encourages
submissions from students, faculty and
other ~ m c r s of the university
community. Submissions should reflect
the c o n c ~ s and intellectual of the
u n i v r s i t ~ in general, and should be
typewritfen or neatly wrillen,
double-spaced and on one side of the page
only. The author's name, class (ifa p p l i c a b l ~ and phone Dumber should e
included.
So thanks to everyone who helpedout this term: the rather prolific
writers with their abundance of articles (actually - overabundance,which is something new for this
paper); and the layout staff, whospent long evenings arranging andre-arranging the same page to get it
just so
Special thanks to Jerome and
Owen, who had to actually read the
articles; Peter and Bruce, our Unixgods; Geoff, our MacGrouch; Mike
All submissions. unless otherwise
slaled, become the property of the l J: 2 n
Warrior. which reserves the right to refuse
publication of material which it deems
U&uitable. The Iron Warrior also reserves
the right to edit grammar, spelling andportions of text that do not meet
university standards. uthors wiU be
notilicd of any major cbanges that 1 Il,y be
required.
All submissions and advertising
enquiries should be forwarded to:
Iron Warrior
Engineering Society
CPH 1327
University of Waterloo
WATERLOO Ontario
(519) 885·1211 eX1CDsior 2323
and John , who got us money; Kathleen and Randy, the patronage ap
pointments; and Gof, our public relations charmer.
Thank you also to Brent (their
man and our man, too) who managed to stay above the law the entireterm (barely) in his quest to provide us with specific photos before7:30am, in just the right size
And now for a short round of applause.
November 25, 1988
Iron Warrior Staff
EditorsCarolyn FrenchLindi Wahl
Writers
Isaac SzpindelOwen KellyCarolyn AnglinDave PetroJim McCreaDaveGaraSarah RocchiIan SimpsonBryn DymentJeff MurdockStephen BallMarkChahlAjay JindalRena HennanBernard TunguayHans-Peter Schropp
Jay GibsonChris IrieDan CurtinChris BaisleyPierre DonaldsonMatt SnellBillLennox
Production;Gor
Copy EditorOwen Kelly
TypesettjnePeter HansenBruce AetcherToenail
PbotoerapbyBrent LittleRenaHennan
llIan Simpson
Layout EditorsKathy FongRandy Raaflaub
LayoutJim McCreaBernard TanguayGruntGeoff VanderkooyAnhur Drevnig
Karen VandenburgAjay JindalMarianne HyanStephen SoshanRob PerrinGarry PetersonEdmond Chow
RoyUnny
.
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November 25, 1988 Iron Warrior Page 3
Message From The Deanby Bill Lennox
Prez Sezby Matt Snell
Well, this is it. Sixteen months
of the unadultered power of the
presidency winding down. I would
like to start by wishing the best to
the new executive. For those who
don't know, your new president isJay Gibson , backing him up as V .P.
is Jody Levine , the man with the
money is once again 'Garry Thuna,
and rounding out the exec for 1989 isJeannine Hooper-Yan as Secretary.
Good Luck to all of you.It's been an interesting term of of
fic e . Two Orientations, two officesecretarys, two treasurers [1 collection of new faces in the C+D and
many other trials and tribulations
have made this a time I will not soonforget. No matter how hard I try.Perhaps it is now time to say myth nk you s. I hav e had the pleasure
of working with the greatest group
of people ever brought together by
such an unlikely event as academicexcellence, namely the class reps and
directors and of course, the rest of
my exec - Sarah, Garry and Ja y .These people , with all their effort,
have made me look great a nd the
plain and simple truth is I couldn't
Hello From Jay
by Jay GibsonI
Blah, Blah, BlahWhat to say?? My first Iron
Warrior article as Eng Soc President (okay Matt, Prez. Elect). Iwanted to write something stirring
and inspiring .that would make youall gung-ho and enthused about next
summer Something to bring tears
of joy to your eyes Something
wild Then my Controls textbookfell off my shelf and hit me square
on the noggin. -Yes, J know finals are but a couple
weeks away.Yes, I know that hours of sleep
will generally be counted on one
hand.
Look - if you can - beyond the
next thirty days. Holidays mov
ing, work term, moving again, then
POOF - .back here in Waterloo forthe Summer of '89. So what's up fornext summer? ? For those of youwho haven't experienced a summer
The Accreditation visitors havecome and gone and I want to thank
those students who participat£>d inthe exerc ise. I will receive a report
in January which will detail theirfindings but no decision will be made
until the CEAB (Ca nadian ~ ~ n g i -neering Accreditation Board) meets
next June. While no th ing has beensaid in a formal sense, 1 believe its
fair to say that our visitors werequite impressed with what t hey saw.
I have had the opportuni ty 1.0 visitmay campuses and , although I'm biased, I really do believe we do amuch better job in terms of provid-
have done it without you . For that Ithank you more than words can ex
press .As I sit in POETS frantically t.ry
ing to finish this article before dead
line I find myself pondering the last
five years of my life, spent here at
Waterloo. As an ageing president
about to he Pllt. Ollt t.o p a . ~ t l l r E r t.akeit upon myself to share with you
some of the philosphies I have come
to adopt over the years in the hope
that they will somehow give meaning to the multitude of assignments,
midterms, projects and all nighters
that you have suffered or are suffering through.
I think it should be pretty clear
to most of you by now that I am
a firm believer in ark Twain'8 ax
iom "Don't let school get in the
way of your education" . When
you walk out of here with an Iron
school term - you are in for a treat
The days are longer, the nights are
longer, the profs are more laid backand there's never a dull moment.
Some of the ideas that have beencirculating: weekly .B-B-Q's outside
POETS, a boat cruise semi-formal,
whitewater rafting weekend in Ot
tawa, Eng-Math-Sci-Arts-etc. softball tourney, road trip to a Sky Dome
Blue Jay's game, and the list goeson. If you are not currently involvedwith Eng Soc, but are interested or
have ideas - drop by the Orifice and
introduce yourself to me and share
your thoughts.
For all the classes out there, Ihave two requests. First, please
submit copies of your midterms to
the orifice so we can expand our
ing a quality education than t,he oth
ers. That 's not to say there ii'ln'troom for improvement, and a peer
review by the CEAB call be quitt'
beneficial. There's no doubt, however, that concern will be expr('ssedregarding our equipment budget.s.This is an ongoing, major problem
for all engineering schoo ls. The
one bright ligh t for u has be('n our
alumni support and I was abl(' to
draw this to t he attent ion of the
visitors. All of the sup port is ap
plied to improving the teaching environment. It ha s amounted to over$800,000 in five years.
ring adorning your finger you willhave completed one of the most de
manding academic programs in theprovince. Your technical expertise
will be above reproach but your success in the business world will not
solely rely on this fact. From the
moment you entered this institution
in frash week, no matter how longago that was for some of you, you
have been developing as a professional. This development cannot occur exclusively within the classroom .
In the information age in whichwe will exists as professionals there
is a necessity for interpersonal, com
mllnication and management skillswhich must work in tandem with
our technical training. The true
bu ildillg of these skills is not donein the lectures and labs of Water
loo. It is accomplished through abroad range of experiance and in-volvemt'nt during school and be-
exam binders. If you've got finalsfrom previous terms, please try to
get those in as well. An impor
tant note if you are submitting exams: try to get ones that have solu
tions - correct solutions. You canwhite out the names of the innocent, but solved problems are much
more useful than semi-bla.nk pages( Remember, they are wort.h a lot
of P**5 points ) Second, please
try and get an off-term class list
with phone numbers and addresses.I suggest this for two reasons: it
makes it easier for you and your
classmates to keep in touch over the
work term (for arranging things likeclass parties, ski trips, etc.). Also,it makes it possible for Eng Soc to
get in touch with students on work
In this regard the Deans of EIlgin ering hav e made numerous pre
sentations to government regarding
~ h e crisis in eq uipment funding, but
It seems to faJj on deaf ears.I noted recently that V of T en-
gineering students have increaseJ
thei r Eng So(' f(; c hy $ t o to pro\' idl'an equipment fund .
On anot-her not.e, the Ont ario Engineering Design ompetitioll willbe held in early Ma. rch. Waterloo
did not have many entries la t yea rso I hope many of you are thin kin g
a.bout participa.tion this year . Wedid extremely well the previous year .
yond. Professional association mem
bership, extra-curricular activities
and communit.y activism are no
less important to our training than
meeting the stringent academic requirements of our program .
Dave Richardson told t he atten
dees of th£> Enginf'ering AWnrdsBanqu{'t , in his key note address, to
Aim High . Academically, professionally, extra-curricularly and in allother areas of our existence as pro
fession we need to strive for excellence. "Mind, Heart and Vision"
was Norman Ball's way of describing
our profession and is something to
seek out as we continue our journey
through life. Whether your Iron ringleads you to the board rooms, the
cour t roo s or the researc.h installations or Canada or elsewhere carry
with you the pride and the responsibility that YOIl are first and foremost
a Waterloo Engineer.
I thank each and everyone of youfor giving 11\(' th.· hOlloHr of rl pr< -st'llt.ing yo u Itli YOllr Prl si<i(11I1. alldw ilih yolt I,ll(' g r ( · f l l . ( · ~ t . fl UC( ( ss
your future {'rHh'a\'olirs. A rhi ll l lltphilosophf'C Oil (. said that a jOllr ·
r1(,y of Il thOlJHlUII \lII il.· 1)( gil1s wit.hhut i singl step. I aJl) prolJd t,ohav iak(,rI hat n f f ~ t Lrp in your
company and 1 hope our pat.hs shallcross agai .
terms, if ll('ed be> . At tht' vt'ry least,
pJ(>ase leave the names and work
t,erm address of your c1asR reps . The
Orifice c l O R ( ~ S Monday, Dec. 5th, so
get that information in before then .In closing, I would like to take the
tirne to acknowledge a few people
who haven 't had a proper chance
to t.hank: to everyone who help mewith my campaign, thanks - your
time was very much appreciated.
To Dave Rashkovan and Dave Ilirak, for a good, clean f i g h e ~ (if only
other politicians could act likewise ) .To Garry Thuna - your new trea
surer, Jody Levine - your new V.P,and Jeanntne Hooper- Yan - your
I new Executive Secretary. I'm glad
J have such a great crew of people
to work with. Finally, to Matt Snelland Sarah Rocchi - two departing
m(>tl1bers of the ExE c. who are mov
ing on to bigger, badder things inB-Soc and (hopefully) convocation .1 think I can speak for everyone in
saying thanks for doing a great job
over the last 16 months . It has been
fun working with you and I wish you
luck in your next endeavours Youwill be hard acts to followl
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Page 4 ron Warrior November 25, 1988
The APEO Conference: Where Were You?by Dave Gara
Humanities theatre. The confer
ence . Bill Breukehnan , chairman
of 1M AX Systems Corp . speaks onentrepreneurship . Studt'nts fran tically scribble down I.ips fired at
them. Expand your hobbies
they may provide an entrepreneurial
pat,h later , learn how bankcrs
think , read finance magazines ,
and on and on .
Basement of EL . A week hefore
t,he confNence. ConferCllce orga
nizers debate whether it would he
ea.sier to split rooms into male and
female or make them co-cd . The
conference is renamed t.he A P
Sexfest. Kathy tells some suggestive
jokes. - Calvin turns beet red. We
get nothing done. Everybody mocksDave because he looks like dirt. as
usual.
Davis Centre. The conference
again. Willem Vanderburg of U of T
speaks on social responsibi li ty of t.he
engineer. He parallels th e in t roduc
tion of mathematics into engineer
ing by the Germans in the t900 's
to the need to introduce courses examining the' social implications of
engineering into today 's curriculum.
Dr. Vanderburg adds that MIT has
stated that it must succeed in doing
this or give up its role as a leading
school of engineering. Students (still
groggy (rom the prevlous night's C-
tivities) listen intently. Jt is all new
to them.
Waterloo Inn. The day af-
ter. Three Wat,erloo engineers plead
with hotel management, ins isting
that Bill Kerr , the president of the
APEO , could not have been causing
any dis turbance the night before and
his bags should not be thrown out a t
5 p.m. It is 5 minutes to 5 p .m . Our
engineering careers Aash before our
eyes.
Why write an article this way?
Maybe to give you the idea that
you missl'd somet,hing . A lot is t,o
be gained in planning and attending
a conference. Meeting people from
din'eren\' universities not only makesyou new friends but you get to hear
what engineering is like at different
schools. It is incredible the different
ideas people come up with . When
you think about it , you are almost
solely exposed to Waterloo 's engi
neering interests , teaching method s
and attitudes. These really do vary
greatly from school to school.
So why at,telld a conference or
semmar or guest lecturer 's presen
tation at all? It probably won 't
improve your technical skills. It
won't directly contribute to a higher
salary. No marks are given out and
you can probably get by without it.o , are u in u a precious
hour or two that could have been
used staring into a text or watch
ing Wheel of Fortune (What if
Vanna wore a new dress and you
missed it? ) . . . So why do it? Well,
a conference is an altogether differ
ent beas t than the dassroom . Peo
ple present ideas, discuss them and
question each other in order to for
mulate their own opinions. Af
ter months (and years) of sitting
in classes for an average 5 hours a
day being fed illformation , facts , for
mnlae and met,hons it really is re
fr es hing to be able to int.eract with
ot.her engineering students and pro
fessionals discussing important, top
ics . YOllr electives sometimes allow this kind of interaction but in
stead of taking History 130 and worrying about whether' fIitler was an
intellectual psychotic or a psychotic
intellectual, you are discussing anti
helping form your own future and
the profession to which you will ded
icate 40 or more years.
Apart from what YOll can con
t.ribute to your engineering future
_ there is a lot to gain personally. Par
ticipating in the APEO conference
in October as speakers and corpo
rate representatives were : a VP of
engineering of a major consult.ing
firm (Hatch Associates), the chairman of an entrepreneurial firm with
internat ional outreach (IMAX Systems Corp.) , the manager of Proctor
and Gamble, and top-notch educa
tors from U of T and U W, to name
only' a few . Contacts made in ·an
informal setting a re invaluable and
will be reme::.bered more hy a po
tential employer than any interview.
These people were chosen because of
the insight they could bring based
on years of experience, and a half
hour chatting with them co uld help
. you direct your career. Oh, sure YOIl
talk to people on your work term,
but have they ever thought seriously
about aspects of engineering other
than how to keep production going?
Besides, a guy named 'Lou' hidden
away in the dark depths of the de
sign department may not be the per
son to mould your engineering ca
reer after.
Think about this: when you get
out of the university you won't have
people hringing spcakt'rs right 10
you. There won't be the opportu
nity to meet with 50 student.s from
different universities across Ontario
(or even Canada) . You'll have to
know where to look to find venues
to explore engi neering. Now is t.he
time to discover these venues. A lot
of ifferent groups 'around the uni
versity provitle t he opportunity to
see what engineering is really like by
rHnning seminars, meetings, work
shops, etc. There are t echnical soci
et.ies (CSME, IEEE, Cschescehes or
whatever th e · hell the chemies call
theirs', et c .)' the Sandford Flem
ing Foundation, APEO local chap
ters, KW Eng , Breakfast meetings
plus others I have probably forgot
ten... and then there are confer
ences. Next time you hear of one
jump at the chance to go. The par
ties are always blowouts. The work
shops and speaker presentations are
incredibly valuable as they tend to
the inquisitive, communicating si de
of your mind that is often neglectedin cia s. onferences reinforce the
idea that engineers can party and
be concerned about their future
and their profession, wanting to do
something to improve it . These are
not contradictory objectives.
Next time you see an obscure little
sheet taped to wall of CPH among
the hundreds of coloured papers and
it mentions a seminar or conference,
read it. Think about it . Go to it .
You won t regret it .
The RESSA Conference: We Were Thereby Sarah Rocchi
Early last Friday morning a del
egation from Engin ee ring Society
'A' set out for Sherbrooke, Que
bec in a flesh- coloured rental K-car.
The reason - to represent Waterloo
at the annual RESSA co nference .
The delegation consisted of myself,
Dave Gara, Jeannine Hooper- Yall,
and our fearless leader , Matt Snell .
RESSA is the Regional Engineer
ing Student Society Association . I ~ smembers consist of all engineering
Societies in Ontario and Quebec .
The purpose of the conference wasthe exchange of information between
these societies in formal and infor
mal sessions .
On our arrival at the hotel
in Sherbrooke on Friday night J
learned, to my surprise, that our
French Canadian organizers weren't
as hung up on that segregation of
sexes thing, and that Jeannine and
[ would be sharing a room wit.h
Matt and Dave for t,he entire week
end. Friday night was spent meeting
the other delegates in the informal
atmoshpere of Club Graffit.i, where
beer was served in I-litre bottles,
On Saturday more formal sessions
took place at the University of Sher
brooke. Th e workshops held :n th e
morning inc luded discussion of the
relative merits of graduate studies
versus indust,ry , humanities in engi
neering, international co-operation,
and other issues. The topic of the
afternoon was ESSCO and COFIQ .
COFIQ is a coalition of tIle pn
gineering societies of Qupbec . Jt
was formed five years ago to pro
vide cheap computers for student,s
through bulk purchases, as well as
being the means for student loans
for computers . It has now branched
off into other projects such as publishing a magazine, and arranging
student exchanges between the en
gineering faculties of the universi
ties of Quebec. ESSCO is a pa.r
allel orgallization for t.he engineer
ing societies of Ontario. It has been
in place for less than a year, so its
projects are on less of a grand scale.
ILs three current projects are lobby
ing the government for loans for en
gineering students for the purchase
of computers, forums on engineering
education and forums on the image
of engineering students . In the fu
ture, ESSCO and COFIQ plan to
work together to set up exchanges
between Ontario and Quebec uni-
versities. .
An interesting difference was
noted between the engineering soci
ef.ies of Quebec and Ontario. On
tario societies have so much spirit
they often run events which get
them into trouble with t,he com
munities in which they are located.
They were looking for advice from
Quebec societies on how to have bet
ter community relations . Quebec
universities don't have this problem,
however they have problems solicit
ing funds from alumni . This would
lead one to believe that there is acorrelation between the amount of
rabble-rous, ng done at a university
and the amount of money one wants
to don'ate to that university once one
has graduated .
Saturday evemng Mr. Jean
Charest, t.he M i n i ~ t . ( r of State of
Youth, Fi t,ness and Amateur Sport
spoke to the RESSA delegates on
the subject the Canadian Youth
Education Challenge. In the past,
he said, it was possible for someone
to graduate from high school and
fall into a job that would keep him
or her at a good standard of liv
ing for the rest of his or her life .
Because of the increasing growt.h of
technology in the workplace , this is
'no longer possible. A person will
have to be trained and re-trained
throughout his or her career as tech
nology c ~ a n g e s .After the formal dinner there was
informal carol)sing at the University
pub, the Bahupt . We didn't get
in until lL:30, but since pubs don't
close until 3:00a.m., it didn't mat
ter. We finished off the evening at
Chez Charlie's, where the Ontarians
were introduced to that Quebecois
treat - poutine - a mixt.ure offries, cheese curds and chicken gravy
which looks disgusting but more
than adequately satisfies drunken
munchies.
Sunday morn.ing was the plenary
sessioh, a summary of the previ
ous day's ~ o r k s h o p s This session,
like most of the workshops could
have benefited from lJetter leader
ship, particularily in the area of
translation of key points from one
official language to the other . All in
all it was a good conference, even if [
did have to share a room with Matt
and Dave.
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November 25, 1988 Iron Warrior Page 5
Great Engineering Accomplishments
The Eiffel Tower
by Ian Simpson
Ever since man has walked on the
face of this planet he has been obsessed with tall objects. From the
Tower of Babel to the Eiffel Tower,and of course the CN Tower. Many?f these objects are just that, obJects. They have no functionalitywhatsoever, or, in some cases thefunctionality is completely dwarfedby the fact that they are tall. The
Eiffel tower is no exception.
The tower was built in 1889 for
the Paris Exhibition. It was designed by architect/engineer, G ustave Eiffel. He wanted to build the
tower partly because of a challengethat it could not be done. The towercame under heavy criticism whenthe intent to build it VIlas announcedpublicly. The people claimed that
it was utterly useless and felt that
this was reason enough to condemnit . Many prominent artists of theday felt that it would be an eyesoreand they drafted a petition against
it . Gustave defended his tower bymaintaining it was scientifically useful. He claimed that it could be usedto investigate problems in meteoro
logical observation , radio-electric re-search, and studies into the wi dresistance of substances, but thefew dubious benefit.s that would be
gained in these areas by building thetower certainly did not justify thecost .
The Eiffel Tower is an ut te rlyuseless structure . It is completelyempty, shelters no one, holds upnothing (except a few modern daytransmitters) and its beauty is questionable. t is a monument to Gustave, a man who was able to convince his government to allow him
t.o flex his technical muscles at the
world. The tower has become a
tourist at t ract ion . It is hard to11 agj w 1a i w u liwithout the tower. t has been described as the "universal symbol of
Paris, of modernity, of communication , of science , of the nineteenth
century." Everyone who visits Paris
visits the tower. You can see eachof th e mor e than 18 ,000 plates andbeams th at hold all 8,757 ,000 kilograms of it together . Even with
its enormous weight , it exerts approximately the same pressure onthe ground as an adult does sitting
in a chair. Over the years countless tourists, runners and even a cow
lternatives
·by Owen Kelly
Of all the crises facing mankind,and all the danger signs telling uswhich way not to turn, few issuespresent obvious solutions to whichwe can direct our energies of concern. We have neither the timeto be informed nor the ability to
comprehend mORt issues with the
degree of subtlety and complexitythey deserve. Alternatives magazine bridges the gap between experts in environmental and sociotechnological fields and people likeyou and I who want and need toknow the consequences of our actions. It all started at Trent University in 1970 under the mandate
to "pose and confront the necessaryquestions, and offer imaginative andserious alternatives.
In 1984, Alternatives moved toour campus where they are now intheir sixteenth issue. Contributors
'from as far as New Zealand andB.C. keep their 2,500 subscribers upto date on research, political developments and other events of interest. Recent issues have coveredWork and Environment in a HighTech World, Natural Law, Sustainable Deve lopment in Northern Communities, and Tidal Generation allof which are relevant to us as engi
neers.Pick up a copy sometime . L-
ternatives gives important issues ascholarly treatment but still maintains a provocative and readable
style. The best part of it all isthat this r e ~ p e t e d journal is put together right here on campus . Surprised? Universities have lots ofnooks and crannies to hold all the
good ideas.For the politically correct person
on your gift list, subscriptions are
under twenty dollars over in ERS .
and an elephant have climbed or descended the 1,792 steps of the tower .
More than 350 people have commit-ujci e Y jUPlJWtg rom e tow-
ers lofty heights.
There is something magical , romantic and mystical about Paris . It
is city of pleasures, of values, of art
a nd of lu xuri es . With the P I\RSRg<,
of tim < the EilTel Tower ha.. l CO llI('
to sy mboli ze t hese characteristics tot he rest of the world .
Barthes , R., Th e Eiffel 1 OUJf r andOth er Mythologies New York , Hi II
and Wang , 1979.Carey, fl. , Destinations Maga zin t ,
The Globe and Mail , 1988.
Pathmakers Program
The Faculty of Engineering is involved again with the local schoolboards in providing role models ofwomen in non-traditional careers forfemale high school student,s . This
will involve a one day training session in January plus participation inthe program at a local school. All information session is set for TuesdayNov. 29 at 11:30am, in CPH 1320B.
1110mas COOkTravel
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Page 6 ron Warrior November 25, 1988
Graphics SupercomputersDig The New Breed
by Bryn Dyment
A new class of supe rcomputer isentering the marketplace. Coinedgraphics supercomputers these machines combine the best feat ures ofboth conventional supercomputers
and engineering workstations . The
result is a computing tool whichwill have a pivotal inAuence on thepractice of engineering and computational science.
Until now , no single platform
could provide both the processing speeds of supercomputers and
the 3D , full-colour, real-time graph
ics required for visual interactioll .Standand hardware con figurationstoday, for example, include batchoriented supercomputers or minisupercomputers teamed with , graphics terminals or workstations . However, such arrangements have major
drawbacks. The thin wire links between processing and graphical elements, combined with complex development environments and a highentry price, act as barriers to true
user interactivity.Graphics supercomputers have
eliminated these barriers. By tightlyintegrating computational elements,they make the same evolutionaryleap over conventional supercomputers that workstations make over
by Jeff Murdock
Once upon a time - at the beginning of this term - I ventured
into the hallways of Environmental
Studies. There, among the many articles and posters placed on doors
and cork boards, I found a Code
of Environmental Ethics for Engineers. While reading this code it occurred to me that this message wasill placed if engineers were its target
audience. I hope its placement inthis engineering forum reaches openminds and helps stimulate thought
ful discussion.The code of ethics that follows
was approved by the Committee onEngineering and Environment of theWorld Federation of Environmental
Organizations (WFEO) ill 1985.
Wanna BeInterviewed?
f you want interviews next schoolterm (Summer '89) then make sure
that you go to a return to campus in·terview with the Co-op Department
(C.E.C.S.). Lists are posted, and interv iews are in the first week or twoof May, 1989. C. E .C .S. occasionally gets confused, so go have an interview regardless of whether you re
scheduled to have one or not . f YOIl
don t attend, they will assume that
you don t want want ads and youwon t be able to apply to want ad
jobs.
Remember practise safe
C E C S
minicomputers. These vector machines are now dedicated to project
teams and individuals, rather than
to whole organizat.ions.Ardent Computer of Sunnyvale ,
California and Stellar Computer
of Newton, Massachusetts are twocompanies at the forefront of this
emerging technology. Both are sma ll
startup firms founded by and em
ploying some of the computer industry s t.op talent . Allen Michaels ofArdent was founder of Convergent
Technologies, a highly successful Silicon Valley firm. Gordon Bell, alsoof Ardent, is among the world s most
respected computer architects . Formally Vice President of Engineeringat Digital, he led the PDP and VAXdevelopment teams and is humblyknown as the father of the minicomputer. Bill Poduska of Stellar
founded Apollo Computer and cofounded Prime Computer, two wellknown computer firms .
Ardent s computer, the Titan,
was recently included in the ArgOlllle National Laboratory LlNPACK test, alongside computers
ranging from Crays and ETAs to
Sun workstations and IBM PCs.
The LlNPACK test consists of computer systems solving dense systems of linear equations in a Fortran environment, and is thE; most
Code of EnvironmentalEthics for Engineers
The WFEO Committee on Engineering and Environment, with astrong and clear belief that man s
enjoyment and permanence on this
planet will depend on the care and
protection he provides to the environment, states the following principles .
To All Engineers
When you develop any profes
sional activity:1. Try with the best of your ahil
ity, courage, enthusiasm anddedication to obtain a superior
technical achievement, whichwill ('ont.rihllt.p 1 0 Ano pmmot.ea healthy and agreeable surrounding for all people, in open
spaces s well as indoors.
2. Strive to accomplish the beneficial objectives of your work
with the lowest possible consumption of raw materials and
energy and the lowest produc
tion of wastes and any kind of
pollution.
3. Discuss in particular the consequences of your proposals and
actions, direct or indirect, immediat.e or long term, upon the
health of people, social equityand the local system of values.
4. Study t.horoughly the environment that will be affected, assess all the impacts that might
arise in the state, dynamics and
aesthetics of the ecosystems involved, urbanized or natural, as
well as in the pertinent socia-
widely used benchmark in industry.Cray s flagship compllter , the XMP 4, completed the test in 0.012seconds; the Titan in 0 .113. Compared to Sun s 149 seconds and the
Macintosh 's 179 seconds, one can seehow fast these machines really are .When ecomomic factors are introduced , however, we see the major
diR·ert>nce. With an entry price of
$100 000 US , the Titan currently
has the lowest price/performance ratio in the industry, beating conventiona1 supercomputers by a factor of
ten or greater. Unfortunately, Stellar 's GSIOOO was not available to betested .
.The graphics systems of thesemachines are simply unparalleled
in the industry. Both machineshave custom graphics processors
and software, enabling applications
to be developed without graphicsspecific code. Ardent s DynamicObject Rendering Environment -a device-independent toolkit -supports integral ray tracer and
solid texture mapping, reflectance,refraction, transparency, focussedlights, Gourard shaded polygons,etc , Users can make graphics decisions which balance image quality and computation time , using structures from wireframes to
economic systems, and selectthe best alternative for an environmentally sound and sustainable development.
5. Promote a clear understand
ing of the actions required to
restore and , if possible, to
improve the environment that
may be disturbed, and includethem in your proposals.
6. Reject any kind of commitment
that involves uu fair damages forhuman surroundings and nature, and negotiate the best
possible social and political solution.
7. Be aware that the principlE S of e ( , o ~ y 1 ' l t . f ' m i ( intprdrpen
dence, diversity maint.enance,
photographic-quality imager.)'. Stellar s Rendering Processor provides
similar features to its users , allowingdevelopers to concentrate more t imeon modelling and analysis, rather
than writing graphics routines. One
really has to see these machines inorder to begin to appreciate their
graphics capabilities . Some of the
applications these companies havedeveloped are incredible - especially the chemistry simulations .
Both machines are built with
strict adherence to current industry
standards, from their UNIX V3 operating systems (with Berkeley extensions) to their ANSI C and Fortran compilers to their networkingcapabilities. Target markets include
computational chemistry, mechanical engineering, computational Auiddynamics, and geophysics. Both
companies are working aggressively(through partnership programs wit.hboth industry and universities) tobring relevent solution software to
their users .Given the incredible technology
and talent these machines have behind them, combined with their incredible usefulness to engineers and
scientists, the future of computer- ·aided research is growing brighter
anti brighter. Dig the new breed
resource recovery and interrelational harmony form the basesof our continued existence andthat each of those bases poses athreshold of sustainability that
should not be exceeded.
Always remember that war,greed, misery and ignorance, plusnatural disasters and human induced pollution and destruction of
resources, are the main causes of the
progressive impairment of the environment and that you, as an activemember of the engineering profession, deeply involved in t,he promotion of development, must use yourtalent, knowledge and imagination
to assist society in removing those
evils and improving the quality of
life for all people.
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November 25, 1988
Editor s Columll
Welcome to the second issue ofSPACENEWS, a bimonthly reporton space news and technology. Inthis issue, we welcome QueensUniversity to the growing list ofUniversities that publish thisnewsletter as part of their studentengineering newspapers.
The purpose of the newsletter is toprovide a forum for students acrossCanada to share information onspace related activities, and perhapseventually organize a 'Space
Symposium' for Canadian students.This symposium would be heldduring a weekend and would be
aimed at university students.
One of the articles in this issuedescribes the CASI conference. Thecost is affordable to students butunfortunately, like many other
conferences, is held during the weekmaking it difficult for students toattend. Another interesting andaffordable conference is the SDC(see below). It is held over aweekend in Chicago.
The initial response from the firstissue has been encouraging. I hopeyou find these articles useful and
interesting. If you have an article toshare, I encourage you to send italong with the name of yourUniversity.
With Best Regards,
Yuri Quintana.Systems Design Eng. MaSc'89(Waterloo)
Coming vents
The 8th Annual Space DevelopmentConference will be held on the
weekend of May 26-29, 1989 inChicago's Hyatt Regency O'Hare
Hotel. The conference provides anwide range of speakers on spacetechnology, including law andSpace, Medicine and Space,Teaching Space, and TheExploration of Mars (PlanetarySociety). low room rates ($69) areavailable and registration is only$60. Programs are available fromyour local school editor or write toSDC, P.O.Box 64397, Chicago, Il,
60664-0397, U.S.A.
In The Next Issue
An article from SEDS in Canada -the Students for the Explorationand Development of Space
SPACENEWS is a bimonthly Canadianpuhlication on space neIYs lind tcchnoloJ:}'.
Although every errort is made to ensureaccuracy, SI'ACENEWS is not responsihle rorany inaccuracies or omissions. All matcrialreceived becomes property or SI'ACENEWS
an4 the editor reserves the ril:ht to edit andprint it. Opinions expressed in articles arcthose or the authors.© Copyright 19118 hy Yuri Quintana.All correspondence 'hould be moilcd toSPACENEWS, 455 Regency Crescent,Waterloo, Ontari o, Canad a, N2T I P2.Editor-in·Chicl: Yuri QuintanaFaculty Editor ': Or. G. " Greil: (University orWaterloo), Ann Gawman (IUM Canada Ud .
N
Iron Warrior Page 7
SPACE EWS Vol. 1, No.1.
World News CASI Student BranchesU.S.A.
On October 3, 1988 the Americanspace shuttle Discovery completeda 5 day mission to space, markingthe return to regular shuttlemissions. The mission' s (STS-26)primary payload was NASA'sTracking and Data Relay Satellite.The next space shuttle mission(STS-27) is scheduled for November17. Space shuttle Atlantis will beused to launch a military payload.
U.S.S.R.
The U.S.S.H. unveiled its owryspaceshuttle called Buran - Russian forsnowstorm. According to RadioMoscow, Buran's first unmannedflight on October 29, 1988 wasaborted at 51 seconds from takeoff.The problem was reported to havebeen caused by a service towerplatform that did not separateproperly from Buran. The Sovietsplan to launch Buran sometime thisfall.
On November 11, two Sovietcosmonauts on the Soviet spacestation Mir broke the record .forduration in space - 326 days.
A Record of Achievement
Canada has a long and impressivehistory in space. In 1962, our firstresearch satellite, Allouelte I wasalready circling the earth. Designedto last for one year, it operated fora decade, earning Canada
international recognition as onlythe third country to have aspacecraft in orbit.
In 1972, Canada became the firstnation to have its own commercialsatellite communications system.The launch of Anik I provided an
instant coast-to-coast telephoneand information services. Today,we receive radio and televisionsignals by satellite in all parts ofCanada including the Far North.
In 1981, Canadarm was used forthe first time aboard the Space
Shuttle, showcasing Canadiantechnology around the world.Canada is now acknowledged as aleader in advanced space robotics.
October 1984 marked the night ofthe first Canadian astronaut, MarcGarneau, proving the capability ofthe Canadian astronaut team to
carry out experiments In thelaboratory of space.
A Strategic Plan
The national space program, asexpressed in the government's 1986long-Term Space Plan, is tailoredto Canada's special needs. In acountry with a small populationspread over it large area, factorssuch as distance, rugged terrain,and atmospheric conditions hamper
normal ground-level methods ofcommunications and resourcemonitoring.
The Canadian Aeronautics andSpace Institute (CASI) is aprofessional organization dedicatedto the advancement of aerospacetechnologies and their relatedapplications. Its members includeengineers, scientists, doctors,lawyers, geographers, computerscientists, teachers and astronautsas well as specialists in a variety ofother fields.
While CASI is as much as anindustry association as anythingelse, Its emphasiS is more on thetechnical development of the
industry as opposed to its financialdevelopment. CASI publishes twojournals on a regular basis and
frequently hosts seminars andconferences in cities all acrossCanada.
On November 15-16, the 5thannual CAS conference onAstronautics will be held in Ottawaat the Westin hotel. The theme ofthe conference will be "SpaceScience and Engineering - OurCapabilities for the Future".Student registration is $15 for the
two day event and attendanceautomatically makes you a studentmember of CAS .
aceThe current Plan builds on the earlyefforts of the space program whichIs focussed on ommunlcatlons <It)
remote sensing applicat Ion andencouraged growth of world -classfirms in those ar"as. It continu" . tosupport Canada's high technologyindustries to ensur" that nationalneeds in those areas will be met.
The Investment
By world's standards, Canada is amiddle player In the space arena.
Both In terms of dollars spent as apercentage of Gross NationalProduct, Canada ranks about eighthin the world In spending on space.This level Is far below the majorspace powers like the Soviet Union,the United States, Japan, . Franceand West Germany but about thesame as the United Kingdom andBelgium.
The long-Term Space PlanIncluding RADASAT, MSI\T and
our contribution to the Space
Station, recognizes the need to
continue a national commitment to
the growing space sector. Fiveyears ago, spending on space
projects was about $100 million per
year; today it Is about $150 million.By the year 1992, It Is expected to
double.
Sp 5 JI.1o
373 •
CIVILlAIt SPACE EXPfltOITURES5 Year 11988·1992)
1,329 MIIIIOII
CASI has been around for over 30years. Recently, students acrossCanada are forming their ownstudent branches. Quebec campuseshave gotten off to a great start.University of Alberta and Universityof Waterloo are now also trying tobuild their memberships.
Starting a branch isn't too difficult.If you contact CASI, they will behappy to help you. CASI supplies astart-up kit, advertising resourcesand a limited start-up funding. Therest is up to you.
If you or your friends are Interestedin joining CASI or are interested instarting a branch on your campus,contact Mr. Timmins, ExecutiveDirector, CASI, 601-222 SomersetSt. W., Ottawa, Ontario, K2P 2G3or give CASI a call at (613)234-0191.
Sean MawSystems Design Eng.'90
University of WaterlooChair· U.W.S.B.CASI
Editor's Hole: U of W's Iron Warrior Jan'89Issue will contain an arllcle of UW's CASISludent Branch.
ramA Measure fol' Success
By all m<>a'lur.,'i th" Canadian
Span' Pronrilm hilS produ pd
outlandln } r('<;ults. In til(' last 25yc>al S w > hav(> dev{>lop"d anindustry thdl <>< ts world tandardsIn ommunl atlon ,remot sC'nslngand space> rohotlcs. OUI on (> smallcommunity of pa (> S lentlsts andC?nglneer htls be orne a nationalresource, rkh in t"chnlcalcapability.
Our space industry has doneremarkably well In a hlfJhlycompetitive field. The 1986 Industrysales were $350 million andgrowing at an average rat" of 20%.Today, Canada's space Industryemploys more than 3500 people,many In highly skilled, hightechnology jobs.
It 's Canada's Place in Space
Canada's storehouse of naturalresources will not, on Its own,provide the sustainable growthnecessary to ensure our prosperityInto the 21st century. Canada's
world class development capabilityis evident in the International
success of our space industry In thefields of space robotics, remote
sensing, manufacturing, and
communications. Today, the spaceIndustry operates from coast to
coast and Is 90% Canadian owned.Fully 70% of all sales are made to
offshore customers. The Industry isproving to other sectors that we can
compete successfully in markets
which depend largely on technicaland creative excellence.
Reprinted with permission from the CanadianSpace Program.
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Page 8 ron Warrior November 25 1988
Waterloo Through TheEyes Of A Former Westerner. - \tLi
When I tell people here at Wa- privileged to use a completely man- but Campus Centre is not quite the in Cherrl1cal Engineering. 1 was con-
by Mark Chahl
terloo that I went to Western for val model which had no integrator. place that it could and should be. sidering Materials if J didn't get ill
three years before coming here, I III fact, I never touched one, only the The University Community Centre here, in which case I would haveusually hear them list off the com- T.A.'s were allowed to. at Western is just that, the center in been one of s ix people in secondmon stereotypes: the country club Another outstanding thing ahout f h . . year this fall. As well, at West-
terms 0 p YSlcal location, Sf'rVlcesatmosphere, frat boys, Polo Shirts, Waterloo is the U&D concept. housed therein, and its role on cam- ern the program seems to be gearedand tons of people named BifT and There is no such thing at West- I b' to weed people out. In first year,pus . t can be compared to a com 1 d
Muffy who've got· lots of Daddy 's ern. This is because of an exclu- h everybo y takes the same courses.nat.ion PAC , Campus Centre, Soul, dmoney. While it is true that some sive catering cont,ract with Beaver C I . At the en of first year you pick
ampus Hal , Health ServIces, ra- . 'of these stereotypes do apply , one Foods which gives them an abso- d ' d your dlSC1P Ine and hope that your
to statioll, and more all un er oneshould remember that these are only l\lte monopoly on food sales on cam- roof right smack dab in the center marks are good enough to get youstereotypes . Ask a Western student pus. They are in it for a profit and of the campus. nut the best thing into wh at you want. Only 30% of
ahout Waterloo and you're sure to this is evident in their prices. A about the UCC is Centerspot. This the first year class returns for secondIlea l the following : full of compliler Iff $ 75 d I $ 50 / h h year. This policy of attritioll con-arge co ee IS •.• , o u ~ s are . , is a huge lounge cafeteria w ic isgeeks, nothing but cold, lifeless pco- and bagels are $.65 plus $.35 for a the place to see/watch members of tinues in to the upper years as well.pie, no parties, and no women. I foil wrapped cube of cream cheese. the opposit.e sex. Guys, this place From wh at I've heard about the pro-myself held these perceptions until Ev(>n (,hr two IHHS on campus, which is incred ible at lunch time, a com- gram at Water1oo , it is geared moreI came here this fall . In the tw o arr mere broom closets when com- binat,ion fashion show and visual to help the student stay in Engineer-months that I have been here , all of pared to the She lt er and Fed Ha ll , tease. You should eat before you ing. I hope t.hat this is true Eng Socmy previously held stereotypes have arE' more expensive. Last year, beer get there because you'll be too busy here is quite impressive in its orga-vanished . I would like to tak(> this was $2.30 a bottle. looking at all the women; there are nization and scope. The existence of
opportunity to allow you to sec this I could go on and on about a ll of jllst over two women per man at POETS, the Scunt , and Orientation
campus througb the eyes of a trans- the great things I've found out about UWO. III front of the UCC is a supports that observation.
feree . this campus, but I think it is only large patio area called The Concrete Another thing that surprised me
After getting acquainted with this fair to point out some of its short- Beach. It's a veritable ocean of about Engineering here was theuniversity and the people J've met, falls. The first thing is the amount beauties on warm fall days and dl r- IRON W ARRIO R itself. To see a se-my previously held notion that of walking required. The buildings ing the spring. Here's another mls- rious engineering paper was frigbt-Western was God's gift to higher ed- are so spread out here compared to conception about Western I'd like to ening since the term serious enucation drastically changed. Believe Western. The longest walk there clarify: the women. While there gineering paper is oxymoronic at
me, you cannot begin to appreciate was probably Biology to Enginee r- a re more of them there, induding UWO . The paper at Western , calledWaterloo until you've been some- ing, about 250m. Compare t,hat nurses, phys-ed students, and girls The en gin eer would be of the
where else . One of the first thin gs walk to the distance between El and who live in a residence run by the same genre as I've heard Enginews
that I noticed was the degree of 01'- Optometry. The ten minutes be- Sisters of Saint Joseph, I can hOI1- was. The en n eer had many corn-ganization . The registration proce- tween classe s does not seem suffi- estly say that I've found the sit- plaints against it brought up by t.he
dures , Eng Soc, the bookstore, and cient here whereas it was more than uation better here. The women Women's Issues Committee, as wellthe derartment of CO-()P f'd ll rl'lti()n sufficient at Western. The central- here are much more friendly, they're as subseq uent Human Rights Com-really impressed me with their orga- ization of the Libraries and their smarter (this really is a good thing ), mission cases. On, the back page of
nization. lack of electronic theft detection are and they are less materialistic. the engineer one cou ld find a fullThe next thing that knocked my two things that I've found hard to As I am in Chemical Engineer- page ad for local strip joints , in all
socks off was how well-equipped this get used to. At Western, each of ing hrre , I sh()nkl tell Y()II about their graphic detail complete with
place is Laser-printer and Mac- the major faculties has its own li- the Engineering program at West- $2 t ab le dance coupons That makes
Booth services are foreign concepts brary in its own building. The Sci- ern. In short it is not even in the current uproar over Betty Boobsat Western and likely wi ll remain so. ence i rary is connected by tunnel the sa me league as the one here. Tn qui over lown .The engineering department here to Physics, Chem istry, Geo logy, and IL is much, much sm aller, and hasprobably has more computing facili- Biology and so on, which allows for nowhere near the level of facilitiesties than social science, science, and easier, quicker access to information, or stature that Waterloo has. The
engineering put together at West- especially for people doing research. faculty at Western is housed in oneern . I went to the Natural Science Li- building, which it shares with ap-
Lahs heTe are quitE' well-st.ocked brary many times during my labs plied math and stats. The space al-as wl'll. WIH'n r found out that stu- to check reference hooks and j()ur- lotted to Engineering is a little lessc1<'nts in my 2A Chem Eng sertion lJals, since it was only a two minute than the space in El but includesgot to lise computerized gas chro- walk by tunnel. Only punishment the Engineering Library in the same
matographs in one of their labs, by death would make me walk from building. This space is for Chemical,
was amazed to say thr least. I spent El to the Davis Centre. Civil, Electrical, Mechanical , and
three years in the Chemis(,ry pro- The lack of a ('rnt rnl mPfll ing Materials . There are also a lot fewergram at Western i\nd did not once fl ' . . students in Bngineering at Western.see a computerized GC in an under- place in a university 0 I llS size IS
. } If II Sorry 0 say L ast year there were twelve studelltsgraduate lab let alone use one . I was a seriouS s l r ~ a . ,
All told, what ['ve seen of Waterloo, blows Western away in almost every respect. This placehas a lot of good things going forit. The best Engineering program
in Canada, great faculty, amazing
eC]uipmcnt, and above all, reallygreat people . The years that [ willbe spending llere will undoubtedly
be the bes t years of my life. I knowthat I am already very proud to saythat I go to the University of Waterloo and hope tha t all of you feel the
same pride.
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November 25, 1988
Bookby. Ajay Jindal
This is a book with real GUTs.
GUTs in this case refers to Grand
Unification Theories . This is an
all-encompassing theory which accurately explains and predicts nat
ural phenomenon from the atomic
level right on up to the scale of
the universe . Its sort of like going
into a mechanics exam knowing only
F=ma.Stephen W. Hawking is a theoret
ical physicist who is the Lucasian
Professor of Mathematics at Cam
bridge University, a post once held
by Sir Isaac Newton . He is afflicted
with ALS, a motor neuron disease
which has left him almost totally im
mobile and unable to speak (which
he does through a fiuger-controlled
computer speech synthesizer). This
has not impeded his research much
since theoretic physics is done with
the mind, the one part of his body
that is still perfectly healthy.
He decided to write a book about
space and time for people who don't
have a Ph.D. in physics and this is
the product of many years of writ-
Iron Warrior Page 9
Review A Brief History of Time
ing, research , and rewriting . His
publishers said that every equation
he included in the book would halve
the sales and thanks to someone 's
capitalistic nature, there is only
one equation explicitly mentioned
Einstein's famous E = mc2
Why should you buy this book
and read it? Why should YOIl care
about what electrons are made of or
how long the big bang took? Could
you ever bring up these kinds of top
ics at a party to impress a member
of the opposite sex? Can you put it
on your resume?
The best reason to read t,his book
is not because it deals wit,h GUTs
but because of the way in which it
deals with them. Instead of jumping
right into theory concerning black
holes and force strings, he sets up
the framework required to under
stand the logic behind these theo
ries. The first part of the book is
essentially a history of science start
ing with a flat earth at the centre
of the universe to a relativistic uni
verse where ti me depends on speed,
space is curved, and mass and en-
ergy arc quantized . It is this brief
summary that brings together e -
erything you learned in physics and
chemist.ry and give it sOllle colwr
ence and is reason enough to read
this book .
At l.his point two theories dom
inate - Einstein's theory of rela
tivity which governs the ~ e r y large
and Heisenberg'S uncerta.inty prin
ciple which governs the very small .
Hawking 's goal is to rome lip with
a single theory that can be applied
to explain and predict phenomenon
at both scales. The remainder of
t.he book is c1edicat,ed 1.0 unifying the
theories. Although the concepts get
pretty heavy , Hawking has done amagnificent job in attempting t.o ex
plain them. Many interesting ideas
are presented and it doesn't really
matter if you understand them in
side out hut. YOII will f'l1<i up with anew perspective of the world we live
In .
The book is not filled with un
explained technical jargon and Lhe
analogies and anecdotes presented
along the way make it. very easy
reading . Occasional commentary on
philosophy (the universe exists the
way it is because we are here to ob
serve it) and religion (when we findthe GUT, we will know the mind of
God) also add another dimension to
what may be thought of as a scien
tific book .
Included at the end of t.he bonk
ar short. biographies of the three
most influential scientist.s in history :
G alileo born exact.ly 300 year >
b('fore Hawking, Newt.on - who e
post at Cambridge Hawking now
holds, and Einstein whose the
ory is the ba >is ormnch of Hawking's
work.
Dropping a few words about ev
idence in favour of a 26 dimen
sional universe is not a sure-fire
pickup line and knowledge of mat.- .
ter / ant.imatter particle pairs proh
ably won't help you get the johof your dreams but at least wh ' n
the universe collapses in ten billion
years, you'll know why.~Peace On A ·Silver Platter
by Isaac Szpindel
Several years ago the President of
the United States seemed to shock
\J1e world with the ani ouncthat a new defense initiative would
be undertaken. Termed the Strate
gic Defense Initiative the program
was quickly renamed Star Wars
by the press. Whether motivated
purely by sensationalism or by the
President's penchant for the silver
screen this designation is, neverthe
less, inappropriate. In order to bet
ter understand this one musL first,
understand what comprises the SOl
program.
SDI is, basically. a space hMed
technology intended for use ill the
military defense of the United States
and her allies. A major compo
nentof this
system is expectedto
eliminate much of the threat poseo
by nuclear weaponry . SOl technol
ogy can be divided into Lhe "boost."
phase and terminal phase, bot,h
with the aim of destroying hostile
nuclear weaponry.
Terminal phase technology WOll Id
consist of the destruction of incom
ing nuclear weaponry which is en
tering the destination stage of its
intended flight path. The terminal
system would include such devices
as space-borne platforms carrying
particle beams, lasers, or even con
ventional arms, all coordinated by
a tracking satellite. Alternatively,
boost phase technology concentrates
on the destruction of enemy missiles
before, of' -during launch. MORt of
the opposition to SDI and many of
the allegations of its infeasibility are
related to boost phase requirements .
Much of the strong opposition
to SOl is bMed on the claim that
the technology required by the pro-
gram is impossible to implement.
The large sums of money, therefore,
that the U .S. government has been
spending on SDI research is felt to
be wasLeful. This is a ridiculous ar-
gument. To say that a technology
is impossible to develop in this day
and age is preposterous. This is a
fad that should not only be obvious
to ci tistc· nd en in ers bu to thegeneral public M well. By observ
ing t.he world around us we are all
made aware of the limitless advances
we are making in technology. Fur
thermore, the U.S. government has
an established budget for defense
spending. To think that dC'fells('
funds would be diverLed from SOl
to address social problems is naive
and unrealistic. The research being
funded for SOl has many beneficial
applications in other areas such M
medicine and space. Space itl:lelf is
of extreme importance as it is felt
that much fuLure scientific advance
ment will occur there. A cu t, back in
research related to space study will,
therefore, help no one. The removal
of SOl will only bring t.he implemen
Lation of another military program.
This new program may have no ben
eficial consequences.
Another source of opposition is
the implied offensive nature of the
boost phase component of SDJ. The
destruction of nuclear weapons in
their liftoff or boost stages would
constitute an attack on enemy ter
ritory. This further implies an abil
ity hy one> party t.o lannrh fin tltttlck
from space at any time directed at
targets within anoLher nation's ter
ritories. As a possible infringement
on foreign space and sovereignty,
boost phase technology has encoun
tered much opposi tion. The par-
ticularly difficult technological prob
lems posed by boost phase require
ments aggravate this problem. The
political dilemma encountered here
is quite valid and might warrant
some of the opposition it has re
ceived. Unfortunately, due to gen
eral ignorance and the sensational
ism of the media. very few people are
aware of the fact that this problem
arises from just one of the compo-
nents of SD I. If . he opposi t.ion t.o
boost phase technology is valid , then
eliminate boost phase research not
the eJltire program . To my knowl
ed ge most if not all SD I researchthat is presently being undertaken
is in the area of terminal phase tech
nology.
Allegations exist that. SDI re
search funds are being misused.
That scit'nt.i l tq who claim (,n w I)('r
forming SDl research ar ' arillally
tlsing t.he fUllds to carry Ollt. 1111
related >cientific Test·arch . If Ihi H
s true , what are tlw consC'<)lIc'U('('H?
Money is bring diverted frolll dl'
fense to scientific re >earch . ThiH
is actually t.he intellt of t,ll(' U .S.
governmcnt. It. is pllrp(Hwl.v flilld-ing related research in order 10 itl
rrease the general lev('1 of Rc i(' nt.ific
advancement wit.hin the (·ollul.ry ill
the hart· that SDY ncpds will also he
met. A common argument. is (hat
potenLial exists for I,he abllHc of til<'knowledge >lIch research provides . If
this is true it is Ollr respon s ibility t,t
ensure that this kllowledg(· is prc
>crved for its lwnefits flnd 1hilt , flO
abuse occurs . If we da r ' to withhold
knowledge which may be of bC'IIC'fil"
we are as guilty as thosE' who would
abuse it. themselves .The purpose ~ n d implical,ions of
SDI are quite clear . Assuming
the development, only, of Ierminal
phase equipment SOl will be di
rectly responsible for the obsoles
cellce of mucb of the world's nuclear
weaponry. As we have seen, nego
tiations are capable only of decreM
ing the number of nuclear weapons
in the world to a certain extent.
Unilateral disarmament is out of
tile fJuestion completely. Given any
knowledge of politics and history
one can immediately dismiss this op
tion as totally unreasonable. How
ever, through the implementation of
SOl, and with the aid of negotia
tions we might one day be able re
move th e ' threat of nuclear warfare
enLirely. If we are truly concerned
ahollt the planet we live on we must
begin to act intelligently and respon
s ibly. H we are truly co mmitted
t o p('(lce we will sup po rt. deterrent.sto warfare and to nuclear weaponry.SDI is presently the only such pro
gram . Si t-ins and protests accom
plish nothing as far as world peace
and nuclear safety are concerned.
Opposit,ioll 10 SDI rt·PIPM·II1. an OJ>
posltiollio I I t l ( It ar dl IIr I l lan l l ' l I .11111
;111 0ppoHit lOll t.o world Pf ' I I ( , ( , . It
Ollr dut il'l r(' s pOIl ihlt· illdivid
Hal. • t hPTf'fore , to support. t.ltiR pro-
grlllll . AHcugin('NfI it i. ollr n'spon
Hibi hl.y to c.ad in Ihi ", r(' pt'rl tint10 provide' t.he' f(,(·dlmrk rt'qll1r('(] for
I hc' propt'r irnpll Ttwlltal iOll of at
pr(,Sf'lIt ilne in t 11(' fllt,llr1' .
J c S ~FLOWERS
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Page 10 Iron Warrior November 25, 1988
SERVAS: The Unbeatable Way To Travelby Carolyn Anglin
My past summer was spent travelling, working, and generally soakingup the world in and around variousparts of Europe. The Servas pro
gram was one of the major ingredients which made my experience invaluable. Knowledge of this international host program is spread entirely by word of mouth, as is the
intention of this article.
The motto of the Servas organization is Open Doors Around theWorld". Its primary aim is to promote cultural exchange through foreign travellers living directly withthe local people. Servas was started
soon after the Second World War,with the ultimate goal of promot
ing peace through increased understanding of other cultures. The
program is ideal for anyone making
plans to travel abroad with the desire to get to know" the cultures
which he or she is visiting .Normally you would stay with a
host for two days. Staying just
overnight would be "using" Servasas a free hotel" service; hosts want tospend time with YOIl . Staying anylonger is not permitted unless youare invited to remain: in my experience, however , the hosts were soopen and generous that there wouldbe no problem in visiting for longer(in some cases, J felt guilty for leaving so soon ). There is no rhargr at
all for either the accommodat,ion or
the meals. Does it sound too good
to be true? Believe it
During my t.rip, I stayed withfive different ( very different) Servashosts. The first two, in London andWales, had been prearranged fromCanada; the third was a long term
stay with a wonderful family in Ireland . The last two came a month
and a half later in Yugoslavia.In each case, the hosts accepted
me right into their homes and lives.My London hos t deliberat.ely wentt.o work late on the day that I arrived so that. she would be home togreet me, give me a place to put my
heavy backpack, and leave me the
key t.o her apartment. I was immediately impressed with the trust that
this entailed . Because most peopleworked , I was free to roam on my
own all day, but then had a friendto spend time with in the evening.It made all the difference to have a"home" to go to and people that youcould trust .
As a guest, you try to help out
when you can, but I found that
very little.was expected, or even accepted (usually dishes, helping with
the meal or babysitting). Normally,J felt that r "cont,ributed" through
conversation by being eager to hear
about their lives, and by expressingmy own enthusiasm for Canada. Asa gift to each host, I had compileda series of my own Canadian photos
into little booklets.
Often it is more the kind of people ·that become Servas hosts that make
a visit worthwhile. Servas people,both travellers and hosts, are on the
"good" side of life Many lead alter
native lifestyles and are concernedwith t he world in gf'ner<ll; all are
friendly and open . ·Once you join,
you can obtain a Host List for anycountry around the world, including Canada, alt.hough most Eastern
Block countries will not allow its exist.ence.
In London, my host lived in aflat wit.h several other architecture
students, only wandering distance
from all of the major sights. Students the world ov r talk abo the
same things, and Jive the same hectic lives They even have rotten coopjobs. 1slept in their living room, but
on a very comfortable couch. 011 the
first day, I stared for an hour 01l t
of their window just watching the
range of people hust.ling by.My host. invited me to retllrll on
my way back to Canada. Not, onlydid that, save me from having 1.0
make other plans, but it was likecatching up on an old friend's life .All in all, 1 felt immediately at
home. In fa.ct, she had grown up illKitchener, Ontario
n Search Of ••• Home
by Rena Herman
A "Leonardo de Vinci - Engieer and Architect" poster hangs
o er my mattress, surrounded by anrtment of photos of family and
frie ds, both present and past.. Myentir wardrobe has taken up residence in a collection of red milkcrates, while stack-a-shelves return
. to campus specials have helped meorganize my books.
But what of my worldly possessions? Assignments? An obsoleteMacintosh computer? Perhaps t.hebattered ghetto blaster and a missorted collection of tapes . [recall
days of projects, interests, of just
plain lazing around. Like most ofus, entering into an engineering program was an important decision. Atradeoff of sorts.
Confronted with the vast cooperative educational system, a personcan get '?St. One begins to wonder ifthis is really it. By choosing to specialize as an engineer, what ca beexpected? Do I really want to apply
myself for five years? Does this undergraduate degree truly equip meto enter the workforce, or will I findthe need to continue my studies at ahigher level?
Perhaps the most relevant question to be asked is : Why ask somany silly questions? After all,most of you readers have probably
had it with this article . Who cares?And wouldn't I be ever so obnoxious
if I were to yell: I do I doI view "finding it" as the fight to
win home. That is, by knowing t.hatone is in a home of sorts, no matter
how temporary that home may be,everything else falls into place. One
finds the time to socialize, party and
(eventually .. . ) study for finals.Maybe even pass.
Enough soul searching for one
day. After all, if you can't find it,
maybe is hasn't gone anywhere to
begin with. That's what it says on
the banner. ENGINEERING TH
PLACE TO BE.
My experiences in Wales werecompletely different from those inLondon . The first distinction wasto be out in the countryside; the
second was to be with a family.I have never met two people wholived so much by their convictions.They are vegetarians, grow much oftheir own food , use only biodegradable products, and are comm it tedto thinking of others. They werealso devoted to their children in the
most caring way. In general , Servashosts from the United Kingdom andIreland tend to lead more alternative lifestyles whereas those in Yu-goslavia were involved more becauseof their interest in travelling.
Yugoslavia was one of the mostfascinating places J visit.ed. Since
the country is unique in its politics, its geography, and its manner
of amassing completely different, nationalities into one, it was more important to me than usual to discoverwhatever I could . To anyone intend.ing t.o visit there : it is very worthwhile to experience several places inYugoslavia because each one is sodist.inct from the other.
My northern Yugoslavian host,being a sociologist, was extremelyknowledgeable about her country,which is presently experiencing a severe economic crisis. She was alsoperfectly fluent in English , and introduced me to several of her friends
in order to broaden my views (youcan never assume that a host is typ
ical" of t.he culture).My ot.her Yugoslavian host was
not as fluent in English; the rest ofhis family spoke none. This meant
that t,he wife or daughters wouldserve me food (wit.hout accept.ingany help), while all that [ could saywas thank you" in the language .1 t.herefore fell much more that Iwas "using" their hospitality. Nevertheless, while the language barrier call be frustrating , Servas is perhaps most valuable in sllch countrieswhere it is otherwise almost impossible to talk to the people .
This particular host is the ownerof a traditional souvenir shop in
Sarajevo. I enjoyed being able towatch his craftsmanship, and knowthe man behind the window, in direct contrast with the tourists wandering by. I even did my best to bargain a better price for him from thetourists
The family that I stayed with inIreland even now remain very special t.o me hecausr Iliv('o with themfor much longer. One of the greatest advantages that I found of trav
elling alone, is t.hat it is much easierto assimilate a new lifestyle, with
out having to simultaneously satisfya friend's vision of the 'old' you.
By the end of my stay on theirfarm, I could not understand whythey considered themselves to livean alternative lifestyle (described bythem as non-consumerism), becauseit seemed so natural to me. However, as fair warning to any other
tra.veller: a 1I of their electricity (including a TV) is produced by asingle wind generator (as an engineer, that was well worth seeing); to make a phone call, I had
to bike into the nearest town; accommodation for the traveller, lit
only by a gas lantern, is in an outdoor trailer (which actually allowsfor much more privacy); it takes twohours for the peat-burning stove to
heat up enough water for a bath,so advanced warning is required( );and fresh milk (from their own cow)is naturally the only milk to befound. They, too, introduced meto several of their friends, especially through our daily milk runsto neighbours, and the work that I
did . My favourite time was spent
discussing philosophy while planting
spuds
Obviously, each host varies greatlyfrom the others. However, becauseof the listings, you can choose the
kind of people with which you wouldmost likely to be compatible, or
that you would most appreciate getting to know. You do , nonetheless ,have to be comfortable with meeting new people , and with makingyourself feel at home in another person's house. Even if it doesn't. workout, though, you can always go to ahostel or hotel with all of the oLhertourists
Of all the many things that I
learned about myself and others
while away, the most valuable lesson was certainly one of generosity.Moreover , that is something that I
can carry wit.h me for the rest of mylife.
Each count.ry's listing providesthe name, address, and telephonenumber of the ' host, languages spoken, the age and occupation, and abrief description of interests. It issurprising how well you can buildup a vision from just. this information. The listing also indicates the
number of people that can be accommodated, and whether they prefer a traveller to make arrangements
by phone or letter . Consideration isthe name of the game: t.he greatest frustration of hosts is short notice. An interesting alternative isthat those hosts who cannot offer accommodation are willing to act as"day hosts . Wouldn 't it be great
to have a personal guided Lour andsee all of a ci t.y's unknown treasures?
The popularity of Servas varies, but
there are 600 names listed in theUnited Kingdom alone
There is no requirement to reciprocate, but 1 know that I would liketo become a Servas host, both to
return the generosity that was extended to me, and so that I can vicariously travel the world To become involved, contact James Morgan, 24 Chestnut Street, Kitchener,745-3602, the local Servas host. I t
costs $40 to join, plus a $10 deposit
on the host lists (the hidden costcomes with phone calls and letters tocontact. hosts ). Other wise , all that
is required is to complete an Application Form, write a letter of introduction (which you will later give to
your hosts), and submit two letters
of reference. The hosts are similarlyscreened. Once this information has
been compiled, you have to arrange
for an "interview" to complete the
process.Take advantage of this opportu
nity. While it does require Borneplanning, it really is an unbeatable
way to travel.
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November 25, 1988 Iron Warrior Page 11
Head First Into The TUBSby Hans-Peter Schropp
and
Bernard Tanguay
Moin, Moin This greeting reminds us of the time spent in Braunschweig on exchange. A time high
lighted by three semesters of studies and countless travel memories.The experience of attending a vibrant lecture of "Schwingungslehre"in' the Audimax or the enjoyment
of a "Weissbier" in the "Audimin"are examples. Being steamed in awinter sauna at a Finnish cottage orsavouring a "Leberkaes" at a NewYear's Eve Party in a "BayerischeBerghuettn" are others . Now that's
education.
About ten years ago, Prof. Pindera of Civil Engineering at University of Waterloo and Prof. Steck,of the Institute fur allgemeineMechanik und Festigkeitslehre at
the Technische Universitaet Car-010 Wilhelmina zu Braunschweig(TUBS), after years of research ties,initiated an exchange programme
for students of our two universities. The programme has continued to develop and offers the chanceto incorporate international experience int.o your engineering education. The benefits of the exchangefar outweigh the initial difficulties ofstudying in a foreign language. Sofar at least fifty German students,
but only few UW students, havejourneyed abroad in their academicpursuits. With an increasing awareness, thanks to the efforts of Prof.Schuster of Civil Engineering, who isthe exchange coordinator, this trend
is revt'rsing. There are presently sixUW students participating.
During our 3B term in mechanicalengineering, we became acquainted
with a few Braunschweig students ,who informed us about the exchange
programme. The ability to obtain
credit for studies in a different learn- •ing environment convinced us to apply. We were accepted and prepared
for the challenge during our last
work-term, in the summer of 1986.We were the first from mechanicalto venture to Braunschweig, and had
limited knowledge of the language
but personal enthusiasm overcameany uncertainties. .
In order to ease our acclimati
zat,ion to \'he new culture we immersed ourselves in the manner
isms of German culture. What
better way to achieve this than
travel? Experie nced bikers as weare, we had both brought our bicy,des along and began tl)e exchangeon two wheels, exploring the south
ern parts of Germany, from Frankfurt through to Mittenwald, chanc-
KURZENSCHEIDTS(small dictionary)
ing upon many fall festivities . Heidelherg was celebrating the "Federweisserundzwiebelkuchenfest' , weenjoyed a Dampfnudel at the
Cans\'at,tcr Wasen in Stuttgart and
witnessed the last day of the
original Oktoberfest in Munich
. . . Prosit .. . Aft,er that, we were ingreat shape to start the term.
Mr. Refardt and Mr. Fischer of
the "Akademisches Auslandsamt ,
our first contact at the university,accused us of not knowing our wayaround when we asked them forhelp, but became most heJpful whenthey discovered that we were actu
ally from Waterloo. They helpedus in wrestling through the unavoiclnhlC' p(lperwork required t.o obtaill the famous Immatrikulations
bescheinigullg". We were also happyto learn that places in one of the
residences had been reserved for us.Alles klar
We spent the next two weeks at tending various "Vorlesungen" of interest and ta1king to prof"Cssors, inorder to make an appropriate choicefor the six month semester. There
we were put on the right track at
Prof. Steck's institute . His doctoral
student. and assistant, Frithjof Kublik, who has himself taken part inthe exchange and could be describedas a Watfriend , gave us some useful tips on course choices and other
Moin, Moin
Schwingungslehre
Audimax
WeissbierAudimin
LeberkaesBayerische BerghuettnFederweisserund-zwiebelkuchenfestDampfnudel
Oktoberfestlmmatrikulations-
bescheinigttngVorlesungenRaumftugtechnik und
{leaktortechnik
A casual greetingVibrat,ions theory
EL 101 ill German
An interesting BrewThe BombshelterLiver Cheese?Chalet in the Alpsa wine Festival
Steam DumplingsYOll tell usStudent Card
LectureSpace and Reactor
Technology
.Technische MechanikStammtisch
Kneipe
Uebung
Assi
academic concerns. One of the
more confusing aspects is the ulliversity's organizational strurtur . t
consists of nine "Fachbereiche", ofwhich Mechanical Engineering is t.helargest (with about '2400 students,
Jawohl ). These are in turn split. up
into many independent pecializedinstitutes, scattered over a large portion of the northeast side of Braunschweig. Each institute llses its ownteaching facilities to offer courses inits field of research . It is possihlefor UW students to participate in
the research activities of an institute by undertaking a "Studiel1arbeit , which is usually a four monthproject including 'a technical report .Institutes such as "Raumfiugtechnikund Reaktortechnik or "TechnischeMechanik" illustrate the degree of
diversity.t was quite a task to ("hoose from
the vast selection of courses oITeredbut the flexible registration policy,which entails signing up for examsat the end of each semester, allowed us enough freedom to makea sound decision. This was t.hetopic of discussion at. many meetings around the "Stammtisch" at
Friedrich's , a "Kneipe" in Braunschweig, which is renowned for its
battered and baked Camembert, aspecialty which Frithjof will be gladto introduce you to.
As fourth year students, we concentrated on more advanced courses
typically involving lectures, various" ebungen" and often ending wil,han oral examination. Picture this:YOll are waiting nervously in a hallway. A student exits a doorway wiping his brow . It's your turn . .. Youenter the small dim room containing
three chairs, a few pieces of blankpaper and freshly sharpened pencils.The professor and his "Assi" greet
you with unnerving grins. You and
the prof then proceed to "discuss"t,he contents of the course in great
det.ail while t.he Assi scratches notes '. .. and this in German Time has
never passed quicker. Our prepara
tion had never been as thorough.Without weekly assignments and
deadlines, student.s have ample time
to participate in extracurricular act,ivities. The time could be used to
browse the library for given courseliterature or explore neighbouringEuropean states on exciting photosafaris. East Germany, Netherlands
and Scandinavia made for plenty of
distrac ting destinations. ProfessorHecker, our Watpadre , was alwaysthere, however, to help us refocus on
our good academic intentions.All in all, the study methods
placed a lot of weight on "self- teaching" which means not only learning by yourself, but about yourself and how you learn best. The
exchange was therefore not only atravel abrnarl hilt a t.ravel wit,hin,
and an experience np-ver to be forgot,ten. The programme can beonly be highly recommended and it
would be good to see more UW jackets in' Braunschweig in the future.
For detail on the ro ramme contact Prof. R.M. Schuster ofC;viJ F;ngineering in his office CPU 237311
lB2C KNj
ST
UlOO
Applied Mechanicsa table reservedfor "Regulars"Pub
Tutorial
Assistant
18 AM 939 H
8 M 8 PH
U PH - 7 PH
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Page 12 Iron Warrior November 25, 1988
The Existence And Nature Of God
by Jim McCrea
Many people, both Christians and
non Christians, believe that God's
existence must be held on faith
alone . The existence of God and
his main attributes, however, can
be known by reason without the aid
of revelation. This is established
through a branch of metaphysics
known as natural theology .
The existence and nat.ure of God
can be understood from th e essence
existence dichotomy which flows
from the nature of being as such .The basic definition of being is thai
which is. The subject that refers to
essence and the predicate is refers
to existence. All beings, therefore ,
are a compound of essence and exis
tence.
All beings, there/ore,
are a compound oj
essence and existence.
The essence-existence dichotomy
is one of the most difficult principles
of metaphysics to grasp ; an exam
ple may help . If a watchmaker is to
construct a watch the essence of the
watch or watchness exists in his
mind, prior to its construction, but
not in reality . (Essence is defined
as the what a thing is .) Whent he watchm aker assembl es th e wa tch
he gives existence to th e essence or
watch ness . (Existence is defined
as the that a thing is .) Since the
what it is can precede the that
it is, it can be said th a t essence
and exi s tence a re principl es whi cb
are formally dis tinct .
Sin ce essence and exi s tence dif
fpr , he roncppt, of anyt,hing dof's not,
necessarily imply that: it is. It can
be said that all finite things that ex
ist can possibly not exist. In th is
they have what is known as con-
tingency . A further analy s is shows
that essence has the form of a noull
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- it denotes something - and ex
istence has the form of a verb -
it denotes an ac t . (We can call
it ising ) . Now, the act of exist
ing of a contingent being requires a
cause precisely because it is distinct
from its essence. Nothing can be its
own cause; therefore, it must have a
cause extrinsic to it, and this cause
is called Go d .
Bow do we avoid the obvious dif
ficulty, which arises from the pre
ceding argument , that God himself
would seem to require a cause?
This difficulty is solved, first , bystating the nature that God must
possess . The immediate statement
that can be make about him is that
he is self-existent. While essence
and existence are distinct in finite
beings, the essence of God, is in fact,
his own existence . Since it is the na
ture of God to exist he is not contin
gent but necessary. He cannot pos
sibly not be. This property is known
as A seit y . I t is his most fundamen
tal attribute and is that from which
all his others are logically deduced.
The question why does God exist?
cannot be rationally answered be
cause it has no meaning . The identi
fication in God of essence with exis
tence prevents Ihis. He is the frame
of reference against which all hows
and whys are known.
What properties can be deduced
from aseity? If the essen ce of God
is his own existence, he is pure be
ing or pure existence and, there
fore, must, cont,flin eVf'ryt.hing t.hat
Leing or existence can possiuly im
ply: Go d, t he refore, is necessaril y
unlimited , perfect , and possesses all
positive attributes to an infinite de
gree . We can also understand, bylooking at God's most fundamental
attribute of self-existf'oce , that th e
most fitting name that can be gi ven
to him is lie who Is . (Or 1 AM in
the first person) .
The two means of knowing the
nature of God are by negation and
analogy. Negation says what he is
not and analogy says what he is.
Any concept which, in itself, denot,es
an imperfection of any kind can be
denied him absolutely in negation .
Any concept which denotes a per
fection , pure and simple , can be at
tributed to him, to an infinite de
gree, by analogy. First of all it can
be denied that God contains matterbecause the concept matter neces
sarily implies passivity and indeter
mination which are per se imperfec
tions . It can be denied he has form
since any form is inherenl,ly limited
by its definition. The simple name
of God He who is rather than lie
who is such and such means that heis a universal principle which tran
scends all forms.It can be affirmed that God pos
sesses the attributes of infinite intel-
lect and will. These are metaphys
ical perfections because intellect as
intellect is the capability of appre
hending truth without qualification
and will as will is the capability of
being inclined to the good without
qualification. Since intellect and will
are the prime attributes of personal
ity, we refer to God as He and not
It .
It can be said that God is per
fectly simple; t.hat is he has no com
position of parts. This follows from
the fact that he is an absolutely pri
mary being. With anything that has
composition that thing must. be re
ferred to its parts and the principle
of its composition for its explana-
The essence oj God
His own existence.
tion . This makes the parts and the
principle by which it is composed,
in som e manner, prior to that thing .
There cannot be anything prior to
God, therefore, he cannot have any
composition . It can be truthfully
said that the only thing in God is
Go d . A corollary of this is that the
attributes of God are identical with
himself. The very int.ellect and will
of God is God. God does not exist
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in space and time because space and
time are divisible and God is in no
manner divisible. This rules out the
ant.hropomorphic conception, that
some people have of him, that he
possesses a human type body andhas human emotions . The book of
Genesis does talk about the remi
niscence and regret of God but be
cause they are metaphysical imper
fections, they can only be attributed
to him metaphorically. (Reminis
cence is an imperfection because it
is the bringing to mind something
which was previously not thought
and regret is an imperfection be
cause it denotes an error in judg
ment .) One very important point is
that God is not the universe itself,
as the pantheists hold . Although he
is immanent in all things in that he
sustains them in existence from mo
ment to moment with his power , he
is a.lso transcendent; that is, he is
unique and distinct from the things
he sustains. We can understand t.his
by reAecting on the fact that objects,
which appear to our senses and rea
son , do not. possess the ill fl n ite per
fections proper to God.
Although the human reason can
know the existence of God and many
of his attributes, this knowledge has
limits . We can only extrapolate
from what we experience and under
stand . (Analogy is a term for int,el
lectual -extrapolation .) We do not
know, in itself, what it is for God
to be , for example , intelligent, fr ee
or good. This also explains why we
assign multiple attributes to a prtnciple that is necessar il y one and in
finitely simple. The human intellect
is simply not subtle enough to grasp
God through a single concept.
Note : It says in the book 0 Gen-esis that God made man in his own
image . This is in no mann er to be
understood as re ferring to physical
likeness. The in terpr etation is that
man has a share in the function of
the i n ~ e l l e t and will of God which
are his highest attributes. Af ter He
who is names which can be most
properly assigned to God are subsis-
tent intellect and hypostatic love.
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November 25, 1988 ron Warrior Page 13
:>(Cf .:; . 1 i , . r ; - ~ •
Better Than Nothing 0 ~ O ' f ~ ~ ~ / 1 , I 5 ~ ? 1 , l «' : (('" .;J e . ',U'
;; .. - . - ' &. ('_ - ~ ~ ~ ) ~ ~ ~ J .. 'c r . < . ; . ~ ; ; ' ~ r r : .. . Ir. -
by Chris Irie h :' slI '>p('ctl'd were' a pair of t('m
:::::=:::;;;::::=. porary artificial joints . Black mar-
The still air had form, as real as ket surgery. Probably wouldn ' t last
ground. Shaku was lying face down more than a couple of days . "Full
on a gravel covered roof overlook- body?' he asked, leaning back .ing a school yard. The halogens had The man shook his head. "Legs.
been doused over an hour ago, leav- I need legs. By tonight." He
ing the school in darkness but for the looked directly at Shakll and was
diffuse glow of waste light from t.he still. There was no wasted move-city core. Shaku looked through the men . in his actions . He could easilyinfrared scope that was mounted on have been a mannequin, excf'pt that
top of his rifle. A green blur called mannequins don't go looking for ex-Baker was leaning against a jungle oskeletons.
gym, hands in pockets, looking out Shakn nodded. "Such short no-
into the darkness. Unarmed. Thank tice will be expensive. But I sllspectsomeone for the business ethic. that somet,hing can be arranged ."
Shaku disengaged a hand from t.he He wrote on a slip of torn newspa-sighting controler to brush a lick per, then placed it on the edge of
of dirty hair from his eyes. Shaku his desk, just out of reach of Baker.considered himself to be a reason- "There are two numbers. Call one
able man. Any thing, any where, of them ill t,hree hours. The other is
any time. Like a marine of com- my fee."meree. If you could need it , Shaku "How will I know which is which?"
could get it for you. For some ap- "My fee is the larger ."
propriate compensation, of course. After Baker had left, Shaku closed
But . . . now there was someone who his eyes and tilted back as far aswas interested in Shaku's compensa- his chair would go. "Wi ll wonders
tion. And so , like any other reason- never cease, eh Paj? I don 't think
able business man, Shaku had de- he knows who to thank for fre ei ngcided to get to know the newcomer. him from the bonds of physical loco-
He looked Lhrough the illfrared motion . Either that) or he is more
again. Now Baker was with another of a professional' businessman than
figure. Big, fat like a sumo wrestler. I thought. Figured he'd leave town
Eclipsing the target, spoiling the at least." Paj looked back blankly.
shot. Baker passed something to "Monopolies are good for business,
the green blob who then lumbered Paj. Why do you suppose there's
away through a row of bushes that only one government? They want a
skirted the school y: .rd. The tar- monopoly. I f you could go to some-get was alone now . Time. Shaku one else for social service or national
shifted his w e i g h ~ agai.n and brough f uldn.' an
the zoom to rest on t.he grollnd ~ l I S t power, would you?" Sbaku poured
in front of the green streak named himself another glass of water, then
Baker. A burst of white blossomed joined Paj in a silence that blanketed
on the scope. Smoking? Nasty ' the room .habit, thought Shaku . He pressed
a stud on the scope assembly and a
red pinprick of coherent light lit the
ground at Baker's feet. -
"Look up. Look waaay up." Sur
prisingly, Baker did just that. The
dot was now dancing on a place
where the green streak bent. There
was a double sound like children
jumping into puddles of rain water,
and Baker collapsed. His knees weremlssmg.
* * *
Late afternoon was dusty and
parching. Shaku was pouring wa
ter from a glass decanter while Paj
sweated in a wicker chair across the
room. The gurgle and splash of wa
ter, the sound of glass kissing glass
lit the room with a momentary illu
sion of cool. "It's a slow day, Paj."
"Yeah." A drop of perspiration
dripped from Paj's forehead onto his
tent-like shirt.
"Have some watE'r. Looks like
you're going to explode." Paj 'schairheaved with relief as he got up.
Shaku sat behind a large faded wal
nut desk that seemed to impose on
the other mismatched pieces of furniture in the room. He rested his
elbows on the desk and looked to
the chair that was across from Paj.
"Now. What can I do for you?"
The third man wore a Panama
hat, grey cotton clothing, and a pair
of crutches. "I hear you can get me
an exoskeleton."
Shaku tried to imagine the man as
a green streak. People are so differ
ent close up. He looked at the man's
legs, but long pants covered what
When Baker came back, two days
later, he was wearing the dmne
hat and loose grey pants wiLh sus
penders. The bulge of the skeletal
support was just barely visible when
he bent his legs. Nice work. I' need
a rifle.""You need many things of late ."
"I want something simple. Point
and shoot. I want laser sights.
Maybe an JR scope. Talk to me."Shaku withdrew a compact unit
from a dust covered display case.
"Tacana," Shaku told him. Baker
hefted the rifle, and flipped onLhe sighting. A red dot glittered
on Paj's forehead. He brought
it slowly around, past a window
and through the lamp 6n Shaku's
desk. Ruby dopplegangers glideu
across the room as the beam split.
lIe pointed the gun at Shaku. A
buzzing like bottled flies drifted up
from Baker's legs as he held his
body still. For a moment, the airwas solid and challenging, a presence
t hat came frolll nowhere. "I'll t.akeil." haku nodded, wrote a number
on a scrap of paper, and handed it
to Baker . "Ok," Be said.
Paj showed Raker out, snappinghis sllsp('nders by way of farewell.
I don't like him," raj said . "He
doe n't bargaill."I know.' haku picked his
mont.h abs(>ntly with a toothpick
while lookillg through the dirt of an
unwashed window. He squinted for
a moment, emphasising t.he grooveson his face. "Tonight I want you to
buy me some body armour . fie dis
crete." He turned Lo Paj and scruti
nized t,he bear shaped bulk who was
standing before him. "Or not. Remember: bullet proof armour. Nowgo."
ft was f'ight. whf'n Pi'lj rf'1Ilrnerl .
"Where is it?" Shaku asked. Paj
looked in each of his hands, then
said, "Couldn'\, find any.""What did I ask you to get?"
Paj \'hought for a moment. His
lower lip probed its upper partner,
then twisted to make a survey of his
left cheek. Maybe the answer waswritten on his feet; he looked there
next. "Bullet piercing armour."
Shaku's visage hung suspended
in mid-face for a moment before
falling. He was sitting down at his
desk now, absently clearing scraps ofpaper onto the floor. Combing black
sits and two backs crack into place.
"Go home, Paj. I want to be alone."
The room is dark. The
video sputters briefly before light
ing Shaku in a cone of bille shim
mers. Iff' fingers the sLu b8 011 th('
remote. World War Two is on \'1'1('
vIsIon again. oebbf'ls at a hlnrkand white desk, Hodding at a faL
flunky with a clipboard. GOl'hbelflsays something; the goon sa lut(,s
and quickly steps away. 1'h<, pidur('
freezes , and a British narrator as
serts that the German race hali bCf'1l
diluted by the blood of undesirab les .That to purge the Fatherland of Lhe
infection is only natural, only busi
ness.
The picture unfreezes and the
shadows continue to jerk acrosfi the
screen. The cone of light waVNS mo
mentarily, casting Shaku in darke
ness. Someone in a dark uniform
is working a slide p r o j ~ d o r The
controller is in his hand . Drawings.
Charts in black and white . The
image bleeds white and is replaced
with a map of Europe. Grey arrows
make broad strokes across nations
towards the sea. Territorial recla
mation.
A barrage of commercials int,e rrupt the Nazi war machine for
- a failing handful of moments for
which soldiers in muddy Lrenchesgive silent thanks. Shaku ends the
war with an abrupt gesture, drop
ping the remot.e with a plastic clatI or . He b e g i n ~ to closf' h s eyes as a
desk lamp light. by degrees, yielding
pools of g(>nt\e light and :;;ilence.
Shaku looks down into his wicker\ astf' papt'r hasket t hat holds the
remnant.s of Lilt' week's business. It
is a p('culiar feeling knowing that
SOIll("Otlf' is wait.ing for you. Wait
ing to hurt yotl. To crush your
l('gs. Break yom eyes . Nasty, thinks
Shnku as h(' rubs his face back to
life .
The street. is dark now. The neonwas extinguished twenty minutes
ago, leaving the bars, the parlours,
the chat houses dim and frozen.
Shaku stands beneath flaking black
metal mesh that was a fire escape
before it was overwhelmed by rllst.
Thf're is wet and a tas\'e in Shaku's
mouth of oil and grit. A blink ofred in a puddle, almost too brief to
notice. Shaku drops and rolls away
from the building face to the street
gutter, waiting for the rifle to dis
charge inevitable shots.
An unsubtle noisp" and the splash
of puddles, approaching too fast.Tank. Momentum is the key in sit
uations like this. If you have more )you Win. [f they have more, they
and' metal rims p u ~ c h e d holes in his
body like cookie cutters into soft
dough. The noise evaporated; water
rippled and resumed its serene drip.
SlIol(\) di d C'ing 1\ w/l::;h of r,r('('n.
Not.hing IT\()vC'd for n vI'ry long t.imC'.
l ~ v ( I l I . I I f 1 l l y , Pu.j dmH d uoor, lultl
H ippl'd av Ity illt..o tll(' night. .
•P A £ S eA I P T ION S
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Pa e 14 Iron Warrior
World News Briefsby Chris Baisley
and Dan Curtin
We're All Mindless,Neuroscientist Says
It boggles the mindA renowned neuroscient ist says
there's no /?uch thing as a mind. H'sjust a concept people have dreamedup because they can't conceive ofthe brain's complexity, says Dr. Vernon Mountcastleonthehill. The professor of neurosciences at John Hopkins Medical School In Baltimore
told a class of civil engineers hereat Waterloo that There is no suc.hthing as the mind from an experimentalist's (science researcher)point of view" and "I know that
will subject me to scurrilous stat.e
ments. To this the systems classreplied "Hey We already knewthat and pointed to a group of 2Asystems as proof.
Weather Watch
. Afl.er. a t.wo week verification peflod, SCientists have confirmed that,
on Monday, November J4th ann
part of Tuesday November 15th it
was indeed sunny outside here inWaterloo. Scientists , using the clas
sical definition of "sunny weather,"concluded that the two days in question were indeed "of pleasant temperature and bright enough to require protective eye shields (sunglasses) . The last confirmed sunnyday was on the 26th of October,
1988.
Debrett's Marries
Catholic Cardinal
Debrett's, the directory of the
British upper crust, has confessedto an embarrassing error in listingCardinal Basil Hume, head of the
Roman Catholic Church in Britain,
as married. The latest 1,OOO-page
edition of Debrett's said Hume, whoas a priest is sworn to celibacy, wasmarried last January. When contacted, the cardinal's eldest son Jake
said, " the whole idea is preposterous, Dad would never jump mto
marriage, he would live with herfirst" .
Seven MunicipalitiesChoose English
At least seven Ontario municipal
ities have voted in favour of makingEnglish the official language during
council business and the official language of the provincial government.A campaign by the Alliance for the
Preservation of English in Canada
led to the issue being included on
municipal ballots .On the Waterloo County ballot,
voters were given the choice of voting for English, French, Pascal, or
"Teaching Assistant . Despite alarge turnout of MC students, "TA"has been voted in as the new officiallanguage of Waterloo.
Local resident s are apparently upset that they were outvoted by the
large student population, claimingthat they "no speaky da TA . University officials have only respondedwith "is not problem wit us, we isgood wid it presently . Howeverproblems are expected in standard
izing the various dialects indigenousto campus.
.
Chern Eng Soc Rocksby Pierre Donaldson
We have also some pictures of thesoiree that we would like to incllldewith the article . .Michelle Atherleywill be bringing them tomorow (Nov17). Thanks.
Chern Eng Soc Rocks .
So what has the Chem Eng Socbeen up to for the last three weeks?The people who attended our soireeat the University Club last weekfound out that the society is st i llvery active. The soiree was a slIccessby everyone's standards, approximately 100 students (undergrads &grads), J5 of our profs and 13 industrial guests attended. This crowdof Chemical ~ n g i n c e r s took contro lof the University Club and kept the
bartenders on their feet all night. Ishould also mention the victory of
the 2B class over Prof. Sullivan &Douglas at shuffleboard, thanks forthe beer gentlemen
This is the first Chem Bng soireethis stream has had in the last twoyears and will be repeated ill thefuture for those of you who missedthis one. Many members of the soci-
Ind p n . .
............
pl lI
MR.
ety have already some ideas for next
summer. The society has also or
ganized a tour of the Brick Brewery on November 8th, Seagrams'
Dist,illery on November 17th and ispresently working on a tour .of Proctor and Gamble's Hamilton plant forthe 25th of November. All thesetours include free samples, some ofthem more consumable than others.
WE APPRECIATE YOUI
Full Service & Selection Meat & DeliFresh &Crispy Fruit &Vegetables from Around the
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Jim and Donna Morris Welcome You
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The Chem Eng Society is alsothe student chapter of the Cana
dian Society for Chemical Engineering (CSChE) at the University. Our
chapter is now affiliated with the lo
cal Toronto chapter of the CSChE.
This means that the members ofour society can attend the activities
sponsored by the Toronto chapter,
as we are on their mailing list for up-
No Moreloikes
This week U of T engineers faceda referendum on the future of the
Toike Oike, their version of En
ginews. As a response to complaintsfrom several campus groups, engineers will choose between three options: The paper should A) continueunchanged, B) continue in a moderated form, or C) be stopped altogether. Unofficially it is apparent
that the administration will not beimpressed if the engineers return the
"wrQng" choice. In any case, sincethe students have been allowed ' (at
least in face) to decide the futureof the Toike, this affair will reach amuch more dignified conclusiQn than
did the demise of tlle Enginews.
• t • •
November 25, 1988
Free Needles in AIDS Plan
Two downtown centres where addicts can exchange dirty needles forclean ones are being proposed byToronto's health department. When
questionC'd, UW's IJealt.h and Safetydepartment mentioned that a similar program has been running herefor years, and contrary to publicconsensus, Ira G. Needles had nQthing to do with Needles Hall.
Election Confusion
The ' recent proliferation of elections confused many local voters.Elections Canada says that manyvoters turned up on the 21st trying
to vote for both Mike Dukakis and
George Bush.Apparently many voters had been
influenced by polls saying that the
free trade supporting ProgressiveConservatives were sure winnersand thought they could save t m ~by voting direct ly for the Americanpresident.
coming events. For the students who
are going to be on a work term this
winter in Toronto and would like to
attend the Toronto chapter activ
ities, just drop by the office (El-2514) and give us your address and
we will include you on the mailinglist. All upcoming event s will beposted on our board by the office.
The society's last meeting of the
term will be on Tuesday November22nd when a new executive will beannounced. All Chem Eng students
are welcomed to attend t he meetingand voice their opinion. Anew constitution for the society will also be
presented, after hours of hard workand pizza eating by the constitution
comrnitee. We are also the supplier
of cheap and high quality engineering paper, some very useful unit. con-
version booklets and Perry's Handbooks. All of those are sold at the
office and have to be sold before the
end of the term.
That's what the Chern Eng Sochas been up to lately, we hope to
see you at our meeting on the 22ndand wish you good luck with exams
Mind, Heartand Vision
Norman Ball)s book, Mind,Heart and Vision will be availablethrough the Orifice. Cash orders
will be taken until Wed. Nov. 30th.
The CQst will be $39.95. No engineer shQuld be without a copy ofthis tribute to our profession. Jt ishoped that Norman Ball will return
to campus before the end of exams
for an autogra'ph session.
,
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November 25, 1988 Iron Warrior:'
it \ Engineering Applications:
t; ,.\0-' Design Of n utomated Feeder
by Dave Petro
Introduction
The age old problem of orienting
non-symmetrical rod-shaped parts
will be addressed in this article. The
analysis performed uses statistics
and differential calculus. The de
velopment presented was extracted
from Design of a Frozen VegetableIn-Feede r , a case study in the 4th
year Systems CAD/CAM course.
The Problem
Figure 1 shows an automated system for preparing cylindrical objects , such as carrots . In the dia
gram, the carrot is falling through
a hole in the vibrating bed (calleda shaker pan), with an orientation
suitable for chopping the cap.
However, if the object is \ '00 sho rtfor the gap between the pan and \'heco nveyer, the object might fall such
that its head will be orientE'd in t hewrong direction. On the other hand ,if the gap is too small, the object
will get clogged . Clogging is con-
I- 0 ..,,_ tt-'0- -'.'- '- '-_.><:.1..._-n r e d ~
locho()CWl - nlted c o n v ~ y o r
FIgure 1
sidered twice as serious a difficultyas a wrong end" orientat.ion.
The problem faced by mo ';t engineers is to find the optimal gap size.
ssumptionsIn order to simplify analysis, as
sume that clogging will only occllr ifthe object is longer than the gap bymore than one inch. Also, assllme
the object will fall incorrectly if the
gap is greater than the object length .Assume that the object length is
normally distribllt,ed wit, I a mean of
three inches and a standard devia
tion of one-half an inch.
nalysis
Let the random variate L repre
sent the length of the carrot (nor
mally distri but,ed, IJ = 3 inches and
(Y = 4 nch) . The probability of hav
ing a carrot of L inches or less isgiven by the cumulative distribution
function, F[ L]Let G represent the gap in inches
with the optimum gap size denoted
Consider a penalty func-tion, Q G), which describes the relat.ive weighting of undesirable events.
Rem ember that clogging is twice as
bad as chopping the wrong end. The
penalty function can be expressed
as,
Q G)
:: :: Prob[carrot will be chopped
. .. wrong end]
+2 x Prob[carrot will
= Prob lL < G] +2Probl [, G + 11
= FIGI + 2(1 - F[G + I]) (1)
Note t.hat at the optimal gap sizethe penalty function will have the
minimal value, or mathematically,
min
Q G ) = G Q G) for all G
So that we can make use of the
normal distribu.tion of carrot length,
we perform a lmear transformationon G.
Let Z = G;EJ.
The cumulative distribution function (cdf) for Z is the standard equation,
1 1 ;1
4> Z) == rn=e T dz00 v 21f
At the point of chopping,
G -3Zl , =
1/2
2G - 6
At the point of clogging,
G 1 - 3
1/2
2G - 4
Replacing the cdr in equat ion 1with the normalized cdf we get,
Q G) == 4>lz.] + 2{1 - 4> Z2])
= 4>lzll +Minimizing this function using
differential calculus, we get a min
imum value for the penalty functionwith a 2.7 inch i.e . C t
- 2.7 ,
From tables of the standard normal cumulative distribution function:
% carrots chopped
wrong end -: 27.4%
% carrots dogging =- 8.1%See Figure 2 for an illustration of
the optimal gap size relative to the
normal distribution of carrot length . '
Clo oc too lalge
cloU'"II ....n occur
AverageSt-te CArrot
Clonal too smallwrong end
Wtllbechopped
AcceptablenIInge
27 Length
«()pllmum Gap)
Figure 2
Millionaires Night Success
Thanks to the patrons of Millionaires' Night from the 4A Systems
class and the UW Graduate Stu
dents' Association. Over $900 was
raised .
Work Hard, Play Harder 6. One of the classics of looking atproblems in a different way: 6matchsticks make a 3-D tetra
hedron, with 4 trill.ngular fnce ' .Answers from Last Issue
by Carolyn Anglin
1. bc d ef g h
i
becomes b c di a f g h e
2. "If Twere speaking to the other
half of your conscience, whichway would he tell me to go?"Then go through the other
door.
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WILL IE READY FOR PICK-UPI
3. To be of equal size and mass,
the gold sphere mus\' be hollow. Roll the copper allel goldspheres down a ramp, or spin
them. The one that goes fastE'rmust be the gold one because
the mass is concentrated a' the
outside.
4. Co ins cannot be dated R.C.because they would not knowwhat the year was
5. Five straight lines through
these ten points form a star.
7. The weights 1, 3, 9, and 27kRcan be IIsed ill cornhi nal,iollto measure all integer wright
from 1 to 40 kg .
8. A dog can only run half wayinto the woods; after that, he isrunning out again .
9. It takes 6 minutes for the twochariots to meet, so thl' froRh
has to run 1.5klll .
DOWn Child Blue l Band
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8/14/2019 Iron Warrior: Volume 9, Issue 9
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/iron-warrior-volume-9-issue-9 16/16
Thank you Norman Ball for a great talk
I f you missed the talk the Sandford FlemingFoundation has video-tapes of it available.Contact the Foundation office at CPH-4366
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