Daily Bulletin

The year of the rabbit, apparently

"It could mean a number of things," said Michalenko. Among the hypotheses: a good breeding season, the high point in a population cycle, or favourable environmental factors -- an early, dry spring -- that led to better survival rates among the young rodents.

With no formal population count, added Carlson, it's difficult to draw conclusions from casual sightings. However, with few natural predators rabbits will flourish, he said.

As well, campus cottontails (very much like the squirrels) may simply be growing more habituated to the company of humans, and we might be spotting just a few bold bunnies, suggested Michalenko.

As humidex soars and air quality sinks

Stanford University computer science and electrical engineering professor David L. Dill will speak at 3 p.m. in Davis Centre room 1302 today as part of the celebrity lecture series sponsored by the computer science and electrical and computer engineering graduate student associations. Towards Practical Formal Verification of Microprocessors will explore "new ideas for formally verifying microprocessor designs, based on symbolic simulation and analysis, and some of the problems on the way to a practical solution to this problem."

Students from Oxford Brookes University in England arrive on campus today as part of a student exchange with the UW school of urban and regional planning. For the past 15 years, UW third- and fourth-year students have attended classes for six weeks every spring at Oxford Brookes -- "the number one planning school in Great Britain," according to UW planning professor John Horton -- which annually sends some 20 of its students to Waterloo for lectures and field work. From July 15 to 31, the Oxford students will be given an introduction and overview of Canadian planning.

Fame: The Musical comes to UW next week with performances July 22 to 24 in the Humanities Theatre. Tickets for the Performing Arts Summer School production are available through the Waterloo Catholic District School Board at 578-3660, ext. 333.

Positions Available for this week

• Manager, computer systems, distance and continuing education, grade USG 11.
• Secretary/technical typist, chemical engineering, grade USG 4.
• Temporary office assistant, graduate studies office.
• Temporary food operations kitchen supervisor, Federation of Students.
• Temporary research financial administrative assistant, office of research.

Environment program from Niagara

Starting in second year, ERS students -- a maximum of 25 of them each year -- can also enrol in the programs in environmental management, ecosystem restoration, or environmental assessment, offered at Niagara's St. Catharines campus. The programs last for two terms, plus an optional 12-week internship, meaning that regular students would see their program stretch into a fifth year, while co-op students would have a reduced number of work terms in order to finish within five years.

"By concurrently fulfilling the requirements of the ERS program and one of the Niagara College programs, students would gain broad knowledge and depth in Environment and Resource Studies at the Honours level as well as the technical skills required for a wide range of environmental careers," says a proposal from the ERS department that was approved by UW's senate at its June meeting.

"The joint program has been developed to minimize duplication of content and to permit completion of the ERS Bachelor's degree and a certificate in minimum time. . . . The equivalent of up to five term courses would be accepted as elective transfer credits by the University of Waterloo in recognition of the Niagara College component."

The Niagara programs are usually open only to students who have a university degree, a college diploma, or five years' work experience.

UW web site of the day

For a good time -- or at least a Good Times Virus -- just check your electronic mailbox. It'll turn up there, sooner or later. And Carol Vogt, of UW's information systems and technology department, wants you to know what to do about it: laugh, yawn, but don't panic.

Good Times is a hoax, says Vogt's "mythology" page, just like the dying little boy who wants postcards from all over the world. "Don't believe everything you read in your e-mail," the page advises.

Says Vogt: "These stories about e-mail viruses and the 'you can help this dying child' stories have been circulating via e-mail for a long time now, and probably will continue to circulate for some time. Most people have a genuine concern for the safety of their own or others' computers, or they have a genuine desire to help an unfortunate child. So they redistribute these messages to all their e-mail correspondents, many of whom will do the same. I wanted to have a page I could refer these people to, so they can have some confidence that they aren't jeopardizing the safety of their computer, or disregarding the wishes of a dying child by hitting the Delete button for such messages."

And she goes on: "What I regard as true e-mail 'viruses' are the unsolicited 'junk mail' e-mails more and more people are receiving on a regular basis." It just happens that IST has an informative page about that too.

CAR
and Barbara Elve

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