Show YV r-r- wr - Page 14 — The Herald Journal Logan Utah Thursday December 29 1994 r Channel surfing to become interactive By The Associated Press g in the future involve as may many as 2U0 channels — but it also will be interactive and a lot more informative than it is today Several companies are racing to bring a new type of interactive program guide to satellite and cable subscribers George Mannes wrote in an article in the current issue of Popular Mechanics that will be able to perform a number of functions It will display a capsule description of an upcoming show so you will know if you've already seen Channel-surfin- on-scre- en it It will sort TV programming by genre offering a list of all the horror movies on each week or a lineup of all the football matches It will let you watch one program and see w hat else is on withA out switching channels minimized text display at the top or bottom of the picture describes what's on each of the other channels You can switch if you And something appealing You will be able to tune directly into any broadcast listed in the IPG without knowing the channel name or number You'll be able to program your VCR to record a show with the push of a button IPGs have been around since 1986 when SupcrGuidc Corp started selling an IPG service for home satellite-dis- h owners Now newer guides arc being funded by big names in entertainment StarSight Telecast owned in part by cable giant Viacom is tar geting dish owners cable sub- scribers and broadcast TV watch- ers Another IPG for cable customers TV Guide On Screen is a joint venture of the magazine’s parent and Liberty Media a company linked to Inc the nation’s largest operator of cable systems Other IPGs are being developed by Prcvue Networks the country’s biggest supplier of program-listin- g channels to cable systems DirecTV and USSB two program providers for the DSS satellite reception gear now being sold by RCA have a special IPG StarSight along with other IPGs from Prcvue Networks and TV Guide On Screen generally won't be available through cable systems until box manufacturers start selling cable-market- ed FASCIf large numbers of a new generation of smarter cable boxes which are just becoming available StarSight also plans to sell the necessary reception hardware in a stand- avern tuc paudoubert alone box priced under $200 IPG developers want them easy to use A simple wandlike device a cross between an existing remote and a computer light pen may be the answer “If you’re at a screen you shouldn’t have to ask yourself ‘Now which key would I use to do this function?’ It should just be real obvious” said Barb Mason FRANCE WAS ONCE A RESORT SPOT FOR ANCIENT CAVE SEARS WITHIN THE CAVERN IS A CLAY SLOPE THAT PLUNGED INTO WHAT WAS FORMERLY A SMALL POND (NOW DRY) Q PRESERVED IN THE CLAY ARE STREAK MARKS OF FUR HAIR director of access control and interactive products in General Instrument’s satellite business unit “Even if they do press an incorrect key but you kind of SLIDE— 30000 YEARS AGOl knew what they wanted to do you do it anyway “ ' Sprites Continued from page 13 sure if sprites are lightning that flashes up from the underlying storm or if they more or less form elecwhen a downward-movin- g field drives electrons tromagnetic up from the top of storm clouds Perhaps it's a little of both The researchers haven’t even settled on a firm name for the phenomenon The name “sprites" is used by many researchers because it’s a neutral term that doesn't carry any scientific implications Others Such as Winckler call them “CIs” for doud-ionosphe- events “CSs” re Still others call them for cloud-stratosphe- re events Whatever name is used the phenomenon consists of huge plumes of reddish glowing air that form then fade faster than the human brain can register their shape Indeed they’re all but tles from nets “The good news is the appearance that there may be some success in the (conservation) efforts” said Owens who has spent 20 years studying sea turtles “The bad news is if we don’t increase the care with which we use devices it’s going to be for turtle-e- xcluder naught” Donna Shaver the Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife biologist in charge of a state network for tracking sea turtle deaths said 506 stranded sea turtles had washed up on Texas shores this year as of Nov 29 That total already is nearly triple last year’s only last year by NASA researchers flying over a storm in search of sprites NASA believes the sprites or the jets may be the source of mysterious gamma ray bursts that scientists have detected in the atmosphere for years “The gamma ray observations from the Earth’s atmosphere and their association with thunderstorms is a complete surprise to scientific investigators” NASA said in a recent report While sprites are difficult to see n films and single images reveal them to be huge slow-motio- Science Continued from page 13 the same organism and must determine whether evolution has occurred In another students try to build containers that would enable them to drop an egg from a window or balcony without breaking it “Scientific literacy means that a person can ask and find or determine answers to questions derived from curiosity about everyday experiences” the draft says “It means the ability to describe man-of-w- THIS SAME glowing cloud another takes the shape of an angel wings spread across the ionosphere yet another splits into two nicely formed carrots growing above a storm Sprites appear only over the tips of massive thun- anvil-shap- ng K t I I v- SLOPES' OF ICE $ Help line - 752-396- 4 FAMILY Now a part of KATER SHOP INC 79 N MAIN SHOES “DOWNTOWN” Come see our expanding selection when you need shoes complexes (MCCs) These storms often more than 100 miles across are actually collections of several thunderstorms that tend to drift across the plains of the Midwest on hot muggy nights The tops of these thunderstorms are often 10 miles high but sprites typically start about 20 miles high and reach up another 40 miles or higher There’s clearly something in these mammoth storms that trig- they fall back to their normal energy levels Winckler who has since retired from the university agrees with some of the ideas about sprites and disagrees with others But for the researcher who is renowned for his work on the aurora the new work is great fun nomena It means the ability to read with understanding articles QU 0 0 OFF O) stock classic and current r0 TO of BRAND NAMES ON SALE Sale Rockport ChildLlfe frapteP The guidelines do not constitute a science curriculum but they can be used to help develop one “Our aim is to use the draft to Bests Made is USA chair of the science education standards project and chief of the cell biology and metabolism branch at the National Institute of Sale ends soon Come in early for best Child Health and Human Devel- Janitor j mm ibnstejr Unstuff sions” what is important in science education” said Richard D Klausner starts Dec 26th ssammmmm about science in the popular press and engage in social conversations about the validity of the conclu- build national consensus about OFF Includes seasonal styles discontinued styles closeouts Includes remaining selection Hope to see you! Colleen Lawlor Store Manager advanced thinking along those OFFER GOOD THRU DEC 31ST lines" But Ramohalli doesn’t want to wait: “If anybody foresees a prob- lem 10 years downstream it’s obvious that the time to start is now HOURS: 10AM - 6 PM MON-SA- T FREE LAYAWAYS y ‘W-- MM t ft rr r0 TO i ? mesoconvec-tiv- e the cloud from positive to negative and there is some sort of electromagnetic reaction from the ionosphere That reaction apparently drives electrons up from the storm where they collide with other electrons and rip them from molecules of nitrogen or oxygen The energy levels become so high that the molecules emit light as - MY ed derstorms known as said adding: “It’ll always be nice if some people have done some retrieving space junk Kessler nest-raidi- egg-eati- ng i IN ghostly charged air streaming down for miles from a massive opment It might be 10 yean or so before NASA takes a serious look at 0s ar explain and predict natural phe Continued from page 13 mid-198- electrical bursts some 30 miles wide and twice as tall reaching up to the edge of space And they are beautiful One sprite hangs like a giant Portendrils of tuguese impossible to see with the human ger the sprites Winckler said eye Even for trained scientists Researchers believe that what who sit in the dark in a place occurs first is a massive ground where they can see over the top of stroke of lightning from the top a distant thunderstorm the sprites portion of the storm that has been only leave a fleeting “What was pushed by the jet stream to one side of the main storm This area that?” impression The blue jets possibly beams of is the tip of the anvil in a classic glowing electrons that seem to thunderstorm streak upward from a storm’s The huge lightning strike cloudtops at 100000 mph and changes the charge on the top of then vanish are even more difficult to see They were discovered 185 The highest previous annual total over the past decade was 355 in 1990 More than 253 Kemp’s ridleys including 27 of the roughly 580 adult females known to exist were among those that washed ashore this year Ms Shaver said Another 120 or so Kemp’s ridleys have washed up in Louisiana this year Female Kemp’s ridleys lay their eggs on beaches in Rancho Nuevo Mexico just south of the Texas border The imperiled species neared extinction in the because of natural predators and poachers - MODERN POLAR SEARS INDULGE Researchers: Sea turtle deaths up drastically HOUSTON (AP) — Marine biologists say a drastic jump in the number of sea turtles washing up on Texas beaches this year reflect both good and bad trends in conservation efforts More than 500 sea turtles including some 250 endangered Kemp’s ridleys have washed ashore so far in 1994 far more than any year in the past decade David Owens a marine biologist at Texas A&M University said the increase is caused partially by successful efforts to bolster turtle populations But increasing numbers of Gulf of Mexico shrimpers apparently are ignoring use of a federally required device to eject tur !i AND CLAW CLEARLY INDICATING THE SEARS USED THIS AS A WATER CALL 752-303-6 |