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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1989-09-27, Page 4Page 4 Times -Advocate, September 27, 1989 Times tslablished 1871 Adsocate tstablished 1881 Amalgamated 1424 Published Each Wednesday Morning at Exeter, Ontario, NOM 1S0 Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386. Phone'519.235.1331 ROSS HAUGH lditor *CNA C Cry, lL i MUFTI Publisher It. Adsertising Manager HARR) DESRIES DON. SMITH Composition Manager Business Manager SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada: $27.00 Per year; U.S.A. $68.00 Serving South Huron, North Middlesex & North Lambton Since 1873 Published by I.W. Eedy Publications Limited Please, be careful This may be more an informa- tion article than am editorial, but it is one subject that needs immediate attention. It's on the subject of pedestrian cross- ings and was prompted by a letter. from Phyllis Collett pointing out the danger created when some motorists don't stop for pedestrians at the intersection of Main and James streets. We agree that this a dangerous corner, but .very little can be done about it right now. Motorists who fail to stop for pe- destrians cannot be charged as it is not an official crossing. It does not have any signs or X's. We learned from police chief Larry Hardy that it is not covered by any town bylaw or any portions of the Highway Traffic Act. Iii fact,it would be better if the lines were not there at all as many wishing to cross, think vehicles must stop for them. That is not so. The same situation exists at the corner of Main and John streets where the .lines currently painted on the road surface. mean absolutely nothing. Chief Hardy indicated he would be bringing these situations up at an upcom- ing town police committee meeting. Actually the only pedestrian crossings which are controlled are the crosswalk Costs are The new no-fault motor vehicle insurance proposed by the On- tario government has illicited a variety of reactions thus far. The legal profession hates it, the insurance people love it, the opposition parties denounce it and the people .... well, the people ha- ven't really made up their minds. But one thing is for certain. Somebody has to pay for it. It may be too early to really pass judge- ment on no-fault insurance. After all, we haven't heard the whole story from any- one even though it's a safe assumption that the matter was studied up and down, sideways° and backwards by those who put forth the idea. Perhaps the most worrisome aspect iS this apparent shift away from expecting people to take responsibility for their own actions, and the recent efforts of the government to cloud the issue of who pays for what ... and why. A good portion of the ills suffered by tance to see one's own duty and to act ac- cordingly. Think of what you will. We don't want to know the whole truth about anytning, lest we tnighr'urrtierstanti uut part in it and be compelled to do some- thing aboutit. til -the -matter of health aro, for instance, flashing light at Main and Victoria and the traffic lights at Main and Huron and Main and Sanders. Pedestrians or motor- ists violating any provisions of the High- way Traffic Act may be prosecuted at these three locations along with the inter- section of Highways 4 and 83. When speaking of safety, we heard from one area motorist who within two days saw flagrant ignorance of the pres- ence of emergency vehicles. The first incident occured on Main street in Exeter on Friday when a num- ber of motorists failed to pull over for an oncoming ambulance with flashing lights and sirens going. The second happened on Highway 4 be- tween Hensall and Brucefield early Sun- day afternoon when motorists going in both directions failed to give way to a police cruiser which had its lights flash- ing. In fact, one vehicle passed another ve- hicle while the cruiser was trying to pass from behind. How about defensive driving tactics not only at these areas in Exeter where pedestrians are trying to cross Main street, but out on the open roads, espe- cially when emergency vehicles are con- cerned? The life you save, may be your own. By Ross Haugh hidden people don't want to know what it's real- ly costing them because then they might see the wisdom to raise OHIP premiums ... or cut back on some services... or change the method of delivery of some services... or pay a user fee... or agree that health care is more important than the provision of bilingual services and swap one for the other. None of these alternatives appeal to all the people so our government performs a miracle... it relieves individuals of any direct payment for health care and prom- ises to deliver a bigger and better health care service to everyone in the bargain. Who pays? Who cares? And the scene is set for even more abuse by the people who are even further removed from their own responsibility for their own health and wellbeing. It's not likely we can suddenly awaken our people to a conscious acceptance of their own actions and their responsibility for them, or to rouse them_to .make. Bette i fo,r--themselves for the good of all. But it doesn't help when costs are hidden and taxes are disguised to lull people into a state of deep dependency on "'Q �'trf VA1lt,ew� a v, r cry Jti Tn called government. It's that time of year again Don't look too closely at the calendar, but Jack Frost is just around the comer. It's that time of year again, when Ontario's farmers and home gardeners keep a watchful eye on the thermometer and hope that the season's first frost is a mild one. They know the first heavy frost will end the growing season and, if it comes too early, will dictate their fortunes. In our case, we hope the frost doesn't come for several weeks yet as we still have a lot of healthy green tomato stalks with fruit just forming and cucumbers in thesame condition. Being strictly an amatuer gar- dener, we have come up with a new type of vegetable or is it a fruit? We planted zucchini and squash too close together in an area were we had watermelons last year and a couple of melon plants did come up. The result is a product that is about the size of a zucchini with stripes similar to that of a round watermelon. It may also have some squash strain in it. So how about calling it a "squashinnimelon"? Our garden has turned out to be one of the best in many years. Fellow employees here at the of- fice have been testing some of our produce, such as zucchini, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, cu- Sig n n 1 Star .i cumbers and beets. Getting back to frost Condi- tions, Terry Gillespie, an agrometcorologist at the Univer- sity of Guelph says there's more to frost than a white lawn • From the editor's disk by (� Ross Haugh ILJI on a chilly morning. Frost comes in different shapes and sizes and has different causes and effects. Radiaton frost occurs on calm, clear nights when there is no cloud cover to absorb ther- mal energy. A large-scale air mass moving across an arca may not alter the daytime tem- perature drastically, but will cause a "hard freeze" that may be visible until mid-moming the next day. This type of frost usu- ally occurs in spring and late in fall and is often more noticeable in low-lying areas. Advection frost can occur on a clear or cloudy night, but with a wind blowing. A more noticea- ble temperature change causes widespread freezing that is very difficult to protect against. White frost, commonly called hoarfrost, occurs when ice crys- tals, rather than dew, form on plant surfaces because the dew - point, the temperature at which air reaches the saturation point, is below freezing. The opposite, black frost oc- curs when *there is not enough air moisture to form white frost, but the temperature drops low enough to actually freeze the vegetation. This same black frost is usual- ly blamed for a lot of motor ve- hicle accidents during the winter months in this part of thc coun- try. There is more to frost than meets the cye. In some cases, the damage to plants can be pre- vented by covering them, irrigat- ing, creating air movement with fans or aircraft or by actually warming thc air with heaters and Gres. We probably won't try any of these methods, except possibly the covering to protect any plants which arc still growing and pro- ducing when the first frost comes along. . In this part of Ontario, the best defence, maybe a good offence. That would be avoid planting tender crops in low-lying areas where cold air can stagnate. Thought for the Week: Thought indicates what we would desire to have; action de- termines what we will get. A farewell to hands? With my last column, dulged in a little fantasy about the future of artificial intelli- gence, but don't get me wrong. I don't have any dark, forebod- ing fears of computers - at least no more than anyone else. Computers have always been a part of my world. As a child, I could never figure out why land- ing a man on the moon was such a big deal. All you needed was a big enough rocket and a big enough computer and-- anything was possible. The movies made it look easy long before it was ever reality. Twenty years later, I can now appreciate what the Apnlln- m;c sions achieved. I in- Sig n - The point is that 20 years ago, computers were strictly thc tools of scientists. A mere two dec- ades later, I sit here with a very powerful computcr on my desk used for little more than writing. It boggles the mind to think that a megabyte of memory and 20 megabytes of storage have come to represent a convenient (al- though much more expensive) alternative to the typewriter. But the computer's intrusion into our daily lives doesn't stop here. I have several wristwatch- es. My favorites include an ele- gant French dress watch, one with a solid titanium case, a trendy Swiss fashion statement, and others. One thing they all have in common is a built-in computer to keep the time. r Hold that thought... by Adrian Harte Most have traditional-faccs with hands and don't look much dif- ierent- tliap -Tiriicpicccs of'past decades. I recall when the first digital watches arrived. The Wittnauer Polara cost a bundle and one pushed a button to see• the time or date. Analogue watches were considered on the edge of extinction - a farewell to hands that proved a bit premature. But I do have a digital watch. When new in 1985 it cost legs than $50. It's nothing special. They arc quite popular and you can buy one identical today for about the same price. It not only . keeps accurate time, knows the day and date, but also has an. alarm I use every morning. It lights up in the dark. A timer that counts back- wards can be set to sound the alarm, start counting again, or start thc stopwatch. The stop- watch itself has two different modes, one of which records laps and total time and can play back the results so they can be writtcn'down - believe it or not. Oh yes, it's also waterproof to deeper depths than I can sur- And it doesn't require an engi- neer's degree to run it. All func- tions arc spelled out in big let- ters right on the display. I'm told that 2OEycacs ago, TWo moms -full of- ctrani cs Wn111f1 have been needed to perform those same functions. A month ago the strap broke. An exact replacement cost only S6 _When_`thc..hattery went dead last wack, I took it to Radio Shack, removed the back with a • screwdriver and dropped in a new lithium battery, meaning the cost of the power to run this wrist -size computer for four years' was $2.39. I can't. think of any product coming • close to 'offering the same kind of performance at such a low cost - and that's not bad for • an item when I was bom, a quarter-century ago, ex- isted only as science fiction. HAVE AN OPINION? The Times -Advocate welcomes letters to the editor. They must be signed and should be accompanied by a telephone number should we need to clarify any information. The newspaper also reserves the right to edit letters. Letters can be dropped off at the Times Advocate Office or mailed to: .Exeter Times Advocate Box 850, Exeter, Ontario NOM 1S0 .i cumbers and beets. Getting back to frost Condi- tions, Terry Gillespie, an agrometcorologist at the Univer- sity of Guelph says there's more to frost than a white lawn • From the editor's disk by (� Ross Haugh ILJI on a chilly morning. Frost comes in different shapes and sizes and has different causes and effects. Radiaton frost occurs on calm, clear nights when there is no cloud cover to absorb ther- mal energy. A large-scale air mass moving across an arca may not alter the daytime tem- perature drastically, but will cause a "hard freeze" that may be visible until mid-moming the next day. This type of frost usu- ally occurs in spring and late in fall and is often more noticeable in low-lying areas. Advection frost can occur on a clear or cloudy night, but with a wind blowing. A more noticea- ble temperature change causes widespread freezing that is very difficult to protect against. White frost, commonly called hoarfrost, occurs when ice crys- tals, rather than dew, form on plant surfaces because the dew - point, the temperature at which air reaches the saturation point, is below freezing. The opposite, black frost oc- curs when *there is not enough air moisture to form white frost, but the temperature drops low enough to actually freeze the vegetation. This same black frost is usual- ly blamed for a lot of motor ve- hicle accidents during the winter months in this part of thc coun- try. There is more to frost than meets the cye. In some cases, the damage to plants can be pre- vented by covering them, irrigat- ing, creating air movement with fans or aircraft or by actually warming thc air with heaters and Gres. We probably won't try any of these methods, except possibly the covering to protect any plants which arc still growing and pro- ducing when the first frost comes along. . In this part of Ontario, the best defence, maybe a good offence. That would be avoid planting tender crops in low-lying areas where cold air can stagnate. Thought for the Week: Thought indicates what we would desire to have; action de- termines what we will get. A farewell to hands? With my last column, dulged in a little fantasy about the future of artificial intelli- gence, but don't get me wrong. I don't have any dark, forebod- ing fears of computers - at least no more than anyone else. Computers have always been a part of my world. As a child, I could never figure out why land- ing a man on the moon was such a big deal. All you needed was a big enough rocket and a big enough computer and-- anything was possible. The movies made it look easy long before it was ever reality. Twenty years later, I can now appreciate what the Apnlln- m;c sions achieved. I in- Sig n - The point is that 20 years ago, computers were strictly thc tools of scientists. A mere two dec- ades later, I sit here with a very powerful computcr on my desk used for little more than writing. It boggles the mind to think that a megabyte of memory and 20 megabytes of storage have come to represent a convenient (al- though much more expensive) alternative to the typewriter. But the computer's intrusion into our daily lives doesn't stop here. I have several wristwatch- es. My favorites include an ele- gant French dress watch, one with a solid titanium case, a trendy Swiss fashion statement, and others. One thing they all have in common is a built-in computer to keep the time. r Hold that thought... by Adrian Harte Most have traditional-faccs with hands and don't look much dif- ierent- tliap -Tiriicpicccs of'past decades. I recall when the first digital watches arrived. The Wittnauer Polara cost a bundle and one pushed a button to see• the time or date. Analogue watches were considered on the edge of extinction - a farewell to hands that proved a bit premature. But I do have a digital watch. When new in 1985 it cost legs than $50. It's nothing special. They arc quite popular and you can buy one identical today for about the same price. It not only . keeps accurate time, knows the day and date, but also has an. alarm I use every morning. It lights up in the dark. A timer that counts back- wards can be set to sound the alarm, start counting again, or start thc stopwatch. The stop- watch itself has two different modes, one of which records laps and total time and can play back the results so they can be writtcn'down - believe it or not. Oh yes, it's also waterproof to deeper depths than I can sur- And it doesn't require an engi- neer's degree to run it. All func- tions arc spelled out in big let- ters right on the display. I'm told that 2OEycacs ago, TWo moms -full of- ctrani cs Wn111f1 have been needed to perform those same functions. A month ago the strap broke. An exact replacement cost only S6 _When_`thc..hattery went dead last wack, I took it to Radio Shack, removed the back with a • screwdriver and dropped in a new lithium battery, meaning the cost of the power to run this wrist -size computer for four years' was $2.39. I can't. think of any product coming • close to 'offering the same kind of performance at such a low cost - and that's not bad for • an item when I was bom, a quarter-century ago, ex- isted only as science fiction.