I DECEMBER 1989
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jMn — onnrui VOL. 12 NO. 3 DECEMBER 1989
EDITOR IN CHIEF 4 DESIGN DIRECTOR: BOB GUCCIONE PRESIDENT: KATHYKEETON EDITOR: PATRICE ADCROFT GRAPHICS DIRECTOR: FRANK DEVINO MANAGING EDITOR: STEVE FOX ART DIRECTOR: DWAYNE FLINCHUM
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First Word Artificial Intelligence By Norman Cousins By Larry Kahaner Can you will Cybernetic sleuths: away your ills? Flat foots step aside to make way for 10 computer cops. Omnibus The Who's Who 28 of contributing aulhors. Explorations 12 By Sherry Baker There's an Communications uprising in the South, but
Readers' writes. this time it's the dead. Our reporter explored the 16 ghoulish claims Forum because inquiring minds By Howard Wornom ^h ^vfl ^L^^l want to know. Censors are Irying to end what they 34 see as Stephen King's Body reign of terror. By Jonathan Partridge On an impulse: 20 Surgeons get ahead on Arts epilepsy research. By Eleanor Smith Pet rocks: 36 With animals climbing Stars the music charts, By Jane Bosveld can grouper groupies Could your epitaph read be far behind? STRUCK DOWN IN THE PRIME OF LIFE BY 22 Artist Tony Craddock created AN ASTEROID? Space The Nth Dimension, a title he says By Peter Garrison "represents a mathematical 38 Cutting through theory that dictates there are infinite Mind the red tape: A joint dimensions." He is represented By Heather Pringle Soviet/American by H. Armstrong Roberts Photo Agency Stepchildren may suffer venture could ignite more in New York and by ZEFA Photo the same ordeals than a rocket. Agency in Dusseldorf, West Germany. depicted in fairy tales.
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7 i ij Jil-.v York. NY I00;>:;-:3(. :-;•: I.: I nj i.:,;m, :.>r.ivl..n.1t: p..: i.l ;,; •+.;: address changes lo Omni Magazine. Posi Office Bo* 3041, Harlai by Omni Publications International Lid. All rights reserved. Tel. Publications International Lid. Pnnied in the USA by Meredith/B'
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AFO—524 one year: Canada and elsewhere -S2B one year Sin 289-6664. The pub'ishei disclaims .al rr.-suorisibilily to return unsc Ihe sole properly of Omni Publications International Ltd. Letters si — annmi
41 121 Continuum Antimatter Shouldn't we have the i Blame it on the aliens; right to choose, Resurrecting the or refuse, our own cattle mutilation debate; health care? chicken pox Lick the right toad, opens the door to the and everyone will "other side." look like a prince; the blob that ate 138
. the dinosaurs; wiggle Games your ears and By Scot Morris smile—do you have an Don't get mad, get even artist's face? a numerical 50 tic-tac-toe. It's your turn; You won't Phoenix Rising need to buy a vowel in By Linda Marsa Halphabets;
You can't get answers just spin it around. without raising questions. The AIDS crisis 140 has led not only to Video Scans unprecedented procedures By Bob Lindstrom within the medical Top gun: Armed with
community; il has also little more than accelerated the his joystick, Lindstrom finding of causes and took on this year's possible cures computer and video games. tor other dread diseases. 142 60 Competition Dr. Zodiac By Scot Morris By Dava Sobel Name that goon: Poking Your horoscope for today fun at the says you're about expense of others. to change your opinion 106 114 of astrology. 152 According to an eminent Interview The Magic Theater Star Tech British astronomer, By A.J. S. Rayl By Fred Hapgood By Judy Feldman heavenly bodies above can Anthropologist James Interaclive computer Future transportation, influence the Schaefer studies animation: earthly beings below. the habits and rituals There's nothing quite 156 88 of his flourishing like going home Last Word tribe, the all-American after a hard day's work, By Brent Butterworth Pictorial drinker. He's climbing into Gross anatomy: Art by Gil Bruvel even developing a your trusty DataSuit, Alien integration will and riding boost our A tale lo mend your heart. hangover remedy. off into the sunset. egos by redefining ugly.
74 94 Fiction: Family Fiction: Tomorrow's Child By Joyce Carol Oates By Lisa Mason Out of ashes: As Desperate to save his civilization decays, and dying daughter, institutions crumble, a father puts his trust a new order rises in an artifact for the ties that bind. that's from outer space. —
ComrTiumcaton and jrdefs! finding trio proper care drey need. between a physc an and a patient are Todays onysio.ai' may be steered
'- I oai olicctively pre- I irom methods '1i...;i C :l . !" away or Iiiness. Si' VVdliam Osier, one of the vent and treat oe.ease. but the
. great co'Urib-Jtors to medicine a century Am r . ago. taught meoicai students that treat- way have boor- iTiiSinformed en now meni begins with a carefully developed K: erne ic-i ai inforore! toon own bodies.
oi at icn so. o win a patient. Today, W> iii. ed c-ji :lv. irom however, the localities and econcrn cs c-sscriial Knowledge about the woriengs associated with meo'cal care can creale of the human body unaware of ihe a poleotial conflict ol inicrest between resources waring to be put to use. physician and patient. Wo are not altogether helpless wncn Curreni studios show the' a various lacing sennas iiiness, ye: individuals insecure . • about i- t-mlo. uneorla.n. : 1'ii n n or are and Hague ...; i p n I Ittoli owe bodies work.. In- ii the way Mi; : o iiop: is neii; Id. pn sion know, too that such reactions creasingly we become oblivious io the We : '.' !.; ai'i.t: can interfere will- ifcatmeo: arid impair rob lose ef- fects, botii in iiiness and in good health the i tn o seaso. • : : olter: equate pam w . I. I Hi IM I" We I V !.i -I 01 rib
doealoning o seases rnciolce. the art I as the bony s early
1 !. >.,. 1 catling n rtioi to vi thought M and carefei comrnunica in i "- Instead ol learnlog i ootential problems. ton s an nnpe-dantio : m,
new 'id-erp t inn signer p . must fme-li>- o porK-iier idie warn ng ! ' ihe nearest : grab em. ./... i. i: n n i\ an
: ine . . steins thai ignored and j : i . i . C'o rn. ii;. . i i i tor ihe -.- ..: . : :. .ii. 1. .jiii.'i cnioa-iy ii, bni neither must lie create .i me to escalate. People fa.se fears, wnoh can destroy hope . afowrng tic problem : iaughi that the healing '._. • - need io be for recovery. . WJORD _ ; Intruded by then awyers, many sy ; -i: s ooonocled By Norman Cousins doctors oahstal'lngly reveal he worst system a belief in our own abilities io nelo heai ol- bodies. ' " i i '. I . II'. understand and I- i .'.'I 'I nMi' I '
: -la n Inatf -u ant.: ,
- ! if fan are not i. ; 1 .i or the e-tfoO should T|;i; , i gui:t. rupt il-g. Li . He' 1 eafng with padents s not vicweo ast^agie as Ihe iceling thai no! aH resor-roesv'. I ipoftant pari o ! diagnosing and boo.! ng dis- Wilt-, increaseo individual knowledge ease and llnoss 1 or nstanoe. in today's of ihe inner resources ttrat can be heath caro oyster- an inierntsi loooives modi-zed l'i cot iraiin. with a modest dee tor examining a patient, deeper understanding of fire separate while a surgeon oai ns a much -aigcr oiii THorrolafeo ides of pattern
;..' wider public :''!' i pnystc-an. wilh . and .. :.. ,.n ! , . 'or p and
: participate durei It the internet, however were acceptance o' tire need to
i ,< rewarded dor learning about oa-ienrs' oiore iLii'iy In pi.ibilc / i pc oy the h-e stylos, hands, and emotional states. stage can too sol ior reform where reform ; surge-'y ciien might not oe necessary is oa ice or and for br nging heath iin its u main ; :-i,r dependence on oai l s! no costs witnm reason, b'e e and procedures nas eootritauteo to objective, o: course is no' ro see how obtained one or Ihe meal scooos orobems >ve cheaply fiealtn care oai : bo " . opttmat boaith care ' ; but lo face m ir rioalh oai , n ry ensure ns.rig costs. Expensive diagnosis: Ihroughou; the onfro society A sensible iacnnolegy accounts ior a substantial one effective naronal health oiogram, portion of the $1.5 biiiio-o a oay spent ior oe product ive.CXD eaeocai tteairnent in this country. I; bo both economics, and
c-ui medical system were responsive to iVonnayi Cousins ir; a oir^.tiy rns-mDenV 'fie alternative melnods of bealme-nt, hospi- UC'LA Sc'icoi or ,Vf'-\-;'.;-.-..,'ie and ;^:ino: o:
tals would re: flood to pu'cnase expen- itriolr :(:-.' rr
sive machinery: our roedoa: cosls Power "he l-le-!lir.g Hesrt. Anriloniy oi
would no! bo reaching rfei beyond cor tin oness. and the reexniiy pubhshoc. Heart means and mere people would receive Fi-sf: "he biology of Hope. )NTRIBUTOR! onnnjii
^% I riting on topics from astrol- tion ("The Magic "neater. ' page 114) writer. "But my parents have been
! ' I ogy to zoology, our contrib- came during his researcn at MIT, where happily married for forty-two years." U fcJ utors span the continent, he's been hanging out while working Jane Bosveld (Stars, page 36) from Massac husetts and Georgia to on a book about Ihe university. has been seen riding ner bicycle around California and British Columbia. Lisa Mason wrote her short story New York City while sporting a Linda Marsa enthusiastically pursued "Tomorrow's Child" (page 94) after work- crash helmet—for reasons other than her research tor "Phoenix Rising" (page ing on the script for a documentary traffic. "I'm playing it safe," says the
r "Afte all, ihe 50) and calls it the most exciting story about advances in the treatment of burn former Omni senior cdror she's ever written, Marsa teaches at victims. 'Arachne" (Omni, December odds of being struck by an asteroid UCLA and most often writes on finance 1987), her first published story, will are pretty high—one in six thousand." A and health care policy. be coming out as a novel in May 1990 contribuling editor to Psychology Dava Sobel, whose astrological sign (William Morrow). Today. Bosveld coauthored Control Your is Gemini with Aquarius rising, says Joyce Carol Oates ( "Family," page Dreams (Harper & Row) with psycholo- she managed to meet her deadline lor 74) is the distinguished lecturer in gist Jayne Gac ken bach. "Dr. Zodiac" (page 60) thanks lo her the humanities at Princeton University. Eleanor Smith frequently writes for moon's being in Taurus. Sobel coau- Because It Is Bitter and Because Omni and Psychology Today. "What thored the book Arthritis: What Works (St. It Is My Heart (E. R Dutton) will be pub- impresses me most about Bernie Martin'sPress, October 1989) with her ishod next April. Krause's animal music [Arts, page 20] is husband, Arthur Klein. Larry Kahaner (Artificial Intelligence, that its .lively rock beat will attract A.J.S. Rayl is a frequent Omni age 24) s co'-pleting a novel about younger listeners who might not bother contributor and has also written for ger a killers. He's written for Washing- to read about endangered animals," Pccpie arc tolling Stone. Her book tonian Magazine, The International says the Oakland-based writer. Beaffes '64: A Hard Day's Night in Herald Tribune, and the Washington f-'os:. Sherry Baker doesn't believe in America was recently published by Peter Garrison has written for Family ghosts herself, but that doesn't keep her Doubleday. During the course of Weekly, Harvard Magazine, and from looking lor tnem. In a follow-up barhopping with James Schaefer (Inter- Connoisseur. While researching this to her Explorations columr (page 28), view, page 106), Rayl declined lo month's Space column (page 22), the Atlanta- based writer relates participate in the "wet jeans contest" he visited the Planetary Society, which ihe latest on one of the South Carolina held at Minneapolis's Hoggsbreath is located in a tum-of-lhe-century house coast's legendary phantoms. Known as
Saloon. "I didn't want to blow out the on a quiet, tree-lined Pasadena, Califor- the Gray Man, he's said to always competition." jokes the former gymnasl nia, street. "It's odd that the pressure appear before a major storm. And a local (who notes that she thought Ihe entrant for go rg to Mars should emanate from couple claims they saw a ghostly gray dubbed Miss Eucme sncuid have won). sjc'i quaint surroundings," he says. figure on the day belore Hugo struck Aside from Omni, Fred Hapgood Heather Pringle (Mind, page 38) has the state. Subsequently, their beachfront has previously written for Smithsonian, always been fond of fairy tales involving house was spared by the hurricane, The Atlantic, and National Geographic. cruel stepparents. "They all have while surrounding hemes were devas- The idea of looking at computer anima- germs of truth," says the Canada-based tated. Coincidence? Maybe.DQ 10 OMNI Dnnrui
LETTERS connnnuruicMTiorus
Art- Felt Praise CEP 30 Irving Place. New York, NY
I just received my September 1989 10003, or call (800) U-CAN-HELR
it. Leslie Gottlieb issue and I can hardly stand The of artwork is so gorgeous I am faint with Director Communications, CEP York passion and it's all your Fault. I want New
to savor it for hours. Not only is the editorial content of Omni superior, the Freeze -frame
I :hai subject of artwork is at a level so high I cannot do not agree he Tony remember another general magazine Wooldridge's photograph was a rock thai was so endowed. and not he Aborn naoie Snowman Liz Stewart ["Stoned Yeti," Antimatter, September San Diego 1989], In the winter photos of the area
: sans Yeti the'e is insu ;icient snow to Barking up the Wrong Tree cover a six-foot-tall object whose texture On page 48 ["Save the Planet," Septem- would not match the rocks in the ber 1989] you state, "In the United background. The style of the trail leading States the timber industry cuts irreplace- to the bush near the Yeti-like lorm is able slands of old-growth forest." On consistent with Bigfoot trails. Best of all, page 31 ["Bacteriaphones," Conlinuum, Wooldridge refuses to print the alleged September 1989] you describe a new "rock" photo taken in summer with type of headphones: "The wood casing no snow. Until this photo surfaces, the
in which the diaphragm is "lounted Yeti has yeti to be unproven. comes from the hearts o- 200-year-old Jon Erik Beckjord zelkova trees, which grow in only two Director. Cryptozoology Museum regions of Japan." You speak with forked Malibu, CA
tongue if you present an issue on the consequences of environmenlal exploi- Ignorance Can Mean Bliss
tation and wax enthusiastic on using It is ironic that Neil Sloane [Interview, the hearts of trees for $4,000 September 1989]. who works in multidi- headphones. mensional problems, has such a singu- N. Walsh lar view of society. Claiming privileges loi Forest Hills, NY the intelligent. Sloane makes a strong case for a sound general education. Setting Straight Your Priorities Those with a cursory knowledge of Your Save the Planet activist's primer in history or criminal psychology know that the September issue presented much individuals' IQs rarely match their ethical important and useful information that we standards: Sociopaths are usually
all need to know. We are surprised, bright. II the interview were a joke, I'd though, that you did not cite the Council say ha: Sleane's :aste in humor rivals his on Economic Priorities (CEP) guide choice of climbing tights. Shopping for a Belter World: A Quick Barbara Jenkin and Easy Guide to Socially Responsible Henderson, NV Supermarket Shopping. The guide rates common household products like Copy Wrong soap shampoo, and cereal and tells A credit line was omitted Irom 'At The you whether they are made by compa- Rialto" by Connie Willis [October 1989],
nies with sound environmental records. It should have read: From The Micro- For example, Kellogg's cereals get a verse, Byron Preiss, eel tor Copyright ;<:' high environmental mark, since the 1989 by Byron :, reiss V sua Publica- company is a major recycler of materials tions, Inc. Reprinted by permission for packaging and uses nontoxic inks. of Bantam Books, a division of the
If you want to know howto shop for Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing a cleaner, greener world, you can write Group, Inc. All rights reserved. —
FOR GOODNESS SAKE? FDRunn By Howard Wornom
values; they abhor science fiction, Orwell's nove! 1984 make it illegal to "physically defile" Beorge fantasy and horror because such books opens with "It was a bright cold the flag at all. Chi- supposedly influence youth by insulting day in April and the clocks According to USA Today, under Chnsjanily and uromoiirg occult activity. were striking thirteen," implying some- cago's flag- desecration law, city is presently The aspiring censors feel threatened thing is terribly wrong with the world, approved in March, the these literary genres: They're not real, Far too many Americans believe that suing ten artists who want to dis- by but the Bible is. The logical step is to the censorship described in 1984 could play artworks that incorporate the flag. this try to get these books removed from the not exist under the vigilant eye of the Such a broad guideline as could ol works of shelves of public and school libraries. First Amendment. But it does happen. cause the banning many Norman So far most attempts to retract First Our right to free speech was assaulecl in art: Jasper Johns's Three Flags, rights have been unsuc- two highly publicized cases this year. Rockwell's paintings, and the Iwo Jima Amendment Ration cessful. But certain people will always In July North Carolina senator Jesse memorial. And even the film word or phrase. Helms became incensed over could be banned fsr the scene with rally against the use of a with Even worse, they'll try to censor content works of art that were partially funded George C. Scott standing onstage on the basis of inappropriateness or by the National Endowment for the Arts a huge flag backdrop. obscenity. It's a disturbing belief of the (NEA). Two institutions split a $45,000 Over the past few years the efforts of uninformed that words the expression grant for exhibitions ot photographs vocal individuals and small groups — are dangerous by Robert Mapplethorpe and Andre at times backed by such Christian of the imagination — inflammatory and must be controlled Serrano. Helms took oifense at Mapple- political action groups as Phyllis Schlaf- and tor the sake of the children, thorpe's highly erotic imagery and ly's Eagle Forum; National Legal In America the clocks are striking Serrano's postsur realist photo of a plastic I" oundation. founded by Pat Robertson; thirteen for all forms of expression. And crucifix inside a jar of urine. Because and Citizens for Excellence in Educa- of America's best-selling authors. of the senator's assault, the Corcoran tion—have assailec ihc wo-ks of Stephen one profane, King, has heard the bells toll for him. Gallery in Washington, DC, canceled the King as "obscene," "harmful, To righteous conservatives, King's show. Helms proposed a bill that would and sexually coiechcnable," and "a popularity implies that he has an undue deny -NEA funds to "promote, dissemi- bunch of garbage." They disapprove of influence children— his tales of nate, or produce" works of art deemed novels that reflect contemporary human on of passage "obscene or indecent," especially supernatural evil and rites considered works of secular works of art that insult "the objects or can be influences, beliefs of Ihe adherents of a particular humanism and satanic that they're ultimately tales of religion or nonreligion." no matter experience. By October, House-Senate negotiators moral justice and human can't do much about public diluted Helms s bill, agreeing to ban Censors in public schools federal funds for art devoid of "serious libraries, but libraries are a different matter. The religious right literary, artistic, political, or scientific "public education as a vehicle value," dropping the word indecent. sees for ensuring conformity with a particular In June, prompted by Joe Johnson's ideology," to 1987-88 1984 flag torching as a demonstra- according a censorship in public schools. tion against government policy, the U.S. report on Freedom Supreme Court decided that burning This report, Attacks on the Lear's the American Hag "could be a protected to Learn, compiled by Norman for the American Way, form of free speech." This prompted group People conser- President Bush to propose a constitu- further states that the "politically "critical thinking danger- tional amendment banning the desecra- vative" view as parental tion of the flag, neatly trampling the ous because it could undermine rights of Americans to show dissatisfac- and scriptural authority." tion with their country. With those guidelines, it's no wonder On October 5 the U.S. Senate Stephen King came in third of the five '87- overwhelmingly approved a bill that most censored authors on the '88 one, would ban the defacement of American- list. (Judy Blume was number iwo.) But a flags. Senator Bob Dole's original bill and John Steinbeck number applied only to public defacement of the banned list can be a source of pride. flag; the Democrats' amendment would Reign of terror: Should King be eenson&J? "I'm very proud. ... I'm in the company 16 OMNI '156 times.' " The result: The claimed that the film and story Children of greats . . . J. D. Salinger and John were used Updike," states King, who has been book was removed from junior-high- of the Corn, which is anthologized in challenged ever since the publication oi school libraries. Night Shift, make fun of Christianity and the occult his first book. On Halloween that year, Roland Floor, teach students about and In 1975 Carrie was attacked as "trash" a middle-school teacher in Lilly, rebellion. The case is under appeal. librarian in at Oark High School in Las Vegas; Pennsylvania, showed the movie Came Paulette Cook, a school four three years later, the Vergennes to his class as a reward for good Meriden, Connecticut, removed novels from shelves' after one parent (Vermont) High School library stacked il attendance and performance. Russell King on a closed sheli, which requires Strange, the school superintendent, complained that passages in Different teachers, .ill! !| '.,:,. : lil.O educational materials Seasons were offensive. Other f... :i. M. ,:, . complained that as well school board president John complaints that it could harm students, must reflect contemporary community as the librarian's particularly young girls. standards, concluding, "I think the Mantzaris, did not support At a Waukesha, Wisconsin, school majority of us think [Carrie] would go action. "If you're going to define a code said Mantzaris, "I'm district hearing in 1982, Charles S. against community standards." Floor was of what's offensive," librarian Gerhart demanded that The Stand be suspended indefinitely with pay. not sure it should be only a removed because its "gutter language" In February 1987 the Iowa School who should do this."
III, Clearwater, was inappropriate for children under District removed six books from the West James W. Jackson a the age ot sixteen. Student Paul Stilwell Lyon Community School. "They don't Florida, dentist and self-proclaimed argued against Gerhart. 'Almost every- meet the standards of our district," "man of God ordained with authority and language, claimed superintendent Frank Ashmore. responsibility," asked the Pinellas one I know uses violent Following a complaint from a parent, County school system to "stand up for and I always hear about sex at school righteousness" and remove The Shining and violence on television," said Stilwell. he and principal James Van Steenwick from Clearwater High's library. The "I'm reading a lot more because of reviewed the Bachman Books (novels King's pseudonym), then school board refused. Stephen King's books. That's how I written under And Cup was taken from the Berryville started reading, and I hope others may" High School library even Of 22 people present at the hearing, (Arkansas) though book-review committee, Gerhart's was the only complaint. The a decrying censorship, had previously novel remained on the shelf. voted to retain the book. City school In 1983 Jerome Brose, a junior-high- ^Stephen King that "the committee school teacher, and his wife demanded officials charged had failed in its assigned task" after that The Shining be banned in district came in third of the five most teacher Darrell Stidham claimed that libraries in Campbell County, Wyoming, censored authors. But Cup was "page after pago of garbage. due to its "violence, reference to list can a source My personal opinion is that it's not fit demonic possession, and its ridicule ot a banned be for anyone to read." religious beliefs." The county refused. of pride. "I'm very America today may aspire to be a Brose later asked the school board proud," said King, "I'm in the kinder, gentler nation, but some Ameri- to reconsider because the novel was cans despise works that rebel against . . . . filled with "profanity . . lo the point company of greats on the cover of being smut." The book was removed the norm— a nude of D. Salinger John Updike^ J. and for instance, or a (lag on the from junior-hlgh-school libraries. Newsweek, floor of the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1985 the Bradford, New York, school exhibit, held this year, was appro- board took off the library shelf (The Cup ~ Is the Proper Way after a five-minute discussion. priately titled What Display a U.S. Flag?) These people were premarked for tine board's review, to emphasizing a masturbation scene. "glanced through" Carrie, The Dead violently oppose easy access to such is control over Board member Henry Bonarski said, "We Zone. Different Seasons, and Night Shift works because there no will view them. didn't read the entire book, but there before removing them all. "I was who words. Though the tales of Stephen King are I of was no need to. We wanted it removed shocked when saw some the of thing doesn't have to be almost simplistically humane and because it was a bunch of garbage." That kind moral, his works are prejudged as weird In Washington County, Alabama, the among our high-school library books," bizarre simply King has a board of education banned Christine Van Steenwick said. or because School commercial reputation for writing horror, and Cup from all county school libraries The Hampshire Regional High offer because the books contained "unac- Library in Westhamplon, Massachu- and how can tales of terror are the ceptable language and are porno- setts, had experienced a rash of "theme- anything of value? Ignored the work graphic." School librarian Eutoria Toole related thefts" for more than a year important questions: Does human condition? was ignored when she deiended resulting in the disappearance of more contain insight into the Librarian Kenneth Is the work valid? Is it moral? Christine: "I read this book, and I believe than 70 books. is really about fear, the the plot overshadows the language." Doerpholz believes that "somebody Censorship of narrow minds and limited Parents also asked for a ban on all seems to feci Lhoro should be no access product imaginations. watchdogs claim of King's books, to these subjects." By April 1987 about Moral crusading for the common good, The Shining was challenged in 20 books concentrating on drug educa- they're protect kids from Vancouver, Washington, in 1986. Karen tion were taken; 34 books that focused for morality, and to control, Venema, a reading aide, charged that on the occult and comparative religions harmful influences. This lust for the book's "descriptive foul language" were also stolen. The other 17 were whether conducted in the name of God or for the children, tor the family or made it unsuitable for teenagers. novels by Stephen King. "Students are disciplined for using the Since October 1988 there have been for morality, can be more obscene or same words at school that are found no fewer than four attempts to remove than anything presented in a book matter offensive a work may in the novel. We are teaching confusion." seven King books from library shelves: film. No how One board member even "counted In Green Bay, Wisconsin, an attempt be to any particular group of people, it the cuss words," according to the to ban the film Children of the Corn and may. at the same time, offer valid views on Newsletter on inteliectua! Freedom, the book Night Shift was denied by human existence that someone finding that " '22 different' expletives the school board. Eric and Kitty Larsen somewhere will find of value. DO
IS OMNI —
PET SHOP BOY ART By Eleanor Smith
eventually music," pioneered the use of whales' n the first day of recording the and Friends. The group Shoes." siren songs in his 1970 release And God cries of endangered mountain released a single titled 'Jungle without human Created Great Whales. During the gorillas in Rwanda, musician In the first rap recording Seventies Judy Collins and Paul Winter Bernie Krause's principal tape recorder voices, coyotes and killer whales sing vocals, while snapping shrimps and also fealured whale songs, as well as failed. He hadn't experienced such a lead recordings. all backed up wolf howls, in their Since technical problem in 15 years, and drumfish play drums, then, avant-garde composer his troubles. by a band of other creatures from the French it was only the beginning of whales, Olivier Messiaen and others have sprin- Several days later he slipped and animal kingdom. On the flip side, breaking waves back kled in bird calls, cricket chirps, and sprained his ankle while traveling an walruses, and of fish on "Fish Wrap." elephant trumpets for exotic flourishes overgrown trail. Most of the time Krause up ten species are included on Gorillas here and fhere. sat patiently holding the cumbersome, Both pieces Few musicians, however, have made temperamental recording equipment in the Mix (Rykodisc), the compacl Krause's group, which music out of digitally sampled animal while the gorillas blithely munched disc recorded by In a sounds. Loran Carrier, a professor on bamboo shoots, barely uttering a he renamed Human Remains. mountain of composition and electronic music at sound. On one occasion a large male mulligatawny of musical styles, elephants, and chimpanzees Virginia Commonwealth University, gorilla, beating its chest and flashing its gorillas, Mountain High Enough," has created computerized music based enormous teeth, charged Krause and perform 'Ape No parrotfish and walruses play the on hog sounds {Omni, December his colleagues, who dived headfirst into while "Trout from Ipanema." The 1986). And the British pop group Gentle- a patch of nettles to escape the attack. Brazilian tune 'Animal Farm" features men Without Weapons (GWW) recently In the confusion, they failed to capture the counlry-western the jazzy "Stomp entered this barely discernible field. gorilla's terrifying scream on tape. barnyard residents, and For its 1988 album Transmission Eventually Krause recorded 200 in the Name of Love" includes a ruffed (A&M Records), GWW spent a year hours ot the gorillas' vocalizations. All grouse's drumlike call. animal recording frogs and monkeys in Thailand, but 15 minutes of the tapes were "con- Other musicians have used birds and crickets in Bali, and, in taminated," however, by noise from sounds in their music, of course. England, everything from tigers and airplanes, children, domestic animals Classical musician Alan Hovhaness, Age camels in wildlife parks to the sounds of from nearby villages, and other sources. sometimes called "the father of New squash and tennis balls striking walls. "Even the most remote corners of the GWW's recent "Spirit of the Forest"—with world have human noise pollution," vocals by a menagerie of rock stars, Krause laments. "In the far reaches of including Tina Turner, Belinda Carlisle, the Amazon basin, you can hear chain Ringo Starr, and the groups Pink Floyd saws cutting down the rain forest, and Fleetwood Mac—will benefit rain bulldozers clearing roads, and motor- forest preservation projects. boats hauling timber down the river Because the sounds are so well from twenty miles away. It's the scariest mixed, however, it's nearly impossible thing I've ever heard." for the average person to single out Krause has traveled to such areas as the origins of GWW's and Carrier's the Pacific Northwest, South America, sounds. In contrast, you can identify Antarctica, and Belize, in addition to many animals' voices on Human Rwanda, trying to capture the vocaliza- Remains' recordings. tions of wild creatures in their natural "With today's technology, we can take habitats. Then, back in his San Francisco this music to new heights," Krause studio, he creates a unique form of says. "It opens all the doors. We can do music, using the animal cries and other ballads, jazz, God-knows-what." Such sounds of nature instead of the tradi- equipment as digital audiotape tional guitar, drums, bass, and other recorders, stereo condenser micro- instruments. phones, and shotgun mikes allows Last year Krause recruited four musicians to make superb recordings of musicians—"sampling genius" Matt animal vocalizations in the wild. Ward, "programming whiz" Tony Mills, ' Computer samplers convert sounds into "great keyboardist" J. D, Reilly, and digital recordings that are stored on "articulate musical conceptualist" Peter computer disks. With sequencing Michael Escovedo—and formed Krause Cat B'allou; Composing the calls ot the wild. 20 OMNI 1 You always come back to the basics. J *-** MARTIAN MISGIVIN(
By Peter Garrison
forgiving. "In the United States, scar Wilde wrote thai to lose missions." he notes, "the builders had is important," he says. "We one parent may be regarded as to use a computer designed for success is so percent reliability a misfortune, but to lose both some other purpose. Engineering and design not for 99 but tor 99.999 percent, and that extra looks like carelessness. In the wake production people don't communicate costs a great deal of money. of the double failure of the Soviet Union's with scientists." The intensity of this refinement approach they make Phobos Mars probes, American scien- internecine warfare in the Soviet program The Russian — the chief scientist two of everything may make some tists and their Soviet counterparts are became clear when — may cost wondering whether carelessness might of the Soviet Institute for Space Research sense. Two 99 percent systems letter to less than one 99.999 percent system." have, in fact, played a part. Questions wrote a long and vehement of Is there, then, a fundamental incom- about the reliability of Soviet space Pravda. He charged the designers patibi iiy between American and Soviet hardware malter as much to Americans the Phobos probes with "incompetence styles in space? American scientists as to Soviets: With Ihe quickening and irresponsibility." say no. but they do feel some changes pace of international cooperation in A few years ago Americans might needed, particularly in regard space, American astronauls could well have felt a certain glee over Soviet will be current lack of openness even find themselves boarding a Soviet failures in space. But ten U.S. scientists, to the — were to Soviet scientists— of the Soviet indus- bus to Mars early in the next century. in Moscow when the probes trial this point no U.S. manager Mission controllers lost the two Phobos launched, were participating in the Phobos sites. 'At system where failure probes—one a few months from Earth experiments, and there was American would commit to a Soviet of the propulsion system or ihe probe and the other while in orbit around hardware aboard. When the would loss of the whole mission," Mars—because the craft failed lo keep vehicles failed. Americans lost out, too. cause says Albee, a project scientist their solar cells pointed toward ihe Andrew Nagy was one such loser. Arden America's Mars Observer (scheduled sun. The causes: The first probe fell A space scientist at the University on orbit in 1992-93). victim fo an erroneous character in a of Michigan, he had worked for years to Mars mission to Mars, command sent from Earth; on Ihe with a Hungarian group on a plasma- The next Soviet nonetheless, second, a computer or stabilization measuring device for Phobos. Remem- planned for 1994, will, system malfunctioned. Americans and bering the many successes of the attempt to take advantage of international
It relay data from Mars Soviets alike say the failures were caused Soviet space program, however, Nagy cooperation. will special hardware by more than just bad luck. to Earth ihrough and software aboard the Mars Observer. The issue is not that the probes American scientists and engineers malfunctioned; it's the way ihey failed. equipment "The problem was poor system design are also designing and testing and poor autonomy," says Caltech's for the French and the Sovieis for their Bruce Murray, former head of the Jet joint exploration of Mars. Heinsheimer. Propulsion Laboratory. 'Any spacecraft Tom an atmospheric physicist with Titan Systems in Los that can be killed by one character in Angeles and a leading participant in the a command isn't well designed." The is dismayed by the lack of Phobos probes, in other words, were too project, systems analysis (the study of dumb to question a suicidal command basic to how to do it) on the or to prune electrical loads and reorient what do and of both the French and the Soviets. themselves in relation to the sun when parts original inadequate, he their batteries started running down. The plan was All the effort went into detailed The kinks in Soviet spacecraft are says. of hardware that may ultimately due to the structure of the Soviet space design in its concept. program. The people who build space- fail because of basic flaws very clear," Heinsheimer says, craft do not consult Hie scientists who use "It's international in them. "The term used informally by "that it cooperation space have to institutionalize, some of the Russians who are really bitter is to work, you very formally and very carefully, an is 'the tyranny of Ihe producers,' " says analysis group. It Murray. "They're production oriented, noi impartial studies and design oriented. They try to use existing, has to be international and it has to producing hardware or produce general-purpose be unbiased: not involved in moment that hardware that's not necessarily ideal the material. And at the doesn't exist. for a given project. On the Phobos thaw icy relations? just "DO 22 OMNI —
DETECT ARTIFICIAL IRJTELLIEEnJCE
By Larry Kahaner
Technical found the body in a sleazy mobile phones, a computer would track assistant director of the FBI that prelim- Theymotel room in the seediest and record the parolee's movements. Services Division, points out better part ot town. Using a hand-held At the same time, another computer inary efforts to make a cop are has scanner, the detective on the scene would record, from police reports, already under way. The FBI, he notes, are swept the room tor hair and fingerprints, all instances of crime. Matches would begun to videotape agents who of capturing receiving an instant analysis of the be based on the lype of crime and, leaving the bureau, in hopes evidence. Then he tapped absentmind- more important, the parolee's proximity and passing on these veterans' wisdom. in police edly at the chip plugged into the socket to the scene. With information relayed Such material could be used classrooms and might also be developed behind his ear. It had a loose connection, to a patrol car, police could pick up and to into sophisticated art-fic a intelligence but after he gave it a whack, the chip question an ex-oftender deemed speculates began to work. Holographic images of have been too close to the incident. programs. "Someday," suspects' faces and rap sheets flashed "Clearly, police in the future will take on futurist and criminal justice professor of the University of through his brain, a greater role in surveillance than they Gene Stephens Friel. South Carolina, "we might have smart It sounds like just another cyberpunk do now," says of our best fantasy, but forensic experts say this Bill tafoya, a supervisory special pills containing the RNA may be the future of police work. Indeed, agent for forecasting and long-range invest ga:o's." n addition. Stephens containing artificially intelligent peacekeeping is planning at the FBI Academy at Quantico, theorizes that computer chips already cleaning up our streets, thanks Virginia, has another futuristic crime- investigative skills could be implanted "One day," he to advances in computers, weaponry, busting scheme. He hopes one day to in new investigators. bioengineering, and cybernelics. mingle FACE with holographic tech- says, "we may even have telepathic According to Charles Friel, dean of nology. "Using a laptop computer investigators who scan the community the College of Criminal Justice at Sam we could create a person's face in three and 'listen' for criminal thoughts." Houston State University, new technology dimensions right at the crime scene," If nabbing criminals is about to veer is destined to revolutionize crime inves- says Tafoya. into hyperspace. rrosecinng them tigations in a number of ways. The As for turning detectives themselves is also getting more sophisticated. This first steps have already been taken. into supercops, William A. Bayse, an year the Commonwealth of Virginia Law enforcement agencies in Florida, has recommended using compulers to Kentucky, Oregon, and California now look at pending cases and suggest use computers and supermarketlike bar which ones would be better handled codes to keep track of evidence from outside the adjudicative process crime scene to courtroom. through binding arbitration or mediation, One of the most important new for example. Officials say it's still too software programs developed to aid early to judge whether the program will police in their investigations is FACE. Only succeed, bu! they believe it would a year old, FACE can take a suspect's lead to more compromises in which both body type, gender, race, and physical the prosecution and the defense will health and construct a police drawing ot feel they've won. According to Lee the individual's face. What's more, the Harizanoff, senior planning analyst with program can show what that person's the Supreme Court's Department of face would look like during any other Judicial Planning, this contrasts favorably traditional court adjudica- period of his life. Invesligators say they with more have even used FACE to identify tions, in which there are usually complete decomposed bodies by reconstructing winners and complete losers. facial features on the computer. According to Friel, in the future artificial Far more sophisticated approaches intelligence could play an even larger may be available to police in the not- role in the legal system. He suggests that too-distant future, says Friel. For example. computer software could be developed an ex-offender— as a condition of his that might one day be able to help prosecutors prescreen cases; Based on parole— might submit to the subcuta- , neous implantation of an electronic the evidence, a suspect's prior record, transmitter. By using receivers similar to and the severity of the crime, the those employed in tracking cellular computer will decide which cases to 24 OMNI CONTINUED ON RHGE148 SOUTHERN SPIRITS EXPLDRATOfUS By Sherry Baker
Oriental perfume thai he had bought on a chilly October Friday Francis Marion, the legendary Swamp have Lale Fox, led Colonial guerrilla warfare here, her. But the deadly potion may not night I fly into Charleston, South ended her suffering. On summer nights Carolina, rent a car, and begin striking and disappearing so quick- said he when the moon is full and bright, guests the hour-and-a-half drive up U.S. Highway ly into the marshes that some supernatural powers. in the house have reported catching 17 toward Georgetown. It will be fun, possessed whiffs of strange aroma. Sometimes, silly, tell By the time of the Civil War, the a although maybe a little I myself, of richest they claim, a luminous woman peers to tour the supposedly haunted coastal Georgetown area was one the wistfully from an upstairs window. area known as the Low Country. But regions in the South. The local slaves, per capita At the River Room Restaurant over- as Charleston's lights fade in the distance making up the highest out looking the meandering Sampit River, the and the sky turns dark as the sea at population in the South, had carved often waitress wears skeleton earrings. "We midnight, fog rolls off the marshes vast plantations from marshlands pointing infested with mosquitoes and alligators. all love our ghosts," she says, out through the inky pine thickets. And I an elegant Atlanta woman named begin to understand why local residents Then the Civil Watxaused economic Barbara Baxter who owns a Georgetown might imagine they see phantom beings upheaval, with fortunes lost and families home purportedly haunted by the spirit flickering across the landscape. destroyed. And tombstones list the the but also by .of a Revolutionary War British soldier. One day each fall, at the end of Oc- toll taken not only by war well Like many other people in the Low tober, the Georgetown County diphtheria and malaria as as by the coast. Country, Baxter resists paranormal Chamber of Commerce sponsors a hurricanes that have battered researchers who want to "take our ghosts ghostbusting tour of antebellum planta- Bits of this history are intertwined away" by declaring them merely tions, centuries-old town houses, and with tales of untimely deaths and ghosts centuries-old houses. legends or finding some scientific graveyards in the tiny seaport of that flit around for so-called hauntings. Georgetown and the surrounding area. Under a covered porch at the Waterman- explanation University researchers, for Local actors don antique costumes, Kaminski House, a narrator relates Duke example, wanted to investigate her paint their faces a ghostly pallor, and the fate of a sad young belle who died
says. "But 1 didn't want reenactthe legends. Georgetown around 1770. When she realized her home, Baxter them to bust my ghost. We like him." citizens take their ghosts very seriously. sea captain beau had been unfaithful, Several of the South Carolina coast's "I've studied similar lore around the she downed an exotic, poisonous famous phantoms are said to world, but this area seems to have more most outskirts of Georgetown, At ghost legends per square inch than lurk on the the Hermitage Plantation tall pine and any other place I know," says local histo- oak trees dripping with Spanish moss rian Charles Joyner of the University grace a sandy, circular drive once of South Carolina's Coastal Carolina Col- traveled by horses and buggies. Situated lege. "I've never had any kind of para- by a marshy inlet where wild boxwoods normal experience myself. But I know rhododendrons form a thick under- many highly educated people here and brush, the plantation takes on a misty, who do believe they've seen ghosts." spooky quality. Having lived his entire life Bill Oberst, the twenty-nine-year- in the white-columned house, ninety- old executive director of the chamber of Willcox sits on the commerce, who came up with the three-year-old Clarke front porch and tells the story of fifteen- ghost tour idea, has his own explanation year-old Alice Flagg and her ghost for the region's supernatural beliefs. who visits the plantation, invit- "There has been so much bittersweet to anyone them in to see the portrait of the history here, so much love, so much ing teenager with the hauntingly sad eyes. sorrow," he says. 'And the area has "He's not related to her," a family member somehow absorbed it all. You can smell
tells me. "But I really believe that his it in the salt air, hear it in the waves, love for Alice and sharing her story with feel it under the trees." other's has kept him alive all these years." Georgetown's history has been rife pale figure in a sweeping white with the kind of emotionally charged A dress momentarily startles me. Appear- events that believers in the paranormal ing behind a tree, the young girl say attract ghosts. During the American from represents the ghost of Alice roaming the Revolution, for example, Georgetown of her engagement loyalists quartered British soldiers. And Lively haunts: Will the South rise again? grounds in search 28 OMNI houses, no street- ring. Her brother, who did no! approve in a window. But it's no apparition of Johr road. There are no other cars. finally stop of her socially inferior suitor, had Henry, just the setting sun bouncing lights, no We brick ol arches snatched the ring from her as she lay off old, rippled glass, in front of a Gothic facade rises of a tangle of dying from malaria in 1848. I've found nothing supernatural here, and spires that out almost as black-eyed Susans, foot-tali grass, and By late afternoon, I've heard countless but I do sense something startling: of timelessness. The pines, all together resembling Sleeping other stories, but I still haven't seen an aura enchanted castle. any ghosts, felt any strange tingles, or house and the land— all they have Beauty's landowners in the area even heard an unexplained creak or endured, all fhe secrets that they hold- Prosperous of worship to reflect moan. As six o'clock and the end of the are whispering to roe in some half- wanted this place forgotten their success. Elegant furnishings and day's tour near, I hurry to the antebellum language. hand-carved purchased in Europe, Hampton Plantation and get lost, twice The next morning I meet Winston- pews parapsychologist Ware and however, never arrived. The War crossing the Santee River. When I Salem Jayne broke out, and finally reach the site, people are driving her associate Flora Yarbrough, who Between the States kept the rich appointments away. But assuming the house is still have returned to Georgetown to partici- blockades hills in the ghost four again this year. from reaching the remote parish. open, I race over grassy and past pate towering trees to a huge, white -columned "I'm a sensitive," says Ware, who claims Eventually the church was abandoned left to crumble and nearly disappear mansion built in 1730 and resembling she spends 50 weeks of the year inves- and into the woods. Tara in Gone With the Wind. tigating haunted sites. "I feel a difference
has it thai a Scotsman named There are no others, no park employ- in air pressure, a heaviness when there Legend in the black arts, was ees, no tourists. Out of view of the is something paranormal going on." Gunn, a dabbler one of the architects of Prince Frederick's parking lot and the road, in the midst of A redheaded man-smoking grand- drives van with Church. While measuring the roof he I peer in mother who a Chevy 322 acres, I am totally alone. and fell to his death, cursing the the windows of the locked house, rub my a personalized license plate that reads slipped earth. hands over the giant white columns, ghostbus, Ware believes the Georgetown place as his body slammed to There have been reports of his ghostly and sit down on the porch to take in the area is the nation's "hot spot" lor ghosts, landscape. The 400-year-old but she theorizes they're more like figure walking the nonexistent roofline. moment the sun sets, oaks stretch their Spanish-moss-laden supernatural holograms than earthbound And at the exact tells me, phantom music sometimes branches against the sky like huge, souls. "I think there is some kind of Ware gnarled arms carrying ancient, tattered electromagnetic energy that captures emanates from the church. "I heard it television sound shawls. The green lawn seems to melt the essence oi people under certain last year, and so did a says. "It lasted only a few into the surrounding dark woods. The conditions, and it's impressed on the man," she choir." place looks haunted. atmosphere," she says. "We just don't see seconds, but it seemed like a full With the sky washed in lavender Walking around to the back of the it all the time." me back to Hampton and golden light, we walk through the house, I follow a path the Swamp Fox Accompanying
piles of rubble. I once took down to the marsh's edge. Plantation, Ware and Yarbrough wander arched openings, past church bell Cultivated at Hampton Plantation before through the empty rooms. Ware doesn't look up at where the was to and Gunn's spirit now the Civil War, rice now grows wild, sense John Henry's spirit in the house. meant hang allegedly walks. But only a circling hawk dancing frantically in the sea breeze. An But, she adds, "the house feels almost overhead. . passes unsettling rustle from the undergrowth like . . a living thing." sends me quickly back toward Ware suggests the deserted remains The tall pines turn black against the the of Prince Frederick's Episcopal Church, darkening purple sky, and the sun sinks the house. I stumble across moss- covered grave of John Henry, who killed better known to local folk as Gunn's quickly, plunging us into night. "Listen," softly admonishes. chorus begins himself in an upstairs bedroom in 1839 Church—where we might witness a Ware A all right. But instead of phantom and is said to haunt the place. Glancing ghostly visitation. To reach it, we travel miles from lonely stretch of musicians, it's a riot of crickets. at the house, I see a momentary blur town down a Back home, friends question me about my "haunted" tour, curious about
my having seen any ghosts. I answer them with this story: There is a house at the foot of Cannon Street that looks
much as it did when it was built in 1740. Nothing else in the area has changed
much either. The Sampil River still rolls lazily through town. The brick warehouse
and tavern still stand across the street, although both are now deserted. A lovelorn woman used to signal her lover with a lamp in a third-story window of the house. You can follow the same path to the same garden of laurels where they held their trysts. Those who believe
say the sad lady still shines a ghostly light in her room, but when the door is opened, there is only blackness inside.
"I saw something," elderly Harriet
Tarbox says. "I would hate for anyone to
take the ghosts away by saying I
imagined it all. But I'm not sure if I did or
I didn't." She sighs as her eyes roam over her former home as though search- ing for a clue. "You know, sometimes
s and ghosts look alike." DO — —
ELECTRIC BRAIN WAVES: ACID TEST BDDM By Jonathan Partridge
probably benefit 1 every 100 the United Slates could last gasps of the ambulance Epilepsy, which affects in says, The young persons, results from electrical chain from surgery. "Obviously," he siren merge with a chemical "we've got a serious underuiilization of man's cries as two paramedics reactions in the brain. Cellular or treatment of epilepsy, and it's and a neurosurgery resident struggle anomalies in epileptics' brains cause the surgical or brain cells, to peri- due to the difficult and time-consuming to keep the patient's writhing form on the groups of neurons, temperamental evaluation process that's required. stretcher. The man has been alternately odically misfire like Developing a standard noninvasive screaming and convulsing since the spark plugs, discharging sudden jolts oi procedure could change all paramedics picked him up. The resident extra electricity. Ordinarily, such misfires localization however." pieces together enough information have no effect on epileptics' mental that,
1 however, While the conventional method of . one to determine that the man has overdosed functioning Sometimes, another in a neigh- measuring brain waves—electroen- on drugs. To treat the patient's resulting discharge sets off seizures cephalograms, or EEGs—allows doctors seizures appropriately, the doctor must boring region of cells, causing
' to icen:iiy the general latitude and find out what drugs he took and what of varying severity. " trigger epileptic of all epileptics can longitude of foci that area of his brain is compromised. Once About 65 percent subject -their seizures with drugs seizures, that approach is also in the trauma center's triage room, control skull. side to" interference from the patient's the residenl calls for the portable MEG albeit ones with potentially serious anywhere in the brain, (magnetoencephalography) system. effects. For many, however, drugs Foci can appear surgery to sometimes within miilr-ieters oi centers Within minutes, technicians roll the don't work. Their only hope is portion that control critical functions like speech gleaming, capsule-shaped machine in cut out the "focus," or misfiring current methods of and vision, and removing the wrong and begin attaching r.s ilex-be plastic of the brain. Because both piece of brain tissue can cause perma- strips of sensors 1c "he paliont's scalp. identifying foci are hard on American nent damage. Epileptic patients The latest MEG model, built in 2040, patient and physician, North whose neurologists recommend surgery features 90 separate channels to neurosurgeons do only 250 to 300 generally require preliminary operations measure the brain's electrical impulses, such operations each year. According William Sutherling, neurologist to insert "depth electrodes" directly and its monitor oflers an ani- to a into their brains to map their foci during mated- 3-D view of the brain at work. at UCLAs Reed Neurological Center, actual seizure. Seizures caused by drug overdoses 200,000 to 300,000 epileptic patients in an MEG measures the magnetic can be tricky to treat, as drugs like co- emitted by the brain's electrical caine and PCP may trigger long- fields impulses so precisely thai doctors term epileptic convulsions in people with can pinpoint the center of the focus latent brain abnormalities. In this within three millimeters. Because the case, however, the MEG test reveals earth's magnetic iield is more than only a minor irritation in the patient's 500,000 times stronger than that temporal lobe, and blood tests show he emanating from an individual's brain, it is having an allergic reaction to toxins can easily cause interference, so each he inhaled with cocaine. The resident system must be contained within a orders barbiturates to control the man's MEG magnetically shielded room. seizures until his reaction abates. The actual test is easy on the patient, Scenarios like the one above may be- who sits bent forward in a chair, his come commonplace in the next head leaning on a padded headrest. century as doctors begin to use biomag- The MEG system is mounted on a gantry, netism—the measurement of an elaborate structure, about the size magnetic fields emitted by living tissue ot a small refrigerator, that swings out to evaluate prruorrs Scientists are wall. A smooth, cylindrical unit already using biomagnetic techniques from the called a Dewar protruding from one to study heart defects, Parkinson's oi the gantry is placed against the disease. Alzheimer's disease, schizo- end patient's head. The MEG operator phrenia, and stroke. The first clinical use uses an electronic pen attached to the of biomagnetism, however, is likely to '" Dewar to touch the patient's skull at be the application of a new tool called predetermined points, Ihus feeding MEG, magnetic monitoring of electrical three information about the position of the currents in the brain, to intractable OiiigtwJSsivGzciiyi-S-D. patient's head into the attached forms of epilepsy. CONTINUED ON PAGE 132 34 OMNI APOCALYPSE, HOWi
By Jane Bosveid
the earth about every 13 months; prone to nightmares Of 1989-FC, the asiero'o came charging pass by Those within 30 years, Holt estimates, it panic attacks may not want to toward the earth from behind the sun and and smashing into our planet, will hit something. "Sooner or later." read this. It's the ultimate cosmic barely missed he says, "the asteroid will collide with horror story; Somewhere out there is passing less than 450,000 miles away— either the moon or the earth." an asteroid or comet that's on a collision a hairbreadth in extraterrestrial terms. closer to the Although astronomers were unable to course with planet Earth. Someday it "This asteroid passed asteroid or comet ever get an accurate measurement of the will fulfill ils destiny, careening through earth than any asteroid's size, they estimate that it our atmosphere and dealing a devastat- observed," explains Clark Chapman, a Science is between 500 and 1,000 feet in diame- ing blow. We may never even know researcher at the Planetary Arizona. "We estimate ter. Had it hit, says Bevan French, what hit us. Institute in Tucson, program scientist at NASAs Solar System Of course, most asteroids—thought that an object this big must come by years, but aren't Exploration Division, 1989-FC would to be a rocky placenta left over from the every couple of we carefully tor things have left a crater a half a mile deep and solar system's birth—pose no threat. really looking very ten miles wide. The force of its impact Bui a good number of them, the Earth- like this and rarely detect them before- would have equaled the explosive grazers, as they're sometimes called, hand." Well after the coast was clear, the potential of 2,000 one-megaton hydrogen meander through space in orbits that story was made public. bombs, with fire storms and blast bring them within striking distance Once Holt alerted the Smithsonian Cambridge, shocks leveling everything within a 50- of our planet. Astrophysics Observatory in mile radius. "And that's the good news," For the most part, the general public Massachusetts, to the presence of says French. "If it hit the ocean, it would has remained blissfully unaware of 1989-FC, asironomers turned their have produced tidal waves hundreds the danger. Last March was no excep- telescopes on the asleroid in an effort to its size. "We of feet high, probably wiping out most tion. Retired geologist turned asteroid fix its orbit and measure cities on the nearest coast." hunter Dr. Henry Holt analyzed photo- have 1989-FC's orbit pinned down confirmed asteroid strikes graphs he had taken with the 18-inch pretty well," says Holt, "and there is no The last to etched the earth with craters in present- Schmidt telescope at Palomar Observa- doubt that it will come very close again, much closer than day Ghana and Russia more than a tory in .California and identified a small, Earth probably 1989-FC will million years ago. Early in this century, a previously unknown asteroid. Labeled II did in March." indeed, boxcar-size comet just missed hitting the ground, exploding in the atmosphere above Siberia. The blast uprooted every tree within 40 miles of the detona- tion site, with the treetops pointing away from the explosion as they would from a nuclear blast. Fifty miles away windows broke, and 450 miles away a railroad engineer became so frightened that he stopped his train. Waves of pressure rolled as far as England, and the shock waves circled the planet, setting off seismographs
all over Europe. Had the comet arrived "only four hours and 47 minutes later," Stuart J. Inglis writes in Plan- ets, Stars, and Galaxies, "the Earth would
have turned enough so that it would have struck the city now called Leningrad." Many scientists believe it's only a matter of time before we're hit again. Chapman has even figured out the odds of a comet or asteroid collision. "There's one chance in twenty thousand of an object as big as 1989-FC hitting of Manhattan destroy the earth? the earth this year or any other year," he CONTINUED ON PAGE 134 THE HANSEL AND GRETEL SYNDROME nniaiD By Heather Pringle
paint an decades of charge that the osycho.ogisis ^^k recent usurper of a small consuming nearly two parents naturally unacceptably bleak view of human M^K harem, the young male langur parental devotion, would care and patience on behavior, denying the power of free will. # % monkey stalked his charges' lavish as much it crime biological children? "Some people read into that weeks. Finally stealing stepchildren as on suckling infants for says Wilson dug into data on is biologically determined," one, he ripped open its abdomen and Daly and Cohen, professor of sociology child abuse for comparisons between Lawrence bit deep into ils skull. Witnessing the University of California, Davis. substitute parents and biological parents. at the grisly drama enacted in the jacaranda stepparent 'And that brings up all sorts of problems. northern India during the early Finding tew data on groves of explanation compiling their Although an evolutionary Seventies, anthropologist Sarah Hrdy violence, they began American Humane Associ- of crime is controversial, their evidence was shocked but neverlhcless ciscerred own. And in as that of the opposition." ation records for 1976, they discovered is as strong its ruthless evolutionary logic. With her Wilson, however, dismiss percent of all fatal abuse cases Daly and infant dead, the mother underwent that 43 stepparents. such interpretations. "In no way are we hormonal changes and, within days, occurred in the homes of genetic arguments in a "The stepparent versus genetic parent is ever invoking mated with the killer. Through the act of powerful controlling sense," says Wilson. 'And the male langur destroyed a apparently the single most infanticide, people mean when they say, predictor of abuse risk anybody has yet that's what rival's offspring and supplanted it with just Daly, a professor of 'It's all determined. We are his own. He had successfully discovered," says one of shaped the biology. In iact, he puppets.' Evolution has pursued his own genetic interests. psychology and still possess stepparent is human psyche, yet humans To Martin Daly and Margo Wilson at says, a child living with a times more likely to be the ability to make choices." McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, almost 100 In preliminary work, the researchers langur story murdered than a child living with two Hrdy's retelling of the American parents. Disturbed by their found that earlier studies of raised a chilling question: Is human biological : researchers launched homicides had shown that 25 percent of behavior also swayed by such evolu- indinys. the :wo all murders involve family members. "We asked graduate a detailed study of domestic violence. tionary self-interest? analysis findings their 1988 To the Canadians, however, the students, 'What happens to stepchil- With their and rang false. According to Darwinian " psychologist Wilson book Homicide, the Canadians have dren?' research sap- heated controversy Opponents theory, all animals, including Homo says. With child rearing normally stirred up iens, seek immortality by reproduc- ing and passing on their genes to future generations. The closer the blood kinship between people, Ihe more cooperative
their relationship will be. If genetic self- interest shapes human behavior, then
blood kin should rarely if ever resolve their differences with a gun. To test their theory, Daly and Wilson approached the Detroit Police Depart- mentto review its homicide files. Another researcher had already compiled a database ot Detroit homicides in 1972. Sifting through the detectives' files, they searched for additional details. Unlike earlier researchers, who divided
all murderers into just three simple categories— strangers, acquaintances, and relatives—the Canadian team noted the exact relationship between killer and victim. The findings were startling: Out of 508 solved Detroit homicides in 1972, only 6 percent had been committed by blood relatives, while 19 percent involved people related with stepchildren? by marriage— spouses, stepparents. Should child welfare agencies keep a closer watch on iamilies CONTINUED ON PAGE 127 36 OMNI caniTiruuunn
HE BODY SNATCHERS
trying get in touch with you." was alarmed to read the account of a two-and-a-half-year- ings have been to experimented with alternative types old boy who suffered brain damage after receiving a DPT Today many of us have chiropractic medi- (diphtheria-pertussis-tetanus) vaccination. His mother, Bar- oi healthcare such as reflexology and and tative practices. But if we decide to go against medical advice^ I bara Fisher, exposed the case and others like il in DPT: A refused to choosing an alternative form of treatment, the state may inter- Shot in the Dark. I remember how my own mother of human rights in have any ot her eight children inoculated as the public school vene. One very dramatic case of violation Loverro. who suffers regulations then required. And, at the beginning of the cenlury, healthcare is thai of four-year-old Caleb to stop his chemo- her mother had refused to allow her children to be vaccinated. from lymphatic leukemia. His parents chose Science Cenierin New My mother stayed out ol school for a whole semester until the therapy program at the Syracuse Health program adminis- school authorities relented. Certainly, millions of children have York State and begin a metabolic therapy doctor ana- benefited from vaccinations. That's not in question. The issue tered by a doctor in Chicago. In this program a tests, metabolism of an individual, is our freedom to choose the kind of medical support we prefer. lyzes, based on blood the prescribes tailor-made Freethinking in this country has strong roots, going as far determines nutritional deficiencies, and a father is backas the early days of the Constilution. Yet one of the signers diet that may boost the immune system. (Caleb's a of the Constitution, Dr. Benjamin Rush, noted the lack of provi- chiropractor who holds a degree in biochemistry.) child protection sion lor medical freedom, which he deemed to be as essential The Syracuse center informed the county chemotherapy. That action, as religious freedom. "To restrict the ari of healing to one class unit that the Loverros had refused homicidal. York State wrenched of men and deny equal privileges lo others will constitute the the center determined, was New his misdemeanor Bastille of medical science. All such laws are un-American and Caleb from hishome and arrested parents on despotic," Rush said. charges of endangering the welfare of a minor and felony of first-degree reckless endangerment. The felony The time has come, it seems, to make amends for this over- charges Loverros were acquitted of the sight. One grass-roots organization, the Coalition lor Alterna- charge was dropped-, and the court, however, instituted charges tives in Nutrition and Healthcare (CANAH), is promoting a Health misdemeanor charge. The Care Rights Amendment, which would prohibit Congress from of medical neglect, Caleb has now been returned to his par- making any law restricting individuals' rights to choose and ents— on the condition that he continue chemotherapy in ad- practice the type of healthcare they want. In this country we dition to the alternate metabolic therapy. parents' love have placed the care of our bodies in the hands, of others, Even though Caleb was born sick, he had two relinquishing our rights- to the medical establishment, repre- and affection. Suddenly he was removed from his home—for
If parents sented by the American Medical Association (AMA). And the what? There is no sure-fire remedy for cancer. his alternate one, do dicta oi the AMA are too oilen influenced by two powerful in- chose to stop one form of therapy and Iry an Removing Caleb terest groups; the insurance and pharmaceutical industries. they not have the right to make that decision? logic. The holistic health movement encourages people to claim from the people who love him defies responsibility for their health. Holistic practitioners treat health Dr, Catherine Frompavich, who founded CANAH, believes it Health Care as a birthright to be preserved through intelligent care, starting is just a matter of lime before Congress ratifies the health- with appropriate nutrition. People are learning to respect their Rights Amendment. Then our right to choose the type of our children will guaranteed own bodies— not. as shells housing a mind and spirit, to be care we want for ourselves and be treated with painkilling, germ-killing substances, but as their by law. The American spirit is still. strongly individualistic. When rights lo the healthcare own selves, to be understood, felt, and cared for. A cartoon in well-meaning laws restrict our choose our most precious a recent New Yorker carries the message well: A secretary ef- we want, it is lime lo wake up and defend ficiently announces to her task-ridden boss, "Oh, and your feel- commodity: our bodies, ourselves.— RUTH BORGMAN —
CDIUTIOJUUfUl
in Qumran, he discovered a 2,000-year-old. five-inch-long ceramic flask holding several
ounces of oil. After months of chemical analyses, Hebrew University researchers re- cently announced thai the honeylike substance con- tained in Ihe jug was probably derived from the now- extinct persimon plant (not related lo today's persimmon tree). Jones, who says the oil retains an almondlike aroma, points out thai the Talmud describes a way to test the
sacred oil to see if it's the real thing; "One drop in water was supposed to turn water
milky while, which it did, So it passed both modern and ancient tests." Jones plans to return to
Israel in 1991 and continue his search for other items. Not only does he expect to find more flasks, but he says TOAD TRIPPING Bu: Sager warns, bufoienine KING SOLOMON'S OILS that, in addition, the ark of
will "make you ill, and it the covenant, the tabernacle It's not exactly a craze, but is not terribly hallucinogenic. With a Dead Sea Scroll as built by Moses in the wilder- licking loads is the latest It's just not a great high." their guide, archaeologists ness, Ihe jewel -encrusted and certainly the weirdest- Of course, for those who from the Texas-based Institute garments of the high priest, way to get high. "It is not a don't mind licking a tailless of Judaic-Christian Research and more will be found big problem, but when peo- amphibian, it might be possi- have discovered a flask of there.— Sherry Baker ple hear aboul it they try ble to buy several and "holy oil" used to anoint it," explains Robert Sager, keep them on hand: Once a the ancienl kings of Israel. chief ot the U.S. Drug toad has been licked it Moreover, the center's direc-
Enforcement Administration's secretes more bulotenine, -. tor, Vendyl Jones, believes Western Regional Laboratory so replenishing the sup- that there are more religious in San Francisco. ply would not be a problem. treasures waiting lo be The toad of choice is the Although lour Australians found deep within the caves Cane toad, a tropical green- croaked last year after drink- of Qumran, an area about and-red toad that's a iavorite ing an especially strong 12 miles south of Jerusalem. among aquarium habitues. batch of Cane-skin tea, no Jones and his team first
II secretes a toxin called fatalities have been reported spotted clues to the oil's bufotentne to ward off preda- in this country. But, says whereabouts while examining tors. Ingesting bulotenine Sager, a number of people the so-called Copper Scroll, by licking the toad or killing it have been hospitalized. a thin copper sheet listing and boiling ilsskin for Nevertheless, possessing a priceless religious items from a foul-tasting tea—will give Cane toad is not illegal the thirteenth century s.c. you a high similar lo that if you do it for reasons other through the first century a d. of psilocybin (a hallucinogen than getting high. Following the scroll's instruc- found in certain mushrooms). —Jane Bosveld tions to search ihe caves Israel's lost religious 42 OMNI "
sells for S200, includes two (it's 22,300 miles to the orbit space launch pads, where
5 of fist-mounted trans- you'd like it to reach), and spaceships could begin long mitters and coin-sized sensor there are no known structural journeys without having to plates worn at strategic materials strong enough tor carry the enormous amount locations— head, arms, chest, that height. of fuel needed to escape and abdomen. (None are Now a British space scien- Earth's atmosphere. worn below the belt, of tist, Paul Birch, has come Jerome Pearson, chief of course.) Boxers stand at upwilh a plan: Launch the structural dynamics least tour feet apart—beyond a seres of eleclromagnetic branch of the U.S. Air Force's each other's reach. When a coils into orbit, enough of Flight Dynamics Laboratory, punch flies, combatants them to torm a "massive estimates that such an eleva- can either cover their body hollow tube" encircling the tor could be built in 20 to sensors or back out of range, earth like a halo. You'd then 30 years at a cost of as little
An accurate blow is regis- thread a loop ot electrical as $20 million. 'Awe-inspiring tered when a fist-mounted conducting wire through the as visions of space elevators transmitter lines up with center of the tube, which are," says Pearson, who an uncovered sensor. The would set up a magnetic field runs his lab out ol Wright- technology behind Comput- that would push outward to Patterson Air Force Base near
erized Shadow Boxing is provide structural support. Dayton, Ohio, "they are a company secret, but Mur- What you'd then have based on simple physical principles. They require SHADOW BOXING dock says that ft can be is a solid hoop in space, a adapted to other sports, in- kind of sky hook from which no superscience to make You've always dreamed of cluding karate, tennis, you could suspend conven- them possible, just competent going a round or iwo in a and golf— Curt Wohleber tional cables that would space engineering"' boxing ring, but you hate the form the elevator framework —Bill Lawren sight of blood— especially "Thinking is more interesting The structure could then your own. In order to enjoy than knowing, but less be built from the surface of "Wo civilized person ever pugilism without the pain, interesting than looking." Earth. People and equipment goes to bed the same day he there's now Computerized —Wolfgang von Goethe would ride up and down, gets up." Shadow Boxing, from the building space stations or —Richard Harding Davis New York company Motion- "Having a family is like having repairing communications tronics for Science. Just a bowling alley installed in stations (which would replace * I invent nothing. I
slip on the transmilter-sensor your brain." satellites). It would be an rediscover. devices, enter the ring. —Martin Mult easier commute to near- —Auguste Rodin
and slug it out—without physical contact. SPACE ELEVATOR The inspiration for Com-
puterized Shadow Boxing If you worked"- on the top came from a home video floor oi a skyscraper, you game in which the player wouldn't get into a rocket filled sparred with a computer- with explosive fuel and blast generated fighter. Electrical up to the office every day. engineer Wilbert Murdock More likely you'd take the ele- felt the game wasn't realistic vator. It's safer, cheaper, enough. 'A computer image more convenient. can't perform all the move- For many years scientists ments of a human being," have felt that that's the way says Murdock. "I wanted to we should reach low Earth go a step beyond that. This orbit as well—with a space system lets two people elevator rather than rockets exchange blows without and space shuttles. The hurting each other." problem is, of course, that it The basic system, which would be a damn tall elevator canjTiruuunn
GUNNING FOR LEAD
In second-rate cowboy movies, gunfights begin w a standard threat: "Git reac to die, 'cause I'm gonna fill you full of lead." Well, itturr out that you don't need to get shot to wind up with a body full of lead: Just spe time in an indoor pistol shooting range. That's what John Martyr of the Tri-County Health Department in Englewood Colorado, and Sarah E. Valway of the Indian Healir Service in Albuquerque, Nl
Mexico, found when they in't get a break. Change:, aionci ;' ; e California c- e araw in ci beach bo'/s did blood tests on 17 police V ^mailer areas to aA'aii :'
trainees to inhalation of lead- breaks ' on the West Coast. dation president Rob "Bird- laden dust in the range. In recent years many legs" Caughlan. The reef "We're not worried about tne of California's prime surfing is also expected to prevent guy who shoots for an hour spots have been lost due shoreline and beach-front once or twice a year. The to the construction of new erosion white providing a people who have reason to freeways, embankments, habitat for marine life. be concerned are people harbors, and piers. This The foundation's granite who work in tiring ranges and swelling decline, along with reef, which will be built at a competitive shooters who the growing hordes of surfers state beach in Ventura, go in once a week and shoot (there are nearly 1.5 million will cost an estimated $1.8 for two hours." The problem in California alone), has million and could be com- could be eliminated, Martyny led to fierce competition for pleted in two years. says, by improving ventilator waves. "At Malibu, there — Steve Nadis in indoor ranges and by can be more than one hun-
using bullets "jacketed" with dred people in- a spot that "Existentialism means that' no copper to reduce the amount can comfortably hold only one else can take a bath of lead ejected when the about ten." says Harrelson. lor you."
trigger is pulled.— Bill Lawren The foundation hopes —Deimore Schwartz —
faced, in some cases so BLAME IT ON THE mantle. When the diapir dramatically "as to almost BLOB finally reaches the surface, it distort their laces." And fully produces a gentle, nonexplo- 98 percent ot the opera sing- Don't place all your bets sive eruption. takes a ers who've performed at the on a comet: It could have A blob that new Met in the last 50 years have been a blob from the middle path, however, moves at a been left-faced, Smith says. of the earth that did' in the slower rale and grows quite Smith speculates that dinosaurs. That, at least, is large as it continues to be facedness reflects a link to the theory proposed by fed from below, When it the dominant side of the David Loper and his associ- breaks through, it might brain and that letl-laced peo- ate Kevin McCartney at cause a cataclysmic erupiion, ple are better able to tap Florida State University. with massive oufilows of into the right side of the brain. Loper, a math professor, lava, several miles thick, that "There are varied claims suggests that every 20 to 30 create what's called a basalt. and reports that one of the million years a blob of molten There are about a dozen specializations of the right lava perhaps .100 miles in flood basalts around the
brain hemisphere is in musi- diameter breaks loose from world. One in India, called cal performance, while the the D-layer. the part of the Decc'an Traps, dates very
left hemisphere is specialized the mantle that rests directly closely to the time of the for cognitive processes on the earth's core. dinosaur extinction. idea is plausi- and language," says Smith. Because it is tower in Although his LEFT FACE But right-facers need density than the material ble, Loper doesn't think it not despair. They may not above it, the blob, or "diapir,' will ever close the book the g whether to give make beautiful music, but slowly floats up through on what happened to your child music lessons? most mathematicians and the mantle, taking tens of dinosaurs "This dinosaur ex- Rather than checking his fin- scientists are right-faced. And millions of years to reach the tinction business has polar- explains. ger dexterity, perhaps you while left-facers have better earth's surface. ized people," he should determine whether control of vowels, right-facers Some blobs follow the path "The comet-impact theory everything, your youngster is feft- or have a better handle on of a previous' molten mass, doesn'iexplain righl-laced. "With rare ex- consonants, giving them an traveling' through a zone but neither does my theory." R. A. Deckert ceptions, aJi talented musical edge in speech. "Most great of weakness, or plume, in the — performers—singers, instru- orators, and every president mentalists, jazz artists, except Bush, have been composers, conductors, and right-faced," Smith says. even country music artists To determine whether you are left-faced," says psychol- are one of the 12 percent ogist Karl Smith, professor of Americans who are left- emeritus at the University faced, look in the mirror of Wisconsin-Madison. and note which side of your Just as most of us are face is larger, more muscular, either left- or right-handed, more flexible, has deeper most people have a more dimples and a higher eye- dominant, flexible facial side brow. If you're right-faced, that steers the production chances are those childhood of speech. "And unlike hand- piano-lesson memories edness," says Smith, "which aren't too pleasant. "But if isn't determined until at least you have a left-faced child age two or three, facedness who has an unusual interest in is decided before birth." music at two to five years of Most of the great compos- age," advises Smith, "you'd be ers, including Beethoven, crazy not to enroll him in Brahms, Schubert. Tchaikov- music lessons." sky, and Liszt were left- —Vincent Bozzi —
coruTiruuunn
devour more than 90 percent Ihe space shuttle after only a of one of the most common year in orbit. Those plans PCB mixtures, and GE scien- changed, however, when tists hope to harness purified Challenger exploded. At that strains. The creatures are time scientists figured that rather fragile, though, which the LDEF could stay in orbit, may make using them for waiting for a shuttle to re-
Superfund-sized cleanups trieve it. until the mid -Nineties. difficult. "We're trying to Now, however, an unpre- improve their viability through dicted increase in atmos- genetic engineering and pheric drag —the result natural selection." says re- of especially strong solar search scientist Donna activity—means that the L. Bedard.— Curt Wohleber satellite will reenter the atmos- phere two years earlier than LOOK WHAT'S COMING expected, according to DOWN NOW Bill Kmard, NASAs chief sci- entist lor the LDEF program, Remember when Skylab NASA currently plans to came tumbling out of the sky pick up the LDEF in the
in 1979? Well, heads up: It shuttle on or around Decem-
may happen again. Unless ber 21 of this year. If the NASA can get a shuttle up to satellite isn't retrieved by
retrieve it in time, the' Long February 1, it will fall to Earth Duration Exposure Facility about ten days later, with
(LDEF)—a 30-foot-long, only parts of it burning up. 22,000-pound satellite loaded Most of the chunks that with scientific experiments survive the fiery reentry will
will come crashing back to probably land in the ocean, Earth in 1990. says Kinard. But, as with The LDEF was launched in Skylab, parts of the LDEF 1984 to test One effects of could hit land—and there's no space on a variety ol mate- way to predict exactly where' rials and was supposed its chips may (all. to have been picked up- by —Devera Pine
R.LR FOR PCBS? o phenyls were banned in 1979, yet an estimated 440. Enter the to ugliest pollution million pounds of PCBs have lighter ever. It seems that found their way into the Mother Nature has unleashed environment through illegal her own weapon against dumping and leaking .electri- PCBs, a class. of toxic chemi- r:ai Iransformers. At present cals once thought to be man can only efte virtually indestructible. Scien- destroy them thro tists at General Electric 's high-intensity inc' Research and Development The PCB-eating Center in Schenectady, are not the first organisms New York, have discovered known to metabolize PCBs. two new strains of bacteria but they are easily the most that feast on PCBs. voracious. The new bacteria, Developed in the Thirties, discovered while combing NASA's LDEF Longer man a scfrcw.' bus. henvie: :r,an PCBs, or polychlorinated through PCB-tainted soil. elephants, and tailing back to Earth. 4B OMNI RETURN OF THE unusually wet spring and KILLER FUNGUS summer. "In one especially sloping field," he says, "the Since the introduction of lower part was wetter and penicillin, people haven't had had a higher incidence of the to worry about Saint Antho- tungus- than did the higher, ny's fire, the virulent slrep dryer part o! the field." infection that left thousands Although the fungus is dead in medieval times. normally found in small Indeed, the disease is rarely amounts in most parts of the seen these days. But the United States, the high cause is still among us. levels discovered in Con- The infecting agent in necticut serve as a warning Saint Anthony's fire is a fun- to other states to check gus that grows on many their fields of grasses and common grasses and grains, grains, Now the greatest including quack and orchard danger is not that humans grasses, and winter rye. will become iniected as they Last summer, a plant pathol- did in the Middle Ages, ogist in Connecticut discov- when farmers harvested in- ered what amounted to an fected rye, ground its grain, epidemic of the fungus in and made ft into flour that local fields. "We don't usually people ate. Today it's far more monitor the tungus level," likely that grazing cattle will explains James LaMondia of munch on infected grass. the Connecticut Agricultural Although there have been no Experiment Station in Wind- casual lies-— human or bo- sor. "But we noticed it in vine—the Northeast needs to some winter rye that we were be on guard. With another using for an experiment. cool, wet spring this year, the We looked in other areas and problem could reemerge. found very high levels of "Local weather conditions are the fungus." the key," says LaMondia. LaMondia attributes the "It's a problem we need to appearance to last year's monitor."—Jane Bosveld
CAT TUNA—GOOD FOR months. Another group of six based food, and levels of the- iF THE BELLY, BAD FOR kiltens ale cat food with a toxic metal were found to THE BRAIN beef base. While the behavior be, on the average, more than of the beef group remained ten times higher in the tuna- Cat fanciers know that their normal throughout the testing fed cats' brains. pets' favorite food is tuna. period, the tuna-fed kittens For humans who might Untortunalely, two Cornell were decidedly less vocal, now be inclined to look researchers believe less active, and less playful askance at their tun a- sal ad be hazardous than their beef- eating feline sandwiches, Houpt reminds lental health. counterparts^ us that the tuna in cat food veterinarian Kath- The culprit, Houpt and Lisk is from the red meal part erine A..Houpt and toxicolo- think, is methyl mercury, a of the fish, while that in people
gist Donald Lisk fed of i- heavy metal that accumulates food is white meat. For cats, Ihe-shelf tuna cat food to six in the organs of many saltwa- especially growing cats, kittens from the time they ter fish. The tuna cat food Houpt recommends nonfish were six weeks old until they contained five (imes as much protein products with tuna reached the age of eight methylmercury as the beef- flavoring.— Bill Lawren 47 conjTiruuunn
HEARTFELT RADIO it cheaper io build and more
energy efficient because it Don't touch (haldial! has less surface area ex- Medical researchers in San posed to the air. Francisco, California, are And what is the disadvan- using radio waves to regulate tage? Because a geodesic the heartbeats of patients dome is either a sphere or a with supraventricular tachy- slice'of asphere, mathemat- cardia (SVT). ics demands that its height SVT—an electrical mal- and width always be equal. "It function within the heart's up- was too limited," says Yacoe. per chambers—causes "The doors and windows victims lo experience a rapid, are all cocked at funny angles fluttering heartbeat. "In the because they don't line up past, cardiologists relied evenly wiih the ground." on high-voltage shock treat- Yacoe's design solves this ment to correct the problem," problem. Because his "geo- says Dr. Jonathan Langberg. langent" dome uses rings assistant professor of medi- of polygons instead of trian-
cine at the University ot Cali- gles, it can be designed fornia, San Francisco. "But to any ratio of diameter and that treaimenl was difficult to height. In addition, the builder
control. It was like pushing can add windows and doors a dynamite plunger and that are parallel or perpen- waiting until the dust settled dicular to the ground. Yacoe's to see what happened." computer helped him to Langberg's radio wave devise mathematical rules technique corrects the prob- governing the way his shapes lem by "disconnecting" would fit together. "Bucky part of the heart's electrical probably would have hit on
junction box, slowing its the idea himself," says Yacoe, rhythm. A catheter is inserted "if he had had a more power- through a vein in the upper ful computer to help him leg and threaded into the with the mathematics,"
heart. Once there, the atrio- thousand people in the ONE-UPPING BUCKY . Yacoe, who plans to com- ventricular junction, or AV United States may benefit." plete a 24-foot model by junction (which distributes —Joseph Baneth Allen Using what he calls a the end of this year, says his electrical signals to the heart's "nasty branch of mathemat- new design helps extend chambers, causing them to "Mathematics is the only ics," J, Craig Yacoe, a retired Fuller's energy-efficient beat), is located and science where one never chemical engineer from concepts. "If you don't need "zapped" with radio waves. knows what one is talking Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, to worry about windows Using X rays and pulse about nor whether what has one-upped Buckminster and doors, then Fuller's dome
rate as monitors, cardiologists is said is true." Fuller, the renowned inventor is still the greatest," says can selectively destroy pea- — Bertrand Russell of the geodesic dome. Yacoe. "On the other hand, size sections of the AV junc- Fuller's dome, first intro- our dome has a greater tion until the patient's heart- "One. characteristic o! duced in the '.early FiFties, is a range in design possibilities beat becomes more normal, Americans is that they have spherical building with a than Bucky's dome," According to Langberg, no toleration at all of anybody surface -of interlocking trian- —George Nobbe this procedure may soon putting up with anything. gular panels. Its key advan- completely replace high-volt- We believe that whatever is tage: The geodesic dome "I don't say we all ought to age shock treatment Once going wrong ought to be has only two thirds as much misbehave, but.we ought to the technique is refined, fixed." exterior surface as a normal took as if we could." he says, "several hundred —Margaret Mead rectangular building, making — Orson Welles 48 OMNI ARTICLE
Out of the ashes of AIDS, a new society is emerging, altering the way we care for the ill, how we define a family, and more PHOENIX
BY LINDA MARSA
a blistering ly hot weekend last Jury, more than 150 of the country's leading O-AIDS activ sts and physicians met in New York City with several government health officials. For the iirst time former adversaries like Mark harnglon of IheAIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) and Anthony Fauci, associate director for AIDS research al the National Institutes of Health (NIH), put aside their differences and worked together to hammer out procedures for accelerating fire distribution of experimental AIDS drugs. During the unprecedented conference, the often insulated generals, the medical bureaucrats, actually listened lo the anger and the frustration of the embattled troops in the trenches: the advocates, the doctors, and, mosl significantly, the victims generally condemned to horrible, wasting dealhs in the prime of their Hues. 'ACT UP had been calling people at NIH and the FDA [Food and Drug Administrate:!] murderers," Fauci says. "But after we sal down together and talked, we realized we all had the same common goals and could work together." People who otherwise mighl nol have got- ten involved in health care issues have been galvanized into action by the urgency of the AIDS crisis And :hat trend has impli- cations far beyond AIDS, according to Samuel Broder, director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and a vocal participant at the historic summit. Having forever changed the relationship between the doctor and the patient, he says, "many AIDS activists will become health care activists to ensure that those who don't have a voice get a voice. But the more enduring legacy of AIDS will be reflected in the way we Ihink about ail life- threatening diseases and the rights of people suffering from them." Indeed, the story of acquired immune deficiency syndrome, or AIDS, is a gripping drama about cosoe-'ate people under an irreversible death sentence forcing intrac- 6*4 strong humanitarian impulse is now shaping
the FDA. The feeling is that the regulatory process must be responsive to people suffering from life-threatening illness.^1
.sun- arc sixteen- iable bureaucrat c year-olds have HIV systems to iacnd to ir'ectic-ns. Even in their collective will. The epidemic has areas where AIDS in general also served as a cases are rare, 3 in 1 ,000 catalyst for vast fifteen- and six- changes in Ameri- teen-year-olds are can medicne srid infected. The per- has mobilized sci- % centage of twenty- entists into a he- one-year-Olds is roic research ef- % two to three times fort that is shocoirg T higher. Most ot light the ori- DEFAULT new on Itioso who develop gins and develop- AIDS during their ment of many dis- twenties, more- eases. The results over, probably con- will benefit all of us. tracted the virus The iirst seg- when they were still ment of the U.S. teenagers. popuaiion recog- The worst-case nized as an AIDS scenario is night- high-risk group. marish. AIDS could the gay commu- not only bankrupt nity, has been the our health care principal social system but also force in the war on backlash AIDS. Us work and trigger a against victims, who might, for example, bo quarantined in vir- the standards il set tor the battle have greatly influenced others' reactions could only undermine the efforts. Many AIDS experts doubt that any other group oi peo- tual death camps. Such upor which this nation was ple with a terminal illness could have had such an elfect on delicate framework of civf liberties
tell if sufficiently vigilant and invest science, medicine, and the law. "There was. for example, no built. "Time will we will be calarniy." says Fineberg, network ol cancer patients, apart from their shared disease." whal we need to avert such a Harvey no question says David Rothman. professor of social medicine at Columbia dean of Harvard's School of Public Health. "There's deal with the will profoundly College of Physicians and Surgeons. "But the gay community that the way we epidemic today future." was already well organized, and its members have been the affect society's shock troops of change." THE MECHANICS OF DISEASE Of course, until scientists discover a cure for AIDS, the gen- the frontiers ot medical science and eral outlook will never be bright. An estimated 7.5 million people AIDS is pushing forward cure of dco li'ating worldwide — as many as 1.5 million of them in the United Stales paving the way for the treatment and ihe alone—may already be infected with the human immunosup- and often deadly afflictions like cancer and Alzheimer's dis- our understanding pressive virus CHIV). long implicated in the development of AIDS. ease. "We've taken gigantic steps forward in between retroviruses and human genes,"' The epidemic could rage out of control in this country as it of the relationship of National Institute of Al- already has in parts of central and eastern Africa, where as says NIH's Fauci, who, as head the gov- much as 20 percent— with some estimates higher— of the adult lergy and Infectious Diseases, is spearheading the federal piecing together this informa- urban population is infected with the deadly virus. More than ernment's research on AIDS. "But 100.000 Americans now have AIDS, and according to the Cen- tion would have taken decades, not years, had the serious con- spurred research efforts." ters for Disease Control in Atlanta, another 100.000 cases will sequences of the AIDS epidemic no! sweep the nation by the end of next year. A family of viruses, retroviruses contain ribonucleic acid conlaining bifs of genetic infor- AIDS, moreover, is fast becoming a disease ol the poor and (RNA), a chemical compound biochemical machin- the medically elisor: ran c hi sed in the United States. In 1987. mation. The retrovirus commandeers the according to a National Public Health and Hospital Institute ery of its host cell, and in the opposite of what should occur, (NPHHI) study, 23 percent ot AIDS patients were indigent or the virus's RNA synthesizes its own DNA, the main carrier of uninsured; 44 percent were covered by Medicaid, 2 percent genetic information". Incorporating its ce-ielc blueprint into the by Medicare, and 29 percent by private insurance. (The re- cell's chromosomes, the retrovirus n.dcs ins ce :he DNA, mak- replicating (sell, the infected maining 2 percent were prisoners.) ing it dillicult to detect. And when retrovirus In a national study of blood samples from hospital patients. cell actually churns out copies of the the Centers for Disease Gontrol found that in Miami. New York. Robert Gallo and a team of researchers at MCI isolated the T-!ymphofropic virus and other ciiies where AIDS is prevalent, 1 percent of fif- first known human retrovirus, human type "
I. in 1980. HTLV-I causes adult T-cell leu- ciency "It'ssomel'iing I can live with." he ORPHANS IN THE STORM kemia (ATL), a rare form of leukemia en- says, especialy s nee he hasn't been sick
demic in parts of Japan, Africa, and the "Advances in one field always cross- otherwise. Today, in fact, the energetic, Caribbean. Bui the discovery took on new lerl li?e another/' Brcder savs And there's robust Ihirty-seven-year-old MCC minis-
importance with the advenl of AIDS. no queslion that many of the drugs to ter with an incardesco.nl smile doesn't fit Stymied scientists had no clues to what control AIDS currently in development will the stereotype o' a wasting AIDS patient. triggered AIDS, which destroys a victim's a so prove effective in treating other viral His Kaposi's sarcoma and lymphoma, immune system like a Pac-Man gone ailments." Thus researchers can find ad- cancers common among some AIDS pa-
berserk and leaves the patient vulnera- c'it ona! uses for ar orphan drug that has tients, are in remission, and the HIV virus
ble to all kinds of infections. Noticing a limited markel of less than 200,000 appears to be dormant. Only Pieters and striking parallels belween AIDS and ATL, people and Iherefore incurs a financial one other person among the original 90 Gallo suspected lhat a new infectious risk for the manufacturer. Making a drug suramin volunteers are still living.
agent caused the puzzling new syn- more readily available to more patients It suramin infiuancco. Pieters's remark-
drome. Then in 1983, Gallo and Pasteur gives it a broader long-term use, making able progress, we'll never know. After 14 Institute virologist Luc Montagnier inde- its manufacture more profitable and iis people died of AIDS-related causes dur- pendently identified HTLV-III. Relrovi- price more affordable. Sometimes, how- ing the USC trials, researchers decided ruses suddenly became the subject of ever, patients who take part in drug stud- the required doses of the drug were not intense scientific scrutiny. ies to find these uses become heroes or useful in the treatment of AIDS. Before Cancer research, in particular, is ben- martyrs, so to speak, in a cause much they halted the study, however, they dis- efiting from insights into retroviruses and greater than themselves or even the bat- covered thai suramin might be quite ef- their interference with normal cell growlh. tle against AIDS. fective against adrenal and even meta- The idea of the cancer-causing potential Three years alter being stricken with static prostate cancers. "We submitted of retroviruses, of course, was not new to the syndrome in 1982, Steve Pieters vol- the information about suramin's antitu- science. Scientists had already estab- unteered for an experimental drug trial mor effects to the NCI," says USC School lished a link between human retroviruses of Medicine executive associate dean and some forms of cancer, most notably Alexandra Levine, the principal investi- leukemia. But NCI's Samuel Broder points gator in the suramin trials. 'And in NCI
out, "Knowledge about HIV's life cycle is trials, suramin- looks to be a very prom- helping scienLs'.s urcersiand how nor- ising agent." ^Advances in mal genes may be regulated and infor- Conversely, of course, other previously mation about how cancer-causing genes one field always cross-fertilize developed drugs have been effective [oncogenes] may function." Zeroing in on against AIDS. First synthesized a quarter another. And there's genes that activate the replication of vi- century ago, AZT (azidothyrmdine) failed ruses and those that repress them, sci- ho question that many of the as a cancer therapy. A variation became entists will be able to finger a specific AIDS drugs the first antiviral agent that could battle gene to manipulate the body's chemislry. the HIV virus and temporarily improve in development will also "We're also recognizing that unknown now some palients' immune systems. infectious agents may be causing a num- prove effective in POWER TO THE PEOPLE ber of diseases," says Jay Levy, profes- treating other viral ailments3 sor of medicine at the University of Cali- "Overall, the AIDS advocacy commu- fornia, San Francisco, School of Medicine nity has forever reframed the consumers' and the research leader for one of the relationship with government regulators first teams to isolate HTLV-III, now known and industry in term's of drug develop- as HIV. "What we're learning about the ment," says Jean McGuire. executive di- HIV virus is arming us with the tools to conducted a" the University of Southern rector of the AIDS Action Council. Artic- detect the presence of these other dis- California (USC) under the auspices of ulate, well-informed, and driven by ease-causing infectious agents." NIH. Researchers suspected thai sura- compassion, these activists have mus- Medical scientists suspect that retro- min, an antiviral agent used for more than cled their way into the corridors of power. viruses may be the culprits behind a va- 40 years to treat African sleeping sick They have bullied agencies into speed- riety of autoimmune diseases —rheuma- ness, might be effective in combatnq HIV. ing up access to promising new drugs
toid arthritis, lupus erythematosus, and "Taking an exper.'^ert?,! drug was a scary for all terminally ill patienls; spurred fun- myasthenia gravis — in which the im- proposition," says Pieters, the field direc- damental changes in the drug approval mune system goes inexplicably haywire. tor lor the AIDS ministry of the Metropol- process; and spearheaded the drive to The insidious invaders may also be linked itan Community Churches (MCC). "But force pharmaceulical companies to back to such perplexing neurological disor- when you're handed a death sentence, down on pricing. But getting Ihe govern- ders as Alzheimer's disease and multiple you're willing lo try anything." ment and pharmaceutical companies lo sclerosis. Some researchers have al- Suramin almost killed Pieters. Nearly respond to the needs of the dying has ready found fragments of an HTLV retro- blind for more than a month, he sus- been no easy task, sometimes requiring
virus in the blood cells of multiple scle- tained severe nerve damage, his hair fell c:oi;fronifjlion;-il tactics reminiscent of anti- rosis patients. These researchers are now out, and his weight plummeted from 175 Vietnam War demonstrations. examining cell cultures in the hope of pounds to 130. He slept as much as 18 In August 1967 the late Abbie Hoff- finding telltale traces of the proteins pro- hours a day and kept getting sicker. His man and a group of antiwar protesters duced by retroviruses in Hodgkin's and doctors finally diagnosed a massive ad- took over the New York Stock Exchange. other incurable diseases. Figuring out the rena 1 glare insUficiency. a side effect of Twenty-two years later, on September 14, causes of these diseases is the first step the suramin. The disorder causes the ad- 1989, five AIDS activists chained them- toward linding a cure. And the knowl- renal gland atop each kidney to stop pro- selves to a balcony railing inside ihe ex- edge gained about the mechanisms and ducing the hormones tha! regulate blood change. The protesters blew a foghorn regulation of the human immune system, pressure and hearl rate and help main- to drown out the traditional opening bell
Fauci "will have significant posi- . fain the water balance, unfurled adds, a body's among and a banner with the words SEl i tive impact on our ability to understand other functions. wellcome, referring to Burroughs Well- diseases of the immune system lhat-are Pieters now takes hydrocortisone and come, the pharmaceutical company that totally unrelated to HIV infection." fludrocortisone for his adrenal insuffi- makes AZT. They disrupted trading for 54 OMNI —
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SURGEON GENERAL'S WARNING: Quitting Smoking
Now Greatly Reduces Serious Risks to Your Health.
innovative about five minutes before the police ar- at the timing." Hjrring-or. suggests. tion that the communities most affected ies of the drug's et'ec'ivsncss. All of this co's Community Consortium, the FDA drugs. The approach would rived and escorted them out. Lymphomed, the company that has a by AIDS have been betrayed by the very takes seven to eight years. Then the approved aerosolized pentamidine. This give some people with AIDS access to the Along wiih demonstrators in San Fran- monopoly license to sell aerosolized government agencies that were sup- company submits its reams of results, and marked the first time a new drug had been experimental drugs as soon as drugs cisco and London, the protesters por- pentamidine, has also come under fire posed to protect them. And every time a the FDA takes anolher two to three years approved based solely on data from are proved safe, immediately following iesting. trayed the pharmaceutical giant as a cor- from AIDS activists. During the last five pharmaceutical company cracks under to approve or disallow the sale of the drug, community-based trials. phase one of drug Researchers drug's effective- porate extortionist and AIDS profiteer. years, with the increasing demand for pressure, it just reinforces the fact that sometimes requiring additional data. While drug tests have been tradition- will continue to study a With a one-year supply o1 AZT costing pentamidine, Lymphomed has quadru- money has driven AIDS drugs develop- Broder had frequent disputes with the ally conducted in university laboratories ness with patient subjects and control $8,000 per patient, out of reach for many pled the price for the anlioioiic thai helps ment. Money has distorted the whole re- FDA during the Seventies to make ex- or government hospitals, the FDA now groups in the second and third phases of financially strapped patients, the protest- prevent Pneumocystis carinii pneu- sponse to this epidemic." Harrington and perimental drugs available to cancer pa- recognizes the value of community- drug testing. At the same time, however, ef- ers contended that Burroughs Well- monia, or PCR which accounts for 70 others, however, have been driving the tients. The approval of cis-platinum, which based trials. "Widening the options for doctors will be recording the drug's come's pricing policies for the vital life- percent of AIDS-related deaths. By 1989, government and medical establishments Broder calls "one of the most important testing quickens the process," explains fectiveness in their patients who have not prolonging drug were reprehensible. the wholesale price had soared from $25 to relax the rules and break the barriers anticancer agents ever discovered," was Ellen Cooper, the beleaguered director benefited from other therapies and don't Under the Orphan Drugs Act, a phar- to $99.54 per vial, with patients, who must that keep potentially lifesaving drugs from subjected to a number of FDA delays and of the FDAs division of antiviral drugs. qualify for the official studies. Eventually maceutical company receives an exclu- use a vial of pentamidine every month, dyirn patients. roadblocks, he says. "The FDA was un- "You also get a better sense of how a drug similar tracking could include experi- sive seven-year contract to manufacture paying as much as $200 retail. The idea of "compassionate use" for necessarily preoccupied with the drug's acts in the setting where it will be used." mental drugs for victims of cancer, Alz- an orphan drug. But a month before the On September 25, 1989, the People some drugs is not new. In recent ynears, side effects without equal concern for the More than two dozen AIDS drugs are heimer's, and heart diseases. September 28 of this year the FDA activists stormed the stock exchange, With Aids Health Group announced that however, the FDA began distributing good it could do." currently being tested in FDA-sanctioned On distribution of di- studies indicated that AZT might prove it would begin filling pentamidine pre- "treatment INDs" (investigational new Since 1984, however, a number of community-based trials across the coun- approved the early beneficial for people who have HIV infec- scriptions in England, where the drug is drugs) in a program designed to make drugs have rocketed through the bu- try. According io one estimate, up to 40 deoxyinosine (DDI), in effect inaugurat- parallel-track system. In early tests tions but have not developed AIDS. This available for the retail price of only $30 drugs available to critically ill patients as reaucratic process: AZT was approved percent of the data on new cancer drugs ing the meant that Burroughs Wellcorne's AZT per vial. Then, on October 11, Lym- soon as toxicity levels are determined. in 18 months; omeprazole, for chronic is being generated by communily-based antiviral DDI has slowed the progress of market could substantially expand. phomed decided to provide the drug The program officially began after AZT heartburn, in less than s'x months: sege- oncologists. And similar trials are planned the HIV virus and appears to be less toxic
It wasn't until September 18, just days free—io indigent and uninsured people was already being distributed and the line, used in the treatment of Parkinson's for drugs in the treatment of Parkinson's than AZT. And while ihe manufacturer. after the stock exchange sit-in made the with AIDS, rather than reduce the price. process appeared to be effective. disease, in less than five months. This and other debilitating diseases. Bristol-Myers, conducts controlled stud- front page of The Wall Street Journal, that Again, Lymphomed senior vice-presi- Usually, before the FDA even consid- year, Broder says, "levamisole, which Such changes weren't sufficient for ies of DDI, it is also making the drug Burroughs Wellcome cut the price of AZT dent Brian Tambi said the company's ac- ers approving a new drug, the pharma- shows promise in treating early colon many AIDS activists, who feared thou- available — free—as part of the testing by 20 percent. "We began looking at the tion was not in response to the Heallh ceutical company must put the drug cancer, was approved with lightning sands would die before AIDS drugs were process to people with AIDS whom AZT feasibility of dropping the price in Au- Group's action. Lymphomed officials, he through three phases of testing after speed— in not much more than one approved. And lobbying for an even ear- has not helped or for whom it has proved gust, right after the release of the new says, began cons : oonng u spensing free camptefirig lab and animal studies. The day— as a treatment IND." Jier release of lifesaving drugs, they gar- to be too toxic. That could include as data regarding the use of AZT for people pentamidine last June after the FDA offi- first phase determines a drug's toxicity in The government has also authorized nered an unexpected ally in NIH's Fauci. many as 30,000 patients. with HIV infections," a Burroughs Well- cially approved the drug. fewer than 100 healthy human volun- community-based drug trials run by pri- Last June, spurred by what he terms Drug companies generally support the come spokesperson says. Although the "There's no question that we have oc- teers. In phases two (200 to 300 patients) vate doctors or local clinics to collect data "constructive pressure" from AIDS activ- concept of parallel tracking, but many is- company denies the action was in -re- cupied the moral high ground," Harring- and three (1.000 to 3,000 patients) re- on treatment efficacy. Last June, for ex- ists, Fauci announced his support for the sues must be ironed out before the sys- sponse to the activists' pressure, "just look ton says. "Nor has there been any ques- soa'c-ic-rs ccl'ed dala in controlled stud- ample, based on studies by San Francis- idea of a parallel-track system for AIDS tem becomes operational. "Liability is a 56 OMNI .
major issue." says John Petricciani, vice- ihe las' three monliu; ni lito is sharpening "persons with AIDS." or PWAs. "Our whole president for medical and regulatory af- the debate about our wasteful health care thrust is lo eliminale Ihe hospital from the fairs ai the Pharmaceutical" Manufactur- system. The National Center for Health piclure. keeping people at home, where ers Association. "We're also concerned Services estrnales thai annual AIDS-re- they're more comfortable and less likely about critically ill patients' reactions to a lated medical costs totaled $2.2 billion in to contract opportunistic infections." a drug. It will be lough to determine whether 1988 and will climb Io $4.5 billion by 1991 John Alden spokesperson says. the drug or the illness caused adverse Other researchers say the tab will be even John Alden's program provides a case- reactions. And that could delay the drug's higher— perhaps as much as $8.5 billion management team comprising a physi- official FDA approval." by the end of 1991 —depending on the cian, a nurse, and a social worker who While the FDA says ils changes are number and cost of drugs available'. supervise the patient's care and have Ihe really "an evolution ol existing policies," a (Aerosolized pentamidine now costs authority to prescribe certain services not strong humanitarian impulse is now $1,200 per year wholesale; AZT, with the ordinarily covered by insurance policies. shaping the agency, according to Broder. recent cut in price, as much as $6,000.) The insurance company will pay for
"The feeling is thai the regulatory proc- Haunted by the specter of uncontrol- homemakers if that will help to sustain ess must be responsive io people suffer- lable costs, hospitals and health insur- someone's health and well-being in the ing from life-threatening illness, and that ance companies are "compelled to find home. The company, moreover, trains a reality must be a priority." ways of trimming the fat and making costs PWA's family member or friend to provide
more manageable. "Wo need to clean up care at home. And il will pay the care- THE WAY WE LIVE AND DIE our acts across the board, not just in terms taker if he (or she) must quit his own job.
"AIDS is the catalyst for a new era in of AIDS," says Jude Payne, senior policy A number of companies also reim- social medicine." says Michael Gorman, analyst specializing in AIDS for the Health burse for experimental drugs as soon as a medical epidemiologist and behavioral Insurance Association of America, an in- there is solid clinical evidence of their ef- scientist with the Rand Corporation. "It's dustry trade group in Washington, DC. fectiveness. More lhan a year before the changing the traditional medical model "But with AIDS, there's a sense of ur- FDA issued its guidelines, John Alden, for dealing with disease and forcing us to for example, approved reimbursement for look at the whole palient in his or her nat- AZT prescribed to people wilh HIV infec- ural environment." tions. And like John Hancock: it was also But cost, as much as compassion, will paying for aerosolized pentamidine be- drive this seminal shift in (he practice of fore the drug got FDA approval. "Pen- QWhile medicine. The staggering economic toll lamidine helps to prevent pneumonia, of caring for AIDS victims, in fact, has drug tests have traditionally and our records indicate that since we prompted the health care industry—phy- been conducted began reimbursing for [he drug, we've sicians, hospitals, and insurance com- had fewer incidents of pneumonia," the panies— to seek more cos I- effective and in university laboratories or John Alden spokesperson says. That humane ways ol providing care for the government hospitals, means the company has avoided the critically ill. higher costs of hospitalization —for itself the FDA now recognizes It is a tragic but little-known fact thai and insured patients, as well as other more young Americans have died due to the value of policyholders who end up paying higher the AIDS epidemic than were killed in the premiums when ;hc company, like all in- community-based trials.^1 Vietnam War. And just as the daily body surers, passes on -is increased costs. counts on the nightly news sensitized a Since 1987 John Alden has trimmed generation to the horrors of war, AIDS will Ihe average AIDS patient's diagnosis-to- transform this generation's attitude to- death medical expenses from $64,000 to ward the process of death and dying. $51,000. The program's success lias also
"AIDS is an ugly death. At the end, vic- gency because i! is generally fatal." led to the company's initiating a similar tims are often mentally impaired. They Ironically, the AIDS programs being advocacy program for cancer patients n have multiple opportunistic infections. launched are strategies thai health care 1990. And il may pay for such services They're wasted. They're incontinent," policy experls long maintained would as in-home chomo:horapy. which has al- comments Michael Weinslein, president dramatically cut costs without sacrificing ways been possible, but insurance com- of the AIDS Hospice Foundation in Los Ihe quality of care. No one ever put them panies would pay for it only when per- Angeles. "They don't want to spend their in practice, however, uniil now. Again, formed in a hospital setting. last days in a sterile hospital. They want AIDS activists have been on the cutting Other programs are being considered Io die wilh dignity, in a humane selling, edge ol enlighloned change. San Fran- for the elderly and tor victims of chronic at home or in a hospice." cisco's Coming Home Hospice, the na- diabetes, Alzheimer s eisease, and heart Experiencing a friend's death in this tion's first residenha care facility for AIDS diseases, These may include such insur- way, medical and social experts say. will patients, opened its doors in 1987. Fi- ance-covered services as the training prompt many of us to choose to die in our nanced largely through community fund- and overseeing of diabetics, who don't own beds, surrounded by loved ones. raisinq efforts and public funds, the 15- always comply with treatment and qude- And this will reverse the 40-year trend of bed facility spends $150 to $200 a day lines. By continuing ie eat sweets or dnnk placing the terminally ill in hospitals to die. per palient—one fourth the per diem cost alcohol, for example, diabeiics often end Right now. 40 percent ol all Medicare of hospital care. The cost is aboul Ihe up entering the howpilal lor diabetic shock money is spent on people during the last same at Los Angeles's 25-bed Chris or other disease-related conditions. six months of their lives, when doctors Brownlie Hospice. THE TABRIC OF SOCIETY heroically intervene in the care of aged The hospices' success has not been palienls who have no hope ol recovery. lost on John Hancock Mutual Life and "The role of law in the AIDS epidemic Meanwhile, more than 50 million Ameri- other savvy insurance companies ex- must be as remarkable as the role of sci- cans have little or no health insurance. ploring new .strategies to reduce costs. ence," says David Schulman, a Los An- Medical ethicisls have long argued that Many companies have instituted case- gelss deputy city attorney and head of such an allocation of limited financial re- managomcnl programs. The John Alden the AIDS Discrimination Unit, "For the first sources is neither intelligent nor humane. Life Insurance Company, for example, time, law has rich principles and values The skyrocketing cost of AIDS-related recently began a unique patient advo- that resist the pi trial impulse of societies care, most of which is expended during cacy program to manage the care of to fracture in times of stress." Challenged 58 OMNI &S;k,v — —
^•Respected scientists have evoked the cosmos to explain the extinction of dinosaurs. But talk about astrology, and people assume you're mad.?
For millennia astronomy and asltO'Cuy
lived like Siamese Iwns jo ned at the hip. Both thrived on ever more careful and detailed observations of the changing positions of the planets against the back- ground of fixed stars. Indeed, some of history's greatest .astronomers were as- trologers, too —from Ptolemy, in the sec- ond century a.d., who described the Earth-centered, clockwork solar system that held sway for 1,400 years (until Co- pernicus came along), to Johannes Ke- pler in the 1600's, who figured out how the moon caused the tides, showed that the planets must travel in elliptical orbits nsteacl of circular ones and also served as court astrologer to the Duke of Wallen- stein, casting horoscopes and making political predictions. Ever since Galileo turned his tele- scope skyward in 1609, the science of astronomy and the art of astrology have drifted furlher and further apart. To re- verse the historical trend now, as Percy
Seymour has done—to use the i nd ngs
In this, the cawn ng cf "he Age of Aquar- lays out his theory n a oook t iled Astro; of astronomy to vindicate the teach ngs ius, a middle -agar; Rilish ast'onomer and ogy. The Evidence of Science (Lennard of astrology—shakes up everything we Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society Publishing, 1988). Here's what the Eng- know about the progress of science. We
has gone pub ;c with a daring theory that lish press has to say about it: don't expect astronomy to turn around proposes a scientific basis for the an- 'This could just be one of the most im- and say lhat the position of Mars at birth cient practice of astrology. The man's portant books of the century," predisposes our personalities one way or name is Percy Seymour, and he's wager- —Yorkshire Post another any more than we expect the col- ing his prof essiorai stand rig that certain "This is a shameful book." lisions in pari'cie physics experiments to predictions made from horoscopes can —Weekend Telegraph rat onal ze tarot cards, or molecular biol- be explained logically and tested scien- "A brave book written in a pioneering ogy to explain the Virgin Birth. iifically. Not surprisingly, the asfronomy spirit." The Scotsman Seymourwasbornon January 3, 1938 ", community has come down on his head, . . unsupported speculations, (that makes him a Capricorn, by sun-sign denouncing his ideas and damning him founded neither on known facts nor on lore), in Kimberley. Soutn A-'ica. the son of for espousing them. Astrologers, for their physical calculations." New Scientist an interracial couple. Growing up in that part, have been only marginally more None of the reviews, whether they rave country as a nonwhite, or "Cape col- supportive, since ihey never asked for a about the book or pan it, seem founded ored," has left him, he says, with a patho- scientific justMcaiion of their views, on the on a clear understanding of Seymour's logical hatred of prejudice in any form. grounds that asfrology lies beyond the theory. They are just voices in a shouting Hiy family moved to Fngland when he was realm of what science can fathom. match between those who believe in as- twenty-four, enabling him to complete his Seymour, who is principal lecturer in trology and those who don't. Seymour's undergraduate studies in astronomy at astronomy at the Plymouth Polytechnic book is a crucible—a new battleground via act -ester University as well as his Institute in southwest England and direc- for a centuries-old debate. For although master's and doctoral degrees in astro- tor of the William Day Planetarium there, astronomy and astrology both lake their physics. His life has been distinguished names from the stars, they hold nothing and enjoyable; There's been the senior
Previous pages: At left, one in a series oi else in common. Astronomy is con- planetarium lectureship at the old Royal pa::~:^:-,gi by R Lonk:e^:cz lor an exhibit cerned with discovering the nature of the Obsei vatory in Greenwich, the marriage 'Ohss". aliens en Local Education"; at right, heavenly bodies. Astrology explores :hcir to his wife, Dianna, and the birth six years
-,'.' Lenkiemc: : i <& I or Petcy Seymour hold- influence on people's lives. ago of a son, Bruce. But now he is en-
~' -.i-ji ing an , of the solar system)- A! Htm | "Astrology," Ralph Waldo Emerson countering o'ejudice again, in the knee- wrote, "is astronomy brought to earth and jerk reactions fellow scientists a r e having dent Chinese device ina: predates the mari- applieo to the aiairs of men." Modern to his book.
astronomy views acci- "Of I to ,- humankind as an course, expected people take land lo en _. - dent in the chain of life on one planet of objection to my theory," Seymour con- mour inside ihr '.'.'..'/.'s;?: Day Pianeianum with a copy ol the Piymou'h wyiinc in the back- an ordinary star near the edge of a spiral cedes, "but I didn't expect the reaction ground. Standing in Irom oi the plaiK!a'i>.:m gaaxy. uncist ncusnec among billions of to be so vehement or so irrational. Some projector, Seymour holds an orrery. other, similar galaxies. Modern astrology, of my colleagues here at the polytechnic 62 OMNI via and at the Royal Astronomical Society A BBC Iraining crew used the city of solar wind, and perceived by us the simply dismiss the idea without reading Plymouth that summer as Ihe filming site earth's magnetic field while we grow in- the book or even looking a! the evidence. for a program aboul astrology. The group side our mothers' wombs. astrology that A few of them are reacting to Ihe ac- conducted interviews all over town wilh The first "evidence" for Ihe work of counts they've read in the newspaper. people on the street, asking their views Seymour encountered was "Meanwhile," he continues, "many other on astrology, and then lei Seymour have French psychologist Michel Gauquelin, astrology scientists, even respected scientists, have the last word by virtue of his position as who began writing about more Gauquelin evoked the cosmos— in theories that are the reigning local authority on astronomy. than 30 years ago. Because scientist and a statistician, the world "I I there is a little short of bizarre—to explain Ihe ex- told them didn't think was tinction of the dinosaurs or what have you. much to astrology," he recalls. "People has had to take heed of his assertions astrology than can That's all right. But propose a theory are always coming up to me after 1 give that there is more to about astrology and people assume a planetarium lecture— and I've been a be ascribed to chance. But because he you're mad." planetarium lecturer for sixteen years— is a psychologist instead of an astrono- quite as I the world has not Luckily for his professional reputation, to ask me what I think about astrology. mer, been pronouncements. Seymour's academic lext Cosmic Mag- used to tell them honestly that I knew evi- shocked by his netism (Adam Hilger, 1986) was splen- dence existed to support some aspects Gauquelin has shown (hat planetary think positions are more important than the so- didly received jusl as the furor erupted of it but that I personally could not
other words, if over his astrological work. Professor Leon of any mechanism to explain how the called sun signs. In you leading poli- Mestel of the University of Sussex, con- planets, the sun, and the moon might af- looked at several hundred significant of sidered to be the world authority on mag- fect human life." ticians, no percentage them netic stars, called the book a "valiant and Although he'd answered the same would turn out lo have been born under foster successful attempt to convey to the lay- questions about astrology hundreds of the sign of Aries, which is said to man the omnipresence of magnetism in times, Seymour started seriously rethink- leaders, but most of the politicians' natal the universe." ing the issue after the television crew left. charts would show the planet Jupiter to either rising or reaching its zenith at The irony is that Seymour was as skep- He went back over materials he'd read be Iheir birth. equal num- tical of astrology as the next astronomer years before and looked into some new the moment of An lo ber of people chosen at random from a and not at all interested in it until recently. arguments, and a mechanism began Astronomy, on the other hand, has been take shape in his mind that could make variely of professions, however, would his passion since boyhood, when he the impossible plausible. show no such striking correspondence spent many a night on the veld wilh his In sum, Seymour's theory holds that wilh Jupiter in these positions. astrol- grandfather, learning how to identify Ori- astrology is not mystical or magical but Gauquelin literally grew up with could cast a horoscope by the on's bell, the Southern Cross, and other magnetic. It can be explained, he says, ogy and twelve. Later, a university constellations in the skies over southern by the tumultuous magnetic activity of Ihe time he was as Africa. His change of heart began by co- sun, churned to a lather by the motions student at the Sorbonne in Paris, where in psychology, incidence in the summer of 1984, ot the planets, borne earthward on the he earned his doctorate he became intrigued with Ihe standards of scientific proof and began what was to become his life's work: subjecting what he knew about astrology to the rigors of statistical analysis. For a typical study he obtains large numbers of individual birth dates of people from certain walks of life — outslanding physicians from the French Academy of Medicine, for exam- ple, or eminent writers—casts Iheir horo- scopes, and then compares the predic- tions with the facts of their lives as recorded in ava'lable biographies. Inge- nious and exhaustive in the tests he chooses to run, Gauquelin once used the files of the Paris Courthouse to chart horoscopes for more than 600 notorious murderers, most of whom had died un- der the guillotine. He found no common thread in their readings to hint at their bloody deeds or their violent ends. Much of traditional astrology simply fell apart under Gauquelin:; scrutiny, includ- ing the whole notion of the zodiac. The
zodiac is the chain of 12 constellations that girdle the earth along the ecliptic. In the course of a year, the sun spends about one month's lime in each of these con- stellations and thus determines your "sun sign" at birth —whether you are an Aries, for example (born between late March and late April), a Taurus (late April to late May), or a Gemini (late May to late June).
Your sun sign is supposed to endow you with certain personality traits, such as domesticity and introversion for Cancer, self-assertion and grandiose generosity "
for Leo, diligence and perfectionism for Pisces rising just after sunset. The wise Since repetition of research results is Virgo. The astrology columns in news- men, who were astrologers, according to the lifeblood of science, Gauquelin re- papers arc based entirely on this simplis- the New- English Bible, interpreted the peated his studies over and over on dif- tic view ol astrology and of life —the idea event as the birth of a Jewish king. ferent groups of names and birth dates. that all members of each sign share a The importance of the planetary posi- Data from scores of studies yielded sim- common heritage and therefore a com- tions at birth happens to be the one area ilar findings: Saturn figured in a statisti- mon future. Here's a sample from the of astrology that Gauquelin did verify in cally significant way in the birth charts of horoscope column in the New York Daily his work—and repeatedly so. Not just famous scientists and physicians; Jupi- News: "Libra, You'll have much to com- kings and religious leaders but people ter begot actors, playwrights, and politi- municate today and will find it easy to stay from all walks of life may be guided by cians. In other words, the planets did ap- in the flow of life. Scorpio, You can re- the specific influence of the planet or pear to have a correspondence—and it deem a relationship if you will open up planets (including the moon) occupying was the selfsame correspondence. pre- and share yourself. Sagittarius, Avoid certain power i'U posiiionsat the moment dicted by traditional astrology. leaning too heavily on your partner." of their birth. Thus Mars is associated .'.:th Gauquelin was aided in his work by the Most serious astrologers agree that a personality that could be described as meticulous methods used for recording newspaper astrology is hokum. (Perhaps brave, belligerent, dynamic, and spon- births in his country since the time of the it's no accident that daily horoscopes tend taneous, while Venus-governed person- French Revolution, as well as by records to run r.ighl alongside the comic strips.) allies are affable, attractive, benevolent, from parfs of Belgium, West Germany, It- To a professional astrologer, the sun sign elegant, poetic, and seductive. As a re- aly, and the United States, which in- is only the starting point lor casting and sult ot these proclivities— dictated by, or cluded not only the details of a child's birth interpreting a natal chart, which is based at least associated with, certain plane- but also the place and exact time of birth on knowledge of the date, exact lime, and tary positions at birth — people choose of both parents. This information allowed place of birth. The location of the moon their professions. The Mars personality, Gauquelin to cast and compare the at the moment of birth is also decisive, as for example, predictably joins the armed charts of parents and their children. He is the zodiac constellation that was rising forces, excels at sports, or succeeds in found that while birthdays of fathers and in the east (called the ascendant sign), business. And indeed, Gauquelin's evi- sons and mothers and daughters varied and the influences ot the planets, as de- dence shows that Mars had either just randomly, there was a strong likelihood termined by l.hc-ir posit ons in the sky and risen or was just passing its highest point lor the pianets-to occupy the same po- the angles they cut with one another. An in the sky at the precise moments of birth sitions across generations of family horo- extreme example of the way planets may lor thousands of military leaders, cham- scopes. Both Ptolemy and Kepler had shape one's destiny is the "star" of Beth- pion athletes, and top executives whose talked about this repetition, which Gau- lehem, which led the Magi to the stable names and birth dateshe took from var- quelin called planetary heredity. where Jesus lay. It apparently was not a ious director cs and registers. Birth dates "These particular results of Gauque- star at all but a rare close alignment of of people from other fields showed no lin's are the most important of all his find- Jupiter with Saturn in the constellation such Mars correlations. ings, as far as my theory is concerned," says Seymour. "This is because they are based on objectively measurable quan- tities, like planetary positions and birth times, as opposed to personality traits. They also indicate quite clearly that a physical agency is involved," Among the other authors Seymour credits for the germ of his idea are British psychologists Hans J. Eysenck and D.K.B. Nias, who wrote Astrology; Sci- ence or Superstition? (St. Martin's Press, 1982), in which they asked, "What are the most likely candidates for the role of link' between extraterrestrial events and bio- logical and other phenomena here on earth? The most promising of course are sunspols and other solar disturbances and the various wave and particle emls sions caused by them; the possibility that these in turn are affected by the planets involves the whole planetary system in this
attempted explanation. . . . The task of turning such a vague and obviously un- specific hypothesis into a testable pre-
diction is not an easy one, but. . . . Sci- ence should not abdicate its mandate
because it fears ridicule by being asso- ciated with 'astrology' This was the challenge that Seymour
faced. "I knew that Gauquelin found the
. iio
with lots 'of magnetic disturbance," he says, "and that seemed very important
it." to me, so I got cracking on The physical agency that Seymour de- duced is a magno:ic signa Irom the cos- mos, which would be amplified on mag- : thinks netically cwilurbod clays The elus in the ferment of magnetism, which manifesls With a bit more work, Seymour womb might receive magnetic signals via itself m sunspols. solar prominences, and he may be able lo use these correlations predict the next period of peak solar the cells of its nervous system acting as solar flares to sunspot an antenna. In the same way lhal a baby Many kinds of Earth beings perceive magnetic activity, called the yet been able to resembles Us parents in appearance. and respond to magnetic cues, from the maximum. "No one has solar with success," Seymour says, its magnetic antenna is ocean-dwelling bacteria that use mag- predict a maximum
it, theji that part I one wired up like theirs— sensitive to the same netism to guide them downward toward he says. "If can do frequencies and resonances. So when their food supply lo the birds thai navi- of my theory would have predictive value for astronomy." the baby is ready to be born, it wails for gate by the magnetic field. Human pairs with a magnelic signal from the deciding beings, too, have some inborn sensitivity Sunspots typically appear in planet to trigger the moment of birth. to magnetism, and experiments have magnetic lines of force arcing belween can find them like a rainbow. Each sunspot pair It is therefore no accident that this or shown that many individuals eruption of magnetic lines of that child is born with certain planets in north withoul a compass or any olher ob- marks an primary posilions. According to Sey- vious clues. Is magnetism the signal that force from beneath the visible surface of 7 mour's Iheory. ihe positions of the planets calls the felus from the womb Is that fact our star. Lines of force wrap themselves intense set ofl the magnet c signals ;ha! children the origin of astrology? And if so, how all about the sun, marking its magnetic fields. And because the equa- are waiting to hear as their cues to enter would it work? its poles, the lines "ihe world. And each child responds to To explain his theory, Seymour mighl tor rotates faster than sideways Ihe signal that his genetic makeup has ask you to out yourself outsice and above of force may also be stretched magnetic canals around programmed him or her to receive. the solar system and watch Ihe molions and wound into equator. Certain alignments of Astrology, in this view, has put the cart of the players. As they go Iheir seemingly the sun's before the horse by crediting ihe planets separate ways, traveling on wiae-y sep- the planets can raise enormous tidal ef- in Seymour believes. with the power to predict personality. For arated paths, the planets are all pulling fects these canals, distort- Planelary alignments are thus the impe- Seymour feels certain it is the genes thai at one another, raising tides and violent scar activity And the activ- set (he personality on course, and the lus for the flood of electri- genes that determine which pianetary ity, in turn, increases that the sun signal will herald the individual's birth. cally charged particles Astrology merely labels what nature has beams to Earth in a continuous stream already ordained, but Ihe effects thai as- called the solar wind. ^Saturn by extra ener- trology describes are not trivial by any Intense bombardments particles from the sun are recog- means, nor are they limited to the first figured in a statistically getic nized today as geomagnetic storms. Al- moments of life. significant way magnetic field deflects Afterbirth the infant nervous system is though Ihe earth's particles, they still excite swamped with so many other kinds of in- in the birth charts of many most of the can the atmosphere, and they generate a put from its "ordinary" senses that most famous scientists magnetic messages are simply drowned sudden change in the strength of the field and physicians; while Jupiter earth's, surface. storms also out. At cerlain points in later years, how- at the The cause dazzling curtains oihght (auroras) ever, if the planets Sine up again in the begot playwrights, disrupt radio, telegraph, same positions they occupied at an in- near the poles, actors, and politicians.^ and may dividual's birth, the repetition may come and telephone communications, thus through loud and clear, coinciding with make compass needles deviate— limes of momentous personal growth or possibly precipitating shipwrecks and changes of fortune. airplane crashes. In such storms "It's really Ihree theories in one." Sey- ancient times, too, mour says of his concept. "It's a theory ol ing orbits indiscriminately. Some, like would have had" multiple effects on as- life which might how planets can ai'ec". solar activity, how Mercury, go quickly about their ap- pects of on Earth, some of felt immediately, while others so .:-; ac'ivily affects the magnetic field of pointed round;";, vvhho ethers, i-ke Ji.p'ter. have been Earth, and how changes in the earth's are slow, lumbering giants. would have unfolded over years or dec- magnetic field affeel Ihe fetus to deter- From time to time the planets fall into ades. For example, the storms might have mine the moment of birth." striking geometric patterns— queuing up interfered with people's innate ability to or find water by The first two links in the theoretical chain in a trie, for example, squaring off at right lind directions to dows- are pure astronomy and geophysics and angles to one another, ganging up on one ing and could have created long-term weather, well within Seymour's area of expertise. side of the sun. If you return to Earth, you changes in the which then de-
1 sources, Irom plants to fish The third link raises a newquesiior about can still observe these patterns in the sky. stroyed food the way human beings may respond to The early astrologers saw them, too, lo wild game. fields magnetism. All three are interesling, im recognized Iheir strange power, and Without any inkling of magnetic astrologers observed that portant scientific ideas in themselves, but named them as"pects. in space, eariy they have been nearly eclipsed by the Seymour says ihe forces gei leraied by certain planelary aspects in the heavens shadow of astrology hanging over the the planets in certain patterns are re- coincided with charged times on Earth. theory as a whole. spcnsiole lor Ihe reversa of the sun's They began to interpret those planetary Every part of Seymour's Iheory hinges magnetic lield. which happens roughly positions as sign;, and wor.ders. And they on magnetism, which pervades. the uni- every 11 years and kicks off the begin- were right although they didn't know why. verse, as gravity does, and has far- ning of each new sunspot cycle. As part Seymour, with his modern expertise in reaching elfects. The entire earlh is a of a thesis project, one of Seymour's stu- cosmic magnetic fields, is simply flesh magnet, with a north and a south pole, dents demonslraled thai changes n the ing out their arguments. surrounded by a magnetic field that is 20 magnelic field of the sun correspond lo "What I need to do now," he says of his to 30 times larger than the planet itself. certain aspects, or angles between Ihe plans for further testing, "is to take Gau- Jupiter's magnetic field is. the largest planets, that astrologers deem signifi- quelin's dala and marry them up with a" known feature in'our solar system. And cant— oppositions ('80" between the spectral analysis of the records Irom the magnetic Meld of the Milky Way, planets, as viewed from Earth), quarters magnetic observatories." According to though very weak, extends for millions of or squares (90'}. and coriundions (0° or Seymour, there should be detectable lighl-years through space. The sun is a cose aignment). correlations between ihe birth records 1 it, turn down the lights now .-issooifit!- !! wiih certain planets and the ing Plymouth residents how to spot "I'm going to the skyline around constant changes in the earth's mag- weather permitting, with a foreslaff tash- and talk to you about your get netic field. The problem is that he doesn't ioned from a broomstick, a bent plastic the planetarium dome while eyes told recent yet have the right kinds of magnetic ob- ruler and a piece of string. His book for used to the darkness," he one graders. servations, which would be continuous- children, Adventures with Astronomy assembly oi third and fourth run measurements. The few observato- (John Murray, 1983), gives blueprints tor "We'll spend most of the show in total are ries that gather information this way have making everything from a sundial to a darkness. I don't suppose any of you you^" Assured by sent Seymour their data in the form of telescope out of materials you could find afraid of the dark, are three-hour averages, which wash out the in your house (with the.probable excep- a chorus of no's, Seymour shows and tells like actors fine-grain effects he's. looking for. "This is tion of the lenses). And if you haven't got them how the planets move ot stars, the nobody's fault," he says. "It's just that a telescope or the wherewithal to build against the scenery how pic- geophysicists have been asking differ- one, Seymour says a pair of binoculars constellations can be seen as dot the stu- ent questions from the ones I'm asking. will take you far—all the way to the moons tures in the sky. Then he invites they are all But I've just written to a chap in Belgium of Jupiter, in fact. dents to pretend with him that Enterprise, who's got the right kind of data from the He works in a small, unglamorous of- traveling aboard the Starship observatory at Bruges and who's work- fice in the planetarium building. The walls with one area of the planetarium dome solar ing on a mathematical framework for are white, wilh no decorations save for a serving as their window on the sys- electric tem. Pictures of the moon and planets analyzing it. It may be possible to use chart of the solar system and an questions. continuous-run measurements from other clock stopped at 3:15. Texts on naviga- tlash overhead, Seymour fires answers excit- observatories to extrapolate what was tion and astronomy fill the bookcase and and the children shout the darkness from any happening in France when Gauquelin's cover the metal desk and nearby table, edly, protected by data were being generated." before piling up into stacks on the floor. fear of error or embarrassment, Unlike other controversial cosmic the- Wedged into the bookcase, as though "I don't teach children about astrol- ories of recent years, Seymour's idea is iorgotten, is a plastic model of a space- ogy," Seymour says. "I don't discuss my explainable and lestable within the craft, with Ihree astronauts setting up a theory with my astronomy students, either,
alien landscape. although at Christmastime I might talk bounds of present knowledge. It invokes Christmas tree on an end-of- no master race of visitors from another From these headquarters Seymour about the star of Beihlehem in an lecture." planet, no worlds in collision, no new keeps up a lively correspondence with term Seymour consented, albeit reluctantly, physical forces. In this respect it is an apt his critics, grades student papers, and cast a few reflection of Seymour himself—a stead- continues his research. In the amphi- to have his own horoscope computer, as part of last, straightforward man who preaches theater nearby, he lectures to his astron- months ago— by a Greene, a simple brand of do-it-yourself astron- omy classes, to grqups of interested someone else's experiment. Liz astrologer omy from the pulpit of his planetarium. adults from the area every Tuesday eve- a prominent English and with When Halley's comet last came around, ning, and to visiting schoolchildren on Jungian analysi, had teamed up an expert in artificial intelligence to see if they late in 1985, he gave public lectures tell- Wednesday mornings. could program. a computer to interpret birth chart information the way the best astrologers do. The result is something they call astro-intelligence.
"I was very impressed with the person- ality analysis and the past analysis," Sey- mour concedes with a smile. "It went into great detail about the roles played by my
parents in my life, about the type of work
I'd go in for, and how my career would
develop. It said specifically that I would tend to do a job that would occasionally cause me to come into conflict with au-
thority and that I would then virtually go into the wilderness because the authori-
ties would dismiss what I was saying." One need not stretch the prediction far to in- terpret Seymour's current conflict as just such a brush with authority. Seymour has also obtained a horo- scope for Queen Elizabeth, whose birth- day coincides wiih the publication date of his book (April 21). The personality analysis acknowledged her sense ol duty
and family loyalty, but it also pointed out a few ot her foibles, including the obser-
vation thai she is overly concerned with
trivialities and has no sense of humor. "We actually sent her a copy of the report, along with a copy of my book, and had a letter back from her private secretary,"
Seymour says. 'As far as I know, the
Queen is not at all interested in aslrology,
nor is Prince Charles." But when the news came about former president Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan's following an astrologer's advice, a member of Par- "
account of Sey- Mfjrnoni. Woodrow Wyatt. wrote an essay card it. The problem now is that people sage ol Astrology to an of for The Times in their defense: 'Apart from are gobbling at the theory and dismiss- mour's theory. "Seymour's got a part setbacks and hiccups which inevitably ing astrology as medieval superstition." the truth," Roberts says in an interview. attend an eight-year presidency," Wyatt The president of the Royal Astronomi- "His theory certainly does explain some wrote, "Mr. Reagan has been remarkably cal Society, Rodney Davies of the Jodrell of Gauquelin's findings that diverge from successful internally and internationally. Bank Radio Astronomy Observatory in traditional astrology." For example, Rob- Perhaps we should be grateful that Cheshire, had neither read nor heard of erts cites the fact that astrologers con- seemingly he relies more on advice from Seymour's astrology book but gave us sider the actual moment of birth to be the aslro'ogers than irom political commen- this account of his status as an astrono- "right" moment of birth, even if thai mo- fators and opponents." mer: "When he was a graduate student, ment is hastened forward in time by la- 0'" cesar- Wyatt went to India in the Army in late Seymour helped to show that magnetic bor-inducing dr ugs delivery by 1944, according to the essay. A friend, K. fields lace through the spiral arms of the ean section. Gauquelin, however, showed M. Pannikar. prime minister of the princely Milky Way. That work has been con- that drugs or surgery would cancel out effect as state of Bikaner, asked Wyatt if he would firmed observationally, and he has made the "planetary heredity" — like the court astrologer K. P Sharma, to further contributions in the area of mag- though the baby had not been born at its cast his horoscope, emphasizing thai netic fields in our galaxy. He's got a seri- appointed hour. Seymour's theory ex- Sharma's accuracy had been sharpened ous professional stand. ng in the astro- plains this finding in terms of the mag- netic signal: not lime its by being put in the local lockup for a day nomical world." The baby could or so anytime he made a serious mistake The astrological world, on the other birth by the planetary positions because con- over the maharaja's immediate future. hand, has heard him out but not em- of the medical interference and was Sharma, who never met Wyatt and knew braced his ideas. Charles Harvey, presi- sequently born at the astrologically nothing about him, cast his horoscope in dent of the Astrological Association in "wrong" time. January 1945 from the exact time {minute England and chairman of the Urania Trust, Roberts wonders if Seymour's theory charity in to goes far enough. "I argue in my book," and second) of Wyatt's birth. "When I an educational set up 1970 he says, "that you can't explain astrology have felt down I have boon encourages.: using ordinary physics alone. You've got by looking at it afresh because Mr. Sharma loresaw most of the next-to-come .to move into the paranormal to do it." is sticking with science. "The good bits in my life," Wyatt wrote in the Seymour is very, very essay. Sharma predicted titles and hon- methodology of science a birth. Astrology merely models if they don't work. gan—the last laugh may be with them." lo throw out the Seymour's publisher naturally sent a copy labels what "We are limited by the fact that we are owned human beings who perceive things of his book on to Lord Wyatt, who has already ordained* nature through our senses," he says. "The phys- that he very much enjoyed reading it. Seymour knows of no professions as- ical world is filtered through our senses filtered further education." People tronomer who has read it, although a few and by Galileo of those who know him have heard about could have seen sunspots before reported them Soymoursays, butthey'd it; "We thougl ii he c flipped his lid a bit," laugnt that there dn't be imper- . observes Derek McNally, assistant direc- help support studies of astrology, says. been cou belief tor of the University of London Observa- "I think it's wonderful that Seymour's put- fections on the sun. Arislohe's that tory and secretary general of the Inter- ting up a theory to be tested. He's a gen- the heavens were perfect also kept gen- national Astronomical Union, "it's not an uine scientist— a man of great breadth, erations of Westerners from acknowl- area into which most of us astronomers with a willingness to be proved wrong. edging the existence of novas, or "new would care to venture." McNally contin- The pursuit of truth matters to him, wher- stars," while Ihe Chinese were observing ues, "since we think astrology is more ever it may lead him, and that altitude is and recording them." likely lo be mischievous than useful. From all too rare. His model of astrology is a "I believe it's possible to modify the investigate the what Seymour has told me about his noble allempt, but it is too limited as far methodology of science to fol- are. paranormal," Seymour says. "I'm still crit- book, I don't think I'd be prepared to as astrologers concerned," low him even as far as he's gone in his Harvey, who has been an astrologer ical of astrology as a whole, especially limited support of astrology." for 25 years, believes that astrology is so Ihe sun signs and the zodiac, but I've got Archie Ray. professor ol astronomy at radical in iis implications that it does not a greater respect for ancienl astrologers, Glasgow University in Scotland, had an fit within the model Seymour is suggest- who were great observers and tinkers." entirely different reaction to a summary ing — or any strictly scientific model, 'or If his Iheory turns out to be correct, it will provide theory of solar activity, of Seymour's theory: "Although I couldn't that mafter. And he said as much in the a new comment on the whole concept without foreword lo Seymour's book: "Whether or a new understanding ol solar-terrestrial going through chapter and verse in Sey- not Seymour's type of model can even- relationships, and a new area for investi- mour's book, 'he 'heory strikes me as a tually be extended to fully embrace Ihe gating the way n-agneiic lieids affect hu- "Writing this freed perfectly good one because il is scicntil- many subtleties of astrological experi- man life. book has me icaily testable." According to Ray, a true ence remains to be seen. But as Einstein intellectually," he says. "I've pul my hand scientist goes where the evidence leads pointed oul, Theories are neither right nor to the plow, so to speak, and now every- is him, even if it's a place he doesn'l partic- wrong: They are either fertile or sterile.' body knows where I stand, which ularly want to go. Physicist Peter Roberts, a visiting pro- against dogma in any form— religious "Seymour has a reasonable philoso-, fessor af the City University, London, has. dogma, political dogma, scientific phy about this," Ray says. "If his future like Seymour, investigated Ihe case for dogma. I can think more clearly now observations don't support his hypothe- astrology He devotes several pages of about Ihings that lie outside the currently sis, then like a good scientist, he'll dis- his soon-to-be-published book The Mes- accepted realms of science." DO 72 OMNI s of civil unrest often inspirt ^ nf society's most basic . ness, though bearing tiny bits of grit or grazing land— a curious trembling mica, had eased into the Valley from the industrial region to the north and there i nights when the sun set at the west- i horizon as if it were sinking through a rous red mass, and there were days yellow that dissolved i when a hard-glaring moon like bone re- as the thermal breeze: I in a single position, promi- exhaled breath. And if you had run PAINTINGS BY DI-MACCIO h valley, perceived with drear ing, "Don't es of his binoculars, the poor man often forgot where he at all if you aren't certain they will be true for failed to come down fo " others, not simply for yourself." thinking to indulge him, i This begins in the time of family celebration —after Father not lg all but a few of the acres of land sur- to j his inheritance from Grandfather, and smiling sheepishly, he would explain that he'd fallen ,.~ «,,~ ,™,.~, „^,>j giddy as children with relief at having or, conversely, that f escaped the luckless fate of certain of our neighbors in the things for which he cc s and their descen- longhorns moving beyond .,.,., ' ^^EBmasssmmi nysterious winking lights fifty 33t Mother dismissed the shadows as optical illu- .,„. j words that Father often ut- sions caused by Father's overwrc f,.,...,,.,^, ^^--^^^ fcl^^^ tered, rolling the words about in his s^j^^te ^^"""^^^n. constitution, or the ghosts ol old, —' ' — -slaughtered livestock; t e surely frc \ the private airport at Furn; . damneddifficultnottofeet \ superior in this instan ler vehemently agi^u. made of stone, ^ wings, ~"*"*^ ' a big-city architect, had a good deal d looked out into the Valley, where on good ild see for many miles while on humid hazy days 3 could see barely beyond the fence that marked the edge our property. Father, however, preferred the roof: In his white, light-woolen three-piece suit, white fedora cocked back on his head, for luck, he spent many of his waking hours on the highest peak of the highest roof of the house, observing, through binoculars, the amazing progress of c nng . ., aJI of them walfed to keep ^ nishing, tower like buildings "id brick, buildings whose „ ors, splendid in sunshine KM ty, where t f s* -..:,,. . :«.„,,, at your throat like a great bird's with terrifyingmmmefficiency they tore out the throats—and surely talons, taking your breath away. "The ways of I ast two she-goats, preparatory to devouring the~ ig lips, whether tf itures; nor did Father notice anything out of the was a happy truth or not, whether even it was truth. dinary on the night that farmhands of ours, impaled themselves companied by Father, after what arms so tightly the blood had drained on the fence (which was electrically seemed to us a very long absence (two from his knuckles; his words were slow, charged, though in compliance with Coun- weeks? two months?) it was with shock- halting, and faint, like the progress of a ty Farm and Home Office regulations) ing news: She and Father had, after heart- gut-shot deer across a field, but unmis- and were found, dead, in the morning. (It searching deliberation, decided that, for takably his: Dear children your mother was Kit, our sixteen-year-old, who the good of all concerned, ihey must sepa- and I after thirty years of marriage of very found them, and the sight of the men, he rate—they must officially dissolve the mar- happy marriage have decided to... said, tore his heart— so skinny, gray, griz- riage bond. Mother's voice wavered as have decided to. ..have decided to.... One zled, he scarcely recognized them. And she spoke but fierce .little pinpoints of of the low-flying helicopters belonging to the crows had been at them early.) light shone in her eyes. We children the National Guardsmen soared past the Following this episode Father jour- were so taken by surprise we could not house, making the television screen shud- neyed to the state capital, with the pur- speak at first. Separate! Dissolve! For the der, but the sound seemed to be garbled pose of taking out a loan, and reestablish- good of all! We stood staring and in any case, as if the tape had been clum- ing, as he called it, old ties with his poli- mute; not even Cory, Kit, and Dale, not sily cut and spliced; there were miniature tician friends, and Mother joined him a even Lona, who was the most impulsive lightning flashes; and Father's dear few days later for a greatly needed— of us, found words with which to protest; face turned liquid, melting horizontally, change of scene, as she said "Not the youngest children began whimper- his eyes long and narrow as slugs and drowning that I don't love you all, and the farm, but ing helplessly, soon joined by the rest— his mouth distended like a all I need to breathe other air for a while"— and by ourfew remaining servants; and man's; and we could hear were leaving us under the care of Mrs. Hoytour Mrs. Hoyt, whose features were already sounds, not words, resembling Help me 1 housekeeper and our eldest sister, Co- bloated by illness. Mother said, "Don't! or / am innocent or / love you dear chil- ry. The decision to leave us at this time Please! I can hardly bear the pain my- dren—and then the screen was dead. was not a judicious one: Mother had for- self!" She then played a video of Father's That afternoon Mother introduced us gotten that Mrs. Hoyt was in poor farewell to the family, which drew fresh to the man who was to be Father's suc- health, or perhaps she had decided not tears.. .for there, suddenly framed on our cessor in the household, and to his to care; and she seemed ignorant of the television screen, where we had never three children, who were to be our new fact that Cory, for all the innocence of her seen his image before, and could not in brothers and sister, and we shook marigold eyes and melodic voice, was our wildest fancies have imagined it, was hands shyly, in a state of mutual shock, desperately in love with one of the Nation- Father, somberly dressed, his hair in and regarded one another with wide star- al Guardsmen who patrolled the Valley thin steely bands combed wetly across ing eyes. Our new Father! Our new broth- in jeeps, authorized to shoot wild dogs the dome of his skull, and his eyes puffy, ers and sister! As Mother explained pa- and, upon certain occasions, vandals, an unnatural sheen to- his face as if it had tiently her new husband was no step- would-be arsonists, and squatters who been scoured hard. He sat stiffly erect in father but a genuine father; which were deemed a threat to the public well- a chair.with a high ornately carved meant that we were to call him "Father" being. And when Mother returned, unac- back; his fingers were gripping the at all times, and even, in our most private innermost thoughts, we were to think of ly, and as our initial attacks of nausea, di- fic had dwindled to a half-dozen diesel him as "Father": for otherwise he arrhea, and faint-headedness had trucks per day hauling their massive car- would be very hurt, and very displeased. more or less subsided, we rarely go (much of it diseased livestock And so ioo with Einar and Erastus, our thought of it any longer but tried to be bound for northern slaughterhouses) and new brothers (not stepbrothers), and grateful, as Mrs. Hoyt used to urge us, a very few passenger cars. There were Fifi, our new sister (not stepsister). that we had any drinking water at all. So cloverleafs that coiled endlessly upon Our new Father stood before us beam- it was offensive to us to see Fifi make themselves and elevated highways ing, a man of our former Father's approxi- such a face, handing the goblet of water that broke off in midair, thus as authori- mate age but heavier and more robust back to Date, and asking him how any- ties warned travelers you were in danger, than that Father, with an unusually one in his right mind could drink such- if you ventured into the countryside, of be- large head, the cranium particularly devel- spilth, Dale said angrily, "How? This is ing attacked by roaming gangs— but the oped, and small shrewd quick-darting how!" and drank the water down in a sin- rumor was that the most dangerous men eyes beneath brows of bone. He wore a gle thirsty gulp. And he and his new sis- were rogue Guardsmen who wore their fashionably tailored suit so dark as to re- ter stood staring at each other, each of uniforms inside out and preyed upon the semble an undertaker's, and sported a them trembling with passion. very people they were paid to protect. red carnation in his lapel; his black As Cory observed smiling, yet with a None of the family left the compound with- shoes shone so splendidly they might trace of resentment or envy, "It looks as out being well armed and of course the have been phosphorescent. "Hello Fa- if 'new sister' has made a conquest!" younger children no longer left at all. All ther," we murmured, hardly daring to "But what will she do," I couldn't help ask- schools, public and private, were tempo- raise our eyes to his. "Hello Father." "Hel- ing, "—if she can't drink our water?" rarily shut down. lo...." The man's jaws were elongated, the "She'll drink it," Cory said grimly. "And The most luxurious of Ihe model com- lower jaw a good inch longer than the up- she'll find it delicious, like the rest of us." munities, known to us as The Wheel- per, so that a wet malevolent ridge of Which, of course, turned out very quick- its original name was forgotten: Whisper- teeth was revealed; and, as often hap- ly to be true. ing Glades? Deer Willow?— had suffered pened in those days, a single thought so extreme a financial collapse that shot like lightning among us children, most of its services were said to be sus- from one to the other to the other to the pended, and many of its tenants had other, each of us smiling guiltily as it fled back to'the cities from which struck us: Crocodile! Only little Jori they'd fled to the Valley. (The community burst into tears when the thought ^Mother played was called The Wheel because its condo- passed into her head and after an embar- a video of Father's farewell miniums, office buildings, shops, rassed moment our new Father schools, hospitals, and crematoria to the family, stooped to pick her up in his arms and were arranged in spokes radiating out- comfort her.. .and some of us could virtu- which drew fresh tears. His ward from a single axis; and were protect- ally how the memory of our former Fa- ed'at their twenty-mile circumference not see words were slow, ther passed from her, as cruelly as if it by a visible wall-, which the Japanese ar- had been hosed out of her skull. She was halting, and faint, like the chitect who had designed it had declared three years old then, and not account- progress of a a vulgar and outmoded concept, but by able for her behavior. a force field of electricity of lethal voltage.) gut-shot deer across a field. New Father's children were tall, big- 9 Though the airport at Furnace Creek was boned, solemn, with a greenish peevish officially closed we often saw small air- cast to their skin, like many city children; craft taking off and landing (here in the the boys had inherited their father's night, heard the insectlike whine of large head and protruding crocodile their engines and spied their winking red jaws but the girl, Fifi, seventeen years old, Cory's confinement came in a time of lights, and one night when the sun was eye-catching in her beauty, with ever-increasing confusion... when there hung paralyzed at the horizon for sever- hair as mutinous as Cory's, and wide- were frequent power failures in the Val- al hours and visibility was poor though set brown eyes in which something ley, and all foods except tinned goods shot with a duplicitous sharpened clari- wolfish glimmered. were scarce, and the price of ammuni- ty there was an airplane crash in a slag- That evening certain of the boys- tion doubled, and quadrupled; and the heap area that had once been a grazing Dale, Kit, and Hewett— gathered close sky by both day and night was criss- pasture for our cows, and some of the old- around Fifi, telling her wild tales of the Val- crossed by the contrails of unmarked er boys insisted upon going out to inves- ley, how we had to protect ourselves bombers in a design both eerie and beau- tigate. ..returning with sober, stricken with rifles and shotguns from trespassers, tiful, like the web of agigantic spider. By faces, and liltie to say of the sights they and how there was a resurgence of this time construction in most parts of the had seen except they wished they had rats and other rodents on the farm, as a Valley had been halted, temporarily or not seen them. Miles away in the foothills consequence of so much excavation in indefinitely: Parf-completed houses and were mysterious encampments, some of the countryside, and these tales, silly as high-rise office buildings punctuated the them mere camps, in which people they were, and exaggerated, made the landscape; some were mere concrete lived and slept on the ground, others de- girl shudder and giggle and lean toward foundations upon which girders had liberately if crudely erected villages the boys as if she were in need of their been erected, like exposed bone. The like those once displayed in museums as protection. And when Dale hurried off to lovely "Mirror Tower"— as we children being the habitations of Native American get Fifi a goblet of ice water— at her re- called it: It must have had a real name- peoples. ..the names of these "peoples" quest—she took the glass from his fingers was a two-hundred-story patchwork of long since forgotten. These were rumored and lifted it prissily to the light to exam- interlocking slots of reflecting glass to be unauthorized seltlements of city ine its contents, asking, "Is this water with a pale turquoise tint, and where its dwellers who had fled their cities at Ihe pure? Is it safe to drink?" It was true, our elegant surface had once mirrored time of the general urban collapse, as water was sometimes strangely efferves- scenes of sparkling beauty there was well as former ranchers and their de- cent, and tasted of rust; after a heavy rain- now, from day to day, virtually nothing: scendants, and various wanderers and fall there were likely to be tiny red wrig- a sky like soiled cotton batting, smolder- evicted persons, criminals, the menially gly things in it, like animated tails; so we ing slag heaps, fantastic burdocks and ill, and victims of contagious diseases... all had learned not to examine it too close- thistles grown to the height of trees. Traf- of these officially designated outlaw par- so OMNI ties who were subject to harsh treatment "bastard child," as Mother tearfully had become emaciated. Mother herself by the Guardsmen, for the region was called it. (Though allowing that the infant's was frequently ill, with flaming rashes, now under martial law, and only within parentage was no fault of its own.) Fit respiratory illnesses, intestinal upsets, compounds maintained by government- punishment, Mother sard, that Cory's bone aches, uncertain vision; like most registered property owners and heads breasts yielded milk so grudgingly, and of us she was plagued with ticks— the of families were civil rights, to a degree, what milk they did yield was frequently smallest species of deer tick, which still operative. Eagerly, we scanned the threaded with blood, fit punishment for could burrow into the skin, particularly in- Valley for signs of life, passing among us her daughter's "sluttish" behavior.. .but to the scalp, unnoticed, thereto do its dam- a pair of binoculars like forbidden treas- the family's luck held and one day the old- age, and after weeks drop off, to be ure whose original owner we could not re- er boys returned from a' hunting expedi- found on the floor, swollen with blood, call—though Cory believed this person, tion with a dairy cow.. .a beautiful black- black, shiny, about the size and appar- an adult male, had lived with us before and-white marbled animal very like the ent texture of a watermelon seed, decep- Father's time, and had been good to us. kind, years ago, or was it only months tive to the eye. By degrees Mother had But not even Cor/ could remember his ago, we ourselves had owned. The cow shrunk to a height of about four feet name. Cory's baby was born shortly af- supplied us with sweet, fresh, reason- eight inches, very unlike the statuesque ter the funerals of two of the younger chil- ably pure milk, thus saving Cory's bas- beauty of certain old photographs; with dren, who had died of violent flulike illness- tard infant's life, as Mother said— "for what- stark white matted hair, and pale silvery es, and of Uncle Darrah, who had died ever that life is worth." gray eyes as keen and suspicious as ev- of shotgun wounds while driving his pick- Though she was occupied with house- er, and a voice so hard, harsh, brassy, ' up truck in the Valley; but this, we were hold tasks, and often with emergency sit- and penetrating, a shout from her had the assured by Mother and Father, was uations, Mother seemed obsessed power to paralyze any of us where we mere coincidence, and not to be taken with ferreting out the identity of Cory's in- stood... though we knew or believed our- as a sign. One by one we were led into fant's father; Cory's secret lover, as Moth- selves safely hidden from her by a wall, the attic room set aside for Cory to er called him with a bitter twist of her or more than a single wall. Even the el- stare in astonishment at the puppy- lips. Yet it seemed to give her a prideful dest of her sons, Kit, Hewett, Dale, tall sized, red-faced, squalling, yet so won- sort of pleasure that her eldest daughter ragged-bearded men who absented them- derfully alive creature...with its large oval had not only had a secret lover at one selves from the compound for days at a soft-looking head, its wizened angry fea- time in her life (the baby being irrefut- stretch, were intimidated by Mother's au- tures, its unblemished skin. Mother had able proof of this) but had one still— de- thority, and, like poor Cory, shrank in found a cradle in the storage barn for the spite the fact that no lover had stepped guilty submission before her. Again and baby, a white wicker antique dating forward to claim the baby, or the baby's again Mother interrogated Cory, "Who back to the previous century, perhaps a mother; and that Cory, once the prettiest is your secret lover? Why are you so cradle she herself had used though she of the girls, was now disfigured by skin ashamed of him?" and Cory insisted she could not remember it, nor could any of rashes covering most of her body, And did not know who her lover was, or us, her children, recall having slept in it; since her' pregnancy her lower body re- coujd not remember— "Even if I see his a piece of furniture too good for Cory's mained bloated while her upper body face sometimes, in my sleep, I can't re- member his name. Or who he was. Or who he claimed to be." Yet Mother continued her investigation, risking Father's displeasure in so ruthless- ly questioning all males with whom she came into contact, not excluding Cory's cousins and uncles and even Cory's own brothers! —even those ravaged men and boys who made their homes, so to speak, in the drainage pipes beyond the compound, and whose services the fam- ily sometimes enlisted in times of emer- gency. But no one confessed; no one acknowledged Cory's baby as his. And one day when Cory lay-ill upstairs in her attic room and I was entrusted with car- ing for the baby, feeding it from a bottle, in the kitchen, Mother came into the room with a look of such determination I felt terror for the baby, and hugged it to my bosom, and Mother said, "Give me the bastard, girl," and I said, "No Moth- er, don't make me," and Mother said, "Are you disobeying me? Give me the bastard," and I said, backing away, "No Mother, Cory's baby belongs to Cory, and it isn't a bastard." Mother advanced upon me, furious; her eyes whitely rimmed and her fingers— ah, what talons they had become!— outstretched; her mouth twisting, working, distending itself— and I saw that in the midst of her passion she was forgetting what she meant to do, and that this might save Cory's baby. For " "Let's throw some more money at it. often in those days when the family had little to eat except worm-riddled apples from the old orchard, and stunted black- her in her attic bed, her eyes opened comfort her, she shrank.from him in re- ened potatoes, and such wild game (or wide and her pale mouth contorted, the pugnance. Nor would she allow Father wildlife) as the boys could hunt down, we bedclothes soaked in blood.. .and or any male to come near. Sometimes often forgot what we were doing in the when in horror Lona drew the sheet away she crawled into my bed and hugged me very act of doing it; and in the midst of she saw that Cory's breasts had been part- in her cold bone-thin arms. "What I like speaking we might forget the words we ly devoured, and her chest cavity ex- best," she whispered "is the black meant to speak, for instance water, rain- posed; she must have been attacked in waves that splash over us, at night." And bow, grief, love, filth, God, deer tick... the night by rats, and had been too my heart was so swollen with emotion, I and Father, who had become somber- weak or too terrified to call for help. Yet could not say no, or Oh yes. minded with the onset of age, worried her baby was sleeping only a few feet above all that as a family we might one away in its antique cradle, untouched, For suddenly we had taken up music. day lose all sense of ourselves as a fam- sunk to that most profound and enviable In the evenings by kerosene lamp. In the ily should we forget, collectively, and in level of sleep at which organic matter worst, the most nightmarish of times. We the same moment, the sacred word family. seems about to pass over again into the played such musical instruments as • And indeed Mother was forgetting. inorganic. The household rats with fell into our hands discovered here and And indeed within the space of less their glittering amaranthine eyes and there in the house, or by way of strang- than thirty seconds she had forgotten. stiff hairless tails had spared it!— had ers at our gate desperate to barter any- She stared at the living thing, the quiver- missed it entirely! thing in their possession for food. Kit ing palpitating creature in my arms, "Lona snatched up the baby and ran took up the violin doubtfully at first and with its soft flat shallow face, its tiny re- screaming downstairs for help; and so then with growing joy, for, it seemed, he cessed eyes, its mere holes for nostrils, fierce was she in possession she could had musical talent! — practicing for above all its small pursed mouth set scarcely be forced to surrender the hours on the beautiful though badly scar- like a manta ray's in its shallow face, and sleepy infant to the rest of us: Her fingers ified old violin that had once belonged to could not, simply could not, recall the had to be pried open. In a dazed gloat- Grandfather (so we surmised: One of word baby; or infant; or Cory's bastard. ing voice she said, "It is my baby, it is Lo- Grandfather's portraits showed him as a And shortly afterward there was a com- na's baby now." Father sharply rebuked child of eleven or twelve posed with the motion of some kind outside, apparent- her: "It is the family's baby now." identical violin, then luminously gleaming, ly rather close to the compound gate, and tucked under his chin); Jori took up the with a sound of gunfire, familiar enough yet al- And Fif i too had a baby; or, rather, piccolo, which she shared Vega; ways jarring when unexpected, and Moth- writhed and screamed in agony for a day Hewett took up the drums, Dale the cym- er hurried out to investigate. And Cory's and a night, before giving birth to a pite- bals, Einar the oboe, Fifi the piano.. .and baby continued to suck hungrily at the bot- ous undersized creature that lived for on- the rest of us sang, sang our hearts out, tle's frayed rubber nipple and all was ly a few minutes. Poor sister! — in the our collective voices sometimes frail as safe for the time being. weeks that followed only our musical eve- straws through which a rough careless But Cory, poor Cory, died a few days nings, at which she excelled, gave her sol- wind blew but at other times, and always later: Early one morning Lona discovered ace. If Dale tried to touch her, let alone unpredictably, so harmonious, so strong, so commanding, our hearts beat hard in unquestioning love of one an- other and of any fate that might befall us. We sang after Mother's death and we when feculent wind blew from the HIS sang a /"fH/ffS Valley day after day bearing the odor of PERSONAL decomposing flesh and we sang, though our noses and throats filled with \C6MPu-rep. II (I d ji smoke, when fires raged in the dry wood- ' J land areas to the west, and then too a re- - lentless wind blew upon us barricaded I-M< in our stone house atop a high hill, foj,r winds from several directions they seemed, intent upon seeking us out, car- rying sparks to our sanctuary, destroying us in a paroxysm of fire as others, human and beast, were being destroyed shriek- ing in pain and terror.. .and how else for us to endure such odors, such sights, such sounds than to take up our instru- ments and play them, and sing, and sing and sing and sing until our throats were raw, how else. Yet it became a time of joy and even feasting, since the cow was dying in any case and might as well be quickly slaugh- tered, when Father brought his new wife home to meet us: New Mother some of us called her, or Young Mother, and Old Mother that fierce stooped wild- eyed did woman was forgotten, the strangeness of her death lingering only in whispers for had she like Cory died of household rats? had she like Erastus grown pimples, then boils, then tumors over her entire body, swelling bulbs of r flesh that drained away life? had she a:ion Young Mothe addressed herself to with an c tei mmgly bone- take in the numerous wounds on her er's reasoning, anc now by Lena's, now : drowned in the cistern, had she died of at once, No matter Lona s jealous love of less; the hue of bread dough, and hair- breasts, belly, and thighs.) by Father, who spoke on behalf of Moth- thirst malnutrition locked :-:-oak:-;d croae Afncl" Moiner and away in a the baby, Young Mother declared herself less. As its small eyes lacked an iris, be- As the family had a custom of debat- er, or by Hewett, who spoke on behalf of dropped on distant of the "oraciicai-minded": room house, had she For why otherwise ing on'.. rely white, it was believed to be ing issues, in order that all divergent opin- Lona; or by Father, whose milky eyes them. We then nailed a cover in place; died of infection, of heartbreak, of her own had Father brought her to this household blind; its nose was but a rudimentary ions might be honored, for instance gave him an air of patrician distinction. and, as Mother said, her color warmly rage, of Father's steely fingers closing but to reform it and give hope? She pair of nostrils, mere holes in the center should we pay the exorbitant price a cow and fair-mindedness, who spoke on be- flushed and her breath coming fast, .or about her neck.. had she not died at could not comprehend, she said, how of its face; its fishlike mouth was decep- or a she-goat now commanded, or half of Lona! The issue raged, and sub- "There— it is entirely out of our hands." all but simply into oblivion, passed as the and why an extra mouth, and in this tive in that it seemed to possess its own should the boys be empowered to ac- sided, and raged again, and Mother black waves splashed over her, and case not only a useless but perhaps even intelligence, being ideally formed, not for quire one of these beasts however they dared not pgt her power to the vote for And then one day it was spring. And Young Mother stepped forward smiling a dangerous mouth, could be tolerated human speech, but for seizing, sucking, could, for instance should we make an fear that Lona would prevail against her. Kit led a she-goat proudly into the kitch- to place...?' take her Young Mother was in a time of near famine, in violation of cer- and chewing. Though it had at best on- attempt to feed starving men, women, Father acknowledged that however we en, her bags primed with milk, swollen stout hearty-faced, plumply grateful and pretty tain government edicts as she under- .y a cartilaginous skeleton it did boast two and children who gathered outside our felt about the baby it was our flesh and pink dugs leaking milk! How we about the eyes cheeks, her color of were with child, af- and a stood them. "Drastic remedies in dras- fully formed rows of tiny needie-shs.'p fence, even if it was with food unfit for the blood presumably, and embodied for us were, those us who rich earthen hue, her breasts capacious life, season, dur- tic times," Young Mother said. Lona teeth, which it was not shy of using, par- family's own consumption— so naturally the great insoluble mystery of .."its ter the privations of so long a as large balloons filled to liq- I bursting with said, "I will give it my food. will protect ticularly when ravenous for food; and it the issue of Cory's baby was taken up soul bounded by its skull and its destiny ing which certain words had slipped uid, off and she gave a hot intoxicating it with my life." And Young Mother simply was often ravenous. At such times it too, and threatened to split the family in- no more problematic than the thin from our memories, for instance she- smell of nutmeg, and small slippery repeated, smiling, her warm brown groped its way around the house by in- to two warring sides. For her part Moth- tubes that connect its mouth and its anus. goal, and milk, and as we realized, rain- names in a luxury of sighing, rainbow appeared, or daned when eyes easing like a caress over us all, stinct, sniffing and quivering, and if by er argued persuasively that the baby was Who are we to judge!" bow, for the too re- yawning, and stretching, she lifted wiih "Drastic remedies in drastic times." chance it was drawn by the heat of worthless, repulsive, and might one day Yet Mother had her way, as slyboots appeared, shimmering and translucent beringed hands the fire- heavy mass of red- There were those of us who loved Cory's your blood to your bed it would burrow be dangerous— not guessing that it had Mother was always to have her way.. .one across the Valley. In the ravaged russet hair that hung between her shoul- baby and felt an unreasoned joy in its against you beneath the covers, and already proved dangerous, indeed; and morning soliciting the help of several of p. a. n was a sea of fresh green shoots and der blades, and fixed upon us her very existence, for it was flesh of our nudge, and nuzzle, and begin like any for her part Lona argued persuasively us, who were sworn to secrecy, and de- in the sky enormous dimpled clouds and warm moist i,noln. Motherl" begging would she hug us, ly the males, who seemed fearful of it, a '':[ ii.=:le's breasts.. .and if not stopped in ing, a member of the family, one of us. old bed, Mother led the baby out of the Father had passed away but Mother had in would she fold us those plump arms, mine whether it or it , was male or female, weighed now about forty pounds; but it er to undress in Mother's presence for nomenon that many of us changed our rain barrel empty except for a wriggling ly and declaring the year 1 and begin- both, or neither; and this household vex- was soft as a slug is soft, or an oyster; fear that Mother's sharp eye would minds repeatedly, now swayed by Moth- mass of half-grown baby rats that ning Timeanew.DO ^m K/^ m &&:$. Tis the season for the purist. Toying with affections can wound eternaf souls, but a gesture of love can bring one back to life THE TELLTALE HEART PAINTINGS BY GIL BRUVEL II hingshint weren't the same in the abandoned toy chest, especially for (he little doll. She stood sullen and frail, "No, that's not it," she sighed. The messenger continued to read aloud from the scroll, but she wasn't listening. Her memory had numbed: She wasn't sure she'd recognize the descrip- tion of her heart now. It was long ago thai she was so desperately needed, so unconditionally loved, and she'd never thought twice aboul giving the child her heart. After all, their devotion to each other had brought her to life. But now she was dying. Nothing consoled her, and nothing could restore her enchanted spirit. 6/n all the heavens' wonder, there must be love3 Ihe otherc toys didn't understand. They were merely playthings whose existence consisted of shallow amusement. They could continue their make-believe. But what she had shared with the child was special. It was she who went on family picnics and scared away the nighttime ' beasts, The others were simple distractions. Even so, they cared for the doll. The young fool who perpetually ga2ed at the stars tried to console her. "In all the heavens' wonder, there musi be love. Come see." he said, But she never looked up. The Nurturer just smiled, She knew that the doll's sparkle would soon return. /\ikindk old playmate offered her flow- ers. "You used to love ihe earths beauty." he said. Apologizing gently, she an- swered. "I'm sorry, it's just that I can't love anything anymore," and closed her eyes. A clever pixie stood quietly observing (he doll wasiing away. Usually he didn't like to mix with Ihe toys, bul he'd missed the doll's laughter. So one night he stole away and reeled in one of the human's pets. "Look!" he said. "I've found your heart." The doll burst into tears, "How cruel, the child will be so sad!" and with that, she felt her heart beat. The Nurlurer just smiled. —Nina GuccioneDQ 6/'m sorry. . . . I just can't love anything anymore^ :: A busy executive belatedly realizes he's about to lose his teenage daughter, and only desperate measures can save her TOMORROWS CHI LD BY LISA MASON IheI he cop said they found Turner's daughter, but she wasn't at the Palo Alto PD, she was in Emergency at Stanford Medical. It was bad. Even over the phone the cop couldn't conceal the anguish in his voice. Real bad. Turner told his driver to take the Rolls right up to the Emergency entrance. Three car-accident victims were also coming through, twisted iimbs spelling out some terrible omen There had been other hospitals, other calls from Emergency, and Turner had come for her. From the boardroom, making hasty exits from impor- tant meetings, he had always come. Anger and displeasure with her had long ago replaced most PAINTING BY ARMODIO of the worry. He thought of himself, self- He had g ven her everything a man of old with a mangled hand. At nine, ten, righteously. as n.ihill.nc; us fatherly duties his wealth could give an only daughter. and eleven her slim, tanned body bore at at moments like Ihese. He-wondered what He contemplated the images of her like one time or another a frightening array of crazy prank she'd pulled this time. fingering a rosary, found them cool and broken bones: a rib, both forearms, the But nothing could have prepared smooth as marble. Lifeless. Revealing left knee once, the left ankle twice. Turner for what had happened to Angela. nothing, How had she turned into such a And at thirteen. At thirteen, a tear- The crisp, mottled thing with no fingers rotten fifteen-year-old? stained face on the videophone. A young or loes or recognizable face lay packed He and Jeanine knew as much about woman with a wound that wouldn't heal. in ice water beneath a plastic tent. A web proper child rearing as any other mod- But the young woman's father was a of tubes was somehow keeping the alien- ern, enlightened parents. They had striv- busy, important man, and he was already looking body alive. en to give Angela quality time and a sense displeased with her, with her reckless- Ifa//vemadeany sense. of order in her life. They had carefully re- ness. He couldn't understand her pain. Jeanine, recovering Irom her faint in the viewed the nannies, the teachers, the When he flew to Geneva and found out lobby, began a hysterical chant, "How schools. They discussed her future, the what crazy prank she'd pulled this time, could she do this? How could she do bright hopes they had for her. he'd shouted at her, humiliated her, leav- this?" until Turner told herto shut up. Ever Perhaps Jeanine should have been ing her in the hands of strangers. the obedient wife, she did. paying more attention. She was the That was when she started to change, "Well?" Turner Turner realized, confronted an ash- when she slipped en doctor. completely out of Angela had sec- his control. ond- and third-de- He came to see gree burns on her for Christmas; more than ninety she refused to percent of her say a word. He body. They found sent a diamond her in some East pendant for her Palo Alto shooting fourteenth birthday; gallery. The bed- she sent the pack- room had gone up age back to him like a torch. She unopened. Every and her hoodlum meeting became boyfriend had tainted with rage. been cooking up His rage; her rage, a methysynthetic too, was some- known on the street thing new. There as blue moon. was an abortion The boyfriend and dismissal from hadn't made it. boarding school. Turner assem- She came back bled these facts in from Europe with an orderly fashion needle tracks in and filed them her arms. neatly in his mind He turned the under an incom- car onto 1-35 to prononsible head- Half Moon Bay. A ing called Angela. gorgeous, crystal- He bent over the line California night tent. Fury filled him. descended. Stars "Angela," he winked on. Venus said. "You dumb and Mars aligned little bitch. I could with a crescent kill you for this." moon. Turner had "Mr. Turner," the always held order ashen doctor said. "She's not expected mother, after all. One or two less fashion in the highest regard. Now, as Angela lay to live through the night." shows or parties. dying, the inexorable order of nature filled He didn't want to in front of all those Turner himself had never had much him with disgust and loathing. strangers, but Turner began to cry. spare time, especially in the last ten years. He had last seen Angela a month ago. CEO of Landover Industries, he worked She showed up at the annual Found- He had his driver take Jeanine home eighty-hour weeks for an eight-figure sal- ing Day party for Landover Industries. A in the Rolls, and Turner took her ary. Landover was the leading producer tent had been erected behind Turner's Mercedes. He turned the car west, to the of jet aircraft and rocketry for the U.S. Air house. An extra staff of thirty and a band sea. and drove into the sun. He felt a Force, as well as several allied powers, had been hired. News photographers and strange detachment from his physical self, and monopolized the space shuttle busi- several important Air Force officials were as though his body was barely there. ness. When he had taken a moment to present. Her cornsilk hair was peculiarly Like Angela's body. consider his pace, his self-sacrifice, he cut and shaved and greased into some Angela. He remembered a little girl with told himself his career, the house, the monstrous topknot dyed blue. Her kohl- cornsilk hair who once upon a time had portfolio— everything was for her. rimmed eyes were sardonic. She brought adored her daddy. Angela in ballet class, Now he saw it all as so much shit. her hoodlum boyfriend, who had dressed _ - in her Swiss boarding school frock, Angela was always a wild child, daring tor the occasion in spiked wristbands, tanned nut brown at St. Croix, astride her the world to crush her. A beautiful baby sonify black leather pants, and little else. Arabian mare. with a.bruised forehead. An elfin five-year- She wore a Band-Aid of a skirt, fishnet 96 OMNI stockings visibly held up with a garter belt, over her coccyx. reports, but he hadn't given the matter and a black leather jacket emblazoned "Come on, little Angel Ass," Turner much thought. He was a narrowly fo- on the back angel ass. whispered. cused man, especially when the object "How dare you show up here looking "Excuse me?" Dr. Bryant said. of his concentration was of critical im- like a hooker," he said. He rang off. portance. The security of the United "I'd rather ball than make bombs," At six-thirty Turner's vice-president of States and several of her allies had taken she said. R&D arrived to pay his respects. A gaunt, precedence. Bu: ho did remember. "Go upstairs and wash your face." gray man with an intensity of purpose that "Crash landing, wasn't it?" Turner said. "Screw you." had chiseled both his. face and his ca- "Out in the desert." He seized her arm, bent her over his reer, he bore yet another funereal a'r- "Right," Richardson said. "The navi- knee, and whacked her on the butt. rangement. gators, whoever they were, were dead. She screamed at him, "Fucking baby 'jack," Don Richardson said and stiffly Fort Worth got their remains. The rest of killer!" Right in front of the deputy Air Force shook Turner's hand. "Such a beautiful the artifacts and remains of the ship, or chief lieutenant general. daughter. We are all so sorry." whatever it was, were turned over to us. 'Turner had the butler and the driver "She's not dead yet, Don. Get a space Courtesy of the Air Force. We've been throw her and the boyfriend out until the shuttle popped ' m taking her to the burn doing a limited amount of examination end of his parly. She didn't come back. center at Johns Hopkins." and testing. Not nearly as much as I'd like She disappeared with two thousand in Richardson had been an aggressive to be doing." cash stolen from her father's dresser advocate ol a civilian-managed space In spite of Angela, Turner felt a spark drawer and her mother's ruby ring. shuttle program when NASA had bun- of curiosity. "And?" He reached Route 1, Fog obscured the glee another launch. Turner never forgot Richardson showed him two long ta- treacherous cliffside road. who had had this vision of such a profit- bles on which the artitacts had been laid He could see the whole Founding Day able future. out and labeled. There was the twisted incident now. Clearly. Objectively. As "Why Johns Hopkins?" Richardson hulk of the crashed craft. though he had been someone else act- There were numerous strips and ing out the part of himself. scraps and small beams of an extremely God, she knew how to push his but- light material that looked and felt like balsa tons. Baby killer, right. And of course he wood. Tests by Landover staff con- did a knee jerk, just like she wanted. What cluded these would not burn, even at ex- '•There was so a fool he was. She was still reaching oul tremely high i.emoeratures. to him. The gorgeous little bitch. Even the much he wanted to explain There were several long rolls of a Air Force brass was trying to look up her brown, corrugated, parchmentlike ma- to her, sO'much skirt. Did her hoodlum friends really call lerial that was as light as tissue paper but her Angel Ass? he wanted to ask her. Ail could be torn only with great force. . He was laughing. He was crying. He he wanted There was a large quantity of odd- was laughing. shaped metal pjeces. The metal looked was another chance to be There was so much he wanted to ex- as thin as foil but could be bent or dented plain to her. There was so much he her father. only with the impact of a twenty-pound wanted to ask her. How did she describe sledgehammer, after which the metal re- He would not let her dle$ him to her girlfriends 7 Did she have any sumed its original shape. girlfriends? The missed birthdays, the lost Scattered here and there overthe sur- years. She was like a stranger to him. face of all these materials were bizarre He had never meant to hurt her. Now hieroglyphics thai corresponded to no all he wanted was another chance to be alphabet or code known on Earth. Sev- herfather. demanded. "Stanford has one of the fin- eral scolls of a lighter but still incredibly He would not let her die. est burn centers in the world." tough parchrne.nr ocniared :housands of "One of isn't good enough." the glyphs. Turner got back to Palo Alto and the "Dr. Margaret Bryant is the best," Rich- Richardson's staff had nol been able corporate headquarters of Landover In- ardson said. "Besides, we can't prep a lo decipher their meaning. dustries at five-thirty a.m. He called Stan- space shuttle overnight. Not even for you. But even extraterrestrial artifacts could ford Medical, got one Dr. Bryant, a burn Jack Listen. Jeanine says you were gone not hold Turner's interest for long. He specialist in charge of Angela. all night." smiled wearily, clapping Richardson on Miraculously, she was alive. "Driving," Turner said. the shoulder. But she was still on the critical list. "Driven, I'd say. You look terrible. Don't "Thanks for showing me," he said and Bryant explained that she was vulnera- blame yourself, Jack. Come with me. I've turned to go. ble to the most minor infection. Her skin, got something interesting to show you. Richardson stopped him. "This isn't one of the largest organs of the body and Take your mind Off things." why I brought you here, Jack. There's the prin isease. had "Oh, no. I've got some business to take more." been virtually destroyed. And because care of here. Then I'm going to the hos- Hetookoutasmall, perfectly oval, me- the skin also maintains internal body pital." tallic blue box. At the touch of a spring temperature, hypothermia threatened. "This won'; iax.e cng." Richardson said. the top gracefu'.y flapped open like a Not to mention the terrible pain. The "I think you'll find it very interesting. Come sapphire w.ng Bottles, packets, jars, and worst trauma imaginable that could be on, Jack." smaller boxes nestled within, survived, destruction of the skin 'All right," said, but didn't "This," said, holding : Angela he he know Richardson up a had survived. Almost every exterior nerve how he could not blame himself. pea : escent vial, "is good old isopropyl ending was exposed. She was drugged They strode through hushed corridors alcohol." He reached for another vial. up beyond the wildest punk dream. The of chrome and glass. Uniformed security "Tincture of opium. And this is curare, : drug therapy .ise i posed life-threatening guards bore weapons. They arrived al last genuine Brazilian extraction. These, on complications. Her heart could stop; her at the R&D labs of Landover Industries the other hand"—he produced a stop- lungs might fail. Dr. Bryant and her slafl "Remember the UFO Ihey found in New pered tube— conta n rig silvery Globules Ike planned to begin taking tiny grafts from Mexico ten years ago 9 " Richardson said. mercury "are literally out of this world. a small, healthy portion of skin remaining Turner knew of it, had seen photos and And so is this." 98 OMNI .-•. 1 ''':-' ,i axiic -. • '-v./t'LincK'C veronal He handed Turner a roll of something room with Richardson. Turner wandered ; - that looked like nothing so much as about the pale green halls of the Stanford the bandage, but bacteria and other po- household plastic wrap. He tore off a burn center, peering at recovering pa- tentially noxious fluids from the external will his environment could not penetrate. piece and handed it to Turner. tients as though he could daugh- physiological "What is it?" ter's recovery by absorbing their images. Theoretically the body's 'Jack," Richardson said, barely able to After an interminable hour, the doctor fluid could be viably maintained over the be_avoided. Epi- conceal the excitement in his voice. "It's and the astrophysicist reported back. wound. Eschar would proliferate and a bandage." "I still think this is crazy," she said. "But thelial cells could easily your Mr. Richardson has given me rea- migrate across the wound's moist sur- Dr. Margaret Bryant had bloodshol son to consider the crazy." face. Nerve endings would be bathed in eyes. She was not humorless, but she "Why9" Turner said. the fluid, eliminating pain. The awful summarily fired anyone on her staff who The difficult healing of burn wounds, scarring might, just might, be minimized. referred to her patients as crispy critters. she explained, is always thwarted by "Why haven't you burn specialists She was not a brittle thinker, but she conventional therapy: the dry wound thought of this before?" Turner said, out- balked at Turner's outlandish proposal healing method. The natural healing raged. - and didn't seem likely to budge. process depends upon a maintenance "We humble Earthlings know about the soup of moist wound healing method," Dr. Bryant "It's crazy," she said. of serous exudate— plasma, a "We've done preliminary tests," Rich- white blood cells. said acidly. "But plastic wrap on this ardson said. But with conventional gauze band- planet and Silastic sheeting have pro- "On what? Rats? Monkeys?" ages the serous exudate desiccates over duced unacceptably high rates of infec- "The results are amazing. Dr. Bryant," the wound area, forming eschar, a su- tion. Have you ever seen gangrene, Richardson said. perhard scab. The tissue beneath the es- Turner? Gangrene is a risk even third -de- "Bryant," Turner said. "Your state-of-the- char, and the inner epithelial lining, de- grees don't want to bet against." art techniques for severe burn victims hydrate as well. The healing epithelial "Our in-house tests showed virtually no cannot even guarantee my daughter will cells must move downward. The wound gangrene," Richardson pointed out. willing bet survive for the next twenty-four hours." deepens. Nerve endings become ex- "Try it," Turner said. "I'm lo "Yes. No one is sorrier than me, Mr. posed, become desiccated also, and her life on it." Turner," activate traumatic neural response. There "I want a written disclaimer of any and "Will you at least examine these test is infection, terrible pain. Scarring thai all medical malpractice in any form what- far Dr. Bryant said. results?" Richardson said. "See if they brands lor life, creating wounds below soever," make sense?" skin depth that never heal. "Hell, you've got it," Turner said. alien quite different "Look at the bandage, Bryant. I need The bandagawas Angela's led toes. They to talk to my daughter again." from gauze. It was made of a superfine They started on to lose them anyway. "I will not be bullied, Mr. Turner." plastic that was moisture-vapor perme- expected her This meant gases moisture va- Gauze and antibiotic dressing were , But Dr. Bryant went to a conference able. and gently unstuck /ram the eschar and re- moved. The wound was cleansed of the particulate matter from the very protec- tive material that had covered it, which meant a dislodging of the small progress made. A mild infection had also devel- oped, an angry yellow film of putrefac- tion. This also had to be cleansed. Unconscious beneath a vision-soaked blanket of morphine, still Angela writhed. Her autonomic system protested. Her foot jiggled, seeking escape from the pain- giving hands. Dr. Bryant took and placed a small skin graft, set the alien bandage in place. A tenth the thickness of 'household plastic wrap, the bandage floated down and lightly wrapped around the area. The edges adhered. At once serous exudate pooled be- neath the translucent surface of the bandage. Angela's foot stopped jiggling. Turner set up a desk, PC with modem, five-channel phone. Dictaphone, and cot outside Angela's private room, Jeanine seemed puzzled, then an- noyed, by this sudden display of devo- tion lo their daughter. Since the first call from Emergency, she had not come to the hospital. But then, he and Jeanine had left their daughter before. On the night of the Black and White Ball, the beautiful baby was left in a gravitrocradle, a gizmo Turner bought on a whim. The servants in his employ at the time were down- stairs, cooking blue moon around the pool. Instead of quieting the baby's rest- lessness, ihe artificial ntehgence in the get final rosulla'"-' Something definite?" qrowr back Four otk. nai ess nubs, as cradle matched the baby's tantrum at "I don't want to witness another chang- chubby as cherubs. The little toe had being lefl alone and finally tossed her to ing of her gauze," Turner said. "The way apparently atrophied. But Turner didn't the floor. you have to lear her. The pain you put her care. They hadn't expected her to have still all. That was the nrst emergency ward, the Ihrough. The infection. Bryant. I could any toes at first bruise, and Turner was there. lose her because of some petty infection, "Incredible." Dr. Bryant said, examin- At five, the elfin beauty stuck her hand and you know it." ing the delicajely s-=.n-iec appendages. into a slinkybot's triple jaws. She was not "Yes. Turner. You don't need to tell me." "The subcutaneous tissue was so radi- a stupid child; she tested in the upper "It's savage. It's primitive. Get the gauze cally destroyed that most burn victims as two percent. This clumsiness ol hers, this off her. Bryant. All of it. Now." traumatized as Angela face terrible, vir- carelessness, was more disturbing to For once Dr. Bryant was quick, even tually irreparable scarring." Turner than he could aceountfor. He had cheerful, "Account for this, then." jusl finalized the most lucrative space Angela was soon wrapped head to toe "Well, Turner, I suspect the bandage shuttle contracts Landcver nad ever won, in the alien bandage. Pools of healing fluid roc caies leathy cells, once they are es- and he had missed Parents' Day at An- formed, cushioning her. tablished, and actually rebuilds tissue." gela's kindergarten. But again he came Beneath the swathe across Ihe lower She gave him a penetrating look. "You to her bedside when she needed him. half of her ruined face, Angela smiled. are salistied with this healing?" 7 " Then she gal- 'Aren't you "But the little toe. loped into a fence Gone." too high for her and ex- the mare; careened "She wasn't pected to have any an illegal ihree- wheelie over a toes at all." "Yes." Dr. Bryant sand dune at Palm sighed. "By God, Beach; dove into Happy Turner, if we could rocks at Acapuco only 'ooroduce this and skied off the Codorniu stuff. Tinker with it marked trail at As- a bit." pen. And finally re- ceived a wound Year! "The artifacts are still classified top that would not heal secret," Turner in Geneva. How could he have said. "Richardson known how much couldn't possibly release for she hurt? them your general use. Turner main- But I'll see what I tained an hourly can do." called Rich- watch with Dr. Bry- He called ant, They agreed ardson, who Air Force. After lo remove the ban- the some persuasion dage at once if anything strange the Air Force de- classified the began to happen. ban- After twenty- lour dage, and the ban- hours they gath- dage only, for ci- ered anxiously at Uncork an Occasion. vilian experimenta- Angela's bodsoo tion, with the cave- The serous exu- at thai the source date had become Vintage methode champenoise, since 1872. ot the rial fin. milky, not neces- must never be re- sarily cause for vealed. alarm. There was This was the first no apparent infec- act Turner had un- tion or rejection, which would have been Within the next twenty-four hours An- dertaken in many years that did not yield indicated by a greenish-yellow discolor- gela was taken off the critical list. Be- Landover Industries a profit ation or bad odor. cause her exposed nerves were bathed But the fluid had gained too much in her body's natural healing fluids, she Angela healed. volume benealh the bandage. Dr. Bry- registered considerably lees pain. She The pools of fluid nurtured healthy, fine ant decided to remove it and dram. smiled, made cooing sounds, even gig- layers of new skin. Her fingers restored, The tip of Angela's foot was moist and gled twice. The morphine was dramati- a bit thin, overlong. and nailless, it was milky white with what looked like a layer cally reduced. true; and again, the fifth digit atrophied of finely-ground. curds. Jeanine called the hospital once, like her little toes had. But she was smooth "Well?" Turner said. The raw, curdled promising to come for a visit, but didn't and scar-free. flesh and slicked bones were accusa- show up. When Turner called the house Againsl Turner's wishes Jeanine went tions oi his fatherly failure. she was out. to Geneva lor a long weekend with one "She's healing," Dr. Bryant said. "She's Dr. Bryant discovered that the longer of her dandyish girlfriends. The gfrlfi lend healing overnight!" the -irst aopi cat or was left on, the more wore a black Borsalino and carried a His relief was like an orgasm. "Then quickly the epithelial layer reconstituted brass-knobbed cane. lake the rest of that goddamn gauze off. itself and dermal proliferation began. Turner saw his daughter daily. He could Bandage her up. All of her." Turner himself, made the mind-ocgglina not remember when he'd seen so much "Don't you think we should wait until we discovery that his daughter's toes had of her. Years, ago, perhaps, before she'd — vanished to London, St. Croix. Geneva. Turner struck her across her shapely, Angela's wing. Her father -would attend to He logged in his twelve-hour days for rouged cheek. He had never hit a wom- all her needs. Landover Industries in his hgged-up of- an's face in his life. He took the Rolls, Jeanine installed hersell and the dan- fice. The company was preparing to drove thirty miles north through the noon dyish girlfriend in the St. Croix beach launch another series of space shuttles rush hour to San Francisco. When a beat- house. The girlfriend had taken to wear- with military and industrial applicalions. up Cadillac cut into his braking distance, ing black leather pants, spiked wrist- He organized-the new campaign with his he came that close to adding to the Cad- bands, and little else. Society columnists usual rigor. die's misery, and he was not, on princi- speculated about Jeanine's marriage. But the work he had once devoted his ple, a vindictive driver. He took the Civic Concerned about Angela's mental ad- life to seemed automatic now, a program Center off ramp, and swung back onto justment. Dr. Bryant visited often at first. he could upload and execute without 1-80 southbound. The car phone rang But she and Turner soon discovered An- much serious thought. outside of San Mateo. gela had reconciled herself to what .had Angela slept. Not a drug-heavy obliv- Dr. Bryant said Angela's bandages happened Indeed, the girl was chipper, ion but a peaceful, deep slumber un- were coming off. She was fully con- optimistic, intensely curious. aided by morphine. Turner was elaled. scious. She was asking for him. She was exiraor dinar ily dexterous with He endured the days in a state of numb So much to explain. So much to ask. her long, slender hands. She tested at joy, noticing little but the ticking oi the That hadn't changed, had it? least ninety IQ points higher. She spoke hours and the hourly improvement re- in strange cadences that ;-ii first were hard corded on Angela's chart. She was sitting up. She was giggling. to understand. She lavored Levi's So much to explain. So much to ask. Her skin was the color of cherry bios twenty-two inches in the hip, twenty-six She was healing at last. soms and gave off a Iresh, salty aroma. inches in the leg—size 7AAA Adidas, and Until one morning something about her Turner tried not to look at her body as Esprit sweatshirts. She had a prodigious legs, looking pink and firm beneath lay- he watched Dr. Bryant disengage the last appetite for roast chicken. ers of the bandage, bothered him. bandage from her lace. Convalescing she had gained un- Angela had always been a long-legged canny sell- knowledge. girl. In ballet class, astride her Arabian She had learned self-destruction to mare, in fishnet stockings beneath a wrest his attention. For years her strategy Band-Aid of a skirt. Turner had always worked. Until Geneva. secretly watched the lovely limbs of his She had become a shy and solitary '•Her chin daughter. Now, as he peered through the was thirteen-year-old, and she truly had not translucent bandage with a cup of coffee a tiny triangle. Her mouth known it was her first menses that stained in one hand and more attention than his her boarding school frock. All she saw was a lipless slit. usual scan of her chart, something defi- was the blood and a wound that would nitely didn't look right. Her eye slits were long and not heal. The lonely girl who lived in She had two knees on each leg. slanted. She opened boarding schoo-s and five -star hotels and He summoned Dr. Bryant. "Well?" houses peopled.by polite servants had her mouth. A tubular tongue The surprise and the sorrow in her eyes checked into Emergency. It was a famil- filled him with dread. "I've asked you daily, unfurled like iar place. She had not called her mother. called him. I Shed I saw. thought you Turner. thought you the proboscis of a butterfly.^ didn't care." But her father had not seen that this "Didn't care!" His rage lashed like a was the time when little girls became whip. "I've seen her wounds heal with my women, when their own bodies became own eyes. I've seen her freed of pain. alien to them, and the'ehange could be That's all I've cared about." inghiening, painful. All he saw was an . "But her feet, Turner. Her hands. Do you Her chin was a tiny triangle. Her mouth embarrassed Swiss nurse and a spoiled mean at this late date you've never looked was a lipless slit. Her nose was a flat plate daughter who had called him from his closely at her torso?" of flesh over flaring nostrils lined with boardroom one time too many. He exploded. "What, do you mean'' blond fuzz. Corn-silk hair was already He asked for her forgiveness. What are you saying? I'm a busy man, sprouting from her bulbous skull and She asked to see the a;ien artifacts, one like curling her thatched ears. of which, quickly pointed out, had Bryant. I depend on pcopie Richard- around Her eye she son and you to see for me. You said she slits were long and slanted, with ql nting saved her life. was healing. You said there were no black rises set in bright yellow corneas. How could Turner refuse? scars." She opened her mouth. A tubular tongue But Richardson could and did. 'And thafs true. But her physique; unfurled like the proboscis of a butterfly. 'Jack, there are gadgets, and scrolls Surely you've seen the mutation. Good She said. "DadDEE? You caMe!" filled with those hieroglyphs, and sub- God, Turner," Dr. Bryant said, and her an- "Of course, Angela," he said. "Haven't stances we haven't had the time to even guish was like the ruby-red beam from a I always?" look at." he said. police car's top light slicing the night. "I guesS sO." Her voice was like a bird "I'll tell Angela to prepare reports for "She's changed." chirping through a microphone. you," Turner said with pride. "She's a ge- Turner left Srarrord Medical for the first "DadDEE? I'm glaD you caMe. AIL I eVer nius now," time in a week and went home. wanTED waS to seE you aGain." "Hell, Jack, everything but that damn Jeanine was there, brunching with a bandage is still top secret. I couldn't let it giggle; oi he supercilious friends. Turner asked Richardson to help re- out of my sight if I wanted to." They quarreled in front of everyone. model the north wing of his house for An- "Then get it declassified, Don, The Air "I know what's happened," Jeanine gela. She disliked humidity, cold, sun- Force has been sitting on this thing for a said, bright with anger, though she didn't light, the air pressure at sea level. decade. I would bet you money they don't know at ail. "This crazy, experimental Richardson worked with the architect. give a damn anymore." treatment you bankrolled didn't work. Did They designed a desert dimly lit with flu- The Air Force didn't give a damn any- it. Jack? She's hopelessly mutilated. Isn't .oresconcc Turner's household staff was more, but the deputy Air Force chief lieu- she? She's a freak. She'll never have informed that his daughter had noeed tenant general let Turner persuade him Iriends, or a husband, or a normal life. suffered permanent damage and disfig- usl the same. This was the second non- You should have let her die." uration. They were strictly prohibited from profit act Turner had undertaken lately. ID2 OMNI " NOTHING ATTRACTS LIKE THE IMIORTED TASTE OF BOMBAY GIN. ' x ^ ' JUNIPER BERRIES ITALY ^CASSIA BARK FROM INDOCh^t-'ALMONOS LEMON PEEL FROM SPAIN 1 ORRIS (IRIS ROOT) FROM ITALY LICORICE FROM INDOCHINA FROM FROM INDOCHINA f VJ filled with silvery globules and popped IhinGs to do the BRead and meaT "Fly in space?" Richardson said. "I thought you torgave me for Geneva. "8oys?" one in her mouth. diSHes." She showed him the garden "What is the moaning of this, Angela?" For all the years we've lost." "SuRe! DadDEE. you diDN't wanT to created underneath Ihe Ping-Pong 'Angela! Richardson and his staff don't shed Turner said, frowning, "I diD. I dO. I loVeyou, dadDEE. You'Ve seE mE, you diDN'l wanT to ACcepI mE tile Turner hsd nevei seen his deugl'ier ::o know what thai stuff is. Spit it out. Right table. On the Mexican was a thin layer "DadDEE, it's a kiTSHip." She indi- spenT more MMe with mE sinCe Ihe Ac- as myseLF wheN I waS HUman. You haVe excited. Within an hour she had the crates now, young lady." ol her excrement and a sprinkling from cated several hieroglyphics still exposed cident than you eVer gaVe mE my whoLe no choice but to ACcept me noW thaT unpacked and Ihe artifacts arranged on "Oh, it'S okAY. dadDEE," she said and the packet of spores she found in the ar- on the structure. "See? THis says. 'In- liFe." I'm F'flaXen." the Ping-Pong and bumper pool tables in giggled A onght blush bloomed on her tifacts. And there she was, growing SERT tab 2CX into sloT ZCX.' And here, "What will you eat besides that loath- "I accept you for what you are." he said her rumpus room. cheeks. "The reGs say it'S a wellNESS sporefruit. The unplucked sporefruil •PlaCE !!! struTs into !!! baseBOARDand some sporefruit?" in desperation. "DadDEE," she said. "I'm F'flaXen!" ploP" looked like small, sickly brackel lungus. preSS firmLY' SimPLE, realLY." "TheFte aRe btheR sEeds aNd sPoreS "TheN you can'T shuT mE uP in this Bui "You won't get fat eating that." "What do you mean, Angela?" He was happy she was happy. a Richardson circled the craft, "Take it aNd rooTs in the artlfacTs. ANd I caN houSE for Ihe resT of my liFe. You'Ve goT "F'flaXen!" she said. She poinlod to two knot of anxiety lodged in him and would "Oh, dadDEE," Angela said. "The reGs from me, honey. This'll never get off the bReed chickENs. The reGs say chickENs to leT mE gO!" glyphs commencing the first section ot a not unwind, not even after brandy. say sPoreFruiT groWs muCH betTER in ground," do reaL weLL in zero G." "Yes," he said at last, but he didn't want poring over. "That'S zero scroll she had started G" "Don'T bE denSE, DoN. I said this "Where the hell will you go? You know to lace Ihe inevitable. I putrid smell whaT aM." One day a assaulted him kiTSHip Hies in spaCe. Zero G. The nothing about space." "PleaSe caN I gO, dadDEE? PleaSe "You can read that?" when he came to see Angela. Turner finally became really alarmed FflaXen briNg aloNg othER kiTSHips, too, "I'Ve goT a maR TheRe aRe direc- pleaSe pleaSe7' "I IhiNK so, dadDEE. WheN I was "Angela? What's that bad odor?" when he went for his regular visit and that they caN assemBLE as they gO. TIONs to the JoVlan buoybeAM." And in her yellow and black eye slits romorPHed, a layer OF rudimenTARy "It'S okay, dadDEE. I'm groWING found that Angela had built something. In EnTrySHips. BlaSTouTSHips. Atmos- 'And what, pray tell, is the Jovian buoy- Turner saw for a moment the little girl wiih F'flaXen consciousNESS was sPoreFruiT. WanT to trY soMe?" Ihe middle ol Ihe rumpus room. Out ot SHips, toO. The atmosSHips don't fly so beam?" cornsilk hair who once upon a time had mcorporatED BRain. Pretty neaT. "What is sporeiruil?" Ihe bits oi alien and parchment into my wood and gOod in tHis heaVY atmospHere, I "The F'flaXen haVe goT buoybeAMs all adored her daddy. metal. huh?" "HeRe." Panicked, he called Richardson. gueSS. I meAN, loOk at alL the crAShes. oVer the universe, dadDEE. The But then he blinked, and the little girl Damned artifacts. Now he regretted She offered him a disgusting, cheesy, II looked like nothing so much as a big WhaT a biTch, huh?" buoybeAMs guiDe and helP PROpel the was gone. bringing them. She was home again, they wrinkled wedge that looked like a raw hu- box kite- "You really mean to tell me," Turner said, spaCEships. ThiS parTicular buoybeAM On Saturday Landover Industries sent had reconciled. He wanled to reclaim man ear She proudly showed them Ihe interior. incredulous, "this contraption will fly in passES neAr JuPiter. It's noTtoofaR." up a space shultle, according to sched- their family life, il he could. "I skinNED it, dadDEE. GoAHead." About one hundred and twenty square outer space?" "What will you do for companionship?" ule. Unknown to anyone but Turner and But her fevered excitement, the way He bit. It tasted like especially pungent feet, with a ten-foot ceiling, it was metic- "HelL, yeS, dadDEE," Angela said. "The he said, exasperated. Don Richardson, the space shuttle held she fingered the strange scroll like a long- Brie with a similar, but repulsively differ- ulously compartmentalized A little more reGs say for lighT-yearS. ONce YOU blAst "I'll brEEd caTs. The F'flaXen love caTs." a secret cargo that would be released lost toy. He could sense her skipping away ent, pliant lexture. infrastructure, and that wouid do the trick, itouttheRE." 'And currency of some sort?" oulside the atmosphere; a tiny, strange from him. to some unknown place be- She giggled at his grimace. Her laugh she told them. "I couLD trade chickEN eGGs. Ki- alien spaceship; a fifteen-year-old girl; yond his grasp. was like a flute coughing. "What trick is that?" Richardson said. "Oh, pleaSe, dadDEE." She lurned her. TTens. too. four bantam hens plus a rooster; and four 'Jus! remember you're still human, An- "The reGs say it'S betTER cooKED. You "WeLL. shiT. tly in spaCe. DoN." flat face up to him in an especially ap- 'Absolutely not, Angela," he said. "I for- Siamese cats. gela," he said sternly. caN do ail sorts of IhinGs with it. SwEET "Don't you use that language," Turner pealing gesture. bid it." "WeLL, I don'T know, dadDEE. I'm "or SAIty, The SKin, when drieD and said. 'Angela," Turner said. "I've done every- "But dadDEE," she said, "I'm F'flaXen On Sunday the obituary for Angela pretty F'flaXen "Oh, helL. I'M a lilTLE girL much nOW." grounD, maKes cinNAmony noT I a dadDEE. thing could for you." noW. MayBE on the buoybeAM I caN Turner appeared, dearly beloved daugh- To his horror she unstoppered the tube sweeteNER. BuT you neeD SAII and other anYmoRe." "I knoW, dadDEE" meEt soMe F'flaXen boyS." ter of Jack and Jeanine.DQ 10-1 OMNI The Indiana Jones of the tavern scene, this anthropologist studies the American drinker like a lost tribe of the Amazon. In documenting the rituals of the bar, he's discovered how and why we booze it up the way we do IfUTERV/IELAJ rain drizzles down on [he car windows as Jim Clearly this is Schaefer's territory. Like some kind of Indiana The ol Schaefer pulls of) the main road and into a packed Jones the tavern scene, he swashbuckles a path through the parking lot. "Most anthropologists spend a lifetime mass of humanity to the watering hole and orders drinks. The trying to lind a tribe that will accept them," Schaefer says as Hoggsbreath is a theme bar and thus features a different sort we approach a building pulsing wilh light and music. Nailed to of ambience every night Monday nights the theme is country the door is a big sign that reads: anyone who is not of legal and western, and that means there'll be a tight-jeans contest, AGE WILL BE ARRESTED ON THE SPOT AND ESCORTED FROM THE PREM- complete with free shots lor the contestants, and all the bump- ISES. "But my tribe," he continues, "is here and now. And they ing and grinding it takes to win. 'And things," Schaefer warned accept me." Schaefer is an anthropologist whose tribe is Amer- earlier, "can gel down and dirty." ican drinkers. Associate professor and director of the Office of "Hey. there's the prolessor!" shouts the bar's cowboy DJ. Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevenlion at the School of Public "And he says if you listen to slow country music you're gonna Health at the University of Minnesota, he has spent almost 20 drink more. Whaddya Ihinka that?" The tribe responds with boos years studying American drinkers, the bars they patronize, and and hisses. Then these urban cowboys break into a chant: the rale of alcohol in sociely. "Bullshit! Bullshit! Bullshit!" We enter the Hoggsbreath, a bar on the outskirts ot St. Paul. Born in Schenectady, New York, in 1942, Schaefer is the son PHOTOGRAPH BY MICHAEL SOMOROFF ' of a General Eieclric sc enlist who dis- It put Schaefer on the map in many cir- covered the principle of cloud seeding. cles, both scientific and lay. In 1985 he As a young child Schaefer showed an was enlisted as a coprojed investigator r interesl in amlvooology. a cnaedogy and with sociologist Richard Sykes, also of the hunting for arrowheads and other buried University of Minnesota, for a long-term relics in upstate New York. The West al- study on self-regulation of alcohc abuse ways held an allure, and in 1960Schae!er among tavern patrons in trje Midwest. He enrolled in the University ot Montana 8S is currently participating in an invs-suga- a forestry major. But with most of his time tion of biological markers ~or a.cohol con- spent in Missoula's heavy party scene "at sumption and a study of environmental the local bars, he was on the verge ol influences on gambling and drinking. flunking out. To pick up his grade point Alcohol remains the United States average, he was advised lo go into an- number one recreational drug. Schaefer il-opology. a subject that had a reputa- fas c-cssoc cetached scientific lines and tion for being easy at Montana. In those become something ol an activist in com- courses Schaefer found direction, how- munity education, outreach, and inter- ever unintenlionally. He earned a degree vention programs geared toward reduc- it ing alcohol In 1982 he organized in anthropology in 1966 and ' made n;o abuse. graduate scnool' at the State University Anthropologists Concerned for Anthro- of New York at Buffalo. pologists, a support group for those When Schaefer couldn't come up with professionals sfuggling w In alcohol and a topic for his doctoral thesis, his adviser drug abuse. The same year he was to head the Grand Rap- ^Having been there— asked what it was that Schaefer felt he awarded a grant knew a lot about. In a moment of unadul- ids, Minnesota, Drinking and Driving literally having gone to skid terated honesty, he replied, "Drinking." Project. It gained nationwide attention replanted old row and back, His life's work began that day. Schaefer when Schaefer Burma completed his dissertation, a cross-cul- Shave signs along Minnesota highways getting into fights and tural study of family structures, super- (ITS. BEST FOB/ ONE WHO HITS/ THE BOTTLE/ getting arrested natural belief systems, and drunkenness TO LET ANOTHER/ USE THE THROTTLE). And in 57 tribal societies woricw : de. In 1973 in 1988 he was appointed to the science and thrown in the drunk he earned his Ph.D. with distinction. advisory board of the American Council tank, then getting Schaefer returned.to the University of on Alcoholism. Montana as an assistant professc And Schaefer is frequently hired as an ex- bailed out by my favorite with newfound awareness and self-con- pert witness for both plaintiffs and de- bartender—gives trol, he returned to the Missoula bar fendants in drunk driving cases. He has scene— this time to study the whys and served as a consultant to major law firms me a kind of credibility^ wherefores. He also spent a year as the around the country and to the Federal Fulbright Visiting Lecturer at Sri Venka- Trade Commission on product liability and leswara University in India and a year as fraudulent advertising practices. a National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Schaefer is also an entrepreneur of Alcoholism Research Fellow at the Cen- sorts. In recent years he has helped de- ter for Alcohol Studies ol the University of sign bars and has lent his expertise to the North Carolina. But mainly, during the next development of Alcosorb, an anti-n;oxi- decade Schaefer, along with research cant and hangover remedy, lor 21st Cen- 396 Slants and students, hung out at lo- tury Pharmaceuticals. cal bars, investigating patron behavior A.J.S. Rayl spent an extended week- and environmental influences. Conduct- end with Schaefer, barhopping through- ing their research in an unobtrusive, par- out the Twin Cities —from cowboy night i!r;ipan:-observation style, Schaefer and at the Hoggsbreath to the upscale Ru- colleagues discovered thai the jukebox pert's to small neighborhood bars. served as a mood-selection device. He realized further that by studying the im- Omni: How did your bar research begin? pact ol music, decor, lighting, and other Schaefer: I took a job at the University of factors on customers, he could draw up Montana -and while visiting some of the an environmental-risk profile with regard old places ten years after, I thought about to overindulgence for almost any bar. applying ideas I'd gleaned from theoret- And on this'- particular night at the ical work. What could I observe in an ac- Hoggsbreath? "It's definitely high-risk, tual place where people drank? I started Schaefer says. "The bar is crowded. The hanging out all over again, only this time dance floor is crowded. People can't as an anthropologist. really move. They'll get frustrated and Sammy Thompson, owner of the Trail's start drinking more. And check out the End in Missoula, was by far the best bar- maestro, or- lighting, it's what I ea:tw. light lighting: It's tender I'd ever seen, A he light enough to see but dark enough to chestrated the scene. One day, about five cover the faults." pm. . the jukebox ran out of plays and sud- In 1978 Schaefer moved lo Minneapo- denly I saw the place die. While people lis, to the University of Minnesota, where weren't 'verbalizing it, their eyes were he has since taken part in several re- saying, "What's wrong here?" Sammy search and development projects. In picked up on it right away and brought 1979 he and University of Montana grad- out this bean game, a long-necked jug uate student Paul Bach published a pa- with maybe fifteen beans in it, one of per on slow country music and drinking. which was red. The one who winds up — with the red bean loses and forks out !he one. The men get very frustrated be- behavior: "Let's get drunk and be some- money to play the jukebox. cause they have a limited capacity for body." In Ihe rock and pop scenes there's As the guy with the red bean headed expressing themselves. There's also a a premium on meeting someone, im- toward the jukebox, regulars started premium on being able to get lo a table pressing- them with your good taste in shouting out the songs people wanted lo and, you know, "cut out a heifer"— take drink, clothing, and maybe dancing. the kind of hear. I suddenly realized that here was a her out to the dance floor and she's yours. Omni: What about Cheers microcosm of bar culture and that the A small, crowded dance floor is high-risk. bars, the neighborhood bars? jukebox was a mood-selection device. You can't do your thing. You're bumping Schaefer: If we are talking about reinforc- shared system That was really neat—something I could into people, so you tend lo drink more. ing a core value system, a systematically investigate. My graduate I've looked at the artwork, too. High-risk of values that is anchored in a commu- student Paul Bach came up with an in- bars often show images of action: In a nity, then Cheers bars act as places genious way to measure Ihe relationship cowboy bar you'll see a picture of a cow- where everybody knows your name, between mood, music, environment, and boy bustin' a bull. Or, in other bars, sports there's a place for you to be someone, drinking. We'd pu! a tape recorder on the pictures: Somebody is about to make a and they know what you drink. It's a home table in tront of the jukebox and tape the touchdown or is skiing off a cliff. This can away from home that provides you with ten- to twelve-o'clock set of songs on be an affirmation of risky or highly com- the security of peer group protection. If consecutive Friday nights. We observed petitive behavior and tends to encourage Norm has a drinking problem, someone patrons drinking in different areas of (he a bragging, storytelling bravado, and will see him about it. If Sam Malone is a bar. We'd also tap our table with a pen or there's more drinking. teetotaler, fhey respect it. They'll joke glass every lime someone in our sample Omni: What about low-risk drinking en- about his fake male prowess, lack of in- areas sipped a drink. vironments? tellect, but they don't joke about his Back at the office, Paul converted the Schaefer: Bright and very dark bars are drinking. It might be interesting to see music into beats per minute and corre- relatively low-risk. Casino bars, in partic- some real intoxication on Cheers, see lated it with the number of sips per min- ular, are on the bright side because the them cut somebody off and perhaps go ute. We assumed that as the tempo went through treatment. There are possibilities up, the drinking would, too, but it didn't on that show that aren't being explored. turn out that way. Slower songs went with Omni: According to your studies, how faster sipping. often do people who go to bars actually Next we looked at lyric content and become intoxicated? 1 Schaefer: Yeah, and do they give you a certain decorum for the group. If there's But while bartenders are accurate, they stares! There is a recognition of norma- a big dance floor and lots of space to frequently are overserving. in most juris- tive sounds in a bar, and when that norm move around, then there's a premium on dictions, overserving is against the law, is being broken or challenged, people will struttin' your stuff: You're oul there swing- though it's a law that's not enforced. The leave or let their preferences be known. ing, gliding, or stomping— or you're Cot- feds aren't out there trying to monitor that, At the Trail's End, we did things like play- ton-Eyed Joe. In bars where there's mod- but overserving makes for drunk driving alcohol ing a sequence of slow songs and took erate drinking, I found landscape artwork and is the stuff of abuse. a baseline count of the number of times or just wallpaper. And there are family- Omni: Have you found regional differ- the cash register rang at twenty-minute type bars, usually restaurants with a sec- ences in drinking patterns? Schaefer: Lots. Southeast generally intervals. I did that a couple of times, and tion where the kids play video games and The once the sales quadrupled. the women can eat and socialize. These has very low consumption rates, yet every Omni: You also began to establish a risk tend to be low-risk because the premium third generation has serious drinking profile with regard to overdrinking. What isn't on drinking. These places aren't real problems. There is strict adherence to the did you find? common in the United States. Bible, and Fundamentalists often teach Schaefer: There's a greater likelihood in Omni: How does behavior differ in cer- that one must abstain entirely from alco- a "high-risk" environment. For instance, tain types of bars? hol. This is overdone in many house- moderately lit bars with a twilight kind of Schaefer: Observation — not testing holds, and as a resulf, the next genera- darkness — bright enough for effective tells me the drinking in the rock scene tion reject the values and become alcohol cruising, but dark enough to cover up .disco, rock, or live-band pop— is more abusers. Yet the societal effects [job im- faults —are high-risk. controlled. A slightly different game's pairment, drunk driving, familial breakup, Heavy drinking also occurs when -the being played. In the country-western bar and so forth] of problem drinking in the ratio of men to women is high, like five to there's more male acting out and rowdy Southeast are the lowest in the country. 110 OMNI ported by animal studies, that if one per- for drunken driving. Shortly thereafter, day. you're risking chemical dependency sists in drinking heavily in the face of this when the cops started busting people, and medical consequences like cirrho- So sorry, Stoli. enzyme defect, that person will quickly, domestic violence increased. The heavy sis, pancreatitis, cancer, and stroke. A become addicted to alcohol. It may be drinkers were staying at home. Bar sales person weighing more than one hundred thai persistent heavy drinking under those went down, but package store sales went thirty pounds should stick to about eight circumstances causes a biological ad- up, as did spouse and child abuse. to ten drinks a week, with no more than I live in one sitting. More than five per sit- over to aptation similar to tolerance buildup in It's an age-old explanation, but am gone For OJ.'s normal people— only much faster. Lab more and more convinced that drinking ting could cause long-term problems rats with this deficiency that are exposed alcohol in a relatively controlled public someone weighing less than one hun- to alcohol quickly develop another en- environment, where professionals are dred thirty pounds, we recommend seven zyme, THP [ietrahydropapaveraline], a trained to recognize the intoxicated and to eight drinks a week, with no more than Premium Black. by-producl of acetaldehyde. THP seems immature drinkers, is the context in which four at one sitting. We also recommend to enhance the animals' craving for our society can blow off steam. In small- that people stand when drinking, be- their ethanol, and they go after il until they town America the bar /s Ihe gossip cen- cause people feel intoxication more convulse or die. It may be that due to the ter, the center of social activity. Without rapidly if they only have two-point sup- extreme stress caused by their cultural that corner bar to go to, there would be port. If you know your weight, you should disenfranchisement, the American Indi- more homicides and violence, have your blood alcohol chart memo- ans continue to drink in spite of the pro- Omni: But can't we learn to release ten- rized. God, I cant believe I said that, but tection conferred by the enzyme defect. sion without alcohol? it's the truth. Know just how many drinks So this devastating mechanism of addic- Schaefer: With milk and cookies? It's been you can drink. Stick to your limit If you tion has iaken hold. tried and it's not nearly as successful as can't, gel help. Omni: What's the role of the local bar? with alcohol. Omni: You mentioned that at one lime you Schaefer: If any society chose to reject Omni: So the release lies in the high? had a drinking problem. In Sixties lot of events alcohol, it would probably have other, Schaefer: Right. Some psychopharma- Schaefer: ihe early a more serious problems. There's the cologists say altered states may be an- brought me to that realizalion. I was really workplace, the homeplace, and this third other human drive. I'm not necessarily kind of out of control, and a lot of my bud- place, where we talk, drink, and release buying into that, but there are people who dies knew it. ourselves from our everyday worries and believe that fhe occasional search for an Omni: How did you deal with it? troubles. A little bii of drinking goes a long altered state of consciousness is a healthy Schaefer: ( never did anything official I way in terms of the health of the com- way of adjusting to life, slowed down, got into a relationship with munily. Without that outlet we'd have more Omni: In your opinion, what is a safe level the woman I ended up marrying, and fighting, violence, and civil strife. In Min- of alcohol^consumption? stayed married for a considerable period I in nesota we recently passed stricter drunk Schaefer:' if you're downing more than of time. If had been living Minnesota, t, and you'll far driving laws that upshifted Ihe penalties thirty-five drinks a week, or five drinks a for example. I would have been con- CON1INUED ON PAGE 128 iRDIf Rum. MADE (N PUERTO f rtwDEMWKSOf The vast middle of the United States tends against a woman being intoxicated in become essentially welfare-state tradi- to be the beer- consuming part of the public Women pay attention to making tions, a culture of poverty. There country. In the upper Midwest we have sure they don't show signs of it. proudly held core traditions, but ihe ma- moderate drinking, and that part oi the Omni: Bui certainly you've seen women jority are losing that core value system. country is also right in the middle in terms who've had a little too much, and men There's tragedy on every reservation. of social problems related to drinking. responding to it with a sort of endeared There's no history of moderate drinking New York City and Washington, DC, are amusement? among Native Americans, allhough extremely heavy drinking areas. Texas, Schaefer: You mean when, they become there's now an attempt to increase a cul- Nevada, California, Oregon, and Wash- foulmouthed. telling jokes, and being ture of sobriety. Biological or genetic fac- ington—wine states—show heavy drink- more like a guy? Sure, but when il goes tors may also play against them wifh re- ing and high rates ol alcohol abuse. And beyond the cultural norms, then she be- gard to metabolizing alcohol. the indexes of alcohol problems in the comes the subject of exploitation. There Some evidence suggests that genelic New England states are very high. It's are a good number of predators looking factors play a role for Orientals as well. thought that where wine is inexpensive, lor women who've had a little too much. But the consequences differ from those there's a pump-priming effect: Wine con- They follow an agenda of buying her a for the Native Americans. The vast ma- sumption leads to consumption of spirits good stiff drink to make sure she's over jority of Japanese and Chinese people and beer. the edge, presumably not caring what have an enzyme system that is slow to Omni: Whai about gender differences? happens to her. If works differently in other break down acetaldehyde, the first me- Schaefer: Men drink more than women. parts of the world. When I was in India, it tabolite of alcohol, which is probably That hasn't changed. Older men drink was taboo for a woman to drink in public, intoxicating and damaging to ihe system earlier in the day. Women drink about half but alcohol is available everywhere. I saw than ethanol. This enzyme defeci trans- as much as men and tend to drink later parlying college women who would go lates to a flushing response, dizziness, in the day. as well as later in the week. up to men and leign drunkenness, feign pounding of the heart, sweating, and Perhaps women feel that later is safer be- passing out, so they could have sex. The general dysphoria. This unpleasanlness cause more people are around. If a lady women wanted it. so they played the may be protective against alcohol abuse were to go into a bar alone early in the same game the other way around. The abuse problem is at a low percent- week, she mighl be perceived as not Omni: Are there racial differences in age in first- gene rati on Orientals. meeting the cultural norm. Now Tuesday drinking patterns? Omni: Is ihe same metabolic factor pres- night is ladies' night, and that's a wide- Schaefer: You'd find about the same rate ent in the American Indian? Bacardi Premium Black. spread phenomenon. Women do come of alcoholism among whites, blacks, His- Schaefer: Possibly. American Indians are out, at least for the first shift, to drink the panics. Latinos, and Chicanos. There is, pari of the Asiatic gene pool. Allhough, One sip, and you'll know why. free champagne. Usually fhey leave then. however, more excessive drinking among having migrated millennia ago, they must they American Indians than group. considered very diluted Asians. There D--VII-- fifillS-RKCl fi^ihOi . unless meet someone who's worth any other be BACARDI • Rum. MADE IN PUERTO RICO, s, %} -H: r,Z M- -pACrvIWi:: CI- staying around for. There's still a stigma Their unique tribal traditions have now is a strong theoretical argument, sup- 112 OMNI scenario one application of Computer animation makes a debut in Sometimes they woke to find themselves floating on hung the b;ue-green curves of oceans along What's more, this is just the Bay of Bengal, the water a molten reOdish gold. beaches; on the other, a solid swatch ol nebulae and computer animation, a discipline that will change They would rise, touch the controls, and breaktasl olf stars, .more brilliant than anything visible from Earth. the way we view art, science, and the world. In may able to alter The pioneers of computer animation have already THE MAGIC the coast ol Antigua, along a coral reef. Afternoons the not-too-distant future we be were spent atop Mount Everest, and evenings, deep our surroundings through special "video display made inroads into our lives. Computers now do most of in the Serengeti listening to hyenas cough Irom the paper" mounted on [he wall. Almost as thin and flexible the titles and credits, logos and promotion graphics brush. At nigh! they tuned the system to a satellite and as wallpaper, this paper will project a series of images on TV, as well as an increasing number ol animated ARTICLE BY FRED HAPGOOD went to sleep orbiting Earth. On one side of the room at high resolution from virtually anywhere in the home. commercial. Some oi the most popular examples ^Re-creating color and reflection, shadow and light, animators covered their designs with fabric andskins3 Mike Noll'—thought ot using the device tor the magical art of animation. In animation, successive images are shown to the eye at rates of 16 or more per second, causing the brain to per- ceive the movement as fluid and smooth. Since the invention of movies, of course, the preferred medium for animation has been film. The general procedure is to define an image by painting on paper, creating special puppets, or modeling figures with clay. Once the image is de- fined, animators expose a frame or two of film at a time, altering the image as they go. In the full-length animation Fantasia, for instance, a mountain turns into a devil. In the detailed Disney classic Pinocchio, a puppet's nose expands and contracts, sprouting branches, a nest, and birds. Because few humans have the draft- ing skills required for accurate render- ings of the real world, these conventional animations — called cartoons— lacked realism. The scientists at Bell, however, realized Ihey could use their new com- puter—and the precise mathematical laws of physics—to create animations far appeared in 1984 on NBC's "Let's All Be As if all this weren't enough, images more realistic than ever before. The idea There" campaign, created by broadcast created inside computers will soon be in- was to write computer programs based designer Harry Marks. In Marks's striking distinguishable from those shot in physi- on the formulas governing light and mo- sequences a letter or logo fills the field of cal locations with human actors, thus tion. Using the computer, animators could view; then the "camera" backs up and lowering the cost ol making a film to that then calculate changes in images by "flies" around the letter in a spiral, as of writing a novel on a word processor. solving the relevant formulas over and though it were being observed from [he As time goes on, computer animation over. To animate a thrown ball, the pro- perspective of someone very small. One iechnology will actually become avail- gram would use Newton's laws to calcu- of the most recent computer animations able to everyone, much like TV. Almost late how far such a ball might travel in the to dazzle prime-time viewers is a com- everything now expressed in print, from first sixteenth of a second, and print the mercial for Dow bathroom cleaner. As the comic books to menus to greeting cards, image of a ball at thai position; then it spot opens, bubble creatures flash will be animated. And as liquid crystal would calculate the position of the ball across a bathroom landscape to the display technology (now used to project after two sixteenths of a second and print strains of Mussorgsky. As the bubbles the changing numbers on your hand-held that, and so on. After 960 images had rush forth in a cleaning frenzy, tooth- calculator) becomes more portable, ani- been printed in this fashion, the com- brushes cower, a hair dryer jumps off the mations will appear on walls, sidewalks, puter would have completed a minute of counter, and a shaving brush falls. and shop windows. If and when the dis- animation. .The first computer animation, Educators and research scientists, plays shrink to the size of sequins, ani- created by Zajac, illustrated how gyro- meanwhile, are using computer anima- mations might turn into cosmetics, dy- scopes could be used to stabilize satel- tion to "visualize" dynamic phenomena namic tattoos thgt writhe and whirl over lites. The image seen on the screen was like weather, the formation of galaxies, or the flesh of twenty-first-century teenag- a domino-shaped objeci (the satellite) the circulation of blood. Students at the ers. We might even see "display textiles": tumbling around a simple sphere (the University of Kansas are studying anat- computer animations thai express any earth). When the gyroscope became op- omy via 3-D images of the brain. As they desired color or pattern on our clothes. erational, ihe domino twisted so the same push the buttons of their computers, lay- These tantalizing prospects emerged side faced the sphere at all times. ers of brain tissue whisk away, revealing a bare 25 years ago, when Frank Sinden, In the years that followed this first com- the cortex or cerebellum, the pituitary a mathematician working at Bell Labs, puter flick, enormous strides have been gland or a tumor embedded within. arrived for work to find a huge new com- made. During the Seventies, for instance, puter hulking in the corridors. Instead of animators developed formulas calculat- Previous pages-: Cor<:pLi:er-ar::;va:ed ^ers;o;; drawing lines on reams of fanfold paper ing the size and shape of 3-D forms from o! a stadium by /ife:; '>A:i;:can. created at the with an array of pens, this device painled any given angle or distance. The result- Los Angeles studios ot Optomistic. Above: its ing animations, including features Computer-animated boat by Dick Lundin, with output on a phosphor screen—what such computer-animated water by John Lewis. Page 'we now think of as a computer monitor. as irregular polyhedrons tumbling in 118: Clyde in Cockpit fe a computer-animated Almost immediately, Sinden and col- space, produced hundreds of arcade robot ant inside a larger robot ant. > —Ken Knowlton, Ed Zajac, and games. Computer animators next fo- 116 OMNI 6777-e camera swept through the ant's eyes into its head, revealing a second, humanoid robot ant at the controls.^ tial for realism simply unattainable with clay figures or convent onai animaton art. Models gave you a realistic look but with- out the control; drawn animation—con- ventional cartooning — gave you control without the look. Computer animation could give us. both. You could scale up the mask oi an electric shaver so that the loles loo physics in their programs, they will be able to adjust those programs to reflect any iiragirable rea : ty ""hey night create a world in which gravity has one percent ol the value of our own, or one in which ra- dio waves are visible, or one where the sun makes oceans boil. As animator Alvy Ray Smith observes, "Once you can do a silk scarf falling on a wood table, you can do a wood scarf falling on a silk ta- ble. That's when it ge:s iterestng. These worlds will not be precisely realistic, but they will be realistically consistent and therefore as authentic on their own terms as our own world is on its." But even a'ter ani-iatcr? have codified cused on perspective, trying lo deter- struction site. As viewers watched, the the laws of physics, there will be new mine the correct proportions and loca- "camera" swept through the ant's eyes heights to scale. These days, in fact, a tions of whole groups ol 3-D objects from into its head, revealing a control room in few ambitious researchers are working any point of view. These animations, which a second, more humanoid robot their way up the Everest of the field: writ- which allowed the eye to wander freely sat moving the controls that presumably ing formulas that describe moving, through simple landscapes, engendered drove the ant. Off in one corner of the breathing characters that seem alive. movies such as Tron, in which actor Jeff image, running down an edge of the con- "Even writing formulas tor a biomechan- Bridges enters a computer and navi- sole where no viewer would first glance, ically realistic walk is o retry tough." points gates the chips as if they were streets. was a series of six tiny screens, each out Roger L. Gould, an animator for Pa- Finally, animation programs incorpo- showing one leg of the ant in motion. That cific Data Images (PDI) in Sunnyvale, rated color and reflection, shadow and sequence of screens was Dick Lundin's California. 'Uust lor starters, such a for- light. Thus the initial skeletal images be- special signature, as distinct as Picas- mula must include information about the gan to sprout fabrics and skins. so's. Someone else might have been skeleton and the joint angles as well as By the cusp of the decade, computer happy with the base inspiration of robot the weight of the walker and the walking animation had attracted a group of vi- ants nested like Chinese boxes; Lundin's surface. To be truly effective, the pro- sionary young bravos obsessed with the style was to add a twist of realism— the gram must be adaptable enough to por- tantalizing new field. "The perfect visual boxes with the legs—then hide that twist tray different characters moving in differ- representation of a natural phenomenon in a corner as though nothing could be ent ways: A frail old woman, a swaggering looms in the distance as a bright white more routine. teenage boy, a brisk businesswoman, light," explains Peter Oppenheirner. a Yet another Lundin animation showed and a child at play walk very differently. computer animator at the New York Insti- a robot welder at work, sparks flying off The program must be capable of por- tute of Technology and one of the field's in all directions. As most of the audience traying not only movement but also mood, rising stars. 'As more of the laws of nature knew. Lundin had spent weeks on the personality, and interior life." are encoded into the computer, . . . one physics formulas used to determine the One way to solve the "character" prob- gets closer to the center of this light." trajectories of these sparks. While pin- lem has been developed by PDI, where Leading the flight to the light is SIG- pointing these equations, however, Lun- animators have developed the flying GRAPH (for Special Interest Group on din had another thought: Suppose a spark Muppet character Waldo. To operate Computer Graphics), whose members Hies backward. !~,:;s (ha welding robot, and Waldo, puppeteer Steve Whitmire con- have produced some spectacular pieces bounces bit7 Wnat woo c the path of the trols what's known as a puppet arma- a of work. Attending the yearly SIGGRAPH bounce look like? Figuring that out took ture— 'Central control stick fitted with convention in 1983. for instance, New York Lundin another month. rods, springs, and gears. The entire ap- Institute of Technology animator Dick "What we saw, "says Bill Kovacsol :re paratus is lined with electronic sensors. ' Lundin brought a sequence showing a software firm Wavefront Technologies, Each sensor corresponds to a particular robot ant. Wearing a hard hat, the ant "was a potential for unprecedented con- segment of Waldo. As Whitmire manipu- stumped along a road toward a con- trol over scale and perspective, a poten- lates the armature, the sensors register ns OMNI CONTINUED ON PAGE 146 ^The heat damage to the tissue is due to natural decomposition, some laseriike device.^ You've heard i! all be- pinpoint high-heat fore; Herds of cattle excisions of tissue have been systemati- can weigh more than cally mutilated by five hundred pounds, aliens, who swoop take a team of ex- down on deserted perts to set up, and pastures in flying sau- require tremendous cers, do Iheir dirty power. The idea that deeds, and disap- satanlc cult could pear. Ever since these be operating such claims emerged in the equipment stretches Sixties, debunkers my credibility much have swiftly replied- more than does the The straight, deep existence of alien life cuts found on cattle forms." are inflicted by vi- The skeptics do not cious wild animals and agree Cornell veteri- cults, the critics said. narian John M. King As time went on, even says that "every muti- most professional lation case I've seen UFOlogists—and the so far has been ques- public— agreed. tionable." Besides, he But now the debate says, after studying has been revived. Ac- Altshuier's slides, he cording to award-win- believes that heat ning filmmaker Linda UFDLiPDflTE damage in the tissue Moulton Howe, author is due to autolysis— of the new book An Alien Harvest, the strange surgeries natural decomposition— not to a laserlike device. Daniel Ka- could not have been performed by natural predators or by gan. author of Mute Evidence (Bantam, 1984), a book about humans, as the debunkers claim. To make her argument. cattle mutilation, concurs Howe's theory, he says, "is im- Howe presents new case studies with photos of mutilated possible to prove." cattle. She includes interviews with farmers, ranchers, and Kenneth Rommel, a former FBI agent and author of a 297- law enforcement officials, as well as transcripts of hypnosis page federally funded report on trie subject, is skeptical as sessions with UFO abductees, two of whom claim to have well Cattle mutilation claims, says Rommel, are "a bunch of witnessed the aliens in the act. Howe even cites what she garbage, a bunch of very creative writing on the part of the says is government knowledge of these events. media, and a lot of statements made by law enforcement Her strongest evidence, however, is a medical report on officials and others that are totally unsupported by fact." In- tissue samples taken from five mulilated animals last March, deed, Rommel's report, written in 1980 for the state of Mew Conducted by pathologist/hematologist John H. Altshuier of Mexico, found only natural causes, including predator/scav- the University of Colorado in Denver, the report found that enger action, at the root of mutilation claims. cuts were made "at a temperature of at least three hundred But Howe is sticking to her guns. "Alienness is the very degrees Fahrenheit in less than two minutes." hallmark of the animal mutilations." she says. "Over twenty- "The report," Howe says, "confirms high heat, as well as two years very little makes sense. This material should be rapid, pinpoint incisions that exclude natural predators." treated credibly, like any other medical or science story." What's more, she adds, "the laser equipment needed for —PEGGY NOONAN 121 " " " Investigation of Claims of the assurances of a proper Paranormal, doesn't agree. format before they dip their "These are merely subjective scholarly toes into such reports, uncorroborated by controversial waters With independent observers," this in mind, Swords is offer- Kurtz says. "For all we know, ing a double-blind, double- they could be hallucinations refereed journal that will or contrived fairy tales." accommodate all points of Anderson himsell says, "I view as long as they are don't come with a guarantee "measured and disciplined I think those who have passed This would mean, says on communicate with a radio Swords, that if archskeptic or electrical- type signal, Phil Klass "were able to write and I can get interference.'' to our standards," his work —Sherry Baker would be welcome. A relative newcomer to the UFO field. Swords says that it is easier for him to ac- — Italian proverb cept opposing views than for some of the old-timers, 'The dying areslowly being who have a greater emotional rocked away from us and commitment to the subject. wrapped up into death, that "If the discipline is going eternal place" to progress," he says, "it must —Anne Sexton hear from all sides." The first issue of the journal my upbringing, information sells tor $15 and can be about my Orthodox Jewish ordered Itom the J Allen Hy- George Anderson, a grandfather that he could not II it looks, feels, and acts nek Center for UFO Studies, psychic medium based in have known," Martin says. like a scientific journal, does 2457 West Peterson Avenue, Babylon, Long Island, came "He related how my ex-wife that mean it /s one? Michael Chicago, IL 60659. down with chicken pox in died, he named names. Swords of Western Michigan —Paul McCarthy 1958 at age six. The illness, I was startled." University's general studies he claims, left him with the Anderson soon became a science department certainly ability to hear and see those popular guest on Martin's hopes so, With degrees In who have passed to the show and later on his Viacom chemistry and the history of "other side Cablevision of Long Island science, he's the new editor Of "I think there's a scientific TV program "Over the past the resunected Journal of explanation for what I do nine years George has UFO Studies we just haven't found it yet," talked to tens of thousands of The first issue contains Anderson explains "I suspect people—in the studio and contributions from half a the high fever I had as a over the phone—and the dozen academics and other child stimulated part of my sheer volume of his accuracy UFO researchers Articles brain, and my abilities were has me convinced that touch on hypnotic regression the result there's no trickery Involved." and the possibility of extra- In 1980, it seems, these says Martin, who, along terrestrial intelligence. There's abilities attracted the attention with Patricia Romanowski, is even a roundtable on the of local TV and radio talk- coauthor of We Don't Die. abduction phenomenon. show host Joel Martin, who George Anderson's Conver- Swords's goal is to attract claims he had no personal sations with the Other Side submissions from members of interest in psychic phenom- (G. P Putnam's Sons). the "invisible college" of ena at the time "George Paul Kurtz, head of the academics, those who are began telling me details of Committee for the Scientific interested in UFOs but need 122 OMNI study the effects of music on her side, looking in the direc- health at; the University of tion ot ihe Great Pyramid Louisville School of Medicine. of Khufu. "When I saw this These devices, Harvey face," says Silverman, "ft put explains, differ from an ordi- me back in time." nary stereo system in that The passage of 4,400 the sound interacts with the years had wrought changes whole body, not just the ears. in the mummy, below, one Individual sessions on a oi tine earliest ever found. A musical masseuse run under gold-leaf crown, originally $35 per hour and are avail- placed around her regal able at various fitness cen- head, had slipped backward ters, hospitals, mind salons, into an almost upright posi- hotels, and resorts across tion. "It gave the impression of Ihe country. But the cost a halo, which was very star- of keeping cool in the high- tling to me," says Silverman. stress late Eighties can be Also startling was her face. quite steep if you wanl one of carefully covered in a light these devices for your very coat of plaster much like own. Kelly's Betar sells for a death mask "It was done $28,000. Genesis, manufac- very carefully," says Silver- tured by Profit Technologies man, "It was almost as if she in New York, costs around were alive." $55,000. Egyptologist David O'Con- —Patrick Huvohe nor, a colleague of Silver- man's at Ihe Universily of below Twelve transducers Pennsylvania, rates ihe new convert impulses from the find "mosl impressive. This music into physical vibrations, of years she mummy," he says, "may The new generation of hence the name Betar, which lay undisturbed m a Giza be Ihe one thai looks most high-tech tension tamers now stands for Bio-Energetic tomb, protected from the like the person herself." on the market is likely to Transduction Aided Reso- Egyptian sun by the Great —Joan Greenberg produce a sweet sound in nance. An operator controls Pyramid's shadow. Finally, last many an ear. The Betar, Ihe music (which may in- spring, an antiquities inspec- invented by Peter Kelly of clude anything from Benatar tor stumbled upon Ihehid- Lakemont, Georgia, is typical to Beethoven) from a console den burial shaft of this 4,400- of the new machines that i of cassette decks, com- year-old mummy—a beatific beam high-powered music pact disc players, equalizers, twenty -two-year- old woman through the body to alleviate and tone generators. who appeared more lifelike stress; Like its competition— Research on the Betar and than |ust about any other which includes the Somatroh, other stressbusters is cur- mummy ever found. the Bitiss, and Genesis— rently being conducted at Working nearby was Egyp- the Betar seeks to capitalize Children's Hospital in St. tologist David Silverman "I on the medical suspicion Petersburg, Florida; Michigan walked over and towered thai reducing stress may allay State University, and the myselt into the shaft. There the development of disease. University of Washington was the feeling of ancient air Kelly's Betar consists of "Sound vibrations have all around," remembers a padded platform bed the potential to change neu- Silverman, who describes suspended from the frame of rological, molecular, or the tomb as "smoothed in a an open geodesic dome. cellular activity in the body," white plaster with no inscrip- Four speakers hang saysneurologistArthur tions or decoralion." above ; Scan- the person lying on the Harvey, who has helped ning the chamber. Silverman j de- platform and four are located I velop a new program to saw the mummy lying on " object as.a -silent, oval- shaped craft with three white Relieving muscle pain may lights illuminating the under- seem like small potatoes side and rows of red, green, when you compare it to build- and blue lights flashing ing the pyramids or around the "crown or head" communicating with God. During the following lew But for thousands of years weeks, the town, which has people have attributed only 1.4Q0 residents, was alt these feats to the power of invaded by thousands of crystals. Now, in his new tourists hoping to glimpse book, Crystal Power. Univer- what many thought might be sity of San Francisco infor- alien visitors. mation systems scientist "'We aren't accustomed to Lawrence E. Jerome explores having our population triple overnight," "what it is that makes people says Garmany, believe crystals work." His "but everybody was real nice conclusion: Crystal power is and we didn t have many nothing more than the ulti- problems." According to mate placebo effect. police records, more than "I'm not saying crystals 200 sightings were reported never work, "says Jerome, a throughout March and April. member of the Committee Jeff Ballard, state director for the Scientific Investigation for the Alabama chapter of Claims of the Paranormal. of the Mutual UFO Network, "The placebo is a very irn- says there is a history of UFO portsnl effeci," much like the sightings in the area of Fyffe. power of positive thinking "We investigated numerous in fighting disease. In fact, sighting reports this time," Jerome even claims success says Ballard, "and though with crystal healing himself. some could be explained He actually rid a friend of away as natural phenomena, a headache by having him we did have several that hold a crystal and focus those of a bottle ol tap water. we would call 'significant un- on the healing though Is it was "The water- hardness levels known sightings,' transmitting into his head. of both," Jerome reports, It all started on February Philip J. Klass.aUFO virtually identical." in for Committee for "My friend believed I knew "remained 10, with a call to police the expert the tiny of Fyffe, the Scientific Investigation what I was doing," Jerome "He certainly didn't follow town Alabama. says, "so the crystal worked." my direclions or he would The caller reported a strange, ot Claims of the Paranormal Hoping to convince Jerome have gotten exact results," hovering UFO with three (C3ICOP). Says that in more that crystals work on a truly responds Walker, who thumbs bright lights at the bottom. than 20 years of investigation physiological level, DaEI his nose at Jerome's placebo "My assistant and I were on he has yet to find any evi- Walker, director of the Crystal hypothesis. "I have a couple our way to the residence dence that UFO sightings are i Awareness Institute in Pa- of techniques that absolutely, when we spotted the object," ac tu at I y extrate r rest r a I checo, California, suggested totally, completely eliminate says Fyffe police chief visitations. "I mean no offense additional studies. In one belief in placebos," Charles Garmany "We fol- to Fyffe," says Klass. "but if Jerome left a crystal in a bot- Jerome cautions that the lowed it for about fourteen these UFOs are from some tle of tap water to remove road to crystal power should miles before it disappeared. civilization a jillion miles impurities. He then measured be billboarded with danger Then we got a radio call away, it seems odd that they his results over several signs. "You don't want that it had turned back in our would choose to keep com- weeks by comparing the to encourage belief," he says, direction, so we stopped to ing back to Fyffe and not ievels of water hardness for a "in something that doesn't wait, and it flew right over to Washington, DC, or Paris bottle of crystal water with exist"—Joan Greenberg us." Garmany describes the or London."—Rick Boling 124 OMNI . out the AIDS people onboard," Sheridan department to arrange adequate health says. "But AIDS helped to frame the ur- care coverage. gency of the issue." And a pioneer in the area of AIDS pro- AIDS-related court cases have also set grams, Levi-Strauss and Company has legal that nontra- to extend the democratic doctrine of fair- precedents recognize developed comprehensive employee ditional family units. In a recent York training education, provided ness to all Americans, the legal system New AIDS and has produced AIDS-related legislation case a landlord began eviction proceed- case-management assistance as well as and precedent-setting court rulings that ings againsi the surviving partner of a gay coverage for hospice and home health strengthen or institute anlidiscrimination man who had died from AIDS-related care, and offered flexible hours to em- laws and even expand our idea of what causes. The survivor was not a blood rel- ployees with AIDS. constitutes a family. ative or a legal spouse of the deceased, A number of companies have devised Los Angeles passed the nation's first whose name was the only one appearing ways to make "reasonable accommo- AIDS antidiscrimination measure in Au- on the lease. The New York Appellate dations" for employees with AIDS. At Pa- gust 1985. Legally recognizing that an HIV Court eventually ruled, however, that the cific Bell, telephone repairpersons are infection could not be contracted so- surviving partner could not be evicted. transferred to desk jobs or other posi- cially, the law protecis PWAs and people "The ruling will have an impact on any tions when they are unable to continue to with HIV infections. To dismiss an em- number of bondings between two peo- physically perform heavy maintenance ployee or refuse to hire a job applicant, a ple"— for example, an unmarried elderly work. Every effort is made to enable company must be able io demonstrate couple living together in order to survive PWAs to continue earning an income that the individual cannot perform as re- on fixed incomes. 'All such relationships rather than collect disability insurance. quired or poses a significant risk to oth- are protected," Hunter says. "They need to keep working. It gives them ers. "Instead of establishing social sta- A few cities, including San Francisco a reason to stay alive," says Tim O'Hara, bility by scapegoating and polarizing and Madison, Wisconsin, moreover, have an official with the Communications people by blaming the victims, as has adopted domestic partnership ordi- Workers of America, the union repre- happened with other epidemics through- senting Pacific Bell employees. out history," Schulman says, "the law The stance of such corporations has mandates social behavior." set a moral tone for hundreds of other Cities and counties across the country companies that are just starting to grap- have followed Los Angeles's lead and ple with the thorny problem of AIDS in the '•More young adopted similar measures. These ordi- workplace. Whether the concern is gen- nances laid much of the fheoretical Americans have died due to uine or rooted in sell-interest is moot; the important point is that the AIDS epidemic framework that shaped the Americans AIDS than were with Disabilities Act (ADA). has spotlighted discrimination against the The ADA extends federal civil rights killed in Vietnam. Just as the disabled in the workplace. And it has led protection to 43 million Americans who nightly news sensitized employers to consider the protection of are physically challenged as well as all employees. us to the horrors of war, AIDS those, whether gay or straight, living with There have been major epidemics in AIDS or HIV infection. The legislation will transform this country before: yellow fever, small- pox, and, at the start of this cenfury, bu- makes it illegal for businesses with more our attitude toward death$ than 25 employees to dismiss or refuse bonic plague. Public reaction to AIDS, to hire people because of their disabili- however, has been fueled by long-stand- ties. And those who believe they have ex- ing biases against the victims, the major- perienced discrimination — in employ- ity of whom have been gay, while many ment as well as hotels, movie thealers, others have been intravenous drug users. and other public accommodations—have nances. The provisions vary, but they But in the war on AIDS, the enemy is not the weight of law enforcement typically mandate that two unrelated individual people; it is a virus. behind them. "For too long America i people living togeiher can formally des- Enlightened and humane responses to set artificial barriers for the disabled," ignate each other as a "domestic part- the crisis continue to be hard won, says Massachusetts Democratic senator Ed- ner." Not only are their housing rights Los Angeles's Schulman, who's been rid- ward Kennedy said after Congress protected, but if they are municipal em- ing the crest of a tidal wave of changes passed the ADA last September. "We are ployees, each partner is entitled to be- since 1986. 'At first I felt like I was sitting not only striking down physical barriers reavement leave should the other die. And on a powder keg, trying desperately to but psychological barriers as well." A hospitals or other health care institutions keep public panic from becoming full- cosponsor of the sweeping measure, must recognize them as each other's next fledged hysteria," he recalls. "It was Kennedy called the ADA "the Emanci- of kin. "The laws relate to any two people frightening because there were no as- pation Proclamation for the disabled." living together for any reason. The rami- surances that decent values would take The disability community, of course, fications are quite broad," Hunter says. root. But so far the forces of reason have had lobbied for the legislation for 20 years. AIDS has also forced many employers prevailed. That's a victory for everyone." 'AIDS certainly didn't stimulate the legis- to change or alter their corporate policies Indeed, the final legacy of AIDS may lation, and I can't think of one single and institute precaufions to maintain em- be that Americans collectively learn what member ol Congress for whom AIDS was ployee confidentiality. Johnson & John- the protagonist in Albert Camus's novel the deciding factor," says Arlene Mayer- son, Chevron, Chemical Bank, IBM, and The Plague discovered in the quaran- son, directing attorney for the Disability General Motors, as well as General Me- tined city of Oran. When the journalist Rights, Education and Defense Fund. dia, Omni's parent company, have en- Rambert contended that Dr. Rieux was a "But the AIDS troops were a vital part of dorsed guidelines to safeguard Ihe pri- hero because of his dedication and un- the coalition." vacy and well-being of ail their tiring efforts to ease the misery of the . Both Tom Sheridan, director of public employees, not just those stricken with dying, Rieux replied, "There's no ques- policy at the AIDS Action Council and an AIDS. Bank of America employees, for tion of heroism in all this. It's a matter of AIDS lobbyist, and Nan Hunter, director example, need not inform their bosses common decency. That's an idea which of the American Civil Liberties Union's thai fhey have a life-threatening illness. may make some people smile, but the National AIDS Project, agree. "Eventually The company does, however, encourage only means of fighting a plague is com- the ADA would have been passed with- such employees to work with the benefits mon decency."DO 126 OMNI " rmiruD CONTINUED FROM PAGE SB or in-laws. By comparing he figures: vvi:h statistics on household composilion in the Detroit population during the same year, Daly and Wilson concluded that among cohabitants, spouses and other non- blood relatives were 11 times more likely to be slain than blood kin. While such de- tailed statistics have not been compiled for other North American cities, homicide studies in Miami and Philadelphia point to similar conclusions, they say. As they read through the files, they no- ticed a striking pattern. While most male killers had murdered their spouses aiter accusing them of adultery or desertion, most women slew their husbands in self- defense and rarely out of jealousy. "The 'Hell hath no iury iike a woman scorned' cliche is fiction." Daly explains. "It just doesn't happen. But the reverse hap- pens all the time. Men are the jealous sex." To explain the difference, Daly and Wil- son point to reproductive biology. Al- though women can be certain they are the mothers of their children, men have no way of knowing instinctively whether they are the sires. Only by warding off sexual rivals could primitive males in ef- fect be sure fhey were passing on their genes to the next generation. "We think that, historically, men who were propri- etary and sequestered tneir mates as- sured themselves of immortality," Wilson says. Today, even the specter of a wife's infidelity wil drive some nusbands to rage and murder. Jealous males may also question the paternity of their sons and daughters, with dire consequences. Women's motives for murdering chil- dren are very different, according to Daly - and Wilson. Ethnographic studies of some YOU CAN TELL the holidays are here 60 cultures indicate that mothers will con- sider infanticide when lood supplies are when our tree trimming committee gets scarce or social support for child rearing is lacking. Such data echo receni Cana- busy in the Visitor's Center. dian statistics; From 1977 to 1983. single mothers accounted for only 12 percent of We hope you enjoy the Christmas alLbirths. but they committed more than half of the maternal infanticides. this Daly and Wilson's analysis offers im- season year more than any portant insights into the long-standing mystery of family violence. "They show you can remember. And that that actual biological kinship affects the probabilities of family violence," says Jack Daniel's oldtime Tennessee University of Wyoming sociologist Rich- is ard Machalek. "This is something most Whiskey one of the reasons sociologists and social scientists had never really considered. why. Merry Christmas! While debate is likely to continue for many years, Daly and Wilson have at least ' identified important risk factors for family SMOOTH SIPPIN homicide, ones that could aid social TENNESSEE WHISKEY workers and others. "If you're working for a child welfare agency, for example, and you've got an excessive caseload, and families with stepchildren and genetic children, you might keep a closer eye on the stepch drer Wilson concludes. DO — ing. That's what our drunk driving laws iniTERWIEUU do. The recognition of alcoholism as a disease was a major step in the direction of helping people with problems. People fronted and counseled into a treatment arrested today have a slightly lower blood program. But back then in Moniana alcohol level than they did in the early and still in Montana—the value system Eighties. Yet I do foresee alpoholism con- was one where people took care of their tinuing to be the number one drug prob- own problems. The opinion of my alco- lem in the coming millennium. hol-recovering friends to the contrary,"! Omni: What about Alcoholics Anony- Clinic or the can now drink and then leave if alone. I mous [AA] or the Betty Ford treatment centers? well don't drink the bottle dry. I intersperse many other How nonalcoholic drinks with my alcohol. What do they work? of I did was mature out ot my drinking prob- Schaefer: The twelve-step program AA lem from a hell-raiser to a family man. is a blueprint for living that has helped a Of course, by choosing my career in huge number of people recover from very kept for the future. Store your Issues of the alcohol abuse prevention field, I was serious problems with alcohol. It's a won- Library OMNI In a new Custom Bound Case helping myself. I exposed myself to all derful and effective fellowship. At Betty of black simulated leather. It's built to made the reasons why people drink, biological Ford you enroll full-time as an inpatient last, and It will keep 12 Issues In mint return outpatient as well as sociocultural. I continue to be for a month, then on an condition Indefinitely. The spine is embossed or, in until with the gold OMNI logo, and In each case in contact with treatment people and work basis some cases, not you re- there is a gold transfer for extensively in developing programs that lapse. There is a good likelihood of a slip, recording the date, educate and train people in abuse pre- maybe a full-blown relapse, with any of Send your check or money order Statistics are vention. I guess my work and life are a these treatment programs. [$8.95 each, 3 (or $24.95; 6 for $45.95) kind of therapy. Having been there— lit- hard to come by, but I've heard that about postpaid USA orders only. USA orders add erally having gone to skid row and back, one in four slips. And of those, one in four $ 1 .00 and foreign orders odd $2.50 additional for postage and handling per case. getting into fights, getting arrested and has a full-blown relapse [within four years] thrown in the drunk tank, and then get- and will need to get back into a program. To: OMNI MAGAZINE Philosopher Herbert Fingarette Jesse Jones Industries, 499 E. Erie Ave. ting bailed out by my favorite bartender Omni: Phlla, PA 19134 at the Trail's End—gives me a unique kind created a stir two years ago by hypoth- esizing that is really just bad CREDIT CARD HOLDERS (orders oyer $15) of credibility. alcoholism a FREE 1-800-972-5858 habit. CALL TOLL I can now get into the scenes quickly. drinking your Or mail your order, clearly showing That's very subjective, and from a sci- Schaefer: There have been few govern- account number and signature. Pa. residents entist's point of view, that subjectivity is ing ideas about alcohol. There's the "Co- add 6% sales tax. SATISFACTION GUARANTEED often questionable. But the typical an- lonial" view: Alcoholism is a moral wrong. thropological scheme is to use your in- That eventually led to Prohibition: demon tuitive and deductive powers by going rum wrapped up in temperance. Then into a scene, coming back with prelimi- came the idea, surfacing about thirty STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP nary data, then systematically replicating years ago, that people who become them. The original insights usually come chemically dependent suffer from an ill- from a subjective, involved participant ness. The majority positio'i is that of Fin- frame of reference. There's trial and error garette's philosophy. Although in the in understanding cultural patterns. United States its greatest expression has Omni: Why is alcohol abuse the coun- been found in behavioral psychology, it try's number one drug problem? dominates European thinking about Schaefer: American society is very im- drinking. Alcohol, the argument goes, is mature. We're on this treadmill of "Gotta a beverage that we learn to use. Some go! Gotta get the bucks!" It may be en- people get into trouble; some don't. The demic in a capitalist system that we tend problem is behavioral, not genetic. to overdo in our lives and sometimes burn If you buy into the other, disease out. Our self-imposed, highly competitive model—which, quite frankly, has been system puts us all under a great deal of primarily conceived as a particular kind risk for outlets such as excessive drink- of alcoholism — then your only choice in ing or bouts of depression. Our biochem- correcting' the problem is complete ab- ical, neurochemical wiring hasn't been stinence. Yet I accept the idea that some prepared for these kinds of stresses. Self- people change their alcoholiciike behav- medicating is a'pattern of culturally ap- ior and control their intake or sponta- proved behavior. neously stop without help. I think Fingar- Per capita consumption of alcohol is, ette makes a good case for behavior on average, declining, indicating that by modification as a possibility for some the mid-Seventies, community tolerance people with drinking problems. Such for alcohol abuse had reached its peak. programs work best with persons who A number of things occurred, the most have a stable social and spiritual frame- recent being housewife Candy Lightner work with which to rebuild their lives. forming the group Mothers Against Drunk But I believe that up to Iwenty-five per- Driving [in 1981]. People resolved that cent of all alcohol problems may some- driving while drunk is a totally inappro- day be explained by genetic factors. priate social behavior. But the reality is a Many families have gone from genera- lot of people still drink and drive. tion to generation inheriting the biological You change behavior in a Judeo- baggage of addiction. Bui the legacy Cnrisl'ftn society by deglamorization and doesn't necessarily have to be genetic. It mild repression. Look at cigarette smok- can be passed on through poor family Tfe@ At?t5§& © ARTCUMINGS Show business is the pits The secret is knowing how A -Few minutes in a tub can work wonders T.*4a~~ r-ts^ Trust ma — a call "to Geraldo Rivera and you're on your way patterning in a disruptive aimosphere, a on a prcduc: cal ed Alcosorb that is much But again, this is a futuristic idea, and we weakened moral network. like what I've described. It's not a drug; need revolutionary changes in how we of problems of addiction. I en- Omni: Will it ever be possible to eradi- it's a microversion the charcoal slurry deal with the cate alcoholism? used in acute poisonings. Alcosorb is an vision sophisticated chemistry enabling Schaefer: Yes and no. Remember that activated carbon caplct that acts as a su- us to block or reduce some of the effects with alcoholism we're only talking about perfilter in the intestine. After the first stage that are very costly to individuals, com- seven percent of the population. The big- of clinical tests, it looks promising. It ap- munities, and society as a whole. gest societal cos! is not from alcoholism pears to alter dramatically Ihe blood al- The dog tests on Alcosorb are under but periodic abuse of alcohol and other cohol level. Alcosorb will be controversial way now in Texas, and they're looking drugs. Treating the psychosocial part of because it won't completely block the in- good. We need to test humans at rela- alcoholism is our best chance for eradi- toxicating effects of alcohol. tively high blood alcohol levels. So our r cating the problem in the short run. We We are talking an Alice in Wonderland next big hurdle will be the current 'ece a- from taking can reduce Ihe risk by building a culture view now, but I think we can get close to guidelines that prohibit us with a better sense of individual respon- blocking the physical consequences of humans up to very high alcohol levels. sibility about alcohol use. We can also alcohol abuse with a product that would Omni: Tell us about the search for the bi- build stronger families, neighborhoods, absorb the. toxic substances created by ological marker of alcohol consumption, and communities with more awareness ethanol. It would save your liver and pan- rather than alcoholism. about appropriate Schaefer; We're in- use ol alcohol terested in ce:ect- among adults. That ing in simple blood is what preven- samples whether tion's all about. an individual has Now, the biolog- been drinking dur- ical part may be ing the prior week, or four more difficult. First month, three we have to eluci- months, or year, date Ihe precise Based on the ratio addictive path- of certain blood struc- ways. In the future chemistry we may under- tures, we should stand the chemi- be able to see a cal structure of the person's drinking chromosomes and history and advise where the genetic the individual or markers for the ad- family about the relative risk of de- dictive potential lie. Then with gene veloping p-oo ems therapy, say, we related to alcohol could adjust a abuse or potential person's genetic addiction makeup prior to We are not try- the reproductive ing to dove oo years. That way he a marker for alco- would not pass on holism per se. the addictive ge- There are numer- netic material to ous gross blood- his children, and based measure- then eventual y we ments available, might be able to and although per- eradicate the de- haps useful for fect from the gene verifying alcohol- pool. Maybe we ism in some peo- could give ihe per- ple who already son a choice ot have a problem, fatal having the adjustment done or not. If not. ce,?.i; but s:ill a. ow you ;o enjoy Ihe htox 'they have what we think are some then he could pay a large fine or some- icating effects. It would require, of course, flaws: They depend on liver damage, for already looking at thing. [He laugns. j AI;orra:vely, we could that w.e develop a whole cultural value one thing, and that's transplant a lot of livers and related body system around it. the problem after the fact. They don't take parts in addicts and abusers. Any bio- Omni: But wouldn't that open a Pandora's into account, nor do they reflect, alcohol logical tinkering might be too Draconian box of trouble? Without the threat of a intake or doso'satsd "esponses, so they for our libertarian tastes. Yet another hangover, what's lo stop a person from put the cart before the horse. We are way of dealing wiih these problems is to getting drunk every night? Doesn't this looking for a marker covering the contin- create a novel family of drugs or anti-in- encourage addiction to alcohol? uum, from abstinence to heavy abuse. We toxicants that enable you to experience Schaefer: Not necessarily. In the short run are investigating people with different lev- better living through chemistry, so you it causes an ethical dilemma for people els of consumption: those who don't drink, could drink, enjoy it, and not suffer the promoting the use of such a product. those who drink moderately, social drink- medical consequences. Should people always have to suffer the ers who overdo it from time to time, and Omni: Haven't you been consulting on the natural consequences of overconsump- heavy drinkers who do nor develop full- development of such a product? tion: pounding heart, sweats, waking uo blown chein ca oeoe'idsncy problems. Schaefer; I'm a scientific consultant with in a pool of urine, the foul odor? If this The principal investigator, biochemist 21st Century Pharmaceuticals, a com- product kept you from receiving those John Belcher, also at the University of pany here in Minneapolis, it has a patent messages, it would not be a good idea. Minnesota, has studied ways of detect- — ing risks in both smokers and people in Omni: What do you hope to achieve by passive or secondary smoke situations your work? such as airplanes. With alcohol we're Schaefe.r: I like my idea of the hospitality BODV CONTINUED FROM PAGE 34 looking at two different melabolic path- covenant where a community gets the ways. One is the oxidative pathway, where retail liquor businesses together and they computer. The gantry's monitor gives a we're following the breakdown of the promulgate their own set of voluntary three-dimensional view of the brain at ethanol molecule into its various metab- standards. A number of communities are work. Doctors can manipulate this pic- olites, particularly acetaldehyde. employing my idea. Also, I hope more ture to examine different c'ross sections. In the other, nonoxidalive pathway we're social scientists will now be willing to get Often, studies take six or seven hours, following the fatty acid ethyl esters and out to do work in the establishments, the spread out over several sessions. studying disruptions in chemical struc- grocery and liquor stores, and not rely on Sutherling and his colleague Dr. Daniel ture as a result of varying doses of alco- proxy studies. Unless you've done your Barth have conducted MEG research hol. Using mass spectrometry and novel share of hanging out, you can't ask the trials at UCLA for the past six years. They gas chromatography techniques, we're right questions. have already used the system to evalu- analyzing the sequences of certain amino Omni: Do you think the role of alcohol will ate more than 75 epileptic patients prior acid chains and long-chain peptides for change in the next few years? to surgery and are now evaluating the minute differences. On a preliminary ba- Schaefer: Right now we're headed for a feasibility of using MEG systems as rou- sis we've found remarkable differences continuation of neo-Prohibition. I think tine hospital equipment lor patient diag- between people who drink and those who we're going to continue to swing to the noses. "This is potentially revolutionary," don't. That was our first clue that we were right regarding alcohol controls, be- Sutherling says. "The human brain is on to something. Now we're sorting cause the governing image is still of al- complicated in terms of the speed with through our data to make sure we are not coholism as a disease whose spread which impulses travel. By combining MEG creating our own monster through var- must be curbed. In the long run, though, and EEGs, we can now map centers of ious detection methods: fusions, dilu- there'll be a rebound, and we'll see per loci to millimeters and milliseconds." tions, saturations, and so forth. capita consumption go back up. But what The development of neuromagnetism We have examined a couple dozen our children's children will do with alcohol stemmed from refinements made in su- nondrinkers and about a dozen drinkers is anybody's guess. I also expect we'll perconductors (materials that conduct and are comparing their blood samples legalize marijuana. All the cigarette com- electrical currents with optimum effi- under different doses. My role is recruit- panies are patiently waiting. They've al- ciency). In the Sixties James Zimmer- ing the subjects. I'm out there beating the ready trademarked names. man, a Ford Motor Company researcher, bushes for drinkers, abstainers, and re- Omni: Bar owners have consulted you used the principles of superconductivity covering alcoholics, those who have ab- about the design of their establishments. to design an ultrasensitive detector of ex- stained for five, ten, and seventeen years. What ideas do you have for future bars? tremely faint magnetic fields, which he superconducting We want to see if their hemoglobin struc- Schaefer: I would have exits that mimic called a SQUID, for tures are any different from people who the field' sobriety tests. The exit itself quantum interference device. Zimmer- have never been exposed to alcohol. We'll would resemble a fun house. You'd go into man brought his SQUID to the Massa- give some subjects doses of alcohol; then a tunnel with a floor that's not quite level. chusetts Institute of Technology, where we'll take blood samples over various pe- To get out you'd have to navigate a maze. physicist David Cohen was studying the riods of time. We have them come back Maybe the sides would be electronic so body's magnetism with a cumbersome the next day, three days, then a week later, if you hit them, there'd be a light show induction coil. MIT recorded the first MEG and months later. They'll keep a diary, too, and then a cab would be waiting for you examination of an epileptic patient in 1972 of any drinks they have. We hope to cor- when you finally made it out. If you did. and soon became an important site for relate blood structures we've analyzed Or you might automatically be given a biomagnetism research. with their self-reports. What got us very breath test. Instead of waiting for the so- Each MEG consists of several SQUIDs excited about this was that we were able briety test from Smokey, why not have the mounted inside a vat of chilled liquid he- to isolate a particular point in a hemoglo- bars provide it? lium—the Dewar—to retain the SQUIDs' bin molecule, the first line on the chart we Omni: Will we always have bars? superconducting properties. Most think will eventually be able to delineate Schaefer: In the late Seventies I was giv- SQUIDs have only one "channel," or sen- the light, moderate, and heavy drinker. ing a paper in Norway on alcohol abuse. sor, able to monitor a single spot on the And we found it in a place we never On a day off, I headed for a bar, where I skull at a time. More advanced SQUIDs, thought we'd find it: in the abstainer. met two guys who said they had a film with 7 to 14 channels^ allow MEG users Omni: Grants tor alcohol-related studies showing at a local film festival. They were to monitor multiple areas of the skull si- are plentiful. Have times changed? George Lucas and Mark Hamill, and they multaneously. Because these arrays cost Schaefer: Yes. The National Institute of asked me if I wanted to come to their several hundred thousand dollars each, Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism is now screening. I did, and Star Wars came on, however, few research laboratories will be very interested in research on drinking and it was fantastic. One scene that both- able to afford them. environments. And I've seen a number of ered me a bit, though, was the cantina Biomagnetic researchers are working proposals for investigating such things as scene, with the pulling down of hookahs on high-temperature (high-tc) SQUIDs. what happens when you deregulate a by all those weird creatures. I asked Lu- Because of the protective layer of helium, state with liquor controls or begin to train cas, who is anthropologically trained, current channels come no closer than one bar staffs in a specific community. Ten about it. He said he believed there's al- centimeter away from the patient's skull. years ago people were skeptical of the ways going to be a place where ideas If and when biomagnetic researchers re- relevance of my work. It was pretty lone- are brokered. And it's more likely going place their conventional SQUIDs with the some out there. Now there's lots of atten- to be in a situation where people can have new high-tc versions, says Roger H. tion. Richard Sykes and I put in a pro- unlimited access to whatever chemical Koch, a scientist at IBM's Yorktown posal to recruit a hundred groups of they want. Although I argued with him on Heights, New York, lab, the impact on their drinkers to essentially go out and drink in details, Lucas is basically right. There's progress will recall the change from bars, wearing body-packed microcas- always going to be a place to go to mainframes to personal computers. sette recorders. .We'll transcribe achieve altered third place. "They'll enable whole range of appli- their _ states— the a conversations in time-sync so we can 'And in the future we'll have much more cations that weren't possible. For in- analyze how bar customers make deci- open minds about the benefits of achiev- stance," Koch says, "you'll bring MEG di- sions about drinks, reorders, and driving. ing altered states now and then. DO rectly into emergency roqms."OQ )32 OMNI dangerous, rocks into our atmosphere. To date there have been no recorded deaths trom asleroids or cornels, Ihough ART5 COMi'viJ: '.Oh' IV.OI- :ir a few people have been injured by the explains. Here's another way to look at it: asteroid's smaller cousin the meteorite. software, musical technicians mix the There's a higher probability that the earth On the night of November 30, 1954, a sounds, treating each dolphin squeal, will be hit by.a 1989-FC-size object than woman in Sylacauga, Alabama, was gorilla belch, oi alligator- grow as if it were that any individual will be killed by a tor- sleeping on her couch when a meteorite an individual note on a flute or a beat on nado, estimated at one chance in 50,000 came crashing through the roof of her a drum. To create the desired effect, the The odds of an asteroid or cornet dev- house, bounced off he? radio, and hit her composers change the pilch and timbre astating the planet are more ominous. "If in the hip Newspapers around the coun- ol sounds, rnodily :hoir amplitude, stretch you say that the average person lives just try ran pictures of the woman's bruise. them out, and blend them to create fifty years rather than the assigned sev- Ian Halliday, an astronomer at the chords. "We're limited only by Ihe quality enty," Chapman says, "then the chance Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics in Ot- of the sounds we've recorded," says of an impact in a lifetime is about one in tawa, has calculated that about 5,800 Krause. whoso long career has included six thousand. People may be scared of meteorites strike the earth's land surface a stint with the Weavers folk group in the getting on DC-10s, but only one DC-10 each year. Surprisingly, tew do much late Fifties. flight in three hundred thousand crashes. damage. Halliday estimates that only one In the late Seventies, Krause returned It's far more likely that an asteroid hit will person every 180 years will be hit by a to school and earned a doctorate in cre- affect us. Alter all, if something like this meteorite in Norlh America, and be- ative arts, having served an internship in hits a moderately populated area of the cause most of these hits will be by peb- bioaeoustics, the study of the relation- earth, millions of people are at risk. A DC- ble-size stones or something even ship between organisms and their 10 puts only a few hundred people at smaller, few will be hurt. "There's a very sounds. With that scientific background, I with the California risk. . . .There's a better chance that your slim chance that you or will get hit by a he began working epitaph will read, Killed by an asteroid meteorite," Halliday says, "but once in a Academy of Sciences and other organi- impact that destroyed civilization than, while somebody will." zations and has prepared soundtracks lor Killed by a tornado or airplane crash," Numbers for human-meteorite en- scientific and photographic exhibits. The repercussions from a near miss, counters elsewhere in the world are He recognized his musical niche after like the one in Siberia, could exceed the harder to come by, though Halliday esti- a Greenpeace benefit concert in 1981. damage caused by an actual impact. It, mates that one person every nine years Waning to to, something different, he had for instance, one of these miniworlds fell will' be hit by a meteorite. In densely pop- laboriously sequenced whale and drum into the atmosphere and exploded over, ulated countries with unsophisticated sounds by hand, which others would later say, Pakistan or Syria, the country might communications systerns, the chances of do via computer. The result was the two- its mistakenly believe it was the target of a aslronomers hearing about a meteorite minute "Whale Rap." After perfor- nuclear bomb. "Such an explosion did hit are slim. "If someone in one of the de- mance at the Greenpeace concert, the occur over British Columbia in 1965." veloping countries gels hit by a twenty- audience was uproarious. "I knew then Chapman says. "When the object, prob- gram meteorite thai doesn't really hurt him what my voice would be," Krause says. of Ins ably a comet, exploded, it had the force much, we're not going to hear about it," Getting recordings animal music of the Hiroshima atom bomb. If this had Halliday explains. to the public was difficult, however. In occurred over a less sophisticated, or a Homes and other buildings take more 1985 Krause produced an album from more threatened, country, it could have of a beating, even though the numbers tapes he had made at an African water triggered a nuclear war." still seem small Only 16 buildings in North hole for the California Academy of Sci- Given the potential for disaster, it might America, Halliday estimates, will be hit by ences. Ho sent the "soundscape" to rec- behoove nations to invest more tele- a meteorite each year. Often, he says, ord companies all over the world and col- scope time in identifying the myriad un- people realize that a building has been lected 185 rejection letters, he says, known objects that haunt the night skies. hit only when they notice a leak in the roof before Tom Wrubel, president of The Na- Currently there is only one telescope in and go to examine it. Sometimes they will ture Company, a Berkeley, California- the United States—the one on Mount find the stone still lodged in the roof. based gift store chain, agreed to distrib- Palomar— that allocates time to asteroid Besides meteorites, asteroids, and ute it. Since then, Krause has also pro- hunters. It would take at least 20 tele- comets, as much as 5 million tons of ex- duced nine environmental soundscapes scopes in use full-time over the next ten traterrestrial dust, mostly microparticles for the company. years, Chapman estimates, to discover from the tails oi comets, rains down on In the same way that zoos try to edu- most of the asteroids wandering through the earth each year. A few scientists, no- cate vis. tors and spark concern for wild our neighborhood and to chart their or- tably Fred I loyio, have suggested that this animals and natural habitats, Krause bits. The irony is that even it we did spot cosmic dust may contain alien viruses, hopes his music will enlighten as well as an object bearing down on us, it might but so far there's little proof to support entertain his listeners; "My sense is that not do much good. "If it was fairly small," this hypothesis,. Cosmic fallout doesn't this is the only way our kids are ever going Chapman says, "we could probably pin- seem to be dangerous either chemically to hear this material, because the ani- point where it's going to hit within ten miles or biologically, contends Chapman. But, mals aren't going to be there anymore." and evacuate people. And if a larger one he explains, "if i! is dangerous, the great- Despite Krause's seeming pessimism, were detected years in advance, we est damage will still be done by the larger however, he donates a portion of his prof- could, in theory, launch a rocket with a asteroids and meteors— like the one that its to The Nature Conservancy, a public nuclear device on it to meet the object exploded over British Columbia— be- interest group dedicated to keeping wild and blow it into another orbit, one that cause they will distribute far more extra- places wild. "I've also encouraged The would miss the earth. But it would lake terrestrial material." Nature Company and Rykodisc to be- five to ton years to prepare and send up ..In the end, the vastness of space, which come part of the Conservancy's efforts, such a rocket, then six months to a year seems so peaceful by earlhly standards. and they have," he says. "In a sense, Ihe for the rocket to get to the asteroid." It may be so' only for what amounts to a animals are the artists on these record- would be a long shot at best. By the way. cosmic moment. Sooner or later, the mo- ings, and it's only right that everybody is t blowing up an approaching asteroid ment will end and we may see a faint light giving something back. As long as I'm would do little good. The shattered hulk coming toward us, casting a shadow on able, I want to feel that I'm doing some- would send a cascade of smaller, but still ihe \hc~ of cr/r cation. DO thing to preserve nature. "DO 134 OMNI carvirviuruicMTiarus Finding the Natural High to finally ^top studying the problems and In your article "Save the Planet" [Sep- do something. ccn- ini.il j "-lO-vifAOL ; tember 1989] you quoted psychophar- Norma Lucas Unscientific Analysis rnacologist Ronald Siegel as saying thai Sebastopol, CA When adults try to figure out how lo mo- drug use is the fourth drive, ranking righl iivate and educate children, [hey usually after hunger, thirst, and sex. It seems he It's No Small World After All come to the same conclusion that the Ed- is trying to tell us that :ho caving "or drugs In your otherwise commendable Sep- ucational Testing Service did; 'Academic is a natural, innate desire that all healtny tember 1989 Save the Planet issue, there performance can be improved if teach- normal adults experience. It is exaclly !hls was one glaring omission. Surely your ers and parents demand more from stu- kind of mentality that we must watch out activist's guide should have included a dents" ["Save the Pianet," September for in our fight against drug abuse. We section on the responsibility of all people 1989]. Couldn't the pressure and com- must make it known that drug use is nor to limit their family size to two or fewer petitiveness that usually accompany sci- a natural drive but an unnatural defense children since human overpopulation is ence and math be what's pushing stu- mechanism against poverty, unhappi- the cause of most of the important envi- dents away? ness, loneliness, and insecurity. Drug ronmental p'obems "ac.ing Farth today. Jason Baker usage is a way lo mask pain. It saddens At its current growth rate of 2 percenl per Senior, Fresno High School me that anyone could confuse this with a year, the human population will increase Fresno, CA healthy drive of survival. We will always by a factor of 1 trillion in a mere 14 cen- have drug abuse—just as we will always turies. To those optimists who might think It is no wonder that kids have no interest have crime. We can minimize i!, however, that population growth is slowing down, in science. Public schools are provided by educating the public as to why people I point out that more net human beings with grossly inadequate resources for turn to drugs and showing them a pleas- will be added to the earth in 1989 than in science education. Science is a course ant, if not inspiring, alternative. any other year ever. you must take to pass, nothing more. The Jan Thompson Ben Zuckerman credits we achieve in science are equal New York Los Angeles to those gained in gym. If we keep edu- cation centered on the ability to make What a Wonderful World This Could Be Editors' Note: We did consider including money, then the only hope for science re- A bunch of red roses to Cathy Spencer population in our discussion of the most search as we know it will be in the few for her excellent "Help Wanted: An Activ- pressing environmental issues facing our bitten by the science bug. Luckily there ist's Guide to a Better Earth" [September planet. Since National Geographic had are still a few prescientists ready to make 1989]. Omni's supplement gives a way to recently presented a thorough discus- a difference. save the planet by changing the way we sion of this issue, however, we opted to Mary Helen Clark (age thirteen) use resources, changes each of us can devote our pages to topics that had been Englewood, NJ institute now without waiting for experts less publicized. DO A clash of symbols: well-turned letters: wizards of odds By Scot Morris Scoit Kim. whose visual wordplay called Inversions appeared for the first 'time in this column, has now come up with two new puz- zles, called Halphabeis; lhat are guaranteed to flip you out. The idea first dawned on him while he was designing a compuier disk thai allows nonartists to manipulate words and letierforms the way he does—so they can create their own Inversions. In the Halphabei puzzles, you isolate each symbol (using the computer's mouse), rotate it 90° or 180° and/or reflect it. fhen copy the result in one of the Kim made them comple- tac-toe, while simple, is too My nbers may be used only empty squares. In the pa- ment each other. How predictable: For every once (players cross them per-and-ink versions printed did he do it? Answers ap- possible opening move by off as they use them), here, the best-way to see pear on page 145. X there is a reply by O and once the numbers are what these letters will look The completed disk, lhat will force a tie. The odd- placed, both players have like reflected is to photo- Letlerlorms & Illusion, by even game, set up on a access lo them within copy the page and hold it Kim and Robin Fe Samel- tic-lac-toe grid, may be the grid. The object: Be the up to the. light so thai you son, was recently published easily learned, but you can first player to complete a can view the letter shapes by W. H. Freeman, along play hundreds .of times row of three numbers from the back. with a ferelease of Kim's without discovering sure- (horizontal, vertical, or di- The two puzzles at right book Inversions.. The Mac- fire strategies for winning or agonal) whose sum is each start with half an intosh disk comes with forcing a tie. 15. The foserof a game alphabet—just 13 letters. ten original fonts, or letter To play, draw a tic-tac-toe chooses whether to be Odd The challenge; Copy each styles, which lead to some board, then write the digits or Even in the next game. letter once and. by drawing 60 interaciive puzzles. A J through 9, separated . Ronald L. Graham in- it, either rotate or reflect it user can write with any ol into rows of odd and even vented odd-even in 1956. to fill one of the empty the peculiar alphabets- numbers, as below. Now adjunct director for re- squares in the same "hat- including an "Escher" font search at AT&T Bell Labs, phabet." In the end. each and' "illusion" font, an "ex- Graham is listed in the 26-letter alphabet is made treme closeup" font, and a Guinness Book ol World up of two copies each of font in which each letter Records for the eponymous the original 13-letter forms. can tessellate a plane. (To Graham's Number—the For example, in the first order, send £39.95. plus O©©0® largest number ever used quiz (Halphabet A) you can S3 postage and handling, to in a mathematical proof. use the If to make either Look Twice, Box 50697, In just a few matches, an E or an M but not both. Palo Alio, CA 94303.) © © © © you'll see the. difficulty Some symbols- must be One player, "Odd," takes of determining a "best play" ODD MAN OUT? flipped to lit: Ap can be ro- charge of the digits 1, 3, Does the perfectly played tated 180" to make a d; its The best games are 5, 7, and 9; the other player, game end in a win for Odd, mirror image can form a simple enough to learn im- "Even," gets 2, 4, 6, and a win for Even, or a tie? "I to or, il needed, ag. mediately and complex 8. Odd goes first. Players did a lot of pencil calcula- Although the two Halpha- enough to keep you inter- alternate inserting. one tions, tracking out various beis are separate puzzles, ested indefinitely. Tic- number in any empty cell. strategies," Graham iold me. 138 OMNI win lor Even, (b) a loss for Even, or (c) a tie? There is no intuitive strategy to Ihe game, so it remains- challenging. Even though there is a best move for Odd in every po- sition, it is almost irnpossi- ble'for any human to know what that move is without either trying it or looking up Markowsky's analysis. There are other sug- gested variations on the game—for example, one that Markowsky analyzed "I finally convinced myself the three distinct cells, opening squares- (corner; using different colors and that one side barely had for 15 possible openings. midside. center),, only two ways to win. Play as a win, but all my analysis But every game has a one leads to a forced win before, but with the odd was done by hand— it took numerical "mirror image"; for Odd. Which is it? numbers on red counters, 1 following the even numbers on green. hundreds of pages—so I games that start with 2, In the three was never completely sure." are symmetrical with games grids, determine which is The object: Complete that start with 9. Opening the best opening for Odd either a line of three that GRAHAM CRACKER with a 3 is equivalent to and which is the worst. adds up to 15 or one that Graham's game was. opening with a 7. has three counters of ihe finally cracked by a com- A game that has the first '# same color, puter this year. George three moves 5-8-3 also Other variations haven'l Markowsky. professor of has an exact reflection: been extensively analyzed. computer science at the 9-2-7. Therefore Odd has For example, no one knows University of Maine, at- only three distinctly differ- •# how the game would differ tacked it with two program- ent numbers (1, 3, and if the desired sum were ming languages, Pascal 5) and three distinctly dif- 13 or 14. What if the num- and APL. Markowsky sent ferent squares. This reduces bcis used were2through me his analysis, published the number of possible 18 possible moves; Ihe 2, 6 10 and Even went first? And here for the first time open,ngs :o nine. or § in any of the six open Graham's latest version: The first step in analyzing Markowsky's program squares. Seventeen of Put the numbers on cards, the game: Find the number prunedthe 9,355,565 these'moves let Odd win or shuffle, and deal randomly. of board configurations conceivable arrangements the next turn. What is One player gets five num- thai are possible. For exam- down lo a more manage- Even's satest move? bers; the other gets four. The ple, in tic-tac-toe, X can able (ha!) 514.816 distinct person with five opens. open in any of nine possible ones. A perfectly played "The rule," Graham says, squares. Because one game, it turns out, doesn't "leads to awhole range of can rotate the grid, only end in a draw. Odd does unexplored games, with three distinctly different have a winning strategy. 4. In gameB, Odd is to different strategies for each openings really exist: to a And knowing that, try move. Place any of three possible deal." corner square, to a midside ,to solve the following prob- numbers—3, 5, or 7— The level of complexity square, or to the center lems. (Answers appear in any of five squares. Of for odd-even is greater than square. Odd can place any on page 145.] the 15 possible moves, any noughts-and-crosses of live numbers in any of 1. Of the three distinct do the majority lead to (a) a player ever imagined. CXI ' VIDEO SCANS BAfUlES We have no spotlights, no limos, no tuxedos, and - no fawning starlets— not !te»s^=E3 even a statuette. But with Omni's insight substituting for Hollywood's glamour, we olfer our choices for the best video and computer **• • •.; ! ;> games of 1989. The enve- lopes, please. ' '' v.' Best video adaptation of ;; an arcade game: Although Nintendo's version of Dou- ble Dragon was a monster hil—and a solid adaptation . of the arcade original— -m Sega's Double Dragon captures the two-player thrill "•[HTSBIigP a of the game. It's also '^H^T^fV^\ W30LDEN GATE closer to the look and feel mit ' HyjF i f*r ~ "JfKVV of the original. • Best computer adaptation of an arcade game: You |* _• 1? fly. You shoot. You destroy £. .-/fv © everything in your path. There's nothing to engage of San Francisco. Swerve to ESPN regards it as a sport video and computer games the mind, but there's plenty miss those pedestri- nonetheless. And imagina- that are supposed to be for the eyes and ears in ans! Oh, why bother? Splat! tive events, hilarious anima- fun but feel like self-inflicted Discovery's Hybrls (Amiga). Best role-playing video tion, and joystick chal- punishment. Well, the The sound, graphics, and- game: With easy-to-under- lenges take Ultra's Skate or following games offered the action in this thriller set new stand joystick controls: Die to' the topof the hill. best pure fun in 1989: standards in home games. stimulating puzzles, lively • Best computer sports Lucasfilm Games' Indiana Best simulation: Want action, and addictive in- game: Not for the. same old Jones and the Last Crusade to play God? Or rule -on a trigue, Nintendo's The Leg- tackle-and-grunt enthusiast. Adventure Game (IBM); smaller scale as the mayor endofZelda II; The. Electronic Arts' John Mad- Infocom's Journey (Macin- of a major metropolis? Adventures of Link expands den- Football (IBM, Apple II) tosh II. Amiga); Sierra Tough choice. So let's call it the classic formulas goes the whole nine yards, Online s Leisure Suit Larry II a tie. Maxis's SimCity {Ami- of electronic role-playingr. from strategy sessions (IBM); Taito's Bubble Bob- ga, Macintosh) allows you • Best role-playing computer and playbook design up ble and Arhonoid II for io call the shots in the city of game: Flawed but fas- to head-busting action on the Nintendo Entertainment your choice. In Electronic cinating, Neuromancer Irom the field. It's about as thor- System (NES) and most Arts' Populous (Amiga), you Interplay Productions ough as football simulation computers; Spectrum muster divine powers to (Games, October 1989) is likely to gel for a while. Holobyte's Tetris; Electronic bring peace and prosperity combines an ingenious • Best computer flight Arts' Zany Golf, and Fan- to earthly disciples. joystick-controlled interface simulation: Micro prose's fare's Archipelagos (IBM, • Best action simulation: with inventive role-playing F-19 Stealth Fighter (IBM) Amiga, Atari ST), distributed Realize your darkest motor- and a suspenseful story has it all, including visceral by Britannica Software. ' ized dreams in Spectrum line, as well as sharp- excitement, detailed au- Best game system; No HoloByte's Vefte.'(IBM). edged, adult humor. thenticity, and.you-are-there surprise here. The scrolling Strap yourself into a sports • Best video sports game: graphics. shoot-'em-ups of the NES car for a Sunday drive Okay, so you're not likely • Most entertaining games: are becoming as repeti- from hell. Race uncontrolla- to.find skateboarding in the In our September 1989 tious—and as socially bly through the city streets next Olympic games, but column, we bemoaned uplifting—as the Friday 110 OMNI THE APPELLATION TRAIL CDruiPETiTiaru By'Scot Morris Links: a form of s VIII, Duke Ellington, Hester Prynne, Santa Claus, Rudolf IMureyev, Mikhail Omni's Competition #49 from Catherine Howard, Henry VIII. Baryshnikov, Jessica Lange, Sam May 1989? What Ms suggests — Marjorie Black. Farmington, NM Shepard, Cybill Shepherd, Sherlock to one person may or may not be what Holmes, Tom Watson, Jack Nicklaus, it conjures up for another. To us here at Richard Nixon, Chubby Checker(s), Santa Claus. the Games column, links are both Twisted Sister, Abigail Van Buren, —Nancy Hentzen, Kansas City, MO breakfasl food and a brain-twisting Abraham Lincoln, Shirley Booth, Hazel HONORABLE MENTION challenge. The competition's rules called Bishop, Tammy Faye Bakker, Charles for stringing together ten names fhat Colson, Richard Nixon. Angel Cordero, Gabriel, Captain Horatio had unspoken but distinct connections. —Bob Shelton, Birmingham, AL Hornblower, Captain Ahab, Moby Dick, You also had to start and end with the the Prince of Wales, Lord Greystoke, same name. Here was our example: Dan Tarzan, Jock Mahoney, Angel Cordero. Quayle, Big Bird, Cookie Monster, —Miles Klein, Staten Island, NY Famous Amos, the California Raisins, Hoffman, the Beatles, Lenin, Rasputin, Minnesota Fats, Joe McCarthy, Charlie Houdini, David Copperfield. Scot Morris, Cat Stevens, Salman McCarthy. Howdy Doody, Dan Quayle. — Patricia Pospisil, Wonder Lake, IL Rushdie, Satan, Jim Bakker, Jessica The links with this list should be Hahn, T J. Hooker, James T Kirk, James fairly obvious: A quail is a bird; B. Bird Babe Ruth, Adam West, Robin Hood, Doohan, Scot Morris. and C. Monster are both Sesame Sfreef Howard Hawks, Daisy Duck, Pete Rose, — K. L. Stuart, Prince George, BC characters: Famous Amos makes Bette Midler, Jimmy Snyder, Homer, cookies: and so on. Babe Ruth.—Jim Stang, Seattle Edith Piaf, Otis Birdsong, Florence Our grand prize-winner gets a Smith Nightingale, John Hurt, Dumbo, Leonard Corona PWP40 personal word processor, Walt Disney, Mickey Mouse, Ratso Nimoy, Benjamin Spook, Baby Snooks, with a 60,000-word dictionary and Rizzo, Dustin Hoflman, Tom Cruise, Barbra Streisand, Edith Piaf. 32,000-character memory ($599 value). Darren McGavin, Mary Tyler Moore, Grant —Ruth Armnons, Birmingham, AL The second-place winner receives a Tinker, Tinkerbell, Walt Disney. Casio SF-4000 Digilal Diary ($119 value). —Donna L Schmidt, Novi, Ml Stan Musial, Cardinal Spellman, Red Five runners-up each get $25. and all Barber, Perry Como, Karen Quinlan, seven winners receive copies of The Anthony Quinn, Zorba the Greek, Jimmy Next Book of Omni Games (New Ameri- Snyder, Pete Rose, Stan Musial. can Library/Plume). — Loretta Mays, Hueytown, AL With those entries that fell short, some links were judged too easy, including Sandra Day OOonnor, Archie Bunker, the mere repetition of names (Oliver Meathead, Oscar Mayer, Jack North, Oliver Twist), or too loose (both Klugman, John Quincy Adams, Adam singers, both actresses), or not readily West, Batman, Johnny Bench, Sandra decipherable (Frank Sinatra, who starred Day O'Connor. in The Manchurian Candidate; Robert —Don Anderson, Phoenix Redford, who starred in The Candidate). The best lists had a wide variety of Inspector Clouseau, Cato, the Green names and a number of ways of linking Hornet, Sting, Paul Newman, Oscar them. Madison, Neil Simon, Alvin, the Pink Panther, Inspector Clouseau. GRAND PRIZE-WINNER —Rhonda Pereira, Elmont, NY George Bush, John Tower, Foster Brooks, Brooke Shields, Joan Rivers, Billy Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, Ocean. Grace Slick, Olive Oyl, Wimpy, James Joyce, Saint Patrick, Saint Valen- George Bush. tine, Al Capone, Eliot Ness, T. S. Eliot, —Jane Fenstermaker, Lafayette, IN Carl Sandburg, Abraham Lincoln. —Roger E. Luft, Eau Claire, Wl RUNNERS-UP Henry VIII, Peter Noone, Gary Cooper, Charlie Parker, Steve Sax. Artful Dodger, Grace Kelly, Wallis Simpson, Edward Oliver North, Mae West, W. C. Fields, 142 OMNI ., OMEGA EOOO SERIES You Never Heard It This Good... Bass thafs deep...solid. Highs are to deliver more vibrant bass. 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Handy, Leonard Feaiher, Larry Peter Tchaikovsky, Peter and the 7. Judy Gail-arc Diara Hoss. Sandra Bird. Charlie Parker. Wolf , . .), and John A. J. Kane of St.Paul Day O'Connor. EAfUlES Mason Myatl, Birmingham, AL managed to hard-rock 8. Lil- — use only musi- Jack Benny, the Mayo brothers, ..:.-:|., '•:"; iuui :.ii;om i: ^mmmmmm cians and groups (Metallica, Iron Maiden, lian Hellman. And [hanks to ail the readers who con- Cinderella, Twisted Sister, Heart, Joan Jetl ANSWERS ANSWERS si tributed these clever partials: Joseph and the Blackhearts, Whitesnake. Poi- a B e Ej H M HALPHABET, At right and below are Wiseman, Confucius, Old Yeller . , . Ron- son, Zeppelin, 1. Led Metallica). AH won the Kentucky Derby. the completed Halphabets. The two puz- ald Reagan. Luke Skywalker. Carl Wal- 1. What is unique about this list of 2. In each pair of names, the second zles complement each other: The given [^ IB !9i [ffl SI S B lenda, John Ringling. Alexander Graham names? Black Gold, Flying Ebony, Jet Pi- is, in part, the lirst spelled name name letters in Halphabet B are in positions Bell . . . Noel Coward, Chicken Little - . - lot, Gallant Man, Paul Jones, War Admi- backward (Ravel/LeVar, Oprah/Harpo, where the empty squares are in Halpha- Olive Oyl, Vito Corleone . . . Stonewall ral. Count Fleet. Lord Murphy, Iron Liege, and so on), The names separated by the bet A, and vice versa. Jackson. Perry Mason, Delia Street, AN Black Gold. commas: black actors, early film stars, ODD MAN OUT. 1. The midside square MacGraw, Frankie Laine . . . Colonel 2. What unusual pattern is in this list? characters from songs; wild plants, twen- is the only opening move for Odd that [BliBJlSllBiifciirric Sanders. Everett Rooster C. Koop, Cog- Maurice Ravel/LeVar Burton, Oprah Win- tieth-century French men of arts. guarantees a win. burn. Duke of Wales, Shamu . . Moses frey/Harpo Marx, Theda Bara/Ahab the 3. The names are connected by the 2. Odd wins only by opening with 1 or Malone. Muhammad Ali. Sting, Bea Ar- Arab, Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer/ cross-comma names: Dean Martin, Marty n iti W. 3 (or, by numerical reflection, 9 or 7) in a M E3 M El thur , . . Red Buttons, Don Knotts, Harry Sumac/Albert Allen, King Arthur, Alexander. Lou Reed, Yma Camus, Doyle Pope midside square (grid a). The worst move Houdini. Papillon, Butterfly McQueen . , . Maurice Ravel. John, Lewis, Carol Lawrence, John and is 5 to the center (b), which can lead to a Cruise, Kathie Gilford . . . Tom Lee Paul 3. What's remarkable about this list? Olivia Newton-John. win for Even. Bunyan, Dr. Scholl, Maria Callas . . . John Dean, Martin Marty, Alan King, Ar- 4. This is a similar chain in which each 3. Even's only successful strategy is to \0 Colonel Sanders. Little Red Hen, Fergie thur Conan Doyle, Alexander Pope, John, name links both to the name before it and SZi place 6 in the upper left corner. All other M \E M . . .Giuseppe Verdi. Mean Joe Green. . Lewis Carroll, Olivier, after it. Laurence Newton. moves let Odd win on the next turn. Odd's Gordon Lrghlfoot. Carl Lewis . . . Hoagy John Dean. 5. Bert Parks is a "square emcee." only winning response to this is to play 7 Carmichael. Ruben Blades. Marie An- 4. this? Marie Saint (Kevin Lahr, Eagart, And Eva Joseph MN) in the lower left. toinette. Ichabod Crane, Derek . . Henry Bo James Dean Martin Luther King 6. Flintstone and Griffith both had best 4. Of 15 possible moves for Odd, only Bono. Francis Powers. Gary Henry Thomas (Tommy) John Calvin friends named Barney; Griffith and Bos- two lead to a sure win, and three lead to Peele Rose Marie Saint. ley were both TV fathers of Ron Howard. SPECIAL MENTION QUIZ a tie. The majority, ten, lead to a loss. This Some readers supplied explanations (Ann Marie Ludlow. Alexandria, VA) shows that if you don't think carefully and Several readers 1 tried theme links, re- for links, that weren't immediately ob- 7. Ross was Dorothy in The Wiz and a just place a number randomly, the stricting their names to one category. Mi- vious. What 'are the keys to these con- Supreme. (Sara Shinavier, Ypsilanti, Ml) chances are often very high of produc- chael A. Gowan's list, for example, nections? was 8. Benny's partner was Rochester: the ing a loss or tie. confined to science-fiction writers and 5. Albert Einstein, Monty Hall. Mayo Clinic is in Rochester, Minnesota: NOVEMBER'S PICTURE PUZZLES. As characters; Paul Lisko used only Peters 6. Fred Flintstone, Andy Griffith, Tom Hellman's is a brand of "mayo." (C. promised, here are the solutions to last (Saint Peter. Pete Best. Peter the Great, Christy. San Bernardino, CA)OQ month's b rain tease rs.OQ — — Called "a dreamer and a poet" by ro- of dollars in cash as the waiter serves MAGIC all botics pioneer Marvin Minsky of MIT, cappuccino and steak tartare— on the CONTINUED FROM PAGE 118 Lanier, twenty-nine, is stocky and kinetic, computer screen. his motion and send it to the computer. with tangled light brown dreadlocks cas- A user with such an instrument would The computer then translates the infor- cading down his back. A huge collection be able to interact with his visual fanta- mation into a visual image—Waldo. As of obscure musical instruments, from the sies just as a jazz player interacts with his Whitmire waves his hand, Waldo ap- kaba gaida (a Bulgarian bagpipe) to the acoustic ones. Donning ahead-mounted pears to coexist and interact with the real chromatic marxophone (a spring-loaded display that would provide a wide field of physical Muppets in a common space. harp), constitute virtually the only "furni- view, the viewer could see himself soar- Some researchers have gone even ture" in his house. These instruments, in ing through De Kooning landscapes of further, making re fact, echo Lanier's philosophy of anima- vibrant color and abstract forms or tions of human body parts. For instance, tion: "Special animation instruments," he squeaky-clean mathematical Utopias. signals from a real hand (wearing a sen- says, "will one day be as responsive to Because of such versatility, Lanier be- sor-studded accessory known as a animators as pianos are to pianists or vi- lieves, animation will one day be the DateGlove) can drive the animation of a olins to violinists." communication tool of the masses. His hand. And signals from a real foot (with a One such instrument, Lanier specu- vision includes a "new kind of hiero- data "boot") drive the animation of a foot. lates, will be based on what's called the glyphic society, in which speech and print Jaron Lanier has taken this concept to smart camera, a device that generates are supplemented by synthetic realities an extreme. He and his company, VPL hundreds of animations from whatever of any form. If a friend asks how you are Research in Redwood City, California, scene it's pointed at. Humans are al- feeling, instead of saying, 'Lousy,' you'll have invented the DataSuit, a coverall with ready smart cameras; all we need is a create a thunderstorm on the wall," he sensing elements attached to each joint single look at an attractive potential sex says. If you want someone's company for (see Artificial Intelligence, September partner sitting at a library desk, and with pizza and a movie, you might send an 1988). Animations are generated as VPL no further information we can imagine her/ animated invitation to their PC. All the stuff engineers or anyone, for that matter him naked and rolling ecstatically on the of conversation, from the exchange of move while wearing the DataSuit. As the beach. Smart cameras are devices that memories to jokes and angry insults, suit moves, electronic signals are sent to would do this. Someone using such a would bearticulated through animation. a computer, and corresponding "char- camera could walk down the street and In fact, though Lanier's predictions acters" dip, bend, bob, turn, and walk take pictures of a bank, say, or a cafe. At have the sound of fantasy, versions of the through space on the computer screen. home the data would flow from the cam- smart camera are already in the works. To be sure, the figures are jerky, gangly, era to the computer, where it would take At MIT's Media Lab, for instance, V. Mi- and slightly spastic, but all the bones are the form of an animatiorj. It could then be chael Bove is developing a camera that in just the right place, and the joints all altered with a DataGlove (or a keyboard) captures and encodes in a computer move the right way. so that the bank teller turns over millions precise details about every object it's —— pointed at. Bove, whose dark hair and through data space. One might expect irUTELLIGEPJCE perfectly chiseled features give him the the cone to slow down and fall back to- CONTINUED FROM PAGE 24 look of a mafinee idol, describes his laser ward the plain. But, moving at escape device with painsfaking detail. "This velocity, it tumbles end over end, getting prosecute in front of a jury and which to camera records images," he says, "that smaller and smaller until it disappears. plea-bargain or drop. Such an approach, can actually be reconstructed in the Someday, Zeltzer's machine may says Friel, will lessen the caseload in the computer." Once on the computer evolve into a complete "laptop studio." courts. An additional benefit is that com- screen, landscapes and scenes can be With access to extensive animation ca- puters may help to standardize treatment studied from several points of view. pabilities, home filmmak.ers will script, di- of lawbreakers. "The constitutional goal A person taking Bove's camera through rect, and produce highly realistic movies: of equal protection under the law is thus a furniture showroom, for instance, should Virtually anyone will be able to create sa- maintained and enhanced," he says. be able to go home, sit down in front of gas set on the blazing expanse of the Sa- The application of futuristic technol- his computer, and retrieve the image of a hara or the regal grounds of Windsor ogy to the punishment— or correction sofa or desk. The person could then ro- Castle, casting thousands of extras—and of criminals is, ethically speaking, more tate the sofa and desk on the computer such deceased superstars as Groucho troublesome. Clearly, present ap- screen. If he also used this camera to Marx or Clark Gable. As the technology proaches to this issue are failing to deter make an animation of his house, he would improves, we may even enter the action or correct lawbreaking: A Bureau of Jus- be able to move the sofa and desk around ourselves. Wearing DataGloves and tice Statistics report released last April inside, seeing how they might look in the DataSuits, we will "perform" in our own shows that more than 62 percent of ex- library or den. He might even shrink the computer movies, "choreograph" com- convicts are rearrested for felonies or se- house and move it around on the desk. puter dances, and "paint" stunning works rious misdemeanors within three years of Another MIT project might be the most of computer art. their release from prison, and one in four ambitious computer animation technol- Finally, as computer animation ma- is rearrested within six months. The na- ogy yet. Working in a dusky, windowless tures, we will use it to build a window tion's prison population totaled more room in the cellar of the MIT media lab, a through which we can glimpse the uni- than 627.000 in 1988— up 7.5 percent for short, mustachioed professor named verse from any point in space and time. men and 1 3 percent for women over the David Zeltzer is building what he calls a This "magic window," first proposed by previous year. "graphical simulation system"—a ma- Dutch scientist Kees Boeke in his book Friel sees a trend toward biochemical chine that will eventually allow amateurs The Cosmic View: The Universe in Forty treatment of inmates. By modeling a con- to produce highly realistic animations at Jumps, might consist of a giant screen vict's chemical and electrical brain pat- home. Encoded with the laws of physics, composed of fifteen equal squares. As terns—like current electroencephalo- Zeltzer's system will permit users to Boeke envisioned it, a, flower might ap- grams (EEGs)—on a computer, penal specify, in colloquial language, the ac- pear in the central square, and each suc- specialists may be able to test various tion of an animation as it proceeds. Thus, cessive square to the left would enlarge chemical and electronic cures before us- if the user types, "The baseball soars over the flower' by a factor of ten. The viewer ing them on a person. Once treated, the the fence and through the window, with would see, in sequence, a close-up of the criminal could be rehabilitated and re- camera angle following behind and to the flower, the flower's stem, a mosaic of in- leased. "It will be the end of the peniten- right," Zeltzer's system will figure out dividual cells, a tangled knot of proteins, tiary as we know it," Friel suggests. Effec- which images baseball, fence, and win- and eventually, electrons whirling around tive methods of reducing aggressive dow refer to. It will then portray, with per- the nuclei of the flower's atoms. Each step behavior will make maximum-security fa- fect precision, the trajectory of the base- to the right, on the other hand, would "pull cilities, and cells with bars, a thing of the ball, the changing scenery, and the the viewer back." Someone watching the past. Those who can't be rehabilitated will pattern in which the glass breaks. grid would glimpse, in order, the flower, a be chemically immobilized, Friel theo- Today Zeltzer's machine generates field of. flowers, a panorama of the region, rizes. "We'll have people in warehouses spheres and pyramids, cones and cubes. the planet, the solar system, and the Milky with just rows and rows of beds." Scattered over the screen like sculptures Way. Time would be altered as the eye Amid all this Big Brother technology, in a plaza, these geometric images form moved up or down. Look down, and the where do our civil liberties stand? Are we a Euclidean heaven for a critter, a com- whittling hand of geological erosion could willing to give up some of our freedoms puter cockroach that incessantly roams be glimpsed in seconds instead of years. in return for safety? Some futurists be- the grid. As the electronic bug wanders, Look up, and fast-as-light electrons would lieve that if crime continues to rise at its its feet plod step-by-step to just the right seem to crawl through space, illustrating current pace, our society would be will- depth on the plaza floor. When it comes subatomic phenomena in a comprehen- ing to trade a few of its basic freedoms to a cone, a cube, or the edge of the sible span of lime. especially privacy—for security. A poll plaza, it swerves to the side. In the future, magic windows might en- conducted -last year by the University of Left to itself, the roach would wander able millions of people to embark upon South Carolina suggests that the public endlessly. But connected to the machine animated expeditions to the frontiers of is already willing to make some constitu- is a DataGlove designed by Lanier and space and time. At first, we might simply tional compromises. Of 1.240 adults sur- crew. When the glove is pulled on, the rent animated realities much as we now veyed, 91.9 percent said that it was all spidery image of a hand appears in the rent videocassettes. Sitting on the back right for authorities to use drug-sniffing display. When the wearer wiggles his fin- of an amoeba, we could explore the cen- dogs in public buildings despite not hav- gers or makes a fist, the animated hand ter of an atom, the creation of the uni- ing search warrants or probable cause. echoes each motion in turn. Move your verse, or the explosion of stars. As the "It's a bit scary that people are so fearful real hand down; inside the display the technology evolves, magic windows of drugs and related crimes that they are computer hand dips, throwing a shadow might become our answer to the time willing to give up their constitutional guar- over the plaza. Squeeze your fingers and machine envisioned by H. G. Wells. In- antee against unlawful searches," says raise your hand high; the computer hand stead of being projected on computer Stephens. In the future, he suggests, such picks up a cone and the shadow fades. screens, .images would emerge'from thinking might even lead to the require- Why is this better than working the key- rooms covered with video display paper. ment that individuals give a tissue sam- board? "Because- I'm in there," says We would simply punch in a time and ple at birth for DNA fingerprinting— the graduate student David Sturman, point- place, a la Wells, and instantly be sur- ultimate identification. But, he concludes, ing at the screen. With that, someone rounded by sounds and images trans- "it might be the price we are willing to pay clutches the cone and thrusts it out porting us there.EO for safer streets." OQ 148 OMNI MAVICA. A NEW WAY OF LOOKING AT LIFE. f# J ••- ' i hi SONY STAR TECH ACCESSING THE FUTURE PEACE IN A POD These crash -protection t(left) could 1991. Capsules, seating two to eight, seal off in an emergency to protect against shock, water immersion, frying objects, flames, and pressure drops. Cost! $25,000 per seat. Contact: Life Protecting Systems, Long Beach, CA; (213) 424-5933. PEDAL POWER for one mile. The rider travels in a supine The Geld Rush America position, surrounded by a Kevlar shell. The ahu i-pew bike is 35 pounds and vehicle: 65.484 mph has 56 forward and for a dash (200 meters) and the one -hour Cost; $20,000. Contact: record af 45.33 miles. Easy Racers, Inc.; At Utah's Bonneville (408) 722-9797. 5a it Flats a two-man version did 58.6 mph NIGHT RIDERS light Is visible a mile away. The unit, which straps to your arm or leg, uses a xenon bulb powered by a AA battery. It's weather- proof and weighs 3.5 ounces. Cost: $19.95. Contact: Cycle Support, Orand Island, NY; (800) 387-6026. — VIDEO Complete the Quest. C0NilNUF"'-nOM -AGE Improve yourself. By yourself. the 13th movies. Still, the NES continues ; ^'". :4!Sl|| i&v.^ :^:j~*' ; : '^v to be the front-runner in interactive home entertainment. $MSt"X;r" ' ' >»«:&? • Best entertainment computer; With true ! arcade-quality graphics, digital slereo sound, and the most computing muscle you can buy for less than $1,000. the Commodore Amiga 500 continues to host the most remarkable home games ever created. And if that's not enough, the Amiga also performs word processing The Eternal Question: and all that other computer stuff. • Most promising new entertainment sys- tem: Sega's Genesis (Games, November "Instant meditation!" I Why? 1989) boasts hoi games and graphics, Nete York Times Am, two-player telephone remote connec- tions, and optional compatibility with ex- isting Sega game cartridges. Genesis forward in video Is life just a haphazard phe- represents the next leap nomenon? Are there but blind game technology. But can the upstart successfully challenge the Nintendo mechanistic laws, causes and Godzilla? The coming year will tell. effects without purpose? Is there • Marketing innovations; Each of the three a reason for our personal exis- games in the Ford Motor Company's Ford tence? Can we establish a per- Simulator (Macintosh, IBM and compati- bles) contains three levels of driving ex- sonal mission that will be in pertise that test your ability in city traffic, harmony with Infinite Reality on back roads, and through an obstacle As Seen on ABC Nightly News, or must we drift along, buffeted course, for example. The games aren't by the winds of chance? These very original, but Ford uses the oppor- and other important subjects tunity to provide a graphic database on retail prices and other product informa- are fascinatingly explored by tion. A spreadsheet even allows you to Rosicrucian Order, AMORC, the compute monthly payments. Call 1-800- worldwide organization of men a 462-4365, 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 pm . Monday and women. through Friday, for more information about the £6.95 Simulator. Free Booklet Ford, of course, is not alone in recog- nizing the popularity of computer games. If are sincere and wish to you Chase Manhattan, Coca-Cola, MCI, learn more about inner devel- BMW, and others are also using com- opment, as taught by the Rosi- puter games as marketing tools. We'll be crucians, write today for a free reporting more about this trend in a fu- ture column. Bob LindstromDO copy of the booklet The Mastery — of Life. Address: Scribe BPR CREDITS The Rosicrucian Order is: I ™i" I'i pace >;; pa-:* " '-•• ''"''• p;ig^4..;.- • Educational Wairsn; pages 28 and 32, Flmnrii S-.-.-m ! page 34. Carol <3\Uot page 36, *;,>:-a\ SJiw, An ir,:r.r-,:::i:vv, • Cultural "-(: '.;':.: :...: [jar;? 42 bottom, Be;:- A • Fraternal rr.;irr' -oi ;:. page 43 top. - i.iriN-..l A- :-;: Vi..: ralon Iv'ov* SMI A-cives. pane 43 bottom. David '--'> p^rj^ i. .!"' [ Scribe BPR '-.: :."" ;*-:. page 45 lop. i Rosicrucian Order, AMORC The ; . .- !"' I tioi'.on: . = page 46 top. ! [ Rosicrucian Park ':' I. i"li ' I . nil'l'! HI I San Jose, CA95191,U.S.A, c I« :.i .. . • . . . Images: pag85 60to62. :.; . : icn, !0S. l-.'idi:-,* S-j-ororl pages 114 and 115, «s Op:o- ' ' I -.-. '. . ' Name _ . : -:r:iv us. '.. '-. , i.l.l. i'i. I i, i. n nr. Address ,,.'. :;v'-.-lG'Bt.iSi,-.ai:ic-L.n;'m^/'|- page 121, ] ' i i' ... i i. n c-dii. .i .ii n i i nil..].. :.' i.i. page 140, Specrium Hotobyta page 142, Johnson/ The Rosicrucian Order, AMORC Top lett, iV.H:^ n:cli-/.:l^. - '.:.: "i:i:i'.- v i..:-r i .! i . . i . /,! i Rosicrucian Park i.im ii i San Jose, CA 95191, U.S.A. 3 : .i 11 1 it .: .. I've beer feeling wpfidonu y calm ana icna I 1 I :> i '.! .1 I ! !..;'. :., i :l C I anno ! : brealne carbon dioxide, it won't matter ii And Icr son most numams die off, because ine res! s Melali.ca. a positive momai -oullook oi the race will improve. i.'i ' i i ,i . I ',:, ! iiMi. ,:: J 17 I 1 .: i Ol 1 i : hape oss torsos will Id . > , „ 1 sat cross-legged in Greenwich Voage's iopian bern auc >i Washlriyco Soua'e Pa>k recency, r or- doing my bes! !o pie-< up Edie Briokell- Brar ; to eai . ii (th chioi nbicenous ,.1 .. :>." wanl Sno-Cap as ai . ! ',.'. ! I.ii> i M it:e!' sever: appetizer, fa ; seconds of ceep inciighl. in my Zen- as a main course and Mrs. Fields' IH«: slate ol foial conuen;ral:on (which you cook'-es dipped n lodge; ier dosser: . .ill. must learn in order (o pick up Edic Wd'i O! ,;:. .:;' . .!' ' ' Brickoil typo gyris) mages o: movies 1 .io ! v, I .m aroun: 1 lake 1 i <8! . I 'i '"Mi ', ; . ke FT dees. This may sei the stage :' Bsiman cr even Dasth Race V000 lor in> .n .1 1.1 .ml romantic ic.aUon- but mainly space tqvioe: The Abyss 3m ps When you go to a sme es be" !' . :.!! EJ. Close encounters of Hie third Kino I ! I I I I 1 .'I. i : . i. !. i efhe mg source csi my newfound inner peace. pac ry snorts. Sure, in most science-fiction bins the El very bulge, c lack 'hereof, as we-i as .acting recall ; Lrm Bcgnines cias any hideous scars, will be fully exposed. ..- ./... . » 'i'hi .1 i in i rfonr'ance Ii You'll see what you're getting ine bar. writing s on a par with Fraternity rather than the next morn'ng. afl.0-1 .' . ,!'. LAST Vacation Bui how can you judge a 1.1 ,.,; m r ' :..- 'I : 1 iaiii will rO"i O! L..pO:'i 101, : 1 Since we all be bald, music 1 i : . v vi i : I : '-I a m ww improve dra" -aiically Record Ouyers WORD Aha: made me feel 31 (and record companies) will no longer ^aliens— peacou.'. benevolo! life forms jucge an artist Oy his 0' her haircut. By Brent Butterworth who coj:d .oobo-mn soominolv macreal Instead oi an endless pamoe m" flash-ir:- rasks. As VCRs ana cab e TV have -he-pan rook bauds that rely on image, itSince everyone's P'oiiferateo. givng me ine cnance to wo w 1! seek out music, ens whe have concentrated soeiv or the the; midriff is going to look like waicn these rims over and over I've quaky 0; '0 in ..'. 1 . ii come ui'aersfan.b iha; someday, 1 1 I uch as Pablo- Brando's, we'll Marlon hundreds or Thousands or mbmits of Char.fe Parker, and Paufs Abdul. be able to eat whatever we years from now. we'!-' probably evolve *o Tne public's laste in books n-^ay also lot like those creatures. n 'mi. ;tnor> 'i.-pni i ited. Because want: Sno-Caps to be a ! Of course-, you ma; a everyone wl i be aole to levitate as start, devil's-food cake as 3-movio director's vision rj super or E.7. did to escape Ine pursuing Fees, a main course, Mrs. : fe forms, but consider "he uncanny conomemial aimnes wN disappear, sirmiarites in these works: 'akina pulp nove;s wi;h them. What use Fields' cookies for dessert !!' In '; A,';;;. looked like w:il we have for the wok.s 01 oac-:ic msshaoen Gum by doils wi;h black eyes Col-ins if we dent have to -wai" two nours : ! 7 staring -rom bulbous bale heads. In or our plane to take o f oilier words a io! like Ine aliens in Close Wars ano nt"is:y act i :.. . Encounters of tne 'third Kind, who as: „ . 1 i like looke' ! the spa' .i on the cover of ihe book Communion, who ,[ arm gets oauohi 1 .ay. a etai lain could nave been E.T.'s cousin from the it'll -wis! around 4/ times and finally norln, L.T oeing more wunkled Irorn detach, caving a smooth break wi;h a soending tco .much tir-s aT the- head": Ltle hit oi wTe sticking out. And sneoica' Not on;y we f e these aliens similar in ieohnc:r;gy wll be reduced to soldering appearance, they were compassionate irons and mober cemeni award :her Human eosiars E'.T. neaieo Perhaps .mosi imporlanl. wet: be ab:o Eliott's finger: ine creatures -n I he :p elirninare one of 'he most offensive =..=_. .!:' ' . i I i' livim bend : lui 11 ,: bsie: ioihe hapless hu-wausthey rescued dictionary, v.'imo. No one will be able to rom 2 000 feel under water: and when pump much more than a S'x-paoK, so the humans in Close Encounters computer hackers can pal around their 1 offended extrateuesfiial visitors with oil-field workers. The guys who p ; ay inlehgence win a disco light, show tne chess all day in 'vVasmngl/.m Square al.ens wore nice; enough Io niay along. Park wlii slane a: least an oven cnance ::. !... .-%! .,!'. 1...'. Is 1 , . It hind fhese tting date , fai ulcus bai projects have envisicnec the same fee;.. Sif.10urn.ev Weaver whe also makes fype Of advanced beings T i; wereni our a heck ol an aiieni. And our poiiiicians destiny? Here's my tncory Knowing w:ii be able to concentrate lull-iimc "ha: most of our race wit die oh as on issues, rafner inan :ak no iis.ninc : or, Inciusfualization destroys the eartn's :o keeo up -heir macho image.OQ ;ores;s wildlife, arid oxygen our distant descendants insllilec this prophecy of lev n a -ew select minds of our time To those wise enough to accept the