Daily Bulletin

Canada's day without fireworks

Staff positions From the staff Positions Available list this week: § Marketing coordinator, co-operative education and career services, grade USG 10. § Technical secretary, earth sciences, grade USG 4. § Library attendant, library (user services), grade USG 2. § Parking records clerk, parking services, grade USG 4. § Fine arts visual resources coordinator, fine arts, grade USG 6. § Club manager, University Club, grade USG 8. More information: the human resources department, phone ext. 2524.

According to the UW weather station, almost 4 millimetres of rain fell yesterday, enough to dampen both spirits and tents. It also put the electrical equipment on the main stage at risk, and the music show never did get started.

Other entertainments carried on for a while, but when the wind picked up -- and it was fierce at times, blowing across Columbia Field -- it started threatening the tents themselves, and that was the end, Heide said.

Starfire Pyrotechnics, the firm responsible for the fireworks show over Columbia Lake, told officials that the wind would carry exploding shells over the watching crowd, and so for safety reasons the show was cancelled, Heide said. To hear a rocket anyway, click here.

"It was amazing," she said, "to just watch the students pull together, close our events down and help people off the field. We had a lot of fun working against Mother Nature. I'm very, very proud of our volunteers."

New in office today

Also new in office effective July 1 is the president of St. Jerome's University. Michael Higgins moves from being vice-president and dean to succeed Doug Letson as president. Kieran Bonner, new to Waterloo, succeeds Higgins as dean and vice-president.

Also as of July 1:

• Susan Wismer becomes chair of the department of environment and resource studies.
• Brian Forrest becomes chair of the department of pure mathematics.
• Ross Willard becomes director of first-year studies in mathematics.
• Don Mackay becomes acting chair of the department of fine arts.
• Conrad Brunk becomes academic dean of Conrad Grebel College.

26 questions -- there's a prize

To be specific, these 26 questions are about Canadian universities, the institutions where so much of our country's trivia are concentrated. They'll take your mind across mountains, prairies, lakes and ocean shores, to 26 of this country's campuses -- fewer than a third of the total, but enough to provide plenty of variety.

The director of retail services has kindly offered a prize: a $25 bookstore gift certificate for the person who answers the largest number of quiz questions correctly. Answers must be sent by e-mail to credmond@nh4.adm with a deadline of 9 a.m. Monday, July 5.

And now the quiz questions:

1. Which university has a Department of Icelandic Language and Literature?
2. Which institution calls itself "Canada's only women's university"?
3. What university college has for its president a former UW computer science professor?
4. Which university has a campus in Essex, England?
5. Which university has a Nassau campus?
6. Which university competes in American athletic leagues rather than Canadian ones?
7. What university has just introduced a Bachelor of Arts program in Police Studies?
8. What university is so new it doesn't yet have any students?
9. Which university is so old that it began its history in 1663?
10. What university was founded in part by the YMCA?
11. What institution was once called simply The Provincial University?
12. Which university was once called United College?
13. What university also uses the name "the Royal Institution for the Advancement of Learning"?
14. Which university remembers "the Great Trek" as a landmark in its history?
15. Which university adopted the martlet, mascot of McGill University, as its own mascot?
16. What university has its campus in the shadow of a huge bridge?
17. What university shares a single building with a community college?
18. Which university has an institute specializing in wine-making research?
19. What university has more correspondence students than Waterloo?
20. What university pioneered co-op programs in French Canada?
21. Which university takes pride in having Bertrand Russell's papers in its library?
22. Which university has a subway transfer station named after it?
23. What university's library includes the Hall of the Clans?
24. What is the only university named for a former prime minister of Canada?
25. What is the only entirely francophone university in an officially English province?
26. What university now includes a law school that is a century older than the university itself?

Data service wins an award

The service is TDR, or "Tri-University Group Data Resources", part of the Tri-Universities Group of libraries: UW, Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of Guelph. It's the winner of a regional award from CAUBO, which gives prizes annually for administrative innovations on campuses across Canada. The top winner this year, collecting a $10,000 prize, was a health and safety project at Queen's University.

CAUBO's citation says that TDR "allows users to easily access and process large data files via the World Wide Web. This data might include a large collection of survey results from Statistics Canada, any number of surveys from international sources, or data collected by a local researcher. All of this data has been available in the past, but this rich information source has been inaccessible to all but a small group of people, due to the high costs of acquiring the skills necessary to utilize this type of information."

The project began at Guelph and has now been expanded to the three universities. "This service has made access to large data sets feasible for a wide range of users who could not have utilized these resources previously. It has greatly increased the amount of data available to the users from the three institutions, and has improved the service available to all. The net result is increased and improved research along with increased value to students who are now able to utilize real-world data and applications in their work.

"Prior to the establishment of the TDR the use of large data sets was limited to a relatively exclusive group of users with the necessary expertise and resources. While these people had the storage space, computer power, and programming skills at their disposal to make use of some of these very large files, rich information sources such as Statistics Canada's Survey of Consumer Finance or the National Population Health Survey were out of reach for most users. While any library user was able to discover that data had been collected and made available on a given topic, only summary tables were universally available in paper. Accessing the raw data and thus being able to manipulate it for specific queries, required a large budget and the ability to write statistical programs to generate useful results. . . .

"The heart of this service is a web-based front-end that allows the user to access the data from their desktop, select a data set and variables that they wish to view, and run statistical analysis on the data, returning results in a customized form. The user can now access a great deal of data, and perform complicated data processing on their own, without committing the human and financial resources that were necessary in the past, and only available to a select few. The TDR offices are able to field requests, acquire data, and mount the data on the system in a very short time, utilizing one program to deal with any set of data. The service is staffed and centrally located in the library so that any student or faculty member can consult with staff on data use."

From the dragon drag race

The 23 science and business students -- only in their second year of the sport -- raced in the preliminary heats on Saturday at Toronto Centre Island and came only five seconds short of qualifying for the University Cup event on Sunday. Instead, they earned a berth in the consolation finals Sunday afternoon. Starting off in lane three, the Dragons took an early lead, said paddler Aneil Gokhale, who saw the competition began to disappear.

In reality, the Golden Dragons had veered into lane four, where they were struck from behind by the boat in that lane. The intrepid team continued paddling fearlessly, however, until they collided with the boat in lane five.

The drummer of the lane five craft was thrown into the water -- there was a striking photo of the drummer treading water in the July 28 Toronto Sun -- and the Waterloo team, "upset and embarrassed" by the incident, was disqualified.

"We just started out a little crooked," explained Gokhale. who noted the team is 150 pounds heavier on one side. The Golden Dragons spent some time calculating ways of optimizing the weight before the race, but the 150-pound difference was the best solution they could find.

"The team is undeterred," said Gokhale, and indeed, plans to salvage its reputation at the July 17 Waterloo Region Dragon Boat Festival at nearby Laurel Creek Conservation Area. The races run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and the entire university community is invited to cheer on the UW paddlers.

CAR

Editor of the Daily Bulletin: Chris Redmond
Information and Public Affairs, University of Waterloo
credmond@uwaterloo.ca | (519) 888-4567 ext. 3004
| Wednesday's Bulletin
Copyright © 1999 University of Waterloo