1994_09 The Daily Collegian September 1994

              Page 2
OPINION
8/1994
FROM THE TOR.
By Celeste Cox
About a year ago, I received a letter from a friend who
wasn'texactlyin the habit of corresponding through the
mail. He closed his letter with "get an e-mail account if
you ever want to hear from me again!"
Okay, I was torn. I'd seen rjeople'wimThese accounts
and quite frankly, I wanted nothing to do with them.
They could spend hours and hours staring blankly at
computer screens, without leaving the chair to even take
a potty break.This frightened and confused mie.
Of course, mere were the types like my friend, whose
life revolved around computers. Granted, he's a com¬
puter science major, but the amount of time He spends
with computers is still outrageous and inexcusable.
On the other hand, he was a good friend. I figured I
would get me account tokeep in touch with him and that
was it I would just go to a computer about once a week,
send him a letter and be done with it.
So, that/s exactly what I intended to do and it worked
for about a week.
Sad tosay,itcUdn'ttakeme long to start playing on my
account for hours at a time.
I was amazed and impressed that I could send a letter
to someone and get a response the same day. But that
was only part of it.
As luck would have it, I had another friend who was
also a computer junkie. Lucky for me^ he was patient
enough to teach me a few tricks of the trade.
Thanks tomy friend, I found out that it was very easy
to access all sorts of cool information on just-about
everything under the sun.
There are thousands of news groups in which people
with bizarre interests seek out others with the same
bizarre interest and discuss whatever comes out of their
fingertips.
mere are groups for any hobby, organization or rock
group that/s ever existed and some to spare.
j There's even a news group for people who think
Barney the Purple Dinosaur should be killed, which is^
called "barney, Die Die Die."
Thereare also programs to get themostcurrentweather
See E-Mail, Page 2
EDITOR IN CHIEF
MANAGING EDITOR
f PHOTO EDITOR
SPORTS EDITOR
Al llAlSING MANAGER
BINESS MANAGER
pATURES^EDITOR
En   ^FJJUNMENT EDITOR
NEWS EDITOR
. M. CRISTINA MEDINA
• OLIVIA REYES
• BRYAN CHA
\ ROBBIE MINI
. RICHARD ND fe
• BRADFORD M \S fr
' NINAMOMJI
JOEROSATO]
• STEPHEN WA
Ch   L
jFjTO ITERS: Paulo AJbuqcrquc. Casey Angle
rcr, Celeste Cox; Dennis Claborn, David
Iria Hugo, Charlton Jordan, Raina Jennings,
D   \h   liadi, Leah Pericli, Mitch Pr.nce, Jeff Smith.
PI   pipGRAPHERS: itcve R. Funmoto. Ken Kol
Nizaroi. *	
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THE COLLEGI AN m ■« mam**r ******
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Batty,
panic
—LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Public health: Minvestmeht that pays oflp
Dear Editor,
When crisis looms Americans
are protected by public health
measures in place in communi¬
ties across our nation. When we
wake up each morning, we
breathe easierbecause of air qual¬
ity monitors and pollution con¬
trol programs. We send our chil¬
dren to school knowing that the
immunizations they get tor polio
and measles will ward off dis¬
ease that were once deadly for so
many. Our banks arid airports
and many offices we work in are
"smoke tree" significantly less¬
ening our chances or contracting
cancer and other chronic diseases.
Yet, because the system often
works out of sight, it drifts dan¬
gerously out of mind. Programs
to track diseases, find out their
causes and prevent them, all save
lives with little fanfare. As Con¬
gress grapples for some way to
improve our access to care once
we fall ill what is being done \o
underwrite the proven safe¬
guards matprcAectc*irsafety and
health?
While public health efforts
save lives with an investment of
• front-end health care co6ts, they
also save taxpayers millions of
dollars* back end medical costs.
For every dollar we in vest in pre¬
natal care, for example,(our na¬
tion could save $338 in medical
care bills for low birth weight
infants..
But even though we may ac¬
knowledge the value of public
health in all its dimensions, the
reality is right now, public health
spending accounts for less than
1% of America's total health care
budget. That total includes ev¬
erything from monitoring our
drinking water to breast cancer
outreach programs. Yet so far, as
we debate health, reform, most
Americans —doctors, patients
and policy makers alike— have
been acting as if ifs only about
public finance for private prac¬
tice, not about the crucial public
health measures that protect us
all
Public health is a proven pub¬
lic good. Its programs help us
stay healthy and prevent dis¬
ease and injury.} • ' ,
Without public health, our
natinnalpirti-ireofhealthismiss
ing a critical piece If Congress
simply set aside 25 cents a day
per person each year —just 3
percent of our current national
health care budget—our public-
health bill would be paid. It
seems a small price.for staying'
safe and welL
Sincerely,       '
^   FemandoTrevrnoandEugine
Feingold.
Trexmo is executive director of the Pub¬
lic Health Association. Feingold, is Presi¬
dent of the American Public Health Asso¬
ciation (APHA).
From E-Mail, Same Page
conditions for any city in
the world, earthquake in¬
formation and any other
piece of information any¬
one would possibly ever
want or need to know.
Of course, not that I play
on the network enough to
know that
I just write to my friend
once a week.   *
Yeah, right.
Kadmit, I do have a pretty
bade-mail/network
habitBut I'm still not oije of
THEM. I play on the neV
work for recreation — they
do it as a way of life.
Even though I spend a
substantial amount of time
in front of a computer,
there's still hope mat I can
remain in control of them,
rather than them having
control of me.
After all, I refuse to play
computer games.
But, Battle Chess .does
seem kind of cool
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