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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 29, 1983)
Wednesday, June 29, 1983/The Battalion/Page 11 re Halts guard from cancer Sun hinders immunities ge draft, d the >0, to be i“? nference nd fans) 111-man pared to et-carrier ■ Malone e doesn’t Rockets' will take lers, he's i taste of e has got s are wag boomed s Newest chere the ar, along ian many hat could 00 clip- Author wary of advice )ooks with simple answers ■e-packedj, cned, re- aeing the :d to it. ;ys to the rave some :ks in the , The 6-5, ty — was iquyw, very til g court. United Press International Sunlight may hinder the human immunity system from responding to irritating allergens and guarding against cancer. Exposure to the sun’s ultra violet (UV) light rays causes profound systemic changes, according to National Cancer Institute immunologist Mar garet Kripke. Her research, reported in the July issue of Science Di gest, may soon make it possi ble for physicians to use UV light to analyze the immune system and eliminate unde sired reactions. UV radiation is a known carcinogen that induces skin cancer. But Kripke’s experi ments with mice seem to show that in addition to inducing cancer, the radiation prevents the body from fighting against it. Kripke found that after ex posure to only two six-hour doses of summertime Mary land sunlight, mice’s immun ity systems were too weak to muster normal allergic reac tion to chemicals. And when mice were implanted with skin cancers after repeated expo sure with UV, their immunity systems did not reject the tumors. Also from Science Digest: •At least 144 Southeast Asian refugees have died in their sleep since 1977. In every case the cause of death is still un known, former speculation was that the strain of coping with life in a new land simply stopped their hearts. That view is now being challenged. Roy Baron of the Centers for Disease Control, and Rober Kirschner of the Chicago Medical Examiner’s office, say that sudden night time death claims young males in Japan and the Philip pines, as well as in Southeast Asia. They think the condi tion may be distributed among all male Asians. Stu dies of sleep patterns and bodily electrical activity con ducted on three Asian re fugees in this country who were resuscitated from noc turnal cardiac arrest may shed some light on the mystery ail ment. •Microwave ovens are a common kitchen-counter ap pliance. They cook foods with dazzling speed. How exactly do they do it? A device called a magnet ron, using electrical energy from the wall socket, gener ates microwaves, a form of radiation. These are directed by an antenna to a hollow tube called a waveguide. The tube then channels the waves to a fan that stirs and disperses them around the oven’s in terior. Finally they are absorbed by water molecules in the food. The waves, as they are absorbed by the food mole cules, oscillate billions of times per second. This agitates the water molecules, altering their position and creating the friction and heat that cooks the food. Because microwave ovens produce heat directly inside the food — where the water molecules are — heating occurs more quickly than in conventional ovens. However, if food is very thick, the micro- waves will not penetrate com pletely and the food’s inner layers will cook by conduction. Human tissue, of course, contains water, and high doses of microwaves can cook our bodies in the same way they cook our food. So the ovens must be carefully de signed and used so that only the food, and not the chef, gets roasted. •Although the atmosphere protects Earth from large meteors, we’re not saved from all cosmic flotsam. Each day, the planet’s weight increases by tons as meteoric dust wafts in from nearby space. United Press International NEW YORK — Be wary of tlfhelp books that offer easy lutions to the sexual problems m and women face, says Dr. Ian B. Rubin. A psychotherapist and her- tlfthe author of book on marit- Irelations, Rubin suggests cou- les try for less talk and more nderstanding. Some books, she says, can p in terms of advice. But, she said, “Oversimpli- edanswers found in the score (books on the market are only aving people in more despair, bey think to themselves, what’s tong with me? Everyone is big on the word wnmunication’ these days — as if all people need to do is talk more about their problems and the problems will be solved,” she said in an interview. “This just doesn’t work. “People are talking each other to death and the real meanings are passing right on by,” she said. “They need to in stead reach underneath at the inside problems so they can have a chance at controlling them.” She said some self-help books fill people’s heads with ways to deal with the symptoms of prob lems instead of the causes. “You might read somewhere you aren’t expressing this emo tion or that emotion, like anger,” she said. “So you go to a therap ist and beat on pillow to express anger. It doesn’t help with real problems, like how to cope with your kids.” Rubin said people need to realize the complexities of hu man relationships. True change is not as easy as one thinks. The only thing wrong is hop ing for an easy remedy for a host of maladies, she said. As for her new book, “Inti mate Strangers: Men and Women Together” she said it is not intended to be a guide to trouble-free relationships in simple steps. The book is aimed more at men than women. Too often, she said books on marital relations deal only with the problems and emotions of women. They simply pass over those affecting men. “I’m trying to do what hasn’t been done before. I want to ex plain men, not as male chauvin ist pigs but as comprehensible individuals,” she said. It’s the differences between men and women that make it hard for them to understand each other. “Intimacy without words for most women is small comfort,” Rubin said. “For men, they may feel very comfortable and close just being in the same room with their wives, without speaking at all. The woman feels neglected, the man doesn’t even realize there is a problem." SHemories prompt ‘Geech’ irst beta JL JL ic (McCraj ssic, a prt expected (0 aying twit, an dotoao United Press International DALLAS — Grimace is a fic- onal west Texas town, the getalittlt ®eof a smart-mouthed wai- t, but thea ,fss w h° dishes out meatloaf adabuse, a displaced Easterner to yearns for culture — but lostly bagels — and a confused :ets a favor, ^se monkey who is apt to dig e NBA Iasi lrou gl 1 sour cream and chives Loachingoi png for a dipstick. By name a shouldn't are Ruby, Artie and Geech, karacters in the comic strip r the Rocl the creation of Jerry illionaire® ^ e ' TheHeber Springs, Ark., na- W, 33, admitted he does most :o dent tlit ( his wor k in his backyard ^ taming pool, where gags - “him.”M tem to come more easily. lonsiderini think you] eet Iwrite in the pool. I float out kere in one of those big old kairswithaglass of iced tea,” he “I’m funnier in the inuner.” Geech, the namesake of the l np, works at Merle’s gas sta tion even though he cannot tell a fan belt from a fandango. “The Merle character, the guy Geech works for, is as close as any of the characters to a per son in real life,” Bittle said. “He’s a guy I know in Denver. He could smell your car and tell it’s a quart low. I’m Geech to his Merle.” As for Ruby, the waitress who is as crusty as the custard she serves, Bittle said she is a compo site of two diner waitresses he met while going to college at Wichita State University in Kansas. “Ruby is based on two waitres ses named Ruth and Charlotte,” Bittle said. “She looks a lot like Ruth, but she acts a lot like Char lotte.” Bittle said Charlotte took a shine to him. She even showed him the tattoo on her thigh. “Right there in the diner she hiked up her skirt and showed me her tattoo. It was a heart with ‘Cisco’ written inside,” he said. Charlotte later ran off with a trucker. Ruth was found dead in her apartment. “I don’t know if it was an irate customer or the food,” Bittle mused. The strip is still in its first year. Geech began appearing in newspapers in July and now plays in 105 papers. Bittle, a former political car toonist in Albuquerque, said he walked into the comic strip busi ness backwards. A friend at the syndicate goaded him into trying a comic strip. “I said all right more or less to get him off my back,” Bittle admitted, but he said drawing the trial strips was fun. And more importantly they sold. “They (Universal Press Syndi cate) got them on a Monday, and that Friday they said, ‘Yeah, they wanted them,”’ Bittle said. The success is little short of a miracle in a business where the odds against making it are over whelming. Bittle said Universal Press re ceives 8 to 10 comic strip submis sions every day and accepts only two or three a year. Bittle said doing the strip is fun, but added, “It’s real hard, too. There’s the pressure of trying to be funny every day for 20 years.” That is the length of his contract with the syndicate. “The drawing part isn’t near ly as hard as the writing,” he said “There are dry periods when I don’t do anything. Then some times I can do eight in a row.” Bittle said although he tries, not every strip he does is funny. “Some cartoonist once said if he did four a week that are fun ny, that’s a good batting av erage.” n’s semifini l and defe» rtina Navti nth AW iYrmaak, orch starts fire a plastics plant ALFREDO’S G/ K United Press International mineral wells — The rea •d veteran 5 ischasingli taron plant outside Mineral tie, are sek P was destroyed by fire talay when a torch an em byeewas using to install an ex ai tafan ignited the insulation, oi ^Marshall Z.A. Calhoun said ay :sday she ally” fit ;ran has e before, in New Calhoun said the building ^totalled and estimated the lage at between $3 and $4 ion. The fire started at 3:32 p.m. day, and firemen were not able to control the blaze until 9:30 p.m. Calhoun said about 50 fire men from the surrounding com munities helped fight the fire. Nine fireman were hospitalized when they were overcome by heat and toxic fumes. Six had been released by Tuesday morning. Centron Fabricators manu factures a variety of plastic pro ducts and currently has several government contracts. MEXICAN PIZZA INDIVIDUAL SIZE $ 2 50 each Choice of 3 Items 509 UniversityDr. at Northgate COUPON T 750 off any 2 entrees Good ’till June 30. Number of Salvadorans crossing border rising United Press International BAY VIEW — The number of Salvadorans sneaking into the United States has doubled this spring. The debate is over whether the United States is sen tencing some of them to death by routinely sending them back. The Border Patrol said it is catching twice as many Salva dorans along the lower 238 miles of the Rio Grande this spring as it did last year, 785 in March and 638 in April. Assistant Border Patrol chief James H. Selbe of McAllen, pre dicts his men will be catching 1,000 Salvadorans a month be fore summer is over. He says this south Texas sector catches the highest percentage of Salvador ans of any Border Patrol area along the 2,000-mile U.S.- Mexico border, probably be cause it is located on a traditional route taken by Central Amer icans into the United States through Matamoros and Reyno- sa, Mexico. The Immigration and Natur alization Service, in turn, says it flew 153 Salvadorans back to San Salvador from its Bayview Processing Center, which critics sarcastically refer to as “a con centration camp.” Officials estimate that 60 per cent of the 5,000 held at the for mer Naval Air Station at Bayview are Salvadorans. The facility is filled to capacity, caus ing many aliens to be bused or flown to the Krome detention facility in Florida. Lisa Brodyasa, an attorney who founded the non-profit Projecto Libertad (Project Li- COMPARE Compare the cost of an evening meal at the Memo rial Student Center Cafeteria with the cost of a meal prepared at home. 'Many agree that it is less expensive to dine at the MSC. OPEN MON.-SAT. 6:30-7 p.m. berty) to provide legal services for the Salvadorans who get caught sneaking across the bor der, contends that the U.S. Gov ernment, by denying political asylum in all but a few cases, is wrongfully condemning many Salvdorans to their deaths. That is why, she said, increas ing numbers of U.S. church groups have gotten involved in “the sanctuary movement,” an undergournd pipeline that is harboring numerous Salvador ans and helping them in their attempts to gain asylum in Canada. “There’s a very high likeli hood they’ll be killed if de ported, even if the INS won’t take responsibility,” said Brody asa, 42. She says she was driven to help the Salvadorans as a “graduate” of McCarthyism of the 1950s, the anti-Vietnam War protests of the 1960s and 1970s, and of the feminist movement. “El Salvador is Spanish for Vietnam,” says a bumper sticker on Brodyasa’s car which she parks daily in front of the Bayview Center. INS officials argue that Brodyasa and well-intentioned officials are making the job of protecting U.S. borders against illegal immigrants much more expensive. “It would haunt me to think I was sending someone back (to his death),” said INS District Di rector Hal. W. Boldin of nearby Harlingen. Boldin makes it clear that he does not believe that the Salva dorans are coming hundreds of miles to the United States for fear of their lives, as many of them claim when asking for asy lum. Immigration judges, by re fusing to grant asylum, are back ing up Boldin’s argument. Boldin contends, and Selbe agrees, that the largest propor tion of the Salvadorans tell arresting agents on arrival that they came looking for work, like the thousands of Mexicon and other aliens that are deported each year without claiming asylum. However, after talking to attorneys and “jailhouse lawyers” at the dentention facil ity, many of the Salvadorans de cide to file application for asy lum, Boldin said. “When they are asked for what purpose they come, far and away the greatest percen tage of Central Americans give economic reasons,” Selbe said. Boldin said if the Salvadorans truly came for asylum, they could go to any U.S. embassy in any country and request it, with out traveling to the United States in person. Provisional Students All Provisional Students report to room 100, First Floor, Harrington Bldg, June 27 thru July 1, to pick up registration instruction for the second summer term. SUN. 7 a.m.-7 p.m. “QUALITY FIRST’ ATTENTION PROFESSORS, GRADUATE STUDENTS & SUMMER SCHOOLERS! WORD PROCESSING SUMMERTIME SPECIAL BAS is having a super Summertime Special! Bring us your special projects five pages or more in length and receive a 10% discount on the rough draft. This special is good . through the end of August, 1983! I You will be impressed with the professional quality of • our work and our staff! Word Processing 24 Hour Dictation Electronic Typewriting Transcription Services I'Ve specialize in theses, dissertations, and meeting tight deadlines! 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