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The Goderich Signal-Star, 1977-08-04, Page 5• • .l { r Prepare._ We are now enteringlhe age of new computer home comfort and en- tertainment. Computer technologists say. . a will soon see the day when after the alarm• gently rouses- us from' sleep, one will simply be able to whisper sweet.nothings into a netwwork of transistors that will activate the coffee pot, toaster, . and $tt`i":N!lxtiniti?'ow%11'rs'Nartyour bath,.. turn the light on as you ..enter .the room' and turn it off again when you heave. The front door will open with a simple command and your car will be started. All of this will be at your command from a personalized home computer. system. in fort there is alreaav n standard home"eomputor modelavailable that will turn on the thermostat at 5.30 a.m., start the coffee b ewing at 6.30, draw the bat'"at'6.55, wake you up at 7 and then start the car at 7.30 a.m, But how could one possible condone life *controlled by a network of tran- sistors. It would -definitely take all the homey atmosphere out of the routine of life. • How••••could- being awakened by a computer cumpare with being startled by your wife who plants two icy feet in the middle of your back and .uses her. legs for leverage to push you out'of bed in .the morning. Transistors just aren't capable of such acts of love.' How could a computer alarm system po sibly be as accurate or reliable as young children or the family dog who invariably insist that every living thing - within a two, mile radius should be chipper by 6:30 a.m. Why it is inconceiveable to think that a home computer could provide the, at- mosphere that exists between spouses, when u husband receives an icy stare •across the breakfast table that tran- slates into:" Since when do baseball ames.go on until 1 a.m.?" bathroom vagally hi `tt of, the fa, already. hn there and •occasionall couple of neighbours whose faculties on the blink;• And what kind of man would abandon his standard of sophisticatign for com'putor ,evade toast instead of . an obliging, •Yawning wife, clad in, a robe and slippers and whose head, with' P�otrN??dlS.Jocrks' TM"=l il(1` (44 . "'pixaltr`.attiyate' think lsiraiecter:€erhiglrvoltage lines. man giving a good morning kiss to a They .claim. _that the home . computer keybpard of dials, digits and flashing lights when he has become accustomed to searching for a smooth spot,on a face caked with four pounds of assorted creams, lotions and conditioners. is it really necessary to have a home computer that will prepare your bath in the morning when regardless of, • how early you attempt, to sneak into the screen will'also be able to filter and tap such news agencies as UPI, 'Reuter and CP and deliver a news service right into youruhome. The same news service could probably be provided by ' a group of women using the telephone system. Its obvious that the home computer systems were designed for single men and women. ti, EK AFTE INFORMATION, BACKGROUND AND OPINION rea is losing its Amish, corn - members who are selling their erds and farms because of Milk Marketing Board ons. mish dairy farmers are heading is in Michigan, Pennsylvania aware where they will be able to ship milk in cans rather than conversion to bulk milk coolers io. ajority of the Amish community ear -Gerrie =antL-Wroxe hame- moved to Michigan to re - their dairy farms while others the area are just waiting for HERE There were 35 families living in the Gorrie area, and their counterparts near Tavistock have already made a move to Pennsylvania. But the families are moving re:uc- tantly claiming that the area offers the best farmland anywhere in theworld but the government has stifled their productivity. The main problem is the milk marketing board regulations that require the producers to switch from shipping milk in cans to bulk tanks acute d VA -tire -barn -7 The board' has made its intention to enforce the regulation for about two years and now the dealine of October 31 IN HURON is fast approaching for farmers. The Amish people, as part of their religious belief, avoid all use of machines and modern devices in their farming. The Amish people were' forced to reject the regulation since the con= version to coolers from • cans would require the use of electricity or diesel motors for cooling. Despite an appeal to the milk marketing board and the Ontario Milk Commission for exemption " a change of heart. For most of the Amish people it has been a family business and the only one they know. It hardly seems fair that the board or even the Minister of Agriculture, William Newman, could not make .a concession in the case. Dairy farniing has become a way of life. for the Amish people and they believe that milking time brings the family together. because of religious beliefs their request They are an honest and hard working -=--was- flatiy-reteeted-:___ .. jn p• p • .�:���_::...—.;,r�.r.-:,pece-�- �vha�+scnuls°l--' st;•as tenon = rric and leave the area, and their home, rather than cause ' any trouble. or publicity or "cause the government to. agonize over their plight. ilding slump in the province of lingers on and figures indicate sing starts in 10 major cities in ince are down 18 percent in the months. ures released from Central e and Housing over 7,000 con - workers are jobless in the area. Only 11,709 homes,which 114percent from the same time r, were constructed during the months of this year._ developers claim people are o put their savings into new ecause they lack coftfidence in n's economy. The president of The 'latest of the board's rejections was handed down Monday and it ap- pears that the board wilLnot likely have Most families have been in the area for years and their .personal and religious convictions are strong enough to make 'them give it up. rather than make an issue with government policy, One man who will • uproot his wife and nine children said he did not want to create any publicity over the matter or "cause the Canadian government any disrespect. One farmer who has been in Canada for :3 •°"years ..,in :Oxford..:-Ctninty._:.was • saddened to leave his farm and the country and said the Amish people sure weren't expecting anything better when they relocate. PROVINCIAL POINTS the Toronto Home builders...Association, Murray Webber, claimed that the biggest single factor leading to the building decline is a lack of confidence on the part of the buying public. In a survey of 10 major cities a start was made on 22, 530 homes in the firstsix months of the year, a drop of 18 percent from 27,537 in the same period last year. Among the worst hit cities were St. Catharines, down 56 percent and Hamilton down 44 percent. - CMHC said the average housing decline was 10 percent across urban areas in Canada. There was some reason for hope in the construction industry as the preliminary figures for June show an 11 percent increase over June 1976 in the number of homes started in urban Ontario. However most developers claim that the over-all picture remains gloomy for many of them. Lawrence Shankman, president of Consolidated Building Corp. Ltd., which has builtmore than 25,000 housing units in Canada said that people have the money to buy but again they lack the buying confidence. He claims they are waiting for guidance from Ottawa since they are uncertain about their earning potential, Shankman believes that people will continue to save their money or live in apartments until the federal govern- ment decides to end or continue wage and price controls. He claims that people living in apartment buildings under rent controls have a tremendous advantage over the home owner who has no control oyer the increasing costs of oil, hydro., and food. y Developers say that rent contro�l have caused the inventory of unsoldhousing stock to swell or at least remain stagnant. Larry Robbins, president of the Urban Development Institute in Ontario also said that the anti-inflation hoard and rent controls created uncertainty in people's minds. -If people living in apartments are not certain about pay raises then they are not likely to make a large purchase on a house. Many developers believe that people have the money to spend on houses but that right now rents are the biggest bargains of all time. Frank Drea, parliamentary secretary to the 'minister of consumer and com- mercial relations does not accept the idea that rent controls contributed to the decline. Drea claimed that developers The milk marketing board and the commission had°e tried to persuade the people to switch to cream production which would mean they could still ship in cans but that idea was rejected since a cream subsidy from the government. would make up 40 percent of their in- come. The Amish people will not take government money in any form, Most of the families have already left the Wroxeter area. Some younger me-mbers said.:.:. right::.xaS ept switch to milk coolers just to retain their dairy farms and way of life. But the older Amish men still 'respect the Amish way of life. have been saying they're •not starting new homes because of rent controls but if controls were lifted there still would not be a single new home because developers would then' ask that • the mortgage rate he dropped. Dreas said that the biggest contributor. to the decline in housing starts is the sale price of homes. He added that young people are just not in a financial position to buy new homes. • However rent controls are con- tributing somewhat to the decline of housing starts for young people hccause of favorably priced apartment units. tg e glican Church task° force report commended that severely infants should not be treated as beings and that consideration e given to terminate their lives eport that was distributed to s of the Anglican Synod also ended that in the case . of the lly ill, whether they are con - r Comatose, it would not be ed wrong to ' avoid prolonging port was prepared by 11 people ckgrounds in medicine, law, and nursing and one of the orth American continent is on e of a new computer age that is g new home computers. Y the annual sales of home rs in the United States is run - re than 100 million and experts at by 1985, 15 to 20 percent of all n homes will be equipped with then will be a $300 computer. mputer stereo -like unit will be communicate with banks or and will operate major ap- by voice if you can afford it, will e burglag • and . fire alarm _store AoigiobriAL_ records, • CANADA IN SEVEN members, _ selected because he , was dying, has since died. The report was *commissioned in June 1975 and will be presented August 17 at the Synod meeting in Calgary for discussion. Lawrence Whytehead, chairman of the task force, said that severely retarded children are like family pets, cats and dogs, and therefore the kindest thing *to do is end the child's life within days of its birth. The report is drawing much criticism and discussion among clerics and lay people around, the world. Venerable Edwin Light, secretary of the Anglican Church of Canada, said he is opposed to several assumptions in the task force report and added that no one has the right to take anyone's life: He said he personally does not agree with the reports interpretation of what is human. Reverend M.C. Robinson of the Diocese of Huron said that the task force report is merely a working paper and should not be considered church policy, He added that the report, suggesting that severely retarded infants be killed, is clearly a departure from traditional Anglican morality. The report has been criticised by many professional people and Ian Gentiles, a member of Anglicans 'for Life, and a history professor, said the report is extremely dangerous inhuman theorizing that advocates what is now a serious crime in this country. The report defines humaneness as the capacity for mari to relate to himself, with his neighbour and with God. The report terminology of severe neurological defects refers to so called vegetables, severely retarded in- dividuals and hydrocephalics (people with withering brains and enlarged heads -filled with cerebral spinal fluid.) The • report said that consideration must be given to the suffering of parents and the burden which society assumes, particularly the diversion of services and opportunities which could better be WDRLDWEEK compute income tax returns and even play games. . ,.. The techonology for the home type computer system' is being reared in Silicon Valley south of San Francisco. The new success of the personal com- puter lies in the commercial develop- ment in Silicon Valley of complex micro- processors or silicon chips. The breakthrough came when a Silicon Valley firm called Intel -produced a micro -circuit which could contain 20,000 transi§tors..A unit chip which cost $150 to do the job in 1973 can now be pr rdueed for $15, • Word of the personal computer vegan to spread from the West Coast and from there the computer kit took off. The home assembly -hobby kits began to appear about two years ago and already more than 20,000 have been sold. It is now expected that major retail stores such as Sears will offer assembled models for across the counter sales. One computer buff said that the popularity of the computer can be compared to the gun that equalized man's physical dif- ferences. The big difficulty right now is teaching people to program the.: own computers. It takes training and intelligence to produce the software that will tailor the machine to an individual's particular requirements. But to alleviate that problem, standardized computer programs will soon be on the market to be sold like records to do most of the control jobs people require. One of the standard programs for example will turn up your thermostat at 5:30 a.m., start coffee at 6:50, begin the bath at 6:53, wake°you at 7 and start your car at 7:30 a.m. However such automated households require special used for the care of humanity as a whole rather than sustaining a life that is not human. Reverend Ernest Bt04, professor of ethics in the department of religion at Victoria College and head of a United Church commission on ethics and genetics, said the Anglican church report is a very responsible document. He said it was based on the same religious principles ado'ted by his own task force's report on the hazards and benefits of modern genetic research. The United Church document will he deb-ate—a at the church's general council meeting in Calgary next month. Their wiring which is not readily available in older homes. One computer technician said that people will begin hooking up computers with their friends on a network which will eventually allow people to do things like vote or buy things while sitting at their own computer keyboard. A director for the laboratory for computer science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology claims that within 10 year4home computers will cost less than television sets. ,. Computers will he uted for many different purposes such as control ,of report states that parents of severely diseased fetus ought to make the final decision on whether or not to have an abortion. Reverend Wilbur Howard. moderator of the United Church of Canada. said any decision on the death of a child must be • carried nut on a community basis• in consultation with the doctor. the family and perhaps even the minister. Paul McPhail supervisor of a behaviour modification unit at the Southwestern Regional centre siad that mentally retarded infants deserve the best of care and 'an opportunity to develop to their maximum potential.. household appliances for maximum energy use, for education, en- tertainment and to tie into a network of product information. The computer screen will also act as a news filtering device meaning that for specific news you require, you just tell the machine what you want and everything from the AP,CP, -UPI- and Reuter news agencies will be run on the screen. But the major -problems with the computer is designing a standard way of talking to it, ' The computer age is arriving and the prices of the units indicate they will be popular and perhaps functional. s