Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 13, 1980)
Crime good for business THE BATTALION MONDAY, OCTOBER 13. 1980 Page 5 at 7 p.m. z; KuiMer. i. in 308 li lt 7:30p.mi! et for Bibb: ('-state come :nter. 4 at 7:30 pi. Will meet at 1 Center. A Hon who's on the ball This big cat or one of his friends will perform in Circus Vargus, which is coming to Bryan for four performances Oct. 27 and 28. Billed as “America’s Big Top Giant,” the circus includes acts with 100 international artists and 150 animals. Ticket | prices range from $4 to $8.50. $50 million asked for 'thinking' box et at 5:30 pi 't at 6:30 pi United Press International NEW YORK — Investors always believe their ideas are valuable but Dr. Sidney Auerbach, a noted patho- 7 legist, raised some eyebrows by put- rtat ‘ : ^n ting a minimum price of $50 million on a nonexclusive license to his new .m. in 410fi “portable thinking machine.” He wants $1 million just for the att j s right to view and test the system for three months. neetat7:30p j jy Kershaw of Control Data Worldtech, Inc., of St. Paul, the nanCluband technology marketing service of Mary’s Still Control Data Corp., the firm that has a contract to market Auerbach’s in- at 8 d m at' Vent ' on > admitted he was startled and decidedly skeptical when the doctor gave his ideas of what it is worth. “Nevertheless,” Kershaw said, "such companies as IBM, ITT, RCA and Western Union have shown a £1 C definite interest in Dr. Auerbach’s O thinking machine, a portable which really is a pattern recognition device that can process and analyze alpha- Y| Ck numeric and graphic data in about J. J.V / one two-thousandth of the time re quired by conventional systems.” Auerbach pioneered the concept of pattern recognition 17 years ago. His original idea was to use compu- xas seem tot nt past. Dut 10 miri - -ide called It * er data and optical scanning to pro- d of nauseaf own until it# vide 100 percent accurate medical diagnoses, prognoses and treatment recommendations. “As a pathologist,” he said, “I’ve seen countless breasts removed needlessly and limbs amputated un necessarily. Pathologists, radiolog ists and others in my profession sel dom are permitted the luxury of lengthy deliberation.” So he worked up a pattern recog nition device that could tap all kinds of data banks and scan X-rays, pathology slides, graphs and other information documents at a rate of 30 a second, analyze them and present conclusions and recommendations without intermediary human input. He formed a firm called Auerbach Computer Telephone Corp. to ex ploit it. The new portable Auerbach optic al scanner can review all kinds of information, drawings or photo graphs, other graphics, oodles of text matter and data gathered by radar or sonar, transmitted from anywhere in the world by telephone or telex, pro cess and analyze all of it and present conclusions within a second or so. Auerbach says the system’s error rate is less than one in 12 trillion bits of information. nan fell 25(11 a roller coa# ig struts befa into an ami* ■ the Hiraali' dose after I I on her tie* malayaridfS nstalled saK lost entirely : safety, ear during ad. Theridt* ★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★ ? EXPERIENCED COMPETENT EFFECTIVE RE-ELECT (A&M CLASS OF '71) FOR Brazos County Attorney (Pol. Ad Paid by John M. Barron, Jr., Box 4146, Biyan, Texas 77801) »¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥ GRANCEi ■GIES: ge Webb ance Groif| 823® obile ]lac da ERVICE sfactmti | uipmenl xas Ave, :516 MSC Arts Committee presents The Community Singers of Brazos Valley performing "Songs of the Civil War" Monday, October 13, 1980 Rudder Theatre 8 p.m. Tickets on Sale at the MSC Box Office Kidnap policies increase United Press International NEW YORK — Among the many hazards Americans insure themselves against, there’s one you’ll never hear discussed. To reveal that you have kidnaping and ransom insur ance results in automatic cancellation of the policy, says Joseph P. DeAlessandro, president of National Union Fire Insurance Co., one of the American International Group companies that writes a lot of such policies. DeAlessandro says the secrecy provision is fairly stan dard and for an obvious reason: If terrorists, or ordinary criminals, know a businessman or his company has such insurance they are likely to operate on the theory that collecting ransom will be easier since “nobody gets hurt but the insurance company.” K&R insurance, first written as a result of the political terrorism of the early 1970s, is a fast-growing business, especially in the United States, where so many large companies have executives working abroad who are prime targets, say DeAlessandro and Robert Lynyak, a vice president of Chubb Corp. National Union, Chubb and Lloyd’s of London write most of the business, with INA Corp. a recent entry. It has been estimated kidnappings worldwide have increased some 300 percent in the past decade, with rhaps a 400 percent rise in Latin America, a particu- arly hot spot. Companies selling general security services such as Guardsmark Inc., of Memphis; Wackenhut, of Coral Gables, Fla., and others, steer K&R business to the insurance companies. Ira Lipman, president of Guardsmark, said his firm tailors insurance for its clients and then gets one of the major insurers to write the policy. Lipman and Chubb’s Lynyak agreed the need for K&R insurance domestically has increased steadily be cause the Bank Protection Act of 1968 gradually forced most professional bank robbers to look for new and less dangerous criminal activity. The more vicious of them have turned to kidnaping where now there is less likeli hood of being caught, they said. Lynyak said he has written some 2,000 K&R policies and demand is growing. The major market is American companies who operate in Latin America. Although Italy appears to have more kidnapings than any other country, he said, Americans usually are not the targets. “The Italians kidnap each other,” he said, “and as far as I can tell, they mostly don’t buy ransom insurance.” For protection against ransom demands in the United States, Lynyak said, companies usually buy $1 million or $2 million or so. Those with offices in Latin America will buy $10 million to $20 million in coverage because when political terrorists stage a kidnaping they want to collect ransom big enough to buy weapons to use in a revolu tion. This makes K&R a matter of not-too-frequent but large claims, DeAlessandro and Lynyak agreed, so the policies generally are reinsured. A $10 million policy for a company with branches in Latin America could cost $50,000 a year, they said. Setting the rates is a “seat of the pants” affair, Lynyak said. You have to figure not only on paying a ransom, but some on high expenses such as fees for intermediaries to negotiate with the kidnapers. Setting the rates involves a close watch on the political climate in the countries involved in the coverage. Lynyak said the market includes at least 1,000 U.S. companies interested in coverage for their overseas ex ecutives alone. Good news for all A&M Faculty and Staff How would you like an ORP-TDA that allows you to select one or any combi nation of nine investment options? Now there's a way ASK DON REISER Financial Disciplines, Inc. Ill University Center 846-4352 Battalion Classified 845-2611 If you want interest on your checking account, no need to wait until January. We have it now. MoneyStore is a totally new service from Brazos Savings. Your funds earn interest until you pay your bills — and you pay no service charges (with a $300 minimum balance). With MoneyStore, pay your bills direct or we will pay bills for you. There is no extra charge for automatic or telephone bill paying. MoneyStore customers can withdraw cash from any of the 11 Brazos Savings offices in Central Texas or from the drive-thru facilities at most offices. With the MoneyStore Photo Card, your identity is assured — no waiting for computer authorization or signature verification. Check on Brazos Savings. It’s easy to open a MoneyStore account And well pay you while you use it BRAZOS Savings Main Office: 2800 Texas Avenue/Bryan College Station: Texas Ave. at Southwest Parkway/696-2800 Drive-thru lanes open 8:30 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. Monday-Friday