ADDING "9-11" TO THE DICTIONARY-- "The seminal events in our country's history have not taken their names from the date of the occurrence," says Nikki Keach, a professor of communication science at Temple. "No one remembers Pearl Harbor as '12-7' or the near nuclear disaster at Three Mile Island as '3-28.' Instead, historically, such events take the name of the locations where they occurred--like Kent State, or the person whose death effectively set the country in a different and unknown direction--such as the assassinations of JFK or Martin Luther King." But unlike those events, the Sept. 11 attacks happened in three separate places and involved thousands of people, Keach notes. "Its name could not reasonably refer to a place or a person and still capture the magnitude of the disaster or of the response," says Keach, adding that "9-11's" similarity to 9-1-1, the national code for emergency service, is significant. "This eerie fortuity, I believe, assures that the name '9-11' will continue to refer to the attacks on that date and to the aftermath. In an eerie twist, there is only one other example of a date that refers to a central event in our nation's history, that comes to mind. It is our name for our Independence Day--the Fourth of July."
X GAMES: THE MONEY BEHIND THE MOUNTAIN DEW -- Yes, admission to next week's X Games is free, and the teen target market doesn't look like it has two cents to rub together, but the games are big business. "The X Games' only mistake," says Michael Jackson, professor of sports administration at Temple, "is using an 'X' instead of a dollar sign." Don't underestimate the spending power of teens, or the money behind extreme Olympics. "They don't charge admission because they sell extreme clothing, new sneaker lines, protective pads, jerseys, jewelry, drinks to replenish dehydrated youth, and carbo-loaded snacks--a whole new genre of products. Across the country, skate parks are being built with price tags in the six- and seven-figure range." Jackson calls X Games fans a directed and demanding population. "They're a self-described 'outlaw' group, the kids who don't identify with high school sports. They identify themselves with clothing brands, they come up with names for stunts, and standards of performance. They have publications." Jackson's laundry list of economic stimuli covers nearly everything a lax economy needs. "The injured check into area hospitals, visit orthopedists, buy protective ware and garments. Organizers acquire land for the games, construction ensues, materials are delivered, personnel are hired and trained. It's a never-ending cycle, that constantly multiplies." Reach Dr. Jackson through the Office of News and Media Relations.
STAR LIGHT, STAR BRIGHT, WHAT STAR DO I SEE TONIGHT? --Summertime is a perfect opportunity to gaze at the night sky with its--in the words of Carl Sagan--"billions and billions" of stars. "From 'constellations' to the Milky Way to colored stars, there are many interesting things to see in the sky with the unaided eye," says Temple physics professor C. J. "Jeff" Martoff.
Martoff says that many constellations can be identified using online star maps available at www.heavens-above.com. "Summer is a great time to marvel at my favorite constellation, Scorpius, or 'the scorpion,' which stretches out along the southern horizon," says Martoff. "Its long, stinger-tipped tail curls out to the left, or east, and the brilliantly twinkling deep red star, 'Antares,' marks its beating heart." Martoff says if you can get to a really dark location--at least 40 miles from a big city--you will see a lot of faint, fuzzy light coming from the sky between Scorpius and Sagittarius. These constellations are in the direction of the center of the Milky Way, the densest concentration of the billions of stars that form our own galaxy, he points out. Fainter parts of the Milky Way stretch across the sky, from the southern horizon, up and overhead during the summer months, he notes. Go to http://www.temple.edu/news_media/pm62.html. Reach Martoff through the Office of News and Media Relations.
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