Turkish Protests: ‘Occupy Istanbul’ or a ‘Turkish Spring’?
Spenser Good - 3A MechanicalPosted on: June 12, 2013
Turkey is a unique nation. With modern, democratic, and largely secular Europe to the West, and the more Islamic and predominantly authoritarian Middle East to the East, Turkey’s geographic location serves as a metaphor for the divide in its identity. Warring economic and cultural influences of the European Union, of which Turkey is a committed [...]
Introducing Steven Poloz: The New Bank of Canada Governor
Spenser Good - 3A MechanicalIn July of 2013, former Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney will begin his new role as Bank of England Governor in London. He will be the first overseas Governor of the Bank of England and faces huge challenges in a country burdened with debt, unemployment and overwhelming public spending commitments. Carney leaves the Bank [...]
Atari Landfill Being Excavated for Documentary
Michael Laanvere - 3A MechanicalThe Alamogodro, New Mexico city council has approved an excavation permit that will allow a Canadian Film Company, Fuel Industries, to dig up the infamous Atari burial site, supposedly for a documentary. The Atari burial site is a landfill where millions of Atari cartridges, consoles, and accessories were crushed, encased in concrete, and buried. The [...]
UW Professor Proposes that CO2 is Not Responsible for Global Warming
Andrew McMahon - 3A EnvironmentalResearch published by University of Waterloo professor Qing-Bin Lu brings forth evidence that humans have an impact on global warming, but not in the way that most people think. Dr. Lu’s research involved a statistical analysis of ozone depletion, temperature changes, gases and cosmic rays, and found that chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) have been the main cause [...]
Beyond Stephen Harper
Filzah Nasir - EWB PresidentImagine this scenario: You are caught cheating on an exam and are being threatened with expulsion. So, you decide to defend yourself by arguing that yes, while you were cheating, it didn’t accomplish anything because you still failed the exam. You’re just a really bad cheater. Your professor, after looking through your exam, realizes that [...]
Point: Plants Should Be Patentable
Nancy Hui - 3N CivilLet’s start from the top. A patent is an exclusive right to use or license a discovery, invention, or process for a limited amount of time (usually around 20 years), designed to encourage innovation by rewarding the discoverer or inventor for their scientific efforts. It is believed that at least 60% of pharmaceuticals and 30% [...]
Counter Point – Should plants be patentable?
Krishna Iyer - 3T NanotechnologyIn the United States, the Patent Act of 1790 granted the applicant “sole and exclusive right and liberty of making, constructing, using and vending to others to be used”. Over time, the spirit of the act has been defiled to an extent previously unimaginable. It took the entirety of 121 years for the number of [...]
VPs Internal – Brendan O’Hanlon & Annamaria Reda (Midterms, Parties and Meetings)
Brendan O’Hanlon & Annamaria Reda - VPs InternalThe last few weeks have been busy haven’t they? TalEng, the engineering talent show, was a blast for everyone except for those of us who had goat’s milk poured on them (alright, it wasn’t so bad). There have been a number of workshops on topics like interview skills, photography, and jobs outside Jobmine. Enginuity ran [...]
VP External – Leila Memma-Coleman (Goats and Goats and Newbies)
Leila Meema-Coleman - VP ExternalBaahhhh! (That’s goat for hello.) I hope you have been noticing the increase in goats around campus and you may have been wondering what’s that all about? Don’t worry, the Engineering Society has not developed a weird goat fetish… its actually our charity initiative this term! We are raising money for the Free the Children [...]
VP Finance – Kevin McNamara (Sponsorship and Capital Improvements)
Kevin McNamara - VP FinanceIt’s that time of the term to start thinking about two very important sections of the EngSoc budget: Sponsorship and ECIF! Sponsorship applications are now open! The committee is selected and the dates are set. For those of you who don’t know what sponsorship is from EngSoc, each term we allocate a certain amount of [...]
VP Education – Drew Dutton (Tuition Increase)
Drew Dutton - VP EducationAs I’m sure you are all aware by now, students have seen additional charges made to their Quest account. In this issue, I will be addressing the sticky subject of the tuition increase that was announced on June 4. This mid-term update to tuition was the direct result of the new Ontario government tuition framework [...]
Presidents – David Birnbaum (And the Saga Continues)
David Birnbaum - PresidentHello again everybody! I hope you have been having as great of a term so far as I have. To update on what I talked about last issue, we are still making good progress. The exam bank is currently being discussed by the departments, but I am hopeful for a soft launch sometime this term. [...]
Being a Conscious Consumer
Rob Reid - EWB Junior FellowConscious consumption is a contentious idea – on one hand, people should be aware of their actions and act in the interest of global sustainability and equality. On the other hand, a conscious consumer can only do so much in promoting sustainability and equality – this should be demanded by producers and enshrined in social [...]
Letter From the Editor – Lucas Hudson
Lucas Hudson - Editor-in-ChiefGOOD NEWS EVERYONE! With the 6th Wednesday of the term upon us, the 7th issue of The Iron Warrior (2nd for the Spring Term) has arrived on the stands in all its glory, along with all the mistakes that are bound to sneak in. As I mentioned last issue, I cannot expect this newspaper to [...]
Letter to the Editor: Criticism of EngSoc’s Electoral Policy
Krishna Iyer - 3T NanotechnologyIn the first EngSoc meeting of this term (May 15, 2013), a motion was passed which disallows students that switch streams from running for the positions of VP-Education and President of the Engineering Society (A) of the University of Waterloo. This means that there is a 0% probability of the President or the VP-Ed of [...]
#NotTurningPurple: Yahoo’s Tumblr Takeover
Anjida Sripongworakul - 2B ManagementOn May 19, 2013, founder David Karp signed a $1.1 billion deal selling the interactive social media website Tumblr to Yahoo!. The deal surpassed Facebook’s $1 billion purchase of Instagram and is the largest investment made by Yahoo! this year. The 24th most viewed website on the internet, with 300 million monthly visitors and 105 million [...]
Damn it, Jim, I’m a reboot, not a greatest hits collection – Star Trek: Into Darkness: a review, a reflection, a report
Anjida Sripongworakul - 2B ManagementStardate: -309583.59795154753 J.J. Abrams has made it clear that he loves mysteries. Once a little boy fascinated by a sealed cardboard box labeled with a single question mark in a small New York magic tricks store, J.J. became a director known for keeping his the details of his films secret before the release date. He’s [...]
Take Five: The Ballad of Bobby Ford
Nancy Hui - 3N CivilAlthough the Rob Ford crack video is nowhere to be seen, the long-suffering mayor of Toronto could stand to take a course on scandal management. Unfortunately such a course is unavailable for the embattled mayor. Thus I have assembled a selection of five films, illustrating important techniques of scandal management: how to control the flow [...]
The Short Short Review: Pingu Episode 1, “Hello Pingu”
Joshua Kalpin - 2B SoftwareHello readers and welcome back to the Short Short Review! Just as a refresher, in this column, I attempt to review a short film or story in a really short number of words. To continue the animal trend for this term, I’ll be reviewing the first episode of the strange children’s Claymation show, Pingu, in [...]
Untitled Web Series, Book Club, Space Janitors
Nachiket Sherlekar - 2B NanotechnologyWell, hello there! You’ve obviously been eagerly awaiting this week’s issue of the Iron Warrior just to read my deliciously wonderful column: Tube In To This, where I review some of the best YouTube shows out there. Wait, what’s that you ask? What’s a ‘YouTube’? Well it’s a magical faraway land (in the universe of [...]
Goodbye, Raggedy Man: Matt Smith To Leave Doctor Who at the End of Year
Anjida Sripongworakul -This phrase was Amelia Pond’s (Karen Gillan) last words to the Doctor when she and her husband Rory (Arthur Darvill) left the show last Fall. Now it’s time for Whovians to say the same to Matt Smith, the Doctor himself. The BBC announced on June 1 that Matt Smith, the Eleventh regeneration of the Doctor, [...]
The Science of Attraction
Annoymous - 1A Brain ChemicalsShe turns, glossy hair cascading down her back, stray strands framing a heart shaped face. As she talks to him, her teeth flash white when she smiles with lip gloss emphasizing the plump youthfulness of her lips. Steady eyes regard him from beneath finely arched eyebrows as she asks him questions. He has a masculine [...]
Billboard Turns Humid Air into Drinking Water
Andrew McMahon - 3A EnvironmentalPeru’s University of Engineering and Technology (UTEC) has found a way to eliminate the cost barrier associated with implementing many new technologies: they have designed the first billboard that turns atmospheric humidity into potable drinking water, producing about 100 litres/day. This past December, UTEC was experiencing a slump in enrollment for the upcoming semester and [...]
T-Cubed: CRTC Revamps Wireless Code, Introduces Changes to Contract Length and Fees
Jacob Terry - 3A NanotechnologyThe Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) announced a new wireless code on June 3 that they hope will make mobile device contracts easier to understand and establish basic consumer rights in the wireless industry. The CRTC was prompted to issue the new wireless code due to numerous complaints from Canadian consumers who expressed frustrations [...]
Xbox One Reveals Entertainment and Online Focus
Jacob Terry - 3A NanotechnologyWith the release of the Wii U and the announcement of the PlayStation 4, it should not be too surprising that Microsoft recently announced their successor to the Xbox 360, the Xbox One. The eight-year-old console best known for its extensive online network and reputation for first-person shooters has had a successful period representing Microsoft’s [...]
How The Actual Fridge?: The Magic of Microprocessors
Krishna Iyer - 3T NanotechnologyLook at your phone. Now at your computer. Now back at me. What makes any of this possible is billions of transistors. Transistors are basically an electrically actuated on-off switch. These combinations of on-off functions allow for some pretty cool things to be done. From calculating the trajectory of ballistic projectiles to helping scientists cure [...]
Super Space Stethoscope
Nachiket Sherlekar - 2B NanotechnologyEngineering students at Johns Hopkins University have come up with a special design for a stethoscope for NASA that can be utilized to work efficiently in outer space, as well as here on Earth. The motivation behind this project was that astronauts on long-term missions in outer space do not usually have professional medical training [...]
Root of Irish Potato Famine Unearthed
Nancy Hui - 3N CivilThe Irish Potato Famine was a food shortage in Ireland that killed 1 million people from 1845 to 1852. Prior to the potato famine, the working class in Ireland were highly dependent on a specific variety of potato for their diets: the Irish Lumper. Thus when potato blight struck the country the lack of genetic [...]
What’s in a Hack
Joshua Kalpin - 2B SoftwareIn the modern world of computing we constantly hear that X company was hacked by Y method. To the average non-super-tech-savvy individual many of these terms are confusing and it is worrying not to know why these companies or individual are being hacked. Furthermore, a bit of knowledge on what potential attacks are possible on [...]
What Is Depression and What Can You Do About It?
Anjali Gopal - 3T NanotechnologyDepression is an illness that we hear a lot about. Approximately 20% of Canadian university students suffer from a mental illness, and of those, depression is one of the most common. With the high-stress environment of universities, studies have shown that students can fall into depression by a variety of triggers, from a bad grade [...]
Nestle Appealing Mandatory Water Restrictions During Droughts
Nancy Hui - 3N CivilCurrently, Nestle has a permit to take 1.1 million litres of water per day from the Hillsburgh, Ontario watershed for its bottled water operations. Hillsburgh is a small town 50km northwest from Brampton. Unfortunately, other communities rely on the same aquifer as Nestle for residential water needs. Guelph, for example, is 80% to 90% reliant [...]
Getting Good Head: Wine Edition
Graeme Scott & A-Soc Crew - 4A Chemical“Tonight we will be starting with a Pinot Grigio from… Italy… apparently,” said Derek Thompson, former EngSoc VP Education and current Sommelier. The wine made a delightful pouring sound as it flowed from the bottle, as noted by Graeme. The wine is chilled to perfection, which means even if it’s bad, it’s pretty good. That’s [...]
Oversight Saves Lives: Why don’t we learn from our mistakes?
Leah Kristufek - 2B ChemicalNatural disasters happen. But recent events have painfully reminded us that given appropriate oversight some tragedies can be avoided. No one can stop tectonic plates from shifting suddenly or rainfall from being higher or more violent than the seasonal average. Disasters are unavoidable and for those people in the wrong place at the wrong time [...]
Food Safety: Overactive fire alarms
Nancy Hui - 3N CivilFire alarms in dorms are notoriously irritable. Doubtless, their intentions to stop everyone in the building from burning to a crisp are noble. However you risk suffering hearing damage after prolonged exposure to their screeching siren call. In order to deactivate the alarms to avoid hearing loss, first ensure that the smoke situation is under control [...]
Vaccinations in Australia
Nancy Hui - 3N CivilPreviously I wrote about Ontario students that were being suspended so that their parents and guardians would be reminded to complete their immunization records, and wondered whether or not it would be more effective to fine the parents instead. Meanwhile in Australia, the Ministry of Health is considering similar measures to ensure that children are [...]
A Highly Variable Apple Pie Recipe
Cailin McLaren - 1T ChemicalIt’s that time again! You are staying up late at nights, cramming every possible bit of information into your mind… and every possible snack into your mouth. You need lots of energy for your exam-taking brain, after all. What is both delicious and nutritious? Apple pie! Simple, homey, and filling: the perfect comfort food. Pop [...]
Nosodes – A Dangerous Scam
James MacLean - 3A NanotechnologyCanada continues to lose the battle against alternative medicine and pseudoscience. This year Health Canada has released guides on the preparation of nosodes. Nosodes are oral vaccines based on homeopathic principles that supposedly are effective at preventing disease. More than 100 nosodes have been approved by Health Canada for sale. Homeopathic medicine is based on [...]
TOPZ (with a Z) – Top Countries in the World
Wade Wilson & Edward Blake - 4Z HandsomenessNote from the Editor: Topz (With a Z) is a regular column in the Iron Warrior which employs cynical and absurd sarcasm in an effort to be entertaining. This article is an extreme example of how absurd Wade and Edward can get sometimes when trying to make you smile. Nothing stated about the countries listed [...]