a;
Page 2/The Battalion/Thursday, March 31, 1983
opinion
Slouch Bv Jim Earle
“I’ve just made a breakthrough in my popcorn experi
ment. The good part is, you get to share the credit since
it’s your room I’m working in. ”
Nuclear energy -
the great debate
by Rube Williams
What use of it can justify its existence?
It was introduced to this African jungle
when a great lightening bolt pierced the
sky and struck a large tree which burst
immediately into flames. It was fire. It
swiftly claimed the lives of animals that
could not escape its path.
Krom, a “cave man” of unusual atten
tion span, taken to observing things and
actually deriving some conclusion,
screamed and shouted although he was
in no danger of the flames. He was thril
led, for even the greatest of predators,
the feared she-lion, ran from the flames
in panic. Krom came back the next day
and the next to watch in awe as the flames
painstakingly spread through the section
of forest.
Luckily, this part of the forest was
somewhat misplaced from the great mass
of the jungle, for surely greater destruc
tion could have ensued and might have
had not the rains finally begun. As the
rains rushed from the sky Krom re
mained crouched, pondering for the last
time at the spectacle that lay before him
— that which was once a dense green
forest was now a towering shroud of
blackness.
It came to pass that Krom possessed
fire at will. He discovered that the sparks
from the collision of certain rocks would
produce flames when introduced to
some dry grass and leaves. And furth
ermore, the fire once begun, could be
sustained by adding more grass and
leaves. Wood, he found, would burn
longer.
But banned from the village would be
Krom if the tribemaster ever suspected
him of starting fire again. For several
singed and some badly burned faces and
legs were testimony that fire was danger
ous and of no use. Krom explained that
fire was only hazardous if the villagers
persisted in running through it and
trying to eat it. Krom compared fire to
the warmth of the sun. But the villagers
protested vehemently, “No fire! No fire!”
Centuries later, fire was but an essen
tial tool of man. And it came to pass that
Einstein, a twentieth century man gifted
with extraordinary intellect, taken to de
ciphering the physical laws of the Uni
verse, developed the theorem E = mc2
(energy equals mass times the speed of
light squared). The theorem led to, in
times of war, an atomic bomb which
claimed the lives of many and left the
world in awe.
Presently, engineers and scientists de
rive energy from the atom at will. The
energy from the collision of certain ato
mic particles when introduced to water
can be converted to steam to drive elec
tric generators. - And furthermore, the
process once begun can be sustained by
subtracting or adding a neutron absorb
ing material. Theoretically it would take
at least a million pounds of chemical fuel
(oil, coal, etc ...) to equal the energy de
rived from one pound of nuclear fuel —
energy needed to light the enormous
cities of this era.
But threatened and fined would be the
nuclear engineers and utilities if the pub
lic ever suspected them of building a nuc
lear power plant. The engineers ex
plained that nuclear fuel was a hazard
only if people strolled through the con
tainment building unprotected or if they
somehow managed to eat uranium. En
gineers showed how environmentally
clean and how low of radiation emission
nuclear plants are compared to chemical
power plants, and they compared its
energy generation process to that of the
sun. But the people protested vehement
ly, “No nukes! No nukes!”
Rube Williams is a senior nuclear en
gineering major at Texas A&M.
USPS 045 360
Member at
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
The Battalion
Editor Diana Sultenfuss
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Andrade
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Roc
Networking for business, fun
has
by Maxwell Glen
and Cody Shearer
Every now and then, we’ve contem
plated throwing a party for 10 friends,
stipulating that each guest bring another
10 people. Every time we’ve rejected the
idea, fearful that any gathering of com
plete strangers would prove disastrous.
In New York City, however, someone
has found a way to make it work. Every
Wednesday night, about 1,500 complete
strangers pay $8 -each to meet one
another and exchange phone mumbers
at Manhattan’s Studio 54. It’s called
“Business Networking,” produced and
directed by that notorious former Yip-
pie, Jerry Rubin.
such as one man selling legal insurance,
made their pitches from the dimly-lit
sidelines.
After several hours, we learned that
good networkers don’t bother with con
versation. They just introduce them
selves and hastily arrange a meeting for
the following week. “Make two lunch
dates at every salon,” Rubin’s networking
guide counsels.
,I101V
glott
For the last two years, Rubin has been
throwing his Wednesday evening get-
togethers to provide, in his words, “a so
cial environment in which to do busi-
After a brief stint as a Wall Street
ness.
marketing director, Rubin now helps
other young professionals promote
themselves, make business contacts and
find success. Networking “salons,” he ex
plains, are a “business be-in.”
Indeed, a certain career-consciousness
pervaded the club when we visited last
week for Business Networking’s second
anniversary salon. Men and women,
most under 40, sported business cards
pinned to their suits (mostly gray flan
nel). Some actively worked the crowd,
passing out promotional material; others
Not surprisingly, the merger of fun
and profit is an awkward one. Some net-
workers smile bravely but are too shy to
speak; others strike up conversations as if
they’d known you for years.
Like the sponsors of more memorable
French salons, Rubin mixes the common
place with the offbeat to create a unique
evening. Every week, hourly demonstra
tions of “Yogarobics” vie with exhibits of
computer-aided design. A tuxedoed
Rubin marked the second anniversary
with balloons, a six-foot birthday cake
and a recitation of marriages spawned
and business deals cut because of net
working.
To be sure, Rubin’s brainchild has
some salient features. According to Val
ery Lasher, a financial planner who was
making her fourth appearance, the salon
offers businesswomen a rare chance to
meet people in other fields. (The need
for an “old girls’ network” was echoed
repeatedly by other women.)
And for Arthur Hersch, a veteran of
:!)t
said i
i l
25 salons, networking has uncoveret
lucrative clients for his printing
“I’ve got no time to canvass at woi
here you can keep talking all ni|
said.
Despite success stories, manymein
women likened the salon to a
singles bar. “It’s hilarious,” said one
stralian woman, who said she was
ositioned twice within the first
“This is pick-up city.”
Added a caterer working for thel
time, “I feel as if I’m at a dance,
collected a couple of cards that
lead somewhere, but I’m not sure
(the salon’s) value.”
Unfortunately, after two years
has had trouble maintaining whathei
the “quality” of his salons,
while many fascinating people
once, not all return. Meanwhile, to
6,()()() new invitations each weektoatt
“the most interesting people,” as
does, is a project doomed to
returns.
Yet if his guiding theory is correc
that the 1980s is “the decade ofacliii
ment” — Rubin may soon havesalot
other cities. Chronic career oriei
has led some younger Americans to
anything in the interest of
promotion. Besides, the ingenious
cept of a “business salon” sanctions
ing work with play.
And, most people will try
once.
by A
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Letters: Give Texas A&M credit
Editor:
I recently had an experience that 1 feel
I should share with your readers. When I
went home over spring break, I bought a
car from a gentleman who is an accoun
tant with Ernst and Whinney in Dallas.
When I told him that I was a student at
Texas A&M, he said that he had been
very impressed with the consistently high
quality of the accounting graduates they
recruited from Texas A&M. He told me
how the Aggies at Ernst and Whinney
displayed an attitude and a level of
maturity that was a cut above their aver
age recruits.
At any rate, it is encouraging to know
in these difficult economic times that a
degree from Texas A&M can count for
just a little more than a degree from
somewhere else. It is probably safe to
assume that grades of A and B are some
what harder to come by here than at
SMU. But before we bemoan any low
grades we might receive, perhaps we
should be cognizant of the probability
that our high grades carry much more
meaning in the professional world. For
that, I think, our administrators deserve
a sizeable measure of credit, as do we for
successfully making our way through.
Dwain Handley ’82
Greek loyalty
Editor:
I would like to congratulate Kirk Pat
terson, Dorm 5, on his letter concerning
the loyalty of Greeks at I’exas A&M, Mar
22. It was well said, well written; one of
the few objective letters we’ve seen in
quite some time.
I feel a quote is appropriate:
“... when school spirit and interest are
subordinated to fraternal prejudice and
selfishness, it becomes ... a detriment to
the fraternity and to the school ... (and)
we condemn, and pledge every effort to
avoid it.”
— Quote from my fraternity’s Declara
tion of Principles.
I think that the founders of all frater
nities and sororities truly felt this way.
T he Greek system cannot exist without a
college home. I hold my TAMU and my
fraternal experiences dear and deeply
resent the accusation of destroying or
dismantling anything for which Texas
A&M stands.
Becoming close to a group is essential
to human development. Fortunately
Texas A&M maintains an atmosphere
which fosters this. But it is not enough.
The openness exemplified at A&M often
seems kindred to that which psycholog
ists have found on busses and airplanes:
we would more quickly open up to stran
gers, those we’d never see again, than we
would to these we’re acquainted with.’
Texas A&M is like a sea of friendly stran
gers. This is why TAMU, like other uni
versities, supports anything that bolsters
camaraderie: intramurals, dorms, off-
campus centers, honor societies, choirs,
the Corps, etc. Fraternities and sororities
are simply two others, and it is obvious by
their size, some 2,000, that they are
needed here, and therefore should not
be scorned.
If I have convinced ]ust one that we are
beneficial to the student and therefore
the University, I am happy. As for the
rest, keep throwing stones, it just con
vinces me more.
Cartoon quips
Editor:
and respoi
Tickets
door and
The cost
A&M stud
and $2 foi
sms at
Follow!
ance, ther
and discus
This is in response to Tim Steph
letter in the March 28 Battalion court
ing Scott McCullar’s cartoon aboui
two cadets who were removed from
Corps for the use of marijuana.
Mr. Stephens wrote that “the
does not condone the use of drugs
will not tolerate them,” but these
cadets may have unknowingly St
something big.
Here at Texas A&M, it’s often
that once is an accident and twice
tradition.
C’mon guys, can’t you take ajoif
F
HI
nd 1
Brian Gorsk®
(1
Davis-Gary
Editor’s note: This letter was accoi
nied by 23 signatures.
Academic art
Editor:
Phillip Shiffrin
Mclnnis Hall
Referring to the picture on the! 1
page of the Buttalion, on March
would love to see Michelangelo’s “ft
in front of the Academic Building.
glorious work of “ART” would sure
those colored paper plates, tied bti»
of bamboo, broken bicycles,... etc,
nauseam.
Don Barbie'
Open