MARCH 30, 1984 Behrend Forum By Paula Jeanne Maus We have a new face on campus this year and an interesting one at that! You can call him Mr. John Borkowski but he prefers John, J.J., J. 8., and some even call him Jo 80. J.J. is not your basic run of - the mill Math teacher. He teaches Business Calculus 110 and Technical Calculus 808. But things get much more interesting! J.J. was delivered to us from Jersey City" which was considered America's sixth worst city to live in and he is damn proud of it. He is a graduate of Rutgers with a BA in Math-English and continued on to University Park for a Master's in Mathematics. While at Univer sity Park John met his long stan ding friend-roommate Raymond Steinbacher (teacher here also). What a pair! As graduate school roommates, John says he and Raymond were very outspoken... to say the least. As a graduation present - to himself, J.J. took off for two and one-half months and toured the country. His favorite places were San Francisco, New Orleans and New Mexico (and, of course, New Jersey). He then returned to New Jersey and worked for Xerox in the Accounts Payable Depart ment. But that was far too boring What's Up? By Tom Miller- Somewhere, out there -- beyond the clouds, science and myth con verge and unite to form the ob jects, creatures and persons we, know as the constellations. The modern word constellation is derived from the Greek words for "star picture." There are basical ly three types of .constellations: The circumpolar (those which are closest to the celestial pole, and are seen all year), the seasonal and the zodiac. The zodiac are the constella tions in which the planets may be found, depending on the time of year. (From September, to December they are in the con stellations close to the sun, so they're out in the daytime, but the sun, of course, makes viewing them impossible.) In case you ever wondered how the dates became associated with your "sign," they were the dates in ancient times for John so he opted to pump gas in Parsippany, N.J., where his biggest thrill was converting gallons to liters. Anyway, John said that the Master's degree look ed fantastic on the garage wall! Since John's move to Erie he has taken up skiing to alleviate the boredom. He says he has the determination but not the coor- Minn dination the drive, but not the steering. Better luck next season. Look out Jean Claude Killy! John says that Erie has another point in its favor and that is the cheap beer. Chalk one up for Erie. He spends some free time at Mentley's Bar on Bth and Cascade. A pitcher of beer is only $2.15! His only disappointment though is that their jukebox doesn't have any tunes by "The Monkees." Yes, John is still a thriving and religious "Monkees" fan. J.J. is also an American dreamer. He loves to collect old things. His house will definitely have a jukebox filled with '6os music and an old Malibu converti ble parked in the driveway. If you can recall, John sported a beard throughout the first-semester and because he loves this American culture so much he shaved it off in when the sun was in that sign of the zodiac. Unfortunately, astrology and astronomy are 'often confused. Astrology was the belief of the Chaldean and Babylonian priests that the positions of the planetes (the Greek word for "wanderer," it refers to the planets), which were considered gods, would determine the fate of the persons born when the sun was in such and such a house. Astronomy is a true natural science, which studies the structure and motions of the visible universe. When people find out about my being an amateur astronomer, the most probably asked question is "How in the heck can you look up in the sky and make pictures, and know that you're looking at the right stars?" The second most asked question has to be "How do you know where the galaxies and -nebulae are?" The answers to THE BEHREND COLLEGIAN his ' own personal effoits to beautify America. Unfortunately, J.J. is departing from Behrend Campus. He says he has trouble staying in one place. As for' the future John will be returning to Rutgers for a Master's in Statistics and even tually a Ph.D. in something not quite sure yet!? He will still be teaching, but teaching the for tunate students in Jersey. He does like it here at Behrend. He felt the students were ultra-receptive and the class size let him have more control. It's too bad that John has to leave us. We really should have more easy going teachers like John. He is open to all students and very easy to relate to. So, if you see a guy with a Yankees' cap on, No it's not Mickey Mantle, it's Mr. John Borkowski, self pro claimed legend in his own mind. Sorry to see you leave,J.J., you have taught us that math can be fun! Well, that's all for the Forum this issue. More deep dark secrets next issue. Observatory Behrend Astonomy Club President David Duda (4th semester, Meteorology) announced at the club meeting Tuesday, his plans for the club's involve ment in Spring Week 'B4. He said the Observatory would be open and staffed by club members on all clear nights during the week of April 23-29, 1984. As the moon will be changing its phases from last quarter to new moon during the week, excellent observing conditions are expected. "Observing with a full moon makes it difficult to see galaxies and nebulae, so we generally don't observe - during the week that the moon is nearly full. Fortunately, Spr ing Week 'B4 falls near new moon and the skies should be very dark and hopefully clear," he said. He also went on to state that the featured object would be Saturn, and students and faculty are in vited to see the "showpiece of the solar system" with their own eyes. "Our slogan for the week's membership drive, which will be going on concurrently with the Open House is 'Come and see the rings of Saturn." Also on the agenda for the week is a telescope display and a guest lecture by an Erie area amateur astonomer. both questions are simple. To be totally honest, we cheat. You have to remember that the constella tions were named by the ancients, and life was very• different then than today. To put an end to the confusion caused by trying to con verse with persons from different countries who have different con cepts of constellations, the Inter national Astronomical Union lAU, a ' group of professional astronomers, made decisions as to the borders of the constellations, early in this century. They did this after the first photographic sky survey was conducted by the Mt. Wilson Observatory. The sky was mapped out onto a globe, as it ap pears from Earth. Our lines of latitude and longitude were pro jected onto the surface of this sphere. These lines called declina tion (the North-South distances) and right ascension (the East- West distances) enable Behrend Briefs Student Government Elec tions will be held Tuesday, April 3, and Wednesday, April 4, from 9 to 3 in the Bookstore Lobby. There is a field of good candidates so come out and sup port your favorite. Kathy Senita, a COM MUTER, recently was treated to lunch in Dobbins cafeteria. She enjoyed breaking the system by joining resident students for chicken cosmos. Friday, April 13, 1984, is the date slated for the SGA Dinner- Dance at Peek 'n Peak. The cost is $2O per couple and reserva tions can be made at the SGA Office, ext. 220. Women Today and the Top of the Club are cosponsors for a lively and entertaining discus sion to be held on April 11. Diana Hume George will begin "Is Feminism a Dirty Word?" Open House Slated New members are welcomed to attend any weekly meeting held on Tuesdays at 12:20 p.m. in Behrend 124, and interested persons are advised not to wait until the membership drive. "Most of us aren't serious about astronomy as a career," stated Duda, "and none of us are majoring in it, still we're enjoy ing ourselves with it as a hobby, and it's nice to know there are others here at Behrend with the same interests." Ridge continued from page 1 gives Behrend College students an advantage." Assessing his performance in Congress, Ridge feels that he has established credibility. "Both my staff and I have established a sense of credibility with my committee groups, with my peers, with my con stituents, and with the institutions," he said. He believes that establishing credibility is the first step toward getting involved in the highest level of the House of Representatives, where he can continued on page 7 astronomers to pinpoint exact coordinate locations on the celestial sphere. So stars, galaxies and nebulae have known, exact locations, just like cities here on Earth have exact longitudes and latitudes. There's really no guesswork about it; all the objects mentioned can be found in what we call a star atlas, which as the name implies is exactly that, an atlas of the stars. Getting back to the fact that we cheat, what I mean to say is that no one really memorizes the posi tions of the borderlines between constellations. Instead, we im agine connections between certain stars, just as a guide for reference. A perfect example is the constella tion Ursae Majoris, the Great Bear. The British commonly refer to it as the Plough, and we Americans as the Big Dipper. Such a grouping of stars, which at 7 p.m. in the Reed Lecture Hall. The OBK Third Stream Jazz St. Patrick's Day Reception was a huge success. Students and community members praised OBK for the beautiful event shamrock and musical note cookies and plenty of green decorations. 8.1.5. (the Behrend Introvert Society) is carefully searching for a keynote speaker for their annual May Day Dinner. The selection committee re quirements are: low popularity; quiet voice; and mediocore in terest in speaking subject. Sub mit your application under the Observatory door. A unique visual experience can be had by all in Erie Hall on Thursday, April 5, with Moun tain Visions an exploration in to visual mediums. consists of just the brightest stars, is known as an asterism (How's that for a Scrabble word!). Other asterisms are the Little Dipper, the Teapot in Saggittarius (the ar cher), the W in Cassiopeia, still others are the keystone of Her cules, the "Northern Cross" in Cygnus (the Swan) and the "Great Square" of Pegasus. If it'll make you feel any better, when we look up, no we don't see any lines connecting the stars the way they're drawn in Sky & Telescope or Astronomy magazines, either. Until next issue, why not try putting on a coat and see how many asterisms you can find in the (hopefully clear and warm) nighttirde skies. But remember, you won't find any if you go around hanging your head. So keep your chin up and your eyes open for what's up. PAGE 3
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