The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, October 04, 1979, Image 14

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    Page 2B THE BATTALION
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1979
-fl / • No Mlnlmums
• Large Order*
~ •U«daw4^
Time ticking away
on geologic bombs
OVERNIGHT RATES — At DURING THE DAY
Reductions €f Dissertations
Cotlation & Binding & Padding
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846-7466
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M.-Th. 10 to 10 Sun. 11 to 11 |
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I
United Press International
WASHINGTON — There are
hundreds of active, but deceptively
quiet volcanoes around the world
that represent geologic “time
bombs” that can erupt explosively
with little warning.
For more than 60 years,
geologists have been monitoring
some of these volcanoes in order to
learn how to predict their eruptions,
but the knowledge of just when one
will erupt still eludes them.
The recent eruption of Mount
Soufriere on the Caribbean island of
St. Vincent points up the continuing
mystery of predicting eruptions,
and illustrates the vulnerability of
people who live near active vol
canoes.
Scientists in several countries are
working on the problem, but Dr.
Robert Tilling, who has directed
much of the United States Geologi
cal Survey’s study of volcanoes, says
they still need more time.
“For most volcanoes, the only in
formation we have is from historical
times, which is really very short.
Geologists are more used to dealing
in millions or hundreds of millions
of years,” Tilling said in an inter
view.
Tilling classes volcanoes into two
types: explosive volcanoes, such as
Mount Soufriere, which are more
destructive, raining lava and ash on
nearby areas; and on-explosive vol
canoes such as those in Hawaii
which are characterized more by
steady lava flows that can slowly
engulf nearby towns and farms.
Tilling says about two-thirds to
three quarters of the world’s approx-
October 6
RENAISSANCE
FESTIVAL
TRIP
9 a.m.-9 p.m.
Sponsored by MSC Crafts and Arts
Sign up in Rm. 216 MSC by Thursday, Oct. 4, 5 p.m
$10 Admission and Transportation Fee Charged.
imately 500 active volcanoes are ex
plosive. Unfortunately, their erup
tions are the hardest to predict.
“We consider a volcano active,”
Tilling said,” when it has erupted
within recorded history. Most of the
world’s volcanoes are dormant, and
thus are deceptively quiet. They are
dangerous because they are like
geologic time bombs that can erupt
with very little warning.”
He said probably the most disas
trous volcanic eruption in terms of
human losses was the 1883 explo
sion of the volcanic island of
Krakatoa in the Straits of Sunda be
tween Sumatra and Java.
A series of four gigantic ex
plosions produced five cubic miles
of rock, debris and ash and the col
lapse of the volcanic mountain top
created a great sea wave that swept
over the heavily populated coastline
of Java, killing about 36,000 people.
Scientists have a basic under
standing of the causes of volcanism.
Most volcanoes occur where
continent-sized sections of the
Earth’s crust several hundred
kilometers thick meet. Their colli
sions create weaknesses in the
Earth’s crust, permitting molten
rock, or magma, to well up to the
surface.
Other volcanoes, such as those in
Hawaii, occur when a plate passes
over a deep “hot spot” which melts
some of the rock and allows magma
to reach the surface, “like drawing
parrafin over a candle,” Tilling said.
Most volcanoes are in the “Ring of
Fire” which encircles the Pacific
Ocean, running from South America
to the Aleutians to Japan and down
to New Zealand.
Other major areas of volcanism
are the Mediterranean Sea, the
West Indies and Iceland.
In Hawaii, where geologists have
maintained monitoring stations
since 1912, there has been limited
success in predicting eruptions. But
Tilling said scientists have often
been fooled when signs indicated an
imminent eruption but none oc
curred and that “reliable and spe
cific prediction capability for erup
tions in Hawaii still eludes the sci
entists.
PRIORITEAS 1
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3609 Place E. 29th - Bryan
Over 40
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Our new College Station office
is now open for your convenience,
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Brazos Savings' newest branch office is now open to serve
College Station savers. There's plenty of parking and 2 drive-
in lanes for extra convenience.
Come by today to open an account, add to an existing ac
count or to discuss MoneyStore — the account that pays bills
and pays you interest on everyday money until you need it.
Savings
College Station Branch: Texas Ave. at Southwest Parkway • 696-2800
Players enjoy losing
new space war gam
United Press International
CHICAGO — In a cool, dark
bar a man sits transfixed in front
of a pulsating, electronic screen,
battling a machine in a fight he
knows he can’t win.
Nobody likes to be a loser, but
when playing “Space Invaders,”
most gamesters don’t seem to
mind.
Space Invaders, an electronic
game from Japan which first hit
the United States in November,
has sparked the attention and
Jarochi said production of
Space Invaders could eventu
ally double or even quad
ruple that of other popular
electronic games.
addiction of thousands of Ameri
cans. Distributors say it promises
to be the hottest electronic game
ever introduced to the coin in
dustry.
“We’ve distributed many
thousands, well beyond 20,000 of
the machines,” said Stan Jarocki,
marketing director for Chicago’s
Midway Manufacturing Corp.,
U.S. distributor of the game.
“It’s been popular for 10 months
and it looks like it’s going to con
tinue that way for another 10
months.”
Jarocki said production of
Space Invaders could eventually
double or even quadruple that of
other popular electronic games.
In Japan, pinball parlors are in
fierce competition with Space
Invaders parlors. Students cut
classes to play during the day,
businessmen drop by
gamerooms on their way home,
bar hostesses patronize them in
the early morning hours. The
craze has snowballed into Space
Invader T-shirts, potato chips,
even a player-rated Space Invad
ers Club.
In the United States, pinball
parlor operators have started
putting as many as five of the
machines in a single gameroom
— a revolutionary idea consider
ing parlors try to offer as many
different games as possible. The
game also is very popular in
Europe and is doing well in
Canada, Jarocki said.
Space Invaders, played on a
television-like screen, is based
on the “kill or be killed” princi
ple — Star Wars style.
Slip in a quarter and 55 invad
ers from outer space appear in
rows of 11, firing laser beams at
the player’s single cannon and
moving in a pack toward him.
The player gets three chances to
destroyed, another 55 appes
and start their attack one ros
closer to the player than
predecessors.
Points are racked up for even
invader destroyed. Most
ners hit around the 400 mark 1st
Jarocki said the highest reeori
he knew of were 45,000 in th
United States and 300,000 inJj
pan
'The game has great retainijj )out 50 ye
By Cl
Speci
Belief in *
over the
d College
trologists,
viners can
The folio'
closely a
tween a
at transpi
main uni'
ivacy.
The you
irch of th
locked a f
icrt, dark
“1, uh, gi
rvices, h
The won
airs agau
pryan tvoi
airvot/an
“The game seems to be gain
ing player appeal as it goes
on. It’s phenomenal. People
don’t want to leave it once
they get started. But you
can’t beat the game. ’’
dodge the fire by moving his
weapon from side-to-side, hiding
behind four barricades and
“shooting to kill the invaders
above.
Once a screen of invaders is
power, Jarocki said. “Man)
games are played on a
but with this particular gametk
player keeps on playing as loai d let hin
as he is not wiped out by the is anding in
vaders.
“The game seems to be
ing player appeal as it goesoi
It’s phenomenal. People d
want to leave it once they
started. But you can’t beat It R/fS, !/ owr
game.” J will ons
The game is "unbeatable %onsultai
matter how great a player’s
the machine challenges him«iti
more space invaders. And tli[
better he is, the faster theyi;|
tack.
Part of the game’s fascinalk
may be its intricate detaihii
pulsating sound — beeps aii
whines which quicken an!
heighten as invaders
their target.
T walked into a real;
crowded bar one night andl
didn’t even have to ask whelk L n
not they had a Space Invada | “y ps «,
machine, " said Kent McDiltsI ’ ra
a Chicagoan who spent at k
$60 on the game in six months won
Le
or leadin
|de, the he
oman tur
>ry routin
“I tell yo
ture by
mr face, £
ver three
$40.”
There wa
to be
Americans forced to leave From
as problems keep getting worse
ju what,
Uestions f
There wi
“How n
|oman ask
“Well I'
United Press Internationa]
PARIS — Americans in Paris are
going home.
“Gay Paree” attracted so many
American expatriates for such long
term stays that their community in
cluded pillars of the literary and art
world, their own schools, hospital
and even an American Legion post.
Now they are becoming an
endangered species in France.
The weakened dollar, inflation,
taxes, tougher French policies on
students and job seekers and a
changed cultural environment have
all taken their toll.
Last year the number of U. S. res
idents registered with the French
government dropped more than 7
percent to about 26,000.
Some see signs that this was the
first step in a major exodus of
Americans.
“What is clear is that the Ameri
can community has changed,” says
one long-time resident. “It’s not
what it used to be. Do you see the
Hemingways coming here any more
to get started under the eye of a
Gertrude Stein or Ezra Pound? You
don’t.”
For years, until well after World
War II, Paris meant the good life at
relatively low cost.
ALTERATIONS 1
IN THE GRAND TRADITION OF
OLD TEXAS WHERE MOTHER
TAUGHT DAUGHTER THE FINE
ART OF SEWING — SO HELEN
MARIE TAUGHT EDITH MARIE
THE SECRETS OF SEWING AND
ALTERATIONS
AT WELtH'S CLEANERS. WE NOT
ONLY SERVE AS AN EXCELLENT
DRY CLEANERS BUT WE SPE
CIALIZE IN ALTERING HARD TO
FIT EVENING DRESSES, TAPERED
SHIRTS. JEAN HEMS, WATCH
POCKETS, ETC.
"DON’T GIVE UP — WE LL
MAKE (THTr
(WE RE JUST A FEW
BLOCKS NORTH OF FED
MART.)
WELCH’S CLEANERS
3819 E. 29th (TOWN & COUNTRY SHOPPING CENTER}
“Okay.
Now there’s been inflationil “\y e n I
percent or more for the Iasi jth worm
years,” says American lawyer] ^ ever
Fredenberger. ‘It’s gotten teni [10w if on
expensive." “'-fovu \
Living costs are 50 percentk no ti ona l,
than many U.S. cities. There*; m j n a n
considerable boost last year 0 ur emot
American income tax rates for, ut 0 f han
zens overseas. That, plusthek m t ro ] y 0 .
Medicare benefits abroad deck jvingintli
significant nymber of refc|, u ]l y 0ur
Americans in France to pack up;
go home.
Now a new law that makes
vestment income in the Unit i The mai
States liable to French taxation: B ac J an y 0n
added to uncertainty and jitter; j m anc l v
the American community, wif!
has had a special place in Fr
ever since Benjamin Franklin
the first U.S. ambassador.
d always
ave to
mper.”
’he mat
fore ho
Americans in Paris built!' truthfull
churches of their own, a school! IknoivleA
a college, clubs and civic orgai
tions. There is even an Amei
chapter of Alcoholics Anonymo®
But as the base of k,
established residents —
American-staffed corporate do*
— on whom they depend shrill
they are finding it tough to sum's
B oas con
know th
He had I
tellers h
beginnin
MSC TOWN HALL PRESENTS
authority,
could she
rim? He
une telle
sginning
The wr
snow you
iven me
You
MO
i Roll or
Saturday Oct. 20 - 8.’00 P.
G. R
0LLIE
HITE
TICKETS $ 4 7S , $ 5 75 , $ 6 25
TICKETS & INFORMATION —
MSC BOX OFFICE 845-2916
Tickets Go On Sale Monday Oct. 8
Coliseum
■■MSCI
■(own holll
Rol
c 1