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16 U. THE NATIONAL COLLEGE NEWSPAPER
Dollars And Sense SEPTEMBER 1988
SEPTEMBER 1988 Life And Art
U. THE NATIONAL COLLEGE NEWSPA
Weaver, Hardball
clash in battle of
computer games
By Marc Weinberg
Daily Bruin
U. of California, Los Angeles
Computer sports games are, by and
large, a waste of time. Either they are
strategy-oriented and feature poor
graphics, or it's the exact opposite -
great graphics but not the least bit chal-
lenging. Frequently, it comes down to
choosing the most important feature:
graphics or strategy.
Here's a review of two games that
each retail for less than $40.
Earl Weaver Baseball
Tested first on the Amiga computer
line, Electronic Arts' Earl Weaver Base-
ball attempts to bridge graphics and
strategy and comes out beautifully. An
ingeniously designed game with
numerous features, this game fares well
in both areas - it looks great and pre-
sents an excellent challenge to its users.
On the graphics end, the game is
shown through a split screen, the left
side showing the full field of play while
the right gives a close-up of the pitcher-
batter duel. Fielders move back and
forth in anticipation of the pitch, then
break at the crack of the bat.
The graphics are equal to the best,
presenting a life-like animation of the
pitcher's windup, batter's swing and
movement of the ball.
In terms of strategy, however, this is
undoubtedly the best game on the mar-
ket. The users can make batters bunt,
swing away, hit and run or aim for the
opposite field.
Other features range from being able
to choose what ballpark the game is
played at to checking wind conditions or
turning a radar gun on a pitcher.
Users may draft their own team from
200 players who actually played from
1900 to 1975.
The only point the game's designers
seem to leave out is the ability to argue a
call with an umpire. And unlike many
games, the program is not copy-
protected, allowing a user to transfer it
to a hard disk.
Overall Grade: A-
Hardball
On the graphics end, Accolade's
Hardball succeeds in topping Earl
Weaver Baseball because it achieves ac-
tion on the field more clearly.
It blows Weaver off the map in terms
of graphics and physical control of the
players, despite the fact that Weaver
graphics are excellent.
However, in terms of strategy, real-
ism or statistics, Hardball pales against
its Electronic Arts competitor. While a
number of offensive and defensive op-
tions are available, they hardly com-
pare to what Weaver offers.
Furthermore, players and teams are
imaginary and the user cannot draft
players and create teams. The computer
doesn't keep statistics or find out details
that make baseball a strategic sport
(e.g., a pitcher's effectiveness as a game
progresses, wind factors, etc.).
Overall Grade: B +
Macintoshes
not immune
from viruses
By Pamela Lindsay
The Shorthorno
U. of Texas, Arlington
When Apple Corp. stated in a_
brochure that "thousands of people=
have gotten more than they bar-
gained for from their Apple compu-
ters," it wasn't referring to scrambled
data, inability to print and frequent
system crashes. a
But that's exactly what they got.
Some Macintosh Computer users
are being stumped by computer
viruses.
"They can cause the whole system
to crash, preventing you from acces-P
sing any information on the hard
disk," said Beth Riblet, an Arlingtond Computer virus: A. rog- a Make back-ups for hard and
computer store manager.ram that resides, unknown to floppy disks.
The viruses initially breezed unde- the computer user, on his or her
tected through a network connecting hard or floppy disks either Whenever obtaining anew
teced hrogh newor conecing damaging or destroying prog- program, write-protect the disk
computers by telephone. Computer rams, files and data. Damaging immediately and make a copy.
users who have downloaded software, and destroying may, entail re-
traded, borrowed or shared a Mac generating mistakes, altering n Use vaccines. These arein-
may become virus victims. other programs or erasing stalled once and work auto-
These tiny, invisible programs -m rybanks.hVyrufe pert vatcall to help protect a disk
believed to have originated on the diciiae;thyaft pr vcie r p'etve o
West Coast - spread from program sonal computers as well as com curative),
. puter systemns/networks.
to program and have invaded the P Wach or nusaW ile
Macintosh community like a biologic- Infection: The act ofim- appearing on 4 disk, orsudden
al virus. Several university machines plementing a virus onto a disk. changes in file lengths. Some
are infected. viruses do not damage files but
School officials don't know how gradually icreasethe size of
many systems are infected, but a vac- theprmngtrogrsm ofhi the file untifit is unusable;
cine has been developed as a preven- computer which guards against a Kim Trainor, The Uni esdy Dcily,
tive measure. the viru Texas T ech
Cartoons not a joke to enterprising artist Shaffer
By Hope Hennessy
Mustang Daily
California Polytechnic State U.,
San Luis Obispo
Thousands of his fellow students see
Grant Shaffer every day and don't even
realize how famous he has become.
His art is seen in newspaper illustra-
tions, comic strips and countless adver-
tisements throughout San Luis Obispo.
Grant Shaffer is a localcelebrity. And
though his face may not be famous, his
work and his signature are.
His list of past accomplishments is as
long as his list of goals for the future. It's
not surprising, since Shaffer said that
he first started drawing when he was
three years old. He won his first award
at age five for a picture of the flying nun.
Since then, Shaffer's cartooning ta-
lent has been unstoppable.
Last year, he won first prize for his
on-the-spot editorial cartoon and first
prize for best newspaper illustration at
the California Intercollegiate Press
Association (CIPA) convention.
At this year's CIPA competition,
Shaffer won first prize for his editorial
cartoon and second and third prizes for
his newspaper illustrations.
Not only has he done illustrations for
local advertisements and real estate
brochures, he also illustrated several
books and is currently the illustrator for
kin.,1 '.4 NEW
MOM
AT 1.
Illustrator Grant Shaffer and friends crowd around Shaffer's workspace, where most of the
artist's ideas spring to life.
Volleyball Monthly, an international
magazine.
Oddly enough, cartooning was never
a goal for Shaffer. But as fate would
have it, he was invited to draw for Mus-
tang Daily on his first day at Cal Poly.
For Shaffer, opening the paper every
day is "getting an immediate reward."
And having his name next to his work is
"like getting free advertising."
Cartooning, however, hasn't come as
easily to Shaffer as it seems. He said the
hardest part of cartooning is coming up
with an idea.
"I consider myself an illustrator
trying my hand at cartooning. So my
cartoons don't always turn out funny,
although people assume that they al-
ways will be," he said.
"I walk around campus and when I
see something, I write it down. Whenev-
er I think of an idea or have a dream, I
write it down."
Another way Shaffer gets inspiration
is from reading comic books. However,
he doesn't just read comic books, he has
a collection of nearly 4,000 that are
worth around $6,000.
For now, Shaffer is looking ahead to
more immediate plans. In January, he
will begin a two-and-a-half yea
tration program at the prestigi
Center in Pasadena, Calif.
Eventually, Shaffer hopes tc
commercial art a career. "But I'
continue cartooning on the si
said. "I would love to work for M
DC comics. Some people don't c
it an art, but I look at each pa
comic strip as a painting.
"I'm always most proud of th
innovative thing I've done. I am
looking at the next step," Shaffei
think it's healthy to look at yoi
and not be 100 percent satisfie
Older students flocking back to campu
H-
t-
U
C)
C)
C)
to
_J
J
J
Entrepreneur Jason Savoie kneels by his
invention - backpacks sewn from pants.
Sewing up a storm ... What started as a favor
for his girlfriend has turned into a money-making venture
for Jason Savoie. The business major at Nicholls State U. is
making backpacks from old blue jeans supplied by the
customer. He made his first about two summers ago when
his girlfriend's backpack fell apart. Savoie, who was work-
ing in his uncle's upholstery business at the time, said it
takes almost three hours to complete a backpack. "The
bags have sold themselves by word of mouth. I'm working
almost every night to meet the demand,"said Savoie,
who's now also making duffel bags, eyeglass cases and
beach bags. Deborah Rouse, The Nicholls
Worth, Nicholls State U., LA
U."
Mom's mustard brings in the bacon ...
Two students, Dave Saggau and Dan Austin, have teamed
up with Craig Hagen and are marketing mustard that
Saggau's mother, Mona, created. The mustard is compris-
ed almost entirely of ingredients grown in North Dakota, a
state that offers one of the most hospitable business
climates anywhere because initial costs are much less than
those in a metropolitan area, Dave Saggau said. The trio
hopes not only to place "Saggau's Family Pride Sweet Hot
Mustard" on restaurant tables but also to sell its product in
supermarkets throughout the world. If the mustard sells
well, the partners may market Mona Saggau's home-style
barbeque sauce. Tim Zak, Dakota Student, U.
of North Dakota
U..
Lies, lies, lies . . . Caroline and Michelle Enter-
prises, a company aptly named for Texas Tech U. students
Caroline ONeal and Michelle Phillips, markets T-shirts
with the "Top 10 Lies Heard at Texas Tech" printed on the
back. After consulting an attorney, locating a screen printer
and obtaining permission from the dean of students, the
pair was in business. The women, who have sold about 250
shirts, will donate between 15 and 25 percent of their
profits to an outreach group for drug and alcohol abusers.
The students say they have actually heard all of the "lies"
they print. And the No. 1 lie, according to Caroline and
Michelle? "Texas Tech was my first choice ..." Trey
Hattaway, The University Daily, Texas Tech
U.
U..
Magazine covers flexible music ... When
he was 13, Richard Shupe decided he was fed up with
commercial music and threw away his record collection. "I
knew there had to be more out there," he said. So Shupe
started an alternative music newsletter which he sent to
music promoters and record companies. His "low-quality"
newsletter turned into Reflex, a magazine dedicated to
alternative music. Shupe has distributed Reflex throughout
the world. One of the magazine's unique features is the
Flexidisk, a vinyl record inserted in each issue that looks
suspiciously like the disks of the Jackson 5 found on the
backs of Frosted Flakes boxes 15 years ago. Mary
Pagnotta, The Brown & White, Lehigh U., PA
U..
Hanging art in people's ears ... Two
Stanford Graduate School of Business students, Ed Earl
and Norton Rappaport, are developing The San Francisco
Rock and Roll Museum. They have their work cut out for
them - they need to raise $20 million to fund the non-
profit museum, which should open in three to five years.
Determined to find the feasibility of the project, the pair
oversaw a research study done by a consulting company.
The research predicts the museum will draw between
300,000 and 500,000 people annually. "I think of this
museum as a way to hang art in people's ears," Earl said.
Michelle Finkel, The Stanford Daily, Stan-
ford U., CA
,
Campus scene changing;
18-year-old high school
grads no longer the norm
By Virginia Ross
The Penn
Indiana U. of Pennsylvania
Of the approximately 13,000 stu-
dents attending Indiana U. of Pennsyl-
vania's (IUP) three campuses, over
6,000 are considered non-traditional,
according to a study being conducted by
a graduate sociology student.
"Traditional students are usually
those who go from high school directly
to college," said Dorothy Reyna, presi-
dent of IUP's Adult Student Associa-
tion. "They are usually able to spend 90
to 95 percent of their time on campus.
Non-traditionals have families, work
and church organization responsibili-
ties. They have a difficult time juggling
their home and college lives. . . and
have a lot of pressures to deal with."
The American Association of Adult
and Continuing Education considers a
non-traditional student someone who is
25 years of age or over and is working on
a four-year degree:Anne Arsenault, the
association's representative for
Women's Issues, says the majority of
these students are women.
"A lot are housewives, divorced
women or single mothers who are going
to college, usually for the first time,"
Arsenault said. "There seems to be a
national trend toward the older stu-
dents. The number of 18-year-olds is
going down and the majority of students
are older."
According to the U.S. Department of
Education, there were about 2.8 million
women over 25 who attended college
compared to about 1.8 million men in
1975. The projected total for 1988 was 3
BRYN HENDRICKSON, DAKOTA STUDENT. U. O' NC
million women compared to 2.5 million
men.
The U.S. Bureau of the Census re-
ported that between 1975 and 1985,
women students over 25 went from 11.8
percent to 17.4 percent of all under-
graduates nationwide.
These women "not only have school,
but they also must deal with family
problems, kids, possibly work, their
homes," Arsenault said. "We're trying to
Wake Forest University
... a different school of thought.
WAKE FOREST
MBA
With special emphasis on:
.International Business
- Microcomputers
- Small class environment
. Broad-based management
. Experiential learning
* Close student-faculty relations
. Integrated curriculum
Non-traditional students lobbied legislators
at the State House to stop taxing educational
loans and grants so that they can afford to raise
their families and attend school. Wendy
Stephens, president of the Non-Traditional
Student Association, told a senate committee
hearing in July that GuaranteedbStudent Loans
and Pell Grants should not be counted as
income because the extra income caused their
welfare to be cut.
Wisconsin and Minnesota have already
passed laws dictating that no state benefits will
be taken away from students because they
receive scholarships and other forms of aid as
income. Erik Deckers, The Ball State
Daily News, Ball State U., IN
help them deal with it all by
standing their needs."
Student Kathy Bradford said 1
toughest thing is when her foL
old son Jerrod asks her to plea
home from school.
Bradford is studying educat:
says that in addition to her fan
school concerns, she experien
added strain of being on welfai
"I can get Pell and PHEAA
but not a GSL (Guaranteed E
Loan)," she said. "For any am
money you get in excess of your
your food stamps are cut. It n
difficult to feed your family."
Reyna said that in addition ti
with financial constraints, ma
dents, especially the older womE
difficulty with professors. "Ma
fessors assume you have all 1
time in the world to get things d
don't acknowledge the problen
students have with their childrE
jobs, whatever."
In addition, she said, traditic
dents seem to be concerned wit
integration whereas non-trad
are in college for self-fulfillment
seeking to better themselves.
For more information call toll-free: (800) 722-1622 or write:
James Garner Ptaszynski, Admissions Director, Wake Forest MBA,
7659 Reynolda Station, Winston-Salem, NC 27109 (919) 761-5422