THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
VOL.101.NO.141
ADVERTISING:864-4358
MONDAY,APRIL27,1992
(USPS 650-640)
NEWS:864-4810
Satellite confirms KU professors' work
By Greg Farmer
Kansan staff writer
A recent NASA satellite discovery proved a part of the Big Bang Theory, helping two KU professors and others explain the origins of the universe.
Adrian Melott, associate professor of physics and astronomy, and Sergei Shandarin, professor of physics and astronomy, said they had agreed for more than 10 years with speculation that rippled existed in the cosmic microwave background. Now, a NASA satellite has proven the professors' speculation.
"The satellite's discovery is important confirmation of the basis of the research we have been conducting," Melott said.
University of California at Berkeley, announced Thursday that NASA's Cosmic Background Explorer satellite had discovered the ripples, which never before had been seen.
Supporters of the Big Bang Theory think that a huge explosion created the universe 15 billion years ago.
The ripples from that big bang are the seeds of all matter. Melott said.
Melott and Shandarin said they thought the Big Bang Theory explained how the universe was born and that the evidence returned by the NASA satellite supported the theory. They have been studying for about 10 years how the ripples in the universe developed into all matter, from rocks to clusters of galaxies.
By using computer imaging, the research team has created models of the universe and the ripples in it.
"The discovery of these ripples won't change our research much because we were assuming that the ripples were there," Melott said. "But the discovery will put about half the people considering the creation of the universe out of business or draw them to our side."
"This discovery seems to prove that these riplinks developed."
Shandarin said he and Melott now could concentrate their research on the development of ripples into matter.
"We want to know how quickly and in what manner these ripples turned into what we see as matter today." he said.
Shandirin said the computer imaging he and Melott had created was used to simulate the growth of the rioles.
"We have done so with the hypothetical ripples we speculated were there, and now we will do so with the ripples we know are there," he said.
Baseball season change considered Warm-weather schools
Warm-weather schools at advantage, coaches say
By Jerry Schmidt
Kansan sportswriter
It is a cold, blustery Sunday afternoon in March at Hoglund-maupin Sta-
The flags beyond the right field fence are flapping in the strong north wind. The wind is very large.
The fans, all 50 or 60 of them, are bun-
died in layers of sweatshirts and socks. Their heads are barely visible underneath their collars and hoods. The bright orange of space heaters glows from the dugouts and protector.
Dave Bingham
Hot chocolate, not cold soda, is the best seller at the concession stand.
As die-hard fans know, this is college baseball.
Eighty percent of colleges and universities with baseball programs are northern-tier schools. These schools try to keep pace with the Florida, Miami and Arizona, the powerhouses of college baseball, which entitle the best collegiate and/or college players with the best baseball recruiting tool: warm weather.
But the cold winds of college baseball may change with a proposal by coaches to the National Collegiate Athletic Association to move the season opener to March 1.
The proposal would put cold-weather teams on a level playing field with warm-weather schools. Currently, southern schools play 10-15 games before schools such as Kansas begin to venture outside. Even the Jayhawks will 10-15 games before the Maine Black Bears brave the New England cold.
Coaches also think that moving the schedule back would give their sport a season of its own. Under the current format, college baseball teams play two-thirds to three-quarters of their games during the basketball season.
The Hill Denson Proposal, named after the Southern Mississippi coach who introduced it, would not allow a game to be played before March 1. The season would culminate with the College World Series in early July.
They see the proposal as the first step toward making college baseball a revenue-producing sport and shedding its minor-sport label.
"We can't play ball here in March," Washington State coach Chuck Breyer said. "It's terrible for us to play it." It's cold. We have to travel to玩 it."
College baseball is primarily a Sun Belt sport, Kansas coach Dave Dinghams said. Bingham, who was at the University of Arizona from 1966-1968, said baseball was the No.1 sport at Arizona.
The Cougars, whose stadium is in Indianapolis Wash, played their first 21 games at the University.
Many coaches are looking for a level plaving field.
In his days there were no limits on the number of scholarships, practice time or games. He said the Wildcats practiced every day and gave 30 scholarships. Recent NCAA rules have limited
Continued on Page 9
Kristen Petty/KANSAN
Grieving for a friend who is dying from complications of AIDS, Cassi Cozad and Matt Wagner, of Columbia, Mo., console each other as a woman who preferred not to be identified watches. The Midwest portion of the national Names Quilt, commemorating more than 900 people who have died from complications of AIDS, was in Kansas City's Municipal Auditorium this weekend.
Remembrance
Protesters blast anti-homosexuality
By Andy Taylor Kansan staff writer
More than 100 demonstrators gathered at the corner of 101st Street and Gage Boulevard to protest the actions of a Topeka minister who leads an anti-homosexual group. In another part of the park, a rally for AIDS awareness attracted more than 100 people. Between the two events were dozens of pinckers and Frisbee-disk-throwers soaking in the spring sun.
TOPEKA—Car horns and raised fists filled the air at a traffic jam near Gage Park yesterday afternoon. But the noises did not come from angry motorists.
The protest and a rally were sponsored by "Sunday In the Park Without Fred," a group of Topeka residents who promote AIDS awareness and understanding among homosexual and heterosexual populations. Fred Phelps, 45-year Baptist minister, and a vocal critic of the homosexual community and people with AIDS.
Since Scott's death April 18, his family said it had made more than 500 red ribbons, a symbol for AIDS awareness. He told The Phelps anti-homosexual movement.
Phelps, who usually demonstrates at the intersection, has picked the funerals of people who die of complications well as other AIDS-a awareness activities.
The rally was a response to Phelp's protest last week at the funeral of Ken Scott, a KU student who died of an AIDS-related illness.
At the rally, people from Topeka spoke about ending hate crimes. A few read poems, and one person played "Amazing Grace" on the bagpipes.
"Ispurredusintoaction," said Nancy Martin Scott'ssister
Dennis Dobson, one of the organizers of the event, said the skating and bingo games were part of the event. (Ellen Fletcher)
"Phelps is within his constitutional rights to do whatever he is doing," he呼
let people continue to be hurt."
Dobson compared the protest and rally to the role of the Good Samaritan in the war.
"Like the Good Samaritan, we are here to provide comfort and healing to those people who have been injured physically, psychically and spiritually by the message of Fred Phelps," he said.
Protesters said Phelps and about 20 other anti-homosexual protesters were at the corner yesterday morning but left when the rally began at noon.
One of the protesters, Candace Kinney, of Topeka, said the issue did not pit Christians against non-Christians. After being baptized yesterday morning in a Topeka church, she rushed to the park to join the other protesters.
"I'm not pro-gay or anti-gay," she
said. "I'm for equal rights for every-
body."
Tim Brownlee, a first-year KU graduate student, said he attended the rally and protest as a representative of the Lawrence Freedom Coalition, an
Aftershocks shake Northern California
The Associated Press
SCOTIA, Calif. — A pair of powerful aftershocks yesterday followed an earthquake along Northern California's remote "Lost Coast," touching off fires and fear of more destructive seismic shaking.
The National Guard trucked in drinking water to the four communities hit hardest by the quakes in the region. The wood for ests and rocky seaside cliffs.
"Obviously, the fear of aftershocks does exist here," Humboldt County Sheriff David Renner said.
About 50 people were injured in the quakes that began Saturday with one that registered 6.9 on the Richter scale, centered about 250 miles north of San Francisco. Aftershocks measuring 6.5 and 6.0 followed yesterday.
They touched off a fire that ravaged a shopping center in Scotia, destroying a lumber yard, a pharmacy, a coffee shop and a grocery store. Firefighters had to draw water from a nearby pond after the town's water main snapped.
The first aftershock struck at 12:41 a.m. and measured 6.0 on the Richter scale. A second, at 4:18 a.m., measured 6.5, and was felt as far away as Fresno, 460 miles south. There were thousands of lesser aftershocks.
The state Office of Emergency Services estimated $10 million to $15 million in damage to Scotia alone, and amounted million dollars more in other towns.
the epicenters of the two large aftershocks were near the first quake, centered just onshore near Rio Dell, a town of about 3,000 people.
"The typical pattern with a big quake is to see a couple of fairly large aftershocks and then smaller ones with decreasing frequency," said John Minsch of the U.S. Geological Survey in Golden, Colo. "So far, it's pretty typical, but these things don't always do what you expect."
The aftershocks prompted David and Joanne Paine, their neighbors and their five children to camp outside in Fernald.
"Things that didn't fall in the first two quakes fell in the third one," said Paine, who feared his century-old
California quake
A major earthquake struck 110 miles east of Los Angeles.
house might fall from its foundation.
The state's "Lost Coast" runs from the town of Shelter Cove 50 miles north to Cape Mendocino, the western-most point in the Lower 48 states. It is the state's most seismically active, reporting several hundred minor earthquakes every year.
Gov. Pete Wilson declared a state of emergency in Humboldt County, which includes Scotia, Ferndale and Eureka. The quakes cut power and telephone service to much of the county, but most power was restored yesterday, said sheriff's Lt. Frank Vulich.
Ferndale, a historical town of Victorian houses, also suffered serious damage. The first quake knocked down brick building facades, crumbled chimneys, shattered glass, knocked goods off shelves and broke porchrailings.
An unrelated quake registering 6.1
the Richter scale struck Southern
California Wednesday night.
Scotia native Jim Elliott, shrouded by smoke as he surveyed damage, said the disaster wouldn't scare away hardy residents.
"Where else are you going to go?" he asked. "You can go back east and die in a tornado. You might as well stay here and be shook to death."
The Richter scale is a measure of ground motion recorded on seismographs. Every increase of one number means a tenfold increase in magnitude; a reading of 7.5 reflects a quake 10 times stronger than one of 6.5.
An earthquake of 3.5 on the Richter scale can cause slight damage in the local area, 4 moderate damage, 5 considerable damage, 6 severe damage. A 7 reading is a "major" earthquake, capable of widespread heavy damage; 8 is a "great" quake, capable of tremendous damage.
protesters supporting the rights of gays, lesbians and AIDS patients, there as cars drive during a rally at Gage Park in Topeka.
organization for homosexual and bisexual rights.
"This gives me a positive feeling to see people who respond to hate. he said." I said. "It really helps."
madder about Phepl's demonstrations than many saw voiceless."
Phelps would not respond to telephone calls.