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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 8, 1982)
/ Serving the University community College Station, Texas Monday, October 11, 1982 Reagan to visit Dallas United Press International SANTA BARBARA — President Reagan, facing a barrage of criticism for an upsurge in unemployment, in tends to stress his “dramatic progress” in lowering interest rates and infla tion in the waning weeks of the con gressional campaign, aides indicate. After spending a relaxed weekend at his mountaintop ranch, Reagan flies to Dallas today for two political appearances in support of Republi can senatorial candidate Rep. James Collins, who has an uphill battle against incumbent Democrat Lloyd Bentsen. Afterwards Reagan will head back to Washington, where he will spend the rest of the week, highlighted by a nationally broadcast “progress re port” on the economy at 7:30 p.m. EDT Wednesday. White House spokesman Larry Speakes has labeled the address “non partisan,” but speaker Thomas O’Neill already has made a protest to all three major networks for giving Reagan time for what he calls “a pa tently political address for an elec tion.” NBC said it will air the address, but a spokesman for CBS said “no final decision” had been made although it was “likely” the network will carry the address. ABC said it was undecided. The harshest criticism for Reagan Sunday came from AFL-CIO Presi dent Lane Kirkland. “Never before in history have two crack-brained theories like supply- side economics and cultist monetar ism had a more extensive trial and been proved so wrong, to the great harm of so many people so quickly,” said Kirkland during an appearance on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” Chief of Staff James Baker said in a broadcast on ABC-TV Sunday that Reagan deplores the 10.1 percent un employment “and we’re going to do what we can to remedy that situation.” But, he added, “We’re making dra matic progress on two fronts — infla tion has been reduced by over 50 per cent, and interest rates are down by some 40 percent.” Baker also insisted that the 11.3 million people out of work would not be a dramatic election issue or “a watershed event” as far as the ballot ing on Nov. 2 is concerned. He said the administration does not believe it will be hurt badly be cause it had been anticipated for some time that the jobless rate would top 10 percent. Furthermore, he said that “the 99 to 100 million Americans who are em ployed are considerably better off than they were two years ago by reason of increased purchase power. “Their taxes are down and infla tion is down, and they’ve got more real take-home pay,” he added. Reagan’s political advisers and the GOP campaign committees were working out the final stages of the president’s participation in the cam paign. So far, only one other date has been set for the president to travel. He will fly to Peroria, Ill., Oct. 20 for an appearance in support of Rep. Bob Michel, the House Republican leader, and the following morning will fly to Omaha, Neb. 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At Ease, The Battalion Friday, October 8, 1982 staff photo by Michaei Johnson staff P hoto b y Michael D. Johnson After a careful aim, Pablo Guer- r ero is a graduate student in Bull-Eyel This proves it — plungers aren't just for sewers anymore, rero from Diboll, Texas, throws aeropace engineering, his plunger at the target. Guer- A&M students take the plunge by Kordell Reid Battalion Reporter It began in fall 1980. Two gra duate aerospace engineering students were taking a study break, when they saw a bath room plunger in the room and began to toss it back and forth. Lo, a game was born. As the two students, Rick Matus and Steve Karmar, con tinued to toss the plunger, as fellow graduate students in the room asked to play. As time went on, plungers became a daily game among the graduate students. After about two weeks, one of them sug gested forming a plunger club. Four months later, the plun ger group finally got its first sponsor, Dr. Waiter ]. Horn, assistant professor of aerospace engineering. The Texas A&M Plungers became a recognized student organization. Now more than one year has passed. Rick Matus, the first president is gone, and Dr. Gerald F. Hall, assistant profes sor of areospace engineering, has taken over as sponsor. Laro Clark, president of the dub, said the game has many variations, but "target plung ing" is the most common. Target plunging is played by two contestants with a 5-inch plunger, although a different plunger can be used if both con testants agree. There are two targets (15 inches square with a 12-inch square inside) five yards apart, center to center. The outside square is labeled with a "1," the inside square a "2" and the center a "5." These basic values are multiplied by "n + 1" to get points scored, (n equals the number of complete backward revolutions the plun ger takes before sticking to the target). For example, a person throws a plunger with one revolution and it lands on the inside square. The score would be "1 +1" for the revolution times 2. The total score for that throw would be four. The winner is the first person to score 25 points. Bill Linn, secretary-treasurer for the Plungers, said that plunging most closely resem bles lawn darts. Depending on the player, a game can be as short as two tos ses, but usually last about 10 mi nutes, he said. Sound a little crazy? Maybe, but Linn and Clark both said it gives them something to do when they're just sitting around. "It gives you a fun break from studying," Linn said. "Some one in the club plays at least once a day." The association is growing with more than 50 active mem bers, and now has memberships made up of former active mem bers in Louisiana, Florida and California, Clark said. Roger Hehr, vice-president of the club, doesn't know how big plunging may become. Like fris- bee maybe? "That would be a Plungers dream," he said. To become a Plunger a person must purchase a lifetime mem bership card for 25 cents and pass a plunging skills test, Clark said. "The skills test involves get ting two single revolution sticks (to the target) in a row within 25 tosses," he said. "The throws must also be witnessed by a Plunger officer." Professors take a different approach to the game. At Plun ger meetings they have given technical lectures on plunging. Dr. W. E. Haisler, professor of aerospace engineering, forex- ample, lectured on the gravata- tional force of the plunger and Dr.Dale Webb, associate profes sor of civil engineering, showed drawings that indicate that plunging might have been around as early as ancient Eoypt, Clark said. Because of the rapid increase in interest in the sport. Plungers found it necessary to make a 12- page pamphlet of terms used in the game. The club even puts out "The Plunger Periodical" to keep members informed of the orga nization's progress. It will be placed in the Universtiy Arc hives, Clark said. The Plungers received na tional recognition when an arti cle appeared in the September 1981 issue of the Graduating En gineer, and they recently appeared on P.M. Magazine, the nationally syndicated televi sion show. Plungers. Obviously they're not just for sewers anymore. staff photo by Michael D. Johnson A plunger makes its way to its final destiny. before Friday’s parliament session, but that Glemp refused to attend to protest the Communist Party’s plan to ban Solidarity. Jaruzeiski expressed his sympathy to the rank and file members of Soli darity and the state-sponsored “branch” and “autonomous” unions also outlawed by Friday’s Parliament session. He stressed that new unions simul taneously created by the bill would be different from the old state- sponsored unions and Solidarity, which he called “an anti-socialist group.” Jaruzeiski said the authorities had been guided by good intentions in their dealings with Solidarity • jbus round the Moon landing to the Space Shut tle program. “The space program should be en ded,” he says. “The whole thing is a hoax. It is simply a case of everything that goes up eventually comes down. 11 doesn’t orbit. What we see on televi sion are pre-arranged movies made in studios.” But why would the United States perpetuate such a “myth?” “The space program keeps the myth alive that the world is round,” he said. “You must have a total lie, not a partial lie. In order to keep the hoax alive, they staged the moon landing, and of course we all know that was a lie and that it never happened. “Now they keep telling us the shut tle is orbiting the world, but it is just falling down. Again, what goes up, must come down.” )rps, grow cadets. “It’s the natural evolution of the way things are in our society,” he said. “Our women do a damn good job.” above liversity • “In the first place, we are now en- • forcing the quiet hours. Our fresh- ■ men and sophomores are being pro vided that time to study. Our senior • class is dedicated to that.” Burton has high hopes for the new faculty adviser program, in which 44 faculty members have volunteered to serve as advisers to Corps outfits. The commandant cited an especially gifted incoming class as another reason why he expects the Corps to improve academically. , “I think it’s clear to our seniors and our juniors that these freshmen are a cut above the average bear,” he said.