Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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! 73^ ^<p^^*p<p4>*pip<p*p*p<p*p A musical cabaret opened I ',' iv* at Longstreet Theatre this ^P ^ ^ Black students will find it easier to get financial aid j ^weekend with a bang, not ?P ^ '%ljU|3lIllfO " future as the Black Alumni Caucus begins raising a whimper, page 6. ^ C WW Sfr money for scholarships, page 3. The Gamecock Founded 1908 Monday Volume 78, No. 23 University of South Carolina September 30, 1985 Gamecocks s * dog daze aft .*- < iisisisiili *' ;* ,i* < ? * ET fictional. By JIM NEWMAN si Science writer li< Since the very first time that 01 man looked up at the stars, he 01 regarded them not with indif- w ference, but with intense curiosity. ^ $ They were as inaccessible as the distant horizon, and even less s' comprehensible. Yet, the fascina- n tion with these tiny sparkles of ? lioht hnrnrvl mnrp fi<?rr<?lv wifh h every added mystery pertaining a to their nature. c In time, the great philosophers and astronomers determined that l< the stars were simply distant versions of our own sun, some lying ^ at then unfathomable distances. v And this sparked a new and 1 ^ daring speculation. If some of 1 these remote suns actually a resembled our own, was it also s possible that they had habitable a planets like Earth, planets teem- r ing with life? 1 This thought-provoking ques- 1 tion remains unanswered. The ongoing search for extrater- 1 restrial life has turned up little r evidence. Indeed, it was hoped j that the landings of Vikings 1 and 1 2 on Mars in 1V/& would turn up 1 some evidence. The landers perfomed experiments on soil samples collected from the Martian surface and later revealed the possibility that some form of microbial life might indeed exist. This, unfor tunately, turned out to be a false ( alarm. What was really happen- , ing was that certain byproducts were released when various chemicals and nutrients were introduced into the soil. The illusion of bacteria absorbing these nutrients and then releasing waste products was caused by the chemical composition of the soil. The first serious probes into extraterrestrial life began years before the Viking landings. Project Ozma, originated in 1960, was probably the most ambitious astronomical project of its kind at the time. This first attempt to detect intelligent extraterrestrial life was conducted at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank, W. Va., and made obserf|| vations of such well-known e s as Tau Ceti and Epsilon EricLni. TInm Mars closely resemble the suffer | ernoon f I si according in, but are slightly cooler. They : along the Main Sequence class f stars, of which the sun is a lember. These factors, along ith their relatively close posion, made them ideal choices for le project's first tests. The primary objective was mply to attempt to detect any adio waves radiating from any f these stars. In spite of their igh expectations, the stronomers failed to identify vcn the slightest hint of a signal hat could have been an indigent transmission. The immediate assumption was hat they were "listening" in the /rong portion of the elec romagnctic spectrum. However, he problem still plagued istronomers. If alien transmisions, assuming they existed at ill, were not being sent by the nedium of radio, what other porion of the electromagnetic specrum was being used? It was eventually determined hat the 21-centimeter line of leutral hydrogen would be the ogical choice, because hydrogen s the most abundant element in he universe, and the Jl-centimeter line is particularly jrominen' This has led to Prolect Cyc . ,<!, the most recent proposal for extraterrestrial detec:ion. It would scan the sky with an immense array of more than a thousand 100-meter dishes. However, funding for such a colossus was scarce, and actrfinnmorc u/uro fnrrp/l tr\ UJII VtlUUIVI J TT VI V IW1 VVU IV/ JVlilV for the Very Large Array, or VLA, which began operations in 1977. The primary function of these 27 movable radio dishes is to scan the distant stars and galaxies at radio wavelengths. They surveyed at least 185 solar-type stars, all located within 100 light-years of Earth, at the 21-centimeter wavelength. This attempt aiso lauea to nnu signs of any advanced civilizations capable of generating a message. Until very recently, there was little proof that other solar systems even existed, despite slight peculiarities detected in the proper motion of Barnard's Star, peculiarities that hinted at the existence of a massive planet in orbit. But during the summer of 1983 an astounding discovery was jj^ USC President James B. Hoiderman game to catch a better view of Satui hedges that border the end zones at Gi this hullrinn nninvs n uictorv nwnr tha story, page 9. to scienfifK Wife. made. The Infrare Astronomical Satellite (IRA5 was aimed toward the star Veg in the constellation Lyra. Almost immediately, i J ? ?L ~ C -4 A ueiecicu <t swam ui uum ciitut, ing Vega, the first time materii surrounding another star ha been confirmed to exist. Monti later, another star, Beta Pictori was found to have a similar rir of dust and possibly larg< asteroid-sized chunks. The real discovery, howeve didn't occur until last year, wh< Mranwwi'Jiv mr*> i SEAN KEEFER/Tf* Gamacock left hit seat during the USCGeorgia day's action from behind one of the lorgia's Sanford Stadium. Meanwhile, Gamecocks Saturday afternoon. See : evidence d another relatively close star, V ;) Biesbroeck 8 in the constellati a Ophiuchus, was determined have a substellar companion, it At any rate, it must be realiz 1- that the Milky Way alone cc al tains more than 100 billion sta id The universe may likely ha is more than 100 billion billi s, galaxies. Because only an ig credibly small fraction of th< cr stars have been studied, it wot appear somewhat premature r, close the case on the existence :n extraterrestrial life just yet. Geologisi S.C. eart By TODD SPRADUN Staff writer The earthquake that shook Mexico City causcd more than 4,600 deaths and untold human suffering in a country that has seen its share of hard times. It also raised a serious question: Could something similai hannen in South Carolina? The work of two USC geologists to determine when ma jor earthquakes occurred in th< state's past may help South Carolinians better prepar* themselves for possible seismi< activity in the future. Professor Pradcep Taiwan and his former graduate student John Cox, began a study in fal 1982 to find out when majo prehistoric earthquakes hit Soutl Carolina. "The purpose was to find ou how often do earthquakes occu in eastern North America am specifically the Charleston area,' Talwani said. The last major earthquake i South Carolina took place i Charleston in 1886. The quake registered 6.6 to 6. on the Richter scale. It cause about 60 deaths and an estimate J $5 million to $6 million damage in 1886 dollars. A major earthquake on tl East Coast would be one registe ing more than six on the Richt scale, Talwani said. I Hundreds of earthquakes tc small to be felt occur each yea he said. Because records of seismic a tivity dates back only 200 to 3( years, the geologists had to use technique for studyir prehistoric earthquakes, call* paleoseismology. The technique involves the e cavation of geologic features ca ed sandblows, whei underground layers of sai flooded with water were push through cracks in the earth's si face because of an earthquake 5.5 magnitude or greater. Talwani said it resembl "jumping up and down on t beach until water comes up." By studying sandblows n< Hollywood, S.C., Talwani a Cox have determined that at le; one and probably two major c; t hnnoboc r\r*f*\\rrt*A Kotn/ppn \ 1 IklVjUUIWJ V/VVUI I VU l/Vitf VVII y ' and 1,200 years ago. The data indicates a "mi imum recurrence interval about 1,500 to 1,800 years" b Who's go That's be By MARY JO MILLER Staff writer The Beat, Columbia's lc new-music club, is still alive i kicking, as a hand-lettered s outside the club's admission c declares. The sign, which says, "1 renort of our death is creatlv Iaggerated," is a tongue-in-ch response to the dance clii possible conversion into a din theater. Although Lynn McCain ; Jan Janicki, co-owners of an Beat, are in litigation over on lease to the property, they're c 10 tinuing to book bands thro September and into Octol cd "It's unfortunate in a >n" that's starving for artistic exp rs- sion that artists end up worl !Vf* on/imtl Af liar ** I otunl/i c ' a^anni vaun UUIVI , jumvrvi.T on referring to the pursuit of 'n~ property by Jim Thigpen, di :se tor of the independent the company Trustas. to Thigpen, who hopes to use ?f dinner theater to showcase company's talent, describes ts study hquakes USC staff, students aid Mexican orphans after earthquake From staff reports A number of USC staff and students have shown interest in contributing to relief efforts in Mexico as it begins to recover from the earthquake, i Stanley Applcgate of the - James F. Byrnes International - Center said the Mexican government has asked that no i food or clothing be sent. In. stead, the government suggests 1 that those wishing to help send r contributions to private h volunteer organizations that have experience distributing t food, medicine, clothing and r other supplies in Mexico, d Applegate proposes that contrioutors from USC send donations to Friends of Our n Little Brothers, a U.S. group n based in Tempe, Ariz. q Checks should be made out . to Friends of Our Little , Brothers, For Earthquake Relief, and sent to the organization in care of Diana Fr^nrh P D Rnv * Tcmpe, Ariz, 85282. er ween earthquakes, according to >o the researchers. r, Talwani believes this information can be of help to residents in c- preparing themselves for future cpicmir artiuitu J\J JVIOIIIIV UVll < llj i a ' 'The important thing is getting ig a handle on the nature of the jd beast and then preparing for it." Preparing involves having an x- idea of when earthquakes may 11- occur and then doing things like - e getting under a desk and building id sturdier buildings, Talwani said, cd "The ultimate goal is eventuallr ly to better understand the causes of of past earthquakes so that we can better predict when later ones les will occur," he said. he The four-year study, now in its final year, is being funded by the :ar Nuclear Regulatory Commission nd at a budget of about $250,000 a ast year. ar- He said the possibility of an 00 earthquake in the near future depends on the definition of near ax- future. of In our lifetime? et- "Realistically, no," he said. vi ir* * n t ine eeatf ing debated situation as "awkward" at best. Thigpen said he had no idea ine there would be a dispute when the md developers offered him the ign property. age Thigpen, who had planned to stage Luv as his company's first rhe production in The Beat, was ex- obliged to find an alternate locaeek tion ? Snrine Vallev Hieh ib's School. ner Though admittedly inconvenienced, Thigpen is cheerfully and adamant that his next production rhc will be staged in the new location. tho MAanwhilp ?h/? cn.nujncrt r?f on- The Beat recall Thigpen's first ugh visit to their nightclub with a t>er. touch of irony. citv "The thin# that impressed him res- the most, the charm of the atcing mosphere, is the very thing he aid, wants to change," McCain said, the rec- Neither The Beat's owners nor ater Thigpcn could say when the dispute would be resolved. : the "At this point, it's between his them and the property's the developers," Thigpen said.