Word: signal
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...kind of seismic party line, one earthquake may signal that another could occur; sites that lie between past gaps hit by recent tremors are the areas most likely to rupture next, rather the way buttons popping on a shirt put greater pressure on the buttons still intact. Noting that earthquakes in the 20th century have periodically shaken surrounding regions, geologists knew that Mexico's Michoacan gap--quiescent for many decades--could not hold out forever. "Wherever stress builds up for a long time in a seismic gap," says David Simpson of Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory, "something...
...remain underwater indefinitely. Essentially, it is a 16-ft.-long cage fashioned to protect a clutch of strobe lights, side-scanning sonar devices and an array of cameras from marine flotsam. The entire contraption is tied umbilically to the mother ship by a thick steel cable. When sonar patterns signal an interesting feature, the video cameras can be commanded to zoom in on the object. The images they pick up are relayed instantaneously through the cable to computers and video screens in the ship above, providing scientists with an Argo's-eye view of the bottom...
...spent $15 million to develop a system that scrambles its satellite signal so that earth stations cannot receive a clear picture. In July, HBO became the first cable channel to send out a coded signal. Dish owners who want to watch HBO will be able to buy a descrambling device for $395 and then pay a monthly service fee. Showtime and Denver-based T.C.I., the country's largest operator of cable systems, will soon begin scrambling signals...
...cockpit, Captain Peter Terrington, 39, a 19-year veteran of flying, received the all-clear signal from the control tower. As the plane hit 120 m.p.h., about one-third of the way down the 10,000-ft. runway, the left engine exploded. The blast ruptured fuel tanks and lines, spewing jet fuel throughout the rear passenger section of the plane and turning it into an inferno...
Wheeling-Pittsburgh owners will undoubtedly argue that by walking out of work, the workers are contributing to the economic malaise of the steel mill-dominated area. But to gain the greatest prosperity for their numbers and to send a positive signal to other malcontent workers, the strikers would do best to wait it out. Patient picketing during the next few weeks will lessen the blow to Pittsburgh wages, and also signal to other American steelworkers that good contracts are possible through a little solidarity...