Monologue
Idle Hands
By J. Dana Haynes
Last year, as the space shuttle Columbia was
making its second-of-three, unpowered landings
in the deserts of California, about ten of us were
sitting around a television, watching with excite
ment and anticipation. We were at work, but all
activities had ground to a halt as the multi-ton
megalith sailed in as easy as you please, to a
perfect three-point landing.
“Blast,” one of my friends said, “I wish that
dumb thing had crashed.”
At first, I thought Gene, my friend, was jok
ing. But as he stood and left the room, I realized
he was dead serious.
I went after Gene and asked him what he
meant.
“What good is that thing?” he asked. “Listen,
how much money did you spend on taxes last
year?”
I gave a rough figure and he laughed. “I paid
five times that. And I resent seeing my hard-
earned bucks wasted on a billion dollar truck
when the country can’t even feed its people!”
Actually, Gene had a good point. Times are
tough, and space flight is expensive. The question
remains: can we afford to finance the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration when the
economy is as shaky as it is.
The answer is a resounding yes. For NASA is
one of the few organizations in the federal govern
ment which turns a profit. And as any
businessman can tell you, the more money you
put into a profit-making operation, the better you
return.
NASA turns a profit through the launching of
satellites, and the renting of time on these amaz
ing devices. But it also makes money through the
fantastic, ground-based inventions it has brought
to the world. Things such as tin foil, asbestos,
CAT (computerized axial tomography) and PET
(position emission controlled) scans and most of
the artificial organs that have saved hundreds of
lives.
One of the latest experiments to bear fruit,
according to the February issue of OMNI
magazine, is glasses for the deaf.
It sounds like a joke, to be sure. But it’s not.
NASA engineers have worked out a design for
glasses which absorb the sounds of speech and
feed the sounds into a mini-computer. The com
puter in turn translates each sound into an image.
Twin lasers on the ear-peices of the glasses focus
the images onto the lenses, creating holographic
(three-dimentional) pictures.
Each consonant would have its own shape,
and the shape will appear in a different quadrant
of the lenses, depending on what vowel follows.
For instance, a square may represent the sound
“D.” If it appears in the upper right-hand corner of
the glass, then the wearer will know that the word
being spoken begins with “DA ...” The next Im
age will give the next consonant, and together
they will spell a word.
One may think such a system would be im
practical. After all, the power pack, computer,
lasers and image inducers would all take up con
siderable space, in theory.
But part of the miracle of this invention is the
micro-circuitry that will make it no larger than a
normal pair of glasses and a hearing aid.
This device is still a few years away from
mass marketing, and is only mentioned here to
dispell the idea that NASA exists solely to put
men on the moon (a trip, incidentally, which pro
bably won’t be repeated in this century).
When nearly 55 cents out of every tax dollar
goes into our massive military budget, organiza
tions like NASA should be funded to the hilt, even
if it’s at the expense of a nuclear submarine or
two. Building an MX missile system may make
some people sleep better. But if the U.S. is the
great, humanitarian country that we tell the rest of
the world it is, then more thought should be given
to using tax-payer’s money to benefit the people
of the world. Not subjugate them.
Page 2
Lottery a likable solution
“Mrs. Larkin, Congratula
tions! You have just won the
Arizona State Lottery! You are
now $700,000 richer!” Now I
am not sure if that is the way
that the contest judges told her
that she won, but I am sure that
Jan. 17, was a very happy time
for Mrs. Larkin and the town of
Des Moine, Washington.
(Kristi BlackmanJ
Mrs. Larkin is the first per
son I have ever known to win
anything like a lottery, not
counting my Aunt Rozella’s
neighbor who was the $5000
instant winner for the Pepsi
contest. Mrs., Larkin had no
idea she would be the one to
win, after all there were
196,000 others in her
category.
Wouldn’t it help out
Oregon if we had a lottery? I’m
sure it would. It would create
jobs and boost morale, plus
there would be more people
coming into Oregon during the
time of the game-of-chance
and putting more money into
Oregon than will be going out.
Last week 1 read in the
Oregonian about the man and
his family who sit everyday
along the sidewalk in the transit
mall and ask for donations,
because he has been laid off,
his unemployment has been
used up, and he cannot find a
job to support his growing fami
ly. Just think how many jobs
are involved in a lottery? There
are people who need to
organize the rules of the game,
then a company would have to
make the tickets. There would
be a need of printers;
distributors, an advertising
team, tourism would be ac
celerated, the possibilities
would benefit everyone.
Merchants would benefit
from the businesses due to the
fact people would be drawn in
to stores, shops and taverns
not only to buy a ticket but in
the process maybe find
something that catches their
eye. Personally I have never
walked into a grocery store and
not bought something, many
other people in this state are as
compulsive as I am.
Well, are we going to be
winners or losers? Let’s all be
winners, and see if we can pick
Oregon up off her knees.
Dialogue
Kudos for
blood donors
To the Editor:
I would like to thank each
individual who took the time to
donate blood on January 24th.
We came very close to a record
turnout for a Clackamas Com
munity College Blood Drive.
The American Red Cross was
able to collect 101 units of
blood, which is seven short of
the Clackamas record of 108
units. Dennis Donin, ARC staff
consultant, was so impressed
with the effort that the blood-
mobile will extend it time at
Clackamas by two for spring
term.
The addition of two
volunteer typists helped to
make the blood donation pro
cess a smooth one. There was
a waiting line for the first hour,
but after that it was open for
people to donate at their
leisure.
Three people who deserve
special recognition are: Emma
Espinal (Blood Drive Commit
tee chairperson), Debbie
Haugh and Deanna Mckeever
(volunteer typists). Volunteers
are extremely hard to come by
these days, and I feel we all
owe the donors and the
volunteers a debt of apprecia
tion. Once again, thank you for
helping to save human lives.
Sincerely,
Paul Nastari
President, ASGCCC
THE PRINT, a member of the Oregon Newspaper Publishers
Association, alms to be a fair and Impartial Journalistic medium
covering the campus community as thoroughly as possible. Opi-.
nions expressed in THE PRINT do not necessarily relect those of *
the College administration, faculty, Associated Student Govern
ment or other members of THE PRINT.
Clackamas Community College