Daily Bulletin

University of Waterloo -- Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

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Tuesday, July 8, 1997

'Most students will find jobs'

That's the opinion on the first floor of Needles Hall, says Olaf Naese of the co-op department following yesterday's "job match" exercise for fall term co-op jobs. He says 76.1 per cent of students who are looking for jobs now have them -- 2,133 out of 2,800. "For the sake of comparison," Naese added, the comparable figures at this point a year ago were 1,913 out of 2,642, or 72.4 per cent.

He went on: "The continuous phase has begun. The first three job postings are full and more jobs are arriving every day. We believe that most students will find employment for the fall term."

Mathematics has the highest placement rate of the major co-op programs at this point -- 88.8 per cent, or 674 students with jobs out of 759. Engineering is just a little below the campus average, at 74.7 per cent (1,006 with jobs, out of 1,346).

Let's watch our Synchronizes

There's a message today from the information systems and technology department to people across campus who use the Synchronize software:

As of July 7, Synchronize users must now specify a Synchronize server based upon where they work in the university. The following table will help you determine what Synchronize server you should use:
    UW Organizational Unit   Synchronize Server
     Applied Health Studies      synchro.uwaterloo.ca:0
     Arts                        synchro.uwaterloo.ca:1
     Environmental Studies       synchro.uwaterloo.ca:2
     Engineering                 synchro.uwaterloo.ca:3
     Math                        synchro.uwaterloo.ca:4
     Science                     synchro.uwaterloo.ca:5
     Church Colleges             synchro.uwaterloo.ca:6
     Admin Departments           synchro.uwaterloo.ca:7
If you have any problems using the new server please call the IST Helpdesk at ext. 4357.

Now, this message leads to an obvious question: what in the world is Synchronize? According to a Web page maintained about it by IST, it's "calendaring software": "It can be used for keeping track of your own schedule, or for finding free time in which a meeting of a group of people can be scheduled. Synchronize has been site licensed by the University of Waterloo."

Ernie Hanson of IST tells more: "Synchronize is a group scheduling application which works with PC's, Macintoshes, and Unix systems which has been available at UW for approximately one year. It uses a client server model with the actual scheduling information being stored on a 'Synchronize server'. . . . Because the servers share information it is possible to schedule meetings with people that use a different server although it is less convenient than it was with a single server. We hope that by using a new version of the Synchronize server software and dividing users between eight servers we will improve Synchronize response time and be able to accommodate more users."

Events today and soon

An information meeting on graduate work in the mathematical sciences starts at 3:30 this afternoon in Math and Computer room 5158. All students are welcome, to find out more about graduate programs, financial help, and "how do you know if you are suited?"

The next in a series of workshops for teaching assistants is scheduled for Friday, July 18. Topic this time: "Research Seminars at the Academic Job Interview" -- that is, how to show off your work as part of the process of getting hired as a professor. Interested grad students can get more information from the web pages of the teaching resource office, which sponsors the series, and can register by calling ext. 3132 or sending e-mail to trace@watserv1.

Waterloo Web site of the day

ICE CREAM
http://www.cgl.uwaterloo.ca/~smann/IceCream/

Chocolate almond, chocolate macadamia nut, chocolate peanut butter, grapefruit, maple blueberry, easy vanilla -- and the Ice Cream Hall of Shame. They're all features of this page created by Stephen Mann because, he explains simply enough, the computer graphics lab has an ice cream machine, "and I started making ice cream about the time the web came into existence":

Initially, I kept an ASCII log of the flavors I made, and a list of recipes that I had tried. Eventually, I moved this on to the web to give people in the lab access to the recipes. Then it grew a bit from there. The page has been visited 9200 time in a little over a year by non-CGL people. And I get about 2-3 Ice Cream related email messages a week.

Who would have thought there was so much about a cold treat to be found on a hot technology? Mann has links to dozens of ice cream pages on other computers around the world, ranging from "Bailey's Irish Cream Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream" to what looks like a nearly definitive ice cream page at the University of Guelph.

Oh, the wonders of grammar

The Academe Today news service reports thusly this morning:

The University of Michigan has stopped compiling certain data showing the grades and standardized-test scores of applicants and admitted students, broken down by race and ethnicity.

Just goes to show the difference an international border can make. Here in Canada, most students instead are broken down by sex and age. . . .

CAR

TODAY IN UW HISTORY July 8, 1970: In a front-page story, the Gazette announces some new technology in the computing centre: an "optical mark reader", a device that reads pencil marks on cards.

Editor of the Daily Bulletin: Chris Redmond
Information and Public Affairs, University of Waterloo
credmond@watserv1.uwaterloo.ca -- (519) 888-4567 ext. 3004
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