Show times are at 7 p.m. Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays; and at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Sundays. General admission is $3, or $1.50 for children 12 and under, Tri-College students and senior citizens.

Was it a comet, a supernova, a triple conjunction of the planet Jupiter with Saturn, or a miracle? Whatever it was, the event reverberated through the centuries and changed millions of lives.

The show will also explore the stars and constellations of the winter night sky.

The MSU Planetarium is located in Bridges Hall 167 at the corner of 8th Avenue and 11th Street South. For details, or special group showings, contact the Planetarium office at 236-3982.

"I missed one of the biggest meteor showers of the century," he said. "I’m not going to miss this one."

Weinrich, director of Moorhead State University’s Planetarium, has marked off Nov. 17 and Nov. 18 on his calendar this month in anticipation of the Leonid meteor shower.

"November is traditionally the cloudiest month of the year," he said. "So if it’s overcast here those days, I might drive a few hundred miles to find a clearing. I was 14 years old when I missed it the first time. My father described it as spectacular. The experts said it was the most intense meteor storm on record."

Now, 33 years later, the comet Temple-Tuttle is ready to sparkle again and this time, Weinrich said, we could see another meteor storm—a virtual celestial fireworks display with 100,000 meteorites burning up in the Earth’s atmosphere every hour (or 1,600 a minute).

"I’m hoping for a storm," he said.

The best viewing will start at about 10:15 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 17. "Look at the constellation Leo, east of Orion," Weinrich said. "It should rise in the northeast sky and move to the south by dawn. Predicting the times isn’t an exact science, especially because the gravitational pull of Jupiter (the largest planet) can knock it off schedule. If the peak is at 10:15 p.m., we’ll see the meteor shower low on the horizon. Hopefully the peak will hit about two hours later, after the moon sets that evening. It could be a spectacular all night until sunrise."

Comets, Weinrich said, are basically huge dirty snowballs, space debris made up of gases, ice and dust. More than 200 comets have been orbiting the Sun during the past two centuries.

The debris that breaks off from the comet are called meteoroids. They’re renamed meteors when they hit the Earth’s atmosphere and start burning up from the friction, leaving streaks in the sky often referred to as shooting stars. Most of the debris, he said, are no bigger than apple seeds.

Temple-Tuttle was named after two 19th century astronomers who discovered the comet in 1865 after a huge meteor shower, followed the next year by a meteor storm—about 5,000 meteors per hour, one of the most intense storms on record. There is evidence, however, that the comet has been creating showers and storms every 33 years for more than a millennium.

The showers are called Leonids, Weinrich said,  because the meteors appear to be coming from the direction of the constellation Leo.

"Every 33 years in November," Weinrich said, "the comet makes both its closest approach to the Sun and its closest approach to the Earth’s orbit, which creates all the fireworks. As the comet approaches the sun, it begins to heat up and the ice boils off, taking with it the rock and dust. So when the Earth passes through the same path the comet did, the debris enters the Earth’s atmosphere at  high speeds, causing them to burn up and give off flashes and streaks of light."

Actually, Weinrich said, Temple-Tuttle passed closest to the Sun last year, but the biggest meteor showers--or storms--typically occur the following year.

"Last November during the Leonids the sky was too cloudy here," Weinrich said. "I intended to drive up to Winnipeg where there was a clearing, but the weather forecasters predicted an approaching blizzard. Last year an astronomer in Kansas, where the skies were clear, said she saw fireballs from the Leonids—big chucks of debris burning up—that were as bright as the planet Venus in the early evening sky. They figured about 340 meteors an hour last year, or about six a minute."

The last two widely ballyhooed comets—Kohoutek in 1973 and Halley’s in 1986—made amateur sky watchers feel like they were waiting for Godot. Both were about as visible as black holes.

But every year, Weinrich said, the Earth experiences about a dozen major meteor showers--including the Perseids every August, the Geminids every December and the Leonids every November.

"I’m setting my alarm at 4 a.m. the night before and the night after," Weinrich said. "With any luck, I’ll recapture that moment I missed 33 years ago."

If you intend to watch the Leonids, Weinrich suggests getting away from competing street or house lights. "It’s best to get out of the city.  And arrive 15 minutes early so your eyes to adjust to the dark.  Lie back on a lawn chair or blanket. Wear warm clothes and bring along something warm to drink. And cross your fingers that it’s not cloudy."

Laurie Vasichek, a 1982 MSU political science graduate from Michigan ,N.D., and Barbara Henderson, a 1989 MSU political science graduate from Wapheton, N.D., have been working on the case for the past year.

The U.S. District Court in Madison, Wis., also recommended the pizza chain pay the former janitor, Donald Perkl, about $70,000 for emotional distress.

Perkl was fired by a visiting district manager who allegedly said, ‘We don’t want those kind of people working at Chuck E. Cheese’s."

The company, which has 338 restaurants nationwide, said it would appeal if the judge upholds the verdict.

The $13 million  in compensatory and punitive damages is the largest jury verdict ever handed down through the American’s with Disabilities Act. The trial lasted one week.

"We believe this sends a message to employers that the rights of their employees with disabilities are important and have to be paid attention to," said Vasicheck.

EEOC  attorneys Vasichek and Henderson said that the first day Perkl began working at a restaurant in Madison in March of 1997, visiting regional manager Donald Creasy saw him and ordered a supervisor to fire him. The restaurant supervisor refused, and when Creasy returned and saw Perkl still sweeping floors, he fired him. The restaurant manager, a general manager and two other workers resigned in protest.

Before Perkl was officially fired, workers in the Madison Chuck E. Cheese circulated a petition supporting him. And even before he was fired, his supervisor had warned corporate officials about her boss’s bigoted comments.

"Can someone please help me with this situation so we can at least give this guy a chance?" assistant manager Brea Wittwer asked in a fax to the company’s Dallas headquarters. "We are an equal opportunity employer, are we not?"

The communication was met with silence and inaction.

That’s when the EEOC stepped in, claiming Chuck E. Cheese’s discriminated against Perkl by firing him, in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Perkl, 52, is unable to talk. He communicates with pictures, signs and a hand-held computer device.. Paid $21 a day he was hired at Chuck E. Cheese’s to work with the assistance of a full-time job coach paid for by a disabilities advocacy group.

"One reason the jury decided to punish the company so severely," Henderson, "is they tried to argue that Perkl couldn’t suffer emotional distress from the firing because he was too retarded to feel pain."

When the verdict was read, Perkl pointed to a happy face in a book.

Title I of the ADA prohibits discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities in the private sector and in state and local governments. The law, enacted in 1991 requires employers to make "reasonable accommodations" for such employees.

Vasichek, a graduate of the University of Minnesota law school,  works in the EEOC’s Minneapolis office; Henderson, a graduate of the in the EEOC’s  Milwaukee office.

The federal agency gets actively involved in comparatively few cases: Of the more than 75,000 discrimination complaints the commission receives annually, it intervenes in court in only about 500 nationally.

In September, the local unemployment rate dropped to 1.5 percent, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics figures.

Oscar Flores and Vern Dobis, two MSU economics professors who compile the local economic indicators, say that F-M employment decreased a quarter percent compared to one year ago. Meanwhile, local indicators in the index were either stable or dropped slightly.

* Building permits dropped six percent from August through September and seven percent from September through October.
* Employment advertisements in The Forum dropped 3.4 percent from August through September and 1.5 percent from September through October.
* Average working hours in manufacturing jobs dropped less than one percent from August through September.
* National employment and National Leading Indicators remained stable.

The index of local indicators is a weighted average of several local and national indicators, seasonally adjusted with a 1993 base.

The report summarized the results for more than 50,000 exam candidates who took the required licensure examination in November 1998. Of the 23 MSU students who took the exam, nine passed all four parts, earning the university a 39.1 percentage pass rating.

The Uniform CPA exam is given nationally twice a year—once in May, and again in November. Passing it is one of the major hurdles required to receive a state Certified Public Accountant license.

"Frankly, I was surprised," said George Sanderson, who chairs MSU accounting department. "Our students have generally performed at or above the national average, but we’d never before finished in the top 10. I think the November 1998 results reflect well on the rigor of our accounting major and on the quality and hard work of our students."

The results are even more surprising, he said, because MSU encourages most of its accounting graduates to take the exam. Many schools, he said, only encourage their top students, or graduate students, to take the exam.

The top 10 schools with the highest percentage of students passing the exam on the first try last November: University of Wisconsin-Whitewater (42.9); University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh (41.9); University of Nevada-Reno (41.7); Moorhead State University (39.1); Portland State University (36.1); Walsh College (36); University of Minnesota (33.3); North Atlantic University (32.7); University of Notre Dame (32.2) and the University of Minnesota-Duluth (31.8).

Sanderson said only about 15 to 20 percent of all candidates typically pass all sections of the CPA exam on their first try.

MSU, with about 200 accounting majors, graduates about 40 students a year.

Events kick off at noon Monday, Nov. 8 when George "Joe Bush" Fairbanks, spiritual leader from the White Earth Reservation, will conduct a traditional pipe ceremony on the campus mall. That afternoon, at 2 p.m., Sam Rock, a member of the White Earth Band of Chippewa, will give an introduction to the Ojibwe language in Comstock Memorial Union 101.

Other events scheduled:
* Dr. Bea Medicine, a research anthropologist and member of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, will discuss American Indian anthropology issues at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 9, in Comstock Memorial Union 101.
* Bernice "Rainbow Woman" Grandbois, a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, presents a traditional and contemporary fashion show at 2 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 10, in Comstock Memorial Union’s main lounge.
* Authentic American Indian arts and crafts will be demonstrated from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 11, in Comstock Memorial Union main lounge.
* Friday, John Kakaygeesick Sr., a self-taught native artist, talks about his life and art at 9 a.m. and again at 11 a.m. in Comstock 101; Don "Kills the First Enemy" Rush, of Hidatsa/Dakota descent, presents a workshop on traditional native hand games at 10 a.m. and on native oral storytelling tradition at 2 p.m., both in Comstock 101. He’ll also perform native flute music at noon in Comstock Memorial Union’s main lounge.

For details about these events, contact the MSU multicultural affairs office at 236-3572.

NATIVE AMERICAN AUTHOR
WAYNE JOHNSON READS AT
MSU MCGRATH SERIES NOV. 11
Moorhead, MN…Wayne Johnson, who grew up on the White Earth and Red Lake Reservations in northwest Minnesota, will read from his work as a guest of Moorhead State University’s  Tom McGrath Visiting Writers Series at 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 11 in King Hall Auditorium.

He’ll also present a talk on the writer’s craft at 4 p.m. that day in King Hall Auditorium.

A recipient of a Wallace Stenger Fellowship from Stanford University, Johnson now lives in Lawrence, Kan. He is the author of the recent novel, "Don’t Think Twice," and a collection of stories, "The Snake Game."

"From Farm Laborers to University Graduates: Stories from the Red River Valley," a study by DuBord based on in-depth interviews with 12 Mexican-American families, looks at the factors that influenced these tales of academic achievement.

DuBord, a social work professor, will detail who and what played major roles in the transition and discuss strategies for creating further successes. Some of the individuals who participated in his study will share their thoughts and answer questions.

The talk is a feature of MSU’s College of Education and Human Services Colloquium Series. For more information, contact Steve Grineski at 236-2096.

"We’re estimating 50 tons a year from MSU," says Minnkota sales manager Mary Aldrich. That will include paper, cardboard, news print, magazines, aluminum cans and plastic bottles.

MSU will be the first of Minnkota’s 650 commercial clients to sign an Environmental Mission Policy that will actively encourage its employees and students to recycle materials. The effort is designed to conserve both money and the environment. MSU will promote and advertise the recycling effort extensively.

MSU will place 150 blue recycling containers at more than 60 visible and accessible areas throughout campus, including near garbage cans and vending machines.

Minnkota Recycling, with five recycling facilities, is a division of Beverage Wholesalers, Inc., a Minnesota corporation. It has been involved in aluminum beverage can recycling since 1975 and multiple material recycling since 1989. Today the company processes an average of 75 tons of recyclable material daily and employs 35 people

Recycling paper alone is expected to reduce the university’s trash by 34 percent. And according to Minnkota Recycling, every ton of paper recycled will save about three cubic yards of landfill space, 17 trees, 380 gallons of oil and 7,000 gallons of water. It will also create 60 percent less water and air pollution.

MSU’s contract with Minnkota Recycling is a partnership with the City of Moorhead to improve local recycling efforts.

For questions about recycling at MSU, contact Dave Holsen or Gordon Bergman at the university’s physical plant, 236-2400.

MSU’s container locations and materials to recycle:

1) Bridges Hall ? Cardboard, office paper, aluminum cans, newsprint and plastic bottles, 5 locations 20 blue containers.
2) Center for Business ? Office paper, aluminum cans, and plastic bottles, 2 locations 6 containers.
3) Center for the Arts & Addition ? Aluminum cans, plastic bottles, office paper, four locations 8 containers.
4) Frick Hall - Cardboard, office paper, plastic bottles, aluminum cans and printers mix. 4 locations, 16 containers.  Print Shop will need a separate bin for material.
5) Grier Hall ? Office Paper, aluminum cans plastic bottles. One locations, three containers.
6) Hagen Hall ? Cardboard, office paper, plastic bottles, aluminum cans, 6 location, 12 containers.
7) King Biology Hall ? Office paper, plastic bottles and aluminum cans. Three locations, nine containers.
8) Livingston Lord Library ? Cardboard office paper, aluminum cans plastic bottles and newspaper. 4 locations, 12 containers. Additional (6) 90-gallon tote placed on site delivered to street for Minnkota pickup.
9) Lommen Hall & Weld Hall ? Cardboard, office paper, aluminum cans plastic bottles.  6 locations, 18 containers.
10) MacLean Hall  & BookStore ? Cardboard, office paper, aluminum cans, plastic bottles, newspaper. 4 locations, 16 containers. Cardboard @ bookstore.
11) Maintenance Building ? Cardboard, office paper, aluminum cans, plastic bottles, newspaper, 1 locations, 6 containers.  Additional (4) 90-gallon tote placed on site.
12) Nemzek Hall ? Cardboard, office paper, aluminum cans, magazines. 4 locations, 16 containers.
Owens Hall ? Cardboard, office paper, aluminum cans, plastic bottles, magazines. 8 locations, 20 containers.  Totes for Secure Document Destruction is located in Owens Hall are identified  "confidential".

Weber, a paralegal, specializes in elderly law and public benefits. She’s worked for Legal Services of Northwest Minnesota and Legal Assistance of North Dakota and is a former adjunct faculty member at MSU.

MSU began its gerontology major last fall.

"Because of my cerebral palsy, I just don’t have the motor skills to do it any faster," said the Moorhead State University paralegal major.

Now he can "type" that same page in about five minutes. And with practice, he could cut it down to one minute. He’s doing it without touching a keyboard.

Onderick is learning to use a speech recognition software program through MSU’s Regional Assistive Technology Center (RATC), which provides technical help and consulting services to people who are severely speech or writing impaired.

"The software we’re using translates Dennis’ speech into text on a computer word processing program," says Kris Vossler, an RATC speech pathologist. "It’s simple to use and inexpensive."

Plus, it’s available in both Windows and Macintosh platforms.

Onderick is still learning the program. The basics take from twenty minutes to two hours to master, he said. But it may take two to three weeks to become proficient. Onderick also has to train the computer to adjust to his own vocal inflections and speech patterns, which the program stores in memory.

"I recently tried to type a 30-word paragraph by hand," Onderick said. "It took me four and a half minutes, and I had three errors. My first try  with the speech recognition software took me 32 seconds, with seven errors. Then 42 seconds with two errors. It’s a big improvement."

Advances in speech recognition technology are revolutionizing the way people interact with their computers, Vossler said.

"It’s amazing, really," she said. "You talk into a microphone, and the computer translates your words into text right before your eyes. By using voice commands, you can make corrections, send e-mail, do spreadsheets or surf the internet."

And for people with certain disabilities, it levels the playing field in the job market. "There’s nothing wrong with my mind," said Onderick, who holds both an education and a special education degree from MSU. "But my physical limitations are frustrating. This program puts me on par with most people when it comes to using the computer."

It was in 1997 when a Massachusetts company called Dragon Systems, Inc., introduced a software program called NaturallySpeaking, the first software able to process continuous speech.

"Before that," Vossler said, "the major speech recognition technology was called discrete speech. The user had to pause between words so the software could tell where one utterance ends and the  next begins. It was very slow and awkward."

Now dozens of companies are producing speech recognition software, including IBM. Even Microsoft’s Bill Gates recently said: "Speech is not just the future of Windows, but the future of computing itself."

Vossler said MSU bought its first speech recognition software, DragonDictate (a discreet speech program), and its first continuous speech version, NaturallySpeaking, for about $500 in a package deal. This fall they bought an updated version of NaturallySpeaking for $44.

Last year speech recognition software was a $970 million business, according to industry analysts. By 2003, it’s expected to reach $37 billion.

Vossler said research in the field began in the 1930s when AT&T’s Bell Laboratories produced the first electronic speech synthesizer.

Attempts in the 1940s to use speech recognition to decode Russian transmissions never succeeded. "The system was too literal," Vossler said. "It would translate a phrase like ‘The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak’ into ‘The vodka is strong but the meat is disgusting.’"

Carnegie-Mellon University tried to develop a system to accept verbal commands for chess moves. But it interpreted a cough as "Pawn to King 4."

Since then, scientists have developed software that combines a dictionary of words and phonemes (sound fragments), combinations of them both, and statistical probabilities of when a particular word or phoneme will precede or follow another in a sentence. It also learns the vocal patterns of each particular speaker. Its accuracy rate: 95 to 98 percent, according to independent studies.

With practice using Dragon Systems’ NaturallySpeaking program, Onderick will eventually be able to dictate 160 words a minute into text, Vossler said, almost up to average speaking speed of 180 words a minute, and much faster than a high-end typing speed of 80 words a minute.

The program has an active vocabulary of 160,000 words, she said,  and can be customized to accommodate 250,000 words. It also comes with noise-canceling microphone, which ignores background sounds to optimize speech recognition.

What was commercially developed primarily  for business executives and keyboarders with repetitive stress injuries like Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, Vossler said, has become an incredible tool for people with motor disabilities.

Dragon Systems has even developed special software with a vocabulary aimed specifically at  the legal and medical markets. But each costs about $1,000.

Yet for Onderick, who intends to become a paralegal, a legal software package could mean the difference between success and failure.

"Because of my handicap," he said, "I’ve had trouble all my life trying to find and hold a job. It’s been defeating. Now with this new computer technology, I’m a little more optimistic about my future."

MSU’s Regional Assistive Technology Center purchases augmentative communications equipment for short-term loans and offers demonstrations and technical assistance on the equipment. For details, contact Vossler at 291-4200 or Marie Swanson at MSU’s Speech-Language and Hearing Sciences department at 236-2288.