BYSSFYTHIS ISSUE:Elections? Everything sucks!Volume 85 Issue 33Leaks invalidate student elections

Page 3

Reclaiming CanWestReigning National swim champs takeback Canada West from Nos, Page 9.

An editorial bashes everything from PaulMartin to sick chickens. Buck-awkl.Page 10.

More weak musicGetting s6andalous 'and bored wit4 Kelisand Kate Maki, respectively. Page 11.

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Fourth Annual Sustainability Conference, First Nations House of Learning,Jan 30-31

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by Jonathan WoodwardNEWS EDITOR

Over 100,000 e-mails spawned bymyDoom and other computer virusesslowed UBC's interchange e-mail serv-ice to a slow grind on Monday, causingthe worst slowdown of interchangesince last summer, UBC officials said.

The e-mail spani caused by thevirus is a UBC microcosm of a large-scale infestation across the world thatbegan Monday night and may culmi-nate in an attack on prominent com-puter companies Microsoft and SCOon Sunday.

'This is a pretty serious attack,' saidUBC computer science professorRichard Rosenberg. Over 1.8 millioncopies of the virus have been detectedby US computer security firms, send-ing up to 1200 spam e-mails per, sec-ond. ''When you're under attack, this isin the ballpark'

MyDoom is a computer virus thatcan be sent through e-mail and file-sharing services such as Kazaa andMSN. Often, it appears in suspicious e-mails with a fake sender address, arandom string of characters in the sub-ject line and an attachment targetingunsuspecting users. When the attach-ment is clicked, it loads a malicious fileonto the computer.

That file will then get the computerto connect to the internet and beginsending copies of itself. When multiplecomputers become infected, the sheervolume of information that has to beprocessed by e-mail server's can stresssystems to the breaking point, evencausing them to shut down.

But the climax will happen onSuperbowl Sunday, said Rosenberg,when each infected computer willbegin sending huge numbers of pack-ets of e-mails to targeted companiesSCO, which recently began a lawsuit tostop Linux users from using its copy-righted software, and Microsblt, whichis a usual virus target.

But the MyDoom virus is pro-grammed not to attack any govern-ment or military websites so as not tobe an apparent threat to 'ITS security,said Rosenberg-

MyUBC was also hit by tens of thou-sands of e-mails from a virus calledSoBig and some users were duped by aspoof bill collection e-mail, seemingly

EVENT

PAGE FRIDAYFriday, January 30, 2004,

from interchange.ubc.ca Users 'weretold that they had to open an attachedbilling notice, otherwise their internetservice would be terminated.

If they opened the attachment thefile downloaded would exploit holes inWindows operating systems, allowingan outsider to gain control of the com-puters. Then, the virus would replicate.

Technicians at UBC constructed aters on Monday night to delete harmfulmessages, but an e-mail backlog forcedthem to remove the filters on two ofthree servers, said Jens Haeusser,interchange Information SecurityOfficer.

The attack was subtle and effectiveprecisely because it was well-disguisedas a billing notice, even though inter-change does not bill students directlyfor its services, he said. It's a goodpiece of social engineering?

Although the billing informationvirus appeared to be from interchange,it was probably automated to recognisethe name of the e-mail system and wasprobably not manufactured at UBC,.said Haeusser.

Private antivirus software had notcreated a filter by the time UBC techni-cians constructed their filters,Haeusser said. But InformationTechnology Services is examiningoptions to subscribe to a commerciallyavailable antivirus product and willupgrade the two servers that could nothandle the e-mail queue in the comingyear, he said.

This week's viruses are seriousenough that the 0S-' government hasallied with website cert.org to informcomputer users of the next attack inthe hopes of averting large-scale disas-ter, Rosenberg said. _

"My next expectation is that thenext round of hacking will look like it'scoming from [certorg],' he added.

Rosenberg stressed that computerusers shouldn't open strange attach-ments even from people' they know.Users should be especially aware ofstrange file extensions containing '.piffiles as they are often viruses that cancause dam' ge.

Windows operating systems are thePrime target of every major virus cir-cling this week, said interchangeAssistant Group Leader Skye Chilton.Apple computers and machines usingLinux will remain unaffected. •

irusWeek of computer attacks burdens myUBC

BOGGED DOWN: Board of Governors candidate Brian Duong, unofficially declared a winner, must now decidewhether to appeal the administrator's decision or run again in a possible by-election. MICHELLE MAYNE PHOTO

PAGE FRIDAYFriday, January 30, 2004

oard of Governors race declared invalidyConfidential information about "stag of the race leaked to candidatesby Megan Thomas and Dan Burritt

NEWS EDITOR AND NEWS WRITER

Because of leaked information about who was winning theAlma Mater Society (AMS) elections while the race was on, theAMS elections administrator declared unofficial Board ofGovernors (BoG) representative election results invalid, leav-ing many questions about when and how next year's BoG rep-resentatives will be elected.

With only 26 votes separating second place Students forStudents (SfS) candidate Brian Duong and third-place finisherOlivier Plessis of the Student Progressive Action Network(SPAN) slate, elections administrator Anthony Waldron toldAMS council Wednesday night that he doubted the BoG resultswere unaffected because some candidates knew the state of therace as early as Tuesday, January 20.

"In a race separated by 26 votes you have to admit the pos-sibility that SfS may have changed their campaigning behavior

because they were hoping to influence other results, saidWaldron. "By doing so they influenced the results of the Boardof Governors 'election]."

Waldron said that an Sf8 candidate admitted to prior knowl-edge of the Presidential, VP External and VP Academic races.SPAN denied any knowledge of the results, and the RadicalBeer Faction and The Right Choice slates admitted they hadlimited information.

Independent candidate for VP External, Spencer Keys,brought the information to the elections committee when hewas told of the leak.

Two students are selected by the electorate to sit with theBoard of Governors, the highest decision-making body of UBC.

None of the BoG candidates are under suspicion, saidWaldron.

"Brian [Duong] is not suspected of any wrongdoing, nor isanybody else in the race,' he said.

Duong said the announcement at council was the first time

that he heard about the information leak."I was never notified. I was not part of the investigation,'

said Duong. "I do think that is a little unfair.'Duong said his slate was already campaigning to their max-

imum ability and he does not think that even with inside raceinformation it would have been possible to influence theresults of any of the elections. He is considering launching aformal appeal against Waldron's ruling.

But Waldron maintains that if any members of a slate haveknowledge of race results, it could benefit all members of theslate, regardless of whether individuals have the informationor not

"They go out and they campaign harder,' he said. "Theresults of their actions affect every single race.'

Other races may have been affected by the informationleak, Waldron told council. But those races had large enoughmargins of victory or candidates who had knowledge still lost,so the results were not materially affected by the leak.

As to how the information of confidential election resultsfound its way to election candidates, Waldron said he has hissuspicions.

"I know some of the sources. I am not satisfied that I knowall of them," he said, but declined to comment on the names ofsuspects.

The password for the electronic voting system from lastyear's AMS elections had not been deleted, creating a securityconcern, said Waldron. Whether this was part of the informa-tion leak is not known, he added. -

Anyone caught tampering with AMS elections, could facediscipline from the UBC Registrar's office. Sentences couldrange from discipline letters in permanent records to univer-sity puspensions, said Eric Smith from the Registrar's office.

Smith also said that he has complete faith in Waldron andhis decisions about the BoG election. But he did say the uni-versity will keep an eye on the new BoG race if and when itis nat.

The AMS elections committee, the registrar and AMS coun-cil is now charged with deciding how and when to hold anoth-er BoG election. AMS President Dana Chirila said there shouldbe an 'action plan" at the next council meeting in two weeks.

Waldron said he is in ongoing discussions with the BoG can-didates to decide the best way to run a re-election;

Third-placed candidate Plessis said he has ' not decidedwhether or not he would contest a re-election. But he added,"There is a strong chance that if they re-open the elections Iwould run.'

An election was last called invalid in 1999 when theUbyssey left a candidate out of the elections supplement andgave them an ad in the paper instead. The UBC SenateElections Committee overturned the results, saying the ad wasan unfair advantage, and ordered a by-election. +

Elections "chaotic" and "questionable, sai s elections ieportby Megan Thomas and Dan Burritt

NEWS EDITOR AND NEWS WRITER

This year's Alma Mater Society (AMS) elec-tions, plagued by scandal before the first voteswere even cast remains unresolved 'a weekafter the polls dosed, says a damning 14-page report written by the AMS electionsadministrator.

Anthony Waldron began his mandatoryreport to AMS council on the running andresults of the elections by discussing the shuf-fle three days before voting began that saw theAMS council reject the acting elections admin-istrator, Sundeep Chandan, and insteadapprove Waldron for the job.

Waldron wrote he was informed of hisappointment on the morning of January 8, andvoting began on January 9 at midnight

He described many systems as "chaotic"and preparations for running the election"badly incomplete" when he took over literallyhours before votes were to be cast. A lack ofinformation sharing from Chandan and anewly appointed and inexperienced ChiefReturning Officer meant "errors arose on adaily basis which threatened to increase thechaos of the situation,' wrote Waldron.

Next he outlined numerous complaintsabout the electronic voting system, problemshe attributed to the inability of the newly hiredelections committee to properly test the sys-tem. He reported 32 complaints of inability to_vote because of technical difficulties, but sug-gested that "hundreds' may have not havebeen able to vote but did not notify the elec-

lions committee because they "gave up in frus-tration.'

Waldron also described security issues withthe electronic voting system that included apassword from last year's election that couldstill be used to access the state of races duringthe voting period.

"There was therefore considerable poten-tial for people to access the system withoutauthorisation,' Waldron reported.

He also questioned the security of onlyneeding a student number and password,which 'for a great many people, the passwordis simply their birthday,' to vote on-line.Waldron reported. that it would be easy to voteusing another person's name.

But a spokesperson for the UBC Registrar'soffice, who helps administer AMS online elec-tions, said password security is not consideredan issue by the university.

"There is the same level of security that youhave for your transcripts and your course reg-istration," said Eric Smith. "We have not hadproblems with peoples' transcripts beingaltered by unauthorised persons."

Waldron then reported on issues regardingconflict of interest scenarios, including theappointment of Paula Martz to the electionscommittee while her sister Sara Martz ran fora Senate position. When Waldron took office hedecided to suspend Paula Martz from herduties until the end of the elections. He alsoquestioned the inclusion of current AMS exec-utives, who potentially are members of slates,on the hiring committee for elections officials.

Another recommendation was to end the

practice of candidates promising salary dona-tions to various groups as part of their cam-paigns—something he equated with bribery.The practice has 'absolutely no place in anelection campaign; he wrote.

Last year two candidates promised $2000of their executive salaries to the Sexual AssaultSupport Centre if they were elected. This yearVP Academic-elect Brenda Ogembo promised$1000 to an "international student' some-thing Waldron asked her to remove during thecampaign.

Ogembo said she did not intend to bribepotential voters.

"It was not my intention to come off as brib-ing but I understand his position,' she said.

The most shocking section of the report dis-cussed irregularities that suggested that 'stateof the race' information was leaked to candi-dates during the campaign, beginning as earlyas Tuesday, January 20.

Waldron was made aware of the leak byindependent VP External candidate SpencerKeys, who said he received a phone callinforming him of the state of his race. Neitherhe nor Waldron would reveal the source to themedia

The information provided by Keys resultedin an investigation that led to the disqualifica-tion of the unofficial Board of Governors (BoG)results.

Waldron ruled that the other races, includ-ing the VP External position in which Keys wasdefeated by 53 votes, were not 'materiallyaffected' by the information leak.

The report said declaring races other than

the BoG valid was based on either the marginof victory or the winning parties not havingprior knowledge of the election standing._

"I am pleased with the conduct and the pro-fessionalism of the elections administratorduring the course of this investigation andstand by his decision, said Keys. 'Obviouslyany candidate hopes for that 11th hour changeto a decision but it was not exactly something Iwas holding out hope for."

The report and presentation to councilleft many with doubts about the electionprocedure.

"The entire election has been cast into anegative light" said The Right Choice presi-dential candidate Joel McLaughlin. "The elec-tions certainly seem suspect.'

McLaughlin also said he supports runningthe entire AMS elections again in light of theirregularities.

The dear, winner of the filleted BoG race,Mia Amir, said she has "feelings of mistrust forthe for the whole system,' because of the elec-tion glitches.

But Amir said the blame lies with the elec-tions system and not with the electionscandidates.

"People are going to be pissed but peopleshould not be pissed at the candidates. Theyshould be pissed at the system,' she said.

President-elect Amine Rai said that theelections system is in dire need of reform.

"There are a lot of reforms that need to bedone to the elections system in the AMS,' saidRai. "That is one of the first things that I thinkneeds to be addressed, for sure.° +

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PAGE. FRIDAYFriday, January 30, 2004

UBC Law professor wins human rights award

Visit us Online atwww.where2ea .ca

by Carrie RobinsonNEWS WRITER

A UBC Law Professor has won the2003 Renate Shearer Human RightsAward for outstanding contributionto the field of international humanrights-

Peter Burns received the annualaward in December on InternationalHuman Rights Day.

"I thought that his contribution tointernational human rights wasmore than significant It was proba-bly unique in Canada, in terms ofCanadians being, on major humanrights bodies and making importantdecisions: said Maurice Copithorne,a colleague of Burns.

Copithome, also a UBC law pro-fessor, received the award in 2000and was involved in nominatingBurns for the award.

The Renata Shearer award alter-nates each year between being givenby the United Nations to recognise aperson for international humanrights work and being awarded by theBC Human Rights Coalition to recog-nise a person for domestic humanrights work.

Exemplary human rights workdone by Burns includes being theChair of the United Nations CommitteeAgainst Torture since 1998.

This committee works under themandate of the United NationsConvention Against Torture treatyratified by 134 states—one of sevenUnited Nations universal humanrights treaties, said Burns.

-gti receives reports from those

states, examines them and makesappropriate inquiries to ascertainwhether or not those states are meet-ing their obligations under, thetreaty," he said.

This means that when Burns was-n't working the brains of the UBC lawstudents, he was spending a greatdeal of time in Geneva meeting withdifferent state representativesbecause Geneva is the location of aUnited Nations Centre for HumanRights.

Burns made it dear that the juris-diction of the committee not , onlyexamines torture, but cruel, inhumanand degrading treatment and punish-ment Burns was part of the firstCommittee Against Torture in 1998and has been re-elected four times.

Burns said an interesting part ofhis work is examining individualhuman rights complaints—a com-plaint by an individual citizen that astate party has breached theConvention Against Torture.Approximately one third of the statesthat have ratified the treaty allow thecommittee to examine individualcomplaints, he said.

'We have a limited, investigativejurisdiction, said Burns, "But it isunique to the Committee AgainstTorture. Where there is well-foundedevidence to systematic torture, wehave the power to investigate anddraw conclusions.'

Burns has travelled to detentioncentres, police stations and prisonsto interview alleged victims or gov-ernment officials as part of theseinvestigations.

This type of international humanrights work exemplifies why Burnswas chosen for the award.

*This type of award is significantbecause it formalizes and makes pub-lic the work of some Canadians," saidBurns.

He added that most people do notrealize how many Canadians areinvolved in human rights work andhe finds it remarkable that in thisfield of the UN, "you'll find that thereare just an enormous number ofCanadians working there.°

"A significant number ofCanadians in the secretariat, non-gov-ernment organizations and in gov-ernment' ranks are active on theinternational stage in the area ofhuman rights,' said Copithome.

"Both Peter and myself have beenrecognised partly because we're inVancouver which is particularly con-scious of international human rights,being among other thin • C a multicul-tural or an immigrant-receiving soci-ety," he added.

Burns says it is not awards thatkeep him involved in human rightswork. Instead, it is knowing that he isworking to prevent torture in thefuture.

"The subject matter of the workI'm involved in doesn't give a greatdeal of enjoyment,' said Burns.Instead he says it is, "Being involvedin a concerted activity designed tosuppress torture, punish torturers,and ensure that state parties'adhere] to the Convention create anenvironment that diminishes thepossibility of torture occurring.' +

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PAGE FRIDAYFriday, January 30, 2004 e ub magaime NEWS

UBC scientist says there is more to vision than meets the eye DO YOU SEE IT? Ron Rensink does. MICHELLE MAYNE PHOTO

by Patricia ComeauNEWS WRITER

Though it doesn't mean that you cansee dead people, UBC scientist RonRensink claims a discovery of a dif-ferent kind of perception helps toexplain the belief in a sixth sense.

"If you have an intuition, take itseriously," he advises.

Rensink has ' been conductingresearch showing that about one-third of people consistently experi-ence visual sensing without seeing,which he calls 'mindsight.'

Subjects in his experiments wereshown flickering screens whichwould sometimes change, almostimperceptibly: Sometimes 'the sub-jects would report that they saw achange, hut other times they wouldreport that" while they did not see achange, they felt one—and moreoften than not, they were right

This feeling is often igiored

because for most people, seeing isbelieving, said Rensink. But he said,the conscious visual experience maybe had without a mental picture.

Scientists have known for sometime that perception is not simply anabsorption of the outside world. Infact we consciously pay attention toonly a small amount of the vast detailthat our eyes pick up.- In the 1990s, experiments satsubjects in front of a similar flicker-ing screen, and they were told to saywhen they noticed a change.Surprisingly, some subjects becameconfused, wondering whether thescientists wanted to know when they'saw a _change, or when they justfelt it

Thus, when something changes,we can either pay attention to it andnotice it, or not pay attention andmiss it It became clear that ourmind is aware of the change withoutactually seeing it This prompted

Rensink to further examine the con-cept of sensing without seeing, andbring attention to the gut feeling ofmindsight

Rensink gets varied responses tohis claims. "Some people are threat-ened by it,' he said, 'Other peoplefind these abilities rather cool.°

"It's nice to , think that eventhough you might not be consciousof Something, the information is stillgetting in there,' said Alym Anilani,a fourth-year cognitive systems stu-dent and research „ assistant toRensink

A magician by trade, Amlani isvery enthusiastic about the study offocus, attention and cognition. One ofhist/irks is to make a hat 'disappear'.

'While it seems like a trick, thetruth is that we can only consciouslysee so many thins at one time. Onlythose things that we pay attention tomake up the foreground of our visu-al °experience and Amlani takes

advantage of this with flourish.But there , seems to be more sci-

entific evidence to support Rensink'salternate hypothesis: that mindsightis a third, independent type of per-ception apart from the traditionalconscious and subconscious.

Renskin's colleague BrianChristie believes that a person's abil-ity to anticipate future events mayhave something to do with probabili-ties and our mind's ability to recallsimilar situations in the past andtheir resultS. In this way, a personcould recognise certain details intheir environment as lbeing indka-five of a certain outcome or change.

Other senses like hearing orsmelling may also be similarly affect-ed, as all senses take in vast amountsof information that we do not con-sciously think about

Most of the time more auditoryinformation is available to the listen-er than can be processed conscious-

ly. But if the brain notices anyway,'Clearly, some part of your brain hasto deal with it,' Rensink said.

In Rensink's experiments, somepeople were more sensitive thanothers, and his research may turn todetermine what separates these peo-ple from the rest of the poPulation.It might be their personality, theirstress levels, or the way they feelabout their gut instincts.

"What I'd really like to do is to goafter the people who don't experi-ence this, to see first of all if we canconvince them it exist,"'- saladRensink - -

But it's important to keep a sci-entist's perspective on superstiV9.

'People either believe that noneof this exists, or they believe that toomuch exists,' said Rensink. Theseintuitive feelings are' no „ESP,he said.

'That's going too far,' he added.'You have to keep your eyes open.'

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B5 Parking Lot will be permanently closed as of Monday, February 2, 2004.The closure of this parking area is for the development of the mid-campusneighbourhood plan.Please consult the map below for alternate parking locations on campus.

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agaza PAGE FRIDAYFriday, January 30, 2004

NOTICE OF PA

www.ubyssey.bc.caThis website has all our stories on it.

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Skirioeti,

HARISH RAISINGHANI: An EWB member dedicated to advancingtechnology in developing countries. MICHELLE MAYNE PHOTO

MONICA RUCKI: A third-year Engineering student who volunteered inEast Timor building food dehydrators. MICHELLE MAYNE PHOTO

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by Parminder NizherFEATURES WRITER

e„:73

f you've ever consideredan internship in a develop-ing country, devoting yourtime to cashew nuts proba-

bly didn't cross your mincL It defi-nitely didn't cross Brendan Baker'smind., , •

"Of all things!" he smiles. "I'mgoing Ito Senegal] to try and helpimprove the technology to processcashew nuts'

As a member of the UBC chapterof Engineers Without Borders (EWB),a human development organisation,Baker will also be doing an intern-ship abroad. In fact, he is headed toZiguinchor, Senegal as you read this.

"I'm wondering about how effec-tive I'm going to be," he says. "I'll bejumping into a culture that's com-pletely foreign to me and I'll be deal-ing with cashews, which I've neverspent a minute studying in my life.'

Groundnut harvestation is noth-ing new in West Africa. However, thetechnology that Baker will be work-ing on, with a team of eight localSenegalese, is new to the area.

"The organisation that I'm withdevelops the technology to make[harvesting] more efficient and prac-tical to process," says Baker. Anincrease in efficiency will boost thefinancial returns for the cashews.

"[The Senegalese] fmd that if theyharvest 'nuts] in their shells they'renot Worth a lot of money," Baker con-tinues. "If you can shell and skinthem, then roast and package themthey're worth a lot more.'

After investigating what wouldmake farming more efficient andprofitable, members of the commu-nity then make the necessary equip-ment and sell it to other members.The buyers in turn use the equip-ment to process their cashews andsell them to the locals.

"Everyone's making a buck,"smiles Baker. "You're able to foster alittle bit of economic growth and,consequently, social growth.'

• •

For a fairly newborn organisation,EWB has sent over 60 interns likeBaker to 20 countries worldwide. Likemany other development organisa-tions, EWB is affiliated with NonGovernment Organisations (NGOs)throughout the world. For an intern-ship to work, EWB provides the neces-sary funding for the intern, butthe intern is actually working with alocal NGO.

A registered Canadian charity, EWBis also sustained by corporate spon-sorship. Air Canada Aeroplan is thelargest of such sponsors—a clear signthat EWB is one of fastest growingcharitable organisations in Canada.Not bad for an organisation that tracesits roots four years back to twofresh University of Waterloo engineergraduates.

Formed in 2000, co-foundersParker Mitchell and George Roterdeveloped EWB to make the plight ofthe poor slightly easier. In a nutshell,the EWB mission is to promote humandevelopment through access to tech-nology. This is done not only at aninternational level, but also withinCanada through chapters in majoruniversities.

"We promote awareness on cam-pus and in the Vancouver communityon international development land]global issues, but also on issues withinour own community,' says MonicaRucki, co-president of the UBC Chapterof EWB.

"Prordoting awareness at school iskey because you're educating peoplewhen they're young,' says Rucki.'Professional [engineers] are, kind ofstuck in their ways.'

Although the co-founders have hadprofessionals approach them aboutmembership in EWB, Rucki explainsthat professionals need to understandthat their expertise in a certain sectorof engineering does not always applyin a developing community wherecomplex technology and resourcescan't be supported in: the long run.

"You can't even implement thatkind of technology into that communi-ty;" she says. "I'm not saying all pro-fessionals are stubborn, but maybe

their openness to learn from the com-munity and think of it as a learningexchange might be more difficult forthem to accept that and get into it"

Although mostly students areengouraged to join, a common mis-conception of EWB is that it is strictlyfor students,.

"It's the name 'Engineers WithoutBorders.' It's open to absolutely any-one,' says Harish Raisinghani, a mem-ber of EWB, It's such a deceivingname. We advertise that it's not justfor engineers.'

One look at the name of the organi-sation shows another common rnis-take that many make: that EWB is affil-iated with the human developmentorganisation, Doctors Without Borders(DWB). Similar in name, yes, but intruth they are two completely inde-pendent and different organisations.

i "With DWB if you're a doctor andyou go do a blood transfusion it's nodifferent than here [in Canada]," saysRaisinghani.

Raisinghani feels in some ways it ismore difficult to enter a developingcomity and try to convince locals of anew and more productive methodof development than it is to give med-ical treatment. Why should theybelieve you?

"You have to develop things liketrust,' he says.

• • •

Rucki, a third-year integrated engi-neering student, experienced the diffi-culty of establishing trust on a person-al level when she was an intern in EastTimor last year. But by the time thatshe was completely accepted by thefamilies she was living with, her fourmonths were up.

'The women let me cook withthem—I was their sister,' she fondly,recalls. "It was the wrong time for meto leave. My project was taking off atthat point.'

The village where Rudd stayed hadno running water or electricity.Another barrier was language. Ruckilearned to speak Tetun, the languageof the Timorese, because very few peo-ple spoke English. Although therewere many cultural differences, shedescribes the people as no differentthan you and I.

"Some people think that there arethese barriers between you and thesepeople and you won't be able to relateto them in any way, but they're exactlythe same,' she says. "The women talkabout the same things, the men laugh

about the same things.'Many EWB projects are grassroots

projects—simple, sustainable and easyto use. Rucki's project in Timor is onlyone example of a developmentinitiative. She designed solar dryersfor food.

"I was working m food drying build-ing efficient solar dryers, explainsRucki. "Basically [it was] a big box witha glass root and dried foods in just acouple of days."

Rucki describes the big box as"Much more efficient than just puttingit on your roof where there are somany losses. [This is] simple technolo-gy that is sustainable and people canmaintain it on their own and developfrom it."

Formerly a part of Indonesia, albeitunwillingly, the people of East Timorvoted for a separate nation in Augustof 1999, ending 23 years of turmoil.However, this was not achieved with-out conflict. Anti-separationistswreacked havoc on the East Timoresevia looting, violence, arson and so on.Many were killed and an estimated500,000 were displaced from theirhomes.

Rucki describes the Timorese asfriendly and happy people who loveto dance, despite the horror theyhave seen.

"Every single person [I] met, eithertheir mother's been killed or their sis-ter's been raped by the Indonesians,'she recalls "It's sad bang there. It'sa young population. [Many] of the oldpeople were killed...a lot was lost—alot of the culture, the traditions,the stories.°

The displaced returned to theirfarms a couple of years later to findthem overgrown. After civil strife andno money or equipment, the EastTimorese are faced with the difficultyof starting their farms anew. `,

"I got the impression there wasn'tmuch incentive. If they are , totheir government stealing from them,killing them, or used to war, why areyou going to start working? Why are

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PUTTIN' IT DOWN. Monica Ruski (right) works with locals toimprove living conditions. PHOTO COURTESY OF MONICA RUSKI

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you going to try?' says Ruski."A lot of people who go into Timor

talk about how they're going to 'saveit,' I think get really jaded in the end,'she continues. °After 25 years ofconflict, I don't think you're going tobe like, 'Yes] I'm gonna go to workand I'm gonna try really hard!'"

There's no better way to learn thecomplex troubles of internationaldevelopment than experience it first-hand. Through her involvement,Ruski was surprised by the lack ofcooperation between various NGOs.

"Everyone was there—Amnesty,CARE, Concern, and then there are alot of local NGOs and there's not a lotof work between them,' she says.almost got the impression that every-one had their own agenda there.Everyone was out to save theday, and nothing's going to happenthat way.

"The biggest things I learned werepatience and humility, and some con-fidence,' she says.

"It really depends on what atti-tude you go in there with,' saysBaker. "If it's a very humble attitude Idon't think there will be any prob-lems at all."

Humility is something thatRaisinghani also hopes to deepenwhen he leaves for his internship tothe Philippines in the summer.

"It's kind of weird having the con-science thatyou can return to a betterlifestyle—a lot of people really can't"he says.

• • 4,

Another grassroots project involvinginformation technology (IT) trainingis developing Computers will beshipped from Canada and set up toteach people variousarious components ofMicrosoft Office in other countries.

Known as the Scala Program,there are four pilot Information andCommunication Technology (ICT)centres throughout the Philippines toincrease computer literacy. Currentlythere are 45 computers that will ben-efit over 500 Filipinos annually. Thegoal is to build ten such, centres and

reach over 1500 people."We're targeting out-of-school

youth and middle-aged men whowant to gain some skills to gain jobsin the future," said Raisinghani.

While focusing their aid abroad,EWB also have projects more dose tohome. Similar to the technology profect in the Philippines, Raisinghani isco-directing IT training at the DrPeter Centre in the DowntownEastside. Over the reading break 'ahandful of volunteers will train withthe goal of making the project anongoing commitment.

"We'll be doing computer skillstraining at Dr Peter AIDS center,'says Raisinghani. "Whoever wants tobe trained by ilk to improve theirskills and Igo on] to teach other peo-ple as well.'

• • •

The largest local project of EWB is theHigh School Outreach Program. It isdesigned to promote awarenessabout global issues through presenta-tions and activities. Implemented inSeptember, presentations have beenmade at six secondary schools inVancouver thus far. The focus ofthese presentations?

'Water," says Ruski. "We do apresentation called 'water for theworld.' We talk about water and someof the issues and the problems thatarise with water."

A Native outreach program is cur-rently in the works. Additionally,EWB UBC is devoting a fair bit ofenergy to a push, for curriculumchange in the UBC EngineeringDepartment

Members of the chapter feel thatthe Engineering Department needsto develop a course that makes engi-neers aware of the role they can playin international development.Currently it is a student-directed sem-inar that begins next fall.

Ruski feels that education is key inunderstanding the developing world.

"To make people care, to makepeople realise what we're trying to dois very difficult,' says Ruski. 'Oncethey're in and they start thinkingabout it, they start to care more." •

BUTTERFLY WISHES: Michelle Landry adds to UBC's strong team by winning severalmedals for the first place UBC swim team. MICHELLE MAYNE PHOTO

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PAGE FRIDAYFriday, January 30, 2004

by Jesse MarchandSPORTS EDITOR

In many sports, the team's successes areoften credited to one magnanimous player.The rest of the team is left to follow in their,glamourous dust or get lost in the spotlight.But this is not the case with the UBCThunderbird swim team, whose manyequally strong swimmers led both thewomen's and the men's teams to reclaimfirst place in the Canada West swimmingchampionships after losing to the CalgaryDinos last year.

Pre-meet talk was abuzz with conversa-

STRETCH BACK: UBC's Robert Millerjumps off with Regina's Jan-MichaelPelechytik in front. MICHELLE MAYNE PHOTO

Lion about the absence of Olympic hopefulsBrian Johns and Brent Hayden and graduat-ed top CIS medal winner Jessica Deglau.

Last year the team had not only felt theloss of Johns, but they also suffered fromtoo few swimmers competing in the event.

°We didn't have enough swimmers com-peting in the meet," said swim coachDerrick School. "It became a meet of whohad the most swimmers.'

With fewer swimmers it is hard to buildup enough points to take a first place berthin Canada West. Last year the T-Birds onlyboasted nine males and 12 females on theteam, but this year they brought it up to aneven 15 on both.

With 15 swimmers on each roster, theloss of key veterans were , easier to bearthis year.

"It gives other people the opportunity tostep up and take on a leadership role,' saidSchool of the absence of former leadersJohns, Hayden and Deglau. The fact thatthey did so well is only "a testament of thedepth of our program,' added School.

With over 218 combined points abovethe nearest competition the UBC womenwere clearly the strongest team out there,getting 20.5 more points than the top men'steam, the competing female teams garneredfar fewer points.

Fourth-year Kelly Stefanyshyn led thepack for the ladies by breaking the 100metre butterfly conference record set backin 1996 by former UBC swimmer Sarah.Evanetz. Stefanyshyn then went on to breakher own Canada West record in the 200metre backstroke by 14 seconds.

"She really stepped up and did a goodjob,' said School of the women's team cap-tain. But he was also quick to recogniserookies like Stephanie Nicholls, HaleyDoody, Mila Zvijeric, and Deanna

Stefanyshyn."We have a number of rookies that are

adding to the program and keeping it strongfor the next couple years,' said School.

'If you look at our team two years ago,it's a completely different team now. In thelast two years we've had 14 swimmerseither graduate or take a year off,'added School.

And judging by the other women's fin-ishes there are still many strong memberson the team.

Michelle Landry claimed a victory of herown in the 400 metre individual medley. Itwas a race that looked like a hot competitionbetween two Calgary Dinos, CarrieBurgoyne and Dena Dera_nd, But then in thelast 25 metres, Landry picked up the speedto blow. the Dinos into pre-history by 1.88seconds.

Caitlin Meredith also took home honoursin the backstroke taking home silver in both

the 50 and 200 metre events.On the men's side, Justin Tisdall took the

reign of leadership by claiming gold medalsin three individual events and two relays.These excellent finishes also led him to benamed this week's UBC athlete.

But it was the breaststroke that was themen's strongest event with Matt Huang,Chad Thiessen and Ian Chan taking first,second and third in the men's 50, 100 and200 metre breaststroke events.

The win at Canada West puts UBC in agood position to win Nationals for the sev-enth straight time this year, a win thatwould put them even with the hosts', theUniversity of Toronto, record that coveredseven consecutive wins in the '70s and '80s.

But even with the win, UBC will not becaught off guard. "We're taking nothing forgranted,' said School. The Birds head toToronto on March 5-7, to end the 2003-2004 varsity season. +

New leaders surfaceUBC swimmers dominate because of well-rounded skill

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E ITO tti4az-su PAGE FRIDAYFriday, January 30, 2004

EDITORIAL BOARD

COORDINATING EDITORHywel Tuscan

NEWS EDITORSMegan Thomas

Jonathan Woodward

CULTURE EDITORJohn Hue

SPORTS EDITORJesse Marchand

FEATURES/NATIONAL EDITORHeather Pauls

PHOTO EDITORMichelle Mayne

PRODUCTION MANAGERPaul Carr

Iva Cheung

COORDINATORSVOLUNTEERSSarah Bourdon

_ RESEARCH/LE ITEMBryan Zandberg

Ubyssey is the official student newspaper of the University ofBritish Columbia. It is published every Tuesday and Friday by TheUbyssey Publications Society.We are an autonomous, democratically run student organisation,

'and all students are encouraged to participate.Editorials are chosen and written by the Ubysseystaff.They are theexpressed opinion of the staff, and do , not necessarily reflect theviews of The Ubyssey Publications Society or the University ofBritish Columbia.The Ubyssey is a founding member of _Canadian University Press(CUP) and adheres to CUP's guiding principles.All editorial content appearing in The Ubyssey is the property of TheUbysse\t Publications Society Stories, opinions, photographs andartwork contained herein cannot be reproduced without theexpressed, written permission of The Ubyssey Publications SocietyLetters to the editor must be under 300 words. Please include yourphone number, student number and signature (not for publication)as well as your year and faculty with all submissions. ID will bechecked when submissions are dropped off at the editorial office ofThe Ubyssey, otherwise verification will be done by phone."Perspectives" are opinion pieces over 300 words but under 750words and are run according to space."Freestylee are opinion pieces written by Ubyssey staff members.Priority will be given to letters and perspectives over freestylesunless the latter is time sensitive. Opinion pieces will not be rununtil the identity of the writer has been verified. The Ubysseyreserves the right to edit submissions according to length and style.It is agreed by all persons placing display on classified advertisingthat if the Ubyssey Publications SocVy fails to publish an adver-tisement or if an error in the ad occurs the liability of the UPS willnot he greater than the price paid for the ad.The UPS shall not beresponsible for slight changes or typographical errors that do notlessen the value or the impact of the ad.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 30, 2004VOLUME 85 ISSUE 33

Sometimesit all just

its at onceThe natural disasters and constantviolence in the news were startingto get us down. We couldn't reallycome out against forest fires orearthquakes, but all of a sudden weare waist deep in political muck, e-mail spam and bird flu. Here's alook at current events through aUbyssey lens.

Food phobia—a goodtime to go vegetarianBeef will kill you with Mad Cow.Salmon is a carcinogen. And thenewest food-phobia coined is BirdFlu. The death tolls have alreadybeen projected with around58,000 people scheduled to die inCanada alone.

The virus is currently makingits way through fowl in Asia andhas not yet hit North America.Here's hoping that an action planagainst the possible pandemicdoesn't institutionalise moreracism into immigration or causepeople to scatter everytime anAsian person coughs. The massproduction practices of poultrymay wipe out huge parts of theindustry. KFCs are already shut-ting down in Asia—the horror.

AMS elections scandalOhl Just when we thought theywere all over. It just so happensthat SPAN will actually get anotherchance to do a proper sweep of

l

Ain't no Coke conspiracy

If the following story—related to meabout two years ago by a UBC offi-cial closely involved in the con-struction of new buildings on cam-pus—is true, we shouldn't expectany new water fountains any timesoon. According to the story["Where's the free water?' January27], various regulations requirewater fountains to be accessible,and accessible water fountains thatcan withstand abuse dished out inour hallowed halls cost more thanthe University can spend. Cheaperkinds get broken so often thatrepairing them ends up costingeven more. Therefore, it's simplestnot to put in any fountains at all.

I don't think there is some kindof Coke conspiracy going on,because many people who buy bot-tled water would do so even if therewere water fountains at every cor-ner, thanks to the insidious market-ing. But I don't think the adminis-tration can honestly say they didn'tnotice there were no fountains innew buildings (such as the ForestSciences Centre (FSC), for exam-ple). Plant Ops might not be aware

every single elected position. Jeeze.Change your passwords once inawhile will ya? Rumours are flyingthat some candidates knew elec-tion results before they wereannounced, just a symptom reallyof an incestuous and flawed elec-tion procedure. But then, that real-ly isn't that different than real poli-tics, is it? What? Firing the elec-tions commissioner days beforethe election? What? Someone whowas running had a sister was onthe committee? Maybe this elec-tion, tainted to the extent of need-ing a by-election for the Board ofGovernors positions, will kickstartsome action to clean up messy elec-tions practices.

Paul Martin conflict ofinterest arisesOur worst fears have finally beenrealised. While everyone initiallyturned a blind eye to Paul Martin'spotentially huge conflict of interestas former CEO of CanadaSteamship Lines (CSL)—still held byhis two sons—he was busy pullingthousands of times more revenueinto his company as FinanceMinister. Wow. A whole 161 mil-lion dollars. That's not $137,000.That's money.

Arar case to go to hearingIt is unclear whether the Arar caseis going to hearing because of pub-lic outcry or simply to make good

of decisions made during thedesign phase, but this can hardly besomething one "forgets"—it was aconscious choice, and yourreporter should have gone to theForestry department to ask themwhy they didn't ask the architectsfor fountains in FSC when the planswere being drawn.

—Davor CubranicPhD candidate, Computer Science

Election blues, Part IIWhen I wrote my last letter con-cerning the current Alma MaterSociety (AMS) elections I wasannoyed. Nothing has changed; infact, it's worse. Since my last letter,AMS candidates did visit my resi-dence, and they did visit my classes.So what is the problem? They , didwhat I wanted them to do, and theywere getting voter support, right?Wrong. They were trying too hard,too late and it happened during thevoting week.

Last Wednesday, in my econom-ics class, a representative fromStudent Progressive Action Network(SPAN) gave a speech about how

after Juliet O'Neill's home wasraided to located leaked govern-ment documents. This is alsoadvantageous to Martin, who, atthis time, would benefit to haveattention diverted from the ridicu-lous revenue pulled in by CSLthrough government business.

myDoom virus rockscorporationsVIRUS! VIRUS! Idiots openingattachments everywhere are caus-ing networks to slow down aroundthe world. The sensationalising ofthis by major newspapers withnothing else big to report on,*cough* the Province, has techno-phobes turning off their comput-ers, hiding from executables with-out knowing what they are andcowering in fear from vacationphotos attached to their grandma'se-mails.

The virus is being labeled as amalicious attack by derangedsociopaths; in fact, the virus targets

much SPAN candidates care aboutthe election and about their jobs.They told me to vote. They told methe website to go to where I couldvote. It's so easy, they said, I mightas well just vote for them right now...

Last Tuesday night, an assort-ment of AMS election candidateswere seen in the Totem commonsblock encouraging people to vote.They even brought computers withthem so we could vote right there.Of course, we had to get past alltheir pamphlets and signs to get tothe ballot...

As I was walking to the bus, therewas music pumping from a car inthe parking lot. "Come vote for theAMS elections!' The dude with thecar waved at me. Apparently, it's'cool' to vote. Even cooler if I votefor that cool dude who gave me thepamphlet

In a real election, if candidatesare anywhere near the ballots, it isillegal. In the recent AMS election,the ballot was everywhere. UBC iswireless-enabled, you can access theInternet from a cell phone, and youcould, for a moment, even phoneyour , vote in. There is nowhere oncampus, nowhere even in the citythat a ballot could not be cast In a

Microsoft and the SCO softwaregroup that wants to claim intellec-tual ownership of Linux—that's liketrying to turn a public library into aChaptersindigo.

No weapons of massdestructionDavid Kay, a former weaponsinspector for the UN and advisor tothe CIA has testified that Iraq didnot possess any of the allegedweapons of mass destruction.At least someone is finallyadmitting it.

Meanwhile, what justificationcan be used to enter Iran or Syria?Granted Hussein IS gone. But hope-fully people will be a little moreskeptical the next time around. Youknow, because the United Statesdoesn't need a 'permission slip' toattack other countries, according tothe state of the union address.

Ah, well. Tony Blair's been letoff by the Hutton Enquiry and theBBC's in shambles. +

democracy it is against electionpractice to have candidates cam-paigning where people are castingtheir votes. The AMS candidatesshould not be campaigning at allduring election week.

I call for a re-election. If the AMScan not get a good voter turnoutwithout candidates pressuring avote, it means people are protesting.With less than 3000 votes for eachcandidate, the results are meaning-less. If the Radical Beer Faction (aprotest party) received more votes inmost positions than The RightChoice (a legitimate effort), youknow something is wrong.

The council does not do enoughfor the average student; it doesn'tlet students know what its functionsare—all we get are slogans andpromises to 'disseminate informa-tion! (Amin Rai). I don't believeany of the candidates are willing orcapable of informing the studentbody of anything, much less theAMS' function. The only time any ofthem were willing to spend timeinforming anyone was when their$20,000 salaries were on the line.

—Mike WoodwardCommerce 1

PAGE FRIDAYFriday, January 30, 2004

This is one plainaki rollIke d

e u agaz ne .ULTURE

Kelis tries o join the ranks of Lil l KimKELISTasty[Star Trak]

by John HuaCULTURE EDITOR

Has anyone, else noticed thatwhenever 'a female artist hooks upwith famous male artist, instead of,singing about sunshine and lol-lipops, their lyrics get straightscandalous? Beyoncê got some dirton her booty once she hooked upwith jay-Z, and now it seemsKelis—who is engaged to baby-faced rapper Nas—is following asimilar path. Kelis's secondalbum, Tasty, has a little bit ofeverything: crazy beats, tight col-laborati Fin q, nasty lyrics and pretty

decent vocals. Unfortunately, itseems everyone's jumping in mudpuddles these days, which makesKelis a little bland.

In terms of direction, Kelis issitting on the fence between keep-ing it about the music and makingit raunchy. And when your imageis presented like Lir Kim (but notquite) or Christina Aguilera (butnot quite), you just come lookinglike you're trying too hard.However, there is a market forsinging soulful music about get-ting it on in public.

Image aside, Kelis can hold apretty steady note and has a cou-ple of opportunities on this albumto prove that she can sing."Milkshake' is actually one of theweaker songs- on the album for

this reason. Despite having thatpop-vibe, "Milkshake' does Kelisabsolutely no justice, allowingartistic integrity to be overthrownby that raspy roughneck noise shetries to flow in the chorus.

A track sure to get some radioplay is "In Public," featuring Nas.Kelis begins by singing about howbadly she wants to jump her fiancéand make Faris Hilton-esquehome videos and bump and grindon the balcony. Nas comes in mid-way, rapping out two verbalthumbs up to his boys, going onabout how cool it is to have afreaky future wife, all to the tuneof Kelis moaning in the back-ground. Kinda like something LirKim or Christina would do right?Well, not quite.

This album, however, isn'twithout some solid tracks. There'sa sick collaboration with Andre3000 called "Millionaire." TheOutkast member had his hand inthe writing and productionprocess, pulling the sound straightfrom his album, The Love Below."Glow" is also worth listening to,proving that Kelis is first and fore-most a singer.

If you liked the beat behindKelis's hit single "Milkshake,' youhave the Neptunes to thank for it.Being signed under music mogulsPharrell Williams and Chad Hugo'slabel comes with some definiteperks, which is evident with theconsistently strong mixes onyasyr.

Despite the direction she hastaken, Kelis is able to hold itlown, providing some surprising-ly decent tracks, far surpassingwhatever she was' doing on'Milkshake." If you don't mind get-ting a little dirt inyour ears, Tastymight be worth spinning.

KATE MAKIConfusion Unlimited[Independent]

by Jenn CameronCULTURE WRITER

Kate Maki's soft, mellow soundhas been working its way aroundOntario since her high schoolyears. Born and raised in Sudbury,Ontario, Maid began writingmusic at a very young age. Whenin university, she began to make aname for herself—she workedopen-mic nights in Halifax andgained some experience with sev-eral country-rock bands. Now atthe pivotal stage of her career,Maki has decided to take her craftnationwide with her debut albumConfusion Unlimited.

The genre: folk/country, whichadmittedly is not my cup of tea.It's the type of music that you cansee yourself listening to whilelying in a grassy field, surroundedby daisies. I would imagine a cowor two might be grazing around aswell. That having been said, Maidhas a sweet sadness about her. Hersongs speak of broken hearts,open fields, friends and lonelytravels. Not particularly original

themes, but her lyrics are honestand heartfelt.

Maid's best feature is hersmoky voice, which is able tomake up for the dryness of hermusic. Her lyrical style can becompared to Sarah McLachlan,although in an entirely differentcontext. Her voice is pleasant andsoothing, yet contrastingly raspy, aunique combination, but one thatworks. Her unassuming tone andlaid back phrasing allow for anaudience to easily relate to thetroubles she sings of. I believe herlyrical approach and unique voicemake her distinguishable fromothers in this genre.

The music behind the voicehowever, is not so original—it'sdifficult to tell when one songends and a new one begins. Theentire album blends together in atwangy continuum of melancholy.Although a few songs exhibit a hintof playfulness, the variancebetween tracks is minimal.

The album opens with 'Over,' adark song that, standing alone,could be considered quite decent.However, once again, "Over'sounds the same as the other ninetracks on the album. The only songthat really stands out is "To BeGood,' which is still not particu-larly fantastic. Even the vocalrange demonstrated is extremelylimited.

Confusion Unlimited does notoffer much in the area of musicalambition. It does however achievea bittersweet sound that could beappreciated by some listeners. Forthose of you who are looking tomellow out, I would suggest catch-ing her at the Main this Friday,and at the Railway Club the follow-ing Wednesday. •

Call out to the AMS Finance Commission:

Go shorty, it's your birthday!We're gonna party like it's your birthday!

Thanks for sending our production manager to Newfoundland for aweek. She loves you all. v

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inplomeOtirig, theofficial Community .Plan^o.r the UBt area.The Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) and theUniversity of British Columbia (413C) invite you to attend animportant workshop. This workshop is an opportunity for theUBC community and neighbours to identify recommendationsfor consideration by the GVRD/UBC Joint Committee onimprovements to the implementation process for the OfficialCommunity Plan (OCP) for UBC.

The conclusion of the GVRD Board from the 2003 OCP reviewwas that'no amendments to the basic policies of the OCP wererequired; the plan's content remained appropriate to guide landuse decisions on UBC campus. As a result of the communitycomments received during the OCP review, staff have beenasked to meet with the public to review OCP implementation.

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REGISTRATION:To participate, please RSVP to Kris Nichols by e-mail atkristian.nichols@gyrd.bc.ca or by phone at 604-451-6560.Please register by Thursday, February S, 2004.

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Registration 8:30 a.m.Workshop 9 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.Please pre-register

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CULTURE the nbyssey magazine,- PAGE FRIDAYFriday, January 30, 2004

Movie fails despite all-star castTHE BIG BOUNCEopens tonight

by Greg UrsicCULTURE WRITER

Jack Ryan (Owen Wilson) is notexactly . what you would considermotivated--:even the word has toomany syllables for his liking. Notdisinclined to petty crime, Jack isthe kind of man that would probablypick up money that's left lying with-in as long as he's not going towaste time or energy looking for it.All Jack really wants in life is topound some nails, ride the surf and

catch a little peace in paradise. Butthere's much more to The BigBounce than waves and women.

When Jack KOs his boss, he popsup on everybody's radar. Walter(Morgan Freeman), the local judge,takes Jack under his wing and offershim a job, while Ray Ritchie, a snakyland developer and Jack's formeremployer, wants him to disappear.And then there's Nancy (SarahFoster), the stunning thrill-seekerwith a nose for trouble, an eye forJack and a larcenous heart. Doublecross and dirty dealing can't be farbehind.

Everything 'about Owen Wilson

screams slacker—he moves slow,talks low and always seems like he'sin a bit of a daze, which makes Jackthe perfect character for him.Wilson's "oh-gosh- approach and lan-guorous delivery infuse some muchneeded humour into the script, andmakes Jack a lovable cad that youwant in root for. You also realise thathis good but naive nature is going toget the best of him.

Nancy's dialogue is even morethreadbare, which means that SarahFoster has to communicate in other

ways. Thankfully she is a tantalizingmorsel who can say volumes with asashay and a wink The rest of thesupporting cast is not so lucky." Gary Sinise's character Ray, thesupposed villain of the piece, is asingle dimensional character whodoesn't get enough time onscreenfor the audience to dislike him letalone earn their hate. Walter,through no fault of MorganFreeman's, is supposed to be myste-rious, but comes off as hopelesslyclueless due to ineffectual writing.

Even worse off is poor BebeNeuwirth, who is relegated to spend-ing virtually every scene in a drunk-en fugue state stumbling around likea buffoon. It's sad and criminal.° Unfortunately, beautiful scenery(take your pick), a spunkypunky soundtrackand few guffaws can't make up forlifeless dialogue, poorly written char-acters and a transparent plot foundin The Big Bounce. Tnstead of wastingyour time, you could always rent a 9S-cent video, balance your chequebookor get some dusting done. •

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