Relocations under way from parking lot B

When people have to be moved to new parking lots because building projects are taking over the space, the decisions will be based on seniority — how long somebody has had a parking space.

That’s the word from Dan Anderson, director of security and parking at UW, who has announced the results of a recent vote by faculty, staff members and graduate students. (Parking for undergraduate students is assigned differently, and that group isn’t expected to be affected in the same way if parking lots are reduced.)

Says a memo from Anderson: “UW Parking Services thanks faculty, staff and grad students who voted to determine the fairest way to move people from parking lots which will be used as sites for new buildings. The vote was 1,029 for seniority and 455 for a lottery system.”

The vote was called when it became clear that about 150 parking spaces will be lost from Lot B, between the railway tracks and Phillip Street, when the construction of Engineering VI building begins this summer. Similar things are almost sure to happen in the years ahead, said parking manager Sharon Rumpel.

Anderson’s memo continues: “Many of you currently parking in B Lot have sent us an email with your prioritized list of preferred lots. We encourage others to do this as soon as possible. We need this information by August 7 as we need to start moving people out of B Lot the following week.

“Using the seniority list, Parking Services will now identify those of you who will need to move and very soon will advise you of your new parking lot and the process of acquiring your new permit.

“We will make every effort to get you into your preferred lot, but some may have to move to one of their alternate choices.”

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July: cold but not that wet, expert says

monthly report from Frank Seglenieks of the UW weather station

Wow, that was July? Really? Well, yes, it was; and it was the second coldest July since records in the area began in 1915. That is when you consider the daily high temperatures where only July of 1992 was slightly colder (this year's average high temperatures were 22.6 degrees Celsius while it was only 22.2 C in 1992, compared to the average of 26.0 C). We only had two days this month where the high temperature was above average, so that makes 29 below-average days.

The daily low temperatures came in at only 1.0 degrees below average, which doesn't even rank in the top 10 (or bottom 10 depending on how you look at it) when looking at data since 1915.

By the way, lots of people said it felt like May or September — I just want to go on record that even this cold July was warmer than an average May or September.

As I pointed out in my blog entry this month, the temperatures we have seen so far this year in Canada are unique in that it has been above average almost everywhere else in the world. In fact, the daily high temperatures for July in Whitehorse (yes, I know that's in Canada, but it is a good example) were higher the ours, while in Texas they just recorded the hottest 30 days in their history, ever.

We had 17 days with some measured precipitation, which is a lot more than the average of 10 days for July. This probably made it feel wetter than it actually was. The total of 82.6 mm was below the average of 92.9 mm, but close enough to be within the average range. There were only two days with over 10 mm of precipitation. The total precipitation for the year so far is 567.8 mm compared to an average of 506.0 mm.

Usually I don't talk about the incoming solar radiation (a measure of how much of the sun's energy is getting to the surface), but a lot of people were saying that they never saw the sun this month. The only record we have of this is our own record at the UW weather station: based on 10 years of data we were below the average, but back in 2004 there was even less incoming solar radiation, so this year wasn't historically low.

For July 2009 the maximum temperature was 26.0 Celsius; minimum temperature, 8.4 C; average daily high, 22.6 C; average daily low, 12.6 C.

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News nuggets in there with the spam

After four weeks away from campus, I had a fair amount of e-mail to read, some of it quickly forgettable, some of it bearing news that will appear in this Daily Bulletin over the coming days. First of all, I want to thank a number of people who wrote with kind words following the article that appeared on July 23. As of that day, we reported, there had been a total of 4,000 Daily Bulletins since the first one in 1993. “The Bulletin is an amazing tool to really understand the university,” one student said, “and it’s been central to my experience at UW,” something I was very glad to read.

The article had referred to “staff, faculty and student readers . . . also a modest following off campus, among alumni, parents of students, friends at other universities and in the community, and media”. One of the resulting e-mail messages picked up on that listing: hey, it said, what about retirees? “We may be gone but we are still interested and still contributing,” I was reminded. Yes, indeed. I could claim that “staff and faculty” includes former staff and faculty, I suppose, but it would have been better to include those who are retired — now more than 1,300 strong — as a whole separate constituency.

As I riffled through the e-mail, naturally I found plenty of spam, including the message (trying to sell “herbal formulas”, I think) that began: “Do you avoid appearing in public in a bikini because you’re embarrassed about your body?” That isn’t exactly my number one reason.

Also in the spam category, and a lot more serious, was the latest variation on a theme — a message supposedly from UW’s e-mail service warning that “We are upgrading our database and e-mail account center. We are de-activating all unused accounts in order to create space for new uwaterloo.ca email accounts.” It’s not legit, of course; it’s the flimflam known in the e-world as “phishing”, designed to extract people’s passwords and other information that could be useful to scammers.

Jason Testart, manager of security in information systems and technology, says this dangerous stuff just keeps coming. And although it’s often generically known as “Nigerian spam”, he told me that “the relaying isn't just from computers in West Africa anymore. We're seeing attempts from other places, which suggests to me that they are likely making use of a botnet. It's not a surprise, but it's interesting. Over the last week or so, we've set-up an automated mechanism for catching them when they try to use our servers and the phished passwords for other phishing campaigns. I think our efforts might be working, because it's been four days since we've seen an attempt to relay West African phishing email through our servers. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, but I'm not holding my breath.”

Meanwhile, lots of my e-mail was both legitimate and useful. For instance, there was this news from Mark Lisetto-Smith in the office of organizational and human development: “OHD and Human Resources are running an all-day staff orientation session on Friday, August 14, at 8:30 a.m. for new staff to attend. A campus walking tour will be part of the Orientation. As well, a catered lunch will be provided, which will allow you to ask questions and enjoy some refreshments and meet other staff members. The second half of the day will focus on the Basic Principles of a Collaborative Workplace, which are the core values of the University of Waterloo. Staff who are interested should register to attend by contacting m25smith@ uwaterloo.ca. Existing staff who’d like a refresher are also welcome.”

And this news arrived from Guy Guillemette of the department of chemistry: “I am the organiser for the 5th annual Canadian Nitric Oxide Society meeting that will be held at UW on Thursday and Friday, August 6 and 7. The purpose of the CNOS meeting is to provide an interactive and stimulating environment for researchers investigating the biochemical properties and numerous physiological roles of nitric oxide. In the previous years, the meetings have been held at Trent, Windsor, Laval and Concordia. Attendees have benefited from the chance to meet other NO researchers from Ontario and Québec. More information is available on our web site. Everyone is welcome to attend the seminar presentations that will be held in Davis Centre room 1302.”

And much, much more. You might not be surprised to hear that my mail has also included a certain amount about the controversy over UW’s logo; I’m not going to say anything about that today, but I hope to address the subject within the next few days.

CAR

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