$30,000 TREASURE HUNT INSIDE JlTjTlU FEBRUARY 1995 STAR TREK: LAUNCHING VOYAGER UFO CONTROVERSY: ABDUQEE VS. THE MILITARY EXPLORING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE onnruiFEBRUARY 1995
EDITOR IN CHIEF & DESIGN DIRECTOR: BOB GUCCIONE
PRESIDENT & C.O.O.: KATHY KEETON VP/EDITOR: KEITH FERRELL EXECUTIVE v/P/GHAPI-i OS ;,|R-c:0H. MA'-.X DI-VINO MANAGING R-jlTOP- CAROLINE DARK ART DIRECTOR: CATHRYN MEZZO 6 38 First Word " Star Trek: Voyager A '"" By Mark Pendergrast "'™ 1 tel By David Bischoff 8 The latest Trek sets sights Communications on distant stars 12 and new worlds across Funds our galaxy By Linda Marsa 46 14 Virtual Blue Electronic Universe Yonder: Fightertown By Gregg Keizer ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^m 1 Takes OH 16 III T By Denny Atkin Mind 87 ^^^BJ Tj The ultimate By Jeff Goldberg in flight, and fight. Hunting for simulation the "aggression" gene 1^— fl 58 18 tfrJS Project Open Kid Stuff VAlHSD Book Update: By Lisa Casinger Anatomy G. ^3 i Hands-on books r ^H .of an Abduction 20 By A. J.S. Rayl Stars 62 Steve IMadis Profiles in Artificial By ^^fcv ^*£v - , £ Speed traps Intelligence for high-energy By David H. Freedman cosmic rays Researchers 22 take a nature-based The Great Omni ^H BP^^^Ea* * ^W "^^^k. approach to Al Treasure Hunt K^^BBRBk " ^^bw^^ 888^ 66 More than $30,000 in Fiction: prizes ^Hl£*'3^| Occam's Ducks 26 "' sfl Hf,V By Howard Waldrop Waves 73 By Paul Kvinta Interview: 28 Linda Scheie Sounds By Kathleen McAuliffe By Anthony Liversidge Far on the other side of the galaxy, ihe U.S.S. 79 and Ted Libbey oyageriaces a bold task: to explore strange, new worlds- Antimatter
Analog versus digital and find its way home. A look at the people making it 104 31 possible. Cover art by Gary Hutzel, copyright Paramoun Games Continuum Television. [Additional art credits, page 96) By Scot Morris
Printed in U.S.A. Ca-adiEn GST Reg slral en tP:'2cCG:'589
FIRST UUORD
REMEMBERING THE PAST: A new chapter in the old story of women and oppression
By Mark Pendergrast
her 1972 landmark book, traditionally been expected to cest—but no one forgets years of InWomen and Madness, Phyllis act out the role of the hysteric abuse. The real problem for incest Chesler noted that, "Today, more often than males. Women, victims is their inabilityto forget. more women are seeking psychi- almost universally repressed, One of the tragic ironies of atric help and being hospitalized abused, and powerless to do this movement is its supposed
than at any other time in history." much about it, have often con- affiliation with feminism. I have
Today, that is truer than ever, Ches- formed to the roles expected of interviewed scores of self-identi- ler attributed this intensification them, which at least allowed them fied "survivors" who have re- of an old trend to the "help-seek- sympathetic attention and an emo- called abuse memories. They ing" nature of the learned female tional outlet for their suppressed are firmly convinced that, as they role, the oppression and often justifiable have been told repeatedly, "You of women, and role- rage. Little seems to have to get worse before you get confusion in the have changed. The better." They are thrown into a modern age. only thing that is rel- psychological hell in which they The female "ca- atively new about frequently lose their self-confi- Pendergrast dis- reer" as a psychiat- the Incest Survivor dence, jobs, marriages, children, cusses tlie ric patient identified movement is its par- and sometimes their sanity—all by Chesler has a long ticularly awful slant— in the name of "healing." history, with women the virulent accusa- Though most therapists who usually displaying tions against parents help extract these "memories" the symptoms ex- and other early care- truly believe that they are helping pected of them, givers, and the com- their patients, they do so by ranging from de- plete rewriting of the making women feel helpless, de- pression to paranoia. personal past. pendent, wounded, incomplete, fundamentally flawed. Does Chesler tacitly acknowledges I speak from experience. My and this history with the wry observa- own daughters cut off all contact that sound familiar? Women's lives tion: "No longer are women sac- with me after accusing me of un- are being harmed by a move- rificed as voluntary or involuntary specified sexual abuse. As a ment that feminists should abhor. Phyllis Chesler witches. They are, instead, consequence, I spent over two Back in 1972, taught to sacrifice themselves for years investigating recovered issued a prophetic warning about promise newly named heresies." memory therapy (RMT). I cannot radical treatments that One of these newly named di- possibly summarize here all of to help female patients in some social agnoses, amazingly popular the significant findings I detail in special way. "People and since the publication of Courage a 600-page book on the subject: structures change slowly if at
to Heal by Ellen Bass in 1988, is Victims of Memory. Suffice it to all," she wrote, adding that "most that of Incest Survivor. Millions of say, however, that there is no sci- people simply obey new myths, women—and some men—have entific evidence to support the as inevitably as they did old come to believe that all of their concept of "massive repres- myths." Consequently, she was "symptoms" {depression, panic sion"—the idea that human be- both excited and disturbed by attacks, poor relationships, sex- ings can or do completely forget the possibilities she saw in femi- ual dysfunction, bodily pangs, years of abuse, only to recall it nist psychotherapy. It could, she nightmares, eating disorders, years later in therapy. On the feared, simply turn into "authori- and other life problems) stem contrary, there is a great deal of tarianism with a new party line." from long-forgotten sexual abuse. evidence which confirms that Unfortunately, with the advent Only by recalling and reliving when a therapist suggests the of RMT, that is just what has hap- these repressed trauma memo- possibility of repressed incest pened. With women's mental ries can they be truly healed. memories, confabulations (the health on the line, let us hope For centuries in Western cul- psychologist's term for illusory that a new brand of feminist ther- tures, women have often suf- memories) can easily result. apist will blow the whistle on this fered from bizarre psychosomatic To question the validity of disastrous social phenomenon. CXI ailments aided and abetted by massive repression or the effi- the "experts" of the era. Because cacy of RMT is not to deny the Victims of Memory is published (1-800- of societal bias, females, consid- existence of real abuse. I am we'll by Upper Access Books ered the "weaker vessel," have aware of the horrors of real in- 356-9315). connnnunJicATorus
READERS' WRITES: A better beta version, unearthing more facts, and - splendor in the gas
No Deposit, No Return the arrogant assumption that we could Regarding the sperm bank note [Anti- comprehend with any accuracy "why" created all this. We are burning matter, October 1994], may I suggest God the following Purdue campus scene? out our gears arguing over something possibly in this Omni (to a student}; "I'm doing a story which we cannot know on college education and would like a lifetime. There is unlimited beauty and
" fulfillment in scientifically observing the i information on social life. I see you have a large Greek Beta on your shirt. infinite "hows" of our cosmos. Crawford Do you belong to a fraternity?" Student: Christian Carlsbad, CA "No, actually I don't. This represents my association with the local sperm bank. I'm a Master Beta." Mounds of Evidence Fritz Khan Jeffrey Heck's article [Digs, October Los Angeles, CA 1994] was interesting, particularly the arguments and statements of curator Reality Check Brad Lepper and author Stephen Wil- article lucid dreaming liams who doubted the authenticity of I enjoyed the on [September 1994]. Regarding the the Newark Holy Stones. Perhaps anecdotal reports of people losing the speculation about authenticity should ability to discr mi:ia:e between dreams be withheld until the readily available
and reality, I would speculate that indi- evidence in the mounds has been fully viduals with this problem already have examined. If the mounds contain addi- an existing psychological disorder. tional similar stones which can be time- David Porter dated based on surrounding material, Scotia, NY proof of a Jewish presence in early America may be incontrovertible. Striking a Balance Roger G. Jenkins Hats off to Omni and writer Margaret Phoenix, AZ Wertheim for the excellent treatment of
"Science and Religion" [October The Gas is Always Greener . . . 1994], Your fitting choice of scholars I'd like to see another article on the use enabled you to dispel the idea 'that of helium-3 [Continuum, Sepiember these areas of concern are in total and 1994]. I once read an article on the permanent isolation from one another, theory that our planets are slowly mov- Strident fundamentalists, whether of ing toward our sun, the idea being that the theistic or antitheistic stripe, wheth- life hops from the inner planets to the er zealous in the name of religion or outer ones as they approach "living science, have long resisted construc- position." Perhaps helium-3 changes tive interaction. It's time now for authen- into something necessary in the eons tic scientists and theologians to engage to come, Whether true or not, one does
in candid conversation and to see what wonder if it is wise to deplete re- each can learn from the other. sources on Uranus which may be Howard J. Van Till needed right where they are a long Grand Rapids, Ml time from now. Carol Treffinger Poikinghorne's Mt. Shasta, I agree with John idea CADO that we as a society need the insights of both science and religion [First Got something to say but no time to Word, October 1994], but don't believe write? Call (900) 285-5483. Your com- organized Christianity makes any at- ments will be recorded and may appear tempt to be compatible with science. in an upcoming issue of Omni. The cost
Christianity assumes a great deal. This for the call is 95 cents per minute. You
is where the idea of Occam's razor must be age 1 8 or older. Touch-lone could be applied; The best theory is phones only. Sponsored by Pure Enter- the one which assumes the least. True tainment, 505 South Beverly Drive, science assumes nothing and ob- Suite 977, Beverly Hills, CA 9021 2. serves everything. We need to cast off —
FUftJDS
SECURITIES ARBITRATION: The people's court for Wall Street
By Linda Marsa
^% irt aking rnoriev in the ker did something wrong," says trail of events: notes of conversa- I I stock market can be John Lawrence Allen, a San tions with your broker, account I %J I chancier than handi- Diego-based securities lawyer statements, and any other docu- capping nags at the track, espe- and author of InvestorBeware!, mentation. And then complain—
cially if you suspect the race is or How to Protect Your Money loudly. If you can't get any rigged. But unhappy investors from Wall Street's Dirty Tricks. satisfaction from your broker, write who've been duped by scurrilous Little wonder claims have sky- to the firm's branch manager and
brokers don't have to suffer in si- rocketed to 6,561 in 1993, up compliance department. It they lence. Mow there's a way to fight from a paltry 830 in 1980. Top- stonewall, arbitrate promptly For back—and recoup their losses ping the list of offenses are suit- filing fees ranging from $30 for a without getting mired in costly liti- ability violations. That's industry small case to $1,800 for claims gation that can drag on for years. parlance for when a broker con- over $5 million, this matter can Securities arbitration, a proc- vinces your widowed aunt, who's be settled within an average of ess geared toward a quick and scraping by on a scanty pension 10 months. "But once you choose cheap resolution of investors' and interest from Triple A-raied this route," cautions Deborah claims, has become a sort of bonds, to invest in wildcat oil Masucci, NASD's director of arbi- people's court for small investors, wells. Other common infractions tration, "you've surrendered your a way for the Davids of the finan- include misrepresentation, when right to go elsewhere if you're
cial world to slog it out with Wall your broker insists those daz- unhappy with the resolution." Street Goliaths on a relatively zling 20 percent returns on junk But the best way to avoid level playing field. Since a 1987 bonds are guaranteed; omission being suckered is to check out Supreme Court ruling, in fact, in- of facts, where your friendly who you are doing business with vestors who sign predispute ar- money maven conveniently "for- before you trust him or her with bitration agreements are now gets" to mention the hot shot your money. The NASD has a required to take their brokerage heading the firm floating those hotline (800-289-9999), where
beefs to the organizations that issues was indicted for securities you can find out if a broker has handle securities arbitrations, in- fraud; and churning, where bro- been disciplined by regulators or cluding the New York, American, kers make dozens of trades on hit with claims from angry clients. and Pacific Stock Exchanges, or an account to generate hefty Remember, no one can predict the National Association of Secu- commissions, not profits. which way the market is headed. rities Dealers (NASD), which hears But now there is something But honorable brokers protect
about 83 percent of these cases. you can do. If you suspect you've their clients from the predators Initially, small investors were been victimized, construct a paper lurking in Wall Street's woods.DO doubtful they'd get a fair shake
It's what from forums controlled and courts are set up funded by self-regulatory organi- lo do Hut zations for Wall Street's heavy hit- are too busy to ters. But quite the opposite is true. handle. A survey by Congress's General I Arbitration is an Accounting Office (GAO) discov- Did way to ered investors won more than settle differences, half the time, and awards aver- but on Wall aged about 60 percent of the
Street it's proving amount claimed; in 30 percent of lo be a suc- cases, arbitrators awarded in- vestors what they claimed and more in punitive damages. These numbers stack up even ~^pE more favorably when you con- sider that perhaps half of the suits are frivolous. "Many of these : sour-grapes investors are just suing their broker because they lost money, not because the bro- — ELECTROnJIC UfUIV/ERBE
INTERACTIVE SCIENCE: Multimedia for mad scientists in trie making
By Gregg Keizer
f% I hen you were a kid, pick is its price, a steep S130 Sharks! doesn't overlook the I I science at home enough to buy an armful of good sensational; you won't go beg- U mm probably centered science reference works. ging for video of scary footage of around a beaker-packed chem- DK publishes an even simpler big-mouthed great whites. istry set. Home science today CD, The Way Things Work. It (There's even a conversation with comes on the computer. Multi- may be more elementary (and Peter Benchley, author of Jaws, media and CD-ROM have jolted more mechanical and techno- but It's boring.} To its credit, the subject back into a promi- logical in coverage), but like the Sharks! tries to separate some of
nent place in stores. book on which it's based, it gives the fiction about sharks from the I've yet to see the science CD you an idea of how gizmos like facts. But the best part of the that will make me toss the classic the laser printer and telephone disk is "Ask the Experts." Here book Asimov's Guide to Science network work. In some ways, it's you get to quiz four different ex- into the dumpster, better than Eye- perts by asking ten clickable You may but with a CD-ROM witness, questions. Since you can ask the no! scream "It's drive and speak- More substan- same question of all the experts, alive!" after ers, the computer tial — at least on it's something you won't get from using a science actually mutates in- the informational a documentary on the tube.' CD-flOM, but to a science project level—the Mc- I'd love to get my hands- on a at least there's worth exploring. Graw-Hill Multi- virtual archaeological dig— it's a little chance DK Muitimedia's media Encyclo- science fascinating enough to ol something es- Eyewitness Ency- pedia of Science draw a crowd and one seemingly caping from clopedia of Sci- & Technology is tailor-made for pretend on the die beaker and ence is a good be- based on the ref- PC—but I've not found one. Mi- burning a ginning, and a be- erence work by crosoft Ancient Lands is more a hole in the carpet. ginner's guide, to the same name turn through antiquity than a walk the subject. Aimed (minus "Multime- through the science of uncover- at kids 10 and older, dia"). Packing ing antiquities {there's a differ- Eyewitness's clear explanations 7,300 articles in 81 disciplines ence), but it's interesting none- and bright illustrations may be as and only a bit of video 'and audio theless. Like most of the Micro- much help to science-chal- window-dressing, this PC CD- soft CD-ROMs pegged for the lenged adults as to children. The ROM is really targeted toward li- home, you may feel shortchanged of CD-ROM, which runs under Win- braries. But if you have a spare on content (you get a couple
dows on a PC, has 1 ,700 entries $1,300 (that's nora misprint) and paragraphs, no more, on any of in five categories: chemistry, an overwhelming interest in sci- the items), but the wide-ranging,
mathematics, physics, life sci- ence, it may be up your alley. free-wheeling approach works ences, and who's who in science. Personally, I'd spend the grand- well as an introduction. Separate sections highlight earth and-change on anew computer. Ancient Lands covers three and space sciences. Quizmaster Closer to my budget is Dis- civilizations: Roman, Greek, and tests your knowledge, a "Who's covery Muitimedia's Sharks!, a Egyptian (with some extras such Who" section sports short bios of TV-style documentary about big as the Minoan, Mycenaean, and famous scientists, and an inter- fish. Like those shark shows on Babylonian thrown in for good active periodic table feeds you cable, Sharks! skips through, measure). Scads of illustrations, the elements. and in some cases over the sub- a bit of animation, and a fair Eyewitness won't get you a ject. Several sections skim such amount of audio support the ex-
B.S. in biology, but its presenta- areas as shark anatomy behav- plorations as you click your way tion is so slick and its language ior, and evolution, with plenty of through highlights of everything and approach so casual that video and voice-over narration to from architecture and medicine you'll probably learn something keep you from reading. Good to warfare religion. When you hit new, Over 500 photos and a cou- thing, too, since this Windows one area, there's always an outlet ple of hours of audio punch up CD-ROM is weak on text. And al- to an associated topic—you can the text. The video and anima- though the program is video-in- go from the Parthenon to Egypt- tions, though not in any great tensive, Sharks! suffers from the ian temples. And a timeline is numbers, are just as profession- typical grainy, jerky display seen available to help you keep things ally put together. My only bone to in most multimedia programs. in context. DO NOTHING, NOTHING CAN PREPARE YOUR PC AND 32X.
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THE BAD SEED: Amid controversy, scientists hunt 'for the "aggression" gene
By Jeff Goldberg
mouse, totally lacking the Researchers in the Dutch family, other suspicious "killer" effectively Netherlands claim a ge- genes have been identified else- receptor, and thus, blocking serotonin's calming in- netic defect could ac- where. Markku Linnoila, scientific fluence at millions of synaptic con- count for the behavior of some director of research at the Na- Abuse nections. The mutant mice develop men in a large Dutch family, who tional Institute on Alcohol and live apparently normally, for generations have been prone and Alcoholism, detected such says Hen, until isolated and faced to periodic, seemingly unpro- an altered genetic profile in a people with intruder—whereupon voked, violent outbursts. Among group of over 1 00 unrelated an they attack "impulsively," without the men, who are also mildly re- in his native Finland, including the sniffing and approaching be- tarded (with an average !Q of 85) prisoners who have committed violence havior that normally accompa- and at other times shy and non- acts of impulsive and nies turf wars between rodents. threatening, one raped his sister, exhibited suicidal behavior. The regulates the While such discoveries are in- and later, in a mental institution, genetic alteration triguing, the possibility they stabbed a warden in the chest production of tryptophan hydrox- could lead to genetic screening with a pitchfork. Another tried to ylase, an enzyme which, like MAO, serotonin. for violent tendencies, perhaps run over his employer with a car controls brain levels of even at birth, opens a Pandora's after the boss criticized his work; Rene Hen, a French re- box of eugenic and racial fears. a third sometimes threatened his While the National Research Abnormal levels sisters with a knife, forcing them Council has cautiously sup- of sBratonln to undress; and two were arson- ported the premise that genetic and its byprod- ists, according to Han Brunner, a disorders may contribute to ucts have geneticist at the University Hos- some forms of violent behavior, been Identified pital in Nijmegen, who has been the Clinton administration previously studying the family since 1988. and has endorsed a Centers for Dis- in violent crimi- The men lack a gene for the ease Control position that vio- nal offenders, production of monoamine oxi- lence is a public health problem adolescents with dase (MAO), an enzyme that that can be studied like any dis- conflict dis- breaks down several of the ease, NIH researchers investi- orders, suicides, brain's important transmitters. gating the genetic roots of and impul- Without MAO, Brunner believes, violence remain wary of public sive fire starters. a surge of excess chemical mes- will not talk openly sengers could flood the victims' reaction and "We want to keep brains, causing their furies. to the press, doing science," one researcher, Among the neurochemicals af- not to be identified, fected by the MAO gene, sero- who asked bluntly. tonin —which ironically usually said European investigators exerts a calming, inhibitory effect searcher now at Columbia Uni- The another are also quick to qualify their on neuronal firing — is consid- versity, reported provoca- the aggres- ered the prime suspect con- tive finding when he used findings. "This is not sion gene," says Brunner, noting tributing to the Jekyll-and-Hyde cloning techniques to create an discovered transformations exhibited by the abnormally aggressive trans- that the mutation he manipulating is likely rare, "Even if we found men in the Dutch family. Abnor- genic mouse. By able these mutations in a larger human mal levels of serotonin and its mouse fetal cells, Hen was still wouldn't sup- byproducts have been identified to "knock out" the gene coding population, it port a single cause for aggres- previously in violent criminal of- for the production of one of 14 sive or criminal behavior," reflects fenders, suicides, and impulsive known serotonin receptors that of physio- Rene Hen, "One reason it's dan- fire starters. Brunner and other govern a wide range talk aboui an 'aggres- scientists contend that malfunc- logical and behavioral functions. gerous to sion' gene is people are tired of tions in genes for the production He then injected the mutated crime and violence, and they and destruction of serotonin cells into a mouse embryo that would like an easy answer, like a could be the cause of the chemi- was implanted into a foster gene, to explain it. That's an cal imbalance. mother. By inbreeding genera- bad Crime and violence are While the MAO-gene mutation tions of these offspring, Hen illusion. very complex issues. "DO has so far been found only in the eventually produced a strain of NEW TREND IN KIDS MARKET: Data storage units
By Lisa G. Casinger
a smoke-filled boardroom compass, microscope, camera Infour market analysts frantically obscura, kaleidoscope, and sun- rack Their brains for the next « HOW THE 'W dial. Each of the pop-ups is sur- great cash cow in the kids mar- rounded by its own "fun facts," and easy- ket. Super-Duper Nintendo, one UNIVERSE definitions, histories, offers. Been there, done that. Vir- to-use instructions. Fortunately, tual Reality bungee jumping, an- kids don't have to be rocket sci- un- other suggests. Seen it, did it. entists to read this book and How about Chia baby dolls, a derstand the concepts of sound, third recommends. Not! Timidly, electromagnetism, heavenly the fourth analyst stops, turns, bodies, and thermographs. clears his throat, and says: data Finally, we'll wander through storage units, crammed full of the halls of Klutz Press's new text files and graphics. Mr. Chia- "museum." Earthsearch is touted
baby-dolis asks, What are data '3LL IHErtTHEfLCtlUPfiS. J^fi '/} as "A Kid's Geography Museum storage units? in a Book," but it's neither a mu-
strictly for kids. I sus- Mr.Timid Analyst answers . . . seum nor books. But not ordinary books. pect kids refers to one's frame of We're talking in-your-face, 3-D, teach kids and their parents a mind rather than age, and mu- full-color, hands-on, papyrus- few things about science. seum suggests something that sheathed, ink-filled, mega-cool, Then we'll focus our attention holds a lot of stuff. This book bound books with information on that clever new science series definitely covers a lot of ground: toilet from Golden Books. Ever wonder facts, figures, experiments,^ / about everything from paper and kaleidoscopes to what your taste buds look like games, theories, dirt, bugs and solar eclipses. magnified 2,000 times? Or how and toilet pa First we'll inspect "How the about looking at caterpillar feet per. (Yes, toi- Pick up these Universe Works," the new edition magnified 25 times? Discover let paper.) books lilled to the Reader's Digest series of Hidden Worlds ($10.95 each) fo- with periscopes, How Things Work books. There's cuses on magnified pictures of be licked, tacts, experi- a book on science, the universe, bugs, the human body, the skii ned, ments, magnified nature, and the earth—and each home, and nature. While the pic- played with, tadpoles, one is packed with "one hundred tures are fascinating, and some- used, devoured, and of course information, and ways parents and kids can share times gruesome, the books are read, this wire-bound, sturdy toilel paper. the secrets" by conducting easy also full of wacky facts and fig- book discusses everything from experiments. Kids can build any- ures. Did you know, for instance, garbage to evolution and then thing from a shield volcano to that the crunchy sound made some. Klutz'sidea here is to take
i model lung. All the materials when you bite into a potato chip science and geography con- they need— mostly items is actually air pockets explod- cepts, which are often abstract, they'll find around their ing? Or that the air coming out of and make them concrete. Earth- houses— are listed at your lungs when you sneeze is search ($19.95) is one of those the beginning of each going 95 miles per hour? Hidden books people will keep on their book, and a note at the Worlds books absolutely deserve desks to thumb through from beginning of each a closer look. time to time, because each time experiment tells After that we'll pop over to they pick it up, they'll learn whether they HarperCollins and check out something else. need a grown- their new title, The Most Amazing Mr. Timid Analyst stops and up's help. Rang- Science Pop-Up Book ($22.95). waits for feedback from his co-
ing from $24 to It is definitely not one of those workers. They glance around at fuzzy, little, Dick-and- each other wheels churn in I S25 each, these cutesy, — hands- Jane, books kids had their brains, dollar signs flash in [ books are pop-up their smile. An- I on guides for con- when they were four years old. eyes—and they is chil- ! ducting safe and Harper knows pop-up. They've other cash cow born, and exciting experi- loaded this one up with a work- dren everywhere stand and f ments which might ing record player, periscope, cheer in unison. DO V/^/iJJ '/hti I'.OlihlCrUii rj-.jiMi,
Before American astronauts landed on the moon, TV homes were visited every week by the space colonist family who tost their way on a trip to the far-off Alpha Centauri system. Now you can join "space kid" Will Robinson, his family, ana the crew of the crippled
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Exp. Date —
COSMIC SPEED TRAP: Capturing cosmic rays will help physicists figure out their origin
By Steve Nadis
October 1991, a mysterious cosmic rays is one of astrono- England, France, and Australia. Inintruder shattered the calm of my's long-standing puzzles, and An international team, hosted by 20 a Utah desert. Ever since that the 3 x 10 eV particle has so Fermilab in Batavia, Illinois, and night, investigators in the town of far defied efforts to find its roots. supported by the National Sci- Dugway have been asking the "Normally a particle that ener- ence Foundation; the United Na- usual questions: What was it? getic is like a tracer bullet; you tions Educational, Scientific, and private Where did it come from? How should be able to trace it back to Cultural Organization; and many others are on the way? the 'gun' that shot the bullet," sources, expects to complete a The "intruder" was not your Loh says. "We've been trying to major design study in July. If the
typical UFO. It was a cosmic ray, trace it back, but it seems to necessary funding comes through, one of countless particles—pro- have come from nowhere." It the team plans to have the cos- tons or heavier atomic nuclei doesn't point to an obvious mic-ray detectors up and run- that continually bombard Earth. source, he explains, such as a ning by the turn of the century. High-energy cosmic rays are the known "hot" or active—that is,- Cronin admits the price tag is most energetic particles in the radiation-spewing—galaxy, steep compared to typical cos- universe, and the 1991 "visitor" Scientists hope to solve the mic-ray efforts, but calls it money was the swiftest and most ener- mystery of high-energy cosmic well spent "considering that we getic object ever detected. The rays by snarihg thousands of can finally answer a question record-setting cosmic ray, a pro- them in a mammoth speed trap people have been thinking about ton with an energy of 3 x 1020 of sorts called the Giant Array. for most of the twentieth cen- electron-volts, hit our atmos- The driving force behind the proj- tury." Unfortunately, there's little phere while traveling at virtually ect is James Cronin, a Nobel room for- compromise in the de- the speed of light. "It was mov- Prize-winning physicist from the sign. Scientists won't be able to Peppy panicles: ing closer to the speed of light University of Chicago, He pro- get a handle on high-energy cos- than anything we've seen be- poses to erect vast networks of mic rays without something on detectors in the scale of a Giant Array, he in- . . both the want to know fore . except light," explains cosmic-ray 20 whether University of Utah physicist Eu- northern and southern hemi- sists. That's because 10 eV high-energy gene Loh, a member of the Dug- spheres, each spanning an area particles hit Earth so rarely— only cosmic way investigation team. With that of 5,000 square kilometers. Each one striking a square kilometer rays come from velocity, the single proton weigh- network consists of two kinds of each century. "We can't learn black holes, ing just one-trillionth of a trillionth detectors. One type of detector, much from a single particle, so relics of the Bis of a gram packed the wallop of a located in the network's center, either we wait a long time or we Bang, or tennis ball flying at about 100 will probe the night sky, looking get a big detector," Loh says. "You miles an hour. for the telltale flashes of fluores- can't speed up Mother Nature." ce of high-energy cent light that occur when a After operating detectors in high-energy particle slams into both hemispheres for five to ten the atmosphere, creating billions years, Cronin expects to have a of "secondary" particles that rain map of the entire sky showing through the sky and excite nitro- what kinds of particles are com- gen atoms along the way. Some ing from which locations with of these secondary particles sur- what kinds of energies. Although vive their passage to the ground, no sources of cosmic rays have A fraction of these, in turn', might yet been identified, research in- be intercepted by the second dicates that high-energy rays ia batch of detectors—4,000 "scin- (anything above 10 eV) must tillators" that emit tiny light flashes emanate from outside the Milky when hit by a charged particle. Way. The reason is simple, Loh The entire system will cost explains: Nothing in our galaxy about $50 million to $60 million, could get a par'lcle going fast Cronin estimates. He's spent the enough to reach those extremely better part of three years trying high energies. "Our galaxy is not
to sell the idea while lining up very active. If this were a truly participating research teams in active galaxy, we probably would the United States, China, Japan, be cooked. In fact, life here on CONTiNIJLU ON PAGE 103 Racing the wind, crouched low as his horse's powerful
body carries him forward with frightening speed, the
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DEEP FLIGHT: " Can scientists fly to the bottom of the earth?
By Paul Kvinta
As submarine builder scientists currently study the super-strong ceramic, a material #"^fc Graham Hawkes added ocean. Typically, researchers sink four times stronger than titanium. m m the final touches last awkwardly through the water col- Whatever the outcome of spring on his newest diving ma- umn in clumsy submersibles. Ocean Everest, Deep Flight's its light chine; Deep Flight 1, he playfully taking notes, gathering samples, greatest value may lie in coined the fledgling science he's and hovering generally above weight and low cost. Currently, sure his invention will foster 10,000 feet. In contrast, Hawkes most research submersibles op- "hydrobatics." The notion entails has supplied his vessel with 10 erate out of ungainly mother spinning, looping, banking, times the thrusting power of tra- ships with sizable crews that can rolling out, and ultimately, tailing ditional subs for speed and ma- cost researchers as much as humpback whales and cruising neuverability, two elements he $30,000 per day to use; and sci-
with dolphins. If all of this sounds figures are crucial for a sus- entists often must wait long like a wet version of the aeronau- tained exploration of the 35,810- stretches before an available
tics industry, it's no coincidence. foot-deep Mariana Trench, which ship and sub meander to their to "I used to fantasize about the is located in the western North quadrant of the globe begin early days of aircraft when guys Pacific near Guam, For his expe- field research. Since Deep Flight would throw together canvas dition, Hawkes plans a 600-foot- requires no mother ship, Hawkes and string and fly out of their per-minute head-first dive that envisions scientists loading five backyards," says Hawkes. who would place him at the bottom in or six of the 17-foot, 4,000-pound grew up in England idoiizing the about an hour. With a rebreather machines aboard inexpensive
Spitfire pilots of World War II. system comprised of a tank of rental boats and zipping out to Hawkes instead went on to pure oxygen and a carbon diox- their research sites providing easy become a leading designer of ide scrubber, Deep Flight would access to the remote and diffi- deep-diving vehicles and robots, be able to easily sustain a five- cult terrain of this final frontier. but his passions for sky and sea hour exploration of the trench. As "On land," says Hawkes, "you'd have clearly merged in Deep for the extreme pressure at that be hard-pressed to go where no Flight, a sleek, highly maneuver- depth—water crushes at eight one else has gone before. But in able machine that more closely tons per square inch —Hawkes the ocean, there's always the resembles a jet fighter than a re- plans to beef up his hull with possibility of discovery. "DO search submersible. Deep Flight
"It's lite features tapered wings, rear mainframe power thrusters, and a transpar- versus ent, bullet-shaped nose cone. the personal There's just enough room for one computer person to lie inside the cylindri- approach, anil cal hull and pilot the vessel with we're the two joystick controls. Although PC," says Graham Hawkes is still testing his cre- Hawhes ation in the calm waters of San about his new Francisco Bay near his work- concept shop in Point Richmond, Califor- for submarine nia, he has ambitious plans. This transport. year he wants to fly Deep Flight through the kelp forests of Mon- terey Bay and dip down to 4,000
feet. By 1996, if all goes well, he will launch an expedition dubbed "Ocean Everest" —a seven-mile plunge into the forbidding dark- ness of the Mariana Trench, the deepest point on the planet. Deep Flight's design and grandiose mission represent a radical departure from the way SDUfUDS
ANALOG VERSUS DIGITAL: DIGITAL VERSUS ANALOG: Has vinyl been wrongly dethroned by the music industry? Digital music on CD reigns as the industry standard
By Anthony Liversidge By Ted Libbey
symphony flowing are decisively more musical. with primitive (16 bits, 44. 1K) The credo of digital they have become accustomed That's what I Thefrom my speakers CDs drain the soul from music. specs that are hard to polish to audio is that any sound, is enough to drive most serious want to hear. ' sounds glorious, much The emotional involvement dis- true sonic excellence. Because including the highly com- music lovers —those familiar with The prospect of better than your usual CD. appears." Michael Frerner, senior the binary "word length" is 16 plex sounds of music, can be rep- the way music sounds in a live recording r
Maybe that's because it's not a editor of popular music, adds, bits (only 16 slots for the zeros resented by a finite number of environment— crazy. Analog this technology has created CD at all but that banished audio "Digital preserves music the way and ones it counts with), the CD numerical samples and stored and sound is like some people we widespread if not universal en- relic, an LP. formaldehyde preserves frogs. can detect only 65,536 levels of retrieved that way. My introduc- know: pleasant and attractive, thusiasm among classical musi-
A Luddite lunatic, you might You kill it, and it lasts forever." sound pressure, far fewer than tion to the process came during but faintly dishonest. cians. Among the early advocates
sensitivity of hearing. the 1 I grad- vinyl Austrian Her- think, but I have plenty of expert Meanwhile the LP, not so the human mid 970s when was a Of course, aficionados was the conductor company. Ever since CDs were much dethroned as assassi- The digital process also comes uate student at Stanford Univer- like to call compact discs "toy bert von Karajan, who hailed dig- launched as "perfect sound for- nated by a record industry un- up short in capturing low-level sity and had the opportunity to discs." But as a playback medium, ital recording as "definitely ever" by Sony and Philips in willing to market two formats at sound waves smoothly. observe at close hand what the the CD offers a larger dynamic superior to any other form of re- 1982, they have been' criticized the same time, is waking from To make up for digital's defects, composers at Stanford's CCRMA range and much less distortion cording we know." as missing something vital. Musi- the dead. Thirteen or more com- many mastering engineers keep (Center for Computer Research than either the LP or cassette. Popular musicians have also cians who have spoken out panies are releasing audiophile analog sound in the recording in Music and Acoustics) were Whether the program encoded embraced the technology. In one against digital sound include LPs over the next two years. pipeline as long as possible, achieving. Among the demon- on a CD was recorded digitally celebrated case, documented in jazz pianist Keith Jarrett, who Classic Records' new editions of They say that unless digital stand- strations I witnessed were "blind" or by an analog process, it can the July 1992 issue of Mix maga- complains CDs lose the subtlety the highly prized RCA Victor Liv- ards jump to a new level, analog tests of digital versus analog re- be played back more accurately zine, guitarist Robbie Robertson "where expression lies." Rock ing Stereo recordings of the will remain the touchstone. production of sound. My convic- than can the same program on recorded parts of his "Storyville" star Neil Young lamented in Gui- Fifties look and sound better The one concession I'll make tion that digital recording and vinyl or tape, and with no degra- album simultaneously in analog tar Player that "digital is a disas- than the originals, and they will is that very good audio gear playback is superior to analog dation. If the original is, say, a and digital, then sat down with ter. It's an insult to the brain and brings trie -two closer together. I was born from those experiences. his musicians and engineer heart and feelings." "Music on LP Is mounted a shootout between the In the commercial sector, at "The CD offers a Steve Nye, until then a devotee best LPs and on a $6,000 least as far as classical music is of analog, to put the two versions Of course, CDs have improved the food of love, while the CD is CDs larger dynamic range and much a lot recently, and some are very system (including a Rotel deck concerned, digital recording has to an A-B test. The verdict: "We merely sensational less distortion fine. But many "golden ears" and amplifier with B and W 640i been the standard since about came to the conclusion that the sex: exciting taut ultimately than either the LP or cassette- reference speakers and XLO ca- 1980 two years before the ar- analog machine was like a piece h still prefer LPs. The Ab- — it is clear, warm, solute Sound found- unsatisfying. One bles) that made the best of each. rival of the compact disc made of equipment for an effect." er and editor hurries back to the comfortable LPs played on a $1,600 Town- digital playback a reality. But the and alive, with natural tonal According to Robertson, defi- rry Pear- embrace of analog." shend Mark III Rock turntable debate as to the merits of digital qualities." nition in the analog playback . son says, (Keith Jarrett's choice as the ulti- sound continues. was not as good as in the digital, "LPs be issuing Verve's jazz library mate), stabilized on a Seismic Adherents of analog complain good stereo recording from the and things in the lower register soon. Mosaic, Reference Re- Rock platform, lost the last ves- that digital recording takes the 1960s captured on magnetic such as bass drums sounded cordings, Mobile Fidelity, Shef- tige of resonance, the Achilles "life" out of recorded music by tape, a properly remastered com- "mumbly." Most interesting of all, field, Analogue, Chesky, and heel of vinyl. failing to capture its most subtle pact disc will sound exactly like engineer Nye found that "on the Bluenote are all matching their On this impeccable setup, nuances—and to bolster their ar- the master tape—clear, warm, digital he could match this effect audiophile CDs with the same CDs gained some of the sonic gument they talk about sampling and alive, with natural tonal qual- with just a little bottom EQ and a
music on premium vinyl. splendor of the LPs, and LPs ac- rates and converters and how ities. And it will accurately repro- little compression." In other Proponents of digital quired the rocklike rigidity and unnatural all that stuff is, forget- duce the high-frequency "hiss" words, by adding distortion to
sound will argue this vinyl clarity of CDs. Often it was hard ting that our ears process sound that has always been a part of the digital signal, an analog "arti-
vival is merely mis- to choose without extended lis- by sampling it incrementally and recording on magnetic tape (but fact" could be created. placed nostalgia. Audio tening. Then the stomach sig- sending discrete messages to which one rarely heard on LP be- Even as evidence like this
Critic- editor Peter naled in favor of the vinyl, almost the brain for conversion. They cause it was masked by surface continues to accumulate,, the
Aczel compares it to every time. claim that, compared with the noise and diminished by the heated analog-versus-digital de- cult in buggy But with that much needed to "warmer" sound of LPs, CDs are high-end rolloff typical of even bate goes on. For me, though,
whips— it doesn't make CDs palatable, in my living cold, analytical, harsh. Of course, the best stereo cartridges). the last word in the dispute was make sense. Vinyl room the LP still reigns. The bot- most of them can afford the If the original is a good digital uttered almost ten years ago by
dead!" tom line is that it is as hard to $30,000-plus systems needed to recording, the CD will again sound the late Pierre Bourdain, a New
But they can- make an LP sound bad as it is to make their LPs sound reason- like the master—clear, warm, and York-based record producer ot deny that make a CD sound good, And if a ably good. But the "sweetness" alive, with astonishing impact turned retailer, In answer to a :he industry is state-of-the-art turntable can lift they talk about is actually a com- and presence, lifelike dynamic customer's query about the LPs struggling to LPs to digital clarity without digi- bination of pitch fluctuation and range, no hiss at all, and no dis- his store used to carry, he shot perfect a CD tal's drawbacks, that's where I'd artificial equalization, and the tortion other than that inherent in back, "Our LPs? We sent them to format cursed put my money.DQ subtle haze of distortion to which the microphones that were used. a landfill in Brooklyn. "DQ .
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Visa, MasterCard and American Express accepted. coruTiruuunn FUTURE FIREARMS: New weapons take law enforcement into the twenty-first century. Plus, a push for smaller people, and the invasion of fire ants
"Police officers are still equipped rnucfi as Wyalt Earp them with a ranking scheme, and build working models was in the nineteenth century," says David Boyd, director of at least two," says Douglas R. Weiss, project manager of the Science and Technology Division of the National at Sandia, under contract for the NIJ. Institute of Justice (NIJ). As head of NIJ's Less-Than-Lethal One model, for instance, uses a capacitive proximity
(LTL) technology program, Boyd is equipping police officers sensor embedded in the gun. As the hand is wrapped
for the twenty-first century by designing Robocop-like tools around it, an electric field discriminates between a large and weapons with an eye both to safety and effectiveness. and a small hand. Other biometric (the study of unique
Though it sounds a bit like a Hollywood comic device attributes of the body) devices, like voice recognition, for chase scenes, sticky foam may prove to be a valuable retinal scans, and finger and palm prints, may also be addition to the arsenals of real world crimefighters. "Sticky developed. The advantage of such devices is obvious:
foam stops a suspect because everything it touches be- Sensors ensure that the person who fires the weapon is
comes stuck to it, immobilizing the subject's legs and arms the person authorized to use it. like contact cement," says Tom Goolsby, senior member Smart gun technologies are based on the simple of the technical staff of the Access Delay Technology premise that the more the gun can "know," the more
Department at Sandia National Laboratories. The foam is effective it is as a weapon. Electronic tags similar to bar stored as a pressurized liquid containing Freon, rubbers, codes in library books or the ubiquitous plastic tags in resins, oils, and stabilizers which, when clothing stores, for example, could be police . exposed to atmosphericj worn by undercover who would
pressure, turns i be otherwise unrecognizable. "If an foam, The process ex-5 officer wears a tag on the body in a
pands the 1 1/2 liters of sticky, rubbery ring, watch, uniform button, or belt materials into more than 10 gallons of buckle, a reader in the firearm can scan foam with a density of cotton balls. the tag for the identity either using Goolsby says one potential use of magnetics, electronics, or radio fre-
the device might be in dealing with quency," says Weiss. It might just be difficult prisoners. Presently, prison .enough to save undercover agents guards use body armor and riol shields from the dangers oi friendly fire. to protect themselves from violent Weiss stresses that close atten- and reluctant prisoners during trans- tion is being paid to surety—relia- port from cell to cell or prison to prison. bility, safety, security, and use con-
With sticky foam, the foam can be trol of the smart gun. It must work
shot through the food siot with no injury to the guards. when officers want it to, and not work when they don't
Other possible uses might include riot control and added want it to. He likens the seriousness of this task to the protection for high-security areas. Sticky foam might help nearly identical design problems inherent in nuclear to capture intruders by blocking exits with large bags weapons; They have to be reliable, but must also be filled with the substance through which an intruder would absolutely safe until ready for use.
have to pass in order to escape. In so doing, the suspect After safety, cost is a big concern. Because this tech-
would have to break the bag. The sticky foam inside would nology is so expensive to develop, Boyd is planning to
do the rest. So far, the two major challenges to this tech- expand into the civilian market. But there are better rea- nology seem to be environmental and medical. Re- sons for targeting civilian firearm owners. Smart guns searchers must find a way to effectively clean up the mess might, for example, greatly reduce the number of in-
that sticky toam makes and determine if the compound home firearm thefts. More importantly, many domestic poses any serious health risks to both users and targets. homicides, suicides, and accidental shootings could be Another promising idea for law enforcement is the prevented with a smart gun. Whatever the technologies development of smart guns which would employ user- are, Weiss plans to design retrofitable devices and to recognizing devices to eliminate the possibility of an make them easily affordable by all firearm owners. New unauthorized user getting control of a police officer's technologies may not be the solution to increased vio- firearm. "In the next two years, we will develop a list of as lence and crime, but safer weapons is a good place to many technologies as possible to choose from, prioritize start.— CAROL SILVERMAN SAUNDERS coruTiniuunn
SAY EXCUSE ME, the left, the piano is silenced for everyone else in the room. A set of headphones Three herds of cows will be lets the pianist hear the outfitted with tiny methane instrument's full, rich tones. detectors by Utah State Uni- Schuld says that once the versity scientists who hope mechanism is activated, to find out over the next three a device in the depths of the years if the animals really instrument locks the ham- do produce between 7 and mers just before they strike 21 percent of the color- the strings, preventing less, odorless gas. Methane them from vibrating. A set of absorbs infrared radiation fiberoptic sensors then and is believed to contribute takes over, measuring the to global warming. speed and 127 grada- Its a problem that has long tions of intensity with which plagued researchers, who the individual keys are until now could only test cows struck. With the help of a tone in small, sealed chambers chip, a digital simulation or follow them around in pas- or sampling of the sound is tures to monitor the plants heard in the headset, they ate and guess at how at one end. A sniffer runs SILENT PIANO pedal action and all. much methane they pro- down a halter and ends in What the pianist hears may duced. A new device pat- an open tube one-six- A common difficulty many be better than the real ented by Patrick Zim- teenth of an inch in diameter serious pianists face is their thing, because the upright's merman, a senior scientist that sits just three or four tendency to practice when sampled sound simulation at the National Center inches from the animal's the spirit moves them—which is said to be equivalent to the for Atmospheric Research in mouth, where the meth- is often in the middle of sounds produced by a Boulder, Colorado, should ane content from each bo- the night—to the annoyance concert grand. And when you furnish far more precise meas- vine belch is analyzed. of their neighbors. And want to show off, you can urements, if cows or other Kris Johnson, an animal while practice can be agony play normally by disengaging for reluctant kids who are the system. The premium dragged kicking and whining for the capability isn't too to the piano bench to flail great—a Silent Series THE STRUCTURE OF AN IGLOO IS SO WELL INSULATED away at scales, their efforts upright sells for $8,395, com- THAT ONE CAN COMFORTABLY SIT INSIDE can be just as painful to pared to $7,495 for a TEMPERATURE WITHOUT A COAT, WHILE THE OUTSIDE the rest of the family. What standard Yamaha upright. CAN BE AS LOW AS 40 DEGREES FAHRENHEIT. both groups obviously —George Nobbe need is a silent piano.
And that is precisely what domestic ruminants are caus- scientist at Washington Yamaha Corporation of ing problems, either their State University, says small- America has devised. Its Silent diets or their genetic predis- scale tests there have Series pianos look and position to produce meth- proven that the device does sound like regular upright pi- ane could conceivably be work on cows. A major anos, and have all the altered to reduce the problem would seem to be traditional piano innards in amount of gas generated. figuring out how to lower the right places. "This is Zimmerman's device the methane production of tradition married with tech- consists of two components. other free-ranging rumi- nology," says Yamaha A metal cartridge emits a nants such as buffaloes, deer, marksiing manager Carter small amount of sulfur hexa- and camels, whose diets Schuld, "not a mere plas- fluoride at a steady rate cannot be so easily con- tic electronic keyboard." When through a plastic component trolled.—George Nobbe you kick a foot pedal to FOG COLLECTOR ing to Schemenauer. But the Middle East, the nets exactly new. "Pliny the
it worked. An average 3,000 cost nothing to operate. Elder, the Roman historian, The Atacama Desert in gallons of fog water a day "This system could be mentions collecting water northern Chile is one of the now run down the meshes applied in arid zones that dripped from trees in driest spots on Earth, a into collecting troughs. A all around the world," says catch basins," he says.
place where the 350 villagers pipeline then carries it to a Schemenauer. The Chil- Schemenauer and his who live in Chungungo storage tank. ean nets yield a gallon of pota- colleagues have obtained see ho rain for years on end. Schemenauer says the ble water per square yard funds from Canada's Inter- So when atmospheric nets, which cost about of the double-folded mesh. national Development Re- scientists from Environment $400 each, collect anywhere The system works best search Center to evaluate the Canada worked with from 20 to 65 percent of at altitudes of 1,500 to 3,000 fog collection potential in scientists and engineers from the moisture available in the feet, where prevailing several dry countries, such Chile to devise a way to dense camanchacas, as winds reach speeds between as Eritrea, Yemen,- Kenya,
harvest drinking water from the Pacific fogs are called 5 and 20 miles per hour. Tanzania, and India, where it the clouds that drift in by rural Chileans. Unlike He admits that the technique, could have immense possi- off the Pacific Ocean, their desal'.nization, used exten- which was tried experi- bilities for agricultural use. feat was hailed as a sively and expensively in mentally in the 1950s, is not —George Nobbe
JUMBO SHRIMP GLOBALLY, THE MICROBIAL DECAY OF FOREST Monster shrimp may have DEBRIS RETURNS SOME 85 once ruled the world. BILLION TONS OF Around 530 million years CARBON DIOXIDE TO THE ago (some 290 million ATMOSPHERE AN- years before dinosaurs), NUALLY, OR 233 MILLION Anomalocaris, a terrify- TONS EVERY DAY. ing marine creature up to two meters long, was the largest animal on Earth.
Until recently it was miracle akin to the patenting known only from a few limbs of desalinization in 1869. found in Canada. Fossils of the Australian species Scientists draped 75 from the shrimp, however, apparently combed through sheets of plastic-mesh have now been reported mud In search of soft- netting over a line suspended from Chengjiang in South bodied animals, while the seven teet off the ground, Miiiians of years China to Emu Bay on Canadian and Chinese like a washline facing into before dinosaurs, a Kangaroo Island off the versions swam after their the wind, along the El gianl shrimp may have South Australian coast. prey, propelling them- been its era's leading predator. Tofo ridge above Chungungo, Anomalocaris selves with trunk flaps. explains Roberts. (weird shrimp) gets its name The shrimp looks so versity's geology department, Schemenauer. A cloud phys- through a pair of large, bizarre that for more than worked on the jigsaw. "In icist from Environment spiny appendages protrud- 70 years the fossil parts British Columbia," he says, Canada in Toronto, he helped ing from its head. With found in the Burgess Shale "I have found fossils of find an efficient way to these it must have gripped in British Columbia were trilobites with W-shaped trap billions of tiny fog drop- its prey, crushing it with mistakenly classified as four scars corresponding lets in the mesh sheeting, an array of teeth in a circular separate animals. They to the biting action of the each piece of which is about mouth surrounded by were pieced together as one shrimp's mouth. As 40 feet long and- 1 3 feet high. horny plates that opened creature in the earth Anomalocaris was around It was a daunting task be- and closed like a cam- sciences department of Eng- when there was no life cause it takes about 10 mil- era iris. The fossils show that land's Cambridge Uni- on land, it probably domi- lion droplets to yield a single the shrimp used a variety versity. Professor Derek nated the world." drop of water about the of hunting techniques: One Briggs, of Bristol Uni- —Ivor Smullen size of a match head, accord- coriJTiruuunn
less, in short, to keep short LET'S GET SMALL "Help Me! Someone help people alive. HIGH-TECH me!" at the top of its mi- Thomas Samaras believes So what's to be done? PROTECTION crochip-amplified voice in short people have gotten "We were smaller once," Would-be attackers beware: both Spanish and English. the short end of the stick. He Samaras argues. "Whatever Today's potential crime At 112decibels, Bencel challenges the conven- is making us bigger can victims have enlisted the aid marketing executive tional "bigger is better" doc- be reversed." First, he says, of a variety of high-tech Mary Bray says the calls for trine in The Truth About people must be educated defensive devices. They're help—male or female, at Your Height, a book which about the conseguences of carrying products like the touch of an internal has garnered high praise our continued growth. DYEWitness, which emits a switch—can be heard up to from the Short Stature Foun- Another battleground is nu- stream of foaming spray 300 yards away in dation and other groups. trition: "Americans are that turns muggers a star- generally quiet environs, and Humans have been get- overfed. We eat too much tling shade of green on ting bigger over the gen- protein and fat, which contact, and Voice Defense, erations. Americans are now doesn't do us any good." an electronic gadget about four inches taller "It's time for a national that shrieks a 1 1 2-decibel on average than their colonial height policy" he urges. "We cry for help. ancestors, according to can't have such a policy Joseph Finney of Marcon Samaras, a5'10"San Diego until people acknowledge 3 Ltd. in Colorado Springs engineer and author. that there is a problem." says the nontoxic DYEWit- Japanese youth of today are Steve Nad is — ness spray creates a some three inches taller sliming effect from a dis- than their grandparents. In tance of up to 10 feet, the past two centuries, YOUR FOOT WHEN and the more an assailant moreover, the average Nor- FALLS ASLEEP, ITS tries to wipe it off, the eight wegian has grown IS CONDITION more it spreads to the face, inches. Many view this growth CALLED TARESTHESIA. hands, and hair. It comes as a positive, and indeed in a pocket-size, nonrefill- natural, thing. able aerosol container But Samaras that holds enough spray to a dark side. "Tall fire a 10-second burst. people consume Finney says the stuff can't more of just about be washed off for up to up to 100 yards away everything: more a week, which presents on noisier city streets. miscreants with a prob- Voice Defense will food, more space. lem. "Where's a man with keep on yelljng for up to 90 And they produce |j a green face going minutes if necessary. It's more pollution in tl to hide?" he asks. The powered .by a 9-volt battery process, including more .J y dye contains form- and uses a sound filter trash," he says. Assum- aldehyde, which makes to ensure that its shouts are ing Americans became the eyes burn, but the clear enough to be 20 percent bigger, fvlarcon 3 executive is easily understood. annual consumption of cagey about what The digital scream for mineral resources would else is in the product, help sells for $29.95. increase by 600 million which sells for under Its effectiveness lies in the tons, he estimates. Gar- $20 a container. fact that the voice per- bage would increase by The handheld, purse- sonalizes the victim's dire 80 million tons per year. size Voice Defense situation, unlike the me- And we'd need 1 80 million device, made by Bencel in chanical sirens used in car acres of new farmland. Towson, Maryland, takes alarms, to which nobody Short people, conversely, a somewhat more high-tech pays much attention any- place fewer demands on approach, shrieking more.—George Nobbe the environment. It costs 34 OMNI CDfUTiruuunn
College of Medicine. Re- What concerns deShazo cent victims include a five- is the ingenious survival day-old infant asleep in a strategies they have: devel- crib in Alabama, two Florida oped. The fire "ants make
Alzheimer's patients, and it through the winter by build- a 69-year-old man who died ing nests near heat roadr 4t^ls» 'C'" ".«'. from a stroke after he sumps like curbs and ttBm W h#* was stung while sleeping in ways, They have also JBr #23 a Louisiana motel room. developed multiple-queen ^7 Jflg DeShazo says Soienop- colonies, forming mounds sis invicta overwhelmed that house up to 500,000 a rival species called S. rich- ants, sometimes as little terito form a fierce hybrid as 50 yards apart.
shortly after it. arrived in the "Immobile human beings port of Mobile from Para- are a fikely source of Ouch! The fire tni i.w den if the sugars, proteins, and humps up its body and uses a stinger to inject venom. guayan the 1930s. It-has since been blamed for fats they need," says ANT ATTACK The ants have moved in 89 reported deaths from ana- deShazo. The fire ants, rid- doors in their search for phylactic reactions, ing shipments of plants
Foraging fire ants, long a food, according to Richard though some victims have and nursery stock, could westward as far as peril in the Deep South, A. deShazo, director of managed to survive as move have adapted to cooier tern- the Division of Allergy and many as 10.000 stings. "In- California and northward perat.ures and have be- Immunology at the Uni- victa will bite anything it into lower Maryland. g.un a march north. versity of South Alabama contacts," he says. —George Nobbe
HELPING HAND "direct human contact" botic limb. The robot can as- Hogan explains. "It's hard The first application his team sist with the motion, pro- for a person to measure Around Boston, there's is ieshng Involves helping viding guidance or resistance that, but the robot can do it" talk of a new physical thera- stroke patients recover move- when needed, all the while Manus will begin clin- ical trials fall with patients pist in town. Manus is ment in their hands and recording the patient's per- this Rehabilitation the name, and rehab's the wrists. This is a potentially formance. "You may want at the Burke game. He's trained to large application, Hogan to know how strong Mrs. X is Hospital in White Plains, New guide patients through exer- points out, since more than six days after the stroke," York—Steve Nadis cises, methodically chart- ing their progress. Unlike some of his colleagues, VEINS IN AN ELEPHANT'S Manus is never too busy to EARS FORM A PATTERN work with you. He's got THAT IS AS UNIQUE AS A all the time in the world. An- other thing about Manus: HUMAN FINGERPRINT. He was built at MIT. The robot was conceived by MIT professor Neville 250,000 Americans suffer Hogan and put together by a a stroke each year. team of students and re- According to current searchers. Though other ro- plans, a human thera- bots are capable of doing pist would specify the move- chores for people— picking ments for a patient to per- up objects, carrying form. Manus can learn these things, and so forth—Manus maneuvers and "play is different, Hogan says, them .back" with a patient's Hermano Krebshelped develop Manus, track because it is. designed for arm strapped to the ro- guide patients through therapy and por otumus in the middle of t ie Paramount park- inq lot. The parking Sps chs in a bowl -like
rel ved of cars and filled wi; water. The water now poses as an African fIVC r against the blue- the shooting of Michael
dry space. With East
vault doors of Stages 8
of technology here: the —
CAST FAR ACROSS THE GAIAXX STARFLEET OFFI- CERS AND MAQUIS REBELS MUST WORK AS A TEAM TO BRING THE U.S.S. VOYAGER BACK HOME.
Voyager, with a crew many 18-hour days greatest teeth in the world. Aia: fake hippo in the middle The of 125 designed for sets, filming ihe two-hour Star High, austere cheekbones. of its lot. and missions of only a Trek: Voyager movie that will Fuzzy little eyebrows and "Paramount wanted a scientific so, is one of a new beam this new cast into mil- fuzzy little hair. He's cuddly. show very much like The year or vessels smaller than lions of homes! Everyone was But he can be frightening if Next Generation," says line of Enterprise. Captained supposed to have this day he wants. He's very coura- Michael Filler, a slender, boy- the
Katharine Janeway. it is off, but the filming has so: led geous. Rick Berman said to ish fellow wearing jeans and by ship crewed over into a week of hiatus. Michael Westmore that he tennis shoes, as he relaxes sent out after a the best between phone calls in a by outlaws called the Maquis. Yet I see no tension among thought this was ex-Feder- director Rick Kolbe, the cast, makeup he'd ever done. I've quiet office in the Hart Build- The Maquis are ation freedom fighters, with the prop folks, or the make-up never seen anybody look ing. Piller is one of the three their shoulder artists. Only professionals", like me on the show, ever. executive producers and a chip on enthusiasm, and even the "He likes women. He likes creators of Voyager. His against the Feds, and a plank occasional quip or joke, Nine Inch Nails. He's a big third-season addition to The against the Cardassians. disap- The show's oddest alien fan of Trent Reznor's. You'll Next Generation's staff is The Maquis ship has has a few of those as he catch him at the Viper Club," credited by many as the peared in the Badlands, an region of space. grabs a bagel and some juice. Neelix is a Talaxian. "He's reason the show steadied unusual Neelix, played by Ethan a scavenger," says Phillips. after a shaky start and sailed The Voyager gets swept up phenomenon Phillips. TV Guide calls him "He's kind of a twenty-fourth- into its astonishing success. in the same the breakout character of century homeless person, "Rick Berman, Jeri Taylor, that captured the Maquis ancient artificial space/ the series. really. He has a little junk ship, and I felt that we could not an Array "They were referring to and he wanders around and simply create a new ship time rift called the
stuff, and put a new cast in it and and finds itself far from the fact that after a month l collects debris and but in the midst of a Star will have a very bad case of he's really savvy, and he call it Star Trek-something home intergalactic acne," says the actor. You've knows this quadrant of the and basically do the same Wars-scale seen him before. Short, bald- universe really well." show that we've been doing battle. To survive and get
It not back, the Voyager allies with ing, bright, and baby-boomer- That would be the Delta for seven years. would something. You won't see Quadrant. The Voyager- be creatively exciting for us. the Maquis; however, the the Maquis ship is destroyed, and the human version of his bumps into it thousands of We felt we had to take beamed face on Voyager, though. light-years from Earth, 75 universe that Gene had its members must be Phillips describes his years at top warp speed given us and find a different aboard. A fateful choice is collapses, character. "Neelix has a huge from Federation space. perspective on it." made, the. Array sunken forehead and a large Who hurled this new ship A different perspective, and the two crews—once themselves cranium with a mohawk cut way out there? certainly. Try clear on' the antagonists—find survival in and big orange eyes. Not the The same studio that put other side of the Milky Way. in a struggle for 40 OMNI .
John's losing his hair. His mission: get it back.
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Ro . : ...... - : ! courageous . . . it's very bold of them," il. <: li : i: ro I. I . EOT !! ! r In I .1., r I » says Captain .. an eways altor ego, Kate '' : ~ - > rftei .-< >. : '::; ':". i !-;-":r."ii il it. i jn tatfe . isgrowth n omen n --r ii» :f , v "Kir- nie Used i first ever i .: : i • -win for time i.i .'ii ! i i Mulgrew. "And the .! ', ii il in i if I : . ivvi and EM of NE you see a woman who's not victimized. the group using placebo. Her obstacles are obstacles that every- How soon can I experl results from using ROGAINE? I - - - ii. .ill' 1 . I .. I-. I body has to overcome." . . 1,1 , . ii..- I.' ...i ! i r vth n e than i m As. Executive producer and co-creator 1 'i"'! ' iiii|ii:-i' f'-Ji." ' '' ." ' ;! i" Jeri Taylor, a gracious and calm pres- ;" 1 ,: i u.' ' i si; ,!. in I /, mi. in,". . ii ii ill : ence in this stellar flurry, concurs. "One thing that I felt very strongly about was. after they stopped itsing -iC SA INE. that, surely by the twenty-fourth cen- "v ii I' 1C yH.-t 3E3l|if* i=S U. r-n I III IV Id gl d 1 nL do-« of FtOGAINE that a can be >*"'' tury, we can say woman .-, t i nyjwi n i f^mrs i.-vilio >:c-p im i Biwepenet-iiir ilynurfimetsareu/clto g,il F to I 1 - ,;=-,:.. ';:(' 1 like a i.r,viiv..=iv.-. ;i.;- ii-ii -ii-:.:-. ijff:r. Z:VX f' Kf successful without having to act atleast 4 tours after applv n- i rati ^.ijisaslfingFOSAINE, man. That there's room for a feminine side, for Mic^ily doses and return to prr usual stredife side, a nurturing side, a warm with ROGAINE? II those things that I think we all agree iiBBaeefteEdiBCt'ylNsHEF.;KA!'J:i :n: Aboui7afeveryHH) 'in ....i"..iiiiii ik ii re mostly identified with women. There i'7'i.y. mcl :nmpl=a f.:. people who used FLOGAINE I ires ..',, - -,-.. with . . ,. .!., vt ,.., ,„| i „,, i.. . fro-;,:--:-.;. : by otiose using «ie placebo.SDlurion . RQGAJNEaarf is no reason why she simply has to be li , . , Ill ' .1 " ,',,„, I 'II' "'III' i' ill .:il.ir' with long hair." . in... ::;. ,1 '. V Picard ... ! I' Jean Luc II, .'O : -' . ii ::,' mi H^AH-b:!Ki ;c..!ir hi J ii .in Another big difference: This captain y Ijr^siOiii-'NOiillFiCMii!:- Cui raor -iur il used to be a science officer. She nftlie side effects people have rep Died? , . , , .i i't i , i 'in' iilAlfl /. ;:: , .i : ! I , ,ii doesn't need Spock or Data to rattle off if (p rr nra d I t ' ; 'i Res Jiisri hrrni i s'N's- '.';E technical explanations. .vcmbr--;^. "She is by'profession a scientist .. ...rjpa's -1SS% Caiiii sensitivity— 1.2714: All-etgic: .-spiKfe.i'-., --., : hi.:"-- siem .. . .'•.- the military," explains ..:- au:v : ...- who went on into r-tliaige/itchm) 19 Special Senses: ton', -a\i:' scientist rose i-..-y v:.:;ii-.- ffltfery. Mulgrew. "As a brilliant she iitn.-.r. :,ari-iiii i:"".r;n-! - fiiiterine: -r-.-jirJ \ Industrie . .'. .i.i il" i to the top very quickly." She's a compe- ,-.,,<.,„ .... :... . i — j ...... -. -.':>- or L, ;,„i[;.ii r. ;:ir --.n-. r-i : it:-- 1 ' ' left her lover ' ii but sad. , . "II -I . . tent woman, She HilliAINI Ii "I/ i, ' ; '.':::. .:',.':"- : -.;:. ' '• :it-.-i.i,.i !'..v.: "j: , back on Earth. "She can run this stuff, .. . .,!. , ".'• , i.- , i. .FfjCAINE'nc but there should be moments when we d appp tpfcednse active ingiedffint in ROGAINE i II ROGAINE were applied, because the can absolutely see not the fractures in ,-:i!Lii.i-. 'is.rAii" higher isas LecornmenrJed pcFHT II t I . that E-=:;iu;h ur-.- iimlIi itvounts trfminositfil i ihe do her life, but the letdown. It's deep inns' r.frr ::i! strain of vulnerability and longing that fuel the robustness of her spirit." faBentshae reported flat their resfirir heart rale increased by rrcre thai 2D baa's cer isinute. Like her predecessors, there is no ii • i i ' ; a, j x ,i i ! .-. •: ! iii'i-- 1.1 heart. tir-rc i . :, I- -ii' doubt that this woman has trod theatri- . ,.",.',. .III '.I . Ill ,fel, I II . I If.-.AI pres- , , I is 'I 1 ,11 a .".'HI il , cal boards. She commanding Wlinii -.-o-.r&-pi;:v . 'iil. .>....:..-. .'!"! y.::: ..::: ---. .'.V",ii .-.-.- ^ . 1 ;;" n.v. !; iir iir .-. -:i. i-ii-.i-;-.-.i--.. :»: . :' . i I 1 :-rV" I 1 v T. i ence in person and on the Voyager ' - -. ,.- :: i "- f :!'";! ...ii!!': !: :: i-.i : ;:.: : :i .: :. i-. 1 . ii :•,.:! 1 n i; heart-stnjetura "-l-.vr.iilT-ii.M...... 1 : 1 int bridge. This is an Irish Kate here, posi- if'.ji! . . .. jiie-R've-r.ssfi tively Hepburnian, yet with her own ROGAINE? ' : ii I'- 1 I I 1 II 'I'M .'il. I .1 Hi . -i identity and her own galactic frontiers ' •, .-.iir.ixa ll ! .'.'inli: .1. 11 .; mi' .1 1 'lii .r to use ROGAINE r-'raayintrejsathB to explore. ROME shmild be used only on It ml .s;liiyjijji't using jth chances of hating side effects. You sh ROGAINE il your scalp is im "We have a cast of young, attractive people," says executive producer Can people wftti firgh blood pressure use RQG AIIME? . , , ' ' ,1, ',, 1 ! 1 » . ,: i„li , .in , ,".1 li Michael Piller. "Attractive not just in : .1:.-. : '; i.'.- .--.i «-. 1 : not FtOGAINE. ;fen-: -akJiu • Plccd r v: :. -F-iilt-.: : i - ::-^ Id use Should any precautions be followed? terms of physically attractive, but in ;:..: r... rotlhafleisiad tasj iBtstaeaftst : ^r imMsse k rdncbj Eardat ! tfOSIm terms of qualities that they bring. Inter- -.r - [an wain pfDUentabraenl 1. astti leart.rata, or chest pains. IB learn On not use FftGiiJME if you ara iisirg athertfJugs esting people who are going to :-r !,.. : 1 1 "i * h kn flO PE i: . mi: -.si.-: I. an how to coexist and learn from one an- Are rJrere special precauti ons for wonron? .i..."'-!: " ; -^x-.-.r.:: .:!.:..;: )• il PrB^arrt woiiiefi and .l-i; v:^-,:.-.:-\-.x .:i. -.,.i:;. f:-;.- other and grow. And they're all trying to 1 "".""""' ' "' i, .ii:: :. 'ir " : '' 1" I ' d Wiripn 'i 'I ,h. "Iri t get home on this one spaceship. My Discnntinue using ROGAiNE t na tdea The Upjriin Company, KaSamazDO, W- 1 1 Like it - starship is and I watch. I'm into this genre." strong, breakthrough characters. crewed by a diverse mix of personalities, Star Trek has a history of openness "Some of B'Elanna's characteristics "Tom Paris is loosely based on a to authors with science-fiction back- aren't very attractive. There are also guest star role I did on The Next Gen- grounds. Harlan Ellison, Theodore Stur- some strong and intelligent aspects. eration episode called 'First Duty'," geon, Robert Bloch, and others I'm exploring both sides." says Robert Duncan McNeill, a hand- originally; David Gerrold striding the Another example of the ethnic diver- some, affable guy with a strong acting generations; Michael Reaves, Diane sity of character is Chakotay, played by background that spans soaps, prime Duane, and recently story editor Robert Beltran. "He's a Native Ameri- time, and features. "He's the navigator; Melinda Snodgrass. But actors who can of no specific tribe or culture. I'm he flies the ship. He flew for the read science fiction? trying to get (the producers) to go Maquis, but was captured and put in Ethan Phillips also reads science Mayan or Aztec, who were very ad- is jail." Now Starfleet has pulled him from fiction. "I'm a great fan of Greg Bear. I vanced in astronomy. Chakotay a jail and asked his assistance. McNeill like Frederik Pohl. I love Kim Stanley Maquis who left Earth to join a rebel- explains, "His job was to help find the Robinson. I've read a lot of Heinlein lion. He was an academy graduate. Maquis. At best, he might have gotten and a fair amount of Dick. Actually, 1 He's going to be First Officer. He has a paroled from jail, but he'd never be just finished (Clarke's) Garden of tattoo above and around his left eye. It able to fly again. With the Voyager lost, Rama, the final book of the whole tril- means whatever (makeup maven) he can start over again. ogy. Ursula LeGuin. Philip Jose Farmer. Michael Westmore says it means." "There are a lot of strong wills among I just read Snow Crash by Neil Finally, Voyager will have Star Trek's the characters. They're going to strug- Stephenson. And Paul Park's stuff. He's first dead character: Doc Zimmerman, gle for power. There will be a lot of head really terrific." played by Robert Picardo of China butting." On screen, certainly. But what Phillips himself would probably be Beach fame. about on the set? "Kate and I were talk- at home on the Voyager. "What ap- "He's a hologram, and he's turning ing last week. We were both amazed at peals to me in science fiction is being out to be a wonderful character," says the great ensemble that has been put taken to a place that's really different." Michael Filler. together. We've quickly become a fam- Phillips' character, Neelix, tricks the The original- Doctor Zimmerman is ily and bonded with a sense killed in the pilot. However, of joy and fun on this set." he has left behind a holo- One particularly joyous fel- graphic imprint of himself, low is Garrett Wang, who plays stored In the Voyager's Harry Kim. His thrill with being UNfVERSE'S FIRST DEAD computer. on Voyager is infectious, his "We talked at one point identification with his charac- CHARACTER: DOC ZIMMERMAN, A HOIO- about changing him to suit ter immediate. "I am the oper- somebody's need for a ations/communications officer GRAPHIC iMPRINT OF bedside manner, but we voice for char- on the bridge. I had a stellar found a the Starfleet Academy career and THE SHIP'S ORIGINAL DOCTOR, WHO IS KILIED acter writing the pilot and am basically the rookie on the first couple of episodes bridge. I'm Asian-American. IN THE SHOW'S PILOT.. that we liked a lot," says There's the professional com- Filler. "He's a very Nineties petence, but there's also the man in that he is some- inner fear, the 'Oh my God, are these Voyager into helping him retrieve a girl- body who is programmed only for britches too big for me?' His heritage is friend named Kes, played by strikingly work. He has no life beyond his work one of focus, of Zen and martial arts." sweet and beautiful Jennifer Lien, late and has no way of understanding the Garrett knocked about the acting of the sitcom Phenom. needs and demands of a life except business for a mere year and a half be- "Kes is of an alien species, the what is basically put in front of him to fore landing this plum role. More expe- Ocarnpa. She's very young and ethereal. stitch up or sew or cure. We have to rienced but no less enthusiastic is Tim She's telepathic," Lien explains. Young? learn what the value of a hologram is, Russ, who plays Tuvok. You bet. Though she's clearly sexually whether or not it's to be treated as a life "Tuvok is a full Vulcan. He's not a mature, Kes is only one year old. The form or as a member of the crew." half-breed like Spook, and therefore Ocampa have a nine-year life span. "This show is really bringing in some there's not quite the struggle to keep "The Ocampa live at a quicker rate new scientific ideas." says Robert Dun- his emotions in control —though it's cer- in everyway. I learn faster, I grow faster." can McNeill. Indeed, the pseudo- tainly there," asserts the wiry, strong There's no fatalism, though. "The science sounds remarkably well man. "He's the tactical officer and tacti- Ocampa are very open and at ease with thought-out. "For example, this ship cal security. Vulcans are said to be being themselves." runs on neural gel-packs," Rick Stern- peaceful, In fact, if you were in a war Less easy-going will be Chief Engi- bach, artist and resident techie, ex- situation, you'd want someone calm neer B'Elanna Torres, played by Rox- plains. "The neural gel-pack takes the and level-headed (like Tuvok). Strategy ann Biggs-Dawson. "Basically, she's isolinear computer chip and moves it is based in logic." Russ isn't here just trying to reconcile both sides of herself, one step further. Since it utilizes syn- for the bucks. He's been a fan of the her human heritage and her Klingon thetic neurons, it essentially grows a show since he first saw it, in the Seven- heritage. There's so much potential new kind of computer circuit. It's a ties. His interests span beyond the se- here. She's half-Klingon and half- head-end for any device on the ship.. ries, he adds. "I read science fiction. human, but she's all woman." Roxann Instead of, say, an isolinear-optical- My favorites are Alan Dean Foster and seems charming and demure. It's hard based computer thinking out every the classic Trek novels. I also enjoy to imagine her snarling and aggres- move in a chess game, the neural gel- Ben Bova, Arthur C. Clarke, Michael sive, but clearly, she excels, and will pack system will think out some of Crichton, and Stephen King. I read, carry on the Star Trek tradition of those moves, but will be able to come CON1 INUFR ON PAQE 82 43 Is this a dragon or an alien? There is no correct answer to the above question. What you see depends on how you think. Of course, if this simple ink blot spurred your imagination, just think what our books will do for you. Join The Science Fiction Book Club®, the best source of SF and Fantasy.. .no matter how you look at it. fiefnn Boo* Quo wSc/ence" lEasianihSlresl Sot 6367 HERE'S WHAT YOU GET WHEN YOU JOIN... Fict&nm A GUARANTEE OF SATISFACTION. Once your membership's accepted, we' YES: !".:;:* cr'c "iv: n n?e SaeiKi Raw Seek Club accordingirding to Itii send your 5 BOOKS. II you're dissatisfied with the books, return them withii free membership plan described in this ad. Send me the 5 BOOKS IV 10 days at our expense. Membership wi :v> ssnciM- vuu'll owe nothing. indicated. Bill me just Si, plus sliipping and dandling. HUGE DISCOUNTS ON HARDCOVER BOOKS. 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If you get an unwanted book because your Souls. Gods of ttie Foi Club magazine was delayed and you had less than 10 days to respond, simply he right to reject any application return the book at our expense. are hardcover editions. Prices in fine print are publishers' hi ;. Prices in bold print Club ARTICLE BY DENNY ATKIN VIRTUAL BLUE YONDER: FIGHTERTOWN TAKES OFF PHOTOGRAPHS BY DOUGLAS KIRKLAND Virtual Simulation Center. room where I'm issued a to the flight line to check out The pilots are gathered green bag (flight suit). the pilots' mounts. Entering lor Operation Dominion, Walking down the hall I spot the huge simulation room, scale. Fightertown's first full-blown walls lined with pictures of I'm surprised by the A combat campaign, pitting fighter planes, lockers cov- two-story control tower dom- the virtual-reality center's ered with squadron stickers, inates the dimly lit, ware- Surrounding best pilots against both real and map-filled briefing house-size room. and computer-controlled rooms. Once you've passed the tower are 11 full-size fighter jet cockpits. Some opponents. "The flight is THE SIM DRIVERS through Fightertown's front simulated, but the experi- doors, the only indication are fiberglass replicas, but EXECUTE HIGH-G through the F-111 F-4 Phantom ence is real," claims Fighter- you're not walking a and town's brochure. I'm wonder- YO-YOS AND SPLITS squadron headquarters on a cockpits are actual con- simulators. ing just how real my first MANEUVERS real military base is the verted military experience as a correspon- presence of civilian cus- Some of the fighters face THE PRECISION screens, dent for a simulated war is WITH tomers looking for a chance huge, 12-foot video to visit the wild blue yonder. while others have large going to be as I pull into Fight- OF AIRSHOW above the ertown's parking lot. Sud- Today, though, there are monitors mounted PILOTS. THERE'S A panel. Taking denly my vehicle fa rented no such, distractions. There's instrument a Corolla—you only get Hum- TACTICAL a war on, and Fightertown is closer look, I'm impressed number of switches vees for real wars) begins to DEVIOUSNESS EXHIB- closed to the public. Only by the the Fightertown staff, the 20 in a replica F-16 Fighting vibrate. I look up to see six ITED BY HUMAN Marine F/A-18 Hornet attack Golden Eagle pilots, and Falcon cockpit. Fightertown fighters from the nearby El PILOTS THAT CAN'T BE this correspondent are pres- co-founder John Araki re- Toro airbase screaming SIMULATED ent. As the pilots file in, minds me that there's a lot Fightertown overhead. The mood is set. they're handed papers con- more to the BY A COMPUTER. the cockpit The mood isn't broken as taining a campaign over- experience than view and rules of engage- simulators. "We don't build I follow a group of pilots through Fightertown's en- ment and told to report to just pods here," he admon- build trance. After checking in with the Officer's Lounge at 1600 ishes, "we an expe- a uniformed attendant, I'm hours for a briefing. rience." Still, the cockpits is escorted back to the supply In the meantime, I head are impressive, which 48 OMNI — After piloting the authentic simulators at SIMULATORS ALLOW jerked up to 20,000 feet in a matter of Fightertown, I was starting to get cocky about moments. (The Eagle holds six time-to- YOU TO PILOT my flying skills. One quick phone call from height records, including a climb to 65,616 Air Force Lieutenant Bryan Hubbard brought VEHICLES RANGING feet in 2 minutes, 2.94 seconds.) my britches right down to earth. back FROM FOKKER We form up with another F-15; the planes "How would you like to fly an F-15 maneuver with such precision that it seems Eagle?" he asked. TRIPLANES TO F-14 as if there's an invisible rod locking them Gathering my scattered wits, I confidently TOMCATS TO together. Then we break off and perform responded, "Uh, yes!" The Air Force wanted some basic fighter maneuvers, with each me to visit its semiannual William Tell air-to- GALAXY-CLASS STAR- pilot trying to stay on the other's tail. You air weapons meet at Florida's Tyndall Air SHIPS, RUT don't gently bank an Eagle—you roll it 90 Force Base. This would be a chance to see degrees and pull back hard on the stick. EVEN THE MOST in use some of the hottest defense tech- It's at this point that I understand the nologies around: sophisticated unpiloted biggest difference between flying a sim- drone aircraft, the AMRAAM radar-guided ulator and the real thing: G-forces. Simpson missile, and 3-D computer-generated ACMI shows me some tight maneuvers, at one playbacks of combat maneuvers. point pulling 7.8 Gs. During severe maneu- Arriving at Tyndall, I don't go straight to vering the G-suit tightens on your legs and the flight line. The F-15 is equipped with lower abdomen to keep the blood from ejection seats, and one has to go through rushing from your head and pooling near egress training before flying. This involves your feet, but that's not enough to keep you sitting in a full-size cockpit mockup and conscious. You also have to tighten your learning how to get out of the plane—the muscles manually and perform breathing slow way, by climbing out, and the very fast exercises to keep the oxygen flowing to your way, by ejecting. Next comes parachute brain. My vision starts to gray out on the training, as well as learning how to utilize 7.8-G maneuver, and I'm amazed that pilots the beacons, flares, rations, and raft can even stay conscious during 9-G ma- included in the seat-cushion survival kit. neuvers, much less successfully dogfight. After a quick visit to the flight surgeon, I'm At that point my equilibrium protests, fitted for my flight suit. After nearly three REALISTIC and my stomach promises to leave me a hours of preparation, I'm off to the flight line. flight souvenir if we don't calm our flying, so SIMS My pilot, Major Michael J. Simpson, CANT PREPARE Simpson leads me through some banks escorts me to the two-seat F-15D. Although YOU FOR THE and rolls, and then lets me take the stick. the F-15 first flew way back in 1972, it's still The Eagle maneuvers with a light touch; FEELING OF NEARLY considered the premier air-superiority with real-world feedback around you, it's fighter in service anywhere in the world. EIGHT TIMES actually easier to fly than the simulators. Nearly 64 feet long and 18 feet tall, the Finally we touch down at Tyndall, the F- THE NORMAL FORCE mach 2.5-plus fighter is an imposing sight. 15's huge airbrake quickly slowing the I We taxi into position, and we're off. And OF GRAVITY fighter to a stop. I climb from the Eagle fol- mean off! We execute a ful!-afterburner lowing one of the most exciting hours of my PRESSING YOU IN takeoff at a 45-degree rate of climb (it feels life with even greater respect and awe for more like 90), The F-15 feels as if it's been YOUR SEAT. military pilots and the planes they fly. probably in no small part a result of I sit down at a table with four Our boys have two goals: First they Araki's and co-founder Dave Kinney's Fightertown pilots: Slider, Hollywood, must repatriate the captured territories, experiences in the 1980s working on Wolf, and Bagger. (Everyone is known then they must teach the Sijenians not Northrop's B-2 flight simulation project. by his call sign, just like in Top Gun.) to mess with the United States. They'll be the Alert pilots for the first The CO. goes over the rules of 1600 Hours: Briefing mission, ready to take to the air as engagement. All combat will be guns- In the Officer's Lounge, the Golden reinforcements when allied aircraft are only. This is a compromise to help Eagle pilots are poring over their shot down. Colonel Gary "Six Gun" keep the simulated combat exciting briefing information. This may be a Woods, the squadron commander, these pilots are serious, but they're simulation—a very sophisticated game, comes in to address the flyers. Air here to have fun, and being shot down in all honesty—but they're taking it very squadrons and ground troops from the by a computer-generated missile fired seriously. The pilots— all male and nation of Sijen have captured two allied from 20 miles away just isn't fun. The mostly in their 20s and 30s—are all clad islands, Bear Trap and North Java, he Golden Eagles will face five computer- - in authentic flight suits, some Fighter- explains. We watch a fictional news generated F-4 Phantoms, as well as town issued, others personally owned. broadcast recounting the day's events, two F-4s piloted by human pilots Squadron patches adorn all the uni- including an interview with a Sijenian (Fightertown employees, who are just - forms, and some pilots even have pilot whose taunts - help -rile the as anxious to add some kills to their planning notepads strapped to their legs. Fightertown jet-jockeys toward action. flight logs). The squadrons will be able simulators: F-14 If you can't get to Fightertown, you can still WHILE VO0R two new Top Gun, an on the film and geared get a taste of what it's like to fly high- HOME PC MAY NOT BE simulator based pilot, performance jets if you have a personal toward the novice computer and computer. Home PCs have grown so EQUIPPED WITH Falcon 4.0, updated with state-of-the-art powerful that they can simulate air combat A CUSTOM DISPLAY graphics, live-action video, and a more sophisticated ground campaign. with incredible realism. "We do a lot of out- CARD, 18-FOOT side flying that way," says John "Wolf" Electronic Arts' U.S. Navy Fighters is a PROJECT Rawson, a member of Fightertown's VMF- SCREEN, bit easier for novices to master. You're not 115 Silver Eagles Squadron. "Falcon 3.0 is FIOHTERNET saddled with the responsibility of managing entire air war; you only have to worry popular, and Chuck Yeager's Air Combat COMBAT NETWORK, the handles real well." about accomplishing individual missions. Spectrum Holobyte's Falcon 3.0 is a The missions are interesting, and some are favorite combat simulator among serious a welcome change from the typical "blow PC pilots, The simulator lets you fly the Air up ground target after ground target" flight Force's F-16 Fighting Falcon in a series of simulator fare. For example, the first mission missions over trouble spots around the in the Russian campaign has you escorting world. Although it's been surpassed graph- an airliner carrying Boris Yeltsin through ically by more recent simulators, nobody hostile territory after an uprising in the fly Navy planes has topped it for overall situational realism former Soviet Union. You and sophistication. The missions you fly— ranging from the subsonic A-7 Corsair II with up to seven F-16s on your wings—are attack jet to a navalized F-22 Lightning II part of a larger campaign where the suc- fighter against an arrriada of computerized cess of each mission determines what opponents that includes most of the major threats you'll face next. You must carefully combat aircraft in service today. plan every aspect of your mission; How many Designed by Brent Iverson, the pro- planes you'll take along, which weapons to grammer responsible for the popular Chuck carry, and what path to take to the target. Yeager series of flight simulators. U.S. Navy Much of the appeal of Falcon 3.0 comes Fighters features graphics and sound flight simulator. from its connectivity. You can fly head-to- unparalleled by any other head or cooperative missions against SuperVGA graphics, beautifully textured another Falcon owner over a telephone clouds, and 16-bit stereo sound help pull modem connection, or, for a real thrill, fly you into the fantasy. If you got a new with or against one to five players using a Pentium PC as a holiday gift, this is the group of networked PCs. There are Falcon program to push it to its limits. On CD-ROM squadrons who meet periodically on for IBM PC compatible computers, U.S. services such as CompuServe to plan Navy Fighters is available from Electronic Arts, (800) 245-4525. elaborate online battles. AND FULL-SUE The best way to check out Falcon 3.0 is If you want to learn everything there is to to pick up the recently released Falcon REPLICA OF AN F-I8 know about modern PC flight simulators, Gold CD-ROM compilation, which features COCKPIT LIKE check out Intercept: The Journal for Falcon 3.0, add-on planes such as the MiG- Combat Flight Simulation Pilots. This 29 and F/A-18, and the 60-rninute Art of the subscription-only bimonthly newsletter Kill combat training video. It's available RIGS, IT CAN covers the latest and greatest flight sims in from Spectrum Holobyte, (510) 522-1164. STILL CAPTURE THE exacting detail, including information about The company also makes Falcon MC, a the simulators and technical briefs on the similar program for the color Macintosh. actual aircraft they model, For information Later this year Spectrum plans to release contact SIMCAP at (914) 338-3520. to choose which planes to send on a strike. Seven missions will be flown and the pilots are considering all the of strike; they will have F-14 Tomcats, tonight, and if all goes well, Sijen will factors that can affect the success F/A-18 Hornets, and A-6 Intruders feel the wrath of Fightertown's air forces. their mission. They calculate the available, as well as a KC-10 tanker, distance to the target and the fuel load kinds of forces Pilots must make it back to a safe zone 1700 Hours: Mission Planning needed, what enemy face, the best altitude to fly, near friendly territory before ejecting, I follow the first group downstairs to they might or they'll be considered captured by the briefing room. One wall is covered and what sort of weapons they'll need enemy forces. with a map of the fictional Gulf of Sijen. to knock out the radar site. "Watch out The pilots are broken up into groups. The CO. points out the targets for the for small-arms fire," warns Six Gun, Eight pilots will fly on each strike, with first mission: Radar sites must be The pilots should break to the left after four Alert pilots on standby for each knocked out so thai later strikes can be firing at the radar site. "Break off the mission. While one group is in the air, mounted in an effort to recapture" the wrong way, and you'll run into AAA the second group will plan the next airbase there. The planning is intricate, (antiaircraft artillery)," cautions the 5D OMNI . vina met an unexpected demise, a**™ "M' /77i6- J- yet azjavrt- > •"tit-He, wmuc-faA %L x a.(fesMtkt rf&6*&& adtf,1fi&- PUBLIC PERFORMANCE TODAY FROM NATIONAL RADIO". y OPBN1WS MINDS TO CLASSICAL MUSIC. CO. The flight will take F/A-18S due io 1730 Hours; First Strike heir :;-gc:t a have ficxpccicc y de- range and self-defense considerations. From the Officer's Lounge, we can not stroyed a bonus secondary target. The The pilots break into individual flights only watch the views from each plane, pilots aren't flying with laser-guided and plan their exact attack routines. but also monitor all the cockpit commu- smart bombs. They have unguided An officer sticks his head through nications. Each group has a command- Zuni rockets thai take skill and preci- the door, "Time to fly," he says, and the ing officer sitting in the tower, co- sion to use effectively. And most tar- pilots grab their helmets from the wall ordinating the flights and standing at gets take multiple hits to destroy; as and scramble to their cockpits. I head ready in case a rescue chopper needs the evening progresses, sighs of dis- ' back up to the Officer's Lounge, where to be launched, The first flight is appointment are heard as targets that I'll be able to watch the mission on cleared for takeoff. The graphics on the need five hits to be wiped out are hit by monitors that show the cockpit views screens in the lounge look a lot like only four Zunis. from the allied aircraft and the enemy what you'd expect to see in a top-of- The air-to-air combat that ensues is F-4s. A group of Fightertown employ- the-line flight simulator for your home intense. The sim drivers execute high- ees sits across the room—they'll be fly- PC. But watching eight planes taxiing G yo-yos and split-s maneuvers with ing for the Red Sijenian squadron as out together and listening to their com- the precision of airshow pilots. The the night goes on. Some good-natured munications as they meticulously computer pilots present a challenge, banter is exchanged between the pi- gather into a precision formation to fly but most of the real damage is done by lots on the two sides. I ask John "Wolf toward the target, it's very easy to for- the human-piloted F-4s.- There's a Rawson if the competition between pi- get that what I'm watching is a simula- spontaneity and tactical deviousness lots ever heats up. tion. And listening to the intensity of the exhibited by human pilots that just "I've seen very few personality con- cockpit chatter, I realize the pilots are can't be simulated by a computer. flicts," he explains. "We may have some even more lost in the experience. As In the briefing room one of the last disputes over who shot down whom, the mission progresses, the bad guys missions is being planned out. Lieu- but everyone gets along well." Things are still sitting comfortably on their run- tenant Colonel Mike "Mustang" Puckett might get heated occasionally because way. Although they're not privy to the is at the planning map. "Switch will go of the realism of the situation: "There is Golden Eagles' attack plans, it's only up with the A-6s," he says, sending up pressure on you to perform," he ad- logical to expect an attack on their air- a couple of tanker aircraft to refuel the mits, "but it's more in fun than anything base, so they'll stay on the runway until strike planes on their return. "Doc will else." That's actually written into the radar picks up incoming bogeys. take the strike '18 package with load rules of engagement: "Please—Foxtrot Combat continues into the night. three." Because the strike is launching Uniform November (FUN), hot fights, Mission plans are scrapped or hastily from the newly recaptured Bear Trap, gentlemen." Other than good-natured revised by flights as pilots discover that an island with a very short runway, the ribbing, fun is the order of the day. previous flights haven't knocked out pilots are warned to make sure their flaps are down and to raise their gear Thursday: Debriefing ternoons, except that we get together as soon as they unstick from the run- John "Wolf" Rawson describes one of once a month to test our skills as a way. As it is, they'll have to fly with a the later missions, flying a two-seat A-6 team in the air." less-than-maximum load just to get off with Badger. "Dominion took a lot out of The Fightertown simulators do fly a the ground. It turns out one pilot me. We were up there for a long time, lot like real planes, Rawson says, ex- doesn't make it, turning' his plane into a and then we got hit over the target. We cept for the lack of G-forces and pe- "lawn dart" embedded in the hill at the fired a Zuni at some airplanes on the ripheral vision. Still, the simulators are end of the runway. runway, then shifted over and fired realistic enough that he feels some as- The strikes continue as pilots de- some at the tower that was the target. - pects are good practice for reai flying, stroy ground and air targets and are We hit it, and there was an explosion, such as the IFR (Instrument Flight shot down themselves. Suspension of and we got hit by that. Almost immedi- Rules) departures and approaches the disbelief is broken just a bit whenever ately a fuel leak started. pilots often practice. Plus it gives him a shot-down pilots come up to the "We immediately had to shift our chance to try things that you don't nor- lounge to order a Snapple while they thoughts to how to get back. We were mally get a chance to do over the skies watt to hear whether they were rescued already low on fuel from dodging enemy of Southern California. "Formation fly- or captured, but after all, this is just a planes in the area, so we had to figure ing is a bit of a jump," he says. "It's simulated war. out how to get back to the safety zone probably one of the most difficult things And in the end, it's a simulated war where we could eject. Right at the end you can do in an airplane." thai the good guys win. Having recap- an enemy aircraft hosed us down with tured the lost territory, a final series of gunfire, and we had to eject early." He Test Flight flights launches toward Sijen itself, adds, with relief, "We got picked up by Operation Dominion was flown by some where they wipe out an oil refinery as a a rescue chopper, so we made it back." of Fightertown's most talented and retaliatory measure. A cheer goes up in Rawson, an electrical engineer from dedicated pilots. These are regular the lounge as the tower confirms the nearby Orange, California, files real customers who have flown a series of destruction of the refinery, and we planes as well. He owns a Stearman bi- qualification missions, learning real pi- head down to greet and congratulate plane, which is currently in the process loting, navigation, and combat skills, the last group of pilots upon their return of restoration. He says the Fightertown until finally receiving their wings. These to base. It's like watching a scene from pilots aren't fascinated with the war as- are the die-hards, pilots so enthusiastic Top Gun—pilots are patting each other pects of the simulation; they're just about the Fightertown experience that on the back, moving their hands people with a similar interest in aviation some of them volunteer time working in through the air re-creating maneuvers, and the challenge of flying military jets. the tower and performing other duties and good-naturedly ragging the guys "It's like a group of guys who get to- in exchange for time in the cockpit. who came home riding silk elevators. gether to play basketball on Sunday af- But Fightertown isn't just an experi- — ence (or wannabe Chuck Ysagers. Virtual Air Base First-time pilots are given an introduc- Fightertown isn't about gadgets and tory briefing that combines video of electronics. It's not a "here's a jet, fly it" Fightertown cockpits and actual jet op- experience. The human element—with erations with instruction by a Fighter- tower controllers, uniformed flight in- Own A town officer. First-flights are in an structors, a rank structure that regular easy-to-handle T-45 Goshawk trainer, customers can work through, and the and the tower controller is always a mi- ability to fly against live opponents—is if Modem? crophone-button press away you what makes this a reality simulation have any questions. rather ihan just an arcade experience. I strap into one of the F-16 cockpits The Fightertown folks want to make the for an introductory flight. Allhough the experience a realistic one you'll want to cockpit looks like an F-16, I'll be flying come back and try again, something the T-45 on this run. Any- of the cockpits you can learn more about and enjoy in can be programmed to simulate a vari- greater depth. "We're not here to do a ety of aircraft, including the F-14 Tom- thrill ride," says John Araki. "Well, cat, F-16 Fighting Falcon, A-6 Intruder, hopefully it will thrill you," adds Dave F/A-18 Hornet, Russian SU-27 Flanker, Kinney, "but we want to provide some- and even the AV-8B Harrier jump jet. thing more substantive than that." Full throttle, pull back on the stick at For $30 (the full-motion simulators 120 knots, and raise the gear and are a bit more), the Fightertown pilot, Explore flaps. This is as easy to fly as the per- gets a half-hour of instruction and an- sonal computer flight sims I'm used to, other half-hour in the air. For an aviation but that experience can't compare to enthusiast, that's not a lot of money, but this. Wearing a flight suit, listening to for some potential customers that ex- OMNI Magazine tower communications through an au- pense might make Fightertown a one- thentic combat helmet, and feeling the time, "gee-whiz" experience. To make cockpit vibrate from engine noise—all Fightertown more attractive to casual on America that's missing is the sensation of move- fliers, and to folks who might want to ment. (Fightertown has two full-motion bring the whole family along, a new cockpits that can even provide that.) Battle Over the Pacific feature will be. Online FREE The iower controller vectors me to a opening soon. This section will feature canyon for a high-speed run. I push a bank of full-motion World War II F4U the throttle forward, nose down, and Corsair fighter cockpits that will be eas- for 10 Hours! hang on for the ride of my life. At "the ier—and less expensive at about $10 end of the canyon is a suspension to fly than the current jet simulators. If you own a computer and a modem, you bridge. I lower my altitude a bit, Like the jets, though, the realism level can get even more o; llie OMN: exjicr.cnce scream' under it, ihen pull the stick is adjustable, so expert pilots can bat- wiih OMNI Magazine on America Online. hard back and hit the switch on the tle with torque, stalls, and spins, not to Broaden your hor.zons and enter the control stick for a rear view so I can mention Zeros and P-38s. worlds of science, science Eiction, and the watch the bridge retreat into the dis- At the Fightertown's Or- moment future with information and insights rrom tance behind ange County center is the only loca- me. this months issue: Talk lo orher OMNI The controller knows I've flown sims tion, but the company is looking to readers on interactive message boards or before, so he gives me a taste of what expand into a nationwide network of send e-mail to the OMNI staff. Participate more advanced pilots will encounter in virtual entertainment centers. The com- in live conferences and events, and enjoy the simulated skies. "Two bandits at pany hopes to open another 50 loca- OMNl's sibling publication, COMPUTE Magazine. Just use keyword to your six," he calls urgently. I pull an Im- tions nationwide within five years. Araki OMNI melman, lock up one bandit on the au- says that the initial plan is to allow Access OMN! Magazine Online! thentic heads-up display, call "Fox the various centers to compete in tour- Or, sample hundreds of other informative One!", and uncage a missile at him. naments by comparing rankings and and entertaining services, .ike computing Splash one bad guy. Meanwhile I've kill statistics. As computer communica- support from leading hardware and soft- tost the. second bandit. I find him soon tion technology advances, though, he ware makers, more than 70,000 software programs you can download and keep, enough, when I hear the impact of gun hopes that they will eventually be able shells on my plane's fuselage. Jinking to link the simulators in real-time, so a and an ur.erna'.iunai e-mail gateway. back and forth, I manage to get out of pilot in Lake Forest could take on a flier Order today to get America's most exciting his line of fire. My plane nearly be- in Chicago. online service and your free 10-hour trial comes one with a nearby mountain as I While most of the industry is still membership. try to maneuver onto his tail, but I pull struggling toward electronic interactive out at the last second. Finally I squeeze entertainment, Fightertown has found a 1-800-827-6364 off a shot and take him out. Just when I winning combination of simulation, Ext. think it's safe to let the adrenaline level human elements, and atmosphere that 7926 drop, the controller's back on the radio. works for the uninitiated as well as the "Ready to try a carrier landing?" On my technical-minded fighter-plane' buff. first attempt at what amounts to a con- "We think that for most of our cus- trolled crash on a postage stamp, I tomers, it's as close to a jet or an F4U miss the wires and bolt off the end of as they're probably going to get, so it's the ship, but on the second go I trap really important that it Ifve up to their the three-wire. expectations," says Kinney.DO PRIMARY WITNESS: VITAL STATISTICS: specific and corroborated unpublished mation and make me shut up," me that the actual experience was a details from the best case data we In April 1991, Haley charges, mili- sexual molestation, It is my profes- have so far." What's more, he points tary harassment made its most insidi- sional opinion," he concluded, "that out, Haley's story had a spin: Her "rec- ous appearance at the Columbus Air you suffer from delayed Post Traumatic ollections" apparently involved the Force Base in the form of Major (then Stress Disorder (PTSD) due to child- United States military, which she Captain) Tracy Poole, whose wife was hood experiences, complicated by a claimed harassed her so she wouldn't in Haley's accounting class. Haley says paranoid state caused by the hypnosis go public with her tale. Poole extended "an unusually persis- sessions, and I've recommerded you After undergoing hypnosis, Haley tent invitation" to view space shuttle^ undergo treatment by a licensed M.D. has come to believe her abduction Endeavour during its stopover at the or Ph.D. certified in hypnotherapy to dreams were real. She eventually went base. Armed guards surrounding the help you resolve these issues." public in 1993 with a self-published shuttle and signs posted around the In the fall of 1992, Haley also com- book, Lost Was the Key after legally spacecraft warning that "Deadly force pleted a Fantasy Prone Test given to changing her name to Leah A, Haley is authorized," Haley notes, expiar why numerous abductees by the Center for "to protect my family and children." she considered the invitation "a possi- UFO Studies (CUFOS). According to ble setup to interrogate or kill me," Carpenter: "It revealed that she was Inventory of Claims Technology Gone Awry Haley also less kely than the normal person to be Memories from the Deep. In 1960 reports loosened locks and window fantasy prone. She fell in the frank, Haley, then nine years old, and her screens, disturbances in the phone down-to-earth, conservative range." brother, then seven, saw what they line, and the spontaneous disarming of thought was a spacecraft landing in ner security system, not to mention The Investigation the woods near their home in Garden- strange sounds throughout her house, Memory Lane. Like most ab- dale, Alabama. "I saw three objects, leading her to believe someone or ductees, Haley has recalled her alien two of which quickly darted away," she something was inside. encounters primarily through hypnotic explains, "The third was silver, com- Weird Body Marks. Haley has found regression "H^lev de oeraiely did not pletely spherical in shape, and it sat "more than one hurored strange read anything and did not want to be still for a long time in the sky," an abductee or involved in ! Decades later, in July 1990, any o this,' says he 1" "iyp- Haley visited with her mother SHE REPORTS MORE THAN notist, John Carpenter, who to regressed and brother in Alabama, and j has date 90 during other abductees. "Under a conversation about 1 00 STRANGE MARKS ON DIFFERENT PARTS OF extraterrestrials sparked by a hypnosis, she had the newspaper article, Haley re- classic response ;o all this; . HER BODY; INJECTION counted a "strange, very real it brought tears." is dream. I was in a spaceship, MARKS, SCOOP MARKS, AND CIRCULAR^ Haley's brother, who a in a round room, lying on a law enforcement officer platform with small chalky ' VACCINATION MARKS with the state of Alabama white creatures with big black and, as such, requested eyes doing some kind of med- SEEMINGLY FORMED WITH THREE PRONGS. anonymity, was present at ^^™ the first ses- io recalls. I two hypnosis ical (flings me," she . After the dreams increased, sions. "Carpenter did not she contacted John Carpenter in hopes marks" on different parts of her body, ask leading questions; rather he tried of finding some mental illness or disor- Including injection marks, scoop to lead her away from anything having der to explain what was going on, In- marks, and red, circular vaccinal en I ike to do with aliens," he says. After the stead, dun'ng 15 sessions of hypnotic marks, apparently made with three sessions he says, "she was in oisbe ie:. regress on. she recalled countless spe- separate prongs. She also reports denial, shock, but there was no doubt cific abductions starting at age 3. She other physical anomalies, such as in my mind that she was deeply af- even conjured an undersea alien "facil- "Morse Code-type beeps" in her ears, fected by what she was remembering." ity, complete with alien craft and a cap- intense back spasms, voices and im- All this, say critics, does not prove tive soldier, held against his will, agery, and frequent soreness in her Haley's recollection to be real. Robert Military Intervention. During hypno- ovaries. On numerous occasions, she A. Baker, psychology ororessor emeri- sis and in flashbacks. Haley also re- says. "I have felt dazed, unable to con- tus at the University of Kentucky, who cal sd her abduction by military per- centrate or focus." has studied psychological anomalies, sonnel. For instance, she told of an alien Sane Psychometric Profile. Haley says, "These 'encounters' are really craft that she believes crashed near a visaed -lorence, Alabama, psyeiia:ris: hypnagogic images, essentially waking beach while she was aboard, after which Thomas G. Shafer three times in 1992. nai uo nations or dreams, and nothing military personnel escorted her away. Shafer, who has no connection to the more." Adds Baker, researchers like Comments Carpenter, "That episode UFO field, concluded that there was Carpentei iay be putting aliens in unraveled as vividly as any I've heard." "no evidence of organic psychoses, people's heads, Since September 1990. Haley claims, such as schizophrenia, organic brain "Baker has not lookeo at ~y work or she has been "followed by military syndrome, or bipolar illness." In a letter my methods," responds Carpenter, "My types in navy blue or white cars," and to her and released to Omni, he wrote: trademark is deliberately suggesting ' occasionally by black unmarked heli- "It is my opinion that you suffered some logical responses to the point of n copters. She also claims she has been sort of extremely traumatic experience leading these aodLCtees. These ab- monitored via her telephone and in per- in the woods that day long ago as a ductees come from all walks of life and son, because, she now speculates, "I child, Your descriptions of being economic status, and yet they all tell was on that alien craft when it crashed naked, lying powerless, having your the same story about the same little and the military wanted to glean infor- body explored suggest very strongly to guys. It doesn't make sense that these fmmeMM PROFILES IN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE LIKE A LOT OF MM THINGS, ACHIEVING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IS HARDER THAN IT LOOKS. IN THE 1 950s, THE PIONEERS OF Al CONFIDENTLY PREDICTED THAT, BY THE END OF THE CENTURY, COMPUTERS WOULD BE CONVERSING WITH US AT WORK AND ROBOTS WOULD BE PERFORMING OUR HOUSEWORK. BUT AS USEFUL AS COMPUTERS §|v ARE, THEY'RE NOWHERE CLOSE TO ACHIEVING ANYTHING REMOTELY RESEMBLING THESE EARLY ASPIRATIONS FOR HUMANLIKE ^^BEHAVIOR. NEVER MIND SOMETHING AS COMPLEX AS CONVERSATION: THE MOST POWERFUL COMPUTERS STRUGGLE TO RELIABLY THREE RESEARCHERS TAKE A NATURAL APPROACH TO CREATING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE — RECOGNIZE THE SHAPE OF AN OBJECT, THE MOST ELEMENTARY OF TASKS A GROWING GROUP OF Al RESEARCHERS THINKS IT KNOWS WHERE THE FIELD WENT WRONG. THE PROBLEM, THE SCIENTISTS SAY, IS THAT Al HAS BEEN TRYING TO "CHERRY-PICK" INTELLIGENCE THAT IS, TO SEPARATE THE HIGHEST, MOST ABSTRACT LEVELS OF THOUGHT, LIKE LANGUAGE AND MATHEMATICS, AND TO DUPLICATE THEM WITH LOGICAL, STEP-BY-STEP PROGRAMS. A NEW movement in Al, en the other hand, ect as caencar anancinc assistant network to pick i p tips. "One of the ie-ies s closer loo^. a: the more rounc- 'or their use's, intemsct ng elect "one ways knowledge aocul way in wnicn nat.re came up wth mail messages tnat 'eguest meetirgs -ilolligence. Vlary cr tness resea-che.-s and then scneou ing the meet ngs. But study evolution and natural adaptation before a program can begin sched- instead of formal logic and con- uling. it has to learn how its user prcr- ventiona. computer p-ograms. Rather izes such requests. Sc lor a wnile, it than digital computers and iransis:o"3. watches" 'he user schedule meet ngs some want to work wiLn bra n cells and orote ns. Tne results of These early efforts are as prom sing as they are ce: siqr ed to sif peculiar, and the new nature-based Al sueih n icssaao: movement is slowly but surely moving out the "ow mos to the lorefront of the field. to (he user c^ Here Is a look at three of the 'ie.d's cor nhir lations & most provocates cioreers. Tne first The wans to employ nature's teenniquss list cf for "programming" intelligence; the wheat second wants to get computers ic imitate precisely the brain's unicue sty e of information processing; and the third wants to rep ace computers altogether with the chemical building To avoid that chore, Maes empioys blocks of iving tissue. a form oi artif c al evolution A use' starts elf with not one scting o r og'S'"" Pattie Maes nas an unusually, well, but s "population' cf severa. hundred : cuddly vision of Al. Originally from o mem Maes ca Is the p-ograms Beg'um and now one of the stars of "retrievers' anc represents tnern on- MIT's celebrated Media Lab, the slen- screen with cartoon faces s milar to the oen energetc Maes eschews se'eers emation its scnedul ng cssistanrs'. ~ach -etuever of text, disembodied voices, and priority this is preassigned a dfterem. randomly gleaming robots. Instead, her efio-ts chosen set ol -:ey weds and phrases. take the form of animated rodents, One might tag al artic es witn sects puppets, and hapoy faces, among terms as musi-'cao items for example, : other cha-acters. "My dream." says the wh e anoiner gives pre e'e"ce to le-s rescarcner ir her mellifluous accent "Is that Include financial terms, such as r to do a really good dog." suggested appc ntment time, If the "inie est rates." Maes' "intelligent agents," as she user aoo-oves the cor g-ns with pride. After working wtn tne retrievers for calls them, are no mere cartoons but If the use- rejects me suggestion and a while, tne user tnen picks out the a-tifioia intelligence prng-ams capable picks a different time, the icon loo 6*; OMNI wecams JLAlCRS Fiction By Howard Waldrop A ypn-hg Producer, Releasing Corporation Executive; Bill, you're « minute, hebiml on your shooting schedule. actor learns to Beaudine, You mean, someone', waking to see this crap?? bend but -William "One-Shot" Beaudu* not oreak while For « week late in the year 1818. some of the mo.lt famous peopl, in the world seemed to have dropped oil' it, surface. lie faces The Griffith company, filming the motion picture TkcUol Dancer, with the palm tree, and heache, of Florida oppression on standing in for the South Seas, looh a shorting break. nisjouraey The mayor of Fori Lauderdale invited them for a 12-hour eroise ahoard his yacht, the 6VeB Duck They sailed to success anJ out of harhor on a beautiful iN'overnher morning. Just after noon „ late-season hurricane Jammed out of the Carlhheun recognition. ' 1 here was no word of the movie people, the mayor, hi, jacht. or the crew for five day* The Coast Guard and the Ma. .v ,ent out. every available ship. Two seaplanes flew *n the shipping lane, a, the storm ahated. KicbarJ Barthelmes, came down to Florida «t first news of 1 he disappearance, while the hurricane still raged. He » cut out vvilh the crew of the Great War U-boat choser, the /tec, I.hnJs. The seas were so rough the captain ordered them bach in after six hours. The day. stretched on, three, four. The Hearst newspapers put out extras, speculating on the late of Griffith, illustration By Gary Kelley Gish, the other actors, the mayor. The sense of urgency. Then he'd awakeneq had a big mustache like Dr, Fu Manchu weather cleared and calm returned. with a start, on the book jackets, and he wore a There were no sightings of debris or oil Lillian'Gish, who'd only arrived at tropical p.anter's suit and hat. Then this slicks, Reporters did stories on the the dock the morning they left, going young Filipino guy had run into the Marie Celeste mystery. Hearst himself directly from the Florida Special to the roo™ yelling a mile a minute, and the called in spiritualists in an attempt to yacht, had spent the whole week be- Swede asked. "Why number-three son contact the presumed dead director fore at the new studio at Mamaroneck, making noise like "otcoost?". and the and stars. New York, overseeing its completion Filipino ye ed someth ng else and ran On ihe morning of the sixih day, the and directing her sister in a comedy, :o a closet coor arc opened it, and a happy yachting party sailed back in to feature. On the tossing, p tchirg yacht wni-e teller fell out of it with a knife in harbor. she'd had a terrible time getting to his back, First there were sighs of relief, sleep. She had dreamed, she said, of Ther a voice oelrnd the steward " Then the reception soured. Some- being an old woman, or being dressed said Cut 1 and men said, "Let's do it one, in Hollywood pointed out that Grif- like one, and carrying a Browning again," ard the guy wth the knfe in his fith's next picture, to be released semiautomatic shotgun. She was be ng back got up ana went back into the nationwide in three weeks, was called staked through a swamp oy a crazed closet, and the Filipino guy went back 7?"i9 Greatest Question, and was about man with words tattooed on his fists, out the door, and the big Swecc look life after death, and the attempts of who sang hymns as he followed her. two puffs on a Camel and handed it to mediums to contact the dead. She was very frightened in her night- someone and then just stood there, W. R. Hearst was not amused, and mare, she said, not by being pursued, and the voice behind the steward said he told the editors of his papers not to but by the idea of being old. Everyone to him, "Okay."' and then, "This time, be amused, either. laughed at that. Mantan, bug your eyes out a little more." Griffith shrugged his shoulders for They asked David Wark GrTiith what The dream made no sense at all. the newsmen. "A storm came up. The he'd dreamed of. "Nothing in particu- captain put in at the nearest island. We lar," he said. But he had dreamed: After their return on the yacht, the stew- rode out the cyclone. We had plenty to (here was a land of fire and eruptions. ard had performed at the wrap party for the oroducfons. An Elk eat ard drink, and when it _ was over, we came back." I saw h m. ana they hired The island was called THEN THIS YOUNG FILIPINO GUY RAN INTO nim to do ther next initia- Whale Cay, They had been tion follies. Then he won a buffeted by the heavy seas THE ROOM YELLING A I couple of amateur nights, and torrential rains the first and played theaiefs in a day and night, but made do MILE A MINUTE AND RAN TO A CLOSET DOOR couple of nearby towns. He by lantern light and electric fetched and carried around torches, and the dancing fire AND OPENED IT, AND the mayor's house in the of the lightning in the bay caytime, and rolled audi- around them. They slept A WHITE FELLER FELL OUT OF iT WITH A KNIFE encss in the aisles at night, J stacked like cordwood in the One oay eary ir 9?C. crowded belowdecks. IN HIS BACK. he looked in his monthly : " - pay envelope and found it They had breakfasted in I the sunny eye of the hurricane was about a quarter of what late next morning up on deck. Many of Where men and women clad in animal he'd earned in the theater the last week. the movie people had had strange skins fought against giant crccodi es He gave notice, hit the boards run- dreams, which they related as the far- and lizards, much like in his film of ten ning, and never lookea back. wall clouds of the back half of the hurri- years before, Man's Genesis. Hal cane moved lazily toward them. Roach, the upstart competing pro- So it was that two years later, on April Neil Hamilton, ihe matinee idol who ducer, was there, too, looking older, but 12, 1922, Mantan Brown found himself, had posed for paintings on the cover of he seemed to be telling Griffith what to at eight in the morning, in front of a the Saturday Evening Post during the do. D. W. couldn't imagine such a large building in Fort Lee, New Jersey. Qreat War, told his dream. He was in a thing. Griffith attributed the dream to He had seen the place the yea' before, long valley with nigh cliffs surrounding the tolling of the ship, and to an espe- when he had been playing a theater him. On every side, as far as he could cially fine bowl of turtle soup he'd down the street. Before the Great War. see, the ground, the arroyos were cov- eaten that morning aboard the Grey it had been part of Nestor or Centaur, ered with the bones and tusks of ele- Duck, before the storm hit. or maybe the Thantouser Film Com- T phants, Their cyclopean skulls were Another person didn't tell of his pany. ne Navy had taken it ever for a tumbled at all angles. There were mil- dreams. He saw no reason to. He was year to make toothbrushmg and to lions and millions of them, as if every the stubby steward who kept them all trench-foot movies show new re- pachyderm ths> had ever lived had rock ng with laughter through the storm on how s work- disci there, It was near dark, the sky over- with his antics and jokes. He said noth- ehev, head paling, the jumbled bones around ing to the film people, because he had lock. him becoming purple and indistinct. a dream so very puzzling to him, a rnme'ca studio again, Over the narrow valley, against the dream unlike any other he'd ever had. nt oy the day or week, jction out to early stars a strange light appeared. It He had oeen somewhere; a stage, a Most I had moved came from a searchlight somewhere room. He wore some kino of livery; a thew estern coast, but there were still a beyond the cliffs, and projected onto a doorman's or a chauffeur's outfit, There -in Jersey, out on Astoria, in Man- high bank of noctilucent cirrus was a was a oig Swede standing right in front hattan itself—doing some kind of busi- winged black shape. From somewhere of him, anc the Swed : sh guy was made ness in the East. behind him a telephone rang with a up like a Japanese or a Chinaman. He Mantan had fe-ried over before 68 QMM ' ' " sunup, :aken a streetcar, and decked "Willie. g and came n ir tc the nearby no:e . one :hat let Ke- hand, shoe o.ma when he croes siay there as long as they paid in "Thank "Mantanl" "Why, Mr. B Looky advance. He lockeo he went inside, past a desk and a wha: the he he saw he was yawr ng cjard who wavec nim on. and "Beats Icjnc 2 o.iy n cove-alis with a broom, things 1 e whicn, Mantan had learned in two work here- vea's in the busiress, was where you and carry wer* tc *inc out stir rented t h 1 m oo-; rg for The Man with tne shoes is "You and everynocy else.' sad :he hareyman. He souinted. "1 seer you Cnicke- a cane sr from Harlem wno'c been r ri eh A'lth both Moran and ;/- and Bubbles "Her Mantan smiled. "Toured with her zard-bunny to me— ne : s got some Ma p'eased They'd ! m -lostly in and Ma Rairey as^ yea'- tnec io "e areat sche-e or somenir'. 1 been ade ee days r f jokes, and oecple :hrew o cks arc paint ng scene-y or it Don't ~ake ;an Gardens o; a n nouse in Sea Is- tnincs a; me 'til .hey came back on and sano. Theater Owners Booking rc :he mornings - m Fri- r.rc nis tent-shows Ace-icv. The i DBA circuit. cameras cc ng ir Thursday ard anc a Tne guv smred. "Tough On Black day snoo.iro time 'xy a lwo--Uer. Otner air.gh :. Somebod had cal ed some- else to Asses, hun?" than that, Mr. Brown, 1 dont know a body i-ho'd catlec scmSQOdy 1 "You got that right." thing more, than you do. eel Ir the job, He -adnt seer the n'lm 17 "Thanks. yet, bi he f cmemOe'ec uf "Well, 1 thought you were pretty cocc. Cauaht you somewhere ir the makirr ;eoly pretty funny. The wa.ing 'com wasrt like Connies, "1 11 ve dolars a cay. C ty. Went there—for the jazz. """hank you i- was like a TOBA tent-snow auTus JStlk G E A T M O M E N T S N S'ehrucry 11, 1987: The first online Jne zse-old Valentine's Day exclusive dctim service ntekes timely its dilemma debut in hopes of ccpitalizirn on the similar computer interests of men and women. SAT S'E 3Y ERIC JAY DECETIS irUTERVIEUU j^scant generation ago, /^kscholars painted a Utopian vision of the an- cient Maya, whose civiliza- tion flourished in Cemral America from 200 to 900 a.d, The Maya were por- trayed as nature-loving pacifists, so immersed in philosophical thought they remained unmoved by power, lust, or greed. Their cities of magnificent pyra- mids, wide plazas, and ballcourts were envisioned as sanctuaries where as- tronomer-priests contem- plated the heavens and 'he endless progression of time. The cryptic writing adorning Mayan architec- ture, so the experts pro- claimed, had nothing to do with history, The deeds o- mer, they assumed, held no interest for these star-dazed hippies. We now know this pic- ture is dead wrong. If any person has been instru- mental in exploding this myth, it is Tennessee-born Linda Scheie, a large- boned woman with a bawdy sense of humor and a dazzling facility for teasing the hidden meaning from the labyrinthine symbols the Maya used to record their language. In the early Seventies, seemingly ou! of nowhere, she burst into the field of Mayan studies and with her collaborators transformed our under- standing of Mayan beliefs and practices. Previously, experts could decipher only dates encoded in elaborate hi- eroglyphic signs; now they SHE ENCODED AN AN- CIENT LANGUAGE, SO AFTER CENTURIES OF SILENCE, THE MAYA SPEAK AGAIN. PHOTOGRAPHS BY WILLIAM COUPON " — J read more than 90 percent o some JOB DESCRIPTION: texts, The words in the inscriptions can .Epigrapher, teacher, actually be intoned jus: as the ancients leading spokesperson for the would have pronounced them. After Mayan world view centuries of siience, ihe Maya spea^ again. And what they say is not what INFLUENTIAL Scheie's predecessors expected to PUBLICATIONS: hear. Formerly cast as the Greeks of The Biocd of Kings. Ritual ana Dy- relishes draw- the New Wo-ld, the Maya were actually nasty in Maya Art A natural showman, she parallels from past to more ike- Romans. They loved pomp with Mary Miller and Maya Cosmos; ing sweeping and pageantry and relished bloodlet- Three Thousand Years present. "Scheie has emerged as per- spokesper- ting on the battlefield, playing ground, On the Shaman's Past with David haps the most promment world view." or ritual altar. As Scheie puts it, "Blood Freidel and Joy Parker son of the Mayan was the mortar of their society. observes Princeton Mayanist Gilleft Like Jean Frangois Champoilion of WHY THE GLYPHS ARE Griffin. The very qualities that make her Hosehe Stone fame, Scheie follows a LIKE THE a successful popuiarizer, however long tradition of epigraphers—experts JEFFERSON MEMORIAL: make her vulnerable io criticism, Some scholars a*:ac her 'o r being wild and in deciphering lost writing systems if our only record of who star.se as amateurs. In 1970, as a American history were what's written woo y '.vrh her facts—or implicitly too colorful. Others, 'rom the sreheeoogi- fledgling studio art teacher in Mobile, on monuments in Washington, Scheie fellow A aoama. she, her husband, and three you wouldn't find out much about the cal camp, often say and cis students visr.od vlexco's Mayan ruins average American. Similarly, epigraoners reconstruct cl Mayan over Christmas vacation Arriving a: Ihe history rely too heavily on inscriptions ancient site of Palenque, the group which, they argue, are largely the prop- planned to stay the obligatory two hours aganda of :he noble classes, While r re- -ecom^ended in their travel guide. In- cencedirg thei point. Scheie stead, they spent over 12 days. What sponds, "Of course their history was bi- began as a standard tourist jaunt be- ased. So is ours, "here's still much we came for Scheie a lifelong obsession. can learn from it," Scheie returned to Palenque each To interview Scheie, Kathleen of the next three summers, bebending McAuliffe iraveled Io Antigua, the old J scholars, knowledgeahle laymen, and colonial capir.a- c Guatemala, where anyone else who could offer her In- the historian, now 52, was on a mission lost sg'nts ir:o :he vanished society. Even- to ieach modem Maya ihe writing tually the Scheles bought a house in a system of their ancestors. Scheie and neighbor ng village so she could start McAuliffe Talked over the span of a mapping Palenque's sprawling vine- week with Sequent stops and starts to covered B'.rjcures. Three years laser. accommodate the endless stream of Scheie made a formidable irrfpreasten Maya visitors seek-iy Scheie. at an international gathering of there's much the Maya aid not write Mayan ists held near the ruins. After about: taxes, trade, thoughts Omni: Tell us about that first epiphany b-ainstcrming with Peter Mathews of about everyday life. But We can learn at Palenque. Calgary University for just three hours, who was victorious in war Scheie; It was like a cream. You see the duo presented stunning insights and had the power to commission about 15 pyramids with huge, ^nee- into the structure and grammar of the public monuments and high steps leading to their tops, silhou- moun- iv'ayar written language. They also put buildings—or at least what they etted against fores t-cover-od together 200 years of Palenque's dy- wanted to te-l about themselves. tains. The cicadas start with one song, nastic lineage, spanning the lives of six then another answers, and another, successive kings —the most complste FAVORITE MAYAN until it becomes a 12-tone harmony, tie. list of rulers for any Iviayar site. "History BUILDING: Creeks tumble down the mountains mountain had been made before our very eyes," ~e—p e of rsciptiors a'' Palenouc Where water bubbles out, the -eoaHs Yale Mayans! Vlichsel Coe. is streaked with limestone, No one knew As Scheie, Mathews, and others ex- A LESSON FROM A LOST a single person who had ever lived in tended and elaborated their approach, CIVILIZATION: this mystery piace. It was the. most the trickle of decipherable glyphs In the end of the Mayan empire so beautiful and sacred place I'd been in it. swe ed to a torrent. Fragments of tex:s many resources went my life. I had to find out more about came together into compelling pas- into warfare the whole social struc- Although no one knew it, the field of sages of prose. Along widi archaeolog- ture became unstable. Mayan studies was about to crack ical finds, these reveal an epic warring The question for us is whether the wide open. Noi only did I arrive at the of Maya dynasties. The glyphs also pro- 1980s administrations right place at the right time, I met the vide clues to the sudden, mysterious spent us into oblivion as well, right anihrcpoogis:s. zoologists, and — — historians. There was no reasor for senlhg an openirc or crsck eadiro to comes from—and the genitals. Those these people to welcome a little of the Otherworld. The royal family lived in are the parts from which they ritually Southern girl who'd just gotten a Mas- palaces nearby. On important occa- drew blood. ter of Fine Arts and was teaching at the sions— holy days, celebrations of a The Mayan king made the most University of South Alabama. But they battle victory, the birth of an heir—the powerful sacrifices. Our presidents, didn't care about my credentials. They king and queen went into the sacred chancellors, and prime ministers en- taught me with generosity and humor, house on top of the pyramid where gage in political battles end send 19- rituals took including the year-olds in their place to fight a war, and if I had a good idea, they said, many place, "Wow! Yeah!" and encouraged me. torture or sacriiice of war captives, and Not only was the Mayan king on the Omni: So nothing was known about they'd communicate with the Other- battlefield til the day he died, but he Palenque at thai time? world. Then they'd come out in front of had to open his tongue and penis Scheie: Every guide made up his own the crowd and perform bloodletting rit- every time a major ceremony or event story. By 1970, the great tomb in the uals on themselves. took place in the center. Now, can you Temple of Inscriptions had been found. Omni: So it is thought they were a imagine how many Clintons we'd have if, of Congress, Many believed it showed an astronaut pretty violent culture? at every major meeting taking off. In the images on the walls Scheie: They worer.': especially bad at every important event, he had to people saw astronomer priests or or good. They were not idyllic nature- drop his pants and push a great nee- maybe a god. In the palace's southern loving people who never hurt anybody, dle through his dick in public? We wing was a bench palace where nor were they bloodthirsty sacr'icia wouldn't have many men wanting to be guides claimed the king took the virgin- priests who consumed human beings politicians; and those who did would ity of all the young girls in the city. A by the thousands. bo ve'V careful! huge vacuum existed, and people fed Omni: But you said "Blood was the Omni: The king poked a needle central shaft of his penis! into it whatever they wanted. mortar of their culture." through the man's life, Omni: What function did the pyramids, Scheie: It was. But put this in a different Scheie: Through most of the the courts, and other structures found light. If you're a devout Christian, how the needle—a bone awl—was poked at Palenque have? do you save your soul? By leading an through the skin and top of the shaft in abong ncs sea' them- Scheie: The pyramids were, in their exemplary life—giving away everything much the way words, sacred mountains. Mayas saw you've got. Maya gave what to them selves. There were :hree diagonal slic- the world as this mountainous thing on was the most precious substance oi ing scars across the top of the penis. captive the back of a turtle floating in the pri- all, their blood. From a symbolic per- When a person was taken and : mordial sea. The courts below the spective, the two most important parts was go ng to be killed, it was far more pyramids were the valleys. Near the of the human body are the tongue— severe, They could be emasculated. main court would be a ballcourt, repre- where intelligent communication Omni: Even in the "milder version," wouldn't this intertere with a man's sex- ual enjoyment or reproductive ability? Scheie: No. The. Australian Abo-igir.es split the penis along the bottom so it splays out like a cut weenie. According to one anthropologist, Aboriginal women much prefer scarred men. It makes the penis much bigger. Omni: What was the underlying mean- ing of bloodletting? Scheie: A fundamental principle of an- cient Mayan beliefs was the idea of 'ccip'ocky: Tne gods of the supernat- ural world cannot exist without human intervention through ritual and offer- ings. And humans certainly cannot ex^st without the intervention of the gods who bring rain, make food grow, and create new life. Underlying blood- letting as a central act of piety, is the concept of ch'ulel. To both the ancients and some modern Maya such as the Tzotz ils of the highlands of Chiapas in Mexico, ch'uiel is a living force- perme- ating everything. They see the entire cosmos is imbued with life. Houses, mountains, springs, sacred places—all have ch'ulel. The most important inter- actions are not between human and human, human and place, human and animal, but between the ch'ulel of those things. This force is indestruc- tible and composed of 13 parts. When you are sick, climax in sex, are terribly fnghened—these kinds of situations you car lose a piece of tha: scjI to the dating from the Spanish Earth Lord, Then you nave .to ga Omni: Wait—the Maya c vilization co - Through oeremor es to get i oack. laoseo in 900 a. P.. and ihe Sparisn THE ENGINES In tne human bcdy. en uic-i resides ddn: arive until the '500s Who lo:d OF GOD ir Lhe blood. VVncn ne Vlayan King and the Spar sn aoou.-. thei' culxre? BY JACK McDEVITT queen emerged from the inner Scheie: Just as :ie Ir.al a".s cidn't go turn on the top of ne pyramid to Vla^ Review by Andrew Wheeler Like most SF readers, I started young. I'd read everything in the (admittedly small) "sci-fi" section of my junior high's library before 6th grade was over. I read all the SF classics, and many not-so-classics, of hot water book; and some of the books have stuck in my head ever since, though their titles haven't always stayed with me, But my favorite was about a teenage boy who was with an interplanetary archaeological team. They found work- ing alien artifacts, which led them = content as high (after whizzing all over the galaxy to discover other wonderful things) to meet the aliens. I loved the book at the time and I've had a soft spot for alien archaeology ever since. So I had high hopes for this book, about archaeological investi- gations into three different dead alien races {two of them medium- tech single-planet civilizations that disappeared mysteriously), McDevitt didn't let me down; I was intrigued by the various structures left behind by the enigmatic "Monument-makers" (the third, galaxy-spanning, race) and caught up in the race to excavate the ancient Temple of Winds on the planet of Quaraqua before the corcing the passage of Tin Kozmik conglomerate began terra- :ne late Fifties, srchae< forming and destroyed it all. It's a ch Berlin figureo that s story of discovery, of learning the i recorded names of peor true history of the past and of alien civilizations. That, to me, is the pure core of SF. I certainly won't spoil it by telling you whether any aliens turn up alive or not, but I will say it reminded me of that long-ago book. What I loved about both of them was the explor- ation: how each artifact led to another, to a new discovery. I've heard a lot of grumbling lately that there's no "sense of wonder" in SF anymore. Well, there is: it's right here. The Engines of God is available at your local book store and from The Science Fiction Bock Club on p. 45. ' ArUTIRflATTER UFO UPDATE: A new development in the age-old question: '"'" ' "irriaqe be saved? 5 Marriage Be Saved? drug addiction, alcoholism, i money squabbles. But the * received extensive national icity about her alleged ET testing the ties that bin "A husband whose wife r been e' says Budd Hopkins, the author of two books on UFOs. "He may think, / can't protect my wife." Adds Hopkins, "Wives taken my wife aw also feel unloved." angry and Often, when a , m Take Deb Hill, who works with been teetering under the weight her husband in their product-test- of other problems, abduction ing laboratory. Deb's anqst stems does it in. "Our marriage was in trouble to begin with," admits —42- band during abductions whk year-old Jeff. "But my wife u three times a month. "I'm especially upset by the ! i using his abduc- .. a „„3tody case for their "What the aliens do to John is tantamount to rape." five-year-old son. "We had to take psychological eval- To deal with such feelings, Deb recently attended uations," says Jeff. "My tests showed me to be normal, "*"" ' support group run by Temple University so my abductions were the only things her i UFO author David Jacobs. "I needed could find to put me in a bad light. She almo other that ' —rfrom abductees sex with aliens is ive a child with me in the first place," he i very mechanical," she explains. „juse she was afraid the child might be ab Animosity, even jealousy, are in fact common Some marriages have actually been strength- responses to a spouse's abduction, according to Dr ened by abduction. Deb Hill says si- Bill Cone, a California psychologist who has treated good that my husband trusts me enough t numerous abductees. "Some people get very hostile, these experiences with me. That helps us turn this into something positive." narital tension, UFO re- Still, Dr. Cone believes that while many abduc- chers find themselves playing marriage counselor tees are psychologically well-adjusted, "some of to abductees. "I advise people to be careful with wh< le are actually suffering from identity dis- they speak about their abductions," says Budd orders and have difficulty telling reality from fantasy Hopkins, "because going public can exacerbate an and dreams. Even if they hadn't gone through the . already bad situation. Often, a spouse will be toler- abduction experience, it is possible that they would ated if this doesn't get out to the neighbors." be having trouble in their marriages today." ' ' 't care less what f —ANITA BASKIN : AfUTIf¥lATTER SWINE ODOR once two to three hun- TASK FORCE dred hogs per farm, now it's closer to two to .ove the smell of bacon three thousand animals, rying in the morning? explains Dr. Jon Ort, You might Ibse your taste North Carolina State Uni or pig products if you versify associate dean ived downwind from a of the School of Agricul- smelly hog farm. The ture and Life Science, problem's become so bad and another task force n North Carolina, the member. "We're look- nation's second-largest ing at economically fea- log producer, that the sible solutions to re- cently created a 27- While th 3 task force's Vet com- Task Force." The pleted, Schiffman has orce's mission: to find some ideas for how iergy level of the ways to contro! the the odor might be abate _J rays emitted by aungent odor that ema- "You might suck "V will be relatively nates from hog houses, odors up into a stack a -"pared to infrare< agoons fiiled with hog disperse them high people are ex- waste, and lagoon wa- up over a larger area t ter that's sprayed on hay dilute them," says :i ields as fertilizer. Schiffman. Or you car ' '"People who live down- burn them, which oxidizes the comDounc rate themselves as more depressed and anx- don't have any smell." ous than other people," And hov do the th your face almost reports Duke Univer- hog farmer ling the TV sity professor and task this? "They force member Dr. support it." . - - B^BB Bl - THE TRUTH "While awaiting the an- ABOUT 1 3 swer to this question. we may have to accep! The superstition sounds that Friday the 13th is illogical, but maybe Friday indeed unlucky for some, the 13th really /sun- and that for those peo- lucky. A study of accident ple, at least, it might be figures on a section of safer to stay home." a British superhighway —IvorSmuller showed that the risk of being hospitalized follow- EYEBALL MAGIC ing a crash soared by 50 percent on that tradi- Have you ever felt vou tionally notorious day. were being stared at, only To reach this conclusion, to turn around and dis- the researchers exam- cover that someone really ined statistics for six Fri- did have his or her eyes days the 1 3th over glued on you? A recent three years. They found test of the phenomenon that though consist- suggests it may be real. ently fewer people drove The lab studies on those days, there were conducted by Marilyn was a slight increase in Schlitzofthe Institute the number of super- of Noetic Sciences in Saus- market shoppers, indicat- alito, Calffornia, and ing that people were Stephen LaBerge of the kvvw > Lucidity Institute in Stanford. To eliminate sen- IF YOU BELIEVE SOME- sory cuing between THING STRONGLY the observed and the ob- ENOUGH, WILL IT IN FACT server, the experi- HAPPEN TO YOU? menters set up a video camera that broadcast the image of the person to worried enough to travel be observed to a monitor other by means. in a separate room. There nomic or unconscious ner- . The results surprised The increased number an observer spent six- vous system would react. psychologist Ray Hyman. of accidents, says teen 30-second periods :, it 'This has long been a Thomas Scanlon, M.D., concentrating on the percent classic classroom demon- public health registrar image equal and an num- . the partici- stration. When you do for the ' Mid Downs Health ber of periods not "star- i in- it under controlled condi- Authority in Sussex, ing." Rather than asking crease in their autonomic tions, you can demon- could be explained by un- the observed person to activity during the star- strate that it doesn't work. usually high anxiety guess when remote "star- ing periods compared to 50 that serves to reduce con- ing" occurred, the exper- percent expected by jgh times though, centration. "Are people's imenters monitored the itually son vanic skin response in the - my designs. There's also art dear' Mil- have a global economy. There's more VOYAGER itary vessels such as atomic sub- economic upheaval, Voyager says: marines, as well as movie ces one? Look, lo.ks. let's wcr* together." Syd Mead's work, have also nf.uerced "I would hope that Gene Rodden- to a oeciscn faster. Its almost like :'s J amies' oesign. berry would be excited about our tak- taking its best guess. Thinking in a Sei designs also conform to the "rub- ing his creation further and further," more intuitive manner." With an expla- ber" science rj the snow ~w enty -fourth says Mike Okuda. "What Berman and nation like that, you'd think that isolin- century science, as ;he writers dub- it. Piiler and Taylor have done ... is to ear chips really existed. is mostly the result of classic Trek's take the spirit of Star Trek, wnieh is The Voyager will have a different 1960s production limitations. However, 'boldly gong' (out; ta l: We still have details about how the is a remarkaole cors stercy r- Trek sci- fcr the last twenty-five years. Hopefully, power is channeled toward those big this is a major shot in the arm that will wft-p or-ghe racelles on the oulsido cf w'tn establisheo scientific though: and make Star Trek fresh again." the ship, but those nacelles are now principle. In far/., the show even has a Jeri Taylor elucidates. "Star Trek and rncjr-.ecl on pivoiable w ngs. We figure science consultant—Andre Bormanis. science fiction give the opportunity to that since these nacelles are variable ere of MASA— who locks a: every script. explce wondrous, imaginative ieeas. geometry wings almost like an F-14 "If a script demands some kinds of We want to keep pressing the edges of Tomcat, we will be able to say interest- sciertfc explanation," says Bormanis, imagination anc c r sa; v ly ol science tell -hose wonderful oaracoxi- ing things about why I nose wings pivot. "I will always fry to fine something that fiction, to Some of the thinking is that it may is cases ir 'airly well established real cal stores that n-ake the mind twist If I will them." shape the warp field." scieree first. can't do that, I go and bend and embrace Graphic designer and co-author of into the so-called ruober sc ence or the "Our goal is simply to do what Star the Star Trek- The Next Generation very spec j stive, consistent w th res ty. ^'SA'has always cone.' assess Micnae violate Filler. "That is, to put quality science Technical Manual Mike Okuda adds; I always try not to any basic "The voyager's engines are substan- aws of pnysies—censer vat on c~ en- fiction on week after week, to cc stores tially more efficient than the _ that people have to think Enterprise's. They cause sig- about, talk about, that fami- nificantly less damage to the STAR TREK HAS A HISTORY OF OPENNESS TO lies can watch together space/t'""e continuum, show- and discuss the meanings ing Star Trek to be environ- AUTHORS WITH SCIENCE- of and the relationships to mentally conscious," their own lives, To entertain Mike Okuda and Rick FICTION BACKGROUNDS: HARLAN ELLISON, using the best oroduction Stenba.cn haven't left the En- terprise oehirc. Their most re- THEODORE STURGEON, AND cent effort has been The Star Trek Interactive Technical OTHERS. BUT ACTORS WHO READ SCIENCE Manual, a CD-ROM mom Simon and Schuster Interac- FICTION? VOYAGER HAS THEM. tive. And Sternbach is helping to prepare a set of Enterprise buep'ints, available next year, "so cgy. momentum or anything mat we you'll know where all the toilets are on feel is very firmly established." the Enterprise. ' expia ns Ste-nbach. Bomnanis describes some upcom- crew. We'll f.na out wno tney are and on.," If we do catch a glimpse o- twenty- ing scientific suoject matter; "Electro- what the surprises are as time goes fourth-century potties on the Voyager. dynamic, c" Tence ,y space and how Paramount is using tne show to they will have been designed by thai might ce 'elated ic iving processes sooarneac ts new United Paramount Richard James scene cosigner for the I he galactic magnetic field. Whether or network. Thats a very small gamble. new show. James designed fo r The not there could be any kind of food The Star Trek phenomenon seems des- Next Generation for many years, He supply in soace. There's a lot of inter- tined to be an enduring legend of our worked on the Apollo space program stellar matter, One of the most produc- culture, prodding us with fabulous moon at North American in Downey, tive areas of study lately has been of dreams of distant stars and worlds, C.al Ionia, and then moved on to the the interstellar space material that we with our descendants among them, TV snow S-. didn't realize would be out there. There finding adventure and purpose-. in an off ce with a drafting board has even been the tentative confirma- Whether or not the human race prominently In evidence. James de- tion of the presence of s mple ammo struggles from the bonds of ignorance sc-ibes hew the new sets came into acids in the interstellar medium with and bceaucracy and finds its way to a being. "Basically the underlying direc- some radiotelescope observations. destiny beyond our solar system re- tive from Rick Berman was that if "We also want to ces'gn some sort cf mains to be seen. Wn'le we wait, someone was flipping the TV channels ccsec et-j'toc- system, as ts called though, shews them to recognize it as Star Trek." means we can ock io'wa'd to the east hearts and hopes.DO The sets are eon'nitoiy Star Trek, but carder rig in a iydroponios section. different. "The intention was to make "Conceptually, the original series David Bischoff is co-author of the Star : : Gcnerailor- "Tin -.he"' look mo'e rcai.stic I wanted them was ahead o its time," points out T m Trek: The Nex: episode to look more functional, more like a Russ. "Now Voyager broaders those Man." His latest revel is The Judas (real) ship," James says. "I sways gel steps. The'e's a wide' variety of char- Cross with Charles Sheffield, from a lot of the Frank Lloyd Wright look into acters. Our society has changed. We Warner Books. 32 OMNI It; just hit me J m a ha£l< / © ARTCUMINGS Why I m a manufacturei' the jonq -face ? - not an artist / 4gk / JX ;L2\ r) ,4..^ /fer\ -0 i —dsMb / -Jit, Lighten up 7^| A simple leap /*wy \ of1 imagination and ,0) you'll have a style Picasso would €> , envy &T- a ru^9 he. st oppec p laughing il 91 $>4fe jj m% ENTERTHE PROFILES Dodge Neon SWEEPSTAKES ANDYOU COULD WIN... A HOT, NEW 1995 DODGE NEON! ONE OF 30 MONTHLY FIRST PRIZES... ONE MONTH'S ACCESS FEE PLUS 5 HOURS ON AMERICA ONLINE! 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Only 514.99 each. Call 800-527-2189 a isk for Department R, or send SI 4.9') plus S3. .Hi (Sk.00 outside L.S.) shipping and handling for each vide .: Best Film & Video Corp., Dept. R, 108 New South Road, Ilicksville, N.Y. 11801. r " -letwor-iii possess .no b'a n iKe ab lity .empo'a'v and nice permareni mem- li'a: :j o:];ots a pat.eri's ie:igtn o ; stay to teach themso ves quickly and to im- ories, wnioh oonstanlly s'gns back and based on the patient's nislory, cuiront : '""ediasoiy adapt to new patterns. "With- forth; likewise, the regions of the brain status, ard course o imal-cnf Gross out internal feedback, we wouldn't be that provide short-term and long-term berg's networks are also being incor- '"iurna-i." G-ossoerg says. "Without it, memories are now known to swao s c- porated into robots, a lowing them to ,:! N" -etrieve while a I you have is another type of com- nals known as "M200" and waves. reoogn.ze anc oojects pute:- program." And just as the networks emo oy "m s- moving and even fc produce cursive Grossberg's devotion to ieecback match" and "try again" feedback sig- handwriting. has at times allowed him not merely to nals when they first fail to identify a After years of being ignored ano re create n a computer o r ogram what pattern, the brain issues "P120" and even oisoaragec. ihe outspoken scientists know about the brain, but "P300' waves wnen i struggles with a GrosKoerg o aims he now 'ees vindi- in- even to get ahead of neuroscience. At confusing patter -i. Pemaos mast cated by the many uses to which nis ! one point or example, he saw no way triguing of a . wnen deprived cl certain work is being put. "For a long time ;he to Insert one important tyoe of feed- types of feedback, Grossberg's net- same people in Al argued that they back hio his network without a soft- works even imitate human bra;n d'sor- had the only game in town," he says, ware component analogous to a brain ders, including the spurious s : gnals o ; "Bui now many people are jumping on cell capable of responding selectively Parkinson's disease and memo'y loss the rejral-relwo'k bandwagon.' when two or more visual cues are caused by drug abuse. si gncd across space Unfortunately. Versions of Grossberg's feedback- Imitating the b'ain's neural network is a r-Quioscience had ~ound no such brain rich networks have- begun to prove nude step in the r'gh* ejection, says cell P.u G-cssbcg and his colleague themselves in the real world. At Boeing, Wayne State University con-outs- sc- Ennio Mingolla predicted the cell had ior example, a neural network inccoo- entist ana oioonvsioist Michael Conrad, lo be .here—and within a year. !he 'oi- rat ng ore ci Grossoerg s mooels cata- but it still rrvsses an impcrtart aspect pole" brain cell was discovered. logs ine desgr specif icat ons of some of natural intelligence "People tend to In addition, neuroscientists have re- 16 million aircraft parts. The system wi: treat the brain as if it were made up of cency : scovered certain new types of allow the company's engineers to enter color-coded transistors," he explains. brainwaves, which are surges in activ- the specifications of a proposed new "But it's not simply a clever network cf ity that move across regions of the part and receive infcmatior on trie sw-ichss. Ths'e are lots of important brain. Some of these brainwaves have closest existing pad, so that Boeing things going on inside the brain cells turned out to resemble precisely the can "'oclify the ex'sting oart nstead cf ihernsc-vos.' Soeoifical y Conrad be- k.x.ooack oatterns Grossberg had in- having to manufacture the new part lieves that many of the o-air's capaoili- corocated into ms networks. For ex- from scratch. And a Nevada medical ties stem from the pattern-rocogr'ticn ample, the networks have both center is cevecpiro a sr"i:a.' network profciency of the individual "oecules 86 QMNI a n At ihis poir t en v "es would loc cherr r.alf Like the brain onto, and thus 'BCC "in ze the moiecu devic ies very spec el-em cai activ ties that taki ng, they fit lock and put bad ana-key sV crannie o^s and "But reality i: tnen changes it snapGar.ri' Conrad ih utilized in ar tion device c cals floating the device has tc large numbe- cf moiecu es w, do n set o- s poken words, fo says wqj d require a computer th example, th Id be set up sc that certain n hope- Right now, tne notion that conven certain moe k.do all ttonaJ computers ard so^vare are \.r sound "heh" ns). He damentally ncapable cf -alcnirn th a eas y p.-ocssses tna. take pace ir the b.-ai After ser a remains controversial, Bui if it prove leased, their en that true, then the elorts of Coirac and hi to interact w a work- fellow Al rebels coulo turn ou: to oe tn. distinct mole Don't Pay Big Bucks for that Expensive TV Rider You can get the same great workout — and superior Weslo quality — with the all-new CardioGlide It's so smooth, rhythmic, easy — a of (he world's premier home fitness complies. There's s better-quality rider ',:<;; , effective FAT BURNER dni'-m'd. a\;:il,ihL' .nr,vi!i-i i'. It's the all-new Weslo CardioGlide But don't rake our word for ii. Tiy the CdrdioGidc — in yv.n v.\i you're going to be amazed at what it will do for home — for Ml da\s. if}ou'-e roi conipk';ely satisfied, we'll gi- your hi.Ki> . In ;i siirprk:id\ slm amount of an you a full refund. 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';- '.' an alien encounter" on the Tammy McBride at die PO'vV/iv'IA of- But these everts says osycholoc; st are a falsoly cheated from he IrdiviG fice at the Per:agon. meanwhile, con- Harary, who has studied the psychol- ual imaginations." duced & seaici for one Larry Mitchell, ogy of coincidence, don't add up to But Ronald K. Siegel. associate re- a name that appeared on a soldier's much. "A string cf seem ngly irexplica- search professor of psychiatry and uniform in the underground alien facil- oie evens thai occur around the same biobe!"ii3v:ora sciences at UCLA and ity Haley described Under hypnosis. time are not necessarily related," he author of Whispers: The Voices of Para- McBride found three Lsrrys and one says. "You would have to thoroughly in- Sure, noia (Crown), coes not agree. "Those Lawrence a I wih the last name o~ Mitcn- vest cate each and every one. details don't point to anything more ell. All four were killed in action in Viet- there could have oeer screens physi- than a common merta experience, rot nam. All bodies have been reccverec. cally in the house; uno'tunaley. no one unlike parasitoses, the belief you're Vehicular Interference. Tony Scar- was seer., and it's alrnos! imposs ole to being infested by parasites," Siegel borough, physics professor at Delta go: to the oottom of whai was happen- says, ivleo cal History documents that S:aie Lnversty r C-evelancI, ivlss-ss po ing after the fact." people who suffer from parasitosis re- and state director for The Mutual UFO Body Scoops. The plethora of un- ported the same paras : tes and drew Network (MUFON). confirmed thai "a usual marks on Haley's body would the same drawings, with the same de- grapnite-b'ack helicopter came over a seem to be significant physical ev agrees tails. Given an infinite variety of stimula- building where Haley was spea",ng and cence; howeve:". everyone ha; nation her tions, the brain responds in a finite scared'-'^ stUdmtsK) r*BS* in he sum- without a thorough exam of patterns, they number of ways." mer of 1991 . "A year later, a similar hel- environment and sleep "Theoretically, Haley could be expe- icopter came over my house, her few mean little in the end, riencing an altered state of conscious- at about 500 feet, traveling parallel to me "Strange marks appearing overnight ness—caused by anything from a food on my way to meet her at Deia State is just not thai unusual, and without oo- allergy to a physical problem in the Ur versify." he adds, "but the cennec- serving Haley close up during the brain—and having these fan- t'mes these things occur, I kind of tastic experiences in which she you cannot craw any val'd conclusion about has seemingly real feelings ABDUCTION IMAGERY IS going on." says and images associated with | what's being abducted by aliens, A MANIFESTATION OF THE LIMBIC SYSTEM, NOT Ha'ary. "We would have to and which can even include rule out all conventional ex- physical manifestations," OUTRIGHT INSANITY. THE planations, including, for adds psychologist Keith example, the possibility that Harary, research director of SCARY THING IS, WE ALL HAVE THE SAME sne coul i be doing these the Institute for Advanced things : t'sliI: i al- tered, or ordinary, Psycho ogy in San Francisco, DETAILS IN OUR NERVOUS even an Military Coup 9 Acting as state of consciousness." tour guide. Haley drove Omni SYSTEM; ANYBODY CAN BECOME AN ABDUCTEE. Get Out the Ink. Biots. While Shafer stands by his around the Columbus Air | ; Force Base :cc Official Denial. Have UFOs ever house. "One cay I was upstairs clean- ological entities, Given the caveat ha: lh"s invest gaticn remairs ircomplete, been tracked over Columbus Air Force ing, and I heard chords clearly on the there is also conclusive evidence 3ase? Accoroirg to Sergeant Debbie piano. I was sure the house was all no cr na- O'Leary, Columbus AFB Public Affairs; locked up. and I was the only one that Haley has beer monitored rasseo oy "llita-y operei vcs.DQ "No. :he'e have beer no UFOs -.racked _ there. In addition, the answering ma- ^^,—^^JtoW to Pass the Mensa Entrance Exam P^=^^ Without Actually Taking It MENSA QUALIFYING TESTS & SCORES College SAT (Verbal & Math Combined) Prior 'to 9/77 1300 9/77 to 1/94* 1250 Graduate Record Exams (GRE) (Verbal & Mail; Combined; Prior to. 6/94 1250 GRE (Verbal Quantitative. Analytical) Prom 6/94 1875 Miller iJ)K^ ^J Analogies Test ; Raw Score 66 Stanford -Binet , Aav Form „ IQ 132 scored at ~%s#®*&W Wechsler Adult &- Children's Scales TQ 130 v ' of these tests? Thenyou ^ *SAT nor accepted after 1/S4 can join Mensa onwharwc call "prior evidence." Just send your name, address and a notarised photocopy of your cunitiid score, plus a $20 evaluation fee**, to American Mensa L',d.,Dept. 94(15. 2626 Fast 14th St., Brooklyn, NY 11235-3992. Or. take our proctored entrance exam in your area, Then get ready to join thousands of interesting people in a world of ideas, imagination and thought as a member of Mensa! A universe of possibilities from Aardvarks to Zygotes. Monthly meetings /^—^£~. & and activities in local groups across the country. For a list of the tests and scores /W|'W\ fri^Tl Q/tI" we accept, order our free brochure by calling 1-800-66MENSA, est, 9405. I^^^J 1/ uVmcSocwI\' Mensa. An international society with a local face — 142 chapters nationwide. »' V^A jfcp/ - OCCAM'S COVTINUED FROM PAGE 7" "That's funny." saio fifteen peopie ir unison, "us all is getting ten dollars a oay!" ;ed to working, but thi- Whi'e they were laughing, a door opened in the far corner. A ;cugh wnite ""ug who coked like ar iceoc* 3"ok- J ng a ciga- ca""e cut yelled or quiet, and read names off a list. Manian. Pauline Civ stiar. and Lcenzo Fa :, "weatner wee taken into an o'fice. "Welcome, welcome." said M', Meister. who was a shorten version of the guy whod callea off the na-cs en the c pboard, ' ., and smioking a he secmsc Urea. s that Mantan Brown found e production of The Medi- of Dr. Kilipstieni on the sei, watching them 4 Slavo was rehearsing La ayeUe lo Ine cavvvak ove-iead where Iv'esl.or "Well, Mr. Sennett once said, if you Monroe and Arkady Jackson, who'd usually watched from, "The people who bend it, it's funry. If you breaK it, it come in tnat morning.. They were still in see the films are happy," isn't," their street clothes. Monroe must have He put another cigarette in his "Now a darkie is telling me about roots of been 7feet3 inches tall. holder. "I live like I want," he said, the Aristophanic comedy!" "Here we go." said Slavo "Ly tnese." Then, "Let's gei back to work, people." said L'eiste', throwing up his hands, What he'd given Lafayette were two What about tnis :neory cSennett's?" halves of Ping-Pong balls with black "You tell her in this scene." said Slavo, "If l use the little razor," said Mantan, dots drawn on them. The giant placed "that as long as you're- heeled, she has "it breaks." them over his eyes. nothing to fear from the somnam—from Meister looked at him a moment, "Man., man," said Arkady. wha: Lorenzo refers to as the Sleepy then reached in his pocket and pulled Slavo was back ten feet, holding Guy." three big greenbacks off a roll and both arms and hands out, one in- He handed Mantan a slim straight handed them io Willie. Willie left, verted, forming a scuare with his razor. "l want to see this," said Meister. He thumbs anc .ndex fingers. Mantan looked at him. Pauline crossed his arms. "Good thing you're :l "Perfect!" he said. "Mantan? oofied back anc: fed" between them. not getting paid by the hour." ' v "Yes, Mr. Slavo?" 03 Mr. Brown?' asked S avo Willie was back in five minutes with "Le;'s try :he scene where you back "Well, Mr. Slavo," he said. "Tnis a rectangular box. Inside was a cold around inc cere' anc oumo into him." film's going out to every Negro theater stainless steel thing, mother-of-pearl "Okay," said Brown. in the U.S. of A., isn't it?" handled with a gold thumb-stop, half ; cleaver, 1.1 They ran through it. Mantan backed "Yes." :he s ze of a meat could into Lafayette, did a freeze, reached "Well, you'll have everybody laugh- have been used to dry-shave the mane lions in back, turned, did a double take, and ing a? it. but not with it." off one of Mack Sennett's 15 was gone. "What do you mean?" seconds flat. Arkady was rolling on the floor. The "This is the kind of razor cadets use "Let's see you bend that!" said Ping-Pong balls popped off Lafayette's to trim their mustaches before they go Meisier. face as he exploded with They rehearsed the laughter. scene, Mantan and "Okay," said Slavo, catch- WHEN BROWN FLOURISHED THE RAZOR, Pauline. When Brown flour- ing his Oreaih. "Okay. This ished the razor, opening if of lime, Lafayette, just as he OPENING iT WITH A QUICK with a quick look, a shift touches you, turn your head his eyes each way, three paint- down a little and toward him. LOOK, A SHIFT OF HIS EYES EACH WAY, THREE guys who'd stopped Slowly, but just so you're look- ing scenery to watch fell ing at him when he's ooKing GUYS WHO'D STOPPED down in the corner. at you." Meister left. "For "I can't see a thing, Mr. PAINTING SCENERY TO WATCH FELL DOWN Slavo said. the next ." . Slavo." scene . "There'll be holes in the IN THE CORNER. It to Slave pupils when we do it. And re- | was easy see member, a line of smoke's wasn't getting whatever it going to come up from the floor where down to tne ccekyarcs to wait for the was that was keeping him going. Mr. Brown was when we get finished newest batch of Irish women for the The first morning of filming was a with the tin." sporting houses." nightmare. Slavo was irritable. They oart (with "I'm afraid I'll bust out laughing," "We;l. that's the incongruity. Mr. shot seqjar ally ie :he most said Lafayette. Brown.' a couple of major scenes held back for "Just thmk about money," said "Willie? Willie?" the nex: day). All the takes with the ex- early that Slavo. "Lei's go through it one more The workman aopea'ed. "Wi : e, get tras at the carnival were done ." Meister, some of them let go. with time. Only this time, Mantan . . $2.50 from Mr. and run down morning, and "Yes, sir?" to the drugstore and get a Dcub e enough remaining to cover tne inserts 'This time, Mantan, bug your eyes Duck Number 2 'or me tc use." with the principals. itself disorienting. out a little bit more." "Wha: ihe hell?" asked Meister, Tne set was The The hair stood up on his neck. who'd been watching. "A tree's a tree. painted shadows ana refee-.ions wee himself "Yes sir, Mr. S.avo." A rock's a rock. A razor's a razor. Use so convincrg Mantan found that one." scuinting when moving away from a The ci'-cles under Slaves eyes seeded "It won t be right, Mr. Meis:er. Mainly, painted wall because he expected to in his there. to have darkened as the day wore on. i: went be as fumy as : can ha." bright light be eyes light fns set ex- "I woulo have ked ic have gone out "It's a tiny -azor" ssio Moists- "It's There was no real on in the old to the West Coast with everyone else." tunny, f you ih:nk it can cefend both of cept that which came from : he said, as they took a break during you." overneac glass root c :re sxdio ano arc lights used for fill. the run-throughs. "Then I realized nis Slavo watched and wated. a tew was a wide-open field, the race pic- "Have you seen me films of Mr. The walls were oa ~ued at odd an- only 2 tubs, •lake exactly :he mcvies I .'.ant Mack Sennett?" as the floor, out, drinking wate- circunre'snce. "he Tents looked I ke pchtec to nimself "Me?" sprawled biack something out of a Jamaica ginger ex- "If you ain't blind, what're you .doing from a quart jug. He wore a oody iract-adc ct's nighmars wiln sunglasses on? : t a r gni!" suit, and had one of the Ping-Pong Then they filmed the scene of Dr. How the hell would anybody balls out of his eye soc "Fori Lee magic." said Meister from jammed it on his head and walked o/e- w£:-cway above the set. He leaned on a his position on ihe catwalk above. with the rest of the extras, who nad light railing, saying nothing. moved back ofi-camera. "I'll do the After awiY.e a shaken-looking Mar- At last the rooming was over. As they damn scene myself." cel Slavo came out, brake for lunch they heard loud voices Slavo doubled up with laughter in "Ladies anc gentlemen." he said. coming frarr Mesrars office, "hey h his chair. "Lets finish this scene, tnen set up ihe went to the drugstore across the street. "What? What is it?" asked Meister. next one. By that time, there'll be an- to finish "I hear it's snow," said Arkady. "If ... if they're going to notice a other gentleman here up direct tomorrow. I am, . . you "Jake." guy . wi"h sungiasses," laughed today, and to "Morphine." off this film after the next "He's kicking the gong . . scene ... so let's make around," said another extra, MANTAN STOPPED UNDER THE this take a good one. One guy who had read okay?" chase a oi oi hooks said, "he's go: HOTEL MARQUEE, LOOKING OUT TOWARD A They finished the a surfeit of the twentieth setup, and the pursuit. century." GREY TWO-BY-FOUR EXCUSE FOR Slavo came and shook "Whatever, this film's gonna :heir hands, and hugged scare the bejeezus out of A CITY PARK, WHERE A COUPLE OF DUCKS AND Pauline. "Thank you all," he Georgia, funny or not." said, and walked out the Mantan said nothing. He A GOOSE WERE KICKING UP door. chewed at his sandwich Ten minutes later an- slowly and drank his cup of THEIR FEET AND ENJOYING LIFE TO ITS FULLEST other guy came in, taking coffee, looking out the window off his coat. He looked up i toward the cold facade of the at Meister, at the actors, pitcher, huh" , "Another studio. It looked just like any other Slavo, "they're . . damn sure gonna and said, coon warehouse building. notice a white man!" Gimme five minutes with ihe script." He Meister stood fuming, went into Meister's office. Slavo was a different man when they "Here go," said Mantan, walking Five minutes later he was ou: agair. returned. He moved very slowly, taking over to the producer, He took the hat "What a load of hooey," he said. "Okay," otner actors, his time setting things up. from him, pulled it down over his eyes, he sa d to Mantan and the his coat. got in the middle "Who's who?" "Okay . . . let's ... do this right, took off He And all the extras can go home early, of the extras and picked up an unused la'ayeite." he said 10 the black giant, p tcnioix. "Nobody'il notice one more When they were through tne next after- off roll, who was putting in his Ping-Pdng ball darkie," he said. noon, Meister peeled bills a left. "Let's it, said Slavo. gave each of Ihe pr re pa s ar extra eyes, "Carry . . . Pauline across to do then," Out of sight around the pyramid. Then, "Pauline? Lafayette?" five cellars, and said, "Keep in touch." extras. Come on, jump around a lot. "Meister," said a voice behind them. to Shao your torches. Then off left. Sim- Three white gLys in dark suits and Mantan took his friend Freemore up ple. Easy. Places. Camera. Action! shirts stood there. How long they had the place they told him Marcel Slavo That's right, that's right. Keep moving, been watching no one knew, "Meister, lived. Lafe, slow but steady. Kick some more, let's go talk," said one of them They knocked. Three times belo'e Pauline. Good. Nov.'. Show some dis- there was a muffled answer. gust, people. You're indignant, He's got Yoj coulc hear oud noises through the "Oh, Mr. Brown," said Slavo, as he your choir soloist from the A.ivl.E. walls of Meister s e/Ncc. Meister came opened the door. "Who's this?" for Freemore. We're just cnurch. Tnat's it. Take— out in the middle of a take, calling "This Joe the 'chitlin circuit' again." "Stop it! Stop the camera thing. Slavo. heading out on for you." Cut!" yelled Meister from the catwalk. "Goddammit to hell!" said Slavo. "Well, I can't do anything "What?!" yelled Slavo. "Cut!" He charged into Meister's office. ssic Slave. "I'm through. Haven't you "You there! Vou!" yelled Meister. There was more yelling. Then it was heard? I'm all washed up." "Are you blind?" quiet. Then only Meister was heard. "We wanted to show you our ac;." An extra wearing sunglasses Lafayette Monroe :oek jo most of "Wny me?" m OMNI " " " " " " " " — "Because you're an impartial audi- He was reading the national news ence," said Mantan. page when he came across the story IfUTERV/IEUU Slavo went back in. sat in a chair at from New Jersey. the tabie. Mantan saw that along with The police said that, according to for his bootleg liquor bottles and ashtrays full witnesses, during the whole time of the the ruler's birth, the middle stood of Fatima and Spud butts, the two ra- attack, the razor-wielding maniac had inauguration, and the last marked his zors from the movie lay on the table, kept repeating, "Bend, d —n it, don't death. Her insights culminated 150 Slavo followed his gaze. break! Bend, d—n it, don't break!" years of work, "Souvenirs." he said. "Something to The names of "he vc:ims were un- Omni: Is there an equivalent of the attacker's Rosetta Stone that enabled scholars to remind me of all my work. I remember known to Mantan, but the 7 what you said, Mr, Brown. It has been a name was Meister, crack the code great lesson to me." Scheie: A document from the con- r later, while was filming quest, Relacion de las oosas de Yu- "Comfortable, M . Slavo?" asked Twenty years he Freemore. hir. Pilgrim Progresses, a lady brought catan, written by Bishop Landa in 1566 "Okay. Rollick me." him a War Bond certificate, and a lobby comes closest. On one page, the "Empty stage/' said Mantan. "Joe card for him to autograph. Bishop wrote down an alphabet dic- The card was from The Medicine tated to him by a well-eojcaied Maya and I meet." "Why, hello!" said Joe. Cabinet of Dr. Killpatient, Breezy Laff named Gaspar Antonio Chi, It took al- "Golly, hi," said Mantan, pumping Riot. There were no credits on it, but most 400 years to figure out what Gas- — Antonio given Landa. Like his hand. "I ain't seen you since there on the card were Mantan, Pauline par had " Christian, and Lorenzo Fairweather, and Egyptian hieroglyphics and Sumerian — it was longer ago than that, You — the writ- had just behind them the giant Lafayette Mon- cure. form, ;he signs in Mayan " 1 ing ables, not Indi- roe i "us rr.edicire net. system represent sy —that's right. And I hadn't been cab — lexers. Mayan also has signs for married for more than Mantan signed it with a great flourish vidual "—seemed a lot longer than that, with one of those huge pencils you get whole words. Landa believed he had Say, did you hear about—" at county fairs when you knock down an exact alphabet, although you can kitty. tell by his writings he was very con- "—you don't say! Why, I saw her not the Arkansas more than— He had never seen the film, never fused. So were a lot of later scholars " till now that it had been released, some even concluded the alphabet —it's the— truth! And the cops say knew she looked As the lady walked away, he won- was a farce the Maya made up to trick all, Landa. '—that bad, huh? Who'd have dered if the film had been any good at Bishop for Icky young Russian, Yuri Knorosov, fig- thought it of her? Why she used to For Mr. Moreland, and A .ook— Tv/erp.CO ured out what was going on, and he " —speaking —of her, did you hear exploited great bilingual dictionaries that her husband Howard Waldrop was born in Missis- developed by the friars to teach them- "—what? How could he have done sippi and has been living in Austin, selves how to speak to the Indians well that? He always—" Texas, for many years. He is the author enough to convert them, So the Mayan is better known for vocabulary was available to Knorosov, "—yeah, but not this time. I tell you of three novels but he-" rus br:ii:ant. quirky shod stories. His sto- whose decipherment turned out to be " the time leading —that's impossible! Why they told ries are collected in Howard Who?, All exactly right, But at me he'd—" About Strange Monsters of the Recent Vlaya'iis:s wice:y dismissed his work "—that long, huh? Well, got to go. Past, and Night of the Cooters. He has as Soviet propaganda because when Give my best to— been a regular contributor to Omni Knorosov published his findings in a " in will. s/nce 1982. major Soviet magazine 1952, a bu- — I sure Goodbye." "Goodbye," reaucrat added a paragraph saying, "This is what Leninist-Marx st Theory wii, They turned to Slavo, CREDITS at poor the capitalist pigs "They'll love it down in Mississippi," do. Look how Page 4. top left: S-.sn'alaw =cr-=nde; page he said. in the West are." 4, middle left: Douclrii K -;!;!•: p«cs - <~-p Omni: By the Line you arrived at right: Gary Kelley; page 4, bottom: Julie Iss'sv sic- P;;te- Palenque, the key to transcribing the It was two weeks later, and the South DenmsParar-ioun: page 6: Carolina weather was the crummiest, mary WeObsr; page 12: EC Holub/Photo- ancient writirg system was available? oi,i;r-i page Everyth "ng was there except said the locals, in half a century. It had Scheie: icz/V>arvel Entertainrr in- Grc for a critical missing part, which was been raining —a steady, continuous, page C-':GOC r Floyd monotonous thrumming—for th ee days. Book; page 18, oottom: David Sohar/Gol esser-ally pioneered by Louns- Mantan stopped under the hotel Book; osge 20: Tin A i/Dig la. Art. page 26: bury of Yale. He reasoned that if the Christopher Spring main; pages 28 and 29: marquee, looking out toward a gray Mayan writing reflects a spoken lan- Tony Wang; page 31 : Sandia National La'co-a- the spoken language must two-by-four excuse for a city park, to'os: page 32. top: Car/. BeHion/ivlaste'iile guage, ; where a couple of ducks and a goose page 33: From "F are: c Life." courtesy o' have a syntax—grammatical rules that . ' I i I I. 'ii, i. . ivery .r and .vers kicking up their feet and enjoying II M' le determine the order of words in a sen- Cc'ieUion p^qp KBS. page 34, left; Everetl figured out the key ele- life to its fullest. tence, Once we 34, fight: Tony Wang; page 36, lop; J. H. syntax, it all He went inside and borrowed a Co- Robinson/Photo Researchers: page 36, ments of Mayan came lumbia newspaper from the cstston c bottom: Donna Ccveney/MIT; pages 33 and together. At the first Mesa Redonda. ..-,! i isie/sio- pace day manager. He went up the four 39; Julie D en n a/P a p-io held near the Palenque ruins in 1973. I 39: Paramount Televsion page 40. Ig-:: G=-y to his room, took of! met Peter Mathews, who was about 19 flights semiluxury Huizel/Paramcu-t "eleviaio-i page it), rig-t: time, I 31. the 1 and Using his sopping raincoat and threw it over Paramount Television page 79: Ear keleny/ at the was figured out the three-dollar Louis Quatorze knock- Fran Setae'; page 60, bottom laft: Stcdio M syntactical approach, we .!! paper . ... mi, Bap right Suaan Paienque's dynastic history. off chair, and spread the out on : ":i*y. page 61; -iruoe Je"aen/Jef Lavaty. the bed. We basically found the major com- . . that, we could Second, we guarantee your satisfaction. [.lost ep craphers sacrificed ": .... nscripUons n their tney didfl't come Plus, you nsed tc cation m t otp Third, we guarantee that the product you m which you have csme to r ep-5' choose will keep giving you pleasure. :ions. We're the kind earth leading ember where a pas- bsli game is a 3 by how thick the between good s iep we were into it, signifying :nai t assage fell on tr ed an ability to si Omni: en things. There's Scheie II great epigraphe people Omni: ut the ex:raorc nary Iviava i: Snhelf cesfal dead. , Xandria Gold soccer, footoall-c'escenc ''on [vlesoame'icar oall gc";cs. Omni: Their ball game sounds 'ike an ns;iiL,: ci as b g as :he NBA or NFL. Scheie: You bet— ever bigger. The syiTibolis'" aio mc-s'n.'ig cf he came — the good of their souls until they con- fessed to being witches, then paraded them through the streets in what ater became the Ku Klux Klan outfit, and fi- DfUlfUIFORIUOn nally burned them at the stake. Be- tween 1481 and 1540, some 20,000 people were brought before the Inquisi- Stop Herpes Outbreaks tion in Seville alone. The numbers tor- Dining Out? tured or killed were within the range of sacrificial deaths in the New World. Omni: What led to the civilization's Scheie: The growtn of the noble cess had a lot to do with it. Art historian Mary Miller calculated that if you start in the year 600 with a single noble husband EszEnsma and wife with four children who sur- vived until adulthood, and they had Wt f!)!=f:ia.Cl ill four children who survived, and so on, "QUANTITY PRICING" by the year 800 there would be 700 people who had the right to claim noble status. So the percentage of people of high status grew rapidly to access the before you read the menu or the wine list... along with the demand kinds of goods and privileges that be sure to read the labels on any medicines you marked them as noble, This resulted in taking. • SUPERMIND" £ Learning Machine™ maybe ZYOON'S r kingdoms, competing 'IHAXPEK imSP •&yaetlti HtHBLAB" more and more 1* •MinHQea: PR2-X" Ctwwtronic'i DAVID PAMDISE Because medicines can sometimes cause for fewer and fewer resources, with less MEDITATION., M « ,,.,,, :,,v;,m srflESS-fl£D(/CTO«, problems when taken with certain foods or no-man's land between them. The rise ...... '.. .I..'. . with overpopula- beverages, or if you have certain esisrh!> in warfare, coupled tion, put a tremendous strain on the Miciiica! conditions, MIND MACHINE massive agricultural system. There was If you still have any questions about your deforestation in the final years. I imag- medicines, check wit!: your doctor and/or ine the end was pretty gruesome. pharmacist, We don't know what actually pushed the Maya civilization over the edge— whether it was a major war, series of droughts, or just one strain too many. There comes a point when there's so much stress on the society that, as my colleague David Freidel says, it just be- OMNI EMPORIUM comes pathological. We saw that with COLOR the former Soviet Union: It wasn't a NOW OFFERS slow gentle deceleration. It was boom. DISPLAY ADS. Two years and the empire was gone. CALL FOR DETAILS. Omni: You've argued that Mayan cus- toms and beliefs have survived despite 516-757-9562 centuries of oppression following the conquest. Isn't that a radical notion? Scheie: It's mind-blowing to some ASSEMBLEYOUROWN scholars. The perception has been the BJEmEHB conquest was so traumaiic—between DESCRAMBLERS the deaths from disease reaching 90 SAV:;AV£ THOUSANDS ALWAYS ON ALL POPULAR percent among Native Americans and W/ADD-ON COMPONENTS SAME SYSTEMS people THAT HOOK-UP EASILY TO EXISTING SYSTEMS. the violent suppression of the ' ,'li:| : 'I! :.! !: that their world view could not have survived. But it's my opinion that, fused with an overlay of European customs and religious beliefs, there is a pro- found, amazingly intact, pre-Columbian core underlying it all. Numerous beliefs, u » U. March of Dimes legends, and shamanistic traditions are WalkAmerica alive and well. 2» Many other contemporary examples of Mayan belief and practice represent an unbroken heritage spanning around 3,000 years. Omni: By teaching the ancient writing — system and making ancient material In a Maya house, 'ire is built be- access ble to .7icos""i Mayas, you've tween the three hearth stones and a STARS said that you hope to enable them to large flat clay plate laid on top of them. -i;\jEr:-=flOM=AGri2; enter dialogue the of history. How so? The woman grinds corn, makes it into a Scheie: History is a phenomenon living dough pats the dough into tortillas, Earn wouldn't have begun in the first people invent and create to estaohsn then places them on the ciay plate ever olace." Aknougn our galaxy contains who they -ate based on what they think the hearth. The tortillas balloon up to supernovas—— violent explosions o ; they were in the oast. The history of form a panza or "belly" The Mays see eying stars "they're s~ply no: ene r - evens car neve' reacn oojective truth the tortilla as an analog -o" a human getic enough to do the job," Loh adds. because each generation has to being. The original hu^an beings were The shock wave from a supernova mighl r 6 rewr'le his;c y, adjusting it to their own made from maize dougn in exactly -he accele-ate a particle to about 10* eV exoec:atcns arc exper'erces. Native same way by the grandmother of the at the very most, he estimates, far short Americans have not been able to con- Hero Twins. So everyday of her life a of the highest observed values. tsmplate iheir history in their own words woman wakes up, creates food for her A very large black hole however, and from their own point of view for 500 family, and replicates at her hearth the Gould impart the tremendous amounts years. So these w'itog workshops pro- acts of c-eaiion, of energy required— in the neighbor- vide an experience of profound impor- On February 5, more than a year hood of 102D eV. The more massive the tance to them. after firs! laid, the hearth was the gods black hole, the more energy it puts out Suppose the Russians had invaded lifted up the cosmic tree. This is also in the form of raoiation. According to the United States and set up a Soviet visible in the sky. The tree is the Milky this scenario, matter falling in toward a United States for 500 years and told Way. In 3112 B.C., at about 2:00 in the black hole runs into a tremendous blast Americans everything they were came morning of February 5, the entire Milky of radiation pouring out. When these from Marxist-Leninist thought. There Way rose oul of die eastern horizon, two waves (matter and radiation) col- Revolution., was no American no great until at dawn it stretched north to south lide, they create a shock wave caoab e presidents, that Americans were n fact across the sky. In several Mayan lan- of accelerating particles to ^credible a creation of their conquest by Russia. guages, the verb "create" is also "to energies—tens of millions of times Then cne oay some peoole cam;; wi-i dawn." At the base of the tree is what higher than those reached in manmade a copy of the U.S. Constitution, Decla- we call the constellation Scorpion. The particle accelerators. ration of Independence, books about Maya also saw the picture of a scorpion The Giant Array just may point to the Washington and Jefferson, and said, and called it any of a dozen of their centers of active galaxies harboring 7 " "Hey, maybe you want to read these words for scorpion. On August 13, the massive black holes. It's cor.ce : vsble. Mo?: Maya are desoo-ately hungry to cosmic hearth rolled up to the center of on the other hand, that cosmic rays learn about their heritage, Of cou-se the sky at dawn, and on February 5, the Simply fly into Earth from ail directors, get tremendous back in return. They Milky Way really was. erected in the sky. without ind cat'rg a specific source. soeak tiese anguages. We don't. These events were real. Cronin calls this the "dullest possible are still There I 28 Mayan larguace;: can't tell you what a revelation it result," but his University of Chicago surviving. Those closest to the ancient was to discover their myths were not colleague David Schramm conside-s i are larg lages Yucatec, sooken in the just stories but actual sky maps, My the most tantaliz'ng possib' ty. Such a Yucatan, and Choi, spoken near God! They were doing with their cre- firdirg would support Schramm's the- Palenque. The difference between Yu- ation myths what Einstein was doing ory that the highest-energy cosmic rays catec and Choi of today and the lan- with his formulas. These myths are are produced by the decay of relics guages recorded in the inscriptions is great overarching symbolic arrays ex- from the Big Bang called "topo.cg ca roughly that between Chaucer and pressing their understanding of cre- defects." The idea is not preposterous, English, modern During the workshops, ation—their version of what modern accord ng to Lon. "If we cannot corre- the Maya often say to us, "You're ask- cosmologists call the Big Bang. late cosmic rays with any particular ing us to recall obscure words and ex- Omni: What can contemporary c'viNza- galaxy or Plack hole, who knows, pressions—the kinds our grandfathers tion learn from the rise and fall of the maybe they are from topological de- might have used." Sometimes they Ivlsyar empire? fects." The notion is speculative, now- don't have the word at al', but fre- Scheie: The final episode in the story of ever, since no one has ever proven the quently we find either the same word creation in the Popul Vuh has the gods existence of topological defects. root or a close equivalent. creating human beings out of maize "Regardless of whether it's our the- Omni: Recently you have reached a creatures so perfect they understand ory, 'rotting defects,' or something more new leve. of urders'sndira of the Popul the world with the same clarity and in- mundane like black holes, it wiil be Vuh. What is the breakthrough? sight as the gods. Humans' power ve-y excitmg," Schramm says. "Let's Scheie: By Freidel I chance, and dis- lightened tie gods, but instead of de- face it, when you consider a black hole covered that all these everts aescibed stroying us, they gave us myopia so we the 'mundane' source, you know you're as myth are really maps of the sky. The could only understand what's very talking about somethirc exc tog DO Creation myth can be traced back at close to us. Isn't that the perfect least as early as the second century metaphor? We can't see beyond our : Got something to say but no time to I e.c. and describes the sets o the gods immediate interests and goals, That's write? Call (900) 285-5483. Your com- on two days—August 13, 3114 3.C., what ultimately brought about the ments will be recorded and may ap- and February 5, 3112 e.c. On the first demise of the Maya, and it could well pear in an upcoming issue of Omni. The day, the gods laid the three stones of be our downfall, too. Except we still cost for the call is 95 cents per minute. the cosmic hearth. Maya women tradi- have a ways to go to emulate them. You must be age 1 8 or older. Touch-tone tiona y cook on a hearth made of three The United Sfsres has existed a bit over phones only. Sponsored by Pure Enter- stones. The Maya also see these three 200 years. Their civtizat.cn was enor- tainment, 505 South Beverly Drive, stones as the three stars in the constel- mously successful from 500 B.C. to 900 Suite 977, Beverly Hills, CA 90212. lation Orion, a.d., a span of 1,400 years. DO GAMES THE SCIENCE OF FASCINATIONS: A line of toys combines fun and physics By Scot Morris The Magic Sand Wand, cre- or electricity, just two care- ated by Fascinations, fully designed permanent lies of Seattle, is a sealed plastic magnets. The biggest one ' cylinder containing a steel i the wood base with its ball and colored sand that fills North side upward. The top other. about 60 percent of iis itself houses the volume. A player must try to When the top is still, oppo- get the ball from one end sites attract, and it flips of the tube to the other. Most r so that its South end, the people hold the wand level pointed handle, points down to the base. When the and twirl it, trying to move the ball through the sand, or top .spins, however, gyro- action keeps it from hold it vertically with the ball scopic at the top and shake, turning over, Eventually hoping that the heavy ball will air friction slows it down so that it loses sink. It doesn't work. enough The simple solution to the its stability, falls, and flips Magic Sand Wand reminds your hand all the way down Another Fascinations prod- over, but that can take me of a great Martin Gardner to the chick. You don't uct harks back to science more than three minutes. puzzle called ''Rescuing want to use a long stick for class demonstrations of mo- Many people had a Robin," from More Perplex- fear of hurting the bird. mentum. Hold a tennis assumed for years that spin- ing Puzzles and Tantalizing What do you do? bail on top of a basketball ning a top in midair couldn't Teasers. At a construction The solution is to slowly and drop both at the be done. Scientists have long site, a baby robin has drop sand into the hole. same time. After colliding thought it wouldn't be fallen into a hole in a cement The bird keeps moving its with the upward-rising possible to keep one magnet block. The rectangular feet to stay on top of the basketball and absorbing floating above another by hole is big enough to stick a sand until the pile gets high momentum from the magnetic repulsion without connection hand and an arm into, enough that the bird can bigger ball, the tennis ball some physical between them. scientific but it's more than three feet be reached. The solution to flies up at much greater A deep, so you can't reach the Magic Sand Wand is velocity than it had in falling theorem actually states to float quite similar: Hold it vertical- down. Hones developed that it is not possible Fascinations' ly with the ball at the bot- this phenomenon into a prod- one permanent magnet another. Astro-Biasler tom, Shake it up and down, uct called the Astro-Blaster, unsupported above (left) and Levi- and the ball rises to the a "multiple-collision acceler- A warning: Getting the lot tran (above) top in just a few seconds! ator" (lower left). Hold it Levitron to work takes a are based on Small particles fall at arm's length and drop it of practice. You have to for scientific into the spaces below large when it is perfectly verti- find just the right weight principles. particles, simply because cal. When the pink ball hits your top, which you ad- they can, and push the large the floor, it bounces up just by adding or removing things up. This same prin- with a velocity close to what weighted discs. The "right vary ciple explains why the whole it had in falling, but the weight" for a top can potato chips rise to the top blue ball bounces up faster, from day to day and even of the bag and only broken the yellow ball much minute to minute. So if you're ones lie at the bottom. faster, and the top ball shoots willing to learn how to surf Fascinations bases all of into the air to a height five the magnetic waves, the Levi- with its toys and games on times higher than that from tron can reward you scientific principles. Company which it was dropped. one of the weirdest sights president Bill Hones likes Hones's latest creation imaginable, all the more to play with science and makes his other toys look fescinat ng because so many hopes others will, too. like, well, toys. It's the Levi- thought it couldn't be His Magic Sand Wand tron (above), a top that done. It retails for about $45. sells in toy and puzzle actually floats in midair. It Call 206-244-9834 for stores, for $4.95. uses no wires, batteries, ordering information, DO