Daily Bulletin

Poster urges us to 'take five'

It's not that safety director Kevin Stewart doesn't want you to get your work done -- but that regular five-minute break can help to prevent the ills that flesh is heir to, if that flesh crouches over the keyboard hour after hour without a break for stretching.

"The most common health concerns [associated with computer use] are repetitive strain injuries, general muscle strain and discomfort and eye and vision problems," the safety office says. "Workstation design and proper work practices can help to address these concerns."

The poster suggests that people mix up their computer work with tasks that put them in other positions: filing, for example. "Stand up while talking on the phone," it suggests. "Give your body a break." The poster also shows the smart way to position keyboard, monitor, chair and body to avoid strain.

The safety office's web site includes a large dose of ergonomic advice about the use of computers, including workstation design, how to sit straight, angles of vision, the best way to hold a mouse, lighting, electromagnetic radiation and -- once again -- the need to get up for a few minutes every hour or so.

Copies of the poster are available from Sheila Hurley at ext. 3587.

Jason Whitfield, graduate student in planning, has a mission: to uproot those gardens full of impatiens and other alien flowers which provide no food for the creatures who live here, and replace them with indigenous plantings. He's seeded his lawn with species designed to support local wildlife, and to encourage the planting of native flowers throughout the community. Whitfield even got a new "environmental" category created in the Communities in Bloom awards in Kitchener-Waterloo. The first winner: John Semple of UW's biology department. Read more about Whitfield and his passion for the natural in today's Gazette.

Hagey lecture on creativity

"I ran out of Hagey Lecture tickets last week," says Peter Houston at the Humanities box office. But he notes that "there are usually some tickets handed back to the ticket takers, and we re-distribute those, then at around 8 p.m. we fill any empty seats with people who have been waiting. Then we will send anyone else to an overflow room, AL 113, where the lecture will be broadcast by the audio-visual department."

So there's still some hope of hearing the celebrity speaker. Widely known as the originator of the concept of "flow," Csikszentmihalyi will speak on "Optimal Experience and the Quality of Life", a lecture based on an extensive research program spanning the past three decades. Some of his terms, such as "flow", are now part of everyday language.

Tonight's lecture starts at 8:00 in the Humanities Theatre. Csikszentmihalyi will also give a student colloquium, "Problem Finding and the Creative Process", tomorrow at 10 a.m. in Math and Computer room 5158.

Csikszentmihalyi, who recently moved from the University of Chicago to the Peter F. Drucker Graduate School of Management at Claremont Graduate University in California, is the author of 13 books and more than 180 scholarly papers, mostly on such topics as creativity and optimal experience. His interests include the study of creativity, especially in art; socialization; the evolution of social and cultural systems; and the study of intrinsically rewarding behaviour in work and play settings.

He's particularly well known for a popular book co-authored with Robert Kubey, Television and the Quality of Life: How Viewing Shapes Everyday Experience, published in 1990.

Flow experiences, Csikszentmihalyi has noted, may arise in the commonest of circumstances and are "the best moments of people's lives" and "occur when a person's body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile".

The Hagey Lectures, co-sponsored by UW and the faculty association, were launched in 1970 to honour Gerry Hagey, the university's first president. Csikszentmihalyi's visit this year is co-sponsored by the faculty of applied health sciences and the department of psychology.

Notes from across campus

The bus stop in front of Needles Hall isn't there any more. "It is now at Biology II," says Tom Galloway of the plant operations department, "and is so marked. This was necessary to allow for the layby parking in front of NH. The Biology II location is also more central to the student population. Bus shelters will be installed yet this fall at the two South Campus Hall bus stops and the Biology II location."

Christine Schmidt of the student awards office has a message for her customers: "The Student Awards Office has received an overwhelming number of applications to the undergraduate bursary program for the 1999 Fall and 2000 Winter terms. Given the time and personal attention that each application requires, we regret that we will not be able to have all of the results mailed out by November 30, 1999, and we apologize for this delay. Please be assured that we shall send each bursary applicant a written response as soon as possible. Thank you for your understanding."

You can now use your WatCard to pay for parking in lot C, on the south side of University Avenue off Seagram Drive, the parking office announces.

The November 15 issue of Time magazine is out, with a two-page story about American students abroad, at universities in Canada or overseas. There are two brief mentions of UW. Inevitably, one of them is the observation that "Graduates of the University of Waterloo, with its world-class math and computer-science programs, are recruited by Microsoft, Sun Microsystems and Oracle." The other is a comment from UW president David Johnston that "borders are less and less barriers and more and more invitations." Valerie Marchant, who gets the byline on the Time article, visited Waterloo last month, spoke with Johnston and called the interview "the loveliest she's had in five years", Jim Fox of the UW news bureau says.

Today, tomorrow and beyond

Music-lovers can hear "the four B's" at Conrad Grebel College chapel at noon. The traditional three B's of melody are Bach, Beethoven and Brahms, and today's fourth is Bender, Joanne, a UW graduate (in biology and chemistry) and pianist now doing a graduate degree in composition in Toronto. She'll play from the first three B's, starting at 12:30 p.m.

The Computer Store will hold the next of its Demonstration Days today in the South Campus Hall concourse. Demonstrated today: software such as Virtual PC, Office 2000, e-cademy, and Maple.

And just inside the glass doors from that concourse, the UW bookstore has copies of the "universities issue" of Maclean's magazine for sale.

Jeff Luvall, the urban heat sensing expert who's visiting UW through the Canada Trust Walter Bean Professorship in the Environment, is offering three seminars this week. A talk at 4:30 today in Environmental Studies I room 132 is open to everyone. Mechanical and civil engineering students get priority at a talk tomorrow (11:30, Carl Pollock Hall room 3385) and one Friday (11:30, Doug Wright Engineering Building room 2536 -- that's a revised time, as the event was originally announced for 12:00).

A meeting this afternoon will provide more information about study-abroad opportunities for students in UW's faculty of arts. Possible destinations: the University of Ulster in Coleraine, the University of Newcastle and the University of Sussex (England). Departmental and university-wide opportunities also include France, Germany, Austria, Israel and Taiwan. The meeting starts at 4:30 in Humanities room 373; more information is available from Jim Walker in the history department (phone ext. 3706) or Susan Andrews in the arts special programs office (ext. 2005).

Dan "Movie Guy" Pollock writes from the Math Society: "Just a quick Movie Night reminder. Tonight we are showing 'Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace' and the much requested animated short 'Bambi Meets Godzilla' in DC1302, with two shows starting at 7:00 and 9:45. The cost is just two bucks to see this Star Wars Episode One, months before it comes out on video, so don't miss this opportunity. Tickets go on sale at 6:30. Also we have a bunch of cool Star Wars gear to give away as door and/or costume prizes, so come on out, wear a costume. Remember we are back again on Thursday night with 'The Phantom Menace' and 'Wing Commander'."

The "Journey Beyond Credit" series of lectures at St. Paul's United College continues tonight, with Jim Gollnick, dean of the college, speaking on "The Future of Dreams and Spirituality" (7 p.m., MacKirdy Hall at St. Paul's).

Tricia Mumby, manager of Courseware Solutions in UW's graphics department, reports that "The Courseware Solutions office in South Campus Hall will be closed on Thursday as the staff will be attending the Graphics Canada trade show in Toronto. Our normal business hours will resume on Friday."

Thursday will be Remembrance Day, which will be observed with the usual two ceremonies, one on each side of campus. At 10:45, there will be a service in the chapel at Renison College, sponsored by the chaplains' association; the speaker is Michael Higgins, president of St. Jerome's University. Right at 11:00, there will be ceremonies in the foyer of Carl Pollock Hall, sponsored by the Engineering Society.

Finally . . . yes, UW's football Warriors will be facing the Wilfrid Laurier University Golden Hawks for the Yates Cup championship on Saturday; and yes, I should have said something sooner about the Warriors' amazing 35-21 win over Western last weekend that got them into this enviable position. Tickets for the Yates Cup game are available at UW's athletics department, starting today; they cost $5 for students, $10 for the general public. The game will begin at 3:00 Saturday at University Stadium.

CAR

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