HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1998-02-18, Page 5A Final Thought
Nobody, as long as he moves about
among the chaotic currents of life, is
without trouble. — Carl Jung
THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1998. PAGE 5.
Arthur Black
Scribbling in
the space age
Christmas is what — two months gone? I
find myself looking at this present I found
under the tree on Christmas morning. Two
months later I still don't quite know what to
make of it.
It is slim as a Rothman's King Size and
about the same length, but made of steel —
and it's gunmetal black. There are no brand
names, in fact there's no discernible writing
of any kind on this device, but if you grasp it
between thumb and forefinger at each end
and apply outward pressure — hey, presto! —
the gizmo separates into two pieces and you
see that you are holding a ball-point pen and
its cap. But not just any ball-point pen, no.
That's a Fisher Space Pen you've got in
your mitt, buddy.
I'm impressed. I even sneaked into one of
those upscale calligraphy shops in downtown
Vancouver — you know the places I mean —
where they sell leather-and-brass-bound
'personal secretaries' that do exactly the
same job as a spiral note book except they
cost more than the car I drive. They sell pens
in there too. Tony European models mostly,
with fourteen-karat gold nibs and the heft of
an LAPD riot control billy. But I looked
around and eventually I found the Fisher
Space Pen as well, retailing for about $35. I
was impressed. In fact, as a guy who never
voluntarily lays out more than 99 cents for a
Diamonds as
a girl's best friend
When I was slaving away in the Czech
Republic, I often found it remarkable what
little bits of information people knew about
Canada. They were woefully ignorant about
the country in general but they could be
counted upon to come up with some little
fact and then expect me to fill them in on all
the details.
Thus it was that one day, apropos. of
nothing in general, one of my friends
exclaimed, "I hear they have discovered
diamonds in Canada."
I don't know if readers are aware of this but
they have, indeed, discovered lots of
diamonds and therein lies a tale.
A substantial find has been made in the
Northwest Territories; perhaps it is more
accurate to say there have been a number of
finds and the current guess is that over half a
billion dollars worth of the gem will be
exported each year, which should give a real
boost to our balance of trade.
The question right now is what
organization will be doing the buying and the
normal answer would be De Beers. The
Canadian miners, however, have not as yet,
made any agreement with this company
which, in effect, operates a cartel and the
high cost of a diamond ring you buy when
you get engaged is some testimony of the
success this cartel has had. The fact that the
Canadians, as well as the Australians, are
outside the cartel is some indication that it
may be losing its grip.
The tale, to which I referred above, is how
writing utensil, I was utterly dumfounded.
What could possibly make this little
nondescript shaft in my hand worth 35
bucks?
Fortunately, my Christmas present came
with double wrapping. The outer layer was
standard Christmas foil, but the pen itself
was swaddled lovingly in two pages of
glowing information that told me all about
the origins of the fabulous Fisher Space Pen
that Would Make Me The Envy of My Peers.
That's where I discovered that my tiny gift
pen is nitrogen-powered — which is to say the
ink is under pressure. This, my little info
sheet informs me, makes it possible for the
ink to be forced past the 'tungsten-carbide
ball' specially designed to withstand
corrosion, etc., etc.
Not just any old ink either. No sir, the ink
in the Fisher Space Pen is 'thixotropic' —
which means that it won't leak or gob up like
the 99-cent clunkers I usually favour.
According to my info sheet, "the revolving
tungsten-carbide ball liquifies the thixotropic
ink, which allows the Fisher Space Pen to
write smoothly."
Wonderful. But isn't that quite a lot of fuss
for something I'm going to use to jot down
my grocery list?
Well, that's the point. The Fisher Space
Pen wasn't developed for me — it was created
for astronauts.
NASA nabobs didn't get too far into the
Space Travel Game before they realized that
standard Grand and Toy fountain or ball-
point pens just couldn't cut it out there.
Ordinary pens wouldn't perform
De Beers came to be involved as a cartel, and
it is a tale worth telling. It all goes back to a
man named Cecil Rhodes, whom some of
you may recognize as the name of the man
who expanded the British Empire in southern
Africa.
At any rate Rhodes noted that the supply of
diamonds often exceeded the demand with
the not unexpected result that prices
plummeted. His plan was to support prices
by getting control of all the mines. He
founded De Beers Consolidated Mines which
merged De Beers and Kimberley, the two
companies mining in South Africa where the
vast majority of diamond mining was carried
out in the late 19th century. In a few years he
controlled over 90 per cent of all the
diamonds mined on this planet. •
After Rhodes' death, the cartel passed into
the hands of the Oppenheimer family who
still run it today.
The marketing arm of the company, called
Central Selling Organization, (or CSO for
short), is located in a building on the edge of
London, Eng. Every five weeks there is a
meeting in one of the offices there to decide
what quantity and what quality to sell to the
diamond brokers scattered throughout the
world. At the end of the meeting, the agreed-
upon stones are put into little brown boxes to
be picked up by the brokers.
When the latter come to pick up the boxes,
they may examine the contents; they can
either reject or accept the box but they cannot
argue about the contents.
Since De Beers still controls about three-
quarters of the world's production, the cartel
has not lost too much of its earlier clout.
There are fewer people more dedicated to
their task than the De Beers sales force. They
act with the kind of zeal normally associated
satisfactorily in the weightless, zero-gravity
environment of a space capsule.
So NASA decided to invent an all-new
writing device. They took their problem to a
contractor by the name of Paul Fisher.
Mister Fisher went to work and came up with
the Fisher Space Pen.
And all for a mere $2 million US in
research.
You read right. But, hey - cutting-edge,
space age technology doesn't come cheap
you know. We're just fortunate that NASA
didn't pay any attention to that German crank
who responded to their original request for a
new invention.
The German inventor read the NASA specs
for their proposed 'lithographic transmission
system' as NASA called it. How the new
device had to be a state of the art writing
utensil that was lightweight, could perform in
below freezing temperatures or in extremely
hot surroundings. It had to be able to write at
any angle, even upside-down, and it had to
be able to do all this in a complete vacuum.
What's more insisted NASA, this
revolutionary breakthrough in writing
technology would need to come with a
relatively limitless supply of ink or fuel or
ribbon or whatever it used to record
astronauts' scribbles out there in deep space.
The German inventor read the
requirements, shook his head, grunted and
dashed off a five-word telegram. The next
morning at headquarters, NASA brass ripped
open the telegram to read:
HAVE YOU TRIED A PENCIL?
with missionaries. They act in this manner
not only in their efforts to maintain the high
level of control of the cartel but to
manipulate the demand for diamonds.
One of their recent achievements was to
persuade the producers of Baywatch to spend
a whole episode on a story about the
purchase of a diamond engagement ring.
Needless to say, they created the oft repeated
slogan that you should spend at least two
month's salary on the ring you give your
beloved and, in 1988, the statement, "Show
her you would marry, her all over again,"
which was in conjunction with the
celebration of the 10th wedding anniversary.
Before De Beers started its ad campaign in
Japan, less than 25 per cent of Japanese
brides wore a ring, today over 70 per cent of
them do.
Finally, if you have been to see the Titanic,
recall the pivotal role the diamond played in
the movie. If you are a James Bond addict,
don't forget the film, Diamonds are Forever.
The Australians produce diamonds that are
generally of low quality but the ones to come
out of Canada are said to be of much higher.
Small wonder that De Beers have some of
their people prospecting up there along with
the others while they wait for the Canadian
producers to make a decision.
While all this is going on, don't expect to
see a marked reduction in the price of
diamonds, not as long as De Beers can
maintain its hold on a girl's best friend.
The
Short
of it
y onn e Gropp
The pot of gold
The decision has been made, but ,there is
little question that it will be moot for a while
yet.
Should Canadian snowboarder Ross
Rebagliati have kept his Olympic gold after
testing positive for marijuana? Stripped of
his medal following a decision by the
International Olympic Committee,
Canadians learned Thursday morning that an
appeal panel had overturned the ruling.
Detractors, presumably few of those being
from Canada, might argue that the message
being sent could put the wrong spin on drug
use. nowboarders are a colourful lot, whose
appeal to the younger generation is one of
hipness. The use of marijuana by
snowboarders seems to be if not an accepted
fact then an expected one. Rebagliati
maintained throughout the controversy that
the miniscule amount in his system was due
to the significant amount of time he spends
among marijuana users. Frustrated that
anyone would think him foolish enough to
actually smoke marijuana before his
Olympic performance, Rebagliati was
reported to have said that he would have to
move from Whistler, B.C. to avoid second-
hand smoke.
In addition to his word and our need to
believe that no one would be that dumb,
there were some other pertinent issues for
consideration. Firstly, when Ben Johnson,
was stripped of his medal at the 1988
Olympic Games in Seoul, it was because he
had tested positive for anabolic steroids.
Used to build up muscular tissue, the intent
was obviously for performance
enhancement. A medal in that case would
honour a synthetic, not natural, athletic
ability.
Conversely it's difficult to imagine that
marijuana, despite some ambiguous
comments from IOC officials, could give
anyone the competitive edge. Its effects are
primarily sedative and hallucinogenic. Low
doses psychologically produce a sense of
well-being, relaxation and sleepiness.
Depending on the level of intoxication,
people may have difficulty performing
functions which require concententration,
rapid reactions and physical co-ordination. If
he did smoke it, it sounds more like
Rebagliati did his opponents a favour.
So is it possible that the test could have
been a result of second-hand smoke? To
eliminate THC, one of the chemicals
contained in marijuana, the liver converts the
substance into waste products. The rate at
which they are cleared from the body is
slower than many other psychoactive drugs.
For regular smokers it can be found in the
system for four weeks after use.
Forensic specialists have testified in court
that people can become impaired from
second hand smoke.
There is enough debate to accept that
Rebagliati may simply have been a
bystander. That his medal was returned is
right, but the seven-hour questioning by
police was in order, as is a reprimand from
Canadian officials. The issue is not one of
Olympic standard, but one of Canadian
standard. Marijuana, while not considered a
banned substance, is considered restricted.
Clearer guidlelines need to be established by
IOC, and athletes, who want to go for the
gold, need to find ways to live by them.
Rebagliati has said he won't stop being
with his friends, even if he has to wear a gas
mask to do it. Real friends would make that
unnecessary.
International Scene
By Raymond Canon