Page Twelve — THE GRYPHON — April 8,1976
Bicentennial Has Humor
Nearly everyone has seen the
Bicentennial Minutes on tele
vision. For those who can’t
seem to remember, here’s- a
hint. Your favorite television
show goes off a minute early
and a serious looking actor,
actress, sports personality,
writer, etc. appears on the
scrcen saying. "200 years ago
today, the Battle of Bunker Hill
was fought. It was the most
decisive battle of the Revolu
tionary War. And that’s the way
it was." The presentation is so
solemn and dreary. In this
article, a new approach
will be given to the Bicentennial
Minutes.
Two-hundred-and-one years
ago on the day March 23. 1775.
Virginia spokesman Patrick
Henry forcefully said,
"Give me liberty or give me
death!" A man with a musket
pushed his way into the crowd
and asked, "Are you sure about
that?" Henry turned very pale
and said, “Just Kidding,
sir.” And that’s the way it was.
Two-hundred years ago on
the day April 18, 1775, Paul
Revere accidentally sat on a
pitchfork in the hay just as he
saw the signal in the Old North
Church. He jumped up and ran
through the town almost as fast
as the speed of light. His horse
felt it was incumbent on him to
spread the message, so he
galloped through the town
after Revere saying, “The
British are coming! The
British are coming!” And that’s
the way it was.
Two-hundred years ago on
September 22, 1976, Nathan
Hale was executed by the
British for being a spy.
Hale was scratching his head at
the time George Washington
aksed for a volunteer to spy on
the British. And that's the way
it was.
Two-hundred years ago on
Christmas Day, December 25,
1776, Martha Washington spent
Christmas alone with the kids
while her faithful and brave
husband, George "flicked his
Bic” to light his way across the
icy Delaware River to Trenton,
N.J. to defeat the Hessian
garrison. Washington
stood up straight-forward in the
boat pointing like a pointer dog
because he accidentally sat on
his Bic when it was in full flame
and couldn’t sit down anymore.
And that’s the way it was.
One-hundred and ninety-nine
years ago on December 23,
1777, Washington and his
troops spent a freezing
winter at Valley Forge. Wash
ington took the wooden teeth
out of his mouth to make a fire
for his suffering soldiers. (It was
better than the shirt off his
back). And that’s the way it
was.
Laserium Plays At UNC
LASERIUM is a fascinating
and entertaining lasser light
show that is being presented at
the Morchead Planetarium on
the UNC at Chapel Hill campus
through the 18th of April.
The best way to describe
LASERIUM. "the cosmic laser
conccrt." is probably to say it is
indescribable. However, an
attempt will be made. The
show consists of flashing,
moving patterns of light
on the planetarium dome to the
accompaniment of music, the
source of the light being a
single, one-watt krypton gas
lasser. the patterns of light
consist of e.xtremely pure and
sharp colors of red, blue, green,
and yellow. The laserist, the
person who operates the laser,
then produces images resembl
ing anything from rolling clouds
or fog (with the semi-trans-
parent illusion) to strings of
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light moving at incredible speed
in equally incredible patterns.
All the patterns produced
strikingly appear to be in
three dimensions, when they
are in fact projections on a two
dimensional surface. The music
is the fourth dimension in the
production. The artists range
from Gustav Holst to Pink
Floyd, and the light show
is adapted very well to the mood
and nature of the music. This
writer discovered some music
he had never heard before of
which he is now very fond.
The atmosphere in the
planetarium is similar to
that of space; unknown. It
produces a rather eerie
feeling. The promoters obvious
ly have a sense of humor,
however. In a taped message to
the audience about the show,
the soon-to-be-spectators are
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informed that a flash
attachment on a camera will
"produce a beautiful picture of
the smooth, white surface of the
planetarium dome.” Another
crowd pleaser was the
request that the audience
“refrain from smoking...
of anything.”
Laserium had its genesis at
the hands of Ivan Dryer in 1973
in California. It is easily worth
the drive to Chapel Hill and the
admission fee of $2.75. If you
have the chance, jump at it. On
top of being entertained, you
may gain some “cosmic
awareness.’’
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THE GRYPHON GOOFS — The class now owns “2,000
collectors items.” (Photo by C. Bulluck)
Gryphon Explains Error
Horrors howled through the
halls when the GRYPHON staff
packed the March issue. Six
pictures were switched. The
Sports Section was the worst of
all. The Girl’s Basketball picture
was transposed with the picture
of the Boys Varsity Baseball
team. The picture of Terry
McKnight “going up for
two’’ was switched with a
baseball picture.
Luckily a responsible printer
was able to correct the mistakes
over the phone, and the next
day a new edition (the one
issued) arrived at Senior High.
The staff regained their
composure and now poss
esses what Mr. Elton Newbern
calls “2000 collectors items.”
This kind of error does not
happen often. The main
problem is usually in
layout by the staff. This occurs
when not enough space is left
for an article, so the printer has
to shift copy and add to another
page. Along with worrying
about the mistakes in the
paper, the staff has to work
extremely hard to sell ads, meet
deadlines, and write a minimum
of two articles per issue.
Many students are quick to
criticize the paper but will not
take the time to write out their
complaints so that they can be
corrected. The GRYPHON
appreciates any construct
ive criticism.
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