Page 6AThe Battalion/Tuesday, October 2, 1984
Warped
by Scott McCullar
"OKAY, THE COMPUTER tKTErt'sl
FULL OF POETRY, E/TERATVRE,
ART A-VP HUMANITIES, so w/WP
WHAT &OOt> IS IT ALL? WU CANT
USE IT IN It/PUSTRroXSCIEJXB
OR ECONOMICS OR.
\ GOOD LORD, THIS STUFF IS
WONDERFUL*. SO.. SO MIND
SFANNIN6 .. so SOOL-F\LUM6.
WHY THE CONCEPTS-" THE
CREATIVITyTHE HUMAN
SPIRIT ITSELF...
WHY,THAT /AEARS THERE MOST
BE SOMETHING BEYOND COM"
PUTE.R SCIENCE AND ENGIN
EERING AND MATH ANP-
PD SOMETHING, ^UICIC,
IT'S STARTIA/G TOSPREAP
FROM THE. SYSTEM
SHOE
Jeff MacNelly
Saved
Old computers get new waterfront home
United Press International
BOSTON — Remember when
computers were bigger than we
were? When their massive consoles
and data banks resembled the war
room of “Dr. Strangelove,” and not
the mutant typewriters seen in to
day’s television commercials?
Progress, it seems, has robbed
computers of much of their ro
mance.
Word processing machines are
hardly more threatening than a tele
phone, and adolescents have grown
as dextrous with home computers as
they are with skateboards.
Even the granddaddy of civil de
fense systems — the four-story
SAGE computer buried under
ground near Booth Bay, Canada —
was switched off last year after 25
years of surveying North American
skies. Its replacement is smaller than
a refrigerator.
Until recently, an obsolete com
puter like the SAGE, the largest vac
uum tube computer ever built,
would have been been dismantled —
its parts sold off or left to rust.
But thanks to a group of ded
icated computer buffs, the ancestors
of today’s machines can be found at
The Computer Museum in Boston,
the only institution of its kind in the
world.
“It’s to preserve the history of
computers, so a hundred years from
now an industrial archeologist can
see what has been before,” said
Gwen Bell, the museum’s director.
“The technology of the computer
is really inexplicable to many people.
They don’t understand what’s in
that black box and how it got there.”
Explaining how a computer works
is one of the museum’s tasks when it
reopens Nov. 14 at its new location
in a renovated waterfront ware
house.
Guidelines can cut
worker legal action
United Press International
SAN FRANCISCO — The grow
ing number of lawsuits Filed by
workers fired from their jobs or up
set about working conditions could
be reduced if companies would take
some simple legal advice.
“We believe the first step you can
take toward reducing your vulnera
bility to claims by ex-employees is to
have a carefully drafted employ
ment contract,” said George Weick-
hardt, a partner in a San Francisco
law firm.
Weickhardt said employers face a
number of potential liabilities due to
increasing numbers of mergers and
acquisitions, growing emphasis on
job productivity and a labor pool
comprised of more women and
older workers.
In the absence of a formal con
tract, the best thing to do is get com
pany policies down in writing and
make workers aware of the
guidelines, Weickhardt said.
“So many of these lawsuits by em
ployees today are based on what they
say they were told by their employ
ers,” Weickhardt said.
“We recommend that every em
ployer also have a written policy on
sexual harassment that instructs em
ployees to report all such instances
to management and assures them
that offenses will be investigated and
dealt with appropriately.”
Weickhardt explained that m
many cases ex-employees argue in
court that they didn’t know their em-
ployers were dissatisfied with them..
“Suddenly, they said, ‘You’re
fired. Your performance is inade
quate.’ That’s the typical pattern,’’
Weickhardt said. “The longer the
guy is on the payroll, the more basis
he has for his lawsuit. They wouldn’t
have kept him on for so long unless
he was doing a basic, satisfactory
job.”
County sheriff’s department offers
three-part handgun safety course
By TRENT LEOPOLD
Staff Writer
People who know little about
handguns but want to learn can at
tend a firearms safety program be
ginning tonight at the Brazos Cen
ter.
The program, sponsored by the
Brazos County Sheriffs Depart
ment, will be held in three parts —
the first from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
tonight; the second from 6:30 p.m.
to 9:30 p.m. Wednesday; and the
last from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday.
Sheriffs Deputy Christopher Kirk
said the course is designed for any
one who is interested in learning the
proper use of a handgun.
“The program is designed to
teach people the basics of using a
handgun,” Kirk said. “We welcome
anyone who is interested in learning
about handguns in general, (but) the
class is actually designed to instruct
people who have little or no knowl
edge about guns.”
Kirk said the course is being spon
sored in conjunction with the Na
tional Rifle Association and will
cover topics from how a handgun
works to how to avoid criminal at
tacks.
Kirk said anyone who is at least 12
years old may sign up for the class. A
$7 registration fee, which covers the
cost of hand outs and the rent of the
building, is required, he said.
Students will go to the Indian
Lakes firing range Saturday to prac-
ticewith their weapons, he said.
“We go out to the range where
students (will) fire about 60 rounds
of ammunition under close supervi
sion by instructors,” Kirk said. “Stu
dents have to pay for their own am
munition.”
Though the sheriffs department
will supply handguns for the class,
Kirk said, people owning their own
gun should bring it.
“We will supply various handguns
for th
them,” Kirk said. “But if people have
their own we would prefer they
bring it, since the idea is to educate
people about proper usage of their
own gun.”
When all phases of the class have
been completed, students will be
given a certificate of completion.
With the certificate students can re
ceive a discount on annual mem
bership rates at a local firing range,
Kirk said.
at the classes for those wishing to use
“The certificate of completion in
no way authorizes people to carry a
handgun except under the current
Texas penal code provisions,” Kirk
said. “The only benefits of having a
certificate are the discount and
knowledge gained in the course.”
Persons attending the class will be
required to sign a document releas
ing Sheriff Bobby Yeager and the
Brazos County Sheriffs Department
from any liability in case of injury,
Kirk said.
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Among the companies telecasting live to
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BPI-SOURCE 1-800-328-4032
Fill out this coupon and bring it to the
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